308: Chapter 308 "Ghost Face" Squad

Du Ya's face was covered in blood, his eyes filled with resentment. He laughed miserably and rasped, "Hehe... Ye Tian, you... you won't escape!"

"Both the Earth Fire Demon Abyss and Sulfur Valley are guarded by Sea Transformation Realm experts!"

"You will surely die... without..."

Before he could finish, the light in his eyes quickly faded, his head slumped, and he drew his last breath.

He had already suffered from the backlash of his poison technique and sustained fatal injuries; he was at his wit's end.

Ye Tian frowned. His gains were limited, but at least he confirmed that there were Sea Transformation Realm powerhouses guarding those two places.

He put away sword and quickly searched Du Ya's body and the underground hall. He found some Spirit Stones, medicinal herbs, poisons, several secret letters recording the distribution of forces and suspicious movements around Crimson Flame Town, and a defensive sketch of the Land of Flowing Fire that was much more detailed than the one from the Black Crow House, marking many more hidden sentries.

Ye Tian put away the useful items and then flicked several wisps of flame to clean up the corpses and traces in the hall, especially those poison puppets, which were burned thoroughly.

He didn't want to leave any clues to prevent anyone from linking the incident to his identity.

Having finished all this, he quickly left the gambling stone shop's basement without disturbing anyone upstairs.

When he returned to the "Old Stone Inn," the sky was not yet bright.

Hou Xiaojie hadn't slept, waiting anxiously. Seeing him return safely, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's settled. We'll leave Crimson Flame Town at dawn."

Ye Tian briefly explained the situation he had scouted and the defensive map to Hou Xiaojie. "The Earth Fire Demon Abyss and Sulfur Valley both have Sea Transformation Realm experts guarding them. A frontal assault won't work; we must use our wits."

"We'll leave here first, find a place to study this map carefully, and plan our route."

Hou Xiaojie nodded heavily.

Early the next morning, Ye Tian and Hou Xiaojie checked out, blended into the flow of people leaving the town, and left Crimson Flame Town, returning once again to the Land of Flowing Fire.

However, what they didn't know was that less than an hour after they left, a team of men in black, led by a leader wearing a bronze ghost mask, entered the basement of the gambling stone shop.

Looking at the empty hall, the ghost-masked man remained silent for a long time before his voice came through the mask: "Du Ya, that trash, couldn't even handle a small matter!"

"Notify all sentries to heighten their vigilance."

"The target... has already arrived."

"He will definitely go to the Earth Fire Demon Abyss or Sulfur Valley."

"That place will be his burial ground."

With the detailed defensive map scavenged from Du Ya's lair, Ye Tian avoided several areas marked with hidden sentries or patrols, choosing instead paths marked as "dense fire beast dens" or "frequent ground fissures."

These places were sparsely populated and had harsh environments, but for that very reason, the defenses of the Wanren Sword Pavilion and Shadow Calamity Tower were relatively thin.

Hou Xiaojie followed behind Ye Tian, holding the Dragon Ape.

Occasionally encountering unavoidable third-rank fire lizards or swarms of second-rank fire scorpions, Ye Tian only needed to draw sword and swing a sheet of lightning to quickly resolve them, collecting the demon cores and useful Materials along the way.

For three days, they traveled hundreds of miles in a zigzag fashion across the wasteland.

The smell of sulfur in the air grew stronger, and the temperature rose higher. The rocks beneath their feet were scorching, and lava could even be seen flowing in some ground fissures.

In the distance, the outline of a massive, deep canyon appeared on the horizon. Above the canyon, thick clouds of fire baleful energy lingered year-round. Even from a distance, one could feel the violent, scorching pressure rushing toward them.

That was the Earth Fire Demon Abyss, one of the core dangers of the Land of Flowing Fire, and one of the places mentioned by Venerable Jiehuo as most likely to nurture fire spirit marrow liquid.

"Senior Brother, is that the Earth Fire Demon Abyss ahead? What a terrifying aura..."

Hou Xiaojie looked at the canyon, his small face turning slightly pale.

"Yes. According to the map and intelligence, the Shadow Calamity Tower and Wanren Sword Pavilion have set up hidden sentries in all four directions around the Demon Abyss, and there are even Sea Transformation Realm experts stationed there."

