Chapter 365 - Ten Passageways
When Zhao Qingyun opened the metal gates, a gust of hot air blew over everyone. It was already hot in the cavern, but now it was even hotter.
Xiaolang got very excited when the thick scent of fire hit his nose. His eyes were wide with excitement as he looked into the cave. He looked like an excited dog, and Murong Yu was captivated by how cute he looked.
“All of you, enter now. There are ten passageways, so each of you will choose one. Murong Yu, since you are familiar with the place, enter one of the passageways with Long Chen. You can decide if you want to separate away from him once you are inside,” Zhao Qingyun ordered.
He had used the same tactic and placed Long Chen together with Murong Yu.
The Second Demon Elder was angry, but the First pulled her back. She might’ve actually gone ahead and argued with Zhao Qingyun if he hadn’t. Murong Yu was the Second Demon Elder’s disciple, and Zhao Qingyun giving that order was basically a jab at her authority.
“I understand.” Murong Yu nodded. She didn’t mind it since she would separate from Long Chen once she was inside anyway.
While she didn’t mind, Yang Danfeng was thinking otherwise. He didn’t dare go against Zhao Qingyun, but instead focused all of his anger on Long Chen. He now hated Long Chen even more.
Yang Danfeng had actually wanted to ask Zhao Qingyun and the three Demon Elders to let Murong Yu follow him into the ten passageways, but Zhao Qingyun had arranged for her to go with Long Chen before he could do so.
Under Zhao Qingyun’s instruction, each of the disciples entered the passageways one by one. The metal doors behind them slowly closed only when Long Chen and Murong Yu walked into one of the passageways.
Once they were in, the surroundings slowly brightened up. The rocks of the passageway were bright red, radiating heat energy. The passageway was much hotter than the outside.
The passageway slanted downwards, and Long Chen noticed that they were going deeper and deeper. This was within his calculations as lava could only be found deep underground.
Murong Yu said nothing as she led the way. In the dim, red glow, her attractive figure was easy to notice as she was wearing a tight, black shirt.
Zhao Qingyun had actually done something extra by assigning Long Chen to Murong Yu. Long Chen didn’t need anyone’s help.
“Awoo ...”
Xiaolang whimpered. If it wasn’t for Long Chen, he would’ve sprinted downwards already.
Murong Yu looked back when she heard the sound. She was still wearing the veil, so Long Chen couldn’t see her face. She stopped and waited until Long Chen was beside her, then she looked at the small wolf in Long Chen’s shirt. “What a cute wolf. Long Chen, what is the name of the beast?”
“It’s a Fire Beast. It loves fire,” Long Chen replied.
“Fire Beast?” Murong Yu tried to remember everything she knew about beasts, but she didn’t recognize the name. Moreover, the name was too crude.
“Are you toying with me?” Murong Yu was irritated.
“You can ask it if you don’t believe me.” Long Chen rolled his eyes.
He knew that Murong Yu wasn’t trying to strike a conversation with him, it was just that Xiaolang was too cute.
“Ask it?” Murong Yu didn’t know if it would work, but she did so anyway, “Xiaolang, are you a Fire Beast?”
Xiaolang burped, and a small ember escaped from his mouth.
“Can I hug it?” Murong Yu said in anticipation.
“No!” Ling Xi shouted from within the sword, but Murong Yu couldn’t hear her. “Xiaolang, if you let her hug you, I won’t be your sister anymore!”
Xiaolang retreated back into Long Chen’s shirt along with his tail.
“See, he doesn’t want it. I can’t help you with that.” Long Chen waved her off.
“Why?” She was unsatisfied.
“Maybe because you’re too ugly.”
“You rascal!” Murong Yu glared at him and quickened her pace, leaving him in the dust. All Long Chen had done was say something stupid, and now she refused to talk to him.
The passageway was deep. Long Chen felt like he had walked for over a kilometer, but he still hadn't reached the end. The corridor was slanted downwards, so he assumed the path was shaped like a corkscrew that extended from the metal gates above all the way down to the base of Demon Emperor Mountain.
Long Chen enjoyed the peace after Murong Yu stopped talking to him. Ling Xi, however, stared at Murong Yu whenever she got close. Long Chen didn’t want his ear to hurt, so he liked it better when Murong Yu didn’t talk.
