Volume 14 Chapter 51: No Path
The five red robed Divine Adjudicators walked extremely slowly, the tips of their feet like mops as they were slowly dragged along the ground.
Zhang Ping didn't rush them at all. For them who had already stayed in this type of place for ten days, waiting for another half an hour of time or waiting a half hour less already didn't make any difference. Only, over the years, Purgatory Mountain had sent countless explorers into Sky Devil Prison Plains, yet they had never discovered this type of strange place before.
According to Purgatory Mountain's recordings, the explorers had discovered some weapon fragments and some palace ruins, but they had never seen this type of devil king face rock before.
Regardless of whether it was a totem, cultivation land symbol, or something else, Zhang Ping was at least certain that these distinct five sense organs and the patterns on that rock were definitely the work of cultivators... Perhaps this came from the hands of the legendary 'devil', and was absolutely not naturally formed.
That giant face wrapped by a magma lake, at this time, seemed to surge with a wave of demonic nature, making his body start to unconsciously continuously shake.
The five red robed Divine Adjudicators approached the building remains by the edge of the magma river.
Since Purgatory Mountain Patriarch needed greater power, that was why this time, they already entered extremely deep into Sky Devil Prison Plains. This type of scene that appeared before them, something that they had never seen before, might possess great opportunities, so if they made any discoveries, their statuses in Purgatory Mountain might change forever. However, they similarly understood extremely clearly that the more it was this type of truly unknown place, the more it was filled with unknown dangers.
With each step that they took, their hearts would twitch once. Some hormones their bodies wouldn't secrete normally would also continuously flow through their bodies, as if they were facing powerful opponents.
The black and red remains were all created through a type of solidified magma stone. These red robed Divine Adjudicators were already slow enough, careful enough, yet when they approached the collapsed rubble, layer after layer of dust already began to fall from the black and red stone.
With just some fine movements, some layers of stone already broke down bit by bit, becoming only half the size they were before.
The sunlight from the sky, under the isolation of thick smoke and volcanic ash, seemed a bit dim, possessing a type of strange gray-red color. However, these five Divine Adjudicators immediately saw a strange reflective light. Then, their bodies quickly turned rigid, their breathing also completely stopping.
This was the reflective light of metal.
Within the black and red stone, dust, and fiery red magma, this light was especially dazzling.
The five red robed Divine Adjudicators saw that this was a set of humanoid armor. Half of it was immersed in flowing magma, half of it lying on shore. The dark red armor endured the continuous erosion of magma, but didn't change in the slightest, to the extent where only the lower half in the magma turned slightly red.
While resisting the shock and great joy within them, the five red robed Divine Adjudicators who finally snapped out of their daze raised their hands.
Zhang Ping narrowed his eyes.
His teeth released slight grinding noises. Then, he also began to proceed extremely carefully.
Following the tracks the five red robed Divine Adjudicators dragged out, he arrived behind these five red robed Divine Adjudicators.
Under the terrifying waves of heat released from the river of magma, he began to perspire greatly, even his breathing couldn't help but stop.
He was a Green Luan Natural Arts Department student, moreover specially in charge of overseeing the workshops, so he came into contact with a lot of Purgatory Mountain's soul weapon refinement arts. As such, he could immediately tell that in this current world, there wasn't a single craftsman or workshop that could create a set of armor that had heat and wear resistance to the degree of this armor.
Moreover, he saw that the surface of the armor didn't have any stone attached to it, meaning that the surface of this armor went through special treatment, making it so that when the magma cooled, it wouldn't even stick to its surface.
The most crucial part was that he saw streaks of runes that were vastly different from modern runes.
The runes on this set of armor were much deeper and rougher than the runes of the current cultivation world, and they looked much more simple.
These runes, the first feeling they gave him, was that soul force could flow more fiercely and unhindered within.
He made a hand gesture towards the five red robed Divine Adjudicators in front of him.
The five red robed Divine Adjudicators could only continue forward.
Only when they were already in front of the armor did Zhang Ping move again, following them.
The dark red colored surface of the armor was right before Zhang Ping's eyes.
Judging from the outside, the surface of this armor didn't seem to have suffered any damage.
"Drag it out."
He issued this order to the five red robed Divine Adjudicators with an extremely low voice.
The five red robed Divine Adjudicators thought about how this set of armor could end their nightmarish-like exploration, how it could be exchanged for a completely different status in Purgatory Mountain. Their bodies began to tremble intensely.
However, the instant they bent down, the corners of Zhang Ping's lips suddenly twitched.
"Don't move!"
At this time, an order that was especially frightening was quickly released from Zhang Ping's mouth.
All of these five red robed Divine Adjudicators' eyes immediately gathered towards Zhang Ping's body.
Zhang Ping looked at that set of armor. In that instant, he only felt a type of mysterious fear spreading, coming from that armor, but he couldn't understand why he would suddenly feel this fear.
