Chapter 238 – Disguise
The closer Han Shuo traveled to the fire lake, the hotter the temperature became. But since the big-headed zombie couldn’t withstand the heat, Han Shuo had no choice but to use more magical yuan to activate the Mystical Glacial Spellfire in order to lower the temperature around the two of them.
Zombie warriors were used to the dark and instinctively wanted to avoid the scorching heat and sunlight. This big-headed zombie was no exception as it kept on shaking in Han Shuo’s hands, like it was afraid of that searing fire lake.
However, he couldn’t move at all within Han Shuo’s vice-like grip. Meanwhile, two waves of dense white smoke quickly neared the fire lotus from the boulder walls and arrived beside Marceau in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, the two women were only a bit more than three meters away from the fire lotus below. Since they were afraid of the temperature being higher than what the boundary could entire, the two of them didn’t dare to approach the fire lotus that quickly, for fear of the boundary cracking open from the high temperature.
“Eh, why are you here?” Marceau was surprised to see the two waves of white smoke near. Although she couldn’t see Han Shuo’s appearance due to the dense mist, she was able to recognize him from his actions.
“I can’t stand the baking of the heat anymore, please let me enter the boundary to rest a bit!” Han Shuo’s anxious pleading rang out from the thick must. When the sound had reached them, Han Shuo already stopped next to the boundary.
Fire grand magus Marceau was clearly a bit troubled after he said this. It seemed like it was very difficult for her to bring Han Shuo into the boundary, so she hesitated and debated.
Han Shuo suddenly screamed loudly in one of the waves of smoke next to Marceau. The wave of smoke suddenly sank directly towards the beautiful fire lotus.
Screams rang out continuously from the smoke underneath them, shocking them to the core. This caused the two confused women to be unable to react.
Although Han Shuo was emitting terrible screams whilst covered by the smoke, he had a calm expression on as he grabbed the struggling big-headed zombie warrior and stuffed him into the bud of the flower.
Han Shuo shot out an arrow of blood from his left index finger, causing it to land directly in the big-headed zombie’s mouth. At the same time, Han Shuo also imprinted a dark seal into the zombie’s body. A jumping purple flame followed Han Shuo’s thoughts and covered the zombie, while Han Shuo sent out rays of dark magical light that surrounded the big-headed soldier.
Han Shuo formed his blood essence into a lotus shape and smacked it down onto the big-headed zombie’s head. It was as if he’d triggered some sort of prohibition. All of a sudden, twenty-four rays of scorching blood red light shot out towards the fire lotus from the holes in the boulder walls.
The rays of fire element energy seemed to be couriers for the dense fire element energy, bringing it to the fire lotus in the center. The beautiful fire lotus let out a blinding, splendid red light that leapt around. It slowly began to retract with a miraculous speed and path. During this, the big-headed zombie that Han Shuo had firmly ordered to remain in the bud became wrapped up bit by bit.
“What’s going on, what is this!” Marceau, three meters above Han Shuo, couldn’t help but exclaim as she observed the mysterious change in her surroundings and felt fire element energy gathering furiously.
However, Han Shuo’s pitiful wails completely covered Marceau’s exclamations. Marceau had no idea what was going on and had no idea just what Han Shuo had met with below. She didn’t dare descend the last three three meters to see what was going on underneath.
Due to the influence of the formation, the thick fire element energy in the surroundings was all gathered at the fire lotus at the center to provide nutrients for the fire elite zombie. When the fire elite zombie formed, the fire lotus that nurtured it may very well become a treasure that the fire elite zombie could employ.
Twenty-four rays of blood red light gathered around the fire lotus in the center of the cave. The fire element energy, that circled the entire place of extreme fire for ten thousand years, was gradually nourishing the big-headed zombie’s body through the fire lotus. As long as it continued to absorb the pure energy and trained according to the seal that Han Shuo had left in his mind, the zombie would be able to continuously change itself and become a strong fire elite zombie.
“ROAR…”
A terrifying roar of anger sounded out from above the fire lake. It was as if the Lord of the Flames sensed the change in the kingdom of fire, and howled as a result.
Through the yin demon’s surveillance, Han Shuo saw that, despite holding a slight upper hand even against three enemies, the Lord of the Flames had given up on its fight with the golden dragon, the cyclops, and the gigantic silver ape. Instead, it moved its enormous volcanic body and slowly walked towards the largest crack in the valley.
The fire lotus nurtured by the fire lake was a treasure of the fire attribute. There was special energy inside, and the Lord of the Flames must have had some sort of connection with the fire lotus since it was the ruler of this kingdom of flames. Perhaps, the fire lotus had already been branded with its mark, and it treated the lotus as its own forbidden treasure.
Using the formation and touching this forbidden item, even leaving a living lifeform within that absorbed the fire element energy around it, all of this must have startled the Lord of the Flames, and it was rushing over to find out what was happening.
At this moment, the petals of the fire lotus had already closed into a flower bud, and started to sink into the fire lake. Han Shuo immediately knew that his job was complete, and continued to scream as he moved upwards slowly.
Han Shuo’s plan has been successful up until now, but he was still unable to know the final results. According to Chu Canglan’s memories, Han Shuo knew that after the fire lotus petals had shut tight, it was very hard to open once again without a special method and particular timing. However, he didn’t know whether the Lord of the Flames had a way to open the fire lotus since it was the owner of this fire lake.
Han Shuo knew that there was no guarantee of success, but he had been forced to do this. Otherwise, if he lost this chance, it was unknown when the Lord of the Flames would next leave the place of extreme fire, and there definitely wouldn’t be a fire grand magus to bring him to this strange space again.
