A Common Target

　　“Chi chi!!” Occasionally, a drop of water would land on the steadily flowing lava, offsetting an explosion of steam.

　　Amongst the many warriors present, how many of them had ever seen lava before?

　　None!

　　It was even Teng Qingshan’s first time seeing lava throughout both of his lives. The impact of the lava stunned the troop of fearless warriors. Seeing the seven powerful warriors being burnt to ashes until “there was nothing left” chilled the eager emotions of the experts.

　　“What an astonishingly high temperature!” Teng Qingshan could not help but gasp. “The lava in the outer reaches of the pool of lava had a golden hue, with only the center of the pool being scorchingly white. It was obvious that the temperature of the white lava had reached its peak state. However, it was likely that the temperature was even higher underneath the surface, even for the golden lava!”

　　Being several times hotter than water’s boiling point, the lava was so hot that it was able to dissolve bones in the blink of an eye.

　　“Everyone charge! Grab the Black Fire Spirit Fruit!”

　　“Grab the Spirit Fruit! Kill!”

　　Those warriors who were far away and had not yet seen what had just happened were all shouting as they attempted to charge forward.

　　Teng Qingshan frowned, throwing a glance in the direction of the shouting warriors. “These scattered warriors are trying to cause chaos. They would probably be happier to see more experts from the major sects dying!” In that moment, the Young Master of the Qing Hu Island ‘Gu Shiyou’ loudly cried, “Everyone, we will fight for this Black Fire Spirit Fruit within ourselves. However, we cannot let the other warriors make trouble! Everyone work together, and if any outsider dares to charge or squeeze their way through, kill them!”

　　“I agree!” Tie Yi Hall’s ‘Wei Cang Long’ was the first to consent.

　　“Agreed,” said Ji Hong, also nodding his head.

　　Those in the deeper regions all agreed to give the command for some of their men to focus on handling the people on the outside, preventing them from charging in.

　　……

　　The passageway was only a few Zhang wide, and only a small minority of warriors could engage with their weapons.

　　While the smaller sects and individual warriors had an advantage in number, when they were pushed out to a few hundred Zhang away, most of them could only shout from the sidelines, unable to take part in battle. Those who could fight were small in number, and were of no threat to the elites of the various larger sects!

　　One man can hold against ten thousand enemies!

　　Each of the large sects only needed to send out some of their elites to block the passageways, taking turns to fend them off!

　　From there, those who had wanted to take advantage of the situation to create chaos no longer dared to take any action.

　　If anyone moved, he would be killed!

　　“Kill!” A warrior shouted from the back.

　　“Damn you, what the hell are you shouting about? If you want to charge, you can go ahead.” The warriors in front were enraged. “You guys are only watching the show from the back, and you expect me to risk my life?”

　　Nobody here was stupid enough to sacrifice their precious life for someone else.

　　“How could these warriors ever hope to win when there is no one in command?” Teng Qingshan could tell that the space which they could battle in was not that big. “Even if the thousands of warriors fought to the death with the experts from the various big sects, the thousand man strong force from the big sects would be able to annihilate them! Moreover, most of these people are only here to join in the crowd, who would even be willing to throw away their lives?”

　　Within an extremely short amount of time, the messy situation was under control.

　　Teng Qingshan looked towards the surroundings of the lava lake. “The amount of men from the various groups would add up to around a thousand men, while those immediately ready for battle only amount to two or three hundred.”

　　“Lord Commander,” Teng Qingshan looked towards Ji Hong.

　　“Don’t rush. Whoever sticks out now is just courting death!” Ji Hong laughed, “There is no absolute power that is undefeatable. Bear with it for now!”

　　Teng Qingshan and Guan Lu stood behind Ji Hong.

　　Just when the experts from the various sects were planning on how to snatch the fruit, all of a sudden, a figure shot towards the middle of the lava lake at a rapid speed. As if it was on reflex, almost half of the experts surrounding the lava lake instantly threw out their concealed weapons!

　　Weapons such as flying daggers were thrown, some even picked up stones from the ground.

　　Hu! Hu! Hu!

　　The massive number of concealed weapons flew towards the figure like a gale of wind.

　　“Rumble~~~”

　　A green, hazy light crept up the blade, engulfing the figure. “Clank! Clank! Clank!”……A series of clashing sounds rang out. The attempt to deflect so many concealed weapons also resulted in the speed of the figure slowing down. The lava lake was over ten Zhang wide.

　　The distance from the bank to the boulder is a distance of over ten Zhang!

　　“That’s close to thirty meters! If a First Rated Warrior were to have no obstructions, he would be able to reach it if he tried with all his might!” Teng Qingshan looked towards the figure. “He would be able to fly up there if not for the hindrance of the many concealed weapons.”

　　“That’s Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’!” A voice called out.

　　It was the Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’!

　　The super strong warrior ranked ninth on the 《Earth Ranking》!

　　The long disheveled hair, stern-looking eyes, empty sleeves that swayed in the wind, and that long saber that shone with a cold gleam. It all explained his identity — Thunder God Blade Wu Yue!

　　A man with strong skills had strong guts! To think that the Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’ would dare to snatch the Black Fire Spirit Fruit under the eyes of so many experts!

　　“Too bad, an expert of the generation will be losing his life here.” Looking at this, many people lamented.

　　Even an expert from the 《Earth Ranking》 would be left without a trace once he dropped into the lava.

　　“That’s not right!” Teng Qingshan frowned as he looked at Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’, who was still in mid-air.

