Chapter 642: Why Is There a Person?

Chapter 642 -638: Why Is There a Person?

Underground cavern.

Darkness reigned here, at an unknown depth beneath the earth.

In the endless, pitch-black darkness, a young man wreathed in golden flames lay silently.

Golden flames blazed fiercely around him, having already incinerated all the hair on his body. A layer of Dragon Scales covering his skin glimmered with a cyan light, but they were already turning crimson under the intense heat.

It wouldn’t be long before they were completely incinerated.

A pained expression contorted the young man’s face as his internal injuries grew more severe. Under the ceaseless burning of the Nine Netherworld Burning World Flame, Hong Yu felt as if he were being roasted alive.

Waves of searing pain emanated from his wounds.

If not for the protection of his Cyan Celestial Transformation Dragon Technique and Fire Cloud Divine Armor, Hong Yu would have already been reduced to a pile of ashes.

‘I finally escaped from them… But what now? If this keeps up, the Fire Cloud Divine Armor won’t hold out for much longer…’

Hong Yu forced his eyes open in agony. The flickering firelight immediately sent a searing pain through them.

Fortunately, the Star River within his Star Eyes slowly revolved, releasing a cool energy. Otherwise, his eyes would have been incinerated in an instant, blinding him.

‘Hm?’

In the midst of his torment, Hong Yu suddenly noticed that the golden flames surrounding him were thinning, before vanishing completely.

Enduring the excruciating pain, he struggled to turn his body, a puzzled look in his eyes.

‘Huh? The Luo Rune Seal is absorbing the flames?’

Hong Yu was stunned.

He realized the Luo Rune Seal in his palm was emitting a faint, dark light as it devoured the golden flames.

This made Hong Yu incredibly curious.

‘If the Luo Rune Seal can devour these golden flames, why didn’t it react the first time I came down here?’

A moment later, Hong Yu understood why.

‘The first time I came down, I hadn’t summoned the Luo Rune Seal. But when the Chrysanthemum King blasted me down here, I hadn’t put it away.’

Unexpectedly, that stroke of luck had saved his life.

‘Fortune and misfortune truly are two sides of the same coin. The twists of fate are impossible to predict!’ Hong Yu sighed with emotion.

Then, his gaze turned icy. “It seems even heaven doesn’t want me dead,” he murmured coldly. “Snake King… Chrysanthemum King… The North and South Divine City and the West Gate Divine City, is it? Heh… You’ve pushed me into such a wretched state this time. When I get back, I’ll wipe every single one of you out.”

HSSST!

He had accidentally aggravated his injuries. A sharp, bone-deep pain shot through his broken limbs. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Hong Yu’s brow furrowed deeply.

He took a deep breath, and after a moment, the pain subsided slightly. He then retrieved a Sixth-grade Healing Spirit Pill from his Storage Ring and swallowed it.

As the Pill’s medicinal properties spread through him, his internal injuries finally stabilized for the time being.

He rested for a full three hours.

Finally, Hong Yu managed to prop himself up into a sitting position and painstakingly began to circulate his Profound Skill.

His haul from the Nanshan Collection hadn’t been limited to just the Cyan Lotus Earth Heart Fruit; his other gains had been substantial. Among them were several types of exceedingly rare Top-Grade Elemental Spirit Ore.

Initially, Hong Yu had been reluctant to use them.

But now, in this time of crisis, he had to force himself to use them.

He took out the ores and arranged them in a Grand Array around himself.

Hong Yu sat cross-legged in the center of the Array. The circulation of his Profound Skill became exponentially more effective, gradually mending his injuries and broken limbs.

Fortunately, his injuries were recent.

Therefore, bolstered by his Primordial Gang Fighting Technique and the Pill, Hong Yu’s recovery was astonishingly fast.

Even so, it was already the next day by the time his broken limbs were fully mended.

BOOM!

The surrounding Top-Grade Ore had been simultaneously maintaining the Array and fueling the absorption of Hong Yu’s Primordial Gang Fighting Technique. Finally, unable to bear the heavy load, they lost their original luster, turned a deathly gray, and shattered into pieces.

This was the result of their energy being completely drained.

FWOOSH!

The moment the Array vanished, golden flames ignited around Hong Yu once more.

Hong Yu calmly summoned the Luo Rune Seal.

As the Luo Rune Seal appeared and began to devour the golden flames, Hong Yu took a deep breath. He gazed into the pitch-black surroundings, feeling lost. ‘What should I do now? They definitely won’t leave so easily. They still haven’t gotten the Venerable Golden Bone. Those bastards will definitely find a way to come down. I can’t just sit here and wait to die…’

Both the Snake King and the Chrysanthemum King possessed astonishing combat strength.

‘The only reason I managed to escape this time was because of the appearance of that freak, the Chrysanthemum King, which gave me an opportunity to flee.’

‘Otherwise… I’m afraid I would have been facing a dead end!’

‘But now, facing this incredibly dark world with its eerie golden flames, what can I possibly do? What should I do?’

Illusory Spirit Celestial Eyes!

A silver radiance swirled in his left eye, and Hong Yu’s vision sharpened by a factor of several hundred.

He found that he could now perceive a sliver of clarity in the darkness, but what met his eyes was a field of absolute Chaos, as if this cavern contained nothing at all—only Darkness.

‘What a strange place… But where are these golden flames coming from?’ Hong Yu wondered.

Just then, his brow twitched. A dazed, bewildered look entered his eyes, but he quickly snapped back to his senses, jolted by his Star River Spirit Bone.

Hong Yu looked uncertainly in a specific direction and murmured, “Is that strange Demonic Sound back? It seems to be trying to bewitch me, to summon me over… What’s over there? Should I go?”

