"Tut!"
A white flow of air gushed out of the maitreya monk's mouth. White fog that looked like sword qi shot out quickly. Then, with the speed of lightning, it struck Happy's c.h.e.s.t.
Hiss!
Happy's body was torn apart in the air.
Everything happened too quickly that Silver Wolf and the others did not even know what sort of attack the maitreya monk used. When they reacted to the situation, it was already too late for them to provide any reinforcements. Their hearts became cold!
However, the torn body in the air turned into a ball of afterimages that vanished. A golden figure broke out of the control of the dharani and dropped to the ground. Under the maitreya monk's incredulous gaze, it arrived in front of him, stood still, then pushed forward with one palm!
Boom!
The maitreya monk's body returned to its original size, and it was as if a lot of his true qi had vanished. When he was struck by Happy's palm, he crashed violently against the wall behind him, shot through it, and vanished.
They looked at each other at a loss before they began to look around warily.
Only Happy stood his ground quietly and stared at the stone wall through which the maitreya monk had shot through. The maitreya monk slowly opened up a gap while the dull sounds of gears could be heard whirring. A scorching heat wave accompanied by dazzling red light gushed out from the gap.
The temperature in the heart of the mountain quickly rose!
"So hot!"
Wind Chimes and Momo were the first to find themselves unable to bear the heat.
Little North and All-powerful Medicinal Stone quickly switched their gear while feeling incredibly shocked. "Is that place a lava cave? It's so hot!"
The temperature increased too quickly. In less than ten seconds, the party was already drenched in sweat. They felt as if they were struck by an endless heatwave, and it felt incredibly uncomfortable.
Silver Wolf stared at Happy's unmoving body with a strange gaze while curiosity burned at him.
Happy was the closest to the stone wall that was actually a door, and it was the place where the heatwave was the fiercest. However, judging by his expression, he seemed to be able to completely adapt to the new temperature.
Happy had Nine Yang Divine Skill with him, so he could get accustomed to a terrible environment much easier and be able to sense any danger.
However, what puzzled Silver Wolf was that the unmoving Happy seemed to be recounting and reminiscing about something.
It was a pity that he could not see Happy's expression, or else he might have been able to discover something.
"What should we do now?"
"By the looks of it, there should be a lava cave inside. If we step inside, we'll be roasted alive."
"This stupid Sky Demon Secret Cave! Why is this a hellhole?!"
When the group looked at the stone door, all they saw were red ground and walls, turned such because of high heat. Quite a number of places had even been scorched black, and there were flames dancing on them!
The other places also seemed as if they were about to start burning at any moment! There was the smell of sulphur and smoke filling the air, so it was basically a world of fire inside!
Everyone instantly felt powerless and frustrated when they saw that!
Silence reigned.
Happy stood at the entrance of Qilin Cave and remembered the first time he entered that world of fire.
The heatwaves at the entrance of Qilin Cave had once stopped many people in their tracks. To fight them, elites brought out Fire Evasion Pearls, cloaks or clothes that were resistant to fire and water, and all sorts of divine arts before they dared to finally enter Qilin Cave. However, what they saw later was a hell that they could not even imagine existing!
And it was just one of the levels of Sky Demon Secret Cave! The inside was not really the heart of a volcano, but a manmade lava cave…
"That's not right."
At that moment, Momo walked forward and groped about the entrance with a puzzled expression on her face.
"When has China ever had any volcanoes… Is it fake?"
With just one sentence, she revealed that it was a trap. The party's eyes lit up, and All-powerful Medicinal Stone was the first to rush forward with swift steps to begin groping about the stone door.
As expected, there was a rather hidden mechanism at a corner of the wall. All-powerful Medicinal Stone's expression became full of joy, but right when he was about to activate it, a clear voice appeared from behind them, and it made him freeze.
"As expected of the elites of Mu Clan. You managed to find Sky Demon Secret Cave so soon…"
The six turned their heads around to look.
Phantasmal Shadow came over with five of her elites from Wind Assault Tower. Some of them were injured, and they looked incredibly pathetic.
But if they could arrive here, it meant that Wind Assault Tower was already pretty good. It showed why Phantasmal Shadow could create a large organization that could somewhat compare to Class One Hall in Happy's previous life and even stand on equal grounds with them.
"Tower Master Shadow, you're finally here."
Happy saw All-powerful Medicinal Stone stand up calmly, and he knew that he felt indignant. They had worked hard to come here, but Phantasmal Shadow and her group had taken advantage of their hard work.
However, Happy did not reveal it. He just smiled and said, "It's no wonder why you're considered one of the top three sects in Beijing."
"We've made fools of ourselves, Happy."
Phantasmal Shadow was very polite, but she did not look away.
Wu Kuo and the others had long since witnessed the numerous traps in the tunnel leading to Sky Demon Secret Cave, and they were incredibly curious about the treasures inside. When they saw that Happy and the others had found the entrance, it was only natural that they observed it for a while.
Phantasmal Shadow and her group naturally did not understand the traps. All of them just hesitated when they saw the tunnel, but they did not think that there was any other trap inside.
