Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

As the young master with luxurious robes gave the orders, the surrounding Soul Travel Realm experts had no choice but to grit their teeth and attack. If they didn’t, these Purple Mansion Realm martial artists wouldn’t survive. Only if they were stalling would the others get an opportunity to survive.

A few of the Soul Travel Realm experts began shooting out their essence force to attack. Several saber and sword lights were launched at the Fire Phoenix. The Fire Phoenix felt danger and promptly let out a breath of fire while spreading out the wings and flying up into the sky.

“Boom!”

When the essence forces and flames clashed in mid-air, there was a frightening explosion—just like a giant firework that burst in the sky. That frightful shock wave surged up violent winds, uprooting many of the nearby giant trees. The flames in the sky splashed out and caused many blazing flames on the ground. One of the Purple Mansion Realm martial artists got hit by the flames. He was instantly penetrated from the back, causing him to let out a miserable shriek before falling dead on the ground.

“Swish!”

An old man quietly used the concealment of the forest to sneak towards Mt. Fire Cloud. He quickly climbed up the mountain and was moving stealthily within the stone peaks, heading straight for the vent of the volcano.

Everyone was frightened by the Fire Phoenix earlier and was afraid they might be wiped out completely by the flames from it. Now that everyone had backed off and scattered up, they were naturally not fearful anymore. Even if they couldn’t slay the Fire Phoenix, the Soul Travel Realm experts wouldn’t die either.

They originally didn’t have the time to think about the Fire Lingzhi, but they were awakened from the shock when they saw Jiang Yi dashing in. It was because of this Fire Lingzhi that caused several of their men to die. How could they let Jiang Yi obtain it so easily?

The Soul Travel Realm martial artists at the bottom quickly pulled back their positions, taking their individuals spots on a different location. When the Fire Phoenix attacked one of them, the others would immediately fire out their essence force while the one being attack would dodge.

‘When the enemy attacks, I withdraw; when the enemy withdraws, I will interrupt.’

This Fire Phoenix obviously didn’t have high spirit wisdom and was easily teased around in circles by them. It might be extremely furious, but it wasn’t able to kill anyone within a short period of time. It didn’t have the time to bother about Hong Lao who was quietly rushing up the mountain.

“Tsk-Tsk!”

Jiang Yi wasn’t sure what was happening outside; neither did he know that an expert at the third stage of the Soul Travel Realm was rapidly approaching him. He was using the rope to swiftly slide down. He didn’t know when the other Fire Phoenix would be back; thus, he had to use his fastest speed to find the Fire Lingzhi and the Earth Fire for his Fire Spirit Pearl to gobble up.

There is a light. That should be the Earth Fire!

The volcano was massive, and it was extremely deep as well. Jiang Yi had already descended for 5000 feet but had yet to see the bottom, just a blurry bright light.

“Tsk-Tsk!”

Jiang Yi grasped onto the rope and continued to slide down with speed like lightning. In just a few blinks of the eye, he had slid down for another few thousand feet. The light on the bottom was getting brighter and brighter. Jiang Yi could smell something pungent while the Fire Spirit Pearl on his body was constantly radiating with red light. A layer of transparent light shield appeared on his body. It was due to the extremely high temperature which made the Fire Spirit Pearl protect the owner.

Earth Fire!

Jiang Yi channeled a wisp of the black essence force to his eyes and looked down with enhanced vision. He could see molten lava at the bottom, and when he saw that the surface of the lava was covered with blazing inferno, he was instantly excited. He glanced the bottom area and couldn’t find any spirit herb of any kind.

Jiang Yi slid down another one thousand feet and stopped when he was a few hundred feet away from the lava below. The bottom of the black rope had already been charred.

What should I do now?

On the bottom was this deep giant lava pit which was had lava that was gradually flowing within. There certainly weren’t any rocks of any kind for him to step on. If Jiang Yi fell into it, he would probably be unable to come up anymore. The distance between the pit entrance to the lava was at least 100 feet. Without anything to step on—even if Jiang Yi didn’t get melted by the lava, he wouldn’t have any way to jump out of the lava pit to climb out of the volcano.

