Chapter 118: Great Change in the Fire Incineration Country (Part 1)

Sun Youcai, who was rapidly using the Earth Evasion Technique underground, shuddered. The intense fear made him feel suffocated. Just then, he suddenly felt the soil ahead was hot. He inwardly groaned; this Earth Evasion Technique would be extremely useful elsewhere, but in the Fire Incineration Country, where volcanoes of all sizes were everywhere, it placed strict demands on the technique.

If one accidentally burrowed directly into volcanic magma, they could only admit defeat and accept their bad luck.

In the past, even when fleeing, Sun Youcai would ascertain his direction and immediately turn back if he encountered slightly warm soil. But now, believing he was being pursued by a Soul Transformation Stage expert, he chose his position poorly in his panic. It was too late to halt his momentum, so he could only exert his utmost effort to lift his body upward.

With a bang, his body directly pierced through the layer of soil and appeared inside a massive volcanic cave. A heatwave rushed toward his face, immediately curling and scorching his hair and eyebrows.

Crying out in alarm, Sun Youcai quickly tossed out his Flying Sword, which precariously landed on a protruding rock. In just that short time, cracks had already begun appearing all over his body, and his clothes turned into charcoal ash the moment he moved.

Even the Flying Sword beneath his feet started turning red, its temperature rapidly increasing.

Sun Youcai’s sweat instantly evaporated into wisps of white gas the moment it appeared. Looking at him now, white smoke was rising from his entire body. Although he was naked, he possessed a certain unconventional air of an Immortal.

Below him was a massive magma pool. Huge bubbles appeared in the pool, and every time one burst, a wisp of black Qi would rise.

Sun Youcai was about to bite the bullet and use the evasion technique to escape through the opposite volcanic wall, but at that moment, his body suddenly trembled. He stared blankly at the magma below, his face revealing horror.

At this time, Wang Lin also caught up. He did not know the Earth Evasion Technique, but his Divine Sense had been locked onto the opponent. Suddenly noticing Sun Youcai stop, he immediately pointed at the Iron Plate. The Iron Plate smashed into the ground with a boom, rotating to create a passage. Wang Lin followed closely behind, descending through the passage directly from the surface to the magma area where Sun Youcai was located.

The instant he entered the volcanic cave, Wang Lin saw Sun Youcai, who was staring below with a look of terror on his face.

Following his gaze downward, he saw a pair of triangular eyes appearing in the center of the magma. Wang Lin sucked in a cold breath, retreated to the edge of the passage, and stared motionlessly at the magma.

According to Ma Liang's memories of growing up in the Fire Incineration Country, there were no creatures in the country's volcanoes. If there were, it would have been impossible for Cultivators not to discover them over countless years, especially since the Founding Ancestors of the Four Great Sects performed a Seal on the volcanoes of the Fire Incineration Country every few years to ensure safety.

At the same time, Sun Youcai seemed to be possessed. He stared at those eyes, dazedly put away his Flying Sword, and stepped barefoot onto the scorching rock. The smell of roasting flesh immediately wafted up from his feet.

After walking forward just three steps, the soles of his feet were completely charred black. The flesh peeled off, revealing blackened bones, yet there was not a trace of pain on Sun Youcai's face. Standing at the edge of the rock, he jumped down without hesitation.

A sharp light flashed in Wang Lin's eyes. He reached out and grabbed the Storage Pouch from Sun Youcai's waist the instant the latter fell into the magma. Immediately afterward, he retreated quickly without looking back.

A roar came from behind, and the surrounding heat intensified instantly. As Wang Lin ran, the passage around him immediately turned red. If one were to look down from the sky at this moment, they would see countless plumes of black smoke suddenly rising from all the volcanoes, large and small. Especially around one larger volcano, a circle of visible red ripples spread across the ground, and every area touched by the ripples turned red.

Wang Lin's expression was grim as he sped down the passage. Suddenly, he stopped. He saw countless flames rapidly gathering from all directions in the passage ahead, forming a creature with triangular eyes, a single horn on its head, and a body radiating firelight. It stared at Wang Lin, its eyes filled with killing intent.

Without a second word, Wang Lin immediately launched an attack with his extreme realm Divine Sense. A red bolt of lightning shot out from Wang Lin's eyes and pierced into the Fire Beast. The Fire Beast's gaze scattered, and its flames dimmed slightly, but it immediately returned to normal. A long slit opened below its eyes, letting out a roar as it lunged to swallow Wang Lin.

Wang Lin's expression grew even gloomier. He turned and retreated, but immediately afterward, his pupils contracted. Another Fire Beast had appeared right behind him.

Now, with Fire Beasts at both ends of the narrow passage, Wang Lin gritted his teeth. The Iron Plate Magic Treasure immediately began rotating beside him, and he followed closely behind, digging out another passage.

But just then, the two Fire Beasts roared in unison. The surrounding soil instantly turned fiery red. Wang Lin's heart sank. The soil around him rapidly hardened at a visible speed, ultimately enveloping him and forming a spherical cage.

The cage continuously tightened, and finally, with a boom, it completely sealed around him.

