Douluo Continent: Starting with a Heavenly Fire Judgment

Chapter 438 Underwater Dungeon

Ji Lin asked a few more questions, but Feng Ling's mental state was fluctuating, and his words were somewhat unclear. The only information that could be summarized was what he had said before.

Even so, this was still quite good information for the Zizai Sect members. At least they knew the location where the hostages were being held, and that they were indeed being guarded by evil spirit masters.

This gave them a direct objective for their next action.

After leaving Feng Ling's room, Ji Lin looked at the women and said, "Two days have passed. The disappearance of an evil soul master will surely alert the Holy Spirit Cult, so we must take action as soon as possible."

According to Ji Lin and his group's prediction, the suppression battle on the border will reach its climax in the next few days. The best chance of rescuing people will be when the fighting is at its most intense, because the Holy Spirit Cult may transfer its strongest members away.

"Judging from Feng Ling's account, the Holy Spirit Cult has already taken action against the hostages. A small portion of the hostages were taken away by evil soul masters, and their fate is predictable. Even if some of them are still alive, they will probably suffer a fate worse than death. Let's just give up on these people; even if they are rescued, they will be useless, just like Feng Ling."

The women nodded. Indeed, the soul masters who were taken away by the evil soul masters could not possibly be unharmed. They were just there to do a favor, not to be babysitters who had to save everyone.

Saving some of them is enough.

Time is running out. The Sun Moon Empire is focusing more on the border. According to estimates, although the Holy Spirit Cult is guarding this area, the defenses will be weaker than they were initially. Ji Lin does not want to start a full-scale war with the Holy Spirit Cult for the time being. Firstly, Ye Guyi and others have not yet fully matured, and secondly, it would be a losing proposition.

At this time, it's also troublesome for them to leave the city safely. Leaving the city without causing a big commotion is far more difficult than entering it. This Sunrise City was originally a trap. After all, the location where the hostages are being held is outside the city. No wonder Ji Lin's mental detection didn't find many strong people, and Ye Guyi couldn't find any more evil soul masters either. They originally thought it was interference from some kind of soul tool, but it turns out that the other party was not even in the city.

It's likely that the other rescue teams, who were just as foolish as Ji Lin and his group, have sneaked into the city and are now wandering around aimlessly like headless flies.

Ji Lin led Wang Qiu'er and Ye Guyi towards the South District, while the others stayed at the hotel.

He decided to use mental detection to investigate first, just in case he came up empty-handed again.

Ji Lin, along with Wang Qiu'er and Ye Guyi, quickly arrived at the South City, less than fifty meters from the city wall.

It was lunchtime, so Ji Lin and his two companions found a very ordinary little restaurant on the street, ordered some food, and began to eat slowly.

Ji Lin sat in a relatively inner corner, with Wang Qiu'er and Ye Guyi blocking his view, making it difficult for others to notice Ji Lin's eyes turning golden.

Ji Lin unleashed his full mental probing power for the first time, utilizing not only the million-year-old Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm Soul Bone but also the power of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm Sacred Mark.

The mental detection was quietly activated, and under his control, it was like a sharp cone piercing the ground, probing downwards.

If one's mental energy were to pass directly through the city wall, it would likely trigger the soul-guided detectors on the wall. Fortunately, Ji Lin simply went around it from underground. Only a soul master with such immense mental energy as him could withstand such a drain.

The defenses on the south city wall were indeed much stronger than elsewhere. They only glanced around and found that the number of thermal and soul power detectors on this side was much greater than at the north gate where they entered the city.

Moreover, some powerful attack soul tools are hidden on the city wall, making the outer defense quite tight.

I don't know what the commander who set up the defenses was thinking. Isn't this obviously telling others that there's a problem in the southern part of the city?

Otherwise, why would the defenses be more robust than those in other directions?

His mental energy continued to probe downwards and diagonally, going deep underground to explore. This consumed a lot of mental energy, which is why Ji Lin could squander it so recklessly, thanks to his million-year-old spiritual bones and million-year-old holy marks.

After drilling nearly thirty meters into the ground, Ji Lin suddenly felt his mental energy lighten, and finally emerged from the soil and entered the water.

The moat, this must be the moat.

The mental energy continued to probe downwards and then began to probe horizontally.

The water in the moat of Sunrise City is somewhat murky, but the perception of spiritual energy is external to the body; unlike sight, it cannot be blocked.

Soon, Ji Lin's mental energy swept across a stretch of turbid river about fifty meters long, but he found nothing. There was only silt at the bottom of the river. Ji Lin increased the output of his mental energy again. This time, he could explore a larger area. He couldn't keep exploring underground indefinitely, since it was impossible to build anything under the silt. Feng Ling knew only a limited amount of information, only that it was outside the South City, in the moat.

