“Nie Tian!”
Yu Tong’s sharp screech echoed out from behind Nie Tian, filled with bone-chilling hatred.
“Little bastard! You can’t run away!”
Feng Luo’s roar was like a sudden clap of thunder that was filled with frenzy.
However, Nie Tian completely ignored him and had no plans of turning around at all. Instead, he further increased his speed to chase after An Shiyi, Pan Tao, and the others.
“That woman’s fragrance is quite pleasant…” he secretly thought to himself.
He also didn’t understand why he had lost his sound mind and licked Yu Tong’s earlobe.
At the time, he had felt that the fragrance on Yu Tong was really quite nice to smell. His eyes had been caught by the fine curves on Yu Tong’s chest and her jade-like earlobe that had only been inches away from him. All of a sudden, he had failed to control the desire in his heart and made such a preposterous move.
After that, he also felt that it was very inappropriate. Therefore, when Yu Tong resisted with full strength, he didn’t make that cut with the blade.
However, when he turned around and sped away, he tried not to dwell on the matter, and told himself that not making that slash had already neutralized the rude action that he had committed.
In that way, he cast the whole thing out of his head.
RUUUUMBLE!
World-shaking rumbles were still echoing out from the distant short mountain. An enormous surge seemed to have started with that mountain as the center, gradually rippling outwards and affecting the surrounding mountains.
Anxious to rejoin Pan Tao and the others, he didn’t know what was happening there and didn’t have the time to look back. Right now, time was of the essence.
He also didn’t know how long the Fire Dragon would be able to stall Feng Luo, or whether or not Feng Luo would catch up to him.
He unceasingly released his mental awareness and spread it out to the surroundings as he advanced forward, looking for traces of the spiritual aura of An Shiyi and the others.
BOOM!
An enormous rumble suddenly came from a mountain not far from him. That short mountain shook violently, as if it were about to collapse.
CRUNCH!
Deep, narrow gorges suddenly cracked opened below him, within which the faintly flickering glow of lava could be seen, as if smoldering lava was about to flow out of them at any moment.
“This is not good!”
He constantly jumped about to avoid the gradually widening gorges. Suddenly, his heart shook as he realized that an even more terrible catastrophe was looming.
The Heaven Burning Earth Flame formation had been used to seal the Earth Flame Beast deep underground, and also to stop the eruption of magma. By joining forces and chiseling a hole in it, the Flame Dragon Armor and the Earth Flame Beast had caused great damages to the giant, underground formation, and now it was collapsing!
Only when the Heaven Burning Earth Flame had completely lost its effectiveness, would the entire Scarlet Flame Mountain Range undergo such drastic changes!
The magma which existed within the depths of the earth’s core of the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range was now no longer held back by the restrictive force of the grand spell formation, and raging flames and lava were now finding their way out in every area of the mountain range!
It wouldn’t be long before all of the so-called extinct volcanoes in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range became active and spewed out terrifying, burning lava.
Just as he was pondering in his reverie, An Shiyi’s soft cry suddenly rang out, “Nie Tian!”
He looked into the direction which her voice had come from, and saw that An Shiyi and the others were anxiously looking at him from the foot of a sparsely vegetated mountain.
Only after he got closer and everyone had a clear look at him, did they finally let out sighs of relief.
However, he could still see the anxiety and uneasiness within their eyes, as if they had an even more enormous problem waiting for them.
“Why did you guys stop here?” Nie Tian asked with a surprised expression.
According to his calculations, An Shiyi and the others should have been somewhere further away by this time, not here.
The place they were currently at was too dangerously close to Feng Luo and Yu Tong. Once they broke free, they would be able to get to that place within a short time.
If Feng Luo had cast away the idea of helping Yu Tong wipe out her mental devil, and had simply gone all out to kill them, Nie Tian and his group would already be dead.
Nie Tian said in an urgent tone, “This place isn’t safe! Let’s move out!”
“We also wanted to get further away, but…” A bitter look appeared on Pan Tao’s face, as he walked to Nie Tian and pointed to the area in front of them. “See for yourself.”
Nie Tian looked over with rapt attention, and immediately understood why Pan Tao and the others had stopped.
In front of Pan Tao and the others was a wide gorge that ran deep into the earth’s core, within which boiling lava was slowly surging up to the brim.
Considering their cultivation bases, the gorge was too wide for them to cross.
If they had tried to cross it despite the danger, they would have an eighty or ninety percent chance of falling into the seething lava, and getting themselves reduced to gore.
