Chapter 494: Chapter 477: Scorching Body

Zhou Leng gritted his teeth, his right foot still in the lava, the burning sensation gradually rising.

After a while, the burning sensation reached its limit and no longer intensified.

Carefully sensed the skin.

His body was undoubtedly strong, yet even so, the skin still showed slight damage.

After all, this was a temperature close to 1000 degrees Celsius, a normal person entering it would be turned to charred ash immediately.

The flame temperature of an ordinary home gas stove is only about 550 degrees.

As the skin sustained slight damage, a powerful healing force surged forth, quickly completing the repair.

He tried circulating True Qi, a faint True Qi coated his foot, isolating the lava and heat, the foot felt warm, no longer injured.

Feeling relieved, Zhou Leng withdrew his True Qi and relied purely on his body, slowly walking into the lake.

After passing his ankle, he stayed for a while before continuing forward.

Once past his knee, he paused again.

When it reached his groin, an unbearable sharp pain spread throughout his body, a genuine ache that nearly made him leap up.

His hair burned, the charred smell of his tender parts wafted in the air.

The Giant Furnace saw Zhou Leng trembling all over, sweating from the pain, and laughed aloud.

The Giant Furnace chuckled, “Don’t worry, the Divine Blood Lava possesses mystical abilities, as long as it doesn’t burn you to death, as long as you endure, it can enhance all your abilities, all of them. Let me put it this way, any Steel Dwarf that enters the Divine Blood Lava will have unbroken descendants, staying firm forever! What’s the human way of saying it? Ah yes, men’s refueling station, women’s beauty salon, and high-end ones at that.”

The other Steel Dwarf Grandmasters joined in the jeering, “For endless progeny, little ones, put in your all.”

“The day after completing the trial, you’ll feel unprecedented wonder.”

The trial takers endured the pain while also enduring the teasing of a bunch of old fellows.

Zhou Leng continued his advance, the lava soon rising past his neck.

Having already endured the lava scorching his tender parts, the current level of pain was nothing.

Finally, Zhou Leng gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, squatted, and submerged his entire body into the lava lake.

His hair and eyebrows were ablaze, all the delicate areas like eyelids, lips, ears, and scalp felt a scorching sensation no less severe than the earlier one.

Zhou Leng felt as if his head was exploding, unbearable pain piercing straight to his skull.

It was as if he saw eighteen generations of ancestors dancing across the sky.

Fortunately, he had used True Qi in advance to seal his nose, eyes, and ear holes, otherwise, if lava entered his ears or nose, the pain would make him jump ten meters high.

Zhou Leng was enduring the burning in the Red Lotus Fire, but that was a burn of the spiritual will.

Now, it was a real physical burn.

He insisted on not using True Qi, not activating the Star Phoenix Rejuvenation Technique, using his body to endure, relying on powerful self-healing abilities to continuously repair damaged outer skin.

Underneath the lava, he remained motionless, silently bearing the pain.

The skin sizzled, as if inside an oven.

Most of the others were similarly submerged, except for a few still shouting on the shore, most had already dived below the lake.

However, except for races like the Giant Dragon and Demon, most others used their own powers, unable to purely resist with their physical bodies.

Aiden and Zhao He, after enduring immense pain, found that their bodies’ repair speed couldn’t keep up with the damage, and had to give up physical resistance and start using Qi manipulation to isolate part of the heat.

Zhou Leng and the Mountain and River Origin insisted on not using True Qi, enduring a pain that ordinary people couldn’t bear.

Soon, many experienced mind-numbing pain.

Zhou Leng’s mind, however, was extraordinarily clear.

No other reason, trained by the Gate of Purgatory.

As the time reached one hour, Zhou Leng for the first time sensed a subtle heat entering through his skin into the muscles and veins, slowly spreading within his body.

“According to the dwarf’s terminology, this heat is called Earth God’s Blood…”

Zhou Leng felt an indescribable joy in his heart, the pain seemed to lessen by three parts.

His body, like parched land, absorbed this heat with all its might.

As the heat accumulated, his body’s resistance to the Divine Blood Lava grew stronger, the pain sensation increasingly lighter.

It felt as if the Divine Blood Lava had cooled down.

Zhou Leng pondered for a moment, still not using True Qi to protect his body, but circulated cultivation techniques in turn.

The Star Gazing Technique was Inner Power and didn’t directly absorb this force.

The Star Phoenix Rejuvenation Technique was a healing technique, it did absorb, but seemed to only absorb a small essence of it, the rest was wasted.

The Undying Star Body was a body refining technique, absorbing effect better than the previous two, about five times the normal rate.

The Ten Reversed Beast Fist was a training method, connecting the body with moves, and proved the most effective.

When cultivating the Establishing Image Chapter and Flying Whale Chapter, the absorption effect was about ten times normal.

So, Zhou Leng simply, beneath the lava, slowly practiced dynamic Establishing Image Chapter and Flying Whale Chapter.

He didn’t employ the Lurking Serpent Chapter, as he couldn’t persist for long.

The surrounding lava was stirred by Zhou Leng, heat bubbling, forming lava waves.

The Mountain and River Origin sensed something amiss and quickly moved away.

The nearby trial takers quietly cursed the maniac in their hearts and moved away one by one.

Soon, only Zhou Leng remained in the vicinity.

The surface of the lava lake overhead, propelled by Zhou Leng’s cultivation technique, transformed into a constantly rotating vortex.

“Not bad…”

The Giant Furnace nodded with a smile.