　　“Swoosh!” There was no panic in Wu Yue’s eyes as he took out a book from his chest at lightning speed, spinning it as he threw it out. The book was left spinning as Wu Yue’s nimble figure stepped on the book as he descended.

　　“Hu!”

　　The book plunged down into the lava and with a “boom!”, flames engulfed the surface of the flowing lava as the book turned into ashes.

　　Propelled by that one step, Wu Yue flew for a few more Zhang before landing directly on the black boulder in the middle of the lake.

　　Seemingly slow, but was in fact at great speed!

　　“Not good!” Ji Hong, Wei Canglong, Gu Shiyou, Du Jiu, the Black and White Elders…… all the faces of the experts paled. With the ability of one who is ranked ninth on the 《Earth Ranking》, once Wu Yue was able to regain his balance and have a surface to stand on, the other people, who were tens of Zhang away, would not be a threat to him.

　　Even if it was hard to be of any threat to him, they could not stare blankly while he succeeded.

　　“Hu!”“Hu!”“Hu!”……

　　A large number of concealed weapons flew towards Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’ once again. Teng Qingshan, who was at the bank of the lava lake, also held onto a flying dagger, as he stared coldly at that figure, “Wu Yue! Although I have favorable impressions of you, but…… In such a critical situation, I can’t hold back any further.”

　　Just when Teng Qingshan had found the right opportunity and was planning to take action —

　　“Ah!” A loud, deep voice cried out in pain.

　　Just when Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’ stepped on that black boulder, “Hu!”, flames appeared on his right leg and caught on fire! The Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’ did not even had the chance to take two more steps forward to get the Black Fire Spirit Fruit! At the moment Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’’s leg landed on the rock…

　　With one step!

　　He dashed towards the direction of the bank of the lava lake while he deflected the many concealed weapons with the saber in his hand.

　　Everyone was flabbergasted!

　　“Scram!” Wu Yue bellowed and with a swing of his saber, the warriors in the direction he was flying too all retreated. With a tumble, Wu Yue landed on one of his knees as he clutched his right leg. The shoe on that leg was incinerated, and the skin of his right leg was also burnt to a red color. It was covered in blood and one could faintly see the bones of his toes.

　　Everyone was in shock!

　　Teng Qingshan was also astonished as he looked towards the black boulder in the middle of the lava lake. “That Wu Yue had only landed, stepped on the rock, and returned. His foot had not been on the black boulder for even a second! In that short moment, to be able to burn the leg of a First Rate Warrior to this state!”

　　Everyone was stunned!

　　It was so terribly scorching on top of the black boulder. What were they to do?

　　Teng Qingshan’s gaze landed on the surroundings of that black boulder, and on the bubbling steaming white lava. “Right! That black boulder seems to be blocking the underground entrance of the lava flow! Its surroundings continuously emit white lava. That white lava has an incredible high temperature, and when that black boulder has been in contact with the white lava over the years, how could it not be extremely hot?

　　The heat conductivity of metal was very extreme.

　　That black boulder should be something similar to the extremely rare ore ‘Millennium Coldsteel’. It must definitely be good at conducting heat! If not, it would not be so scorching.

　　“The white lava is extremely scorching. While the black boulder looks normal from its appearance, the surface temperature of the rock should be at least a few hundred degrees!”

　　……

　　“Quick, pass me the Coldsteel Battle Boots!”

　　Gu Shiyou’s voice came from a distance away. At that point, many experts were already starting to change their boots.

　　“That rock is so hot that normal leather boots would be incinerated once it comes into contact with it. We’ll have to rely on the battle boots of out Black Armored Army.” Ji Hong smiled as he said this. The experts of the Black Armored Army all had a common set of heavy armor. Not just for their body, but for their legs, neck, and head as well.

　　Helmets, neck guards, battle boots, even the battle boots had the ability to deflect blades.

　　Teng Qingshan, Ji Hong, and Guan Lu were all wearing battle boots! Ji Hong and Guan Lu’s battle boots even contained some element of Darksteel, while Teng Qingshan’s battle boots had also contained some element of Millennium Coldsteel. The battle boots made with such precious materials would not dissolve under high temperatures, let alone to be burnt.

　　“That Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’ is a loner wearing normal leather boots. To step with that, he was really quite unlucky.” Ji Hong laughed.

　　Teng Qingshan scanned the surroundings. Many experts were all changing their boots. Battle boots made from good quality metal was very heavy and it would give the legs more pressure. Therefore, other than armies, most experts of internal strength would wear comfortable leather boots.

　　“Qingshan, Guan Lu!” Ji Hong lowered his voice and said, “Everyone is very eager to act now. With our abilities, we cannot be the one to stand out, but…… everyone won’t be able to bear with it much longer. Once they take action, Guan Lu, you stay here. Qingshan will charge in together with me! Grab that Black Fire Spirit Fruit and Black Fire Spirit Root!”

　　Guan Lu frowned, “I……”

　　Looking at Ji Hong’s sullened face, Guan Lu did not continue further, but she threw a glance at Teng Qingshan.

　　Ji Hong observed the surroundings. The rest of the experts were also waiting to take action. Ji Hong lowered his voice, “Qingshan, we may need to stake it all later! If we manage to get the Black Fire Spirit Fruit, the Sovereign may decide to give it to you, but if we only manage to get the Black Fire Spirit Root……Sovereign would not care much about it. Therefore, we need to set our sights on that Black Fire Spirit Fruit!”

　　“Yes.” Teng Qingshan held the Reincarnation Spear in his hand and answered in a low voice.