CHAPTER 428 EXPLORING

Darren, Abelard, Timothy, and Hailey hovered in the air, observing the space. There was boundless

boiling hot magma as far as their eyes could see.

"It's so horrible in here!" Abelard exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed in displeasure.

"There's magma everywhere. Without Darren's protection, we no doubt would have been burned to

ashes," Timothy muttered as he stared at the boundless fire. He held a deep gratitude towards Darren.

It would be horrible to be burned alive. Anyone would be horrified to die in that way.

"It's not magma. It's a kind of soul refining skill," Hailey said after a careful observation.

Abelard squinted his eyes and surveyed the magma below them. "Oh, yeah... You're right. It's not

magma. Look at that! Some sort of strange runes flash after the bodies of revenants fall into it," he

said, pointing down.

"We don't have time for that right now. We have other things to worry about at the moment, like finding

a way to leave this place," Timothy chided, unamusedly waving his arm around for emphasis.

A shrill scream was suddenly heard beside Darren.

It was the kid named Aaron who was staring into the distance.

Darren stared at Aaron in apprehension. He had already known what the kid was capable of and how

much destruction he could cause.

"What the hell is he doing?" Darren was on edge and his guard was up. He had no idea what Aaron

was up to, but he knew better than to stick around and be caught up in whatever it was. He quickly flew

away while protecting the others.

There was a horrible crash.

Aaron continued to stare unblinkingly into the distance, a dark intense gleam flickering in his eyes.

Ghastly black runes appeared and dashed forward.

The magma started to boil and then surged up, creating huge waves several thousands of feet high.

The black runes that Aaron unleashed had formed itself into a black spear, repeatedly piercing into an

unseen object.

All of a sudden, a thick pillar made out of magma emerged from below and rose up into the sky. Soon

afterwards, an enormous red hand drew close towards Aaron.

A long ear-splitting howl from Aaron echoed out and

black runes flooded out from his mouth.

Darren just stood and watched the battle unfold. He had always thought that Aaron was essentially

invincible for the most part, but in that moment, he sensed fear from the kid.

Aaron sent continuous attacks, but the fiery red hand still drew closer and closer towards him, showing

no signs of halting.

Aaron howled ceaselessly causing the whole world to tremble.

The enormous hand was eventually able to grab Aaron. It held him so tightly that he was unable to

move and free himself.

Everyone watched in horror as the scene unfolded.

Darren had never seen a creature more powerful!

"What on earth is that?"

They all stared at the enormous hand in trepidation, distressed at just the thought of the disaster and

torment it could potentially bring about.

Hailey suddenly spoke out, snapping them out of their morbid musings.

"I got it."

"What?" Darren, Abelard, and Timothy said in unison as they all turned to look at Hailey.

At that moment, Aaron had been pulled into the red hot magma by the enormous hand. The world then

returned to silence, just as what it had been before.

"The Purgatorial Tripod is the real Heavenly Serene Graveyard," Hailey stated simply. The revelation

surprised the three. They were frozen in shock, their bodies not quite fully comprehending still.

"Wh-what do you mean? How could you tell?" Abelard finally managed to stutter out.

"I've read some descriptions from an ancient book for rule cultivators. It said that the Purgatorial Tripod

originally belonged to an ancient demonic monster. When it died in battle, its body was buried inside

the Purgatorial Tripod where it may be brought back from the dead one day.

The ancient demonic monster was called Pasquale. Based on the information, the real Heavenly

Serene Graveyard may be this place inside the Purgatorial Tripod."

The three young men glanced at each other and then at Hailey. After a short while of contemplation,

they all nodded, agreeing with the theory.

"If this is true, Cain must have been used. He won't actually make any progress once he entered the

Purgatorial Tripod. Instead, he would die here," Darren inferred. It all somehow made sense.

Hailey nodded in agreement "Yes, but I think Cain was not the only one who was used. Based on the

aura that I sensed from the enormous hand, many other powerful demonic monsters were used."

