Chapter 425: Underground River, Preserved Corpse!
Bi Fang was a mythological bird!
It was recorded in Xishan Jing of Shan Hai Jing that there was a bird that looked like a crane. It was one-legged besides having red markings on green feathers and a white beak. Its name was Bi Fang, and it made a unique sound of its own. Seeing it would mean there would be fire around.
Bi Fang was an omen of fire, hence there would be great fire wherever it was.
Meanwhile, the bird before Ye Chen had fire all over its body in the form of a crow.
Ye Chen thought it was Bi Fang at first glance. He then shook his head and said, “That’s not Bi Fang. It’s more like a fire crow, but it doesn’t look like it has materialized!”
He grabbed the fire crow before him to the bird’s shock. The fire on it burned more intensely, and it charged at Ye Chen after a shriek. It even spewed fire at Ye Chen.
However, the fire did nothing to him at all.
While he grabbed it, it then turned into a ball of fire, integrating into the sea of fire.
“It’s just a clone. It seems to be an illusory ent.i.ty that’s made of fire. But why was it made into a fire crow? Can it be…?”
He thought to himself and turned around. He walked further into the tunnel. As he took a few steps, a couple of fire crows appeared before and behind him. They were bigger than the one earlier, and they charged at him fearlessly.
Ye Chen proceeded to walk in after lifting his hands to fan them away.
Within a short 100 meters, the temperature had increased to above 500 degrees Celsius. There were more and more fire crows blocking his way, from a couple of them to a large crowd of them. A regular person would have been killed by now.
After walking another 100 meters, the field of vision in front of him became lower. It seemed like a sunken land similar to a pond. There was rumbling lava with bubbles in it. Meanwhile, obsidian walls loomed around as a result of the lava that had cooled down. There was no way out.
Bloop!
At that moment, the lava in the sunken land suddenly boiled. Countless air bubbles came out and turned into fire crows as they ascended. There were at least hundreds of them.
“Kill!”
Ye Chen took out the Almighty Killer Sword which sword qi covered 200 meters. The fire crows that entered the range would be torn into fire on the impact of the sword qi. Soon, all of them were annihilated.
The sword in his hand seemed to have sensed something, hence it suddenly slashed behind Ye Chen. A shriek came from behind.
Ye Chen turned his head to see a giant fire crow that was approximately a meter tall crawling on the rock wall. It was looking at him in fear. If he were to look carefully, he would notice that a chunk of its beak was missing. Blood was dripping from the wall.
“I knew it!” Ye Chen revealed an expression as if he expected that to happen.
He suspected the reason why there would be fire crow clones forming around here. He secretly speculated that there was a real fire crow around. Apart from that, it must be in this sinkhole. It was just as he thought.
Meanwhile, what he was seeing was the host of all of the fire crow clones. It seemed like it had been cultivating for 100 to 200 years. Its ability should be on intermediate-stage Spirit a.s.sembly.
“This animal is quite smart to be exhausting my ability with the clones. It even used hundreds of clones to stop me, and then did a sneak attack on me from the back.” Ye Chen smiled calmly. “But you’ve underestimated me!”
If he was a cultivator who was on peak-stage Spirit a.s.sembly, he would have to use spells to make a protective barrier to protect himself in order to enter this sinkhole. As time went by, his ability would have been exhausted.
However, that was not the case for Ye Chen.
The fire crow roared at him, but it dared not move forward. It stared deadly at the Almighty Killer Sword that was hovering above Ye Chen’s head. Clearly, the swing of sword earlier had hurt it.
“If I’m not mistaken, you must be afraid about me finding out something since you are so eagerly stopping me,” Ye Chen proceeded to say.
All of the giant fire crow’s feathers stood up upon hearing that. The flames on it grew.
Ye Chen did not care about it. He pointed at the lava pond beneath and chuckled. “And your secret is down there. I’m here for one thing. If you allow me to do that, I’d consider sparing your life.”
He turned around and walked to the lava pond as soon as he said that. At the same time, the fire crow attacked Ye Chen like a maniac. Clearly, Ye Chen had been right.
“Hmph, how stubborn!”
A sword gleam flashed, and the crow was sliced into half.
Ye Chen did not even look at it before he leaped into the rumbling lava. He descended to the bottom of the lava where he realized there was a stone door at the bottom.
The door was the height of a human and was covered with limestone.
When Ye Chen pushed it, he found out that it was rather heavy. He lifted the sword and slashed it open, revealing a cave. He scanned it with his Divine Consciousness and only walked in after making sure that there was no threat ahead.
The scene before him changed again.
It was a narrow s.p.a.ce with the faint sound of water from far away. Ye Chen discovered a tiny river when he got closer. It was flowing from west to east, and it seemed like an underground river. Meanwhile, there was a floating bridge above the river. It was a man-made immortal’s cave at the end of the bridge.
Was there really an ancient tomb?
Ye Chen could not help but step onto the floating bridge after having that thought. He walked into the immortal’s cave and scanned it with his Divine Consciousness. He saw three stone rooms, each of which was some 100 square meters with simple configurations.
There was a pill cauldron in the middle of the first stone room.
The pill cauldron that was made of bronze was approximately two meters high. There was a dragon head on each side with an opening in the middle and a cover on top. There was a lot of firewood scattered around, but they had decayed. Meanwhile, dust filled the ground.
Ye Chen then walked to the second stone room. There were a couple of wooden shelves in it with various old books on them. One of them turned into dust as soon as he touched it.
Meanwhile, there was a jade bed placed in the middle of the third stone room. The bed was made of cold jade, and there was chilly air coming out of it. An old man in Taoist robes sat on it with his legs crossed. His head was buried before his chest while his hands were on his laps as if he was performing a hand seal.
Ye Chen looked relaxed as he did not sense any aura coming from the old man. He was clearly dead. When Ye Chen was recalling his Divine Consciousness after a rough scan, he suddenly asked, “Is his body preserved?”
Although the old man had died a long time ago, his body was still intact.
The jade bed alone could not do that.
Ye Chen could not help but go over to the bed to check it out. He was surprised to find out that the man’s body emitted extraordinary heat. The heat covered his body, integrating with the chilly air that was coming out of the jade bed beneath him. As the heat and chilliness intertwined, his body was preserved.
“What’s that?!”
With his Divine Consciousness, he found a black stone in the old man’s body. The stone was the size of an egg while there was a golden tinder moving in the middle.
It was insignificant in the size of a fingernail. However, it seemed to be a great threat to Ye Chen. He was surprised and over the moon as he exclaimed, “It’s the Golden Fire Crystal!”