Phantasmal Shadow, of course, still noticed that there was a problem with the volcano. "This volcano looks a bit fake. It should not be long. It might be what Sky Demon Sect decided to use to scare and deter us from our tracks."
With just a few simple words, she revealed the trap, and Happy nodded in approval in his heart.
"Since it's fake, let's go in. Coincidentally, I was fortunate enough to obtain a Fire Evasion Pearl in the past. It has an area of effect of thirty-two feet, and the effects of flames will be reduced greatly. Happy, if you don't mind, why don't we travel together?"
Chapter 609 - Amazing Foresight
All-powerful Medicinal Stone did not expect that Phantasmal Shadow would have a treasure such as Fire Evasion Pearl and that she would even bring it out without hesitation to share with Mu Clan. He was a little shocked.
But since they had already noticed that there were other mechanisms, All-powerful Medicinal Stone could only send a signal to Happy through his eyes in hopes that Happy would reject it.
The hidden mechanism might point them to where Sky Demon Secret Cave truly lied, and he did not want Happy to go through the fiery path with Phantasmal Shadow, because it might be a trap that led to death!
"Tower Master Shadow, you're a generous person, and I admire that about you, but we just noticed that this road might not lead to Sky Demon Secret Cave. Why don't we look at the other path first before we make our decision?"
Happy's words caught All-powerful Medicinal Stone by surprise. After hearing them though, he could only dig through the incredibly hidden hole in the corner of the wall with great resignation.
Rumble…
A stone door suddenly revealed itself near the entrance that led to the heart of the mountain filled with flames. A bone-chilling cold came from inside, and it instantly drove away the heat that came from the heart of the mountain by its side.
The group was astoni
shed, and the players looked at each other at a loss.
"I knew it. There's really another tunnel."
Phantasmal Shadow frowned. The tunnel to the left was a world of fire, and the tunnel to the right was a world full of ice. One of them was of extreme heat, and the other extreme cold. Both looked incredibly dangerous.
They would need to use up a continuous stream of qi to be able to last in the heart of the volcano, but the world of snow would affect the mobility of those who entered it, and their strength would be greatly reduced.
No one would quite guess what would happen on either side. They did not know which side would lead to the real entrance of Sky Demon Secret Cave…
"Medicinal Stone, did you manage to get some clues of the place?"
Little North had gained a deeper level of understanding toward All-powerful Medicinal Stone's abilities, and he had even grown a little reliant on him.
All-powerful Medicinal Stone just smiled wanly. "I understand mechanisms and traps, yes, but not Fengshui."
"Fengshui?"
When he heard that noun, Silver Wolf gasped softly and looked at Wind Chimes.
Wind Chimes was an expert at that! Diviners all delved into Fengshui.
She scrunched up her nose and moved up to observe the place for a while with sparkling eyes, but soon, she shook her head.
"They're really strange. Both are equally dangerous. One of them is of extreme heat, and the other extreme cold, and neither seem to head to Sky Demon Secret Cave, but they also seem to lead there. It's a very strange design. I can't decipher anything from it."
"Since we can't see what's going on outside, we can only go in to take a look and understand the situation!"
"Wait."
At that moment, Phantasmal Shadow went next to Happy. She lowered her whip before she suddenly sent it toward a stone nearby. It wrapped around the stone, and tossed it violently into the world of ice.
The group fixed their eyes on that stone.
In the beginning, only some frost covered the surface of the stone, but it soon froze up. Then, it crashed into a wall, but got stuck there and did not fall.
"What a terrifying chill!"
The group could tell what was strange about it, and they noticed that the seemingly harmless world of ice seemed to be even more terrifying than the world of flames. It could freeze a thing over without a single sound.
And if a stone could be frozen in an instant, what would happen to humans if they entered?
"Let's go over there."
"To show my sincerity, I will let you take care of this. But once we leave this place, please return it to me…" she said in a manner devoid of all pretense.
Happy said nothing. He quietly took the pearl and nodded.
'Phantasmal Shadow… she's really amazing!'
With just one Fire Evasion Pearl, she connected Wind Assault Tower and Mu Clan together. At the very least, during the trip around Sky Demon Secret Cave, they could be considered to be in the same party.
After Happy accepted the Fire Evasion Pearl, not only could he not attack the people from Wind Assault Tower, he would also have to provide them with help as any other party members.
But he had to admit, without a Fire Evasion Pearl, his situation would be quite troublesome.
Because he was the only one with Nine Yang Divine Skill.
He had no suitable reason for entering Qilin Cave alone, and he could not reveal the secret of being someone who returned to the past. That was something that was rather troublesome.
Phantasmal Shadow's Fire Evasion Pearl was warm in Happy's hands, but he could clearly feel the heat around him decreasing, as if all of it had been blocked off by an invisible force. It was a very strange feeling.
"Ha… the temperature seems to be dropping…"
"Ack! So cold!"
When the heatwave from Qilin Cave was forced back into the cave, the chill from the other side instantly became stronger! The group could clearly notice the true qi in their Dantian region begin showing signs of freezing over, and it was becoming difficult for some of them to circulate their true qi, while the circulation speed of others slowed down by a large degree.
