Chapter Seventy-One: The Underground Furnace

  The Yin Wind Gorge extends from north to south, winding for over two thousand miles. The mysterious cave that Lao Hei spoke of is located in the depths of the southern region. Su Che's current location is still more than five hundred miles away from there.

  At present, Su Che is already a fourth-layer cultivator of Qi Refining. Staying in the Yin Wind Gorge for a long time belongs to a forbidden act. However, the newly learned 'Concealment Technique' happened to be useful, and simply imitating the spiritual fluctuations of a certain prisoner in the Xian prison who was at the third layer of Qi Refining would definitely make it impossible for cultivators below the foundation period to see through the flaws.

  After spending more than an hour to reach the destination, Lao Hei transformed into the 'Mouse Emperor' and issued a spiritual summons. Soon, a black-haired mouse king emerged from a nearby burrow, as this area was the territory occupied by its tribe.

  Under the leadership of this mouse king, Su Che and Lao Hei first drilled into a very inconspicuous small hole. Just entering a section of distance, Su Che had to kneel on the ground and crawl like a beast. Such holes are as common as cow hair in the canyon, and generally speaking, they are not noticed by the Tianxuan Sect disciples and scattered cultivators who come here for training.

  After climbing for about twenty or more zhang, the tunnel became much wider and Su Che was finally able to stand up straight and walk normally.

  The trend is downward-sloping, gradually deepening into the ground, winding and twisting for a long time, still looking bottomless.

  "Is it almost a thousand feet now?"

  Su Che silently calculated in his heart, this underground tunnel reminded him of the secret medicine garden of Xuanji Peak, which was also over a thousand zhang deep into the mountain belly.

  However, as they went deeper, Su Che realized that over a thousand zhang was nothing, and after walking several more thousand zhang, the black-haired mouse king leading the way still sprinted forward at high speed, without any intention of stopping.

  "How deep!"

  Lao Hei sensed Su Che's thoughts and smiled in response: "This is nothing, the deeper ones are yet to come!"

  Still walking, still on the way...

  How deep they were underground was beyond Su's comprehension, he had lost all sense of it long ago. He could only estimate by time, and at the current speed, after walking for two quarters of an hour, they must have covered at least forty miles.

  At last, the black-furred mouse king stopped and turned around, facing the illusory Mouse Emperor conjured up by Old Black. He squeaked for a while before Old Black translated: "This mouse king says that if they proceed further forward, he won't dare to continue deeper inside because there's an extremely formidable red-tailed fox within, who can be considered as the arch-nemesis of the Shadow Wind Mouse. For many years, it has hunted and killed countless Shadow Wind Mice."

  "Let it go then, we'll explore on our own." It was just a red fox, Su Che didn't pay much attention to it.

  Lao Hei could sense Su Che's thoughts and smiled, reminding him: "Master, this red-tailed fox is not ordinary. Think about it, the Mouse King has already reached the third layer of Qi training, but its entire tribe can't do anything to this one red-tailed fox. So, the strength of this fox..."

  "Huh?" Su Che asked in confusion: "Wasn't it said that there are no mid-tier demon beasts inside the Yin Wind Gorge? How can that Red-tailed Fox be so formidable?"

  "This is the most interesting place in this cave." Lao Hei replied, "Obviously hiding a demon beast that has surpassed the power of the third layer of Qi training, even Tian Xuan Sect doesn't know about it."

  "Alright, since I've come all the way here, I'll definitely find out what's going on."

  For this kind of mysterious thing, Su Che had developed a very high desire to explore, because exploring such things often brings considerable gains. In the cultivation world, this is called a person's 'good fortune'.

  Next, the black-haired mouse king chirped twice and ran away in a puff of smoke along the original road; the shadow of the mouse emperor transformed by Laohei also returned to the Xian prison, and Su Che continued to move forward alone towards the depths of the pit.

  Inside the cave, there was no light at all, and human eyes couldn't see anything. However, Su Che had long been accustomed to advancing with the help of Lao Hei's detection ability, and he could rush forward with his eyes closed.

  Still sloping down towards the bottom of the earth, winding and turning, after a long time, Su Che suddenly stopped his footsteps.

  Because, Su Che was able to see with his naked eye that a small red dot had appeared in front of him, and he could clearly feel a wave of heat rushing towards him, the temperature suddenly rising by countless times, as if someone had accidentally fallen into a boiling hot spring.

  "It was just normal temperature, how could it suddenly rise so much?"

  With a belly full of suspicion, Su Che retreated more than ten steps, and suddenly, the hot flow that came face to face disappeared, and the temperature around him became cool and refreshing again.

