The journey east of "Blackrock City" was like transitioning from one world to another. The further Wei Shen went, the more the green and lush "Forest of Lost Souls" gradually faded, replaced by a barren, scorched land. The trees became black and charred, like skeletal fingers reaching towards a dusty gray sky. The ground beneath his feet shifted from damp soil to fine ash and sharp, black volcanic rocks.
The air itself changed. It became dry, hot, and carried a pungent, suffocating sulfuric scent. Wei Shen could feel the heat increasing with every step, but the cold ointment he had spread on his skin and the heat-resistant leather wrappings around his limbs were doing their job excellently, creating a cold barrier that protected him from the deadly external atmosphere.
"Preparation… is what separates a skilled hunter from foolish prey," he advanced, his eyes scanning the hellish landscape. "Anyone else at my level would have been roasted alive here before even seeing their opponent."
After a half-day's trek through this desolate land, he saw his destination on the horizon: a huge black mountain, like the tooth of a giant dragon, with a light cloud of smoke emanating from its peak and intermittent red lights glowing at its base. These were the "Lava Caves."
Wei Shen found the entrance to the cave. It wasn't just a normal opening, but a huge, distorted chasm in the side of the mountain, as if a mythical beast had bitten a chunk out of the rock. A wave of scorching heat rushed from the entrance, like the breath of a giant furnace, making the air outside seem cool by comparison.
Without hesitation, after ensuring his ointment and wrappings were still effective, Wei Shen entered the beast's lair.
The scene inside was majestic and terrifying. These weren't just caves, but a network of wide tunnels and passages carved by lava over thousands of years. Rivers of glowing orange magma flowed in deep channels in the cave floor, illuminating the place with a dancing red light and casting long, frightening shadows on the black rock walls.
The heat here was unbearable. Wei Shen could feel it trying to penetrate his defenses, and he had to constantly circulate the cold "Blood Qi" in his body to maintain a normal temperature. This process consumed his energy rapidly.
He began to advance cautiously through this fiery labyrinth, leaping over streams of magma and crossing natural rock bridges that vibrated alarmingly above rivers of fire. He was searching for traces of his prey.
He found them easily. The tracks of the "Crimson Magma Serpent" were everywhere: huge trails as if a giant vehicle had melted the rock which then re-solidified, some scattered crimson scales that were still hot as embers, and the charred bone remains of other, less fortunate spiritual beasts that had dared to enter this place.
After nearly an hour of cautious delving into this inferno, he finally reached the deepest part of the cave, the serpent's lair.
It was a vast cavern, larger than any training ground in any sect he had seen. In the center of the cavern was a huge lake of roaring magma, which spewed bubbles of fire and toxic gases. And in the center of the lake, there was a large island of polished black obsidian, and coiled around it was the serpent.
It was larger and more terrifying than any report had described. Its body was as thick as an ancient tree, its length impossible to estimate as it was coiled upon itself. Its scales were not merely red; they were like pieces of frozen magma that still held veins of glowing orange lava within them. Its head resembled that of a mythical dragon, with short, curved horns made of obsidian, and its eyes were like two small suns, burning with a golden fire that carried the wisdom and cruelty of millennia. The energy aura emanating from it, the aura of a spiritual beast at the peak of the ninth level of Qi Condensation, was so powerful that it pressed down on Wei Shen and made breathing difficult.
The serpent was asleep, or resting, its massive head settled on one of the coils of its body.
"Confronting it in its lair, on a lake of magma… is absolute folly," Wei Shen thought, hiding behind a large rock pillar. "I must lure it to solid ground, to a place where I can use my speed and tactics."
He looked up at the high cavern ceiling, from which hung huge, sharp stalactites formed over the ages. He found a cluster of them that looked unstable, located directly above the magma lake but at a safe distance from the serpent's island.
This was his bait.
With intense concentration, he raised his hand and formed a sharp, powerful "Bloody Blade." He didn't aim it at the serpent, but at the base of those hanging rock formations.
The dark crimson blade shot out, tearing through the hot air, and struck the rock with force.
With a deafening cracking sound, the massive rocks detached from the ceiling and fell like mortars into the lake of magma, creating a colossal explosion. Glowing magma splattered in every direction, and the impact unleashed a deafening roar that echoed throughout the cavern.
The "Crimson Magma Serpent" awoke instantly, letting out an enraged hiss that shook the entire cave. Its massive head turned, and its two sun-like eyes stared directly at Wei Shen, who was no longer trying to hide.
The serpent didn't hesitate for a moment. It opened its terrifying jaw, and from it, a surging current of liquid fire, a river of burning magma, shot directly towards Wei Shen with incredible speed.
"Now!"
Thanks to his ninth-level power, Wei Shen leaped backward at the last second, evading the fiery current. The rock he had been standing on instantly melted, turning into a small pool of glowing lava. Wei Shen felt the scorching heat sear his face, the cold ointment on his skin began to sizzle faintly as it evaporated, and the leather wrappings around his limbs started to smoke.
The serpent wasn't finished. With blind fury, it slithered off its island, dove into the magma lake, and then emerged on the bank where Wei Shen stood, its massive body moving with surprising speed, leaving a trail of molten rock behind it.
The real battle began.
Wei Shen was like an ant facing a dragon. The serpent attacked with its massive tail, each strike creating a fissure in the rocky floor. It spat fireballs and unleashed waves of heat that made the very air shimmer.
Wei Shen dodged, leaped, and evaded, using every ounce of his agility and experience. The "Bloody Tide Armor" wrapped around him, absorbing and corroding the worst of the heat waves, but it was being drained at an immense rate.
"Its defense is unbelievable, and its offense is overwhelming," Wei Shen thought as he narrowly dodged a swipe from the serpent's tail that almost turned him into paste. "I must get closer. I must penetrate its scales."
In an instant, as the serpent raised its head to spit another stream of flame, Wei Shen saw his chance.
He dashed forward, ignoring the suffocating heat, and slid under the serpent's massive body. The target was its belly, which might be less protected than its armored back.
But the serpent was smarter than that. It sensed his movement, and instead of releasing the flame, it brought its head crashing down towards him like a celestial hammer.
There was no time to evade the blow. There was only one option.
Wei Shen thrust both his ivory daggers forward, aiming them at the serpent's open mouth that was descending upon him, and poured all his remaining "Blood Qi" into them.
In that moment, when it seemed everything was over, when the serpent's jaws were about to close on him and turn him to ash, Wei Shen unleashed all his power in a final, suicidal attack.
"Either I pierce your defense… or I turn to ash in your gut. There is no third option."