Chapter 206: Wei Wuya's Opportunity?

With the Liangyi Ring in the possession of Yan Taibai and Nanlong Hou, they naturally crossed the Arctic Essence Light without much trouble and successfully entered the Inner Valley of the Falling Demon Valley.

The environment of the Inner Valley caused even Yan Taibai's expression to change, his gaze becoming much more solemn.

Looking out, what met the eyes was a majestic, massive mountain range with countless ridges that resembled a true dragon; yet, the entire area surrounding the mountain range was a world of multicolored brilliance, with ten thousand rays of rosy light visible at a single glance, too dazzling to take in.

These rays of light varied in size, color, and area; some were only an inch or so, some a foot, some over a zhang, and others spread for several miles.

But these were not the main point; what was most shocking was that the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth here was extremely chaotic, with spiritual Qi of all attributes mixed and intertwined, giving one a feeling of being volatile and restless, as if the slightest touch could provoke them.

"It seems the ancient battle was truly incredibly tragic, to have even disrupted the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth here. I truly wonder just how tragic it was."

Nanlong Hou could not help but sigh.

"These are not the most troublesome things; the most troublesome are those?"

Yan Taibai frowned deeply and spoke.

At this moment, in the air not far from them, there were faintly a dozen or so objects about a foot long, resembling white light, drifting slowly.

They were nothing else but Space Cracks, which even Nascent Soul cultivators dared not touch in the slightest.

"With so many Space Cracks, things will be troublesome from here on out."

Seeing this, Nanlong Hou's brow furrowed even more severely than Yan Taibai's.

No matter how powerful Yan Taibai was, when faced with this degree and such a large number of Space Cracks, he could only retreat.

After all, these were Space Cracks, a type of power of heaven and earth that could not be resisted by human strength.

Even if Yan Taibai was the number one person in the Tiannan Cultivation World, it was impossible for him to be an enemy of heaven and earth.

Even if it were just these mere Space Cracks.

"However, the Space Cracks here do not move."

Nanlong Hou said again.

"That is for the best, then let us hurry! After all, although it is extremely dangerous here, it does not mean other cultivators will not come; if they were to get the Fire Toad Beast's inner core and the Ancient Cultivation Ruins first, it would be troublesome."

Yan Taibai urged.

"Good, Fellow Daoist Taibai is right. Let us go; if there are no accidents, we should still be one day away from the Fire Toad Beast's lair."

Nanlong Hou nodded in agreement.

After speaking, Nanlong Hou took the lead; clearly, he understood the information left behind by Cangkun Shangren better than anyone else.

However, his flight path along the way was very strange; sometimes he went straight, sometimes he had to make a large detour, but regardless of the route, every hour after flying, he would stop to re-identify the direction and position before setting off again.

Regarding this, Yan Taibai had no objections at all, though he recorded all these strange routes.

This might have been left by Cangkun Shangren, or perhaps by the split soul of the ancient demon, but in any case, there would be no mistake as long as he remembered it.

As for Yan Taibai silently remembering this, Nanlong Hou naturally could not control it, nor did he dare to, so he just continued to lead the way in silence.

During this time, Yan Taibai also sensed many places with powerful Restriction fluctuations; there was no doubt that some good things must exist within them.

But with time limited, Yan Taibai did not go to investigate; otherwise, he believed he would certainly have been able to obtain many good things.

Half a day later, Nanlong Hou, who was leading the way, stopped; at this moment, not far from them was a small hill about a hundred zhang high, ordinary and plain, without anything special, while far ahead, to the left and right, there were two unusually tall mountain ridges, which were extremely eye-catching.

"True Master Taibai, we have encountered trouble?"

Nanlong Hou looked back and smiled bitterly.

"If we set off toward those two mountains now and converge at one point, we can almost reach the Fire Toad Beast's lair. However, the trouble is that a group of legendary Flying Purple-Veined Scorpions lives in the mountain on the left; although there are only a dozen or so, each one is extremely ferocious, and I fear that once we pass by that mountain, we will most likely startle them. Therefore, if they are startled, I fear we will need Fellow Daoist Taibai to show your great power and exterminate them."

Nanlong Hou said with a helpless expression.

He also believed that Yan Taibai indeed had this strength.

"Flying Purple-Veined Scorpions, that is indeed not a small trouble, and with more than ten of them, even for me, it is a hassle to deal with. However, there is no need to fight over such matters; we only need to use a little strategy."

After listening to Nanlong Hou, Yan Taibai smiled and said.

"Oh! I wonder what good method Fellow Daoist Taibai has?"

Nanlong Hou asked in surprise.

