Heaven's Devourer

Gates of Hell!

Hearing the name of it alone sent a chill down their spines. 

Clearly, this was something that Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain had prepared specifically for them after anticipating their arrival. It would definitely be a spirit design that was stronger than the miniature Ghost Isolation Array! 

For the two young geniuses, Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain was definitely an old, cunning fox. Clearly, they had been ambushed by him again. 

Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain had clearly not recovered from his grave injuries. If he were to fight at this moment, he might very well be killed by the alliance of Wu Yu and Jiu Ying. Therefore, he had made his preparations in advance and set a trap that Wu Yu and Jiu Ying couldn't break while waiting for them to take the bait. 

The truth was that this was to be expected. Wu Yu and Jiu Ying were both too young. The research and mastery of spirit designs required long-term learning and large amounts of money and assets. 

At this moment, they were standing in the Gates of Hell! 

When Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain completed his sentence, Wu Yu and Jiu Ying immediately felt drastic changes to their surroundings. In an instant, an array spanning over a thousand meters and made up of black and red threads with various mystical symbols appeared below their feet. The threads intertwined in a complicated manner and formed mysterious seals. Vaguely, the shape of gates surfaced. The round-shaped gates were the Gates of Hell! 

Weng!

When the spirit design appeared, Wu Yu and Jiu Ying were completely shrouded in the space spanning a thousand meters. 

"The vicinity of the Wind and Thunder Dao Sect definitely has lava activity, as evident by the gathering of wind and thunder in the skies. I'm sending you guys towards the molten rocks below ground. Even if you guys aren't burned to death, you will take at least ten days to dig your way out! At that time, I'll have long succeeded." 

Outside the spirit design, Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain smiled triumphantly. In his eyes, Wu Yu and Jiu Ying were still too young and inexperienced. 

From the words of Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain, Wu Yu immediately realized what the effects of the Gates of Hell were! 

He said that there was magma found below ground and that he was throwing Wu Yu and Jiu Ying right into the midst of it. Therefore, it was clear that the Gates of Hell could open a pathway that sent them directly underground! This was figuratively falling towards hell! It was no wonder the spirit design was known as the “Gates of Hell.” 

"Let's go!" The two of them wanted to break free from the restraints of the spirit design as they charged out. 

"Enjoy the feeling of despair!" The voice of Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain penetrated the spirit design and resounded around their ears. 

In that instant, thousands of threads extended from the spirit design and held Wu Yu and Jiu Ying down like a huge net! 

Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain knew their capabilities very well by now. Having expended large amounts of money and energy to create the Gates of Hell, how could he allow them to escape from the trap that easily? 

Weng!

In that instant, the spirit design activated. 

Wu Yu suddenly felt the earth below his feet soften. He felt like he was in the middle of the sea and was trapped tightly by the chains of the spirit design. His body felt heavy, as though it was tied to a mountain. Before he could even resist, he sank into the ground and through the Gates of Hell! 

At that moment, Wu Yu saw with his own eyes that he was falling through a bottomless pit. The earth, rocks, and even underground animals seemed to have melted. In fact, when Wu Yu fell through a rock, he felt as though the rock was just cotton. 

 

"Jiu Ying!" At the juncture, Wu Yu naturally struggled with all his might. He even activated the Violent Art with his Immortal Ape Transformation. To his astonishment, while trying to bite and rip through, the spirit design that held him got even tighter and sank into his flesh. Thousands of threads tied him down tightly, turning him into a black and red cocoon when seen from the outside. 

On the other end, Jiu Ying, who had weaker body strength, wasn't doing any better. 

At this moment, after experiencing the 10,000 Swords Formation, the miniature Ghost Isolation Array, and the Gates of Hell, and taking into account the Nine Palace Dragon Design and the Nine-Directional World Shatterer, Wu Yu truly felt how horrifying spirit designs could be. In fact, the thriving cultivation world was mainly composed of spirit designs. Examples would include immortal treasures, mechanism puppets, offensive arrays, defensive arrays, and various kinds of unique spirit designs. 

At the same tier of cultivation, a cultivator who knew spirit designs might be a lot stronger than one who didn't. As for those who researched spirit designs, they were mainly intelligent people. Using their intelligence in battle, they could even finish off opponents that were stronger than themselves. 

For example, Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain had prepared traps in advance for them. Although he was gravely injured because of his carelessness, he was still able to finish off Wu Yu and Jiu Ying easily and was now focused on setting up his Ghost Isolation Array. 

Although he would not get Wu Yu and Jiu Ying's corpses, He Taozi and the rest were enough. 

They were sinking too fast, and they felt like they had died and were falling into the ten thousandth layer of hell. In fact, Wu Yu was able to notice the change in the rocks and soil layers. The more they fell, the older the rocks and soil around them were. Naturally, it was also because of the underground lava that Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain had mentioned. As they sank further, they could feel the horrifying heat more vividly. Although Wu Yu had never seen lava, he had witnessed the eruption of a volcano. Bubbles could be seen rising from the liquid sea of flames which could even melt steel rapidly. 

Boom!

