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The Wingless Ship shook violently, threatening to throw them out of the vessel. Li Hong shouted, "Second Brother, hold on tight!" He crouched down, his fingers gripping the ship's edge tightly as a sense of impending doom washed over him.
A scorching heat hit him as the Wingless Ship shot into a massive red opening at an astonishing speed.
The temperature suddenly rose, and a strong smell of rotten eggs filled the air.
This was a wide tunnel-like fire pit, everywhere was swirling with steaming red. The Wingless Ship plunged into the opening, its hull swiftly scraping against the fiery red rocks of the tunnel walls, sending up a shower of intense sparks where the ship met the rock.
The ship creaked and shuddered, turning to crash against the opposite wall before spinning back again. The entire vessel bounced around the walls, moving erratically like a jumping bean, gaining speed and threatening to disintegrate at any moment.
Li Hong felt dizzy, his head buzzing. Chuxiong's voice seemed to come from far away: "Elder Brother, where are we..."
His hands grew weaker, and Li Hong felt he could no longer hold onto the ship's edge. Just then, the Wingless Ship suddenly came to an eerie halt—collisions ceased in an instant.
From extreme motion to complete stillness, Li Hong felt as if his insides were flipping out; he slammed against the bottom of the ship, stars dancing before his eyes as blood flowed from a gash on his forehead.
The sharp pain in his forehead brought him back to reality. He struggled to get up and hurriedly turned to look for Chuxiong.
Chuxiong was nowhere to be found in the Wingless Ship! Li Hong shouted anxiously, "Second Brother—"
All he could see around him was fire; there was no sign of his brother!
An ominous squeaking sound came from beneath him. Looking down, he saw that the incredibly hard bottom of the Wingless Ship was actually melting. The hull was softening gradually, rippling like black oil, with visible black steam rising from below. His feet burned painfully; looking down revealed that the soles of his shoes were gone.
He jumped onto a higher partition and looked around, realizing he was hovering above a gigantic Fire Lake.
It appeared to be a vast space inside a mountain, filled with fiery red hues. In the distance, he could vaguely see red rocky walls with some indistinct honeycomb-like openings above. The center of this enormous space was the Fire Lake beneath him, where thick red lava bubbled like boiling water and flowed slowly. The Wingless Ship was descending toward this blazing Fire Lake's surface, no more than ten yards away.
Li Hong was so shocked that his hands trembled; if he fell, there would be no chance of survival!
"Someone come!" Li Hong shouted helplessly.
He had no idea where this place was; there wasn't a single person around. Only his hoarse screams echoed in the air.
"Damn it, where are you people?" Li Hong cursed angrily.
The bottom of the ship gradually turned red, sinking another three feet in the depths of despair.
He could not let himself burn to death like this! He could not allow that bastard Chu Qiu's scheme to succeed! Li Hong smelled the burning hair on his head. He looked up at the ceiling above him. Many massive stalactite-like stone pillars hung down from the extremely high ceiling. Was there a way to fly up to them?
The largest stone pillar seemed to be thirty or forty yards away. Li Hong desperately recalled how high he had flown before... but quickly dismissed the thought. Thirty yards! There was no way he could jump that high; if he fell again, even a slight miscalculation would send him plunging into Fire Lake.
No, this route was blocked.
His gaze shifted to the edge of Fire Lake, and he soon realized there was no way he could jump that far. This enormous Fire Lake was deep underground, resembling the bottom of a large bowl, with a diameter of at least fifty or sixty yards. No matter which direction he jumped, it was impossible to leap that far.
The bottom of the ship was turning increasingly red, with tiny flames darting around everywhere. Li Hong painfully tugged at his hair but didn't dare to jump—after all, the Wingless Ship had not yet disintegrated; the more movement he made, the faster it sank.
Wait... why hadn't the Wingless Ship fallen directly into Fire Lake? A flash of insight struck him; he felt as if he had grasped something crucial.
The bow! There must be something inside the bow of the ship.
He regulated his internal energy and lightly leaped toward the bow with the gentlest motion. Pain shot through his feet as his flesh sizzled from the heat. Enduring the excruciating pain, he carefully observed the bow for a moment and noticed that two planks were joined together with a noticeably larger gap in between. Without hesitation, he dug his fingers into the gap and pulled with all his might. The planks loosened.
The hull sank another five feet. It was less than ten zhang away from Fire Lake's surface, and the bubbling sound of the molten lava grew louder.
He tried hard not to think about his predicament, once again reaching into the gap and pulling with all his might. With a crack, the shipboard was indeed lifted. The force was too great, and blood immediately flowed from his fingers—after the board was pulled aside, it revealed the mechanism inside the Wingless Ship.
At the bow, there were two layers of shipboard with a small space in between. In that space lay a jade plate about a foot long. This jade plate seemed to have some kind of inscription on it, still faintly glowing, but its radiance was dimming rapidly—the high temperature was causing the jade plate to melt.
The jade plate was embedded in a fixed slot. Li Hong stared at the jade plate for a while, feeling a tightness in his scalp—he had to go for it!
In a short time, the Wingless Ship sank another two zhang, now less than five zhang from Fire Lake's surface, and the flames grew larger—the shipboard that appeared to be made of extremely heat-resistant and durable metal was actually a type of rare wood. It was burning.