Hearing this, Yan Taibai immediately reached into his Storage Bag with one hand, and a small green bottle appeared in his palm.

"This is?"

Nanlong Hou was somewhat confused.

"Bijiou, one of the Ten Absolute Poisons; this poison is said to be refined from the saliva of the demon bird Bijiou. It is not only extremely poisonous but also has a pungent, unforgettable odor, which is the favorite of all the world's great poisonous insects."

Yan Taibai introduced unhurriedly.

"Therefore, we only need to use this to lure those dozen or so Flying Purple-Veined Scorpions away; there is no need to fight, as if we were to touch the Space Cracks and the chaotic spiritual Qi of heaven and earth, even for me, it would be very tricky."

"Good idea."

After hearing Yan Taibai's words, Nanlong Hou's eyes lit up and he immediately praised him.

Subsequently, Yan Taibai used a Puppet to smear the Bijiou, one of the Ten Absolute Poisons, on his hand, and then lured the dozen or so Flying Purple-Veined Scorpions away.

And Yan Taibai also managed to see the true appearance of the Flying Purple-Veined Scorpions.

Not only were they each about a zhang in size, but apart from their whole bodies being black-purple and shiny and having a pair of transparent wings, they were exactly the same as ordinary scorpions.

However, the flying scorpion at the very front had a body size far exceeding its peers, reaching two zhang; it was clearly the leader of this group of flying scorpions.

Most importantly, if he really fought, even if he could exterminate the opponent, it would require some effort and time.

And what he lacked most right now was time, so he could only choose this method.

Once the Flying Purple-Veined Scorpions were gone, Yan Taibai and Nanlong Hou turned into streaks of light and flew directly toward the direction of the Fire Toad Beast's lair.

And this time, Yan Taibai took Nanlong Hou with him as they flew, as the other's speed was too slow.

As the temperature in the air rose, the vegetation in the scenery ahead of them gradually disappeared, and the final landscape transformed from the original lush mountain forest into a fiery red world.

Looking out, the large and small stones on the mountains all presented a fiery red color.

Moreover, on some of the mountain peaks, one could see lava cracks of various sizes, which were exceptionally fiery red inside, spitting out scorching, searing hot wind and grayish-white fly ash, a complete scene of a furnace-like purgatory.

Faced with this shocking scene, Yan Taibai and Nanlong Hou continued forward without changing their expressions, and finally, a red giant peak about several thousand zhang high appeared ahead, with the greater part of the mountain peak thrusting directly into the fiery red clouds in the sky, appearing exceptionally striking.

Upon seeing this mountain peak, Nanlong Hou stopped and began to introduce it: "Fellow Daoist Taibai, there is a cave beneath the mountain peak ahead; that is the lair of the Fire Toad Beast, and the remains of the ancient cultivator are also inside."

Looking in the direction of the voice, Yan Taibai's divine sense soon followed what Nanlong Hou had said and discovered a large, fiery red cave entrance at the base of the giant peak, from which gusts of hot wind blew out from time to time.

"Fellow Daoist Taibai, nearly half of that Fire Toad Beast's lair is submerged in magma, so no matter what kind of serious injury it sustains, as long as it jumps into the lava, it will immediately recover as if nothing happened. Therefore, it is best if we lure it out before killing it. For this, I have specially prepared a set of equipment for setting up a water-attribute formation," Nanlong Hou said, having come prepared.

"Fine, then I will listen to you."

Regarding this, Yan Taibai naturally had no objections.

After all, rushing in blindly would indeed be a bit reckless.

However, his divine sense still probed toward the cave.

Just like that, before long, an underground world was reflected in his sea of consciousness.

This underground world was hundreds of zhang in area alone, but the most eye-catching feature was a lava lake that occupied more than half the space, inside which fiery red bubbles were constantly churning and bursting with "pop-pop" sounds, as if one would become a dried husk just by getting close.

And around this lava lake, on the reddish-brown rocky ground, there were a few flickers of green, which were some spiritual herbs growing there.

But the most eye-catching thing was on a protruding giant rock in the center of the lava lake.

On it, a fiery red monster was sleeping soundly with its belly turned upward.

This monster was not large, three zhang wide and five or six zhang long, resembling a giant toad in shape, but its flame-like, glowing skin made it look extraordinarily imposing.

Furthermore, as the monster breathed in and out, a layer of red clouds would appear on its body from time to time, setting off a sense of mystery.

It was precisely one of the targets of their trip: the Fire Toad Beast.

Only after seeing this Fire Toad Beast did the heart Yan Taibai had been holding finally settle down completely.

Afterward, he looked elsewhere, and in a moment, he found the ancient cultivator's remains.