"We can't enter through the conventional entrance."

Ye Tian unfolded the detailed map, his finger tracing along the edge of the Demon Abyss, finally stopping at a steep location marked as "Wanwan Cliff." "This is a section of precipice on the western side of the Demon Abyss, thousands of feet high and perfectly vertical. Below is the turbulent underground fire. It's extremely difficult for ordinary people to climb, and the defenses are also the weakest."

"We'll go down from here."

Hou Xiaojie looked at the steep symbol representing the precipice on the map, swallowed hard, and nodded forcefully: "I'll listen to Senior Brother!"

The two took a large detour, avoiding the front and flanks of the Demon Abyss's outposts. At dusk, they quietly arrived at the edge of the Soul-Severing Cliff.

Standing at the edge of the cliff and looking down, below was a bottomless darkness, with occasional waves of heat rushing up from the depths.

The cliff walls were steep, and lava flowed in some places.

"Hold Xiao Long tight, and hold onto me."

Ye Tian used a tough beast-tendon rope to firmly bind Hou Xiaojie and himself together. Spotting a foothold, he leaped!

"Ah!" Hou Xiaojie cried out and quickly closed his eyes.

Ye Tian's fingers dug deep into the rock wall, his figure hanging steadily on the cliff, and then he quickly climbed down the precipice!

The further down they went, the higher the temperature became, and the turbulent underground fire constantly battered his protective True Yuan.

Hou Xiaojie was protected behind Ye Tian and had the support of the True Yuan Ye Tian funneled into him, so he could still endure, but his small face was already flushed red from the high heat.

Ye Tian himself remained unfazed; he had the Five Elements Sword Body, so this bit of fire-attribute energy was nothing to him.

After descending for about two hours, estimating they were six or seven hundred feet deep, specks of dark red light began to appear. These were emitted by the magma rivers and ground fire corals deep underground.

Just as Ye Tian was about to find a rocky platform to rest, three points of cold light suddenly shot out from the shadows behind a rock he was clinging to, aiming straight for his heart!

An ambush!

Ye Tian was startled!

Encountering an ambush on a precipice where there was nowhere to gain leverage multiplied the danger!

He didn't have time to look back or draw his sword. Using his core strength, he dodged the attack while striking out with his left hand, his Sword Qi exploding with lightning!

"God-Shocking Sting!"

Invisible Divine Sense lunged toward the attacker's position first.

Ye Tian's left palm deflected the two cold gleams aimed at his heart, but the one aimed at his leg grazed the outside of his calf because he couldn't dodge in time. It drew blood, and a sensation of numbness immediately spread from the wound!

Ye Tian groaned. Using the counterforce of the strike, his body swung to the side. At the same time, he pressed his right hand against the rock wall, forcibly stabilizing himself, and suddenly turned around!

Behind the rock where he had just been, three figures appeared, dressed in tight black clothes and wearing bronze ghost masks!

They were the assassins of the Shadow Calamity Tower's "Ghost Mask" Squad!

They clung to the rock wall, their auras concealed; if they hadn't launched the ambush, they would have been extremely difficult to detect.

The leader's ghost mask had more intricate patterns, and his aura had reached the Great Perfection of the True Martial Realm's tenth stage. He held a pair of short spikes.

The other two were at the Peak of the True Martial Realm's ninth stage; one used a thin sword, and the other used a flying shuttle.

The eyes of the three looked through the holes in their masks, cold and heartless.

"Ye Tian, your reputation is indeed well-deserved, to be able to sneak down to such a place."

The leading ghost-masked man spoke. "Unfortunately, you cannot escape the 'Ghost Mask' hunt."

"Below the Soul-Severing Cliff shall be your burial ground. Obediently hand over the ancient sword pill and the secret of that remnant soul, and we can leave your corpse intact."

"The hyenas of the Shadow Calamity Tower certainly have a keen sense of smell."

Ye Tian's eyes were cold. He was quietly urging the chaos bead to force out the poison, but it still affected his movements to some extent.

He was inwardly solemn; the opponents might have targeted him since he left Crimson Flame Town and specifically chose this precipice environment for the ambush.

"Courting death!" The two True Martial ninth-stage ghost assassins shouted low and attacked simultaneously!