Jiang Yi did have some rope in the Fire Spirit Pearl, but it was obvious that this black rope was made with a special material. This rope was barely able to endure the high heat; if he took out his rope, it would be instantly burned into ashes.

Go back?

If he jumped down, he would instantly die if the Fire Spirit Pearl couldn’t withstand it. Even if he didn’t die from the lava, he would be trapped to death. That soil within the lava pit must be tremendously tough to be scorched by the Earth Fire for such a long time, making it impossible for the Black Scale Sword to cut through the soil!

If he went back, this trip would become a wasted one. This made him felt unwilling.

There wasn’t much time left for Jiang Yi. That Fire Phoenix might come back very soon, and he was still contemplating.

He didn’t need to consider anymore because a black shadow was sliding down at tremendous speed from above. The individual shouted from far away, “Little bastard, you dare snatch our things? Die!”

Soul Travel Realm expert!

Jiang Yi was grumbling in his heart. He swiftly grabbed onto the Fire Spirit Pearl and fixed his eyes onto the Soul Travel Realm expert, preparing for battle!

“Swish! Swish!”

When Hong Lao was around 1000 feet away, he released a saber light using his essence force, which cleaved straight down at Jiang Yi’s head.

“He!”

Jiang Yi let out a deep yell just as Hong Lao condensed the essence force in his hand, jumping off to the side of the cliff. His entire body was flying before he effortlessly grabbed onto the other suspended rope on the other side of the cliff wall.

“Bang!”

As the saber light whizzed down, it turned the rope that Jiang Yi originally held on into dust. It then finally smashed into the lava on the bottom, causing the lava to burst in all directions. A lump of Earth Fire escaped from the bottom with a ‘huff’ sound, causing the temperature in the volcano to drastically increase.

“You are rather good at dodging, huh? Hurhur! This old man would like to see how many times can you dodge?”

Hong Lao stood 1000 feet above and repeatedly flashed his hand, launching several essence force saber lights out. None of them were aimed at Jiang Yi—but at the black ropes suspending on the side of the stone walls instead.

This old dog is too vicious!

Jiang Yi was cursing incessantly, but what could he do?

Hong Lao was too cautious, leaving such a huge gap in between them. He didn’t have any ways to use his Fire Spirit Rock to attack. The Devil-Sky Silk was yet to be refined by him and wouldn’t activate. He could only look at all the ropes being cut off one by one.

“Bang!”

When he saw the rope that he was holding onto being cut apart, Jiang Yi had no choice but to draw the Black Scale Sword and thrust on the stone wall. The result was an echo of metal clashing before his Black Scale Sword bounced off. Just as Jiang Yi expected, this black stone wall that had been scorched by the Earth Fire for countless years… was tough like steel.

“Rustle!”

Without any place for his body to borrow strength, he fell downwards like a giant boulder falling into a quagmire. He splashed and sank into the lava, completely disappearing.

“En?”

Hong Lao blinked with eyes feeling bewildered. Just earlier, when he saw Jiang Yi perfectly fine while he was at such proximity to the Earth Fire, he had suspected that Jiang Yi possessed some bizarre artifact. This was why he dared not recklessly descend and use the essence forces to cut off the ropes instead.

Right now, he was even more suspicious. When Jiang Yi got in contact with that horrific Earth Fire, he didn’t instantly turn into ashes. On the contrary, he sank into the lava?

Then, he thought that since Jiang Yi sank into the lava, he was certainly dead—even if he possessed some artifact that could resist against fire. After being wrapped by such frightful Earth Fire, even a peak-stage Soul Travel Realm expert would die swiftly—let alone Jiang Yi!

Fire Lingzhi!

Hong Lao glanced at the lava which was constantly rocking about. Despite being roasted fiery red by the high heat and drenched in hot sweat, Hong Lao gritted his teeth and flew downwards.

Just as he was a few dozens of feet away from the lava, he abruptly released a palm strike, using the incredible palm force to blow the lava in all directions. His body used the palm form to borrow strength before flying over.

Underneath a nearby lava pit was a sparkling and translucent spirit herb that was glowing with red light. It was resting peacefully on the stone wall, releasing a delicate fragrance.