Chapter 179: Inner Sealing Area

The moment Ethan stepped through the gate behind the Purefire Main Furnace, the scorching heat surrounding his body immediately changed.

The temperature here was still extremely high, but the fire-element energy was no longer chaotic like it had been in Emberfall City. Instead, it was compressed into channels running beneath the stone floor. Every time one of those channels lit up, a red-gold glow stretched for hundreds of meters before disappearing into the darkness.

Ahead of the group was a broad path running between two black cliffs so tall that their peaks could not be seen.

There were no railings on either side. Only deep abysses containing slowly flowing rivers of lava that looked like molten metal.

The Flame Bone Dragon came through last. Its wings, nearly seventy meters wide, had to be folded tightly against its spine to avoid striking the gate frame.

The Undead Mage walking beneath it immediately sped up to avoid being stepped on by one of the dragon’s feet.

Only after the gate behind them closed did the System display a notification.

[Entered: Inner Sealing Area.]

[Area access condition fulfilled: Complete restoration of the Purefire Main Furnace.]

[This area is not part of the mandatory challenge rounds. Participants may leave voluntarily after locating an exit.]

Laira finished reading all three lines, and her eyes immediately lit up.

“Not part of the mandatory challenge? Then everything inside counts as extra rewards?”

Mumu, who was lying on Ethan’s shoulder, also raised its head.

Its small body had still not fully recovered after continuously buffing everyone at the Main Furnace, but the moment it heard the word rewards, its golden eyes immediately became alert.

Ethan pressed it back down with one hand and looked toward the path stretching ahead.

“The System only said we can leave. It never said it would give us anything. You two shouldn’t start dividing rewards before we’ve even seen them.”

“I’m only asking in advance,” Laira replied.

But she had already moved to the front of the formation, the Boundless Fishing Rod resting on her shoulder.

Ruo Yan controlled the Bone Dragon as it walked in the middle, while the Undead Mage followed closely beside its left leg to inspect the joints that had just been repaired.

The Ancient Fire-Pattern Material fused into its wings still emitted a steady red-gold glow, while the Purefire Essence had strengthened its core beyond its previous state.

However, the damage caused by the corrosive Magic Array and the two times the Main Furnace had drained its energy could not yet be considered completely gone.

Ruo Yan had no intention of letting her newly acquired puppet become the power source for something else immediately after repairing it.

After traveling for a while, Ethan noticed numerous doors appearing along both cliff walls.

Some were only slightly taller than an ordinary person, while others were large enough for the Bone Dragon to lower its head and walk through.

Laira pushed open the nearest one.

The heavy stone door opened surprisingly easily, revealing a room containing dozens of empty stone platforms.

Each platform bore traces showing that something had once been placed there, but the surrounding energy pathways had long since gone dark.

“Someone got here before us?” Laira walked inside and inspected the room. “Or were the things here taken away back when the ruins were still intact?”

Ethan did not answer immediately.

He activated the Eye of Truth, allowing the hidden structures beneath the stone surface to appear before him.

The traces on the platforms scattered in many directions, and not a single item remained.

However, beneath the worn stone at the doorway was an extremely fine fire pattern running across the threshold.

It did not lead into the room.

Instead, it continued along the main path.

Ethan took out the Fragment of the Lava Emperor’s Heart.

The red-gold spark inside pulsed once when it approached the doorway, then immediately became still again.

“This room is only built beside the fire-patterned path.”

He put the heart fragment away.

“What we’re looking for isn’t here.”

Laira glanced once more at the empty platforms before stepping outside.

“Did whoever built this place deliberately put doors beside the path to make people go the wrong way?”

“Maybe these rooms originally served another purpose.”

Ruo Yan placed a hand on one of the stone platforms.

“The remaining traces resemble locations where materials used to maintain the seal were stored. Once those materials ran out of energy, these rooms simply became empty.”

Ethan continued following the fire patterns.

The Eye of Truth only helped him detect the sections within a nearby range.

Whenever he moved farther away, the path sank back into the countless fire veins beneath the ground, forcing him to stop and determine the direction again.

The heart fragment did not directly point the way either.

It only reacted when Ethan stood close enough to an intersection, almost as though confirming that the route he was looking at originated from the same source as the Lava Emperor’s seal.

After nearly half an hour, the road ahead split into three paths.

All three had a heart-shaped symbol carved into the stone.

