Chapter 763 - 227: The Awakened (2)

In just a few short breaths, Dean Hou was reduced to ash.

A golden Gu Insect surfaced in the magma, emitting waves of a weak aura.

"The Ten Thousand Gu Insects?"

Shen Bai narrowed his eyes. With a wave of his hand, he seized the Ten Thousand Gu Insects.

The Ten Thousand Gu Insects was extremely weak at this point and offered no resistance as Shen Bai caught it.

Shen Bai waved his hand, and a spatial rift appeared.

He tossed the Ten Thousand Gu Insects into the rift created by his Yin Yang Storage Skill. Scanning his surroundings, he thought, ’Amber, do you still sense that strange aura?’

Amber responded, ’Master, the strange aura is gone. It seems the Ten Thousand Gu Insects devoured its source, killing it completely.’

Shen Bai was slightly disappointed.

He had hoped to harvest some Evil Qi here, but it was not to be.

Still, wiping out the Demonic Forces this time made it all worthwhile.

Weakening his enemies was, in a way, strengthening himself.

Red Makeup’s voice echoed in Shen Bai’s mind. ’Master, something feels a little off.’

Shen Bai frowned. ’What’s off?’

Red Makeup said, ’From what I understand, the Magma Core is the heart of this Forbidden Land. Now that the Magma Core is gone, why does the Forbidden Land still exist?’

At her words, Shen Bai scanned his surroundings.

The surrounding magma was still there, proving that the Forbidden Land remained as well.

’Why is that?’

Shen Bai grew puzzled.

As he puzzled over this, he suddenly sensed something unusual through his Void-breaking Red Eye.

Figures began to appear one by one above the magma. They were the attendees of the Artifact Refining Conference.

Shen Bai’s brow furrowed slightly. He decided to go out and take a look.

’Since the Forbidden Land hasn’t disappeared, that must mean there’s more to this story. No harm in going to see what’s happening.’

At this thought, Shen Bai executed Divine Thousand Miles, transforming into a streak of light and vanishing within the magma.

When Shen Bai used Divine Thousand Miles and Shadow Kill to appear in the middle of the crowd, he didn’t attract any attention.

The participants of the Artifact Refining Conference were chatting amongst themselves. Their faint voices drifted over, but Shen Bai heard them with perfect clarity.

"What’s going on? Why has the magma aura vanished?"

"Is it happening to you all, too? I was just tracking a wisp of the magma aura, but it suddenly disappeared."

"This is the first time in many years that something like this has happened. Should we go ask Sect Leader Situ of the Artifact Refining Sect?"

The chatter grew more frequent. After listening for a while, Shen Bai gradually pieced together what had happened.

’The Ten Thousand Gu Insects devoured the Magma Core, and now it’s gone. Since the Magma Core disappeared, the magma aura vanished along with it.’

After a moment’s thought, Shen Bai came to this conclusion.

He decided to lay low and continue observing how the situation unfolded.

He had a feeling that something else was about to happen within the Forbidden Land.

Sure enough, just as Shen Bai made up his mind, a voice rang out.

"Everyone, the core of the Molten Rock Forbidden Land is missing. To avoid danger, please come back up for now."

The voice of Sect Leader Situ slowly carried over.

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, a sense of dread washing over them.

The Magma Core was the very foundation of Molten Rock City. Now that it was gone, didn’t that mean the city’s foundation had been shaken to its core?

But since Sect Leader Situ had spoken, the crowd didn’t linger. They all flew in unison toward the entrance.

Shen Bai followed along behind them.

Before long, he followed the entrance and arrived at the location of the Artifact Refining Sect.

The moment he emerged, Shen Bai noticed something was amiss.

Large numbers of soldiers were stationed all around.

They were clad in fiery red armor, and every single soldier exuded a terrifyingly powerful aura.

"It’s the Molten Rock Guard! They’re Molten Rock City’s most elite force. Why are they at the Artifact Refining Sect?" someone cried out in alarm.

The more clear-headed among them had already guessed the reason.

"The Magma Core has been destroyed, and now we’re all suspects. I’m afraid we’re in big trouble."

The crowd exchanged glances, and everyone fell silent.

None of them had ever expected to run into such rotten luck.

But now that the situation was set in stone, all they could do was accept their misfortune.

They could only hope Molten Rock City wouldn’t do something drastic and decide to kill them all rather than risk letting the guilty party go free.

Sect Leader Situ’s expression was grim and uncertain. "Everyone," he said, "please cooperate with the Molten Rock Guard’s investigation. The Guard will not wrongly accuse anyone."

’The Magma Core was destroyed during the Artifact Refining Conference. From now on, there would be no more magma aura.’

’The Artifact Refining Sect will likely be implicated in this incident. If things go poorly, it might never recover.’

’His only hope now was to find the true culprit. Perhaps then the Artifact Refining Sect would have a chance to salvage this.’

As this thought crossed his mind, a tall general stepped out from the ranks of the Molten Rock Guard.

The general immediately waved to the surrounding Molten Rock Guard and commanded, "Take them all to the dungeons! Interrogate them one by one!"

His words sent the entire crowd into an uproar.

"I didn’t do it! Why are you taking me to the dungeon?"

"Just because you can’t find the culprit, you’re going to condemn all of us?"

"The Magma Core is already gone! If you slaughter the innocent now, what will become of Molten Rock City’s prestige!"

Everyone knew perfectly well.

If the truth wasn’t uncovered here and now, once they were in the dungeons, the innocent could easily be framed as guilty.

At that point, they would probably all be used as scapegoats.

The general sneered. "Resisters will be killed without mercy!"

At his words, the clamoring crowd was plunged into sudden silence.

The general swept his gaze over them and waved his hand again, ordering his men to take the crowd away.

Shen Bai rubbed his chin, inwardly debating whether he should make a move.

’I don’t want to be thrown in a dungeon, either,’ he thought. ’Although, given how things are going, I might discover something new if I go along.’