On the surface ground at this time, layers of cracks appeared in the soil, slowly collapsing inward. Soon, a massive basin appeared, and in the center of the basin was a black sphere of earth.

Surrounding the earth sphere, eight Fire Beasts with triangular eyes continuously sprayed molten liquid onto it. Slowly, the sphere grew smaller and smaller. When it reached a height of half a meter, the Fire Beasts stopped spraying liquid.

One of the Fire Beasts lifted the earth sphere and quickly burrowed underground. The remaining Fire Beasts followed closely. They moved swiftly underground, returning to the previous volcanic cave in the blink of an eye.

The Fire Beast tossed the earth sphere downward, immediately leaped down itself, and holding the sphere, disappeared into the magma pool along with its companions. After a few bubbles rose in the magma pool, it slowly calmed down.

The black smoke from the surrounding volcanoes also gradually lessened, and the cracks in the ground slowly returned to normal. Aside from a massive basin proving everything that had just occurred, there was no sign indicating that Fire Beasts had appeared here.

As for basins, they were very common in the Fire Incineration Country; there would often be basins of various sizes appearing suddenly next to almost every volcano.

Wang Lin hugged his body, resisting the continuous waves of high temperature. The moment the soil enveloped him, he used his extreme realm Divine Sense to wrap around his entire body. Now, his Divine Sense was slowly disintegrating the earth sphere.

He could clearly feel that he was sinking. After a long while, the earth sphere shook, as if it had been tossed aside. At this point, his Divine Sense had broken through the final layer of the earth sphere, allowing him to see everything before him clearly.

This was an almost boundless sea of magma. Above it were countless dense Molten Channels, and endless molten liquid flowed down from these channels, merging into the magma.

The earth sphere he occupied was floating on the magma. Scattered around him were seven or eight other earth spheres of the same size, and a Fire Beast was lying prone on top of each one.

Looking at the surrounding magma, countless triangular eyes densely surfaced within it. A Fire Beast leaped out of the magma, jumped onto the earth sphere where Wang Lin was, and slowly climbed down. It showed no awareness of Wang Lin's Divine Sense.

Time slowly passed. Several more Fire Beasts successively emerged from the molten channels above. Without exception, they were all carrying an earth sphere on their bodies.

Just then, the entire magma suddenly began to shake. All the Fire Beasts immediately scattered from the magma, revealing an empty space. A gigantic Fire Beast emerged from the magma. Wang Lin retracted his Divine Sense and observed cautiously.

Ordinary Fire Beasts were only about three feet tall, but the head of this Fire Beast alone exceeded half a Zhang. Slowly, most of the Fire Beast's body emerged. Its enormous size displayed a fierce pressure. The moment it appeared, all the surrounding Fire Beasts froze motionless.

Wang Lin was startled. The strength displayed by this gigantic Fire Beast was in no way inferior to the Nascent Soul Stage, perhaps even stronger. But exactly how strong, he couldn't judge, as Wang Lin had never seen a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator take action.

The gigantic Fire Beast scanned the area with its eyes and slowly swam to the left. Immediately afterward, another Fire Beast of the same size appeared. Eventually, sixteen of them appeared one after another.

The sixteen Fire Beasts formed a circle. In the center of the circle, a translucent Fire Ring slowly emerged from the magma, shimmering with seven-colored light inside.

Wang Lin cautiously focused his Divine Sense to look. Below the Fire Ring, a vague shadow slowly solidified, forming a fist-sized Fire Mass.

Threads of red lines connected the Fire Ring and the Fire Mass.

The moment the Fire Mass appeared, the sixteen gigantic Fire Beasts immediately let out soft roars, leaping out of the magma and kneeling on one knee. At the same time, all the surrounding Fire Beasts began to growl, leaping up and kneeling on the magma.

While Wang Lin was observing, his mind suddenly shook. The Heaven Defying Bead, which was fused within his body, drilled out from his glabella for the first time on its own. If Wang Lin hadn't stopped it in time, the Heaven Defying Bead likely would have burst out of the earth sphere immediately.

Just then, a Fire Beast grabbed the earth sphere beneath it and tossed it over. It suddenly stopped in mid-air. At the same time, the Fire Mass immediately rushed into the earth sphere, and a sound of sucking became particularly clear in the silent Molten Cave.

A tragic scream suddenly came from inside. The screaming continued but grew fainter and fainter, eventually disappearing completely. Soon, wisps of blood-colored mist floated out from the earth sphere, and the Fire Mass drilled out from within.

The earth sphere fell from mid-air and sank into the magma. Wang Lin's heart sank. He now understood that he wasn't the only one alive inside these earth spheres. Presumably, even if he hadn't used his extreme realm Divine Sense to protect himself, he wouldn't have died inside the sphere, but merely fallen into an irreversible sleep.

Subsequently, four more earth spheres were tossed up, and the Fire Mass drilled into them one by one. The sounds of tragic screaming lasted for nearly half an hour. After the fifth earth sphere sank into the magma, the earth sphere where Wang Lin resided was forcefully tossed out.

The Heaven Defying Bead in his glabella trembled violently, breaking free from Wang Lin's restraint with an unprecedented momentum. Right at this moment, the Fire Mass drilled into the earth sphere containing Wang Lin.