Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

Fortunately, Yang Dingtian didn't face any danger while he was traveling through the jungle. He didn't see any illusionary beast, and he didn't see any living person.

The Heaven Flame Phoenix, which spent a great deal its time in the Fire Cloud Devil Cave, was about the only dangerous creature around. As it reigned over the entire island, no powerful creature, illusionary or not, would dare to challenge its authority by intruding on the island.

Strangely, when Yang Dingtian had reached the bottom of the volcano, it wasn't as hot as he expected. When he looked upward, he could see that the volcano was so tall that it was literally amongst the clouds.

The surface of the volcano, which was const.i.tuted of solidified lava, had a fluid-like appearance to it despite how hard it was. It was almost like somebody had made a stone sculpture of the moving tides.

To enter the Fire Cloud Devil Cave, all you have to do was to climb the volcano and jump straight down its crater.

After taking a deep breath, Yang Dingtian began climbing his way to the top.

Despite the steepness and the smoothness of the volcano's surface, Yang Dingtian was still making quite good progress with his climb. Within just half an hour, he was already halfway to the top.

Thud Thud Thud.

Without any signs, the entire volcano started quaking like crazy, and it almost made Yang Dingtian slip from where he was standing.

Followed by the shaking, a loud, sharp noise started soaring through the sky from the inside of the volcano.

Without showing signs of stopping, the noise was only getting louder and sharper as every second pa.s.sed by.

Yang Dingtian was able to withstand it at the start, but soon he was in too much pain to even stand up straight. In less than a minute, he was already on the ground, kneeling as his eardrums were about to rupture.

It appeared that the Heaven Flame Phoenix was trying to send a warning to Yang Dingtian. It was trying to warn him not to go inside its home. Of course, the Heaven Flame Phoenix wasn't planning to fly out of the volcano as of yet. A mere human like Yang Dingtian was not worthy of such attention, not when he was still struggling to find his way inside the Fire Cloud Devil Cave.

After about ten minutes of continuous screeching, blood was starting to pour out of Yang Dingtian's ears. Several parts of his skin were torn open too. And by the time the Phoenix finally decided to stop its terrible cry, Yang Dingtian's entire body was completely covered in his own blood.

While trying to recover, Yang Dingtian took a long breath and got up from the ground.

Honestly, a little longer of this torture and he would've been done for. If Yang Dingtian didn't possess the Nine Yang Mystic Meridians, any human, even a Mystic Martial Fighter, would've died from the screeching of a Heaven Flame Phoenix.

Honestly, even a grandmaster wouldn't want to anger a millennium-old monster like it. They stand absolutely no chance against it.

After taking another deep breath, Yang Dingtian continued to climb upward.

Yet, by the time he had noticed it, the entire top half of the volcano was turning in glowing red color. Even the ground which Yang Dingtian was standing on was starting to melt once again.

No! No! No!

There wasn't any time to think. Before, it was the vocal warning of the Phoenix. Now it was a game of “The Floor Is Lava.”

Strangely, the entire top half of the volcano was now in fluid form, and the bottom half was still cold-solid rock.

If Yang Dingtian didn't leave this volcano now, the Heaven Flame Phoenix would probably melt the entire volcano. If that actually happened, he might have to take the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl right away.

But if Yang Dingtian took the pill now, how was he supposed to face the Heaven Flame Phoenix later on? He would be completely hopeless if he wasted his resources right away.

“d.a.m.n it…”

As he held his breath, Yang Dingtian quickly made a run towards the top.

As Yang Dingtian ran faster and faster, the ground he was stepping on was turning brighter and redder.

Three kilometers left before reaching the volcano's crater, the ground beneath Yang Dingtian was already one thousand degrees. Right now, the pair of boots Yang Dingtian was wearing had already been burnt out. He was now wearing a pair of Chilling Iron Boots to protect his feet.

Two kilometers before he had reached the volcano's top, the Chilling Iron Boots Yang Dingtian was wearing were turning red too. Both his feet were starting to burn so badly that it was the only thing he could feel.

A thousand and five hundred meters before reaching the top, the Chilling Iron Boots were already burnt through, and the raging flames were about to touch Yang Dingtian's feet.

Yang Dingtian was in real trouble now. The protection gear he had just lost was an exquisite item made entirely out of Fire Immunity Silk, costing at about ten grand of gold. If something that good couldn't stand against the heat, it wouldn't be hard to imagine how long human flesh would last.

With the Nine Yang Mystic Meridians, Yang Dingtian was very resistant against mystic qi attack. That being said, he was just as vulnerable as any normal person against fire.

By now, every piece of clothing Yang Dingtian was wearing was starting to catch fire. All the sweating coming out was drying him up. His lips were starting to crack, and his throat was aching for moisture like the desert during the daytime.

Any more of this could end him immediately.