“After all, he’s one of us Steel Dwarves.” Other grandmasters also considered Zhou Leng one of their own.

Two hours later, Zhou Leng’s body stopped self-healing.

Because the magma could no longer damage his skin.

Even the newly growing hair could withstand the scorching magma.

As he continuously absorbed the heat from the Divine Blood Lava, in his perception, the temperature gradually lowered.

He didn’t know how long it had been, but it even felt like the temperature of the Divine Blood Lava dropped to about 100 degrees, like hot bathwater, very comfortable.

Zhou Leng thought about sprinkling some Body Refining Bone Powder, making a medicinal bath on the spot.

Suddenly, the voice of the Giant Furnace boomed, causing the entire Divine Blood Lake to shake and the magma waves to hit the shore.

“Pre-trial is over, everyone come ashore. You all did well, only nine failures.”

Zhou Leng slowly walked out.

His head emerged from the magma lake, and the magma flowed gently over his body.

Where the scarlet magma touched, his skin was slightly red, neither burnt nor charred, shining with a jade-like luster.

Upon reaching the shore, his body shook slightly, and without using True Qi, the power shook off the remaining magma on his body.

Zhou Leng opened his eyes.

Looking back at the magma lake, it resembled a hot spring.

Looking around, most of the trial takers had charred, scarred bodies.

A few trial takers had bodies as pristine as before, with no change.

Mountain and River Origin was charred all over, but the char was slowly peeling off, revealing new bronze-colored skin underneath.

Aiden and Zhao He both watched Zhou Leng, and seeing his skin as flawless, they were relieved.

It seemed Zhou Leng also used True Qi to protect his body; otherwise, there wouldn’t be no trace at all.

Although using True Qi to protect the body reduces the amount of absorbed force, it’s better than being scalded and unable to participate in the actual Divine Blood Lava trial.

Not far away, Ten-Horned Mongoose silently glanced at Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng’s performance was far more relaxed than he had imagined.

He whispered to the demon beside him, “This Zhou Leng is a bit off. I observed him earlier, and when he entered the magma lake, he didn’t use Qi, relying entirely on his body to resist.”

“Although I’m not sure if he used True Qi to protect his body in the lake, causing the magma to churn is very unusual.”

“Deep Dark Fury has a past with him, but we are directly under His Majesty the Celestial Calamity God, whose orders are supreme.”

“Watch his performance in the upcoming Divine Blood Lava trial. If he can’t last six hours, it means he’s mediocre, and we should ignore him.”

“If he lasts more than six hours, secretly send me a message, and I’ll find a way to deal with him below the magma.”

A demon asked, “Won’t this be discovered?”

Ten-Horned Mongoose smiled, “The Divine Blood Lava contains immense power; even a demigod cannot see through it, let alone a grandmaster examiner. Do you think the deaths during every Divine Blood Lava trial are accidents?”

“But if you fight, won’t that cause the magma to tremble? There’s a Demon Spirit Artifact detector, connected to the Divine Blood Melting Furnace workshop at the mountain’s base. Besides, fighting is forbidden during the trial. Once discovered, if Zhou Leng holds out initially and the grandmaster arrives, won’t you…”

“I don’t need to fight at all; I just need to pretend to pass out and drag him into the deeper parts of the magma. The power in the deeper areas of the Divine Blood Lava is stronger; he won’t withstand it. Once he’s dead, I’ll resurface. Can I, a dignified demigod’s son and Great Innate Demon Dragon, not surpass this mere Bone Forger?”

“I see. Then it’s all up to you, Ten-Horned sir.”

The demons looked at Ten-Horned Mongoose with respect.

A Great Innate Demon Dragon, son of a demigod, was enough to rival a new grandmaster of any ordinary race.

Under his eye, a mere human Bone Forger was bound to die.

Ten-Horned Mongoose pretended to walk past Zhou Leng, secretly remembering his aura.

In the Divine Blood Lava, one couldn’t open their eyes, only sense auras at close range.

Zhou Leng watched the peeling skin falling off Mountain and River Origin, asking, “Didn’t you use True Qi?”

“No, my father said not to use it if unnecessary. But once entering the real Divine Blood Lava, we’ll have to use it. Inside, there’s not just high temperature but immense power, and without True Qi, there’s no way to withstand it.”

The voice of Giant Furnace sounded, “Head to the volcano’s crater, but you have to climb up the magma waterfall.”

After speaking, Giant Furnace guided the dwarf grandmasters to leap onto the hundreds of meters high magma waterfall, climbing upwards against the constantly flowing magma.

The crowd followed.

Most exerted their strength, but Zhou Leng and a few trial takers climbed entirely using their physical bodies, aiming for the perfect trial result.

Before long, the group reached the top of Divine Blood Mountain, a huge volcanic crater over five kilometers in diameter.

Thick black smoke billowed out, and inside the bubbling magma roiled, like a magma dragon god breathing below.

The outer magma was blood-red, but here it was even brighter, like a bright red.

Giant Furnace said, “Here lies the true Divine Blood Lava. The temperature in its depths is twice that of the magma lake.”

“Now, you will have to jump in and endure the unimaginably intense magma burning.”

“Don’t think that just because you passed the magma lake, you can recklessly cultivate in the Divine Blood Lava.”

“The average trial time for trial takers in the Divine Blood Lava is one and a half hours, remember, that’s the average time.”

“Many among you will have times less than one and a half hours.”

“An ordinary Bone Forger Innate can’t last even half an hour.”

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