Chapter 5: Boiling Magma (Part 1)

A red glow shone below. As Guo Shier and the other two broke through the thick mist, the scene below came into view. Magma flowed violently, with steam rising in abundance; the endless expanse of magma resembled waves in a sea. The three were stunned—was this the Golden Flame Well?
As they approached, the sound of the surging magma grew clearer. It was a vast sea of fire, stretching as far as the eye could see. They had no idea where the magma came from or whether this truly was the Golden Flame Well. Guo Shier asked in confusion, “What is this?”
Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan were equally puzzled. This shouldn’t be the Golden Flame Well—was it just part of the entrance?
The place was extremely hot. Guo Shier sat on the altar, while the tentacles of Gu Xi Bi flew through the air, forming runes for defense. Above them, the Soul-Stabilizing Cauldron emitted countless fine, glowing runes that kept the heat at bay. Otherwise, even with his strength nearly reaching that of the eighth-tier altar, he wouldn’t be able to withstand such intense heat.
Guo Shier, along with Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan, circled the sea of magma but found nothing. Eagle Demon said, “Damn it! Do we have to dive into the magma to find a way out?”
Guo Shier shook his head. “Impossible. I don’t even know if I can withstand such terrifying geothermal magma once I’m in it. There must be another entrance.”
Eagle Demon replied, “Let’s keep looking… Huh? What’s that?”
Luo Zhan shouted, “It’s a Golden Beetle! There are Golden Beetles here too!”
A buzzing sound came from afar, and a golden glow appeared in the distance. Guo Shier looked up—and indeed, it was a Golden Beetle. They had already seen these creatures’ power back at the Fire Sect, but back then their strength was weak. Now, they weren’t afraid of these mutated rune insects. Guo Shier said, “There are quite a few. I wonder if there are any giant Golden Beetles.”
Giant Golden Beetles might pose a threat, but the three’s strength had increased significantly, so they weren’t worried. Guo Shier said, “Let’s go take a look. Maybe we can find a way into the Golden Flame Well.” The three altars rushed forward like whirlwinds.
It was a swarm of over a hundred thousand mutated Golden Beetles, hovering above the sea of magma. As soon as Guo Shier and the others approached, the swarm launched an attack, charging at them with a howling noise.
These Golden Beetles weren’t very powerful—most were level seven or eight mutated rune insects. Yet they could stir up waves of magma. Each beetle dragged a stream of magma behind it, like a red thread trailing from its back. With over a hundred thousand beetles, they created waves of magma that pressed down like walls of fire.

Guo Shier smiled carefree, unworried. The once fearsome swarms of golden beetles no longer needed any concern at all. He didn’t even use his sacred artifact to attack—just shouted and charged in. The Soul Suppressing Cauldron suddenly grew several meters tall, with layers of colored light swirling. Whenever a golden beetle came into contact with the light, its soul was instantly drawn out, and its corpse fell into the magma. Guo Shier had no interest in collecting their corpses—they were too low in level and of no use to him. In an instant, thousands of golden beetles died. The three of them moved swiftly, and within moments, over a hundred thousand golden beetles were dead. A nauseating screeching sound filled the air, and with a roar, the magma began to churn violently. Guo Shier shouted, “Higher-level giant golden beetles are appearing!” Back at the Fire Sect, he had known that most golden beetles were controlled by higher-level giant golden beetles. After killing so many, such giant beetles would surely appear. Sure enough, as the magma churned violently, vortices formed. As the vortices spun rapidly, layers of golden beetles rose from the magma—countless of them. Then, a shrill screeching sound came, and several giant golden backs emerged from the magma. Soon, a massive giant golden beetle appeared. Eagle Demon laughed loudly, “Ha! Giant golden beetle! Mutated giant golden beetle! At least level thirteen!” Luo Zhan said, “No! This is a mutated giant golden beetle above level fourteen!” Guo Shier rejoiced, “It’s indeed a level fourteen mutated giant golden beetle! Hehe, this thing must be worth collecting!” Buzz… Countless mutated golden beetles took to the air, carrying strands of magma, and rushed frantically at Guo Shier and the other two. With the flashing colored light, countless mutated golden beetles fell back down. The Soul Suppressing Cauldron was simply too powerful; the golden beetles couldn’t withstand it at all—no matter how many came, it made no difference. Eagle Demon’s sacred artifact transformed into layers of blade shadows, crushing any golden beetle that got close. His combat strength, along with Luo Zhan’s, had increased countless times over—these golden beetles posed no threat to them at all. The mutated giant golden beetle let out a shrill cry as its entire body rose from the magma. It was hundreds of meters long, with an oval shape and glowing runes on its back. Different from the mutated giant golden beetles seen at the Fire Sect, this one seemed even more powerful, surrounded by layers of fiery evil energy. As soon as it emerged from the magma, it launched an attack at Guo Shier.

