Chapter 71: The Underground Furnace

The Yinwind Gorge stretched from north to south for over two thousand li. The mysterious cave mentioned by Lao He was located deep in the southern region. Su Che was still over five hundred li away from there.
By now, Su Che had reached the fourth level of Qi cultivation. Staying in the Yinwind Gorge for too long would be considered a violation of the rules. However, the “Spirit Concealment Technique” he had just learned came in handy. By imitating the spiritual energy fluctuations of a third-level Qi cultivator from the Immortal Prison, he believed that cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage would not be able to detect any flaws.
It took them over an hour to reach their destination. Lao He transformed into the form of the “Rat Emperor” and sent out a mental call. Soon, a black-furred rat king emerged from a nearby burrow—this area was the territory of its clan.
Led by the rat king, Su Che and Lao He first entered a rather unremarkable small hole. For a short distance after entering, Su Che had to crawl on his knees like a beast. Such holes were abundant in the gorge, and generally, they went unnoticed by the disciples of the Tianxuan Sect and independent cultivators who came here for training.
After crawling about twenty zhang, the tunnel widened significantly, allowing Su Che to stand up and walk normally.
The tunnel sloped downward, leading deeper underground. After winding for a long time, it still seemed bottomless.
“About a thousand zhang, I guess?”
Su Che calculated silently. This tunnel reminded him of the secret herb garden on Xuanji Peak, which also extended over a thousand zhang deep into the mountain.
But as they went deeper, Su Che realized that a thousand zhang was actually nothing. After traveling several more thousand zhang, the black-furred rat king continued to race forward without any sign of stopping.
“It’s really deep!”
Lao He sensed Su Che’s thoughts and replied with a smile, “This isn’t anything. The deeper parts are yet to come!”
They kept going, on and on…
Su Che could no longer count how deep they had gone underground. He could only estimate based on time. At their current pace, after twenty minutes, they had traveled at least forty li.
Finally, the black-furred rat king stopped, turned around, and chattered at the Rat Emperor form created by Lao He. Lao He translated, “This rat king says it doesn’t dare to go any further because there’s a very powerful Red-Tailed Fox inside—a true nemesis of the Yinwind Rats. Over the years, it has killed countless of them.”

“Then let it go back; we’ll explore on our own.” It was just a red-tailed fox, so Su Che didn’t care much about it.
Lao He could sense Su Che’s thoughts and reminded him with a smile, “Master, this red-tailed fox is no ordinary one. Think about it—the Rat King is already at the third level of Qi cultivation, yet his entire clan can’t do anything to this fox. So, just imagine how strong this fox must be…”
“Oh?” Su Che asked in confusion, “Weren’t we told there are no mid-level monsters in the Yin Wind Gorge? How can this red-tailed fox be so powerful?”
“That’s precisely what makes these caves so interesting,” Lao He replied. “There’s a monster here whose strength surpasses even the third level of Qi cultivation, yet even the Tianxuan Sect knows nothing about it.”
“Well, since we’re already here, we must find out what’s going on.”
Su Che had developed a strong desire to explore such mysterious matters, as uncovering them often brought significant rewards. In the realm of cultivation, this was known as a person’s “fate.”
Next, the black-furred Rat King chirped twice and dashed off along the original path; the image of the Rat Emperor created by Lao He also returned to the Immortal Prison, leaving Su Che alone to continue deeper into the cave.
There was no light inside the cave, making it completely invisible to the human eye. However, Su Che had long since gotten used to relying on Lao He’s detection abilities, allowing him to move forward confidently even with his eyes closed.
The path continued steeply downward, winding its way for a long time, until Su Che suddenly stopped in his tracks.
For he could see with his bare eyes a small red dot ahead, and he clearly felt a wave of heat rushing toward him, causing the temperature to rise dramatically—like someone accidentally falling into a boiling hot pool.
“The temperature was normal just now. How could it rise so much all at once?”
Full of doubts, Su Che stepped back several times. Suddenly, the heat wave disappeared, and the surrounding temperature returned to being cool.
What was going on?
After trying several times, Su Che finally realized that there was an invisible barrier at this location—like a transparent membrane—that blocked the heat wave ahead. Only by crossing this barrier could one experience such a drastic change in temperature.
“Is it an artificial barrier or a natural one? How could something like this exist underground?” Su Che mused silently.

