Chapter 1822: Underground Monk
Could it be that the formation transported people randomly? He hadn’t entered another secret dungeon, had he?
Zu An was nervous. The secret dungeons had always transported people to random places in the past too.
He took out a luminescent pearl to illuminate his surroundings and saw tunnels extending in all directions. The familiar style of architecture made him sigh in relief. He was still in the tomb, but he couldn't sense the presence of any other people or living creatures. He was definitely no longer in the upper floors of the tomb.
However, his eyes quickly narrowed. He noticed that there were some white bones scattered across the ground in places. Judging from the size of the bones, they clearly didn’t belong to humans, and instead belonged to monsters that had died here.
Suddenly, strange winds blew through the tomb. Waves of muffled roars filled the air from time to time. They sounded even closer than what Zu An had heard while in Immortal Ruler Baopu’s burial room. He could clearly sense the power behind them now. Thus, he was most likely in the depths of this great tomb.
Zu An recalled Immortal Ruler Baopu and Jing Teng mentioning that the truly terrifying creatures had been sealed in the depths of the great tomb. Furthermore, neither the Death Reaper or the Earthflame Devil were actually qualified to be on the lower levels. When he thought of that, his expression turned grave. It would be best if he found Jing Teng quickly and left this place as soon as possible.
However, this tomb was full of different paths, just like a maze. Just where was he supposed to go?
He tried to search with his divine sense, but the great tomb had a powerful suppressive effect on divine sense. Now that he was in the depths of the great tomb, his divine sense only reached about three feet around him, making its range even more limited than his sight. Next, he raised the jade badge into the air. A fluorescent glow appeared on its surface, but it quickly disappeared. Sure enough, there were no smaller creatures he could control.
Just when he was at a loss for where to go, he suddenly smelled a faint scent of sulfur. Since he didn’t have any other leads to follow, he decided to follow the smell first. It remained faint for some time, but it became stronger and stronger, mixed with some hot and stuffy air. He felt as if he had entered a sauna.
Zu An frowned. Could it be that this was an underwater hot spring? He used his ki to surround his entire body, quickly cooling himself down.
As he continued to explore, he discovered that his surroundings could no longer really be called tomb paths. Many of them were more like naturally formed caves.
Could it be that since this great tomb had been built along a mountain, it actually used some natural terrain? However, just what kind of being could create a great tomb like this?
There were many forked paths, and taking one only led to many more. Most importantly, they were all winding and complicated. Caverns appeared at fixed intervals, and they all looked the same. It really was headache-inducing, just like a maze.
At first, Zu An kept track of which path he took, but eventually, he just gave up. He couldn't remember it all. However, he could feel that he wasn’t walking on a level surface. These naturally formed rock caverns seemed to vaguely be moving down, deeper and deeper. As the gradient wasn’t too steep, it was easy to not notice.
Little by little, a hint of red light began to appear in front of him. He followed the source of the light and saw that it actually came from walls that had turned red from sheer heat. The surrounding air became more and more scorching as waves of heat rushed at him. It was several times hotter than even the Earthflame Devil’s area from before. If not for Zu An’s profound cultivation and Pei Mianman’s flame-resistant pendant, he would likely have already caught on fire and started to burn.
“Is it lava again?” he muttered with a frown. However, after thinking about it, it made sense. The reason there had been lava near the Earthflame Devil was most likely because of the leakage of fire elemental energy from the tomb’s depths.
His shoes soon became sticky. Even though there was a great deal of power protecting them, they still looked as if they were being roasted. When he saw that, he was about to turn around to leave and find another path. Even though he could still hold on right now, who knew if he would end up being roasted alive if he went deeper in.
Suddenly, however, he heard a faint and indistinct voice. “Help… Help… me…”
Zu An was startled. He looked up ahead, but the voice didn’t repeat itself. However, he knew he definitely hadn’t heard incorrectly. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to give it a look. He had been completely stumped as to where to go in the labyrinth, with no idea where he would go to find Jing Teng. He had finally met another living being, so it was a good idea to ask them for some information.
He carefully protected himself with ki, then began to walk across the red-hot ground. After a while, though, he suddenly thought of something. He took out the Soulburn Firecrystal from before. It began to shine, seemingly absorbing the fire element energy around it. With the help of the Soulburn Firecrystal, he felt the pressure around him decrease substantially. He was able to move much faster as well.
He was quite curious as to just what kind of material the rock walls were made of. It was being burned to such an extent, and yet there was still no sign of them melting at all.
…
After he continued for a while, a white lake appeared before his eyes. However, upon closer inspection, it wasn’t lakewater at all, but clearly all lava! It had already turned a brightly glowing white, so it was apparent just how high the temperature had reached.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t necessarily even lava anymore, but rather the purest embodiment of the fire element. Forget about ordinary people, even higher-level cultivators could very well just turn into ash upon contact with it, right?
This lake was countless times larger than the Earthflame Devil’s region, to the extent that Zu An couldn't even see the other end of it. It almost seemed more like an ocean than a lake. Shockingly, however, in the center was a small island that was less than a square meter wide.