Guo Shieru shouted, “This great golden armor is mine!” He was immediately captivated by the essence of the great golden armor and the floating flames of evil energy. “Uncle Eagle Demon, Uncle Luo, step back. I’ll take care of this mutated great golden armor.” He spat out moon blades.

After being refined once again by the old man, the moon blades had completely changed in shape—they were no longer a perfect half-moon but rather a combination of three half-moons, giving them a highly peculiar appearance. Their color turned dark black, with streaks of dark light flashing from time to time, making them appear even more oppressive and sinister. As soon as they flew out, a chilling aura spread around.

The attacks launched by the mutated great golden armor were scattered by the colorful light from the Soul Suppressing Cauldron less than ten meters away from Guo Shieru’s altar. Realizing that with his current strength, he didn’t need to worry about the attacks of the mutated great golden armor, Guo Shieru was slightly surprised. After all, even in the past, he might not have been able to handle a Level 14 mutated great golden armor, let alone ones at Levels 11 or 12. But now he was a professional using an advanced altar.

With the attack from the mutated great golden armor, the magma churned even more violently. Several more mutated great golden armors emerged from the magma, along with dozens of mutated golden armors, all at around Level 10, clearly serving as escorts for the mutated great golden armor. The sea of magma became turbulent, like boiling water, with countless bubbles popping loudly. Streams of evil flames gradually surfaced from the broken magma bubbles.

Guo Shieru flew to the side of the mutated great golden armor. Compared to it, he was like an ant next to a turtle. The great golden armor stared with its crimson eyes and took some time before spotting Guo Shieru. It let out two angry chirps and spat out another stream of flames. Guo Shieru swiftly teleported to above the back of the great golden armor.

The moon blades suddenly grew larger, stretching to a hundred meters in length before splitting into three. With a light shout, Guo Shieru made the moon blades vibrate slightly before they transformed into three streams of dark light that slashed downward with force.

The mutated great golden armor let out a screech as countless runes appeared on its backplate, merging with the flames of evil energy to form a protective layer in an instant.

With three thunderous booms, the protective layer formed from the flames of evil energy shattered. Those flames were drawn into the Soul Suppressing Cauldron by its colorful light. Guo Shieru felt the evil soul beast inside the cauldron let out excited roars as it swallowed those flames. The beast swam restlessly inside the cauldron, sending out a mental signal to emerge and fight.

A slight movement in Guo Shieru’s heart caused the evil soul beast to fly out of the Soul Suppressing Cauldron.

The Moon Blade pierced through Fire Fiend’s defenses and slammed heavily onto the back of the Abnormal Giant Golden Armor. With a thunderous crash, the Abnormal Giant Golden Armor was forced into the magma.

The Abnormal Giant Golden Armor became extremely enraged—it hadn’t even had a chance to act before being thrown back into the magma. With screeching noises, it rose again from the magma, its two huge golden back plates standing upright. Wings hidden beneath them flapped rapidly, stirring up massive waves of molten heat.

Guo Shieru dodged slightly to the side. By then, the Soul Fiend had already appeared above the sea of magma. Letting out an excited roar, it plunged into the swarm of Golden Armor Beetles. In an instant, the beetles fell like rain. Once touched by the Soul Fiend, not only were their souls stolen, but all their life force vanished as well.