But when they were at the exit, she stopped and asked him, “Wait, Long Chen, you’ve been in the Heavenly Demon Palace for a long time. Why haven’t you brought the girl over?”
Murong Yu seemed to have some regard for Ling Xi.
“I can’t meet her for now. I will let you meet her once I become stronger. Why do you ask?” Long Chen would naturally never tell her that Ling Xi was hiding in his ear stud.
“It’s just that I saw you protecting her so ferociously and even took a few punches because of her. I assumed you liked her a lot, so I just asked out of curiosity,” Murong Yu said plainly. Long Chen couldn’t discern what she was thinking about.
But he had a feeling that the reason why Murong Yu had helped him was because she was touched by how Long Chen had protected a girl so ferociously. Maybe she had been moved by Long Chen’s intensity.
But Murong Yu knew she would never experience this kind of love.
“Did you feel the sudden rise in the temperature? We are almost at the Pyro Passageways.”
Long Chen had indeed felt it.
She hesitated before saying, “Once inside, I have my own things to do, so we will part ways. But, Long Chen, I need to remind you to gather as many Fire Essences as possible.”
“Why?” Long Chen felt that she had more to say.
“I heard that everyone except for Yang Danfeng will give their Fire Essences to Yang Jun. This means that you are competing with eight other people. So you know that you’ll need a ton of Fire Essences, right?”
“They can do that?” Long Chen was speechless. He would’ve underestimated the number of Fire Essences Yang Jun would collect if it wasn’t for her warning. He was glad she had told him.
“It’s not against the rules. The only thing we care about is the number of Fire Essences each person gathers. You can even steal their Fire Essences before the time limit is up. Of course, you can’t take an older Fire Essence and mix it with the Fire Essences that you’ve collected today. The temperature of a Fire Essence that was just taken out of the lava and one that has been placed outside for an entire year is extremely different. One can immediately differentiate which is an older Fire Essence. So I hope you didn’t bring any to try and cheat.”
Murong Yu had forgotten to tell him this last time, so she was worried Long Chen would do something like that.
“No, I don’t have any ...” Long Chen could not use this method in the first place because Xiaolang would’ve eaten any Fire Essences that he had.
Long Chen suddenly saw the space in front of him widening. They soon found the exit, and Long Chen approached it. He looked down and saw nothing but lava!
There was nothing else. The exit was located just above the river of lava.
The lava bubbled and flowed as the intense heat surged towards Long Chen. Bubbles sometimes appeared at the top of the lava. It was as if he was standing at the edge of a crimson pool filled with heat.
“This is lava?” It was his first time seeing it.
“Yes. The Ember Beasts and the Fire Essences are all hidden beneath it. We need to dive into the lava to collect them. You can only enter the lava once you are at the Fifth River Stage. Will your little wolf be fine?” She was more worried about Xiaolang.
“Don’t worry. He was born in flames.” Long Chen smiled mysteriously.
“Alright, then. The others probably ran in the passageways and are already in the lava. I can’t delay this anymore. Goodbye!”
Long Chen nodded.
Murong Yu dove down without hesitation. She wrapped her Qi around her body to withstand the heat from the lava before she plunged into it.
Xiaolang looked down in excitement.
“Let’s go. This is heaven for you, Xiaolang. The Pyro Passageways and Ember Beasts? They can’t hide from my Soul Swallowing Gaze. It will be easy to find Fire Essences as long as we locate where the beasts are. We don’t need to worry about having fewer Fire Essences than them! Let’s go!”
Long Chen was going to use the most efficient way to collect Fire Essences.
After he made sure that Xiaolang was ready, he wrapped his body with Qi just like Murong Yu and then jumped into the lava. To Xiaolang, the lava was like bathwater!
“It’s hot!” Long Chen saw nothing but red when he plunged into the lava. It was pushing him around like a river current would.
He had to expand the Qi surrounding his body into a sphere before he could finally see his surroundings. Xiaolang appeared in front of him, and Long Chen saw that the lava was somehow flowing into Xiaolang’s body automatically to be refined.
“Come, let’s go find some beasts!”