Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 324 Mountain within a Mountain
"What do you mean?" Awoo peeked out and asked in confusion, "Do we have to crawl through a hole?"

The cave entrance was extremely deep, like a black hole that could absorb all light. Even the bright sunshine on a clear day could only barely illuminate a small area at the entrance.

Li Xia looked down at the Heart of Stone in his hand; the stone had now dimmed its light.

Some doubts inevitably arose in his mind. Bedrock died too decisively, his heart was ripped out without a word.

All that remains is the somewhat cryptic phrase, "The heart of stone will guide you."

There was no more detailed information available, but it's also possible that the bedrock didn't know anything about it, since these stone golems were always happy beasts before they encountered a race like the Griggan.

Just be happy and that's it. My material desires are shockingly low. After all, I can truly 'live on stones'.

Even the most precious stones taste the same to them.

Now it seems we might really have to go through some caves.

"Meow?"

Black Charcoal raised its claws, tilted its head, and shouted.

"Danger. Judging from the nature of the stone man, it's unlikely that he would leave traps or monsters in the cave."

Aowu rested his chin on his hand and said slowly.

"But in terms of difficulty, it's really not worthy of such a high reward and difficulty if there is no danger. The problems I encountered when climbing Tianbi Mountain before are at most a B-level task."

Li Xia didn't speak, but he agreed with Aowu's opinion: What is an S+ level mission?
If an S-class mission is considered a first-class merit, then for a normal Apostle, it's a matter of life and death.

The S+ level is equivalent to a special merit, which would mean certain death for a normal apostle.

Even for a lone wolf like Li Xia, who is extremely powerful among his peers, it takes a desperate struggle to earn a chance of survival.

After pondering for a while, he let out a long breath and gripped the Heart of Stone tightly in his hand.

"Let's go!"

"I think it would be better if you left me outside."

Mimi spoke softly.

He was initially very desperate about the fact that he would be trapped in Tianbi Mountain forever.

But once they actually entered the tunnel, Mimi suddenly realized that being inside the mountains wasn't so bad after all.

At least it's safe.

It's not that they encountered any danger in the tunnel; rather, they didn't encounter any danger at all.

The pent-up anxiety and pressure from the unknown grew stronger and stronger.

Li Xia was alright, after all, his years of cultivating the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts in the Time Chamber were not an illusion.

So many years of sitting in meditation and fighting life and death have long since tempered my character.

Mimi, on the other hand, was simply terrified of death; he was terrified to death.

The light emitted by the lamp at the waist was of little use in this cave that stretched downwards.

When all you can see is darkness, whether you're coming from it or going to it, that little bit of light can actually make you feel a little uneasy.

"Boss, the temperature has risen quite a bit again."

Aowu glanced at the thermometer in his hand:
"It's about ten degrees warmer than when we first came in."

Li Xia nodded. Not only that, but the stuffy air was also filled with a pungent smell, with a burning sensation.

He used the light from his waistband to survey the surrounding passageway.

Compared to my size, the passageway was still quite spacious, more like a narrow alley.

The rock walls were exceptionally smooth, and even the ground was made up of neat, orderly steps.

Only a race like the Stone People, who are born with an extraordinary ability to manipulate stone, could accomplish such a project.

"We've been walking for almost an hour, haven't we?"

"Got it, just a few more minutes!"

Li Xia looked at the steps under her feet. Each step was half a meter long and about 30 centimeters high.

The steps are much larger than real ones, which is because the stone figure is quite large.

He would bend one of his left fingers every 100 steps, and then bend one of his right fingers after 1000 steps.

After walking for an hour, his right hand had already shrunk to more than four fingers.

That adds up to about 22,000 steps.

This was only because he was on high alert and slowed down. Even so, he still walked down 10,000 meters just by following the steps.

But the passageway still didn't end.

How long is this passage?

And why did the stone figure build such a long passage?

"Boss, is there something wrong?"

Awoo asked cautiously, while the water glass, which had been refilled with fresh water outside, began to ripple.

"It's too long and too hot."

Li Xia shook his head. These things ultimately couldn't explain anything; he could only continue on his journey.

