Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 496 - 479: Barbecue

Seventh hour.

The Demon, who had returned early to the volcano’s crater, secretly conveyed a message to the ten-horned python’s blood within the divine blood lava.

"Lord Ten-horned, it has already been seven hours, and Zhou Leng has not come up yet. He may have great potential."

In the depths of the lava, not far from where Zhou Leng fell.

The ten-horned python blood pondered for a long time and finally decided to follow the Celestial Calamity God’s orders, slowly swimming towards Zhou Leng’s landing point.

"Hmm?"

Upon arriving there, he could not sense Zhou Leng’s presence at all.

So he slowly ascended, soon approaching the lava’s surface, and sent a message to the Demon.

"He didn’t come out?"

"No."

"Then he must have gone deeper, very good, very good, this only proves even more that he deserves to be killed."

The ten-horned python blood quickly dove down.

One hundred meters, two hundred meters, eight hundred meters, a thousand meters.

The ten-horned python blood stopped, puzzled.

At this depth, let alone him, even Deep Dark Fury would find it strenuous. Could Zhou Leng have gone somewhere else?

That’s highly unlikely because no one would wander aimlessly in there, as no one wants to encounter others.

"Then, let’s try again."

The ten-horned python blood continued diving, soon reaching a depth of two thousand meters.

Immersed in the lava, he remained silent.

The good news was that he finally sensed the lingering presence of Zhou Leng passing through, indicating he was right below.

The bad news was, it was too deep here, and the power of the divine blood lava was extremely strong.

In such a place, dragon power depletes rapidly.

Without dragon power, even if he were a Demon Dragon, relying solely on his body, he couldn’t withstand the divine blood lava at such depths.

"I’ll wait here for a while."

"Perhaps he’ll rise soon, and lying in ambush, waiting to strike, will be enough to deal with him."

Eighth hour.

Suddenly, Zhou Leng felt something collide with him from the side, startling him slightly. He quickly turned around and raised his arm to defend.

Touched something not soft nor hard.

"This texture..."

Grasping it, even with his eyes closed and unable to see anything, he immediately knew what it was.

Magic Spirit Bag.

It seemed its owner had died, and the Magic Spirit Bag had been brought here by the lava’s undertow.

Zhou Leng took the Magic Spirit Bag and began performing the Ten Reversed Beast Fist.

Like an elephant, like a whale.

The Ten Reversed Beast Fist churned the viscous lava but did not exert a strong destructive force, avoiding triggering the detection of the Demon Spirit Artifact.

Now, his body endured the lava, feeling only slight pain, with no other sensations.

The internal heat continued to accumulate, impossible to absorb in a short time, even with the cultivation of the Ten Reversed Beast Fist.

"Molten Hammer said the more power from this earth’s divine blood is accumulated, the better..."

Zhou Leng continued to dive, searching for possible medicinal fruits within the lava.

The medicinal fruits capable of growing here must be extraordinarily remarkable.

Clinging to the volcano wall, diving quickly and deeper.

The place was filled with divine blood lava, making it impossible to open his eyes, and even if opened, nothing could be seen; he had to rely on basic senses for judgment.

Even if he didn’t find any medicinal fruit, diving to the depths would provide more heat.

Tenth hour.

The ten-horned python blood hadn’t expected that Zhou Leng had not yet surfaced.

"Could he be dead? No, his previous presence didn’t seem like he was dead."

"Should I keep diving?"

The ten-horned python blood was caught in a dilemma.

After a moment of contemplation, the command of the Celestial Calamity Envoy and the pride of the Demon Dragon race made him resolute.

"We of the Demon Dragon race, who traverse the Demon Purgatory and soar in the starry sky, how could we be frightened by a mere human?"

"Even if it means getting injured, I must fulfill the mission of His Majesty the Celestial Calamity God!"

"Celestial Calamity God is immortal!"

Beneath his eyelids, a fervent glow flickered.

The ten-horned python blood took out various magic potions and swallowed them all, his body power surging, continuing to descend.

He decided, a quick battle!

Although the divine blood lava below was strong, as long as he moved quickly, there should be no problem.

With his head down, like a swimming fish, he dove rapidly.

Deep within, the divine blood lava grew increasingly scorching.

The deeper the ten-horned python blood dove, the more uneasy he became.

Zhou Leng’s presence was once again interrupted—either he was dead or had been away for too long, diving deeper.

"Should I leave?"

The ten-horned python blood wrestled with indecision, silently diving.

Two thousand meters, three thousand meters, four thousand meters...

"Zhou Leng’s presence!"

Filled with joy, the ten-horned python blood hesitated upon examining his body.

Because the divine blood lava here was too powerful.

His dragon scales not only began to melt, but even his internal organs and brain showed significant damage.

To the extent that his mind was no longer clear.

However, his unwavering loyalty to His Majesty the Celestial Calamity God remained unchanged, firm as ever.

"Celestial Calamity God is immortal!" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Enduring the intense pain, the ten-horned python blood dove rapidly.

Five thousand meters, six thousand meters.

At this depth, he reached the limit of his endurance, finally deciding to give up.

But in the next moment, he sensed Zhou Leng’s presence.

The ten-horned python blood’s woozy mind suddenly cleared.

"Got you!"

He suddenly accelerated.

At a depth of seven thousand meters, he felt Zhou Leng was close at hand.

The massive body of the demon dragon parted the divine blood lava, rushing down as its claws stretched out to grasp Zhou Leng’s left calf, speeding straight downward.

Worried about being discovered by the dwarf grandmaster, he chose the original tactics.

Drag Zhou Leng into the depths and use the divine blood lava to kill him.

"I refuse to believe that you, a mere human, are stronger than me!"