“Instead of falling into the lava and getting burnt to death, I’d rather battle Feng Luo to the death. Even if we die in battle, it’d still be better than dying in the lava.” An Ying sighed.
A scorching red mist rose from the boiling lava within the gorge, making everyone feel as if they were being roasted alive. Soon they were all soaked in sweat.
That lava was still unceasingly rising. It seemed like it would soon spill over, flowing everywhere.
“This….” Looking at the lava, Nie Tian was also at the end of his wits.
Only Qi warriors who had stepped into the Profound Realm, like his master, would possess the ability to soar through the sky, and therefore be able to fly across the gorge.
Other than them, only powerful Qi warriors who possessed spiritual tools that could carry them into the sky would be able to do the same.
However, just by the expressions on An Shiyi’s and Pan Tao’s faces, he could tell that none of them had that kind of special spiritual tool.
While they were pondering how to cross the gorge, an even more violent surge came from a bald mountain peak nearby.
“Look over there!” Jiang Lingzhu cried out while pointing into a direction.
On the sides of the mountain, boiling lava suddenly spewed out of a number of enormous caves. Following the shaking of that mountain, the streams of lava seemed to be controlled by some unknown force, and shot right up into the sky like a fountain. After reaching their peak, they fell loudly back to the earth like flaming waterfalls.
In an instant, that part of the sky and earth seemed to have become a sea of lava, not allowing any living creatures to survive.
“NO!”
At that moment, a vague yet somewhat familiar figure jumped out from one of the enormous caves, wailing miserably.
The second that man left the cave, boiling, red lava spewed out of the cave behind him.
Just as he reached the point that he would start to drop from the air, the surging lava caught up to him and devoured him.
Although Nie Tian and his group were looking from quite a distance away, they saw perfectly clearly that his flesh had been instantly melted by the lava.
When that fountain-like stream of lava reached its peak and dropped towards the ground, the man was already stripped of his skin and flesh, and reduced to a melting skeleton, falling to the ground together with the smoldering lava.
They all knew that before even reaching the ground, his bones… would be completely melted.
“That was Fei Li.” An Shiyi’s expression was complicated as she spoke.
Nie Tian didn’t see any complacence on her face, but on the contrary, he saw helplessness and bitterness since they were actually in a similar situation.
Nie Tian knew how much An Shiyi had hated Fei Li and wished for his death. However, now that Fei Li had truly died, and in an extreme miserable way, she actually didn’t feel the slightest bit of joy.
The reason why she felt that way was because she felt that she would soon suffer same fate as Fei Li.
“Staying here isn’t the way,” Pan Tao’s eyes searched around and he suddenly said, “There are some mountains nearby that haven’t collapsed yet. Considering the situation we are in, it would be impossible for us to get out of here before lava fills the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range. Instead of staying here, why don’t we go find a mountain that hasn’t collapsed, and temporarily hide on its peak.
“Of course, this may not change the result, and we could still die in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range.
“However, we might be able to last a bit longer after the lava covers the land of the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range.
“Perhaps, we can find a way to escape within that period of time. Or… someone may discover us and save us.”
Pan Tao looked towards the crowd and gave his suggestion, the idea that seemed wisest at the moment.
“Pan Tao is right.” An Shiyi was the first one to agree.
She forced herself to calm down and observe the surrounding mountains. She spotted a stone mountain, on sides of which there weren’t too many caves. Despite the violent earthquakes, that mountain was still standing tall and didn’t show any signs of collapsing.
“That one!” She pointed towards that stone mountain.
Upon hearing her words, Nie Tian also noticed the tenacity of that mountain. He nodded and said, “Alright! It’s decided then. Let’s run to the peak of that mountain at our fastest speed!”
By that time, everyone had reached an agreement and tossed away their delusions of crossing the enormous gorge. They turned around and rushed towards the nearby mountain.
CRACKLE!
On their way to the mountain, the earth kept shaking violently, forming more and more long, narrow gorges on the ground.
Accompanied by the loud rumbles, a few nearby mountains could no longer bear the intense quakes and were about to collapse, while some other ones were spewing out tons of burning lava.
“Hurry!”
They drew from their spiritual power and ran madly forward, crossing many long and narrow gorges, and avoiding many streams of slow-flowing lava before gradually reaching that stone mountain.
“Hurry and get to the top!”
Constantly helping each other, they dashed towards the peak of the mountain through the craggy stone path.