After walking for another half hour, the temperature in the tunnel became increasingly high, and Aowu preferred water to heat.

He simply channeled the water inside the dragon egg, letting himself take a bath while only sticking the dragon's head out.

A faint dark red hue gradually emerged from the distant surging movement, growing larger and clearer as the distance increased.

As the temperature continued to rise, an idea couldn't help but pop into Li Xia's mind.

"Boss, could that be a lava pool ahead?"

"possible."

Li Xia nodded. His thoughts were similar to Ao Wu's. If it really was a lava pool, it wouldn't be a big problem.

In terms of fire resistance, he is definitely one of the best among the third-tier apostles.

Lava is a challenge for most third-tier apostles, but not for him.

After turning a corner, the dark red color suddenly brightened considerably, and a wave of heat rushed towards us.

Li Xia quickly followed the dark red color and crossed the last section of the road.

Suddenly, everything became clear before him, and he froze in place, staring in utter astonishment at what had suddenly appeared before him.

Mimi, who was wearing a belt around her waist, almost popped her eyes out of their sockets, her bright green eyes bulging out in surprise.

Seeing their leader like this, Aowu and Heitan quickened their pace.

It had barely peeked out from beside Li Xia when it couldn't help but let out a howl:

"My grass!"

What appeared before them was a vast and frighteningly large space.

It can't even be called space; the words "heaven and earth" are more appropriate.

With just a glance, Li Xia discovered that the enormous void before him was only slightly smaller than the inner valley of Tianbi Mountain above.

With a longitudinal width exceeding 100 kilometers, the existence of such a large cavity within Tianbi Mountain is truly terrifying.

But that wasn't the only thing that surprised them.

Instead, they saw another mountain inside the huge cavity in the mountain's belly!

A magnificent volcano, billowing thick smoke and spewing out scorching lava from its holes!
Mountains within mountains!
"Altitude?" Li Xia suddenly asked.

Aowu fiddled with the rangefinder in his hand and reported a number that even made Li Xia a little alarmed.

"Our altitude is about nine thousand meters, and that volcano is over eight thousand meters high!"

A volcano over 8,000 meters high!

It appears to be a highly active volcano, quietly perched in the middle of Tianbi Mountain.

Li Xia suddenly took out the Heart of Stone, and saw that this long-dormant sacred object of the Stone Clan had become active again.

It was even a little too active, trembling incessantly in the palm of my hand, and a thin beam of light suddenly burst forth from the stone.

In this dark red environment, it points very conspicuously to the summit of the volcano.

It seems that the ultimate goal is the summit of that volcano.

"Boss, can it fly?"

Li Xia shook her head:

"No, that strange power is still there, or rather, it's getting stronger."

My gaze swept around this small platform:
"There are stairs over there, it looks like we still have to keep going."

The winding staircase, just like the mountain path of Tianbi Mountain, descends slowly along the mountain wall.

Li Xia even suspected that the inspiration for these stone figures to build such a mountain path on Tianbi Mountain came from this place.

The view here was excellent, offering a panoramic vista, and Li Xia, no longer as cautious as before, quickened his pace.

His figure covered a considerable distance with just a few leaps on the mountain path.

The previous 10,000-meter stretch took an hour, but this nearly 10,000-meter mountain path only took a quarter of an hour.

My feet touched the soil, and what I saw was exactly the same as what I had seen outside.

The ground is covered with lush green grass, and dense forests can be seen everywhere.

Needless to say, the vegetation was still made of stone. Just as Li Xia was observing this spectacular mountain world, a ray of sunlight suddenly shone down from the sky and illuminated the ground.

Then, as dawn broke, the world inside the mountain became clearly visible.

Sunshine? Where did the sunshine come from?
Startled, I looked up and saw a round, extremely dazzling light shining brightly in the sky, more than ten thousand meters high.

No, where did the sun come from inside this mountain?
"It's not the sun!"

Just as Li Xia, Yi Long, and Yi Mao were puzzled, Mimi, who was hanging at his waist, suddenly said decisively:

"This isn't right, but it's definitely not sunlight!"