An old monk was sitting there, his hands together as he muttered some kind of sutra. His entire body flickered slightly, barely blocking the surging magma around him. However, his clothes had already been completely destroyed, leaving only his aged, stooped body. There were all sorts of scars and scorched traces on his body, without a single patch of intact skin to be seen. They had clearly been inflicted by the lava splashing all around him.
As if sensing Zu An’s arrival, the old monk slowly opened his eyes. There was a hint of joy on his face as he said, “I’ve finally managed to hold out until a fated one arrived. Hurry and come here; I’ll pass on everything I’ve learned in this life to you. That way, my legacy won’t end here.”
However, Zu An didn’t move. Instead, he cupped his hands and asked, “Why is senior here?”
“That’s a long story,” the old monk said with a sigh.
“That’s fine. I have plenty of time,” Zu An said with a smile. Even though he was worried about Jing Teng’s safety, he still looked rather leisurely on the surface.
The old monk was briefly struck speechless. He could only say, “In the past, this old one practiced evil exorcism and delved into this great tomb. Unfortunately, after a great battle, I was seriously injured and was accidentally trapped here. After so many years, my life is already nearing its end. At first, I thought I could only silently wait for my death, but a destined person actually came. In that case, I can pass on all of my knowledge to you, and thus my legacy can continue to exist in the world. I can then have no regrets left in this world.”
“Thank you, senior. Senior can tell me about it now; junior will listen respectfully,” Zu An said with a respectful expression.
The old monk was struck speechless again. He could only endure his frustrations and say, “There isn’t much of my life left, so I might not be able to last long enough to explain all of it. If you come over, I can pass it all onto you in the form of divine will. Since you’ve been able to come all the way here safely, your cultivation isn’t bad. It shouldn’t be too much of an issue for you to fly all the way here.”
Zu An said seriously, “Unfortunately, I have more pressing matters, so I’ll come for senior’s teachings once I’ve completed my task.”
“Didn’t you just say you had more than enough time?!” the old monk exclaimed. He was stunned, but he quickly said, “My life is already nearing its end, and I only have a single breath left. By the time you return, I’ll definitely already be dead. It would be best if you seize the moment; the process will be very quick.”
Zu An scratched his head in embarrassment, saying “What senior says makes sense. Since there isn’t much time, I’ll receive senior’s inheritance first.”
A look of joy appeared in that old monk’s eyes when he heard that. Not a single person had come here in so many years. As long as the stranger approached, the monk would have a chance to possess his body and leave this place that sealed him.
As such, he said in an even more amiable manner, “Hurry and come over.”
Zu An ran over to the edge of the lake. As soon as he flew a few meters, however, flames appeared on his clothes. He jumped back in fright and exclaimed, “No way! I can’t do it! I don’t know what’s going on with this lava. It’s too strong and I can’t come over.”
He had put away both the fire pendant and the Soulburn Firecrystal, and he hadn’t used his ki at full power to protect himself. That was why he had ended up in such a sorry state.
The old monk said gravely, “This lava has already turned white, which is the embodiment of an extreme fire spirit. It’s indeed a bit difficult for ordinary people to face it. It’s fine; this old one has something that just happens to be able to help you cross over.”
As soon as he said that, he took out an alms bowl from who knew where. He gently caressed the surface with a reluctant look, as if he were stroking his own lover. With a gentle push, that alms bowl flew straight up to Zu An. Then, he quickly said, “Just jump in here and it can turn into a ship to bring you over. You must move quickly, because it will also sustain damage if it stays in the lava for too long.”
Zu An received the alms bowl. It was violet-gold in color, and there were some Buddhist engravings on its surface. There was a vast sense of benevolence coming out from it. He was stunned. Could it be that he had made some kind of mistake?
He couldn't help but say, “This item looks quite mysterious. May I ask how to use it?”
The old monk replied, “This item is named the Violet-Gold Alms. It can help you defend against all kinds of supernatural, demonic, and other influences that attack the soul. This item has already selected me as its owner, so once you obtain my inheritance, you’ll naturally become its new owner.”
He was worried that the youngster would become greedy, so he made sure to state that the item already had an owner. Without his permission, it would be completely useless even if they obtained it. On the contrary, as long as the youngster obtained his inheritance, he would obtain it as well. It clearly wasn’t a difficult choice to make.
Zu An was overjoyed. Even though his Primordial Origin Sutra was able to purify evil beings, it wasn’t very effective against spiritual attacks. Furthermore, Hundredwarble was an offensive skill, and it didn’t specialize in soul protection. He had suffered bitterly before in the fight against the Ghost King. If he’d had such an item, their group wouldn’t have ended up in such a terrible state.
Furthermore, it could even guard against supernatural and demonic beings! It was rumored that once one’s cultivation reached a certain level, they would manifest heart devils, and perhaps other devils would even attack. If one couldn’t guard one’s heart well, that devil would devour heir entire soul. All of their cultivation would thus become wasted effort.
He cupped his hands toward the old monk and said, “Thank you for this treasure, senior. I’m still in a rush to save my friends. Once I save my friends, though, I’ll definitely hurry back to inherit senior’s inheritance.”
After saying that, he put the Violet-Gold Alms away, then turned around to run.
The old monk had been waiting for him to come over with a big smile. When he heard the response, he was immediately stupefied.
“???”
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