Chapter 377: Hundred Thousand Volcanoes

A moment later... Shi Mu opened his eyes, and revealed a stunned look on his face.

The method of practicing the very first revolution of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art was mentioned on that book's page. It was more or less the same as body tempering technique. It was a kind of body tempering cultivation art in the positive attribute like the sun's.

This secret body tempering technique and the Sun-Swallowing Art seemed to have a lot of things in common. Precisely, the Sun-Swallowing Art was the foundation part of this secret body tempering technique. A person could temper his body by absorbing the strength of the sun.

Shi Mu had already made a conjecture based on his recent dream that the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art wasn't an ordinary art. But, he had never imagined that this technique was so wondrous.

According to the initial words of this Art... this cultivation art was a rumored technique that would grant remarkable abilities to the body. It was divided into nine stages. One could make their body obtain a kind of wonderful power every time they would practice one revolution.

In addition, one could achieve gold-like tenacious and indestructible body if they'd practice this art to the third revolution. After achieving that point, it would be difficult to even inflict the slightest injury on the body... no matter whether it was fire burns, lightning strike, or a blade or sword's blow.

He could attain the 'rebirth of dripping blood' once he would practice this art all the way to the sixth revolution. After that, the hair on human's body and head would attain such splendid capabilities that one would have never heard of before.

However, no explanation was mentioned as to what kind of frightening state one would receive after having practiced to the ninth revolutions... Only one sentence was mentioned on it — Completion of all nine revolutions would grant a person long life... like heaven and earth, and coexistence with the sun and the moon!

Shi Mu stood in a daze in the same place for some time. But then, he recovered from the spell of shock that the first few sentences of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art had given him. And, his face revealed a gleam of ecstasy.

In his opinion, the so-called heaven and earth-like long life and coexistence with the sun and the moon were nothing but some exaggerated empty words. However, this Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art was indeed abstruse and full of mysteries. It was genuinely a splendid technique with remarkable powers. And, the authenticity and wondrous powers of this art couldn't be doubted.

Shi Mu took a long and deep breath. He then suppressed the feeling of excitement that was bubbling in his heart by force. His mind soon regained its equanimity as before. However, Shi Mu still kept his eyes closed, and continued to read the specific details and the practicing technique of the first revolution of this art.

He looked at it for some time in a cautious manner, and his facial expression changed accordingly. Even his heart skipped a beat in response.

"The bloodline of a heavenly beast!"

He opened his eyes and muttered to himself.

According to the specific cultivation method mentioned on this page... it seemed that Shi Mu was unable to practice this art. And, the reason for the same was this art wasn't designed for ordinary people. Only the people who were either a few kinds of heavenly beasts or possessed the bloodline of those heavenly beasts were able to practice this art.

The fact was that the practice of this cultivation art would make one's Qi and blood extremely vigorous. It was said that a person couldn't withstand vigorous Qi and blood in his body if his body didn't possess the bloodline of these kinds of heavenly beasts. Hence, his body would explode and perish.

Shi Mu's facial expression turned unsightly since he had absolutely no idea what the so-called heavenly beast was. Moreover, the golden page didn't mention the names of these kinds of heavenly beasts either.

But then, a thought crossed his mind, and made his eyes flicker in response.

He thought about the white ape that would often appear in his dreams. It ought to be one of those so-called heavenly beasts since it could practice this Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art.

Shi Mu then remembered that he had been incarcerated twice into the white ape during the critical moments. So according to his previous speculation... it seemed that this art was somehow related to the white ape. Could it be that he had the bloodline of that white ape?

Shi Mu shook his head, and overruled this thought.

He did have a kind of ape-class bloodline. But, it had been previously confirmed that he had the blood of a stone-monkey. And, this was the most worthless of all the other wasted bloods. Perhaps, it would've been even difficult for him to practice his Real Qi if he hadn't had several fortuitous encounters. So, it was basically impossible that he possessed the blood of some heavenly beast.

Shi Mu smiled wryly, and chose to stop thinking over this matter. Then, he again continued to look at the golden paper.

Shi Mu took almost half a day to read all the contents of that golden page.

After that, the golden page flashed and turned into a golden light. And then, it disappeared from his mind.

Shi Mu's brows twitched upwards, and then unfolded again. In any case, he had remembered the complete contents of that page.

Meanwhile, a hint of relaxation also bloomed across his face.

