The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 885 - 487: The Lake Inside the Volcano
Seeing his insistence, Ning Xiaoxian let him be and immediately ordered people to help him to the mountain top.
Several fire-manipulating demons, including Tu Jin, revealed their True Body, spitting out pillars of fire. These pillars were solid and magnificent; no matter how the fierce wind at the mountain top blew, they burned fiercely. The Fire Lion Demon roared loudly, commanding everyone to use their Divine Skills. The pillars of fire intertwined like snakes before slowly merging and shaping, instantly re-forming into a gigantic Fire Dragon.
Its body was as thick as three wine barrels, the Dragon Head fierce, the Dragon Mustache and Tusk vivid, and even its bright red scales were distinctly visible. This was the Lion Demon’s innate ability, the technique of flame shaping.
This Fire Dragon wasn’t created to enhance a festival’s celebratory atmosphere, of course. After forming, it circled twice above everyone’s heads, the surging heat nearly singeing their hair and mustaches. Only then did it roar with satisfaction and plunge headlong into the solid ice, clawing and digging with its teeth. The solid ice encountered such an unreasonable Fire Dragon, immediately emitting a hissing sound, and some wisps of smoke rose as the ice directly vaporized under the high temperature.
Before long, the Fire Dragon had excavated a deep pit in the ice surface. If someone dared to stick their head down and look, they could see this Fire Dragon digging straight down energetically. Wherever it had dug, it turned into a Big Hole nearly ten feet in diameter.
After another dozen breaths of time passed, a sudden burst of brilliance emerged from the ice cave, then returned to silence. The demons controlling the Fire Dragon with closed eyes opened them, their faces somewhat pale. The Lion Demon forced himself to be spirited and said, "Lord Ning, the ice layer has been penetrated." That burst of red sparkles was the intense light the Fire Dragon released upon completing its mission before dispersing.
"Go back to the caravan to rest." Ning Xiaoxian knew that such manipulation of Demon Art had become extremely taxing for him now, so she comforted him with a few words and then turned to the others, saying, "Follow me." Qi Zai’s figure flashed and had already rushed ahead of her into the solid ice passage.
Once she entered this passage, she knew her previous estimation was correct. Due to volcanic activity’s resurgence and the influence of geothermal overflow, the ice layer on the peak was less than sixty meters thick, allowing cultivators to penetrate it easily. Otherwise, facing hundreds of meters of thick solid ice, even the Hidden Guards would have a tough time.
The pangolin was right; it was indeed a vast, hollow area inside, with deep lake water below and slightly translucent ice above. Everything here seemed like an expansive cave and was at least as large as six or seven standard football fields. The air in this region was hot, at least over fifty degrees, so if a mortal entered, they’d likely be drenched in sweat within half a moment. Thanks to the pangolin’s reminder, all the Hidden Guards held their breath to avoid inhaling harmful gases and jeopardizing the mission.
By the dim light filtering through the ice beneath, she could make out that the lake beneath her feet was clear and beautiful. Since the volcanic crater was sealed by ice for decades and the place was windless, the lake’s surface was nearly still. Only the water droplets from the melting ice above that tapped the lake surface stirred slight ripples. Occasionally, a string of bubbles would rise from the lake’s bottom, as if mischievous fish were blowing bubbles. However, Ning Xiaoxian knew that life forms were unlikely to exist here.
This was a rare scene in the Mortal World, a sight mortals could never see because beneath the beautiful scenery lurked a venomous crisis. Any mortal entering here wouldn’t survive twenty breaths before suffocating or being poisoned to death. Yet, all present were too burdened to appreciate it because the presence of this lake reminded them of three things:
First, the lake surface was so vast that it made the search difficult. With the water so pure, it’s impossible to see the bottom, indicating the lake’s great depth.
Second, if the difficulty of completing a mission on land was one point, then underwater, it’s ten points. Because she couldn’t foresee that she’d need to dive to the lake’s bottom in the Great Snow Mountain, the Hidden Guards she brought were almost all unskilled in swimming. Otherwise, bringing a few Cayman Demons would’ve been good, but unfortunately, this group is inherently less cold-resistant. In fact, even among Hidden Stream monsters, land monsters or Bird Demons are the majority, with very few water-dwelling ones.
Third, the volcano was about to erupt, though the precise moment was unknown. But if it erupts while they’re still inside the mountain, the only outcome is being vaporized along with the entire lake, turning into nothingness. None of the demons present, not even Ning Xiaoxian herself, dared to face such natural might with their physical bodies.
