The moment Qin Mo fell into the crater, an unspeakable heat wave rushed across his face. With a stern expression, he quickly circulated his nascent spiritual power and slowed his descent. 

When he was still above the crater, he had heard strange sounds below and in a moment of distraction, Su Dong pushed him. 

He was still falling, looking at the magma getting closer and closer. He moved his wrist and the long-unused Thunderbolt appeared in his hand. With a backward stab, he inserted the blade into the mountain wall to stop his drop.

He twisted around and stood on top of Thunderbolt. The sword trembled under his weight. Without the support of spiritual power, Thunderbolt was now the same as any other ordinary sword.

He wrinkled his eyebrows and looked up. He could only glimpse the tiny area where the crater circled the sky.

His current location was too far from the crater. Perhaps it would have only been a short distance for him if he could circulate spiritual power into his sword and escape from here. Unfortunately, he could only use this unfamiliar nascent spiritual power.

Lost in thought, he suddenly saw a figure falling rapidly from the crater. He squinted his eyes. When he saw who it was, his pupils sharply shrank.

Without thinking, he released all of his nascent spiritual power and gathered it into an invisible long rope. He waved it in the newcomer's direction. The long rope whirled several times in the air and tied to the person's waist. With a strong tug, he managed to pull the man onto Thunderbolt.

What he just did was extremely intensive. Once Lin Zizheng stood steady on the sword, Qin Mo supported himself on the rocky wall. He almost exhausted his nascent spiritual power but his gaze stayed sharp. "Why are you here?" With Lin Zizheng's strength, it would have been easy for him to escape those people from the Dark Tomb.

"Da s.h.i.+xiong, were you worried for me?" Without paying attention to Qin Mo's icy tone, Lin Zizheng raised his lips and laughed. There was an unspeakable joy in his voice.

Qin Mo dully looked at Lin Zizheng, his face complicated. He knew in his heart that Lin Zizheng must have done this for him.

Splas.h.!.+ A large suction came from below. They looked down to see a huge whirlpool rapidly forming in the center of the magma. The harsh sound of water was coming from below. Around the whirlpool, the air faintly twisted. 

Under the whirlpool's action, the hot magma rose rapidly before them. Both of their expressions changed, and they glanced at each other once before jumping up from the sword to rise quickly.

The gravitational pull below was getting stronger and stronger. Qin Mo kept stabbing Thunderbolt into the rock wall before they could fall. Fine sweat beads appeared on his forehead but Qin Mo couldn't even wipe them now. On the other side, Lin Zizheng held onto his long spear in the same situation. 

As he inserted Thunderbolt into the stone wall, Qin Mo breathed out faintly when a hand suddenly reached out to him.

He stared blankly, spotting Lin Zizheng's bright and sparkling eyes. He slowly extended his free left hand to it. There was a faint smile on the other's face. He mumbled, "Da s.h.i.+xiong…"

As soon as he said those words, Qin Mo felt Lin Zizheng pull him up with great strength and directly threw him out of the crater. Meanwhile, a violent force erupted from Lin Zizheng and a giant eagle slowly formed behind him.

Lin Zizheng pointed his hand in Qin Mo's direction, and as if the giant eagle had its conscience, it flew straight upward. It quickly came below Qin Mo and carried him on its back upward.

Previously, Lin Zizheng had killed several people from the Tomb Palace and almost drained all of his nascent spiritual power. Now he summoned the giant eagle again, which had exhausted his last strength. The hand that held the long spear loosened and he fell.

Qin Mo laid on the back of the giant eagle and couldn't move at all. He could only watch as Lin Zizheng loosened his grip and his falling figure.

Lin Zizheng's black hair flew upward, a smile still on his face. Qin Mo could read the words "Da s.h.i.+xiong" from his moving lips.

Bang!

Lin Zizheng fell into the lava, splas.h.i.+ng many sparks. The center of the magma boiled, slowly covering up his body.