The fact was that the last part of the golden page had finally illustrated an alternative art that didn't require the blood of any specific heavenly beast. So, a person who didn't possess such bloodline could also practice this wondrous mysterious art, but with little difficulty. This alternative art was called "Small Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art".

The specific method of practicing this art was to replace the corresponding blood of the heavenly beast by integrating the essence of a heavenly beast's blood into the body. After that, one could practice some parts of the body separately.

In addition, the method of practicing the first revolution of this Small Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art was about integrating a certain kind of positive fire into some parts of the body. He then realized that the appearance of his left hand and the sign of a completed seal described in the ancient were exactly alike...

Shi Mu recalled the posture that the white ape had displayed in his previous dream while it was practicing. It had held its left hand higher in order to absorb the power of the sun. Then, he remembered the raging flames that Zhong Xiu had exuded in the warehouse. These two situations made him realize something all at once.

Of course, Shi Mu had no clue that the flames sealed in his left hand were not only those flames that had erupted from Zhong Xiu's body. But, the pure flames of the Heavenly Phoenix that the mysterious woman had build up for thousands years were also sealed-up in his hand. Otherwise, Zhong Xiu's flames were alone not enough to complete the seal of the positive Yang fire.

Shi Mu thought about this matter once again, and felt that he never seemed to have integrated the essence of the heavenly beast's blood into his body.

"Wait a moment! Integrating the essence of blood into the body... is it be possible..." Shi Mu was a quick-witted person. He immediately thought of a possibility.

He suddenly remembered that he had once absorbed a blood-colored fog at the bottom of the sea when he was trying to rescue the Clam girl — Xiang Zhu. Was it possibly the blood essence of the heavenly beast white ape?

It seemed that a certain door in the darkness had been opened as this thought crossed his mind. Shi Mu felt as if he had suddenly become enlightened.

His physical changes, his enhanced power of understanding, automatic healing of his wounds after several injuries, and even the beginning of some bizarre dreams... all these things seemed to have started after having absorbed the blood-colored fog while rescuing the Clam girl, Xiang Zhu.

He then combined his situation with the situation of his dream in which the white ape was practicing the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art. This made him somewhat certain that the blood-colored fog he had absorbed ought to have been the blood essence of the white ape!

Furthermore, Shi Mu knew that the white ape could learn Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art. This proved that the white ape was certainly one of the few species of the heavenly beats that was mentioned in the beginning of this cultivation art. So, there was a possibility that the white ape might belong to some species with very strong history.

This could also explain why he was able to use the strength of his dream that made his left hand turn into this condition.

This discovery flared up a sense of excitement in Shi Mu's heart.

However, he had completed only the beginning of the first revolution. So, he still needed to continue his practice.

According to this ancient book... the first revolution's practice needed to draw support from the strength of lava fire. And, this condition was almost similar to the environment required for the practice of the Book of Flaming Red Ape. It was just that the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art had a higher demand for the power of flames.

Shi Mu turned his hand, and took out a palm-sized white jade slip; this was the map of the entire eastern region of the Western continent. He had spent a huge sum of money to purchase this map when he was in the Rising Sun City. However, this map was very thorough and detailed.

Not only were the locations of various regions of the city marked on it. But, the terrain, mountains, lakes, volcanoes, deserts, etc of various regions were also marked on it clearly.

Shi Mu poured his spirit sense into the jade slip, and explored the map. Consequently, he had got a fairly good idea after a little exploration.

There was an enormous volcanic mountain range thousands of miles far from the Rising Sun City; it was in the northwest direction.

Shi Mu received the jade slip, and contacted Cai through his mind.

A blue light flew out of the mountain valley after a quarter of an hour, and advanced in the northwest direction.

...

A massive mountain lay across the ground. It had undulating ranges that extended far into the distance.

The mountain range was basically black and red. The sky was covered with thick layers of dark clouds that were floating in the wind.

There were huge volcanoes under those black clouds. These volcanoes were connected to each another. Some of them were so high that it seemed as if they were thousands of feet above ground. They were similar to a giant standing aloft. And, some of them were only hundreds of feet high.

However, all these peaks were spouting black columns of smoke. In addition, some glaring red lights could also be seen in these pillars every now and then. They would issue loud sounds like a muffled-thunder.

The area in the vicinity of these mountain ranges was extremely hot. In fact, bursts of ripples could be seen in the air owing to the high temperature. The entire area was permeated with a pungent smell of sulfur. There was basically nothing around except for the black and red stones.

