Fortunately, the location marked on the jade slip had already appeared in the distance.
That place didn't look anything special. It should have been a collapsed abandoned mine pit but at this moment, it was melting in the sea of fire. There were no signs of life at all.
Xu Qing quickly arrived. He swept his gaze across the surroundings and frowned.
No matter how he looked at it, this place didn't look like a place where one could take refuge. Even though he could enter the mine through some gaps, the heat emitted from it wasn't any less than the outside.
"It's a pity that my divine consciousness is isolated. The range of my divine consciousness isn't large, so it's difficult for me to sense more."
Xu Qing fell silent. He glanced at the umbrella that was about to collapse and then at the mineshaft.
"However, with Duanmu Zang's performance on the sea of fire, if it's really a hiding place, it makes sense. After all, if it was casually seen through, it can't be considered a hiding place."
Xu Qing fell into deep thought before entering through the gap in the abandoned mine pit in front of him. As soon as he stepped in, the heat assaulted his face.
Xu Qing remained silent and vigilant as he continued forward. He was going to take a look at the situation.
Even after walking for two hours, he still didn't reach the end of the mineshaft. The heat was still intense. Xu Qing's expression suddenly changed and he looked into the distance.
Vaguely, he saw a figure lying there motionlessly.
It was impossible to tell if they were male or female. He could only see that the other party seemed to be wearing thick armor. Beside them was an open umbrella to block the high temperature.
This was the only person Xu Qing saw after the heavenly fire crossing the sky. Hence, he made the shadow spread out, enveloping the figure first. After he sensed the fluctuations of emotions, Xu Qing was a little surprised as he moved toward the other party.
In an instant, he arrived in front of the figure.
At this distance, even though his perception was relatively isolated, Xu Qing could still probe.
This was a human cultivator with a cultivation base of the Foundation Building Three Life Fires. At this moment, he was already on the verge of death.
He wore black armor that covered all his body parts. The material of this armor was also very special. It could isolate high temperatures to a certain extent.
The umbrella at the side also attracted Xu Qing's attention.
This umbrella was exactly the same as the one Duanmu Zang had given him.
Xu Qing fell into deep thought. He lifted his head and looked into the depths of the mineshaft. He then grabbed the figure before continuing forward.
Just like that, another hour passed. Xu Qing finally arrived at the end of the mineshaft. There was nothing there. The surrounding soil crystals and the high temperature gathered, causing the heat here to be even stronger.
Standing there, Xu Qing looked around and suddenly spoke.
"Senior, I picked this person up on the way. He's here to look for you, right?"
As soon as Xu Qing spoke, a cold voice instantly rang out from the wall.
"There's no use for clansmen who don't follow the rules!"
Even so, the wall at the side still distorted and transformed into a vortex. Duanmu Zang's figure walked out and lifted his right hand, grabbing the human Xu Qing had picked up.
Xu Qing let go and the armored human youth headed straight for the vortex. After he was caught by Duanmu Zang, he threw him behind him. After that, he looked at Xu Qing.
"Kid, what are you doing here?"
After interacting with him a few times, Xu Qing had some judgment about this old man's habit of asking the obvious. Hence, he didn't say anything about the other party giving him the jade slip but directly accepted this behavior.
"100 spirit stones a day!"
The old man snorted coldly.
"1,000 a day!"
"Deal!"
Xu Qing nodded.
The old man glanced at Xu Qing and took a few steps back.
Xu Qing narrowed his eyes and spread out the Poison Restriction in his body. While preparing to erupt with all his strength if he encountered an ambush, he took a step and headed straight for the vortex.
As he stepped in, his figure disappeared and the vortex quickly dissipated. Everything returned to normal.
On the other side of the wall, when Xu Qing appeared, he was in a cave. In the surroundings, there were many incomplete statues. Some had no heads and some lacked limbs.
Other than that, the entire cave was empty.
The human youth was nowhere to be seen. Only Duanmu Zang sat cross-legged on the neck of a headless statue in the distance and stared at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing quickly checked his surroundings and sensed behind him. After that, his eyes narrowed.
At the entrance behind him was a huge wall. On it were thousands of masks and a similar number of mirrors.
These masks were all refined using special methods after the death of the Heavenly Mask Race members. It was the same for the mirror.
The mask of the Heavenly Mask Race member who wanted to attack Xu Qing was also among them.
"In order to adapt to this place, these two races have evolved many abilities over the generations. Using them to block the sea of fire, coupled with some special methods and the arrangements here, we can avoid the heavenly fire to a certain extent."
The old man calmly spoke with a hint of pride in his voice.
"When the heavenly fire crosses the sky, it usually lasts for a hundred days. It's 1,000 a day, so 100 days is 200,000 spirit stones. Hand them over."
Xu Qing raised his brows and glanced at the old man before speaking seriously.
"100 days is 100,000."
"100,000 for one person. You have a snake, so isn't that 200,000?!" The old man glared.
"I don't have that many spirit stones."
Xu Qing spoke the truth. He had a lot of spirit tickets but he didn't have many spirit stones on him. Hence, he took out a magic artifact and placed it at the side.
"I'll use this item to offset it."
The old man swept his gaze over and grabbed it, nodding.
"This works."
With that, a cold glint appeared in his eyes and his tone was murderous as he slowly spoke.
"Seeing that you're a human, I helped you this time. However, listen carefully. Outside this cave is the forbidden zone. If you barge in… don't blame me for not considering our human ties!"