With an unwavering belief, the Ten-Horned Mang Blood harnessed the entirety of his dragon power, arrowing through the thick divine blood lava, clutching Zhou Leng and charging downward.

Zhou Leng was a little dazed.

How could it be that while he was cultivating peacefully, he was suddenly grabbed and taken to the depths?

In a rush, he attempted to use qi manipulation to break free, but failed.

The opponent’s power far exceeded his own.

Ordinary great innate masters couldn’t possibly have such overwhelming strength.

Being in the viscous, dense divine blood lava, he couldn’t see the opponent, he could only vaguely feel the demonic aura on the other, yet couldn’t recall which demon it was.

A demon far exceeding his own strength...

Zhou Leng mentally recalled all the demons from this trial.

Many great innates were stronger than him, yet only two far surpassed his own power.

One was Deep Dark Fury, the other, Ten-Horned Mang Blood.

Deep Dark Fury’s aura wasn’t like this; it could only be Ten-Horned Mang Blood.

Not only was Ten-Horned Mang Blood a great innate, but he also carried demigod dragon lineage, not a common great innate. If facing him head-on, Zhou Leng would undoubtedly lose.

But why was Ten-Horned Mang Blood dragging him into the depths?

Mutual destruction?

The two had no enmity; even if a demon wanted him dead, why perish with a mere bone-forger? It made no logical sense.

The key was, his physical body could already withstand the divine blood lava. Even deeper down, he could at worst use the Undying Star Body and True Qi for protection.

Zhou Leng was breaking his head over this but couldn’t figure it out.

This was deep-layer lava, he couldn’t open his eyes or mouth, couldn’t speak, and as a martial artist, he couldn’t use spells to transmit sound.

Zhou Leng repeatedly exerted strength trying to break free, but where was it so easy to escape from Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s dragon claws?

Especially while in the divine blood lava, being brought down rapidly, it was hard to exert strength.

Eight thousand meters, nine thousand meters, ten thousand meters...

Ten-Horned Mang Blood flew downward relying solely on faith, continuously sensing Zhou Leng’s aura.

What he couldn’t comprehend was, while his own aura was slowly weakening, Zhou Leng’s aura was steadily increasing.

"Demon Dragon stands unyielding, Celestial Calamity God is undying..."

"I still have a chance, I still have a chance..."

The last of Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s will supported his continuous descent.

Zhou Leng struggled continuously, but couldn’t break free.

After ten thousand meters, Zhou Leng’s body began to withstand it no more and occasionally employed the Undying Star Body for protection. Once his body recovered, he gave up the defense and continued resisting with his body, continuing his training...

Until fifteen thousand meters, Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s forward speed slowed, his body occasionally trembling violently, as if seized by stroke-like convulsions.

Zhou Leng immediately became aware.

This indicated that Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s brain had suffered deep damage, causing his body to lose control.

Zhou Leng suddenly realized; surely, Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s brain got injured before, leading to madness and random descent, and while swinging his claws randomly, he inadvertently caught hold of him.

It’s unlikely this targeted him, for no dignified great innate would be so foolish.

"This demon dragon, truly unfortunate, such a pity..."

Zhou Leng couldn’t help him and could only continue being pulled down passively.

Also, he was descending much faster, which at least was of slight assistance.

The eleventh hour passed.

At the volcanic rim stood the trial takers and the examiners.

The Giant Furnace glanced at the time and said, "There are still nine trial takers, likely over half are deceased."

Aiden and Zhao He looked at the volcanic rim.

They didn’t see Zhou Leng.

Had he died or could he still persist for eleven hours?

Another half hour passed.

Deep within the divine blood lava, at nearly twenty thousand meters.

Ten-Horned Mang Blood stopped.

Filled with indescribable doubt, accompanied by a sense of tragic heroism in his last lingering trace of rationality.

Why was it that his dignified great innate strength was exhausted, his aura nearly gone, yet that bone-forging human’s aura not only didn’t weaken but increased?

Why...

The eyes of Ten-Horned Mang Blood fell into eternal darkness.

Zhou Leng sensed Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s aura rapidly declining until it vanished.

A slight exertion, Zhou Leng broke free from the dragon claws and reached out to touch Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s body.

All of Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s dragon scales had melted, merging with skin and flesh. Before long, the powerful innate demon dragon’s corpse would turn to ashes.

Zhou Leng stored Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s corpse into the space wood box.

Through the space wood box, Zhou Leng discovered that due to diving into extremely deep places, Ten-Horned Mang Blood accumulated a terrifying force of earth divine blood inside.

This made Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s flesh energy reach the level of a grandmaster giant dragon.

Moreover, the dragon meat seemed to be in a roasted state, needing no processing, it could be eaten directly.

Zhou Leng was overjoyed; the muscle stage was stable, just by eating this dragon meat, it would be enough to enhance his body to its peak.

"He must’ve held a high status in the demon dragon’s territory; perhaps he had a battlefield shield order. If so, there’s no need to cooperate with Red Eyes."

Zhou Leng rummaged through Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s magic spirit bag, finding many treasures, yet no battlefield shield order.

"What a pity..."

Zhou Leng thought to himself and continued descending.

Without Ten-Horned Mang Blood’s assistance, the descent was very slow.

He somewhat missed Ten-Horned Mang Blood.

Suddenly, a peculiar aura came through.

"Medicinal fruit!"

Zhou Leng immediately swam toward the direction where the sensation was strongest, getting closer and closer.

Soon, that aura transformed into an unusual fragrance of wine, and it was the aroma of strong liquor.

Reaching out, he slowly groped along the volcanic wall, touching a spherical object.

The surface was smooth, with a soft feel, and the fruit surprisingly possessed a peculiar power, pushing away the surrounding magma.

"Divine Blood Lava Medicinal Fruit!"