Chapter 596: Earthquake

For a moment, everyone looked toward the summit of the snow-capped mountain with grave expressions. Another bolt of lightning tore through the sky above the peak, and the gale reshaped the mountain's silhouette; the earth trembled violently as if a giant beast were about to break out of its shell.

Guan Xinyue lost her footing and her body tilted. Liu Ziyi reached out to pull her by instinct, and as a result, both of them fell to the ground. "Hey, what on earth is going on?" Luo Qi looked at the lightning-struck summit and finally regained his ability to speak. "Who is so wicked that they're actually being struck by heaven's five-fold lightning?"

The gale whipped up a blizzard that rushed toward them, and Luo Qi was hit head-on. "Such a heavy snow in spring."

Du Zhengyi looked up at the sky; through the hazy blizzard, the blue sky above was still faintly discernible. "It's not snowing; the glaciers and snowpack on the summit are shattering."

"There won't be an avalanche, will there?"

"The snow accumulation here isn't enough; there shouldn't be an avalanche," Du Zhengyi said.

Everyone gathered around them. Majiang looked at the snow peak with awe, Wusu remained cautiously silent, and the Battle Mages were already standing by in full readiness.

Yan Hao asked anxiously, "What exactly happened on the mountain? Shouldn't we go over and take a look now?"

Wen Lin appeared on the other side of Du Zhengyi at some point and suddenly said to him, "Your experience is the most extensive; have you ever seen a situation like this?"

Du Zhengyi shook his head. The current situation didn't explain anything yet; even if one wanted to interpret it as a natural phenomenon, it wouldn't necessarily be wrong. Earthquakes are often accompanied by abnormal weather conditions, and the current situation could be explained as an earthquake. In this outburst of the natural world, he did not detect any traces of Magic. It wasn't just Du Zhengyi; Liu Ziyi also hurriedly retrieved her Magic experimental samples, and she likewise had not collected any useful information.

Luo Qi thought for a moment, then interjected to Wen Lin, "Regardless, there is no need for you and Shi Qian to keep moving forward. If you want to retreat now, that is also fine; you can take Zhou Ruisi along with you while you're at it. You all go back to the plains first and find a place to rest. If there is a need for me and Du Zhengyi to testify to the High Commission, just give us a shout."

Zhou Ruisi was standing behind him; upon hearing this, he looked at Wen Lin with longing, hoping that this beautiful woman would say something auspicious.

Wen Lin laughed, as if she had heard something genuinely funny. "What kind of talk is that? Shi Qian and I are Battle Mages ourselves; how could we not help now? If we left you behind now, wouldn't it look like we were deserting in the face of battle?"

As she spoke, she rested her hands casually on her waist. That seemingly soft waist was quite sturdy, and she was slender and full of vitality. The expression on her face was fearless, and her eyes shimmered with a light deeply attracted by danger. Luo Qi had just asked on a whim; he could feel that Wen Lin was like a salmon that had bitten down hard on the bait.

The others had no objections. Zhou Ruisi was completely disappointed; he gazed at the storm rising from the peak, and the side of him deeply influenced by human culture gained the upper hand in his field of knowledge, muttering "this is too inauspicious" several times.

Luo Qi, annoyed that his panic was constantly disturbing him, retorted sharply, "What auspicious or inauspicious? Are you a village bumpkin to be so superstitious?"

"No... how can you call it superstition? No, superstition isn't necessarily just human ignorance. No, no, no, little human sister, I don't mean any racial discrimination. I mean, some things that seem superstitious aren't necessarily superstition," Zhou Ruisi chattered nervously.

"Shut up," Luo Qi said irritably. "Do you believe I'll make you pass out right now?"

"Don't you know that some peaks on the Highland are cursed? The curses of Ancient Mages are real curses; I've heard that some Mages really die on the snow mountains for no apparent reason," Zhou Ruisi said.

Luo Qi didn't continue to scold him; he turned his head and exchanged a look with Du Zhengyi. They both thought of the previous leader of the Lotus Burners at the same time. Luo Qi could be certain that he didn't die here; this was not the territory of the Highland Mages, but the Lotus Burners were definitely nearby.

"Is it possible that the Lotus Burners opened the Seal?" Luo Qi remembered that burning night, the flamboyant man holding an umbrella, and the bitter, vengeful clownfish. The Lotus Burners were definitely here, but he didn't know how high-ranking the visitors would be.

Du Zhengyi shook his head, and Luo Qi knew that meant he was uncertain.

The impatient Yan Hao couldn't help but interrupt, "Then let's hurry over and take a look! Maybe we can find something; it's not far, we just need to climb a mountain."

"No!" Luo Qi was deep in thought, and being stirred up by the excited Yan Hao, he shouted intensely as well.

He looked up and saw everyone looking at him, waiting in surprise for him to provide a reason. He thought for a moment and shouted against the backdrop of the crumbling mountains and splitting earth, "I just finished breakfast; if I run over there now, I might get appendicitis."

More than one face wore an expression of extreme astonishment, except for his original group of friends who were used to it. Majiang even chimed in, "Health issues are indeed very important. Although Mages don't have appendices, the rule that one shouldn't do strenuous exercise after a meal is suitable for all species."

Du Zhengyi didn't speak. The others didn't have enough weight to sway Luo Qi; although they all felt something was amiss, they couldn't figure out what these people meant, so it was hard to say anything. Xiang Qian was different from the others; her seniority was clear, and she was ultimately more responsible than the rest.