“I don’t know.” Lao He was also at a loss and could only remind him, “This situation is definitely unusual. Master, it’s still not too late for you to turn back now.”
For Lao He, he couldn’t hide any information he obtained from his master. Even if he thought it was dangerous, he had to tell his master the truth. As for how to decide, it was up to the master himself; at most, he could offer suggestions.
“No!” Su Che made a decisive decision. “Since we’ve embarked on the path of cultivation, we must have the courage to explore the unknown. Otherwise, we’ll miss countless great opportunities. Besides, if we don’t move forward, how can we tell whether what lies ahead is fortune or disaster?”
“Alright, I support whatever decision the master makes,” Lao He replied. He added, “From my estimation, this place is already nearly ten li deep vertically from the surface. The heat flow ahead is likely an underground magma vein.”
“Is that small red dot right in front of the tunnel the reflection of the underground magma vein?” Su Che asked.
“Probably,” Lao He answered. “It’s too far away; I can’t tell either, just like you.”
Lao He’s perception range was only 100 zhang. Beyond that, what he saw was the same as what Su Che could see with his own eyes.
Su Che crossed that invisible barrier once again. Facing the intense heat waves, his speed had to slow down significantly.
As he got closer, the temperature inside the tunnel grew higher and higher. Soon, Su Che needed to use his vital energy to protect himself from the heat. If it were an ordinary person, they would have been roasted long ago and served on a plate.
Getting closer and closer…
When he reached the end of the tunnel, the view suddenly cleared up to reveal an extremely vast underground space—a fiery red, strange world.
This must be an underground lava river. Orange-red magma flowed slowly below, and the cave walls around it had taken on a vitreous quality, as if covered with a thick layer of red crystal. It was almost impossible to see the normal colors of soil and rock.
Su Che stepped out of the tunnel and followed a narrow passage protruding from the right-side cave wall, continuing toward the downstream direction of the lava river. This was the only viable path, whether naturally formed or artificially carved…
After walking nearly 100 zhang and turning around a curve, he saw that the lava river converged into a lava lake there. The space here was even more vast, with its length and width impossible to measure. Its height alone was over 30 zhang.

“A huge and magnificent furnace hall!” Su Che thought that although such a description was vague, it was very suitable for describing the scene here.
However, the appearance of the place wasn’t important. What mattered was that Su Che saw a small black island rising out of the lava lake—not very large, about ten or so zhang in diameter.
Directly above the island, a triangular flag floated quietly. On its golden-yellow surface were embroidered dark patterns, and it seemed to have two characters as well, but from too far away, Su Che couldn’t make them out.
The island wasn’t too far away, within Lao Hei’s detection range. So Lao Hei replied, “I can see those two characters, but I don’t recognize them. It must be a very ancient script; the cultivation world these days no longer uses such writing. I’ll note down their appearance and look them up in relevant books later.”
“That flag can float automatically—it must be a magical artifact, right?” Su Che wondered in his heart.
“Definitely a magical artifact!” Lao Hei, being an artifact spirit, had an especially keen sense for such objects. “But for now, I can’t sense whether it has its own spirit.”
With such a treasure in sight, Su Che naturally wanted to obtain it. Yet he didn’t forget that there should also be a powerful Red-Tailed Fox here…
After looking around, he saw no sign of the Red-Tailed Fox, and Lao Hei hadn’t detected anything either.
Estimating the distance, Su Che was about sixty zhang away from the island in the lava lake. Since he didn’t know how to fly, the only way to reach the island was to swim through the magma.
Swimming in magma sounded extremely terrifying, but that was only true for ordinary people. Cultivators could devise many ways to accomplish such a feat.
For example, Su Che, who was already at the mid-stage of Qi Cultivation, could control high-grade magical weapons. Back when he captured Luo Lianqiao in the Demon Sealing Realm, he seized his high-grade magic shield. With just that shield, Su Che could withstand the extreme heat of the magma.
Yet as soon as Su Che summoned the green magic shield, he heard Lao Hei’s warning: “Something is swimming through the magma—very fast… It hid on the other side of the island and stopped for now!”