However, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had a vague guess. The first disciple of the Dragon-Subduing Sect, He Baiyi, had also made full preparations when he entered the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda.
The Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda was a place for suppressing vicious souls. Soul-type demonic beasts like the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, which had no physical body, were very easily restrained here.
This was probably why He Baiyi didn't want to use the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" at the beginning of his battle with the few Snow Sprite Lords. By the time he felt something was wrong and deployed it, the opportunity had passed.
"Right now!" Li Yan said as he stood up. He acted on his thoughts immediately. With a flick of his large sleeve, he had already rolled up the small purple flag on the ground.
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant turned into a streak of light and drilled into it without another word, which surprised Li Yan somewhat.
Whenever the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant entered the "Fire Eye" to cultivate, Li Yan would at most give it a few instructions but wouldn't follow it with his Divine Sense. The high temperature there was also harmful to Divine Sense; staying too long could lead to Fire Poison contamination.
Therefore, Li Yan didn't know that this Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had once tried to go deep into the magma and had retreated on its own due to its soul being suppressed.
Li Yan didn't think much about the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's unexpected compliance. He rose into the air and flew towards the mountain of the "Flame Palace," then casually found a "Fire Eye" and flashed inside.
Looking at the slowly flowing golden magma below the cliff of rock fragments, a great black light erupted from Li Yan's body. The True Scripture of Gui Water circulated throughout his body. Without further delay, he took a step off the cliff.
The continuous "hissing" sound was incessant in his ears. The moment his water spiritual energy came into contact with the dazzling golden magma, it turned into a puff of green smoke.
But the moment this green smoke left his body, it disappeared instantly. Li Yan could no longer breathe. Through the protective shield of his Spirit Power, he felt as if his blood would be dried up and leave him in the next moment.
His flesh and bones felt as if they would immediately soften and melt. But fortunately, this was all just a feeling.
"The consumption of Spirit Power here is too fast!" Li Yan felt his Spirit Power being consumed at an incredible rate.
If it weren't for the self-generating cycle of his Five Elements Spirit Power, which was also far superior to that of his peers, he estimated that his Spirit Power would be exhausted in half an hour at most.
"No wonder only those Pseudo-Core cultivators dare to enter here. But this can't go on."
As Li Yan fell through the dazzling gold, he quickly analyzed his situation. He roughly calculated that the limit for a Pseudo-Core cultivator to persist here was one hour.
"There must be an end to this. There should be another world after passing through this section of magma. Otherwise, any Foundation Establishment cultivator would perish here."
Li Yan thought of the monk Yiming, who had been here for several months. As a monk of the Jingtu Sect, Yiming certainly knew everything about this place. Otherwise, unless that Yiming was crazy, he would have perished here long ago.
Li Yan tried to release his Divine Sense to probe downwards. But the moment his Divine Sense left the protective shield, a look of pain appeared on his face.
The sharp pain in his divine soul made him let out an involuntary grunt. This kind of pain was not physical, but from the depths of his soul. It was truly a pain worse than death.
The pain almost caused the protective shield of his Spirit Power to dissipate due to instability. But fortunately, he was prepared. After letting out a long, turbid breath and steadying his mind, he endured the severe pain and once again began to probe downwards with his Divine Sense, bit by bit.
But with every inch his Divine Sense extended, his Sea of Consciousness would churn violently. His Divine Sense, which could normally cover a thousand li in an instant, seemed to be trapped in a swamp.
Just like that, as Li Yan descended, after a quarter of an hour, he had no choice but to retract his Divine Sense.
At this time, Li Yan was drenched in sweat. Under such high temperatures, the sweat on his body still persisted for a moment. After two full breaths, his black robe returned to its dry, almost-burning state.
"A hundred zhang. This is my limit. Not only is there an unbearable burning pain for Divine Sense here, but it also seems to be under some kind of suppression, making it dozens of times harder for Divine Sense to advance every inch than usual."
Li Yan thought helplessly. After his Divine Sense had extended a hundred zhang just now, he already felt dizzy and faint. How could he dare to try again?
He didn't know if it was because of the dazzling golden magma or some other reason, but Li Yan felt his Divine Sense being enveloped by an invisible force, suppressed to the point where it was almost impossible to move.
But Li Yan didn't know that if word got out that his Divine Sense could penetrate a hundred zhang in this magma, it would shock countless people.
Even a monk like Yiming of the Jingtu Sect could only extend his Divine Sense fifty zhang here, and for a shorter period of time.
Li Yan's Five Elements Spirit Power circulated slowly throughout his body, hoping to last a little longer. He had the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" with him, so he wasn't afraid of really getting into a dilemma.
He silently calculated the time of his descent. He had been falling for more than a quarter of an hour, which felt like several decades to Li Yan.
But it was still a sea of rolling gold. And as he descended, Li Yan felt that his earlier estimate had been too optimistic. The further down he went, the faster his Spirit Power was being consumed, increasing exponentially.
Otherwise, if he needed to retract a trace of Spirit Power, his whole person might not even produce a puff of green smoke before instantly disappearing from this world.
"At most, in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, my Spirit Power will not be able to be used like this."
Li Yan had already discovered that the circulation of his Five Elements Spirit Power was beginning to lack follow-up. The rate at which he was releasing Spirit Power now greatly exceeded the rate at which the Five Elements were generating it. He thought that even if he had the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" to replenish it, with this rate of consumption, he was beginning to be unsure if it would be enough.