The middle path was the widest, and the fire-element energy beneath it was significantly stronger than the other two.

The left path contained countless footprints that had long since become scorched marks.

The right path was so narrow that the Bone Dragon had to fold its wings tightly just to pass through.

Ruo Yan had the Undead Mage release deathly energy into the middle path.

After a while, she shook her head.

“No creatures or traps detected. If this place was used to transport materials, the middle route makes the most sense.”

Ethan also looked toward the middle path.

However, the Eye of Truth showed that the powerful fire-element flow beneath it repeated the exact same cycle far too perfectly.

It looked more like a route deliberately made to stand out than an energy vein that had survived naturally for countless years.

He brought the Fragment of the Lava Emperor’s Heart toward each path.

At the left path, the crystal showed no reaction.

At the middle path, its outer surface heated up because of the surrounding fire-element energy, but the flame inside remained still.

Only when Ethan moved it toward the right path did the tiny flame pulse faintly.

At the same time, the fire pattern beneath his feet lit up.

“We take the right path.”

Ethan put the heart fragment away.

The Bone Dragon lowered its body and slowly entered the narrow passage.

The Undead Mage leading the way had to press itself close against the wall to make room, while Laira walked at the back of the formation, occasionally lifting protruding sections of rock with one hand so that the dragon’s newly repaired wings would not scrape against them.

After the entire group left the intersection, the middle path suddenly produced the sound of shifting stone.

A surge of dark red fire-element energy rose upward.

The veins beneath the ground lit up simultaneously, as though they had just detected that their target had chosen the wrong path.

The stone floor behind them cracked apart.

A long leg made of cooled lava emerged from the fissure, followed by a creature more than ten meters tall slowly crawling upward.

It had four long legs.

Its head was nothing more than a hollow mass of stone filled with dozens of glowing fissures.

Every time it inhaled, the fire-element energy in the surrounding area was pulled toward its toothless mouth.

The glow across the Bone Dragon’s wings immediately bent backward, as though it were about to be sucked out of the fire patterns.

The Eye of Truth quickly provided Ethan with information.

[Firevein Devourer.]

[Defensive puppet of the sealing area.]

[Capable of detecting and absorbing fire-element cores that do not possess sealing authority.]

“It’s targeting the Bone Dragon’s core,” Ethan immediately said. “Ruo Yan, move it farther back.”

Ruo Yan pulled on the Soul Threads.

The Bone Dragon lowered its head and retreated deeper into the passage, but the Firevein Devourer had already charged forward.

Laira swung the Boundless Fishing Rod.

The black line wrapped around one of its front legs and pulled taut.

The monster was dragged sideways, its head smashing into the cliff and sending chunks of volcanic rock flying.

However, the moment those fragments fell, the fire-element energy beneath the ground pulled them back toward its body.

Mumu jumped from Ethan’s shoulder.

Its soft body spread outward into a protective layer covering the core inside the Bone Dragon’s chest.

The halo above its head spun rapidly.

Three seconds later, a notification appeared before everyone.

[Mumu has activated Endless Blessing.]

[Buff acquired: Core Stabilization.]

[Resistance to energy absorption and energy reversal has temporarily increased.]

Golden light covered the Bone Dragon’s core.

The fire-element energy being pulled outward immediately slowed.

At the same time, Mumu used its gel body to form another layer of physical protection, but the suction from the Firevein Devourer still caused the gel surface to cave inward.

It cried out in irritation, both tentacles clinging tightly to the dragon’s ribs as though determined not to let the enemy steal what it was protecting.

Laira pulled hard on the fishing line, lifting half the Firevein Devourer’s body from the ground.

“Want me to throw it into the abyss?”

“It’s connected to the fire veins beneath the ground.”

Ethan raised Realm Breaker, focusing on the energy streams running through the monster’s body.

“Throwing it down there would only give it more fire.”

The Eye of Truth followed the fire-element flow until it finally located the connection point inside a narrow gap behind the monster’s neck.

Laira understood the moment she saw Ethan’s muzzle change direction.

She twisted the Boundless Fishing Rod and forced the monster to turn its back toward Ethan.

The Firevein Devourer struggled violently, its four legs carving long cracks across the road.

The volcanic rock covering its body repeatedly shattered and regenerated, but the fishing line remained tightly wrapped around one front leg.

“Hold it for a moment,” Ethan said.

“You should shoot a little faster.”

