Chapter 108: Level Five Berserk Activity—The Unlucky Latecomers!

"Hm? The Earthfire Plains have gone berserk?" Zuo Zizhi was sipping wine when he saw one of the mirrors tremble and immediately looked over.

In truth, it wasn't the mirror itself that was shaking, but the mirror's surface rippling, as if a stone had been dropped into a still lake, sending out wave after wave of ripples.

"Brother Zuo, no need for alarm." Lu Bang didn't even open his eyes. "With three suns in the sky, levels one through three of berserk activity are perfectly normal. The ley lines of the Earthfire Plains are inherently unstable."

Zuo Zizhi looked at the red bead beside the mirror surface, and sure enough, it flickered three times.

However, just as Zuo Zizhi was about to look away, he saw that red bead flicker once more.

"Hm? Level four berserk activity?" Zuo Zizhi set down his wine cup, then looked up at the rising sun overhead. "Brother Lu, there isn't a fourth sun in the sky. Is level four berserk activity normal?"

Zuo Zizhi had only recently been transferred to Ten Yang Grotto-Heaven, so his familiarity with the place was not as deep as Lu Bang's.

Of course, in terms of spell cultivation, he was also not Lu Bang's equal.

Zuo Zizhi was of the Timing Sect, so his mastery of Dili Sect spells could only be called adequate, not truly proficient.

Lu Bang, on the other hand, was proficient in both, and was also quite knowledgeable about the Artificer faction's mechanisms and divine weapons.

"Level four berserk activity?" Lu Bang opened his eyes. "Have all three suns returned to their proper positions?"

"No." Zuo Zizhi shook his head.

"Let me see if this Earth Mirror Instrument has gone faulty." Lu Bang walked over to the mirror. The front of the mirror was perfectly smooth, while the back was covered in numerous mechanism formations. "No problem... then something abnormal has occurred in the Earthfire Plains."

"Let me see what's going on."

Lu Bang worked the controls for a moment, and soon the mirror's surface stabilized. Though the image within still rippled, the viewing angle pulled back, allowing them to clearly see the specific area where the problem lay.

"There, there—Brother Lu, I can see it." Zuo Zizhi called out from the front. "Hm? There's a recruit casting a spell."

"Oh?" Lu Bang walked to the front and looked at the mirror.

Within the mirror, Zhao Xing's figure appeared.

As he cast his spell toward the ley lines, the rock layer of the Earthfire Plains instantly split apart. Vast quantities of lava surged forth, arcing through the air before scattering down across the ground.

The fissure stretched for a full dozen-plus li, with the widest point reaching one or two hundred meters and the narrowest still measuring twenty or thirty meters.

"Hm? Is that the Earth-Splitting Spell?" Lu Bang watched the scene in the mirror with keen interest.

"The Earth-Splitting Spell can have this much power?" Zuo Zizhi asked in puzzlement. "That can't be right. This lava fissure stretches so far—could a reserve recruit really have this kind of strength?"

"It should be the Five-Element Earth-Splitting Spell." Lu Bang mused. "A single Earth-Splitting Spell has fixed power; the strength at each revolution is well-defined. Only the Five-Element Earth-Splitting Spell has unpredictable power."

"Add to that the fact that this area was already a weak point in the rock layer. This person's spell just happened to break the balance, causing the fire of the ley lines to go berserk."

"Should we send someone to repair it?" Zuo Zizhi asked.

"No need." Lu Bang shook his head. "In a few hours at most, this level four berserk activity will subside. Besides, the three suns in the sky are about to return to their proper positions. Even if we repaired it, it would still maintain level three activity. The difference isn't that significant."

Zuo Zizhi hesitated. "What about those who come after?"

Lu Bang smiled. "Level four berserk activity wasn't caused by us. This kid blocked those behind him who want to cross the Earthfire Plains on his own merits. We don't need to interfere."

"If those who come later lack the strength, they can simply take a detour. If they know they're not strong enough yet still force their way through, such fools deserve to die. Better that than have them drag down the entire army later."

Zuo Zizhi nodded. He had a gentler disposition and was unwilling to see the participating recruits get hurt, but Lu Bang was the primary person in charge of this batch of recruit reporting. Whatever he said went.

Moreover, Lu Bang's words made sense—if you can't get through but force your way anyway, any problems that result are your own fault.

"Why isn't Brother Lu sleeping?" Zuo Zizhi saw that after Lu Bang returned to his seat, he had begun flipping through the roster again.

"This kid's somewhat interesting. Let me see what his name is." Lu Bang flipped through it.

The fissure in the Earthfire Plains was certainly due to the plains' inherent instability, but the effect of the Five-Element Earth-Splitting Spell could not be ignored either.

The Five-Element Earth-Splitting Spell was known as a gambler's battle art—ordinary people simply wouldn't cultivate it. Who would willingly touch such an uncertain spell?

The moment Lu Bang saw that this person's spell realm was actually not low, he immediately became interested.