She looked at Luo Qi and said slowly, "If it really is the Lotus Burners trying to open the Seal, we have the responsibility and obligation to go and stop them. Besides, whether we do it early or late, it falls to us to do it, and doing it early might be easier. So, Luo Qi, your judgment should have some reasonable theoretical basis, not just saying it on a whim, right?"

Luo Qi certainly had a reason. He would be a fool to quickly send Du Zhengyi, the key to opening the door, up there. The one getting struck by lightning might be suffering on the summit precisely because they didn't have the key; did they think rushing up there would make them little angels? However, being asked this, he steadied himself, excluded the emotional interference of the few people standing too close, and answered slowly, "Nainai, look up there; is anyone else fighting to go get struck by lightning?"

Xiang Qian showed an expression of being unable to agree with Luo Qi; quibbling could not move a stern old Nainai, but Luo Qi was somewhat absent-minded now.

"We must go up and see," Xiang Qian insisted, unwilling to pay any more attention to a child like Luo Qi.

Luo Qi just shook his head, not wanting to get entangled in the question of whether to go up or not. He turned to Du Zhengyi and said, "If the Seal is activating defensive measures up there, why didn't any of you feel the energy of the Magic?"

"Child, you could guess for two hundred years sitting here; go up and see, and you'll know immediately," Xiang Qian said, looking toward the other Battle Mages. "I'm going to take two people up to take a look. There are too many non-combatants here; it's best to send scouts up to probe the path first."

Luo Qi blocked her path. "I just don't understand, why should we go up just because they set off a firecracker? How can that be?"

Xiang Qian ignored him and directly named two Mages. Luo Qi glared at her with resentment. There were two types of people Luo Qi couldn't deal with: one was Battle Mages, and the other was people who wouldn't talk to him; Xiang Qian was the intersection of these two sets.

Du Zhengyi didn't support him on this issue either. "The three of you be careful going up; you can use local Communication Magic to transmit information."

But since the person going up wasn't Du Zhengyi, Luo Qi had nothing to argue for. He watched silently as the three Mages moved quickly in the direction from which the storm was coming. They were agile themselves and borrowed some Auxiliary Magic that Luo Qi couldn't understand; by his estimation, their speed was about forty kilometers per hour. If the terrain didn't have an excessive impact on their speed, they might be able to get close to the summit within ninety minutes; if the terrain had an impact on the Auxiliary Magic, then it was hard to say.

Regardless, Luo Qi didn't want to see the personnel dispersed. The more their combat power was weakened, the greater the possibility that Du Zhengyi would have to take action. The Seal couldn't be without protective measures; he was desperate for the Lotus Burners to trigger the traps for them, and he absolutely refused to touch that bad luck himself.

The ground shook violently again, and Guan Xinyue took a second tumble beside him, distracting Luo Qi. He reached out to catch Guan Xinyue. Liu Ziyi, who was sitting on the ground using a crystal, saw this and said, "Xinyue, you'd better just sit on the ground like me; that's the wisest choice. I don't think the earthquake will end anytime soon."

Earthquake? Luo Qi glanced at a tree not far away; the branches were shaking violently, and it wasn't because of the intermittent gale. The measures of a Seal couldn't include an earthquake; who would design their own Seal with something that might shake their own protective measures to pieces? Could it be that they really ran into a natural earthquake? Mountainous areas were indeed prone to earthquakes.

Or was it that a Mage created the earthquake? He had always thought the Seal was covered by powerful Magic, so it was hard to find. But what if the designer not only used Magic but also relied on nature? What if this was a very important Seal, important enough to use natural mountains and rivers as a layer of protection?

"Ge, can Mages create earthquakes?" Luo Qi asked.

Du Zhengyi pondered for a while before shaking his head. "Such flamboyant Magic, there shouldn't be."

Zhou Ruisi, however, made a disapproving "Eh" sound behind Luo Qi.

Luo Qi turned his head and snapped at him, "Big brother, if you know, just say it; what's with the weird noise?"

"No, no." Zhou Ruisi carefully glanced at Du Zhengyi. It wasn't that he suddenly got brave, but the scene of the crumbling mountains and splitting earth was too terrifying; he even forgot that Du Zhengyi was also dangerous. However, the more nervous he was, the more he couldn't help but chatter; as long as his mouth was moving, he could vent a lot of his nervousness. "In principle, an earthquake is a manifestation; the cause of the internal force could be plate movement, volcanic eruption, or rock collapse; in short, it is a release of energy. Two thousand four hundred years ago, a Mage once had a notebook specifically discussing several angles of Magic causing earthquakes. However, he believed that he could find a way to destroy the world..."

Luo Qi glared at him, and his voice became low and fast. "Of course, of course, he was later considered a High-Reaction Mage; he must have been a High-Reaction Mage, or he was just bored. His notebook was in the restricted section of Qionglin... I didn't intend to read it; I was looking for information, I wanted to find..."

"Current Magic power cannot reach the level of destroying the world; his book can be moved out of the restricted section," Liu Ziyi suddenly said, interrupting Zhou Ruisi's chatter. She looked up in a daze. "You reminded me; you're really smart."

Luo Qi saw an expression of surprise on Zhou Ruisi's face, looking at Liu Ziyi excitedly.

Liu Ziyi carried out a new round of information extraction. "Where did I remember it? Destroying the Earth is of course impossible, but as long as the operation is clever, theoretically it could trigger a small earthquake. As long as you find the location where energy is stored and release the energy underground, you can trigger an earthquake. The thunder and lightning we see are all accompanying phenomena; in fact, perhaps someone is doing it to..."

She looked up at the summit wrapped in wind and snow. "To shatter the outer shell of the glacier."

Heard that everyone wants to see a three-thousand-word chapter.

(End of chapter)