"So all of it was a lie, then. It's all obvious now. The blood of the demonic monsters would enable

Pasquale to come back to life. Coming here to become stronger is not true—it's a lie," Timothy

lamented. All the rumors and hearsays that people had been believing were all lies.

"But why did that hand only go for the strange kid? Why did it leave us here?" Abelard's face was

scrunched up in confusion.

"Who knows." Darren shrugged and shook his head.

Darren and the others proceeded to explore the world inside the Purgatorial Tripod. Every place was

the same, it was infinite and never-ending. It was next to impossible to find a way out.

Before they knew it, three months had quickly passed by. Darren and his companions still had not

found a way out.

Fortunately, Darren had stored enough demonic monster cores inside his Space Ring. He could

assimilate the cores to provide enough spiritual energy to keep others going. They would have already

died if Darren did not have those cores.

In those three months, the magma often boiled over and a few black runes would struggle out of it.

Darren and his companions often heard roars coming from below the magma. All those indications led

them to the belief that Aaron was not yet dead and was still trying to fight the enormous hand.

"What should we do?"

Despite Darren's protection, all four of them had grown weak and exhausted after having spent three

months in the Purgatorial Tripod.

Hailey seldom spoke and was quiet most of the time. She always seemed to be deep in exploration

inside her own thoughts.

All of a sudden, she let out a pained sigh, almost a whimper.

Her forehead was covered in sweat. A few moments later, she was coughing up blood.

"What's wrong?" Darren asked.

Hailey wiped the blood on the corner of her mouth and said in a weak low voice, "We have a chance to

leave."

"What did you find, Miss Yao?" Abelard perked up in excitement, eager to know how to get out.

"I've been searching this place with my Spirit Power and after countless tries, I finally found a way for

us to escape. We shouldn't be flying because we won't find it up here. On the contrary, we should enter

the magma," Hailey said, glancing at the magma below them.

"Are you kidding? That's… that's crazy!"

"The magma is extremely hot. How can we possibly dive into it? Besides, how sure are you that we can

leave here through the magma?"

The others protested, expressing their misgivings. "If I'm being honest, I'm not entirely sure that we can

leave through that method. However, I know for sure that the magma is just a diversion. All this is just

an illusion and below, under the magma, is the real world. Maybe we can find the way that leads to the

outside." Hailey Yao looked intently at Darren, Timothy, and Abelard. She seemed determined about

her plan.

"Darren, what do you think?"

The other three looked at Darren, waiting for a reply.

Darren thought for a moment and then finally said, "In our current situation, there's no other choice. We

have to do as Miss Yao said. But, we have a problem. My flame intent won't be able to keep all of you

safe in the magma."

"I see. If you dive into the magma, you have a chance to enter the underground world. If you take us

with you, the chance is nearly zero,"

Hailey sighed and squared up her shoulders. "I think it would be best if you leave alone. If you find the

exit, you can survive."

Timothy and Abelard looked at Darren and nodded in approval.

"Darren, just go ahead and give it a try. We're just going to have to stay here. It doesn't really matter as

long as you can make it out of here. We'll just have to depend on our luck if we'll survive or not."

Timothy let out a lighthearted chuckle.

"Yes, Darren. It's a pleasure to have met you. I'll die without a regret." Abelard beamed at him.

"No. I can't leave you here!" Darren pressed his lips together in frustration.

"Even if I have the chance to escape from this place, I wouldn't just leave my friends here waiting for

their death. We will leave together, I'll make sure of it!" he firmly said.

"You're a good friend. We're very grateful for your kindness, but now's not a good time to be

considerate. If you don't leave, you'll die with us. Don't be stupid."

"Don't say that. Now that we know that there's a chance to leave, we can find a solution together. I can't

give up your chance to survive so willy-nilly." Darren's mind was made up. It would be hard to ask him

to change his decision.

Darren's persistence moved Timothy and Abelard. Hailey looked at Darren, smiling at him

affectionately.

There was a moment of silence and nobody talked for a while.

"I have an idea!" Darren leapt up, eyes flashing in excitement.This belongs to - ©.