Li Hong closed his eyes, circulating his internal energy through his body in an instant. He opened his eyes, focused his mind, and resolutely pried the jade plate out of its slot. The Wingless Ship suddenly lurched downward.
In a flash, Li Hong threw the jade plate he held into the air, using his toes to push off from the blazing bow of the ship. His entire body soared like a shooting star towards the jade plate he had just thrown.
He barely caught up; just as his internal energy was about to run out and his body began to fall, Li Hong shouted loudly and stretched out his left leg, his toes just managing to touch the jade plate.
As he expected, the jade plate not only did not sink but instead provided an upward buoyancy that barely lifted his body. Taking advantage of this little strength, he lunged forward again.
One zhang, five feet, three feet, one foot! He clearly saw the edge of Fire Lake. Li Hong shouted loudly as he extended himself forward, his fingers just reaching for the hard rock surface. With a forceful grip, he plunged forward.
His left shoulder hit the ground first, sending a piercing pain through him that nearly made him bite his tongue in agony, but he felt immense joy—beneath him was solid rock; he had finally escaped that damned Fire Lake!
Looking back, the Wingless Ship had just sunk into Fire Lake's surface. It shook for a moment before disintegrating, its burning fragments merging into Fire Lake. Not far away was the life-saving jade plate. It continued to slowly drift down into Fire Lake and soon landed on its surface. The jade plate flickered twice with faint light before quickly melting into indistinguishable fiery red magma.
Li Hong's left arm hung limply by his side, aching painfully, clearly indicating a fracture. He collapsed onto the ground.
Finally out of danger, he desperately tried to recall the last time he heard his younger brother's voice... His brother must not be in trouble! A wave of deep sorrow surged within him, and a sharp pain pierced through him, making it hard to breathe. Compared to that, the pain throughout his body felt trivial.
Fire Lake continued to bubble and steam. Suddenly, a warning surged in his heart; without thinking, he pushed off with his toes. He quickly retreated.
The bubbling of Fire Lake grew louder, and the center began to rise higher and higher. A thick fountain of lava erupted from the center of Fire Lake, shooting up into the sky. The entire cavern became increasingly hot and scorching.
He retreated further until his back hit the searing hot rock, and only then did Li Hong realize he had backed himself into the cave's depths. Amidst the rising red heat, he noticed what seemed to be a hole high on the side. He covered his left shoulder and swiftly darted toward it.
It was indeed an opening. It was about ten yards wide, with faint daylight visible outside; clearly, it was the same entrance he had come through. He was at a lower position, about twenty to thirty yards away from the opening.
He kicked off against the cave wall repeatedly, propelling himself upward. When he reached the entrance and turned to look down, he couldn't help but gasp. The lava fountain in Fire Lake had nearly reached the height of where he stood at the entrance, with lava splashing outward and hissing loudly like a massive firework display.
Where could Chuxiong be? Could it be that he fell off the Wingless Ship when they flew in? It must be so. He forced himself not to think of any other terrifying possibilities and dashed along the cave wall toward the exit, shouting loudly as he ran: "Brother! Where are you?"
Seeing nothing but bare rocks outside and not spotting Chuxiong made Li Hong frantic. Without hesitation, he turned back and ran deeper into the cave, calling out wildly, his voice unconsciously tinged with tears.
"Brother... you must not be in trouble..."
He clearly remembered that his brother had always been by his side; he was still there when they passed through the entrance. Could it be that he truly fell into Fire Lake? No... absolutely not! He resolutely refused to entertain that possibility. A thought slowly emerged in his mind—perhaps he had fallen between the entrance and Fire Lake. He jumped down from the entrance without looking at the rising lava of Fire Lake, determinedly searching every inch of ground.
Before long, he spotted something—a dark figure lying motionless on the ground next to the splashing lava lake.
"Brother!"
Chuxiong lay on the ground, his body covered in numerous burn wounds. Li Hong trembled as he reached out a finger to Chuxiong's nose; thankfully, there was still a breath. His younger brother was still alive.
The hissing sound grew louder, and many small lava particles fell onto the two of them, causing Li Hong to gasp in pain. He used his uninjured right arm to hoist Chuxiong onto his shoulder and ran towards the cave entrance.
However, the sheer cliff that rose straight up for about thirty meters became the biggest obstacle in front of him. The exit was right above, but he found that he could not fly up while carrying Chuxiong. With his left arm broken and unable to exert any strength, he could only barely support Chuxiong's weight with his uninjured right arm to prevent him from falling off.
The lava fountain grew higher and higher, with Fire Lake rapidly extending towards them—this damned Fire Lake actually erupted and surged periodically. No wonder there were many strange grooves on the ground next to Fire Lake.
After countless attempts, sliding down the stone wall time and again, his burned hands and feet were continuously scraped raw. At first, fresh blood flowed, but gradually it stopped, oozing only yellow fluid; he could no longer feel any pain.
Li Hong despaired as he realized—unless he threw his younger brother down, there was no way to ascend while carrying him.
"No! I will never throw my brother down!" Li Hong shouted frantically.
Fire Lake was quickly spreading at his feet. Li Hong was exhausted. He sat cross-legged in front of his younger brother and reached out his right hand to hold his hand. It felt warm beneath him; this was his only family left.
Li Hong calmly closed his eyes.
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