Moreover, a heaven-and-earth treasure like the "Melting Bamboo Shoot," Li Yan would feel pain even using a little bit of it. The thought of possibly having to use a large amount of it later was something he was extremely unwilling to do.
"After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, if I still haven't left this magma, I will have to give up this exploration."
Li Yan still didn't believe that a Pseudo-Core cultivator could persist here for several months. He didn't even have the ability to find out the extent of the magma. Gritting his teeth, he continued to fall downwards.
Time passed bit by bit. After more than half a cup of tea, Li Yan had begun to doubt his own judgment. Feeling the burning, stinging pain in his chest that felt like it would burst into flames at any moment, Li Yan tried hard to maintain his consciousness, but under the high temperature, dizziness was already unavoidable.
Suddenly, he felt a wave of coolness from below, like heavenly dew from the ninth heaven, washing over him. This made Li Yan, who had been planning to ascend after ten more breaths, overjoyed. His whole body rapidly fell downwards.
What met his eyes was a space of distorted crimson. Li Yan landed on a dark brown ground made of some unknown material. He looked up at the sky. Above him was slowly flowing golden magma, like a golden river in the sky, yet not a single drop of magma fell to the ground, which was extremely strange.
Retracting his gaze, the space was only twenty zhang in size. On the dark brown ground, a crimson gate stood in front.
The crimson gate extended upwards into the golden magma in the sky. The space around was empty. Apart from the occasional "gurgling" sound of the magma roiling above, it was deathly silent, as if one were wrapped in a ball of magma.
The reason he had felt cool just now was relative. The temperature here was about twice as high as in the "Fire Eye" in the mountain cave above, but compared to the magma he was in before, one was like being roasted in a furnace, and the other was like strolling in the autumn wind.
Although the temperature was much higher than the "Fire Eye" above, Li Yan could now barely stay here for a period of time even without a protective shield of Spirit Power.
Since his cultivation had greatly increased during this time, especially the toughness of his physical body brought about by the breakthrough in the Qiongqi Purgatory Art, his ability to withstand high temperatures was no longer comparable to what it was six months ago.
"What's behind the gate? Is it another world, or an unknowable attack?"
Li Yan sensed the silence around him and the occasional "gurgling" sound from above. It was a very discordant feeling, causing a sense of unease to grow and spread in his heart.
The crimson gate looked very much like a red-hot iron. The gate was covered with complex patterns and had a blackish-red luster with a metallic texture.
The gate had two leaves. In the middle of the lower part of each leaf was an ox-nose ring pull, about the height of a person from the ground. Their size was such that it seemed only the palm of a giant could grasp them.
Li Yan stood at a distance, first observing his surroundings, then carefully staring at the crimson gate. After a long time, he sneered inwardly. With a flash of red light in his hand, the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan was in his palm.
This was a world of fire, the perfect place for the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan to show its power. The Li Fire nurtured by the mysterious blood river in the fan was also quite domineering.
Although Li Yan cultivated the True Scripture of Gui Water and his water spiritual energy was extremely pure, in this space of overwhelming fire waves, he felt that relying on his own water spiritual energy to open the gate was less reliable than the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan.
He held the fan in his right hand, and the index and middle fingers of his left hand were held together like a sword. He raised his fingers and wiped them across the closed fan bones. A red flame shot out from the pale yellow fan body, shooting directly at one of the ox-nose ring pulls on the crimson gate.
But just as the red flame was about to reach the ring pull on the gate, the two ring pulls on the crimson gate twisted, and then a puff of golden smoke emerged from them.
This smoke was very faint and small at first, but in the blink of an eye, it had spread into a large cloud of golden fog in front of Li Yan. And the Li Fire that Li Yan had shot out was still swallowed up by it in a flash.
Then there was a furious roar, which caused the golden fog to churn continuously. Li Yan could see the red Li Fire flickering faintly a few times, and then it was annihilated in the golden fog.
But in just a moment, the golden fog seemed to have been dyed with impurities, turning from golden yellow to a dark gold color.
Li Yan just stood at a distance with a wary expression, but he showed no surprise at the sudden turn of events. Seeing this, he quickly raised his left hand, wiped it across the fan bones again, and another red flame shot out.
"Fellow Daoist, please stop! We can talk about this, we can talk about this!"
The golden fog actually jumped to the side like a person, dodging the Li Fire attack. And as it roiled, a golden Qilin with its feet treading on fierce flames and a majestic expression materialized. It was just that in the center of its brow was a red, vertical burn mark, which looked as if it had just formed.
At this moment, a trace of apprehension appeared in the eyes of this Qilin, whose body was ablaze with flames. While dodging the Li Fire, it repeatedly spoke.
Hearing this, Li Yan pointed with his finger, and the Li Fire that had been chasing the golden Qilin hovered in place, but the red flames still flickered restlessly.
When Li Yan first arrived here, he felt a strange sense of eeriness, but for a moment, he didn't know what was wrong.
When he carefully swept his Divine Sense over the crimson gate, apart from the still-burning stinging pain, there was no other abnormality.
But when his Divine Sense passed over the two ring pulls, that strange feeling grew even stronger.