The Gates of Hell was rapid. In a blink of an eye, it had sent Wu Yu and Jiu Ying to the depths of the underground by altering the earth below them. 

It was getting hotter and hotter, to a point of horror. Wu Yu had very high resistance to flames. However, he was still breaking into a sweat when falling. His flesh was also turning red from burns. 

He realized that he had sunk deep into the ground. If this went on, he would likely drop into the lava. 

At this moment, Jiu Ying seemed to have broken free from the restraints of the spirit design and regained his freedom. In the next instant, Jiu Ying extended his long, spear-like tail over and ripped apart the spirit design holding Wu Yu, freeing him from the restraints. Wu Yu broke free and regained his freedom too! 

However, it was a little too late. 

At this point, Wu Yu looked below him and was instantly shocked. This was an empty space below ground. However, the problem was the raging lava that had filled the space below him. The heat and steam from the boiling and raging lava were rising and turned Wu Yu and Jiu Ying red. Wu Yu felt like it was unbearable, let alone Jiu Ying. 

Looking further down, they saw boundless earth and rocks. They didn't know how deep underground they were. This was a depth that ordinary people would find hard to reach. Moreover, spirit designs like Gates of Hell were likely to be possessed only by ghostly cultivators. Therefore, there were probably few people on the heavenly continent who had similar encounters as them. 

The two of them avoided the raging lava below their feet in a hurry. Jiu Ying was feeling more impatient and attempted to fly up. Now that the effects of the Gates of Hell had subsided, he charged upwards with his demon body. He probably wanted to attack the earth and rocks above him and open up a path out forcefully. 

"That won't do," said Wu Yu as he immediately tried to stop him. 

"Why?" Jiu Ying was confused. 

Wu Yu looked above him and explained, "The underground earth and rocks are stacked together. We are not sure how much earth is above us. If we were to smash violently against it, it would definitely cause a collapse. At that time, with so much earth falling down on you and pushing you down, you might just be pushed into the lava. In that case, you would most likely be dead as well." 

"What should we do to get out then? Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain will definitely take this time to recuperate, then he will continue killing and complete his Ghost Isolation Array. This place is remote, with barely anyone in the vicinity. If we don't stop him, there will probably be no one else," Jiu Ying said with a frown. 

Wu Yu replied, "We can only open a pathway by digging with minimal actions. Our actions cannot create too much impact. If we just open a tunnel, the impact on the entire earth bed will probably be minimal." 

They weren't ordinary men, but a cultivator and a great demon. Slowly opening a path was too shameful for people of their status. 

"I guess that's the only thing we can do now." 

With his demon body, Jiu Ying charged up. Using his huge body, nine heads, and four limbs, he quickly excavated upwards. In just a short while, he extended the tunnel by several hundred meters. If this continued, the earth above his head would still be relatively stable and would not come crushing down on him. 

Wu Yu made a rough estimate of the time required. Based on the speed they were falling and the speed they were excavating upwards, it would likely take a few days. However, the surrounding sects and forces would likely be annihilated in half a day! 

Having gotten the worst of it once again, Wu Yu was furious. His blood gushed up his head, his breathing became erratic, and his complexion turned a little green. He had always been the one plotting against others, but he had fallen for the traps of a ghostly cultivator today. Although he wasn't dead, he could only wait here. Furthermore, he felt like this was equivalent to watching those cultivators getting slaughtered and becoming materials for the Ghost Isolation Array of Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain. How could he not be furious and angry about it? 

"You must be tired. Let me take over," said Wu Yu. Having two people excavating a tunnel at the same time wouldn't bring any advantage. 

"It's alright. However, we have to think about what we are going to do after we get out. Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain will probably have recovered by then. At that time, with just the two of us, we might not be capable of restraining him." This was the greater issue at hand. 

With the intelligence of Ghostly Wings of the Black Mountain, he wouldn't possibly make the same mistake twice! 

With no one restraining him at all, the outside world was probably already in peril. 

Wu Yu was nothing but anxious.... 

He looked at the molten lava below him. The golden molten lava seemed to have just melted steel as hot gases rose from the surface. Some lava even spilled up as the bubbles popped. Moreover, its temperature was much higher than Wu Yu had imagined. 

"So this is the lava activity below ground, and it is the cause of the strong winds and lightning above the Wind and Thunder Dao Sect." This was rare knowledge of the world of dao. Only people who leveraged on the geographies of the world to set up spirit designs would know so much about it. 

However, Wu Yu always felt that the round pool of boiling lava was just like a bright moon below ground. 

Suddenly, Ming Long remarked, "Wu Yu, do you know what determines one's luck?" 

"To be born under a lucky star?"

Ming Long continued asking, "Do you know who could be considered as an extremely lucky person?" 

"To be aided by the actions of gods in whatever one does? To always be able to escape unharmed no matter how dangerous the situation is?" 

Ming Long chuckled and continued, "You are a person like that. If it's just about luck, you are ten folds better than me. I received the same legacy as you, but I died in a foreign land. However, you are always able to turn dangers into great opportunities. That's the reasoning."

"What are you trying to say?" Wu Yu was baffled. 

"You are damned lucky," Ming Long said.