Chapter 130: Chu Youqing's Strange Encounter

When Lu Xun and Aodaili kept going downwards.

The seventh level of the cellar secret realm.

Chu Youqing teamed up with several students, hunting the starry void aberrations together.

At the ninth layer of Qi Gathering, she was the strongest in the team and became the team captain.

Her several teammates were not weak either; basically they all had mid-stage Second Realm strength, and one had late-stage Second Realm.

Chu Youqing's ambition was not great; she never even thought of taking first place.

With Lu Xun around, she could not possibly take first place.

In fact, not to mention first place, she hadn't even thought about placing in the top three or top ten.

However, the Clear Void Academy wanted her to achieve a better result, to uphold appearances.

This year's Beidou University was simply too outstanding.

Besides Murong Wan and Lu Xun, these two monster-level geniuses, they broke through to the Third Realm in just a single semester.

Even Modu University now had a Third Realm student.

Although cultivation realm isn't everything, the fact remains that the Clear Void Academy has fallen behind.

Therefore, on the night before the assessment, the school leadership and instructor Qin Xin Yue specially sought out Chu Youqing, hoping she and another student also at the ninth layer of Qi Gathering would each lead a team to strive for a good result.

The teammates in her team were all there to provide support.

To dispel her concerns, the school leadership gave her quite a few things, such as several fourth-rank attack talismans.

Chu Youqing's heart softened, and she agreed.

She did not tell Lu Xun about this, so as not to worry him.

Because she had previously promised Lu Xun that she would not go too deep.

As a result, she has now reached the seventh level.

Even Second Realm cultivators active on the seventh level still face some danger.

The seventh level already has many Third Realm starry void aberrations, as well as Third Realm alien beings.

Fortunately, many third- and fourth-year students are active on the seventh level; when faced with dangers they cannot handle, they can call for help at any time.

"Youqing, many of the cellars on this level have been cleared out; let's go down another layer. Even if we encounter Third Realm aberrations, if we join forces we might still be able to deal with them."

At that moment, a student named Shen Bing advised.

Shen Bing's strength was not bad either; he had cultivated to the seventh layer of the Second Realm, only two layers below Chu Youqing.

This year, as Lan Xing is about to enter the Starry Void Ancient Road, students from all schools are extremely competitive; these freshmen generally have somewhat greater strength than in previous years.

After some thought, Chu Youqing agreed.

She took out a core crystal and drew circles.

A passage appeared.

Chu Youqing was the first to jump in.

Since the next level likely holds danger, in a team the strongest always goes in first.

"Boom—"

Chu Youqing had not yet fully entered the passage when an accident occurred.

A lightning-emitting starry void aberration suddenly appeared, striking the passage with a single blow.

The passage instantly twisted.

"Youqing, come up quickly."

Shen Bing was terribly worried.

It's too late.

Chu Youqing fell entirely into the twisted passage and vanished.

And that twisted passage shattered instantly after she fell in.

"Youqing..."

"She should have reached the next level; she'll be fine."

"But we've been separated from her."

After dealing with that suddenly appearing starry void aberration, several students in the team were somewhat worried.

Even if Chu Youqing is unharmed, the cellar secret realm is so vast that it would be hard for them to encounter her again.

"Why haven't they come down?"

In a cellar space, Chu Youqing looked up at the sky.

Shen Bing and the others did not come down.

"Now we're in trouble."

Chu Youqing furrowed her brows.

After staying in the cellar secret realm for more than a day, she also knew how difficult it is to regroup once scattered.

She tried to send a message to Lu Xun, but it simply wouldn't go through.

Transmission up and down in the secret realm is also somewhat special; even if she now uses a core crystal to draw circles upward, she might not be able to return to the previous cellar space.

However, after the tenth level, via the lighthouse, positions are fixed.

Things having come to this, Chu Youqing did not dwell on it excessively.

She composed herself and prepared to first explore this cellar space.

"This place... why is it so bare?"

Immediately, she discovered that this cellar space was somewhat special.

Other cellar spaces usually contain mountains, water, and plants.

Here it's not bad, completely bald, no grass grows.

Moreover, the temperature here is also high; the temperature in the air is probably several tens of degrees, and the ground is entirely reddish.

"Is that... a volcano?"

What's even more bizarre is that, in the middle of the cave space, she saw a cone-shaped mountain.

Inside this mountain, hot vapor kept spewing out, just like a volcano.

Such a cave space is quite rare.

Its area isn't too large, just a few kilometers in radius.

The whole space is just like a Flaming Mountain.