This place was a famous dangerous place that was located in the central part of the Western continent; it was called the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes.

According to the rumors... the cluster of these volcanoes wasn't very large. They had only a radius of Hundred-Thousand. Therefore, they got this name.

Of course, nobody could confirm whether this volcano really had 100,000 miles of scope or not. Also, who wouldn't be bored if he was asked to measure it inch by inch? But, the fact was this volcanic area was indeed very vast.

Somewhere in the Hundred-Thousand Volcano... suddenly, a blue light appeared on the distant horizon. It grew brighter and turned into a thick blue light at a very fast speed. It rushed over and soon landed in the vicinity of these mountains.

Then, the blue light flashed and a long blue shuttle came into appearance. A young man stood on this shuttle. In addition, a parrot with multi-colored feathers stood on his shoulder. This person was Shi Mu who had been forging ahead with this journey for nearly half a month or so.

Shi Mu looked towards the massive volcanic mountain ranges in front of him, and a hint of shock peeped through his eyes.

The volcanoes on the ground were connected to the dark clouds in the sky... as if a gigantic natural moat stood in the front.

"What a spectacular sight! It's worthy of being the Western continent! This place seems to have a plentiful amount of spiritual energy... so much so that they even formed such a large cluster of volcanoes," Cai shouted while looking in the front.

Shi Mu nodded and turned his hand to take out a thick ancient book.

This was the ancient book of the Hundred-Thousand Volcano. Shi Mu had purchased this book in another city during this journey.

Shi Mu opened the book, and started reading it. The fact was that he had already browsed through this book many times so far. So, he had already learned a lot of things about the situation of the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes.

The Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes extended over a considerably vast and much deeper area. It had extremely nasty and dangerous environment. Many Earth-ranked powerhouses tried to pass through this place, but it was said that no one had ever succeeded to pass through this place.

It was rumored that there were many incredibly powerful demon beast in the depths of the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes. They were so powerful that they could be even placed on par with an Earth-ranked powerhouse.

It was true that the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes had a very dangerous environment. But, it wasn't like this place was a barren or useless land.

The fact was that this place had plentiful amount of products. It was said that there were myriads of ores and other resources in the mountain ranges, and they all were extremely large in quantity. In addition, many fire-attribute demon beasts, spirit materials and other stuff would grow in these volcanoes. They would act as the center of attraction for people... so much so that many people would often draw towards this place in search for treasure.

Many cities were situated in the eastern part of the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes. The largest one of them was called the Red Flame City. The scope of this city couldn't be considered inferior to that of the Rising Sun City's. But, it was much better than the Rising Sun City in terms of prosperity.

Moreover, there were also many fire mines in the Red Flame City due to its proximity to the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes. This city was also very famous throughout the Western continent for refining tools. There was a rumor that above fifty percent of the expert barbarian tool refiners of the Western continent gathered in this city.

Shi Mu browsed through this book once again. Then, he received it and took out a jade slip; it was the map. He then compared it with the surrounding terrain, and soon found his current location on the map. He wasn't far from the Red Flame City. In fact, he was only a few hundred miles away.

Shi Mu retracted his spirit sense from the jade slip, and gazed in the direction of the Red Flame City. And, his eyes flickered a bit.

"Shi Tou, what are you looking at?" Cai asked in an inquisitive manner when he saw that Shi Mi didn't move for a long time.

"This is the direction of the Red Flame City. It's not too far from here. In fact, it's only a thousand or so miles away," Shi Mu said.

"Really? Then, let's hurry over there. To be frank, I am very curious to see this Red Flame City." Cai said.

But, Shi Mu remained silent.

The geographical location of the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes was very special. It happened to be in the central part of the Western continent. It could be said that this wasn't just an ordinary dangerous place.

The area to the east of the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes was still primarily under the dominance of the barbarian races. However, the west of the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes fell in the sphere of influence of the Demon race.

In other words, it was considered that one would genuinely begin to enter the territory of the Demon race once he would pass through the Hundred-Thousand Volcanoes. But, Shi Mu's goal was the Rising to the Heaven Mountain Peak. And, it was situated in the Beautiful Gauze region. Moreover, this region fell in the central part of the Western continent. Precisely, Shi Mu's goal was situated in the centre of the Demon race's territory.