Chapter 141 — The Lava Pool

A few minutes later, Monkaster finally stood.

He slowly circulated his Spiritual Energy through his body, clearing away the excess energy Victor's Monkey Fist had left behind. The process took longer than he expected.

Then Monkaster paused.

His expression changed slightly.

There was something mixed within his energy.

Something incredibly pure.

An alchemical flame.

It wasn't enough to overwhelm his own energy, but Monkaster could clearly sense a trace of it lingering within his meridians.

More importantly, he felt something else.

The curse inside his body reacted to it.

For the briefest moment, the curse seemed to tremble beneath the presence of that strange flame.

Monkaster's eyes narrowed.

Interesting.

He remained silent for a moment, contemplating what he had just sensed.

Whatever Victor's flame was, Monkaster didn't intend to question him about it now.

Monkaster straightened and looked toward Victor.

"Well done, Victor."

Victor smiled.

"Thank you, Teacher."

Monkaster nodded.

"There's a place I need to show you."

Victor raised an eyebrow.

"A place?"

He assumed Monkaster meant the cultivation chamber.

And he was right.

"The Prime Ape has access to a special cultivation chamber."

Monkaster turned and began walking.

"The Lava Pool."

Victor's eyes immediately lit up.

"So now that I'm officially the Prime Ape, I have the right to use it?"

Monkaster glanced back.

"Exactly."

Victor followed.

Monkasa stayed behind.

Neither of them spoke much as they walked through the village.

They passed the familiar treehouses and bridges, eventually moving toward the outer perimeter of the community.

As they moved farther from the center of the village, the sounds of the other monkeys gradually faded.

They eventually reached the area behind the massive treehouse settlement.

Monkaster rounded a corner.

A cave entrance appeared ahead.

It descended directly into the ground, forming a long stone ramp that disappeared into darkness.

Victor looked at it curiously.

Monkaster gestured toward the entrance.

"Come, Victor."

Victor followed him down.

The deeper they went, the warmer the air became.

At the bottom of the ramp, Victor noticed a stone plaque above another opening.

His eyes immediately narrowed.

Carved into the plaque was the familiar symbol.

The upside-down alchemical flask.

Victor stopped.

He stared at it.

Samal.

Below the symbol were several words.

Victor read them slowly.

"The past holds the truth. The present holds the choice. The future holds the reckoning."

Victor stared at the sentence.

Something about it felt important.

He couldn't explain why.

Monkaster stood beside him, staring into the chamber beyond.

For several seconds, the old monkey didn't speak.

His expression was distant.

Almost as though he were remembering something.

Eventually, he looked down at Victor.

"All right."

He pointed toward the entrance.

"Go ahead and enter."

Victor blinked.

"You're not coming?"

Monkaster shook his head.

"I'll leave you to it."

Victor looked at him with mild confusion.

But the old monkey had already turned around.

Victor watched as his teacher began walking away.

"Teacher?"

Monkaster didn't stop.

Victor stood there for another moment.

Then he turned toward the chamber.

Whatever reason Monkaster had for leaving him alone, Victor wasn't going to complain.

He was far more interested in what was waiting beyond the entrance.

The upside-down symbol had appeared again.

Another piece of Samal's mystery.

Victor stepped forward.

The moment he entered the chamber, an intense wave of heat washed over him.

His expression changed.

Hot.

This wasn't ordinary heat.

The temperature was so extreme that simply standing there was uncomfortable.

Victor looked around.

The chamber was enormous.

At its center was a massive pool of lava.

A waterfall of molten rock poured down from above, falling roughly fifteen feet before crashing into the pool below.

The lava continued flowing from the pool into a narrow river that disappeared deeper into the cave.

The entire chamber seemed to have been carved around the lava itself.

There was almost nothing else here.

Victor slowly walked closer.

The heat intensified.

He circulated more of his Black Flame.

Then something incredible happened.

His Core began absorbing Spiritual Energy like crazy.

Victor froze.

The speed was astonishing.

Energy flooded into his body far faster than it ever had during normal cultivation.

The Black Flame seemed to devour the surrounding fire-rich energy, refine it, and feed it into his body.

Victor's eyes widened.

This place is incredible.

He sat down for a moment and tested his cultivation.

The result was almost absurd.

If he were severely injured after a battle and unable to move, something that might normally require two or three weeks of recovery could potentially be reduced to only four or five days here.

The concentration of fire energy was simply too great.

And for someone possessing an alchemical flame like Victor's, this place was even more valuable.

It wasn't merely a good cultivation environment.

It was almost miraculous.

Victor slowly stood.

He looked around again.

Despite the incredible cultivation environment, however, disappointment began creeping into his expression.

He had expected something else.

Some clue about Samal.

Maybe another vision.

Instead…

It was just a cultivation chamber.

Victor sighed.

"So much for that."

Then Victors focus was broken when he heard a sound.

Splash.

Victor froze.

His head slowly turned.

The sound had come from the lava pool.

He stared toward the waterfall.

At first, he couldn't see anything unusual.

Then he noticed it.

At the bottom of the waterfall, where the molten rock crashed into the pool, something was sticking out.

Victor narrowed his eyes.

He watched.

The object moved.

Victor's expression slowly changed.

Something enormous was rising from beneath the lava.

Victor instinctively stepped backward.

The surface of the lava rippled.

A massive hand emerged.

The creature pulled itself upward.

Victor's eyes widened.

A giant Lava Rock Monkey emerged from the pool.

It was enormous.

Perhaps many larger than any Lava Rock Monkey Victor had ever seen.

Its body was covered in ancient tattoos.

They resembled the tattoos worn by the other members of the clan.

But these were different.

They covered nearly the entirety of the giant monkey's body.

Ancient symbols ran across his arms, chest, shoulders, back, and even his face.

The tattoos seemed to have been carved into his body over countless years.

Victor's instincts screamed.

Danger.

The pressure radiating from the creature was overwhelming.

Victor's body instinctively stiffened.

His breathing became difficult.

His heart pounded.

He didn't need to sense the creature's cultivation to understand the difference between them.

This being could kill him with a thought.

Victor wouldn't even have time to activate Flash Step.

The giant Lava Rock Monkey simply looked at him.

Those ancient eyes carried a weight Victor had never experienced before.

Victor swallowed.

Running was pointless.

There was nowhere to hide.

And even if there had been somewhere to run, the creature could probably reach him before he took his first step.

So Victor did the only thing he could.

He slowly lowered his head.

Then he bowed deeply.

"I'm sorry for intruding, Senior."

He remained bowed.

He didn't move.

He didn't dare.

The giant Lava Rock Monkey continued staring at him.

Silence filled the chamber.

The lava continued flowing behind them.

Hissss…

Victor kept his head lowered.

He could feel the creature's gaze on him.

His palms slowly became sweaty.

For the first time in a long while, Victor felt completely powerless.

He waited.

Whatever happened next was no longer up to him.

Victor simply remained bowed, waiting for the ancient Lava Rock Monkey to decide his fate.