His mental energy swept across the area, quickly exceeding two hundred meters. As the coverage area increased, and with the amplification from his million-year-old soul bone, Ji Lin was able to sense even more things.

He gradually sensed a chilling aura emanating from him. This chilling aura was unique to evil soul masters, quite different from that of ordinary soul masters. Ji Lin's spiritual power continued eastward toward the direction from which this chilling aura came, and finally, Ji Lin found it.

That was about three meters below the bank of the moat, which was about three hundred meters east of their location, on the side of the city wall.

There was an iron fence there, made of thick iron as thick as an arm, and a cold aura emanated from it. In other words, even if that place wasn't the entrance to the water dungeon, it should at least be the entrance and exit point for the water to flow into the dungeon.

Quickly withdrawing his mental probe, Ji Lin rubbed his temples. This kind of long-distance detection, which required suppressing one's mental fluctuations to prevent being detected by the soul-guided device, required extremely precise operation. Even Ji Lin felt mentally exhausted.

"How is it?"

Seeing the golden light disappear from Ji Lin's eyes, Ye Guyi and Wang Qiu'er knew that Ji Lin had ended the mental detection.

"We've found the entrance, let's go take a look."

Ji Lin quickly paid the bill with Ye Guyi and Wang Qiu'er, left the small restaurant, and headed towards the south city wall.

They could not advance any further than 30 meters from the south city wall. People on the city wall were already shouting and driving them away, and patrolling soldiers below the city wall had also noticed their presence.

Ji Lin and his two companions pretended to be ignorant commoners and headed east along the south city wall.

As they walked, Ji Lin relayed the findings to Ye Guyi and Wang Qiu'er.

"What are you planning to do?" Wang Qiu'er asked.

Ji Lin said, "I went closer tonight to take another look, but I only found what appeared to be an entrance. It's still uncertain whether it's the place where the hostages are being held."

With Chi Yuan's cultivation level, it wouldn't be a problem for her to bring Ji Lin close to the moat alone. As long as they confirm tonight that this is the place of imprisonment, they can begin their operation.

As night fell, Ji Lin and Chi Yuan arrived alone in the South City. The two passed through the city wall silently, and the detection soul tools on the wall remained unresponsive. It should be noted that even the Dragon God Douluo Mu En could ignore the detection soul tools and wander around Mingde Hall. Not to mention that Chi Yuan's cultivation level was above Mu En's, and the detection soul tools here were not as good as those in Mingde Hall.

For Chi Yuan, apart from a few places related to the God Realm, she could come and go freely in the Douluo Continent. This was why Ji Lin dared to bring Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao, whose cultivation was only at the Soul Emperor level, to this dangerous place to rescue people. First, they were fearless, and second, it was a training opportunity. Experiencing more things like this would be beneficial to their growth.

Soon, under the cover of Chi Yuan, Ji Lin arrived at the moat.

Instead of entering the river directly, he released his mental probe again, sending his mental energy into the river. This time, Ji Lin easily found the underwater iron fence he had located earlier and slipped inside.

The river water behind the iron fence was still murky. Ji Lin's spiritual power continued to spread forward and soon he saw an amazing scene.

Feng Ling was right; this was a water prison, surrounded by solid rock, with rows of steel cages arranged neatly, and the area was surprisingly large.

Each cage held eight to ten people, and the water inside was a meter deep. The murky water soaked the people's bodies, and almost everyone inside was pale and had very weak breaths. In this water prison, it was almost impossible to rest, and they could only lean against the side.

Ji Lin quickly recognized these people as the team members and leaders from various academies and sects who had participated in the All-Continent Youth Advanced Soul Master Elite Competition.

Ji Lin even spotted the figures of the team members and leaders from Tianjia Sect and Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy, who had competed against them in the past. However, their auras were very weak, and there was no soul power fluctuation on their bodies.

After a brief investigation, Ji Lin withdrew his mental probe. There must be evil soul masters guarding this place. Who knows if there are any mental evil soul masters? Having been discovered once, Ji Lin was very wary of mental evil soul masters.

He began to patrol around the cage, and one after another, somewhat familiar faces appeared in the cage. Ji Lin could not name most of them, but he had some impression of them. These people were all geniuses who could represent their respective academies and sects in the battle. Which one of them was not a leader of the younger generation?

Their future, at the very least, is to become a Soul Saint, and some even have the hope of becoming a Title Douluo. You should know that a Soul Saint is already considered a high-level combatant in the Douluo Continent. Rescuing these people and doing them a favor is a sure win for the Zizai Sect.

The Sun Moon Empire defied convention by imprisoning them, completely severing ties with the three original kingdoms of the Douluo Continent. At the same time, it used these hostages to suppress the academies and sects of the original three kingdoms of the Douluo Continent, making them wary and hesitant to get involved in wars between nations.

(End of this chapter)