Chapter 33: The Crimson Throne

"The water's temperature is rising again?" Hua Litong murmured to herself while staring at a boiling river before her.

After walking upstream along the river for a day, she noticed the river's temperature had continued to rise. At this moment, she was certain it had already reached over 100 Celsius.

"Is it related to the sun-like object? It must be!" Hua Litong's eyes lit up when she connected the rising temperature to the sun-like object from her mother's words.

"Maybe this place is the real mythical realm's core?" She came to a conclusion and became ecstatic all of a sudden.

Hua Litong increased her pace in the hope she could reach the center area soon. Suddenly, she paused her step, drawing the sword out, and said coldly in a certain direction ahead of her. "Who?"

"Sister Litong?" A female silhouette emerged behind the wall and exclaimed in surprise.

"Sister Mengli?" Hua Litong was surprised as well. She didn't expect to see Yang Mengli here.

Both of them were the same generation. Since Yang Chen and Hua Wanru had been in love with each other, the relationship between Yang Mengli and Hua Litong was naturally getting closer. They could be considered a good friend.

"How have you been?" Hua Litong put her sword back and approached Yang Mengli with a smile.

"I'm good. I'm trying to find my brother right now." Yang Mengli answered. She paused for a moment and asked further, "How long have you been here?"

"I've arrived here yesterday. What about you?" Hua Litong replied.

"I've been tracing Luo Kun for several days but I lost him now." Yang Mengli then lowered her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, Sister Litong. I can't bring Wanru back from Luo Kun." She saw Hua Wanru together with Luo Kun, but she alone didn't have enough strength to rescue her.

"Is she okay?" Hua Litong hurriedly asked. Her face was full of worry.

Yang Mengli nodded her head. "She should be fine. I think she's already separated from Luo Kun after coming here. Along the way, I've killed three people from the Luo clan and they didn't seem to know Luo Kun and Wanru's whereabouts."

Hua Litong let out a sigh of relief. She said, "That's good… Did you find a black jade from those men?"

Yang Mengli took out the black transmission jade and said, "This one?"

Hua Litong explained, "Yes. People from the Luo clan can use this jade to contact each other. Before coming here, Yun Lintian had modified our transmission jade by using this black jade as an example. Now, we can contact each other."

"Senior Yun? He can do this too?" Yang Mengli was surprised... What kind of enchanting talent is this? Not only he has high attainment of medical profound art, but he is also a talented inscriber too? She didn't know what to say anymore.

Hua Litong nodded firmly, "Yes. He is a true genius… I'll contact him now. Maybe he has already met the others."

She then took the transmission jade out and tried to contact Yun Lintian. However, there was no response after waiting for a full minute.

Hua Litong frowned. "Did he encounter something?" She then switched to contact Yun Chan, but the result was still the same. There was no response to her.

The frown on Hua Litong's face grew deeper. She tried again. This time she contacted Yun Li. "Sister Yun Li, are you there?"

"Sister Hua? We encountered Luo Kun and his men. Currently, we're together with Young Master Yang Chen. Sister Chan and Sister Ting are heavily injured." Yun Li's voice rang out from the other side.

Both Hua Litong and Yang Mengli glanced at each other with serious expressions. Hua Litong asked, "Where is Luo Kun? Did you manage to kill him?"

"No. Young Master Yang Chen said he ran away." Yun Li replied.

"Understood. Please find a place to recuperate first." Hua Litong said with a heavy tone.

"Let's go. We need to increase our pace." Hua Litong didn't wait for Yang Mengli to reply, she speedily walked forward while Yang Mengli following closely behind.

***

"What a beautiful place." Yun Lintian exclaimed while looking at the surroundings.

When he first stepped into this place through the middle door, a faint heatwave immediately hit his face, following by a bright light that could possibly blind him. However, when the mysterious rat raised its hand slightly, everything had disappeared instantly, and an artistically designed hall appeared in Yun Lintian's vision.

The hall was spacious, estimating three hundred square meters. The marble wall was painted in crimson color and there were lifelike-fire patterns all over the place. The first thing that attracted Yun Lintian the most was a crimson throne at the center of the hall. He could somehow feel an imposing aura kept emanating from it. Compared to Misty Cloud's throne, this crimson throne was bigger and had a better design.

The moment Yun Lintian raised his head to look at the triangular ceiling, he was taken aback upon seeing a red-colored orb floating above the transparent roof, giving off heat waves from time to time.

"Is this the so-called The Sun?" Yun Lintian muttered with a frown. Now, he firmly believed this place was the center of the mythical realm.

He turned to the rat. "Didn't you just say you don't know about this?"

The rat tilted its head slightly before shrugging its shoulders innocently.