  What's going on?

  Su Che tried several times, advancing and retreating, before he was certain that there existed an invisible boundary at this location. It was like a transparent membrane that blocked the heat flow from the front, and only by crossing over this membrane could one feel the enormous change in temperature.

  "Is it a man-made barrier or a natural one? How can such a thing exist underground?" Su thought to himself.

  "I don't know." Old Hei was also at a loss and could only remind him, "This situation is definitely unusual. Master, you can still retreat now."

  For Lao Hei, all the information he obtained for himself cannot be concealed from his master. Even if he thinks it's very dangerous, he should still inform his master truthfully. As for how to make a decision, it depends on the master himself, and at most, he can only make a suggestion.

  "No!" Su Che's decision was very decisive: "Since we have embarked on the path of cultivation, we must have the courage to explore the unknown. Otherwise, we will miss out on countless good opportunities. Besides, if we don't move forward, how can we determine whether what lies ahead is fortune or disaster?"

  "Alright, I support whatever decision the master makes." Lao Hei responded accordingly and continued to say: "According to my estimation, this location is nearly ten miles vertically below the ground surface. The hot flow ahead might be an underground volcanic vein."

  "Is that little red dot directly in front of us a projection of the underground fire vein?" Su Che asked.

  "It should be." Old Hei replied: "The distance is too far, I and you can't identify it either."

  Lao Hei's range of sight was only one hundred zhang, and beyond this range, the things he saw were no different from what Su Che saw with his naked eye.

  Su Che once again crossed that invisible barrier, facing the heat wave rushing towards him, and his advancing speed slowed down a lot.

  As the distance gradually approached, the temperature inside the cave became higher and higher. Soon, Su Che would need to use his true energy to protect himself from the heat. If it were an ordinary person, they would have been roasted to perfection and served on a dinner plate by now.

  Getting closer and closer...

  Arriving at the end of the path, suddenly a vast underground space unfolded before me, an extremely spacious subterranean world with a fiery red hue.

  This should be an underground lava river, with orange-red magma flowing slowly beneath, the surrounding cave walls have already shown signs of vitrification, as if a thick layer of red crystal had been paved on it, and the normal color of soil and rock can hardly be seen.

  Su Che walked out of the tunnel, along a narrow path protruding from the right wall, continuing downstream towards the lava river. This was also the only viable path, and it was unknown whether it was formed naturally or artificially excavated...

  After walking nearly a hundred feet, turning over an arc, I saw that the lava river converged into a lava lake. The space here is even more vast, and the length and width are difficult to estimate. The height alone is over thirty feet.

  "A magnificent and majestic smelting hall!" Su Che thought that although this description was somewhat vague, it was extremely fitting for the scenery here.

  But what's important is that Su Che saw a small black island protruding from the lava lake, not very large, about ten or so square meters in circumference.

  Above the small island, a triangular flag quietly floated in mid-air. On its golden yellow surface, some dark patterns were embroidered, and it seemed to have two characters, but they were too far away for Su Che to see clearly.

  The island's location is not too far away, within Lao Hei's detection range. So, Lao Hei replied: "Those two words I can see clearly, but don't recognize them. They should be a very ancient font, which is no longer used in the current Cultivation world. I'll remember their appearance and look for related books to study when I get back."

  "This banner can automatically float in the air, it should be a treasure, right?" Su Che asked in his heart.

  "It's a treasure of the law!" Lao Hei was originally a spiritual device, and his perception of devices like treasures was particularly keen: "However, for now, I can't sense whether it has a spiritual device or not."

  Treasures are at hand, Su Che naturally wants to get them, but he hasn't forgotten that there should be a red-tailed fox with extraordinary strength here...

  Four looked around, but didn't see any sign of the red-tailed fox, and Lao Hei also didn't detect anything.

  Su Che estimated the distance, and at this moment, he was about sixty or seventy yards away from the small island in the lava lake. He didn't know how to fly, so if he wanted to reach that little island, he had no choice but to swim through the molten rock.

  Swimming in magma sounds extremely terrifying, but actually, it's only terrifying for ordinary people. Cultivators can come up with many methods to accomplish this feat.

  For example, Su Che had already reached the middle stage of Qi refining and could control high-quality artifacts. At that time, in the Demon Sealing Domain, he captured Luo Lianqiao and obtained his high-quality law shield. With just this law shield, Su Che was not afraid of the high temperature of the magma.

  But just as Su Che had barely raised the cyan-colored shield, he heard Lao Hei's warning: "There's something moving through the lava, it's coming very fast... It's hiding on the other side of the small island, and has temporarily stopped!"

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