One should always approach the unknown with a sense of awe and caution.

So said a seasoned adventurer.

Though curious about the Demonic Sound, Hong Yu didn’t move rashly. On second thought, however, he realized that just waiting here wasn’t a solution. The Snake King and Chrysanthemum King might even find a way to come down and look for him.

If that happened, he would truly have nowhere to run.

At this thought, Hong Yu’s gaze became resolute. ‘Fortune favors the bold. Right now, I’m trapped with nowhere to go. This Demonic Sound is my only clue. I have to give it a try!’

WHOOSH!

A cyan light erupted.

He activated his Dragon Spirit Sacred Body, and a tail like forged steel sprouted from behind him.

He gripped the Godslaying Spear, his expression solemn, and cautiously made his way toward the source of the Demonic Sound.

The closer he got to the source, the more powerful the Demonic Sound became. Even Hong Yu found it difficult to endure. He felt dizzy, his vision swam, and a single thought began to take root in his mind—’So tired. I want to sleep.’

Hong Yu shook his head sharply, a look of horror in his eyes. ‘What a terrifying Demonic Sound. I was almost lulled to sleep.’

Falling asleep in such an unknown place would most likely mean death.

After all, the only reason he could still walk through the Darkness was that the Luo Rune Seal was constantly active, frantically absorbing the golden flames.

If he fell asleep, the Luo Rune Seal would lose its power source, and he would surely be burned alive.

He continued forward for about another half hour.

Golden flames now completely enveloped Hong Yu’s body. The Luo Rune Seal’s absorption speed was clearly starting to fall behind the rate at which the flames were appearing. Moreover, the temperature of the golden flames was climbing ever higher. Even the Fire Cloud Divine Armor was becoming scorching hot and seemed on the verge of failing.

‘Looks like my only option is to try that Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal!’

A thought crossed Hong Yu’s mind.

He had discovered the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal in the Profound Ice Secret Realm. Although he had used most of it to craft an Ice Coffin for Beichen Tianshuang, he still had some leftover pieces.

He immediately took out a piece and held it in his hand.

Ordinarily, if Hong Yu were to hold a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal like this, his palm would have instantly flash-frozen and cracked, and the chill would have quickly turned his entire body into an ice sculpture.

But here in this strange subterranean cavern, surrounded by golden flames, the heat counteracted the intense cold of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal.

He continued forward.

A piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal the size of a human head would have required tens of thousands of strikes of his Elemental Power to shatter. But wreathed in these golden flames, a piece that large only lasted for about half an hour.

Fortunately, Hong Yu had plenty of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal fragments.

After walking through the Darkness for a full six or seven hours, Hong Yu finally approached the source of the Demonic Sound.

By the time he arrived, the intensity of the golden flames had reached a terrifying level.

Even holding a piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal in each hand, combined with the power of the Luo Rune Seal, he was still unable to completely counteract the golden flames.

His entire body was engulfed in blazing flames, making him look like a Fire God wreathed in fire.

Fortunately, after being roasted for so long, Hong Yu had started to adapt to being tempered by the golden flames. Even the Dragon Scales on his body had begun to take on a faint golden hue over their original cyan.

“Damn it all! If this keeps up, I’m going to turn into a freaking Sleeping Beauty!”

He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, the sharp pain shocking him into a clearer state of mind. Hong Yu shook his head in frustration.

The closer he got to its source, the more terrifying the Demonic Sound became.

The silver radiance within his Illusory Spirit Celestial Eyes spun wildly. He could clearly feel that the source of the Demonic Sound was not far, yet he was still unable to see its location.

HUMMMMM!

Another wave of the Demonic Sound washed over him.

This time, the Demonic Sound was much clearer. Although he couldn’t understand the words, it made Hong Yu stagger and fall to the ground. His eyelids felt as if they were filled with lead, and he simply couldn’t open them. Helpless, he had to force his aching arm to move, placing two small slivers of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal over his eyes.

The bone-chilling cold brought some life back to his aching eyes.

His mind cleared as well.

A Demonic Sound of this intensity would put an ordinary Primordial Spirit Realm expert to sleep ninety-nine times out of a hundred, causing them to never wake up and be burned to death by the golden flames.

‘Finally made it through that one!’

The Demonic Sound came in waves; though still incredibly powerful, there were momentary lulls in between.

Hong Yu pushed through the wave and quickened his pace.

SZZZZZ!

The golden flames grew ever more numerous, roasting Hong Yu so intensely he felt like he might cough up blood.

Even his blood felt like it was boiling!

‘Hm?’

As Hong Yu was walking, his eyes suddenly lit up. He spotted a glimmer of light up ahead.

However, the golden flames and the Demonic Sound had now intensified to a hundred times their original strength. The fiery clouds on his Fire Cloud Divine Armor were completely crimson, and his Dragon Scales had turned blood-red, like steel that had been tempered in a furnace for a long time.

Hong Yu even felt that if he had a few pieces of iron right now, he could heat them red-hot with his bare hands and forge a weapon.

Of course, under these golden flames, even a Fifth-Grade Primordial Weapon would be reduced to molten slag, let alone mere Vanadium Steel.

‘Huh?’

It took Hong Yu a full three hours to traverse the last few hundred meters of the path. The Darkness finally ceased to exist, and light appeared before him. A cluster of dazzling golden light, like a Buddha Kingdom submerged in the dark, filled the air with a sacred and solemn aura.

Hong Yu squinted to get a better look, and as his vision focused, his eyes shot wide open…

“What the hell? Th-there’s a person here?”