Shulong Daojun

Cen An turned his head and looked back, then smiled sheepishly: "Bilan, I know nothing about this matter either."

Logically, with the formation locking the mountain's magma river, the earth's fiery and dry energy shouldn't leak out, so it shouldn't be this scorching hot.

Now it's like this...

He looked around, then changed the subject, saying uncertainly, "Perhaps He Baifan and the sorcerer have devised some scheme; we don't yet know."

I urge the Divine Spirit Bilan to be careful.

After saying that, he stepped past Chang Geng and walked to the front.

Cen An smiled and said, "If we go a little further, we will reach the territory under my jurisdiction, which I am more familiar with."

"Brother Chang Geng, everyone, let me lead the way."

Chang Geng nodded slightly, stepped back, and stood with Bi Lan and the others.

He was very familiar with the area at the foot of Xuan Yin Mountain, but the mountainside and summit were Cen An's territory.

His relationship with Cen An was so-so, and he rarely went to Cen An's jurisdiction.

The remaining gods exchanged glances, but had no objections.

They came either to repay a favor to Chang Gung or to resolve the disordered ley lines within their jurisdiction.

Regardless of which type they were, they were all there to make a move, and none of them knew the way.

At this moment, Cen An seemed to remember something, frowned, and reminded him: "The mountaintop is a high vantage point, making it easy to control the overall situation. He Baifan and those cunning demons should be there."

They may have already laid a trap, waiting for us to walk into it willingly. I urge you all to be careful.

After speaking, he looked around and identified a place with scarce earth fire, then slowly walked there and continued on his way.

Chang Geng, Bi Lan, and others followed closely behind.

After a moment's thought, Lin Shu slowed his pace slightly, naturally falling to the back.

He had only met Cen Ancai for the first time and did not know his character. He was not as reliable as Chang Geng, so it was better to be cautious.

As Lin Shu was thinking this, a sudden change occurred shortly after he had gone on his journey.

Cen Anming stepped onto the rocky ground, but his figure suddenly dropped, and in less than half a breath, he had disappeared without a trace.

Chang Geng, Bi Lan, and the others were taken aback, but before they could speak, they too vanished from their spots, just like Cen An.

Just then, Lin Shu suddenly felt a tremor beneath his feet, and the previous hot energy instantly enveloped him, as if he were in a river of boiling water.

Without hesitation, he slightly raised his hand, and divine light shone down, heading straight for his feet.

Immediately, with a thought, he transformed into a gentle breeze, relying on his senses to find a place where the heat and energy were slightly weaker, and landed to take form.

At the same time, the power of the Scaled Calligraphy surged, and a layer of azure light emanated from the outside of the divine robe. The divine light then covered the body with the robe, firmly protecting him.

The next instant.

Lin Shu looked around, his face filled with astonishment.

What he saw appeared to be flat ground, but in his perception it had become a huge, deep pit, inside which flowed a river of scorching lava.

Chang Geng, Bi Lan, and the others landed on a small, black rock platform. They were covered in burns and were using their magic to shield themselves from the intense heat.

"An illusion?" Lin Shu frowned and murmured.

Protected by divine light, and after sensing his surroundings, he finally understood where the previous feeling of heat came from.

The area beneath this place has been hollowed out by human hands at some unknown time, with tunnels of all sizes connecting in all directions, stretching underground and leading directly to the deep-seated fire river.

At this moment, the accumulated magma river is surging through those tunnels, sometimes bursting through the rock layers and sometimes crashing through the tunnel walls, causing the ground to collapse.

Of course, without Cen An's guidance, they would not have entered this place.

Thinking of this, Lin Shu scanned the area with his divine sense and indeed found Cen An not far away.

Although he did not fall into the river, he was buried up to half his body by the collapsed rocks and suffered from the attack of the fiery evil energy of the earth, so he was obviously injured.