Seeing Lin Zizheng disappearing before him, Qin Mo's eyes gradually grew moist. He stared until there were no traces of him left in the magma. He hesitantly called out, "Zizheng…"

When Lin Zizheng's body completely disappeared, the giant eagle's body suddenly froze under Qin Mo. Then it turned into spots of light in the sky and disappeared into thin air.

Qin Mo's body stagnated and fell again. He looked at the bright red color in front of him. He held Thunderbolt tightly and slowly closed his eyes. He gave up all resistance. At this moment, Lin Zizheng's smile appeared before his eyes.

His face softened and in a low voice, he said, "If we survive, I'll forgive you."

Blood continuously dripped from the crater, forming a fine b.l.o.o.d.y line along the mountain and eventually gathered in a small sunken spot on the wall. Within the flowing blood, the sunken spot became a hole that trembled and inhaled Qin Mo's entire body within it.

When his body moved, he opened his eyes. He was now in a damp cave surrounded by cloudy winds.

Drip drip… drip drip…

The sound of dripping water came from the side. Qin Mo turned with unfocused eyes at the hole behind him. Red magma suddenly began pouring into the hole, covering the road ahead completely.

His pupils shrank, and he waved his sword directly at it. Without the driving force of spiritual power, the lava easily swallowed the flas.h.i.+ng sword light.

He retreated without pausing and ran deep into the cave. Feeling the burning smell behind him, he dared not relax at all.

After a long while, a light s.h.i.+ned before his sight. A glittering boundary appeared in front of him.

He wrinkled his brows. He reached out and touched the boundary gently. The boundary shook and separated slowly from the center like a water current. He walked in without hesitation. The moment Qin Mo entered, the boundary restored its original appearance.

The lava behind him also reached the boundary but to his surprise, the boundary that hadn't caused him any hindrance blocked the powerful magma.

When he turned around and looked at the scene before him, amazement filled his gaze. The place was the group's original destination coming here and he finally knew why it was named Black Cavern.

The cavern was very large, surrounded by many black stones. There was only a strangely shaped altar in the center. Four stone pillars stood at each corner of the altar with several evil spirits carved on it. They either bared their fangs or danced and gesticulated in joy. Their shapes looked frightening. 

A huge stone tablet lay in the center of the altar, which looked ancient and was locked by an iron chain. It had a strange and creepy feeling.

Walking up to the center of the altar. His fingers caressed the stone tablet slowly and he felt as if a slight chill had pa.s.sed from his fingertips and to his heart. 

He squinted and carefully felt the tablet, but he didn't find any other strange spots. He could only turn his sight to the black stones beside it.

The stones were all nascent stones and their color was pure black, which meant better quality than the middle-grade nascent stone given to him by Old Man Wen. But to his surprise, a weak aura constantly emanated from these nascent stones.

Grabbing a random piece by his feet, he pondered for a while and slowly inserted a trace of his divine sense in it. As soon as he entered the stone, a black aura came pounding in his direction. 

This black aura was full of dark intentions and a lot of negative emotions. Along with his divine sense, it rushed toward his body. He was shocked and tried to cut off the trace but it was too late. The dark aura directly entered him.

His body s.h.i.+vered and he couldn't block off the cold feeling inside.

His lightning fire that had withdrawn within his Dantian since arriving at the Dark Tomb suddenly flourished brightly and burned the blackness moving along his veins. Afterwards, the lightning fire returned into his Dantian sea again, restored to its prior pea size and somewhat dull color.

He took a slow breath and wanted to throw away the nascent stone in his hand, but paused. He tossed the weird nascent stone into a Qiankun bag as if he thought of something.

After a time, he could find no exit. He sat beside the stone tablet, took out the nascent stone given by Old Man Wen, and started breathing slowly.

He sighed once and opened his eyes. Every time he closed them, the memory of a smiling Lin Zizheng falling into the magma would appear.

He reached out and felt his chest. For the first time, confusion appeared in his dark eyes. To this day, he wondered what kind of feelings Lin Zizheng had for him.

"Whoosh…" The altar shook, and a huge black force slowly seeped out from the ground behind him, turning into a huge black palm.

The black palm was like a demon claw coming straight out from the abyss. With gusts of wind, it pounced directly toward his back.