Therefore, despite not being guaranteed success, Han Shuo needed to make use of this rare opportunity and plant the big-headed zombie into the fire lotus. As for the final result, whether the Lord of the Flames could open the fire lotus or not, whether it would kill the big-headed zombie or not, none of it was anything that Han Shuo could control anymore. It was up to heaven’s will!
When Han Shuo’s body floated upwards slowly, he intentionally dispelled the purple flames protecting his two legs, and allowed the high temperature of the fire lake to burn his legs. The ends of Han Shuo’s trunks were burnt black in an instant, his legs were exposed to the scorching temperature, and they looked like they would be charred to cinders in an instant.
“Save me!” A terrible cry filled with despair rang out from Han Shuo’s mouth.
However, Han Shuo’s face in the dense smoke had no expression of pain on it. Instead, it was terrifyingly calm. It was like the burning pain on his legs was happening to someone else as he looked at the two people within the boundary with interest.
Fire grand magus Marceau watched the fire lotus slowly sink into the fire lake with a clear expression of regret. She didn’t pay attention to Han Shuo’s call underneath, and just kept muttering, “My fire lotus, my fire lotus…” It was female knight Sophie who showed pity for Han Shuo. She wheezed heavily as she pulled on the corner of Marceau’s clothes and said anxiously, “Go and save him first!”
Marceau suddenly recovered her senses thanks to Sophie’s actions. She looked down in dejection, sighed, then nodded unwillingly and started to chant a spell.
A powerful magic suddenly covered Han Shuo’s body. Under the guidance of the fire elemental energy, Han Shuo’s body was suddenly pulled into the boundary where Sophie and Marceau were staying through the fire sparks.
When Han Shuo had first left, the three to four meter magic boundary had had a section chopped off. Now that Han Shuo’s body squished in once again, the chopped off section did not return, and so the magic boundary that Sophie and Marceau were occupying became very crowded due to Han Shuo’s sudden appearance.
Han Shuo had a weak expression on his pale face at the moment. He had been burnt on a large scale from his knees down to his feet. Not only was it terrifying, there was also a terrible smell.
Possibly due to her age, identity, or some other reason, the fire grand magus didn’t seem to want to touch Han Shuo within the crowded confines. She squeezed herself into a corner, making the collapsed Han Shuo lean on Sophie.
Han Shuo moved his body difficulty, then cried out with fake pain, as if wanting to sit up from the collapsed posture. With his arms pressed against the invisible boundary, he couldn’t help but touch Sophie’s leg.
After Han Shuo had left, the temperature within the boundary had remained around forty degrees. Sophie was still covered in sweat, causing her entire body to feel uncomfortable from the dampness of the clothes sticking to her body. The plastered clothes fully emphasized her curves and well toned body. Through Han Shuo’s unintentional touch, he could feel the firmness of Sophie’s thigh, as well as the tremendous power within the flexible thighs.
The burning of his two legs had been intentional. This level of injury wouldn’t affect the function of his legs. Although it looked terrifying and caused some pain to Han Shuo, there was no other impact to him.
Therefore, although Han Shuo cried out softly as he tried to sit up whilst pretending to be in pain, he wasn’t in as bad of a state as he appeared. Thus, when his arm unavoidably touched Sophie’s straight, slender thighs, he actually had the effort to spare to rate the flexibility and suppleness of her thigh.
Perhaps due to the boundary being very crowded, Sophie treated this sort of frivolous touching as accidental, and wasn’t annoyed. Her arched eyebrows furrowed slightly and instead looked at Han Shuo with a bit of pity. She said kindly, “Let me help you!”
Sophie’s soft voice rang out beside Han Shuo’s ear. As Han Shuo clenched his teeth in pain, she squatted down slightly and use her jade hands to support Han Shuo’s shoulders in order to help him up. She then aided him in sitting cross legged in the boundary.
Due to how crowded the boundary was, it was unavoidable that the two would have body contact. When she hauled upwards on Han Shuo’s arms, their arms pressed tightly , and Han Shuo even “accidentally” touched Sophie’s full and well curved breasts with his shoulder.
“Thank you so much!” When Sophie helped Han Shuo sit up from his collapsed position, Han Shuo looked at Sophie sincerely and thanked her wholeheartedly.
“You’re welcome, it’s what I should do!” Sophie’s delicate cheeks were bright red due to the high temperature, but the keen eyed Han Shuo noticed that Sophie’s cheeks were even redder than before. She even seemed slightly embarrassed. It seemed that the close contact between the two had caused this kind girl to feel a bit awkward.
Han Shuo and Sophie still remained very close together up until now. Although Sophie had intentionally tried to distance herself, due to the crowded quarters of the boundary, the maximum distance of the two’s limbs was not more than twenty centimeters, causing them to smell the scent of each other clearly.
Han Shuo’s intense male body odor mixed together with the sweet smell of sweat on Sophie’s body. Both of them breathed it in. This special scent was like a miraculous medicine that nourished Han Shuo’s eager heart, causing it to palpitate for some reason.
Han Shuo looked deeply at Sophie. His gaze was extremely intense, possibly due to the high temperatures. When Sophie turned her head uncomfortably, Han Shuo greedily took a deep breath, then resumed his normal expression as he flashed a bright smile towards Sophie. He then slowly closed his eyes and began to rest, not wasting any time to restore his magical yuan.
Through the surveillance of the yin demon, Han Shuo saw that Sophie’s cheeks had reddened, and her expression seemed rather unnatural. Her long eyelashes fluttered, and she looked oddly at Han Shuo as he began to rest. He was unable to know what she was thinking.
On the other side, Marceau hadn’t noticed Han Shuo and Sophie’s actions. Since the Lord of the Flames’ roar was drawing near, Marceau didn’t have any effort to spare to observe what was going on around her. She was completely focused on controlling the boundary and making it gradually rise towards the top where the magma was shooting out.