"Damn it."
"That side seems to be a lot more dangerous."
All-powerful Medicinal Stone's expression was very unpleasant. He had been thinking of having Phantasmal Shadow and her party enter the fire cave first before he activated the mechanism to the other tunnel. But by the looks of it now, it seemed like the situation in the ice cave was worse.
The others felt the same way.
"We shouldn't waste time. Let's go! We'll enter the cave!" Happy announced with a stern expression.
Once he finished speaking, he became the first to enter the fiery Qilin Cave. The others entered behind him in pairs.
With Fire Evasion Pearl around, while the heat in the cave was still as scorching as before and the air suffocating, a circle that allowed them to avoid the fire had formed around them. The twelve people were all within the circle, protected by the Fire Evasion Pearl.
"What is that?"
Just when the group went through the first tunnel, Little North noticed a black plant above his head. There seemed to be something that resembled black lotus seeds hanging off them, and there was a faint fragrance in the air that made it less suffocating and unbearable.
The group stopped and looked at it, and Phantasmal Shadow's eyes lit up.
"It's Black Jade Fire Lotus! I heard that it only grows in volcanoes that are extremely hot. It's a rare grade one medicinal herb. I didn't expect that it can be found here."
"A hot volcano? Didn't we say that this is manmade? Why would it grow here?" Wu Kuo's unintentional words made everyone's expression turn solemn.
Except for Happy.
"We press onward."
Without another word, he picked the medicinal herb and split it in half. By chance, Mu Clan got three and Wind Assault Tower also got three.
Grade one medicinal herbs were incredibly valuable resources regardless of the present or the future. Their selling price was also very high.
The group continued to move forward. After walking for nearly ten minutes, the temperature finally became slightly lower.
"The temperature dropped."
Wu Kuo walked to the edge and extended his hand to sense the temperature around them. Once he was certain that the heat would not damage their bodies, delight appeared on his face.
The party explored the area, and once they were certain that Wu Kuo had not made a wrong judgment, they instantly left the protection circle to look around freely.
Among them, the most proactive was All-powerful Medicinal Stone. His interest toward Sky Demon Secret Cave had become stronger, and he wanted to immediately find the secret that would lead them to the real Sky Demon Secret Cave.
Happy was not excited though and just asked Wind Chimes, "Help me make a reading on Song Yuanqiao precise location."
When he said that, Phantasmal Shadow and the others quickly exchanged a surprised gaze.
They could not send messenger pigeons in Sky Demon Secret Cave, but Happy seemed to have predicted it a long time ago and made a lot of preparations. He brought with him all sorts of talented people and put together many things, so much so that he could have a diviner make a reading in Sky Demon Secret Cave and tell him what he wanted to know.
It was no wonder then why he was so confident while traveling through the place!
Chapter 610 - Great Elder of the Evil Cult
Happy had indeed made a lot of arrangements and preparations for Sky Demon Secret Cave!
All-powerful Medicinal Stone's skills with mechanisms and traps, Wind Chimes' divination skills and assistance with her zither notes, Silver Wolf's individual combat abilities, Momo's long-distance attacks, and Little North's poison skills were all within his considerations!
It could be said that all the people who came with him had extremely great skills in different domains, and they could not be rep
laced by anyone else.
Those people, of course, did not expect that they would be able to perform in various ways in Sky Demon Secret Cave.
When Wind Chimes heard Happy's orders, she pursed her lips, lowered her sword casket, brought out her eight trigrams chart and oracle bones, and threw them on the chart three times before she slowly stood up and pointed northeast.
"Song Yuanqiao is not far from us. He should be 656 feet away!"
"Let's not waste time! We'll head there now!"
Once he obtained the precise location, Happy took the position of vanguard without hesitation.
However, what caused Happy to be slightly gloomy was that they had only traveled a short distance before the area in front of them became wider and clearer. They arrived at a large cave, and there were five forks ahead of them. All of them had all sorts of bends and curves inside, so no one could tell where they led to.
The party stopped again.
"We didn't run into a single person, and all we see are Confusion Tunnels. If a person came here alone, they would definitely be walking around in circles until their death."
"Wind Chimes."
This time, without needing Happy to say anything, Wind Chimes had already taken the initiative to move in front of the tunnels. She threw her oracle bones a few times and pointed at the second tunnel from the left.
"I saw Song Yuanqiao this way. The leftmost, rightmost, and center tunnels are all paths that will lead to our deaths. If you go in there, don't even think about coming out."
"Is it a matrix?" Silver Wolf asked with a frown.
Wind Chimes nodded. "It's similar, but they should be more complicated than matrices. They're very dangerous.
Phantasmal Shadow's party all felt chills go down their spine.
Three out of the five tunnels led to death. Did that not mean that there was a 60% chance that they would die?
"Are the other two paths safe?"
When Wind Chimes heard Wu Kuo asking for verification, she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I didn't say that they're safe, I only said that I saw Song Yuanqiao in the second tunnel on the left. I can't make a reading about the second tunnel on the right. The variables are too great. If I have to explain it using words… our survival there is uncertain."
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