At this moment, these ancient cultivator's remains were on a stone platform opposite the lava lake.

And this stone platform was itself an object from the distant past.

A casual glance revealed that many patterns and runes were carved around the platform, though the four corners of the platform had long since eroded into a dilapidated state.

In the center of the stone platform, a cultivator's remains wrapped in a cyan robe were lying there quietly. The style of the robe was simple, ancient, and peculiar; one could tell at a glance that it was not something worn by modern cultivators, and after so many years, the robe was still as new as ever, emitting a faint green light, which showed it was definitely no ordinary object.

The remains wrapped inside the robe had long since become a pile of bones, but these bones were each crystalline and transparent, as clear as crystal, appearing incomparably eerie.

"Not bad, it looks like it's the right place."

After confirming this, a faint smile finally appeared on Yan Taibai's face.

Then, he separated a wisp of divine sense that, like a sharp sword, stabbed toward the Fire Toad Beast.

"Croak!"

With the sharp sword entering its body, the Fire Toad Beast naturally let out a cry of pain, and then, following the sensation, it flew out toward the outside of the lair.

Just as it exited the lair, with a loud "croak," a ball of crimson fire was immediately spat out from the beast's mouth.

The fireball was only the size of a human head when it first left its mouth, but after shooting out several zhang, with a "poof" sound, it instantly transformed into a behemoth several zhang in size, heading straight for Yan Taibai.

Because in its perception, the culprit that caused it pain was Yan Taibai.

Facing such an attack, Yan Taibai smiled slightly, unhurried, and with a wave of his sleeve, a streak of Golden Sword Qi shot out, transforming into a giant golden sword that looked as if it were forged from pure gold; carrying the power to split mountains and sever rivers, it slashed the fireball into a sky full of fire rain in one stroke, posing no threat to Yan Taibai at all.

At the same time, the giant golden sword, its momentum undiminished and its edge fully revealed, attacked toward the Fire Toad Beast.

There was no intention of holding back at all, and facing such a terrifying attack, the Fire Toad Beast let out another "croak" of a frog call, and immediately, hundreds or thousands of fist-sized fireballs surged out from its mouth, shooting over and turning into a sea of fire in an attempt to block Yan Taibai's giant golden sword.

Yan Taibai did not care about this, and even Nanlong Hou did not care; what they cared about was that this Fire Toad Beast might run away.

According to intelligence, besides being able to use the power of lava to restore its vitality and injuries, this Fire Toad Beast was also proficient in the Fire Escape technique, and by borrowing the power of flames, it could travel a thousand zhang in an instant.

And, looking at this place, there were countless lava fire seas; if the Fire Toad Beast really dived into the underground, it could easily escape.

By then, even Yan Taibai would be helpless and have no way to stop it.

Therefore, they must now guard against this Fire Toad Beast escaping.

"Boom!"

The giant golden sword split the sea of fire and landed directly on the Fire Toad Beast, causing it to let out a painful wail.

It then wanted to flee, but how could Yan Taibai let it have its way?

Another sword was slashed out, with absolutely no intention of mercy.

"Rip!" This time, the Fire Toad Beast was split in two directly, without any flair; this scene gave Nanlong Hou a clearer understanding of Yan Taibai's strength and divine abilities.

Not to be trifled with! Terrifying to this extent! After killing the Fire Toad Beast with one sword, what Yan Taibai cared about most was the Fire Toad Beast's inner core, as this was an important item for resolving the "Soul Sealing Curse" in Nangong Wan's body; he naturally could not let it go.

"The Fire Toad Beast has been dealt with, let's go in!"

After carefully putting away the Fire Toad Beast's inner core, Yan Taibai said.

"Fellow Daoist Taibai is right."

Hearing this, Nanlong Hou naturally dared not disobey.

Afterward, he entered the Fire Toad Beast's lair together with Yan Taibai.

This was an altar. The entire altar was built entirely of white mountain stone, presenting as a huge trapezoid with stairs spread across all four sides; the whole structure towered into the clouds, reaching several hundred zhang in height, truly magnificent to the extreme.

And at this moment, this altar was in front of Wei Wuya.

"This should be the place, right? I hope there is no mistake."

Wei Wuya looked at the Transmission Array under his feet; he had come directly here through the Transmission Array.

And on the other side of the Transmission Array, there was also an altar, but it was much smaller than the one in front of him.

There was only one Transmission Array leading here, and apart from that, there was nothing else.

And Wei Wuya's current goal was to ascend the altar in front and find the legendary Lingmiao Garden.

As for whether it was true or false, it would depend on luck.

(End of this chapter)