"Either this person has extremely strong fortune, or his spell realm has reached seven revolutions or above... Found it."

Lu Bang's finger kept moving across the names in the roster. Each time he pressed on a name, the corresponding appearance would surface in his mind, along with that person's age, background, and assigned military camp.

"Zhao Xing, native of Gucheng in Nanyang Commandery, selected into the army by the Divine Might Army. Hm? Through the clerk selection method?" Lu Bang was somewhat surprised.

"A clerk who became a full official, and was then chosen by the Divine Might Army?" Zuo Zizhi was also somewhat taken aback upon hearing this. "That is rare."

"Not rare." Lu Bang shook his head. "Extremely rare. Given the Divine Might Army's standards, a clerk simply shouldn't appear on their selection list. The nine garrison armies of Ten Yang Grotto-Heaven, by all rights, wouldn't even have clerks-turned-officials in their field of vision."

"This batch of over ten thousand reserves was basically all selected from academies, Dao academies, and lower-tier army corps."

"Selecting people from local armies is already quite rare."

Lu Bang had originally just meant to take a casual look, but ended up discovering that this Zhao Xing's way of joining the army was rather unique—skipping the Military Agricultural Officer's examination and coming directly to the Divine Might Army?

He didn't even have experience serving as an official locally. The moment he became a full official, he was directly selected and transferred over.

"Could it be that Marquis Boping has picked up another treasure? There was that Chen Shijie before, quite dazzling..."

At this thought, Lu Bang immediately committed the name Zhao Xing to memory.

Three quarters of an hour after Zhao Xing cast the Five-Element Earth-Splitting Spell in the Earthfire Plains.

Ouyang Song had circled around, finally found his bearings, and arrived outside the Earthfire Plains.

"Damn it, finally found the right position. Those bastard directions were all wrong. At last I've found a landmark."

Ouyang Song held his map and compared it.

"With my strength, taking the route through the Earthfire Plains should pose no major problems, and it'll be much faster too."

Ouyang Song stepped confidently into the Earthfire Plains region and hurried forward.

After he left, within a short while, people appeared outside the Earthfire Plains one after another.

Some of them, upon discovering this was the Earthfire Plains, chose to go around it.

Those confident in their own strength chose this route.

However, only thirty percent of people chose to brave the Earthfire Plains; the remaining seventy percent all took detours.

After all, if one was blocked at the Earthfire Plains, there was a chance of being caught up to by those behind.

"Whoosh~"

Ouyang Song rode the soaring clouds, leaping forward through the Earthfire Plains.

The surrounding space was scorching hot, and beads of sweat gradually began to form on him.

As he walked, Ouyang Song also began to find it somewhat strenuous.

"That's not right. The data given by the Zhenhai Army stated that the ferocity level of the earth-fire veins on the Earthfire Plains is between one and three."

"The Three Suns haven't even reached their four-direction positions yet, so why is the ferocity intensity already this high?"

The Golden Straw Raincoat had the effect of repelling fire and water.

Ordinary heat couldn't eat its way in.

But at this moment, the Golden Straw Raincoat could no longer fully withstand the erosion of the scorching heat.

Ouyang Song felt his vital energy consumption rate continuously rising, because he had to expend effort to resist the erosion of the fire qi.

"Whoosh~"

When he summoned wind to cast a spell, what blew in was all hot wind.

Ouyang Song wanted to rest a while again, summoning drifting clouds to bring rain.

But he discovered that on the Earthfire Plains, he could only hold up a cloud layer fifty meters across at a height of ten meters above the ground.

"This exaggerated? My cloud art is mid-grade seven-turn…"

Ouyang Song was somewhat helpless, but he still brought down a rain to cool himself off.

After resting a moment, he continued walking forward.

But as he walked, he increasingly felt something was off.

The cloud layer above his head was also growing smaller and smaller.

Two quarter-hours later, Ouyang Song looked at the fissure ahead spurting pillars of lava and couldn't help widening his eyes.

"Shit! How do I get past this?!"

At this moment, the earth-fire power had already reached its peak; needless to say summoning rain, even the drifting clouds had been compressed to the extreme, nearly shattering from the inability to maintain the spell.

"Walked for an hour only to find I can't get past?"

Ouyang Song was extremely frustrated.

Unwilling to give up, he followed the fissure to the left, trying to find a narrow place he could cross.

The Cloud-Stepping Boots' effect was also weakened in this kind of place.

Cloud-Stepping, Cloud-Stepping—its short-flight jumping ability was related to the environment.

A lava river a hundred meters wide—halfway across, the cloud qi beneath his feet would probably dissipate.

Ouyang Song had no desire to take a bath in lava.

"The narrowest is still thirty-four meters, and earth-fire spurts out every now and then." Ouyang Song's brows were tightly furrowed; he didn't want to take a detour.

He had already walked this long and consumed so much vital energy—if he took a detour?

That would be far slower than having taken a detour from the very beginning.

