Seven days later, the lava receded.
In Boiling Spring Valley, there is an underground cavern. The cave is quiet, and the surrounding soil and rocks appear scorched and melted.
With a crash, a large chunk of earth and rock suddenly fell from the rock wall, revealing a dark hole behind it. Then, Zhao Sheng, covered in dust, crawled out of the hole.
Breathing in the scorching, murky air of the cave, Zhao Sheng was speechless, feeling a slight sense of relief that he had escaped unscathed.
Without a doubt, the magma eruption three days ago has completely altered the geography of Boiling Spring Valley and also destroyed the Zhou family's millennia of hard work.
Zhao Sheng steadied himself, released his divine sense, and followed the passage carved out by the magma to find a way out.
Half an hour later, after traversing many detours and dead ends, Zhao Sheng felt that he was getting closer and closer to the ground. One piece of evidence was that the surrounding temperature had dropped significantly.
After a while, Zhao Sheng walked through a bumpy tunnel.
At this moment, he could already feel fresh air coming from the end.
Zhao Sheng was overjoyed. His spiritual energy suddenly surged, and he lifted himself off the ground, about to fly away from this place.
At that moment, a figure suddenly flashed past at the end of the tunnel.
Zhao Sheng's gaze sharpened, and his right hand swiftly swept across the storage bag, instantly producing two Concealing Spirit Talismans and Invisibility Talismans in his hand.
In the blink of an eye, he concealed his aura and disappeared, his body lying upside down in a groove on the top of the tunnel.
Soon, a figure swiftly swept past from below and darted into the depths of the tunnel.
"It's him!"
Despite the man's swift movements, Zhao Sheng still recognized him.
"Zhou Yingze!"
Zhou Yingze, the current head of the Zhou family and a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the Great Perfection stage, should have been the most important target, but he is still alive!
This surprised Zhao Sheng greatly.
However, judging from his pale face and weak breathing, he was clearly seriously injured.
Zhao Sheng knew that the Zhou family was destined to perish, but why did Zhou Yingze dare to risk being discovered and enter Boiling Spring Valley at this critical juncture? There must be a grand scheme behind it.
Without hesitation, Zhao Sheng concealed his aura and quietly gave chase.
Zhou Yingze was seriously injured. The damage to his meridians and internal organs was secondary. More serious was that his soul was struck by the Ice Soul Divine Light, and his soul and spirit were frozen.
If he is not treated quickly, he will surely die once the extreme yin and cold energy completely invades his soul.
Therefore, he had to risk his life to enter Boiling Spring Valley in order to find a treasure hidden deep underground.
After traveling for about fifteen minutes, passing seven or eight forks in the road, Zhou Yingze stopped at a spacious cave. He then released a small mouse, about the size of a palm, with jet-black fur all over its body, except for its pair of eyes that were as red as diamonds.
After landing, the little mouse squeaked twice and then darted quickly into the depths of the ground.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Yingze's face lit up with joy, and he quickly followed.
Zhao Sheng dared not get too close, nor did he use his divine sense to investigate; he only carefully tracked the target using his spiritual senses.
Over the next few days, Zhou Yingze traversed countless lava tunnels. Sometimes, when there was no way through, he had to carve out new passages, which took up most of his time.
After squeezing through a narrow, jagged crevice in the rocks, Zhao Sheng saw a faint red light shining through the air ahead, along with a wave of heat rushing towards him.
Zhao Sheng paused, then slowly floated to the entrance of the passage, completely concealing his body and only cautiously releasing a little bit of his divine sense.
The next second, his vision suddenly opened up, and what came into view was an underground cave. Below was a rolling, boiling, blazing red magma. Huge fire bubbles rose and burst in the magma, and tongues and columns of fire spewed out from the cracks in the rocks, eventually turning into streams of molten metal that flowed into the sea of fire below.
"This is lava... a river?"
Zhao Sheng peeked out from the crack in the rock and saw the thick lava flowing slowly along the riverbed below. It would turn from one crevice into another, or split into more branches, but under the influence of gravity, the lava river would eventually flow into deeper strata.
Looking around the grottoes, Zhou Yingze's figure was easily spotted.
At this moment, he stood on the edge of the lava river, staring at it motionless, as if he had encountered a problem.
Zhao Sheng turned his gaze and immediately found the person who was causing him trouble.
On the lava river, the thing was quite conspicuous. Its pitch-black body floated and sank in the blazing red lava, occasionally wriggling, indicating that it was a living creature.
Perhaps Zhou Yingze had been watching it for too long, because the thing was extremely sensitive; its body suddenly twisted and floated upwards, revealing a large, broad, flat, and thick head.
The next instant, three pairs of golden eyes, gleaming with fiery light, opened simultaneously, six beams of golden light shooting out more than a foot from their sockets, staring directly at Zhou Yingze. The scene was quite astonishing.
Zhou Yingze's body visibly stiffened for a moment.
"The Gold-Melting Frog?"
Zhao Sheng was also startled, and a name suddenly popped into his mind.
Once the monster had fully emerged from the lava, Zhao Sheng was able to see its full appearance.
It supported its enormous body, which was about ten feet tall, and its entire body was covered with dark gold scales. Hot magma flowed out from the gaps in the scales, but this powerful monster did not care at all.
Zhou Yingze was very cautious and immediately took a step back, adopting a defensive posture.
In the past, although the Gold Frog was strong, it was no match for him.
But now he is not only severely injured, but he has also lost his handy magical artifacts and talismans, and his strength is less than half of what it used to be.
On the lava river, the molten gold frog was enraged by the creature that disturbed its sleep. It hissed and roared, and its three pairs of golden eyes suddenly expanded, illuminating the dim stone cave with a blinding golden light.
Zhou Yingze cursed under his breath and suddenly retreated. A fraction of a second too late, and six golden beams, each as thick as a child's arm, pierced through his original spot, leaving six bottomless holes with crimson edges and molten lava dripping into them.
These six golden beams shot out from the pupils of the Molten Gold Frog. Their core temperature was several orders of magnitude higher than that of magma, comparable to a high-energy laser, making them incredibly powerful.
Struck by this golden light, ordinary defensive magical artifacts are like paper, utterly useless.
Having missed its first attack, the Molten Gold Frog was clearly agitated. It thrashed about on the lava river twice, croaked loudly, and tried to pounce, but hesitated. In the end, it could only release golden light again, and as expected, it missed once more.
"Huh?"
Upon seeing this, Zhao Sheng had a sudden thought.
The Molten Gold Frog was clearly not a good-tempered creature, but despite Zhou Yingze's repeated provocations, it remained huddled on the lava river, preferring to roar and spew furiously rather than leave that area.
At this moment, Zhao Sheng realized that there must be something hidden under the feet of the Gold-Melting Frog.
With this discovery, Zhao Sheng also noticed that Zhou Yingze's gaze never left the monster's feet while he was entangled with the Gold-Melting Frog.
The two fought for a long time, and by this time Zhou Yingze had figured out the three main moves of the Gold-Melting Frog.
So, after dodging a golden light attack, Zhou Yingze chanted an incantation and suddenly lifted his hands upwards.
Two vortexes suddenly appeared on either side of the Molten Gold Frog's body, as if an invisible hand was stirring them inside. Finally, they suddenly exploded upwards, sending blazing red magma soaring into the sky, creating a scorching vortex.