"Oh? You know how to act innocent now?" Yun Lintian laughed slightly. He felt this rat was too adorable. He asked further, "Then do you know Blazing Sun Monarch?" He asked this because he thought this rat should have a connection with Blazing Sun Monarch in a way. Otherwise, how could it open the door easily?

The rat seemed to ponder for a moment before it shook its head and then raised its tiny hand toward Yun Lintian.

Yun Lintian was speechless. He helplessly took several portions of beef out and gave it to the rat. "Here you go. Do you want me to cook it for you?"

The rat hesitated for a while before nodding in the end.

Yun Lintian found a suitable place to set up a simple fireplace and started to cook. During this period, he kept his eyes on The Sun from time to time to find a clue about it. From the Blazing Sun Monarch's ranting diary, The Sun was left behind by 'that person' and was guarded by Blazing Sun Monarch, waiting for the 'he' to arrive in this place.

Yun Lintian wasn't delusional enough to think he was the chosen one. After all, he didn't even have any cheat device until now. Although the silver necklace on his neck might be the cheat device he was hoping for, he didn't think it was related to The Sun.

A while later, Yun Lintian handed steaks to the rat and decided to look around the place. He started with the crimson throne first.

Boom!

The moment he drew closer to the crimson throne, a powerful gust of heat burst out and blasted Yun Lintian away several meters.

"What the heck!?" Yun Lintian exclaimed angrily. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and didn't get any injury when he landed on the ground.

"What's going on?" Yun Lintian turned to ask the rat.

The rat was busy eating the steaks heartily. When it saw Yun Lintian got blasted away, a smirk appeared on its lips, as if it was mocking him.

Yun Lintian was speechless when he saw this. He moved to the rat and tried to put all the steaks away, but the rat nimbly avoided him to the side and continued to eat.

Yun Lintian gritted his teeth and swore in his heart to pay back at the rat later. He turned toward the crimson throne once again. This time he carefully approached it with small steps.

Boom!

Yun Lintian got blasted once again, but it allowed him to get a piece of information. He could not get within 20 meters of the crimson throne. Otherwise, he would get blasting out instantly.

"What should I do?" Yun Lintian touched his chin and fell into deep thought. Now he was certain there was something on the crimson throne. It could be a secret of this place or a treasure. Hence, he had to find a way to get near it.

He glanced at the rat and let out a sigh. "Tell me. What do you need?" Naturally, the fastest way was to let the rat solve the problem for him.

The rat smirked and raised its hand toward Yun Lintian, asking for more food.

"Hey, I still need to eat, okay? I don't have much food left… How about this knife?" Yun Lintian pulled out the knife he got from the treasure room before.

The rat rolled its eyes as if it said, "Didn't you just take it away from me earlier? Do you think I'm a fool?"

Yun Lintian sighed in disappointment. It seemed the rat was not stupid. He looked at the food in his interspatial ring and finally brought a chicken out. "Here. Do you want me to cook it for you?"

The rat sniffed at the chicken slightly and felt it wasn't fragrant as the steaks, but it still gave a nod in the end.

Yun Lintian sighed helplessly and set up another fireplace… How did I suddenly become this rat's personal chef? He wondered.

Twenty minutes later, Yun Lintian finished cooking a simple grilled chicken and handed it to the rat. The latter couldn't resist the garlic and pepper aroma as it quickly took a big bite on the golden-brown grilled chicken.

Yun Lintian patiently watched the rat eating happily without saying anything. The grilled chicken was gone in two minutes, leaving its white bones on the floor.

"It's time to do your job now." Yun Lintian said to the big belly rat.

The rat glared back at him in dissatisfaction but still did as promised. It slowly walked toward the crimson throne and tapped gently on an invisible barrier 20 meters before the throne. Instantaneously, Yun Lintian felt there was something disappeared from the place. The invisible barrier had gone completely.

Yun Lintian followed the rat behind. When they arrived in front of the throne, Yun Lintian could see an exquisite fire pattern that was carefully engraved on it. It was the design that a zero point on art subject like Yun Lintian couldn't understand.

While Yun Lintian appreciating the crimson throne, a trace of melancholy flashed across the rat's eyes when it gazed at the throne. Its expression was entirely different from before — its current appearance had resembled human more than a simple rat.

Naturally, Yun Lintian failed to notice it. His attention was solely focused on the crimson throne as he searched for its secret. Later, he couldn't find anything and turned to the rat. "Is there any secret on this throne?"

The rat didn't react to Yun Lintian's question, but it reached its hand out to touch the crimson throne gently. Following that, the pattern on the crimson throne suddenly glowed in crimson light, causing Yun Lintian to subconsciously take a step back.

"Finally, you've come." Suddenly, an ancient voice echoed throughout the hall.