Neither star-space aliens nor foreign peoples can be seen at all.

This is rare, a cave space without star-space aliens.

"It seems there's no passage; could this be a cave space that hasn't been discovered yet?"

After Chu Youqing swept her gaze around, she found no passage to other cave spaces on the rock wall.

This made her boldly guess.

The cave secret realm has been largely explored, but there are still a few cave spaces that remain undiscovered.

In such cave spaces, there are often good things!

Thinking this, Chu Youqing stepped toward the volcano in the middle.

At a glance, you can see the top of this space; if there's treasure, it must be inside the central volcano.

Not long after, she reached the volcano's summit.

The very center of the volcano's summit had collapsed, revealing a small lava lake.

The smoke that had risen earlier was from this lava.

"What kind of tree can grow in lava?"

At that moment, Chu Youqing saw a tree at the edge of the lava.

That tree was miraculous, its whole body fiery red, with roots and trunk actually extending into the lava.

At the top of the tree was a red fruit.

Upon seeing that fruit, Chu Youqing felt a sudden desire.

Her intuition and instinct told her that the fruit would be very useful to her.

After thinking, Chu Youqing took out a spirit sword.

Even a Second Realm Immortal Cultivator can fly with a sword, though it's hard to sustain.

Chu Youqing stepped on the spirit sword, activated the sword flight technique, and flew down.

Just as she was about to reach it—

In the lava lake, a completely fire-red snake shot out with a "whoosh", its head lunging straight at her.

"Boom!"

Although the snake timed its attack well, it still failed.

Because Chu Youqing's body triggered an automatically activated defensive talisman upon sensing danger.

Such a defensive talisman, though only adding an automatic activation procedure, costs about ten times an ordinary talisman.

The fire snake was successfully blocked.

Chu Youqing successfully plucked the fruit.

As soon as the fruit was picked, the tree instantly withered.

It seemed its growth was solely to bear this fruit.

The fire snake did not give up; after Chu Youqing landed, it surged from the lava and pursued her relentlessly.

"Boom!"

Chu Youqing threw out a fourth-rank attack talisman.

"Why isn't it dead!"

Originally, she thought the fire snake would die, but it turned out unscathed.

The fire snake's strength is quite formidable.

Chu Youqing had to take to her flying sword again.

After distancing herself, she took out a core crystal and drew circles.

But this time, no passage opened.

"What's going on?"

Chu Youqing frowned.

She tried again, but still couldn't.

No matter whether she went down or up, it didn't work.

"Could it be that we are below the tenth layer."

That seems to be the only possibility.

Below the tenth layer, one cannot directly open a passage upward or downward; one must find a lighthouse.

The fire snake had already chased after her again.

Chu Youqing had to take to her flying sword once more.

This time, she flew several kilometers in one go, reached the rock wall, found a protrusion, and landed there.

However, the fire snake's obsession ran deep; it had chased after her again.

Continuing like this is not a solution.

She at the second realm, the consumption of flying on sword is not small; if she doesn't leave here, sooner or later she will be drained of spiritual power.

There is basically no passage on the rock wall.

Those passages in the other cellar spaces were all artificially dug out.

Now Chu Youqing only hopes the fire snake cannot climb the steep rock wall.

Before the fire snake arrives, she quickly takes out Dark Energy to recover.

Not long after, the fire snake arrives.

"It can still climb walls!"

Chu Youqing is disappointed.

Because the fire snake reached the base of the rock wall, it actually swam up the wall, its speed also extremely fast.

She has no choice but to fly away again.

After several twists and turns, Chu Youqing's spiritual power consumption is already considerable.

The fire snake still hasn't let her go; even if she flies to the upside-down rock ceiling, finds some places to land, or uses her sword to pierce the stone and hang there, the fire snake can still chase her.

This fire snake's hide is unusually thick; even a fourth-grade attack talisman can't blow it up, and a flying sword can't kill it.

Fortunately, the fire snake cannot fly.

The sky is about to darken.

Chu Youqing still cannot shake off the fire snake.

As for leaving this cellar space, she temporarily has no way.

If the fire snake didn't chase her, she could perhaps use the fourth-grade flying sword and fire ball to forcibly carve a passage in the rock wall.

But the fire snake relentlessly pursues her; she has no time, nor enough spiritual power.

"Don't you want this?"

After creating distance once again, Chu Youqing takes out that red fruit.

The fire snake smells the scent and pursues her even more frantically.

"You have no chance."

Chu Youqing steels herself and swallows that red fruit in one gulp.