After he quickly swallowed another pill, Yang Dingtian ran upward with all the strength that he had. Yet, not even three hundred meters in, he was already falling backward. The ground he was running on was completely melted into a fluid form, and it was running straight down.

Terrifyingly, the temperature beneath Yang Dingtian's feet was about four to five thousand degrees. The fireproof garment he was wearing underneath his feet was just about to burn into ashes.

Neither advancing or retreating was an option. There were only two choices here, and those were to take the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl right here or be melted alive by the boiling lava.

Just when his feet were about to burn, an idea suddenly came to Yang Dingtian. He jumped as high as he could and quickly took out the Night Owl Strange Blade from his ring of storage. Then, by thrusting the blade downward, he created a footing with the handle of the blade.

Fortunately, Yang Dingtian had found a way to prevent losing both of his legs. One second late, and half of his body would've turned into cinders.

Yang Dingtian took another deep sigh as he once again saved himself from death. The Night Owl Strange Blade he was standing on was made of three materials: the claws of the Night Owl, the Mystic Ice Cold Metal, and parts of the blood bird gold swords. All three components were strong enough to withstand the heat of a volcano.

The blade alone was not enough, though. Yang Dingtian was safe where he was standing, but he had no way of going up. If anything, the lava was slipping downward. Its level was also raising, which meant that the Night Owl Strange Blade, along with Yang Dingtian, would eventually be engulfed if nothing was done.

Right now, there was still about a kilometer before Yang Dingtian could reach the top of the volcano. He could almost see the Fire Cloud Devil Cave now, and it was no time to give up yet.

There had to be a fast way for him to reach the top of the volcano.

The weird thing was, there wasn't any lava at the top of the volcano. It was just a flat, dark area that Yang Dingtian could walk on.

Unfortunately, Yang Dingtian did not have two Night Owl Strange Blades. If he did, he could've simply used them as shoes to reach the top. But even if he did, there was no way that he could've stopped the rising lava.

“That's it…” Yang Dingtian opened his storage ring. He apparently had a new idea. Out of the many treasures and pills that Ning Ning had put in the ring of the storage, one of them was the Water Immunity Pearl.

The Water Immunity Pearl was a rather simple item. Its sole function was to store a large amount of water into just one tiny pill. In the pearl that Yang Dingtian currently held, which was about three centimeters in diameter, there were about several hundred grams of water concentration stored in it.

Once a Water Immunity Pearl was thrown into the lava, the water inside would instantly vaporize and cause an explosion, which would theoretically produce enough leverage to shoot something off over a very long distance. In other words, it's like an improvised version of the steam bomb, like you would see in the modern military.

The power of the explosion, of course, would be very strong. The heat involved would also kill any regular human being.

Well, that's normally the case.

Yang Dingtian could definitely take the hit. Not only was his physical body stronger than just a normal human, but he was also covering his whole body with protection gears.

After some consideration, Yang Dingtian took out the Water Immunity Pearl and threw it directly beneath him.

Poof.

As soon as Yang Dingtian threw the Water Immunity Pearl onto the ground, steam spurted out of it and pushed him several hundred meters above where he was.

Before Yang Dingtian was about to make a landing, he took out another Water Immunity Pearl and threw it where he was about to fall.

Poof.

And Yang Dingtian was able to fly himself over for another couple hundred meters.

…

Poof.

By the time he had used up the fourth water concentration pearl, Yang Dingtian knew he was out of trouble.

Dong.

As luck and wit had it, he landed right at the top of the volcano.

“Almost there…” Yang Dingtian almost cried out. If it weren't for the Water Immunity Pearl that Ning Ning gave him, he would've been forced to use the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl before getting drowned in lava.

However, only a more dangerous challenge awaited Yang Dingtian down here, right inside the Fire Cloud Devil Cave, which was about ten thousand meters underground.

That's right. The Fire Cloud Devil Cave was located at an alt.i.tude of ten thousand meters underground.

If Yang Dingtian wanted to enter the Fire Cloud Devil Cave, he had to descend an extra twenty thousand meters, while countering the direct attack of the Heaven Flame Phoenix the whole journey.

And how powerful was the direct attack of a Heaven Flame Phoenix? For perspective, just look at the indirect attack it released just then.

If the Phoenix could melt half of a volcano without really moving its body, imagine what it could do when it was really trying to kill something. Whatever it was capable of doing, not even a grandmaster could handle it.

This was when the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl came in handy.

Just when Yang Dingtian was about to take out the pearl from his ring, cold sweat started running off his back.

“Aw no. Can't get rid of her, can I…” Yang Dingtian moaned in agony, then slowly turned towards the figure behind him.

That familiar face and body. There was no doubt about it.

The beautiful, cold Dugu Fengu!

Dugu Fengu was still wearing the same s.e.xy outfit that belonged to Go Sun San Niang, but she was definitely in her original form now.

Yang Dingtian was starting to remember the things he had done to Dugu Fengu just a few days ago.