At this time, muffled thunder rumbling like roars sounded from behind Zhang Ping and the others.
"What is that?!"
A red robed Divine Adjudicator couldn't help but howl in pain.
A giant who was entirely covered in fiery red skin roared from behind them, crazily charging over.
His figure looked just like he was made of three regular people below, two people on top, exceptionally robust. There wasn't a single hair on his face or body.
His facial features didn't look any different from humans, but there were wolf-like fangs in his mouth.
His hands were both gripping a thick set of chains, the chains connected to two sickle-like giant blades.
The aura on his body was extremely terrifying, its rippling even making the air around him start to warp.
However, the first impression of Zhang Ping and the others was that the aura that came out of this giant's body wasn't like that of a cultivator, but instead more like that of a fiend beast!
This should be some type of humanoid fiend beast.
However, the fiend beast had a weapon in its hands; this already completely toppled what cultivators originally believed.
...
Zhang Ping's face turned deathly pale.
Regardless of what kind of thing this was, just through the aura of this creature being this terrifying even while being so far away, he already knew that this creature wasn't something he could face right now at all.
As if through an instinctive reaction, the soul force in his body surged, circulating the medicinal strength accumulated in several blood vessels within his body, quickly spreading it.
His skin and blood vessels began to bulge.
The soul force within all of the red robed Divine Adjudicators around him also began to move.
The heaven and earth vital energy in this magma lake, because of these cultivators who were preparing for battle, naturally began to stir about.
Some of this energy reached that armor by the lakeside.
Then, there was a wave of aura that also poured out from that set of armor's runes.
At this moment, Zhang Ping suddenly turned around.
He saw that the thick runes on that armor began to shine like it was charged with electricity!
The originally dark red armor, in this instant, became ash gray colored. Scarlet flames were released from within, releasing heat that was even more terrifying than magma.
Boom!
The armor became erect.
Fiery magma and heat rushed in all directions.
All of the red robed Divine Adjudicators released cries of horror.
The lower half of this armor that was moving about in the magma weren't legs, but rather solid metal wheels!
Just from the rapid spinning of a metal wheel, this set of armor stood up, rushing ashore!
The tips of the armor's arms weren't hands, but rather two sinister beast heads!
In this instant, the two beast heads both became entirely red. Two flame pillars rushed out, smashing into the bodies of two red robed Divine Adjudicators who, because of shock and fear, couldn't react in time at all.
The two red robed Divine Adjudicators' figures instantly distorted under the flames, their bodies almost as weak as a sheet of paper. There were many holes that immediately appeared on their backs, waves of flames rushing out.
Bang!
A chained spear in the hands of a red robed Divine Adjudicator fiercely struck this armor, but it didn't leave even the slightest mark, the powerful impact seemingly completely neutralized by the spinning metal wheel beneath this armor. It was to the extent where this armor's body didn't even show any significant staggering.
Zhang Ping's blood already became broiling hot.
The flesh and blood vessels within his body already began to surge, but his heart was instead exceptionally cold.
He finally understood where that source of fear from just now came from.
This armor was a bit too thick, a bit too heavy... Only a cultivator with a small body and extremely great power had a chance of operating it.
Perhaps it could be said that this wasn't a set of armor at all, but rather a metal puppet! It was similar to a defense machine puppet, but clearly even more powerful... powerful to the point where even if he used Devil Transformation, he might not necessarily be able to defeat it!
A grieved expression appeared on his face.
In this instant, no one knew what he was thinking about in his head.
That was why the red robed Divine Adjudicators who were already completely overwhelmed by fear, waiting for his orders, didn't hear any orders.
Zhang Ping leapt out crazily.
He began to crazily run towards the center of the valley, towards that giant face surrounded by streams of magma.
The several red robed Divine Adjudicators' minds were blank, also following him and crazily running.
When they were still a dozen or so steps from that giant face, two fiery red sickle blades swept over. These red robed Divine Adjudicators released miserable cries at the same time, their bodies simultaneously cleaved in half.
The humanoid fiend beast who brandished the sickle blades roared. The blades rushed through the air, sweeping towards Zhang Ping's lower back.
At this time, Zhang Ping already completed Devil Transformation.
He also released a crazy roar, using up all of his body's power to jump, heading straight for that giant face.
He didn't know what kind of mysteries this giant face wrapped under magma possessed, his body only carried incomparable hatred and resentment. Since he was going to die anyway, then he was going to die in this place that had never been recorded before.
When he descended towards this face, he saw that it was filled with a demonic nature, as if it was laughing at him.
That human face's mouth was opened, dark and deep, as if it led straight to hell.
Zhang Ping's face warped again. He closed his eyes, throwing himself into this human face's open mouth.
Whoosh!
The instant his figure disappeared into the darkness, two streaks of fiery red sickle blades intersected where his figure disappeared.
A wave of heat sprayed out from that human face's mouth, as if the devil king released a belch.