"How did you-"

Aowu had barely begun to voice his doubts when he suddenly realized what he had done. Only the kitten stared blankly at Aowu, completely taken aback.

"Have you forgotten what this dead man's head was originally?" Teacher Ao answered the question with just one sentence in the team channel.

The kitten suddenly realized that Mimi was originally the most powerful high priest in the Griggan clan.

The Griggans are a peculiar life form that is half human and half plant; they can even use plant bodies to perform a special kind of 'photosynthesis'.

Together with sunlight, it synthesizes 'light energy'.

Even though this dead head is in a strange state, it is still sensitive to sunlight.

His statement was absolutely convincing.

"Indeed, it's not sunlight; it only has brightness, but no heat."

After quietly closing her eyes and sensing for a while, Li Xia nodded affirmatively.

When the sun shines on you, you will definitely feel warm, but while the light is bright and has a temperature, it lacks a certain feeling of sunshine.

It looks more like an oversized incandescent light bulb?
The world before my eyes is becoming increasingly eerily strange.

Li Xia took a deep breath, sensing the strong sulfur smell in the air, and walked towards the volcano.

Thanks to this inexplicable light, if it weren't for the dark mountain walls in the distance, Li Xia would have felt as if he were walking in the outside world.

And as they moved further away, everything they had seen in Tianbi Valley reappeared before their eyes.

Emerald green grass, verdant forests, and even flowers of various colors.
Not only Li Xia, but also Aowu and Heitan were on tenterhooks. They felt like they were living in a tomb raiding novel.

After overcoming countless difficulties, we finally found the legendary lost city containing treasures and entered the city's underground according to the guidance.

But they discovered that there was another world underground, containing an identical ancient city, like a mirror image.

How could anyone not feel tense about such absurdity?
When the stone house, which was extremely simple yet completely identical to the stone figure, appeared before them...

They even had a sense that the dust had settled and the boots had finally fallen.

To ease the creepy atmosphere, Awoo couldn't help but say:
"Boss, if we look into it, the true ancestral home of the Stone Men should be here."

"Yes, they were born from here, and then gradually began to explore outwards—"

Li Xia suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence, but Ao Wu understood why his boss had stopped.

"Hiss! They dug tens of thousands of meters outwards before finally making contact with the outside world?"

He inhaled sharply and clicked his tongue:
"No! This isn't the sky; it's all mountain walls outside. In this situation, just trying to see the outside world would require immense courage."

and"

Li Xia glanced back at the path they had come from. During their descent, they had encountered countless cave entrances.

Out of caution, they did not go in to explore.

Looking back now, those holes were probably created by the stone people out of curiosity about the outside world, as they dug and tried to find them little by little.

Each opening is proof that the stone people challenged the outside world!
"These big guys are truly resilient and indomitable."

Aowu sighed. Being surrounded by stone walls and being surrounded by the sky were completely different concepts. With stone walls all around, they didn't even know which direction to strive for, and could only try again and again in vain, as if relying on luck.

What's even more despairing is that after these stone figures broke through this world, they found that the outside was still a cage.

They were firmly locked inside; this time, what blocked their way was not a rock wall over ten thousand meters thick.

Instead, it's a cliff higher than 20,000 meters!

Without that one leap that leads to certain death, one will never see a new world!
Once Mimi understood this crucial point, even she couldn't help but change her expression.

"But who locked them up here? And why were they locked up?"

The dragon's whiskers fluttered wildly as it frowned and muttered to itself.

"Meow?"

“Naturally conceived? Doesn’t seem like it. Although I have no evidence, I always feel that the stone man was not naturally conceived on this planet.”

Awoo shook his head.

Li Xia naturally overheard these discussions as well.

He stopped in his tracks. They had now reached the foot of the volcano. Compared to Tianbi Mountain, this volcano finally looked like a mountain.

It presents a cone shape, rather than the extremely counterintuitive cylindrical shape of Tianbi Mountain.

"The answer should be right here."

Li Xia paused, gazing intently at the summit.
"let's go!"

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1. Monthly Pass Recommendation Ticket

(End of this chapter)