Spanking. Face twisting. Come to think of it, he was digging his own grave with some very bad decisions.

Realizing that he had n.o.body but himself to turn to, more and more sweat started to flow from Yang Dingtian's back.

“Go on. Take out the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl. I'm curious about where you hid it,” Dugu Fengu said coldly.

As though begging to the G.o.ds, Yang Dingtian raised his head to the sky before making a response.

“Wh When did you get here? I thought you're supposed to be pa.s.sed out,” he asked miserably.

“Please, I've been here for more than a day,” Dugu Fengu said, “I was at the top of the volcano when you landed on this island. And you're asking me why I haven't pa.s.sed out?”

Dugu Fengu tried to speak slower to calm herself down, “I regained my mystic qi soon after you had left me that day. Oh, you have no idea how badly I wanted to crush you with my hand right away back then, but I'm going to contain myself until you give me the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl. Tell me now. The Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl is on you, isn't it?”

“Nothing less of a Demon Woman. Impressive,” Yang Dingtian tried to stay calm,” You're right, I have the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl, but to give it to you? In your dreams…”

Dugu Fengu smiled, “The grade nine inferno is about to blossom in just two hours. You'd have to take out the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl at some point, am I right? If you don't, you can't make your little sword and kill Ximen Ju.”

“You think I'm stupid enough to take the pearl out now? It's suicide if I do,” Yang Dingtian smiled too.

Dugu Fengu replied, “Well, I don't need you to take it out. I said I would shred you into pieces, remember? The pearl has to be somewhere on you, so I'll just figure out which piece of you that has it.”

“Oh? Really?” Yang Dingtian opened his arms and taunted, “Please, go on then! I'll call you my grandma if you can find the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl on me. Shred me into pieces, was it? Go on! Do it, and I'm your grandson. Oh no, I'll be your granddaughter…”

Yang Dingtian didn't have to say it. By the time Dugu Fengu approached him, she was already trying to sense traces of the pearl with her eyes. She had expected it to be easy because a treasured item would usually emit some kind of essence.

However, to Dugu Fengu's surprise, she really couldn't find the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl anywhere on Yang Dingtian. Because of the angle and the distance between her and Yang Dingtian, Dugu Fengu didn't see it when Yang Dingtian took out the pearl from his ring of storage.

“Fine. You win, Yang Dingtian,” Dugu Fengu said,” If you hand the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl to me, I can't promise that I'll let you go, but I swear I'll spare you life. And how about this? If you hand me the pearl now, I'll help you kill Ximen Ju and take back the Cloud Heaven City for you.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Yang Dingtian turned down the offer immediately, “Ximen Ju is mine to kill, and the Cloud Heaven City is mine to take back. Come on, demon woman. After knowing me for so long, is this really the best deal you can offer me?”

From the way she was breathing so roughly now, Dugu Fengu was definitely p.i.s.sed off now. For all the years she had lived through, she must've never had been so humiliated and angered as she had in the past few days.

Dugu Fengu said while trying not to yell, “I suppose we can see who can hold longer, then. There is only about two hours before the grade nine inferno blossoms. We'll see how long you can take before you use the Fire Immunity Chilling Pearl. By the way, once the two hours are over, I'll still kill you even if you decide to give me the pearl.”

Having made up her mind, Dugu Fengu sat down and got into a meditating posture. Her eyes were closed, but her attention was fixed at Yang Dingtian's every movement.

Yang Dingtian, on the other hand, was looking at Dugu Fengu's b.u.t.tt and thighs. Because of how tight and bare Go Sun San Niang's outfit was, it looked like Dugu Fengu's bottom could burst through the fabrics at any moment.

“Your b.u.t.t is showing,” Yang Dingtian said in an obnoxiously perverted kind of way, but Dugu Fengu simply ignored him.

Seeing that there wasn't much else to do, Yang Dingtian decided to sit as well. He knew that if he tried to do anything, Dugu Fengu would've stopped him in an instance.

Whatever. Doing nothing was the best move here.

Right now, it was a compet.i.tion of endurance, and Yang Dingtian must wait for an opportunity to come to him.

…

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

Thirty minutes.

An hour.

Even though there was a little less than an hour before the grade nine inferno was about to appear, both Yang Dingtian and Dugu Fengu didn't move whatsoever. They were waiting for the other to make a move.

Half an hour left before the grade nine inferno finally blossomed.

There really wasn't much time to spare. It was no easy task to find the tiny flame Yang Dingtian was looking for, especially when it was inside such a big cave.

…

After meditating for a while, Dugu Fengu suddenly opened her eyes. She was losing her patience here.

“What a stubborn man you are, Yang Dingtian,” Dugu Fengu smiled, “Alright then, let's see if you'll take out the pearl if I throw you down here.”

After saying that, Dugu Fengu immediately grabbed onto Yang Dingtian's neck and threw him down the volcano.