Before reaching the summit of Xuan Yin Mountain, and without seeing He Baifan, all the righteous gods who came here, except for Lin Shu, had suffered injuries of varying degrees.

Fortunately, it was not a fatal injury. Chang Geng and the others soon transformed into a gentle breeze and arrived at Lin Shu's side.

"It's all thanks to your extraordinary abilities, young friend, that you're safe and sound." Chang Geng sighed, and a yellowish-brown spiritual light emanated from his body, slowly healing him.

Although his burns were healing, his divine robes had dimmed and his divine light was unstable, clearly indicating that they had been eroded by the evil energy of the earth fire.

Lin Shu glanced at it closely and said softly, "Brother Chang Geng, you flatter me. It was just a stroke of luck."

Just now, the lava surged up, and I managed to brush off a portion with a divine light, then transformed into a gentle breeze to dodge it, thus remaining unharmed.

Chang Geng shook his head after hearing this.

As the first disciple of the special lineage, Lin Shu certainly had more methods than those of the miscellaneous lineage practitioners.

He only had time to protect himself with his magic and forcefully break through the magma, and the difference between the two immediately became apparent.

However, the person who set up this illusion was extremely cunning. They only placed the illusion here, making it blend into the real Xuan Yin Mountain around them, so that they would unknowingly step into it.

The illusion went unnoticed by them, likely due to the combination of a very faint miasma that had accumulated over time, causing them to fall victim.

But where does this miasma come from?

Chang Geng frowned, unable to figure it out for a moment.

However, since everyone was already injured, he decided to leave.

"Young friend, why don't we go back and rest first? Once we've expelled the evil energy from the earth fire within us, we can explore Xuan Yin Mountain again. What do you say?"

Chang Geng looked up at Lin Shu and continued, "Since there are arrangements on this mountain, there must be a plan at the top. As long as the mountain exists, so do the people. They can't escape for a while."

Lin Shu looked around at the solemn figures, nodded, and was about to speak when a voice suddenly rang in his ears:

"Gentlemen, coming and going as you please is a gross underestimation of me, He Baifan!"

But it was a sprightly old man who came down from the mountaintop, blowing his beard.

He was robust, with strong, clenched hands, and a white-colored waist drum around his waist. Behind him followed dozens of Taoist priests carrying large drums on their backs.

The group was dressed in different clothes and hats, clearly from different sects, but they were all subtly led by He Baifan.

Upon seeing everyone's disheveled appearance, He Baifan nodded, then burst into laughter:

"Today is indeed an auspicious day. My Dao embryo is stable and I am about to attain the Earth Immortal rank. I shall play a song to celebrate this auspicious day."

You are all blessed to witness this scene. How wonderful!

After saying that, he gently tapped the drum.

thump—

A deep, resonant drumbeat suddenly rang out, and Mount Xuanyin fell silent for a moment.

Two or three breaths later, the earth fire and the river of magma suddenly exploded, sending up pillars of flame that shot into the sky, accompanied by the crashing sound of a great river hitting the shore, and the scorching heat ran rampant.

Lin Shu suddenly felt as if the surrounding heat waves had the power to devour him.

Boom! Boom! He Baifan clapped the drum twice more.

The river suddenly gathered together, solidifying into a hornless, one-legged, ox-shaped beast.

At the same time, the earth fire instantly coiled around its body, gathered at its tail, and transformed into a ferocious serpent.

He Baifan was overjoyed. He bent his knees slightly and clapped his hands alternately at his waist, making a crisp "thump-thump" sound as his palms struck the drumhead.

He roared, "Hahahaha, the bull-snake killed them!"

The strange beast with the shape of a bull and the tail of a snake responded to the call and moved. With a stomp of its hoof, the Jianghe Earth Fire flowed into the soles of its feet, and it charged towards Lin Shu and the others with a raging inferno.

The snake's tail also rose high, and it opened its mouth to spew out waves of fire, attacking all at once.