The Abnormal Giant Golden Armor was originally aimed at Guo Shieru, but with the appearance of the Soul Fiend, it felt as if faced with a formidable enemy, sensing a huge threat. Since this Soul Fiend was also born from the magma, its strength was extraordinary. It had already devoured tens of thousands of soul beasts inside the Soul Subduing Cauldron, greatly enhancing its power.

The Soul Fiend quickly circled around, not only sweeping away most of the Golden Armor Beetles but also killing several of the Abnormal Giant Golden Armor’s guards. Inside the Soul Fiend’s body were not only Fire Fiend energy but also terrifying Gold Fiend energy. Combined with the vast amount of souls it had consumed, its strength had reached a terrifying level—even the Abnormal Giant Golden Armor felt a hint of threat.

Guo Shieru spun his Moon Blade and slashed downward abruptly. He wasn’t targeting the Abnormal Giant Golden Armor but those dozen or so Golden Armor guards. With a few sharp sounds, those guards, though of high rank, couldn’t withstand the Moon Blade’s strikes. In an instant, their armor was torn apart, their souls were forcibly drawn out by Guxi Bi’s tentacles, and their corpses fell into the sea of magma, turning to ashes.

Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan moved back and forth, killing many more Golden Armor Beetles as well.

The Soul Fiend, stretching seven or eight hundred meters long, roared at the Abnormal Giant Golden Armor. It was extremely covetous of the Abnormal Giant Golden Armor’s soul and the Fire Fiend energy it contained. It lunged at it and tightly wrapped itself around it.

Guo Shieru withdrew from the battle. With the Soul Fiend fighting, he didn’t need to continue. Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan flew back. The few thousand scattered Golden Armor Beetles in the sea of magma no longer posed a threat. Eagle Demon laughed and said, “Heh, Golden Armor Beetles aren’t anything special. They used to be terrifying, but now they’re completely harmless.”

The sparsely scattered golden beetles still charged forward, but the colorful light from the Soul Calming Cauldron swept through, rendering those beetles completely harmless. The moment they came into contact with the light, they fell into the sea of magma. Without their souls, the beetles’ shells could no longer protect them from the magma, and they instantly turned to ashes.

The three of them hovered side by side above the sea of magma, watching the Soul Devouring Beast fight against the Abnormal Giant Golden Beetle.

Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan saw the Soul Devouring Beast for the first time. Eagle Demon asked, “What is this thing? It’s filled with evil energy and is very different from the Soul Beasts I’ve seen before.”

Guo Shier said, “This is the Soul Devouring Beast. I caught it in the Red Gold Mountain Range. It was during that incident that Qi Wu Zhen was born. Hehe, we were lucky to escape quickly; otherwise…” He didn’t continue. Everyone understood that at that time, Qi Wu Zhen’s soul was in chaos—killing anyone or anything in its path. If they hadn’t escaped quickly, they would likely have all died in the Red Gold Mountain Range.

Luo Zhan said, “Soul Devouring Beast?” He briefly checked his inherited memories and immediately knew what it was. “You’re really lucky to have caught such a ferocious beast.”

The Soul Devouring Beast was confronting the Abnormal Giant Golden Beetle. It kept roaring but wasn’t in a hurry to attack. The Abnormal Giant Golden Beetle also feared it, seemingly aware of its strength. It kept emitting shrill screeches that drove Guo Shier crazy—those sounds were extremely unpleasant.

Eagle Demon said, “Let’s go at it together and finish it off. Hearing its cries… it’s driving people mad!”

Luo Zhan nodded. “The destructive power of those cries… is quite significant!” He also seemed annoyed.

Guo Shier laughed. “The Soul Devouring Beast told me not to interfere. Hehe, this little guy wants to take care of it alone.” He was also puzzled, as he could clearly sense the thoughts sent by the Soul Devouring Beast.

All the souls of the golden beetles caught in the colorful light were gathered into the Soul Calming Cauldron and quickly devoured by the soul beasts inside. Especially those of fire nature were overjoyed, frantically feasting on the souls of the golden beetles as if they were delicious treats.