Laira smiled.

“I’m starting to worry I’ll pull its leg off.”

The gunshot rang out.

The bullet from Realm Breaker passed precisely through the gap behind the monster’s neck and destroyed the connection between its body and the fire veins beneath the ground.

Dark red Burning flames immediately spread around the wound.

The fragments of volcanic rock that had just risen to reconnect with its body were stopped by the flames, causing the Firevein Devourer’s neck to collapse.

Laira withdrew the fishing line, stepped forward, and kicked directly into its hollow chest.

The terrifying force sent the monster flying backward into the intersection.

Its body crashed against the road and shattered into hundreds of stone fragments that could no longer regenerate.

The fire veins beneath the ground tried several times to pull the materials back together, but Burning still clung to the severed connection point, causing every attempt at regeneration to fail.

Ethan was about to lower Realm Breaker when the Eye of Truth detected something else.

From among the shattered stones, a thread of black-purple smoke thinner than a strand of hair emerged and crawled through the cracks toward the end of the passage.

The flame inside the Fragment of the Lava Emperor’s Heart did not react to it at all.

Instead, the temperature around Ethan suddenly dropped for an instant.

That cold sensation did not belong to any kind of fire-element energy within the ruins.

“Laira, move away from the middle path.”

Ethan immediately raised his gun again.

He pulled the trigger.

The second bullet struck the purple smoke, and Burning flames erupted along the crack in the stone.

The smoke contracted like a living creature.

Part of it was burned away, while the remainder immediately burrowed deeper underground and disappeared beyond the Eye of Truth’s vision.

Ruo Yan looked at the scorched mark left behind, her expression becoming more serious.

“Is that the aura of the Void Eye?”

“It’s very similar to what entered the Bone Dragon back in the Ember Battlefield.”

Ethan walked over to inspect the shattered stones.

“But it’s too weak. It feels more like a trace that was left behind than the actual body.”

“So the Void came here before us?” Laira asked.

“Not necessarily.”

Ethan looked toward the end of the passage where the smoke had disappeared.

“It might have infiltrated the seal a long time ago, or it may have only recently followed something inside.”

He did not clarify who or what he meant by “something.”

Ever since awakening the Eye of Truth, Ethan had known that whenever he looked deeper into a secret, there was always a chance the Void would look back at him.

That eye had appeared after Ryan was devoured by the Void and had then deliberately sought him out in the Ember Battlefield.

If it could sense the Eye of Truth or the Fragment of the Lava Emperor’s Heart, the newly opened gate might have provided it with a way inside.

The group continued forward.

This time, Laira no longer casually opened the doors along the passage.

At the end of the corridor stood a black stone door more than twenty meters tall.

There was no handle or keyhole on its surface.

Only hundreds of fire patterns forming the image of a heart divided into countless pieces.

The moment Ethan approached, the red-gold fire patterns across the Bone Dragon’s wings suddenly lit up.

The door released a deep rumble and opened slightly.

At the same time, a stream of energy from inside the gap pulled directly toward the dragon’s newly repaired wing joint.

Ruo Yan immediately controlled the Bone Dragon and made it retreat.

The door stopped opening, but the fire patterns remained illuminated.

She checked the core through her Soul Threads and confirmed that the suction had only touched the Ancient Fire-Pattern Material across the wings and had not yet reached the core.

“The material we used to repair it is opening the door,” Ruo Yan said.

“Not the material itself.”

Ethan activated the Eye of Truth.

“The door recognizes the cycle of fire-element energy circulating through those patterns. It wants a source capable of sustaining its own circulation.”

He stepped closer to the gap.

Deep within the darkness beyond the door, a black-purple point of light flashed once and disappeared so quickly that neither Laira nor Ruo Yan saw it.

The Fragment of the Lava Emperor’s Heart inside Ethan’s storage space pulsed violently again.

But this time, Ethan clearly sensed two completely different reactions.

A red-gold pulse was calling to him from beyond the door.

The purple presence was merely watching in silence.

Ethan turned toward Ruo Yan.

“Do you feel the Bone Dragon controlling its own wings?”

“No. My Soul Threads still control every joint.”

She looked toward the door, her gaze turning cold.

“Something inside is actively pulling on its fire-element energy.”

Ethan nodded and slowly raised Realm Breaker.

“Then this is more troublesome than I thought. The door is waiting for us to open it, and whatever is behind it is waiting too.”