"This is the spot."

Ouyang Song observed the pattern for a moment, felt he had a seventy percent chance of getting across, slowly retreated, then ran with a running start.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle~"

Layers of mist appeared beneath his feet, but the moment this mist appeared, nearly half of it dissipated and became scalding hot.

But Ouyang Song gradually left the ground, soaring into the air, stepping on the mist as he flew toward the opposite bank.

"Gulong!"

Two pillars of fire suddenly rose at an angle, like an arching bridge, or perhaps a fire net, blocking Ouyang Song's path.

"Fierce Wind!"

Ouyang Song abruptly summoned wind, blasting it toward those two pillars of fire.

Before they could close in around him, he squeezed through the gap.

"Thud~"

Ouyang Song rolled on the ground, landing on his backside in the dirt.

"Hiss-ha~"

Ouyang felt his face burning, and looking again at his hair, even the strands had been curled by the heat.

"Lucky I made it across. If I hadn't, this life would have been over…"

Unable to rest, Ouyang Song got up and walked forward, because the ground was starting to scorch his backside—this place wasn't suitable for resting.

But as he walked, Ouyang Song discovered another fissure ahead!

"No way…"

Ouyang Song gaped, can he even play this anymore?

"Halt. This road is closed."

At that moment, a voice came from ahead. Ouyang Song looked closely and saw a tall, slender young man who appeared considerably younger than himself.

"I'm Ouyang Song, of the Zhenhai Army. May I ask who you are, brother?"

"Lieyang Army, Zhuo Li."

The young man didn't even turn his head, just looked at the leaping fire pillars ahead.

"Brother Zhuo, what's going on with this Earthfire Plains? The data says that under the Three Suns condition, the ferocity is at most level three, right?"

"The Three Suns haven't even reached their four-direction positions yet, so why do I feel it's so difficult to advance!"

Finally encountering someone, Ouyang Song couldn't help but start venting.

He felt this place was very abnormal, believing the official data must have had an error.

"It's not that the data is wrong—someone has already passed through ahead." Zhuo Li looked at the cracked area, pointed at it and said, "The earth-fire rocks on both sides have a very high matching degree at the crack opening, proving they only separated not long ago."

"Under normal circumstances, even if such fissures appear on the Earthfire Plains, the gaps couldn't possibly be this neat."

"The ley lines have shifted — from this angle, there are also traces of spellcasting."

Ouyang Song could not help but fly into a great rage: "What a bastard! The moment he crossed the river himself, he tore the bridge down behind him."

Zhuo Li said nothing — he felt that raging helplessly served no damn purpose.

He had originally wanted to see if he could cooperate with this Ouyang Song to cross the lava river, but now it seemed the man was no help at all.

"Brother Zhuo, you seem to know a thing or two about the Dili Sect — is there any… hello?"

Ouyang Song had only spoken halfway when Zhuo Li leaped up and sprang forward.

He ran off again?!

What kind of people are these? I'm right in the middle of talking — how can they be so unfriendly!

"Sigh, I have to figure out a way across the river again…" Ouyang Song sighed and began searching for a way to cross. "Damned bastard, don't let me ever find out who did this! What a vicious, underhanded trick!"

Office of the Agricultural Overseer, Taicang Court.

The crimson bead on the Earth Mirror Instrument flickered without cease.

At this moment, Zuo Zizhi had even forgotten to set down his wine cup; he stared at the Earth Mirror Instrument, slack-jawed.

Because the crimson bead had already flashed five times in a row!

The Earthfire Plain had reached a Level-5 Rampage!

"The people taking this route behind will be in for it." Lu Bang watched with glee. "Level-5 Rampage, heh-heh — a mid-grade Moving Cloud, if it hasn't reached Perfection, is basically useless under Level-5 Rampage conditions."

"Wind won't disperse the fire-qi either; it'll only fuel the earthfire."

"The Three Suns Overhead has already reached its true position — the primal-qi expenditure will all surge."

Zuo Zizhi said helplessly, "If Zhao Xing keeps this up, will something go wrong? Brother Lu, should we step in?"

Lu Bang snorted: "No need. If something goes wrong, I'll take responsibility — I want to see which commanding general dares to question me."

Once he had taken on this training assignment, he feared no one's doubts. To be dispatched by the military to serve as the instructor for the Ninth Army's reserve training — how could Lu Bang be some easy mark?

"Then I'll leave it entirely to Brother Lu's decision — those new recruits are in for it…" Zuo Zizhi watched the mirror.

Those who hadn't started the trial yet were fine, but at this point the Three Suns Overhead had already clearly begun to feel wrong.

Yet many people had already made it halfway through.

Those people were truly caught between a rock and a hard place — the fissures ahead could not be crossed, and the fissures behind could not be jumped back across either!

They could only watch helplessly as they were trapped within the plain.

"Hope no one's dead." Zuo Zizhi began silently mourning in his heart for those trial-takers behind.