Chapter 2409: Each Heading to Their Own Secret Realm

Another overseer asked, "Why does the heat produced by the heart fire always get sent there?"

"You're new, you don't understand." The old overseer said, "The Venerable Mother once had a grudge against these few old things. After destroying Longfeng Valley, she captured them here to enjoy eternal roasting by the earth fire!"

In other words, the Earth Mother roasts them whenever she has nothing better to do, letting them suffer a fate worse than death.

"What grudge, what resentment?"

"Who knows, it was so long ago!" The old overseer had only heard rumors; its age wasn't great enough to know everything. "I heard one old thing tried to take the chance to escape, but was directly roasted into nothing by the Venerable Mother."

Zhu Xiuer threw another basket of profound crystal ore into the magma pool and said to He Lingchuan:

"We have to find a way to leave."

We can't delay here too long.

The tiger yaos and other yao soldiers have already left; there are only two overseers here, and several dozen laborers.

He Lingchuan was also calculating this matter, about to reply, when the ground suddenly shook violently!

This cliff protrudes like a tongue, extending directly above the magma pool. Subjected to such a tremor, the edge instantly collapsed. Several human slaves happened to be standing there; He Lingchuan had just turned his head, and they were gone.

The entire cliff was also shaken askew; the heavy cart, bearing its weight, immediately plunged forward.

The laborers were stunned for a moment, then an uproar broke out; they all abandoned what they were holding and rushed madly toward the entrance.

Run for your lives, run for your lives now.

One step too late, and down below is boiling magma!

Immortal Mingke said in a low voice, "Good opportunity, let's go."

The four of them followed the crowd, dodging the oncoming heavy carts, and ran toward the exit.

Good fortune; this must be some major technique unleashed by the Lingshan immortals attacking Yujing City from outside, happening to strike near here.

At this moment the old overseer also rushed over, about to shout, when Ling Jinbao kicked the heavy cart beside him; the cart immediately toppled sideways, its entire weight of several tens of thousands of jin pressing down on the old overseer.

To not repay a grudge is ungentlemanly.

This kick of his was extremely fast, and amid the chaotic scene, all the yaos were busy fleeing for their lives; who had the leisure to spare them a glance?

The old overseer was crushed by the cart and tumbled into the magma. The whip fell beside He Lingchuan, and he picked it up casually.

In short order, the four of them left the underground cave mixed in with the laborers, then continued toward Duzhi Mountain.

"To reach Duzhi Mountain, we must pass through the Longfeng Valley mountain gate." Zhu Xiuer understood He Lingchuan's temperament. "Want to take a look while we're at it?"

Ling Jinbao chimed in, "Let's go. Aren't Longfeng Valley's people imprisoned there? Perhaps we can find more clues."

Honestly speaking, going to Duzhi Mountain just for the Wind Dew Golden Lotus, they had no confidence in their hearts.

Immortal Mingke also said, "Judging from what that overseer said just now, the earth fire's heat has always been delivered to fixed points in Longfeng Valley; someone has to operate the mechanism for those few to be tortured. But now the war situation is tight, the Earth Mother most likely can't attend to this matter, and won't send anyone over that quickly."

He Lingchuan nodded: "They can't attend to it, so we can go."

This time, they encountered no other mishaps; the road was just bad to travel — up and down, winding and turning. There are too many dead ends in Yujing City; for instance, a perfectly good road straight ahead was cut into two segments by a deep chasm.

Zhu Xiuer asked him in a low voice, "How is our own Secret Realm doing?"

"The Earth Mother has already charged in." He Lingchuan let out a light breath. "Hope it can hold on a bit longer, buying us more time."

The Earth Mother went to attack the Panlong Secret Realm, while he came to raid the Earth Mother's lair; both sides harbored ill intentions.

……

Seeing several subordinates pass through the Secret Realm smoothly and return to report, the Stone Man then commanded the Violent Bear King to also jump into the pool.

The pool bottom didn't look deep, but when the yaos crashed in, their vision went black, and then there was a whole other world.

They still emerged from this dark chamber, but there was no water, not a single drop, bone-dry.

And this dark chamber hadn't been destroyed either, still hidden deep underground, so after the yao army poked their heads out here, they still had to climb up a long passage to reach the surface.

The yaos tried using earth escape techniques, but it didn't work.

Escape techniques are forbidden here.

The Secret Realm's host has the right to set some basic laws; since escape techniques aren't allowed here, the yao army had better obediently walk the passage, after all there are over a dozen zhang of rock and soil above their heads.

When this passage was originally built, they didn't anticipate an army passing through, so it's actually not wide — only enough for three or four people abreast, height about eight chi; some large-framed yaos had a hard time and had to shrink their bodies.

The Earth Mother isn't stupid either; this terrain is really advantageous for the opponent to set ambushes, so it casually tossed two pebbles into the front ranks of the formation and shouted:

"Grow!"

The pebbles were originally only the size of lychees, but upon landing they turned into huge stone balls seven chi in diameter. The Earth Mother pointed forward, and the stone balls rumbled down the passage.

If there were traps or ambushes along the way, they would trigger them first.

And the stone balls kept growing larger, reaching two zhang in diameter later on — forcibly widening the passage. The Earth Mother wasn't afraid of collapsing the place; would its yao soldiers fear being suffocated underground?

So the Earth Mother also released two guardian spirits, letting them charge behind the stone balls, with the army following tightly. They followed the Earth Mother to devour the ruins and knew their task well; at this moment they just buried their heads and charged forward.

However the guardian spirits encountered no substantive attacks and progressed quite smoothly, but the yao army following behind them stirred with commotion.

First, several thick-skinned wild boar yaos suddenly halted, standing motionless.

They were the vanguard; the half-chi thick mud shells on their bodies were like Golden Bell Shields, able to block damage from blades and spears. But they stopped too abruptly, and the narrow passage caused the yaos behind to crash into their rumps one after another, prompting complaints:

"Why the sudden stop?"

"If you're stopping, why not say something?"

These boar yaos shook their heads; one suddenly turned and bit another's ear, while the others laboriously turned around and charged head-down into the yao horde!

The yaos were shocked, dodging while cursing angrily: "Have you gone mad?"

But this place is truly cramped; several yaos had nowhere to dodge and were trampled directly by the boar yaos. Their small eyes bloodshot, they lowered their heads and used their tusks against the yaos, ramming whoever they saw!

They were not only impervious to blades and spears, but also possessed unmatched strength; running like bulldozers — otherwise they wouldn't have been placed in the first rank. This betrayal threw the rear ranks into chaos.

And this madness seemed contagious; not just the boar yaos had issues — more and more yaos in the formation suddenly turned hostile, attacking companions for no reason.

Yujing City's yaos were originally quite irritable, discipline lax, with cracks and even grudges between them; usually suppressed by the Earth Mother they dared not speak, but now for some reason nameless fire rose in their hearts, and they directly attacked whoever they found most displeasing.

The yao army fell into chaos, and blocked the passage, forcing the yaos behind to halt.