Chapter 407: Deep Valley Dungeon
"Saint Fire Hall?"
Zhang Ruochen showed a puzzled expression.
Dragon Elder snorted coldly, "You still want to keep hiding? In the Five Elements Continent, for someone to possess such high fire-elemental power as you, aside from the Saint Fire Hall, what other force could train such a person? Hmph! Even if you are from the Saint Fire Hall, don't think you can intimidate me."
Dragon Elder had his own plans. Although he could not afford to offend the Saint Fire Hall, the Saint Fire Hall did not have absolute control over the Five Elements Continent. After killing this prodigy from the Saint Fire Hall, he could simply join a force hostile to them.
More importantly, since the other party was a prodigy of the Saint Fire Hall, he must be carrying many remarkable treasures. As long as he obtained those treasures, perhaps his own cultivation could reach a higher level, breaking through the limits of mortals.
Thinking of this, Dragon Elder became extremely excited. No matter what, he had to take the risk.
"Roar!"
Under Dragon Elder's control, the ice crystal dragon let out a mighty roar, swooped down, and struck at Zhang Ruochen with its claw.
Zhang Ruochen stood upright, his gaze sharp, his right hand behind his back. He merely extended his left arm and pointed a finger at the dragon claw.
"Solar Meridian Sword Wave."
The tip of his thumb emitted a crimson light.
A sword path as thick as a bowl shot out, colliding with the dragon claw.
"Boom!"
The dragon claw was shattered by the sword energy, breaking apart into wisps of ice crystals.
Dragon Elder's magical power was formidable. Under his control, the ice crystal dragon's claw quickly reformed and attacked Zhang Ruochen again.
"This man's cultivation is indeed formidable. A single Extreme Ice Dragon probably won't be enough to suppress him."
Dragon Elder's eyes turned cold. He pressed his palm against the top of the skull, and a black light surged from his palm. In an instant, thirty-six great ice swords condensed, arranged into a sword formation, and flew toward Zhang Ruochen.
"Swish, swish."
Under the assault of the Extreme Ice Dragon and the thirty-six great ice swords, Zhang Ruochen's pressure multiplied.
"The indigenous humans of the Five Elements Ruins Realm cultivate magical power, giving them a significant advantage in long-range combat. I must close the distance to regain the upper hand."
"Elephant Force Twelve Stack."
Zhang Ruochen executed the fifth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm. His arm struck out rapidly, delivering twelve palm prints in succession.
The twelve palm prints overlapped, forming a giant hand seal that unleashed twelve times the palm force.
"Boom!"
With just one palm, the powerful force shattered the Extreme Ice Dragon into ice crystal fragments.
Having cultivated the sixth palm of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Palm, this technique had advanced from a mid-rank spiritual technique to a high-rank spiritual technique, naturally increasing its power.
The fifth palm, which previously could only unleash nine times the attack power, could now unleash twelve times.
After shattering the Extreme Ice Dragon, Zhang Ruochen broke through the thirty-six great ice swords. His body curved like a bow, and with a kick of his legs, he shot out like an arrow from a string, soaring over a hundred meters high and rapidly flying toward Dragon Elder at the top of the cliff.
Dragon Elder had not expected the young man's physical strength to be so formidable. He dared not engage in close combat with Zhang Ruochen.
While retreating rapidly into the deep valley, he swung the Crystal Divine Staff, merging the thirty-six great ice swords into a single giant sword ten meters long, slashing at Zhang Ruochen to block his advance.
Before the giant sword even descended, a powerful sword aura had already torn apart the ground beneath Zhang Ruochen's feet, pushing the earth plates to the left and right.
Even Zhang Ruochen dared not underestimate the power of this strike.
"Draw!"
The Purple Lightning Sword flew out of its sheath and landed in Zhang Ruochen's hand.
Zhang Ruochen immediately infused his true qi into the sword body, activating the seventy-two lightning inscriptions. A thunderous crackling sound erupted as countless bolts of lightning flew out from the sword, condensing into the phantom of a lightning eagle.
With a thunderous roar, Zhang Ruochen shattered the giant ice sword and charged forward again, swinging his sword in another strike—the "Soul-Shattering Wind-Hearing" move from the Thirteen Soul-Chasing Swords.
The war sword cut through the air, emitting a piercing sound capable of shattering a person's soul.
His sword technique had reached the realm of perfection, comparable to the power of a ghost-rank low-grade martial technique.
Dragon Elder's expression darkened. He immediately raised the Crystal Divine Staff to block, conjuring nine layers of defensive light barriers in front of the staff.
"Break!"
Zhang Ruochen roared. The Purple Lightning Sword advanced like a hot knife through butter, piercing through the nine layers of paper-like defenses that Dragon Elder had set up.
"Boom!"
The Crystal Divine Staff clashed with the Purple Lightning Sword.
The powerful explosive force transmitted through the war sword, sending Dragon Elder staggering backward. He missed his footing and fell off the cliff, plunging into the deep valley filled with poisonous miasma.
"Whoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen activated the Sword Heart Illumination realm, launching the Purple Lightning Sword as a flying sword to strike at the falling Dragon Elder.
When the Purple Lightning Sword flew back, its blade was stained with a trace of blood.
Zhang Ruochen was well aware that, given Dragon Elder's strength, that strike would only injure him slightly, not kill him.
With a leap, Zhang Ruochen jumped off the cliff and pursued him into the deep valley.
Since he had already wounded him, he had to seize the opportunity to kill him.
If he could kill Dragon Elder, Zhang Ruochen would gain one hundred military merit points, meeting the standard for the third round of assessment.
The deep valley was filled with black miasma, obscuring vision and making it difficult to see beyond ten zhang.
Zhang Ruochen had activated his Heavenly Eye, so he was not affected.
"This deep valley is Dragon Elder's lair. He must have set up formations here. I need to be cautious. However, for a strongman like Dragon Elder to establish his lair in such a poisonous miasma valley, there must be a reason. Could there be some extraordinary treasure hidden in this valley?"
Dragon Elder had concealed himself. Even Zhang Ruochen with his Heavenly Eye found it difficult to locate him.
The more elusive he was, the more cautious Zhang Ruochen became.
Suddenly, a figure flashed ahead. Zhang Ruochen immediately gave chase.
After pursuing for a moment, the figure vanished.
Not far away, Zhang Ruochen discovered a deep well leading underground. At the mouth of the well, a formation had been set up.
"Whoosh!"
With a slash of his sword, Zhang Ruochen easily broke the formation and then jumped down the well.
After descending about twenty meters, he reached the bottom of the well.
The space at the bottom was vast, surrounded by stone walls adorned with iron rings and chains, resembling a dungeon.
On one of the stone walls, an opening had been carved, sealed with an iron door.
When Zhang Ruochen broke open the iron door, a chorus of women's screams erupted from the stone prison.
Behind the iron door, more than a dozen women in tattered clothes were imprisoned. Each seemed to have some beauty, with the youngest being only twelve or thirteen years old, looking very immature.
They appeared frightened, immediately huddling in a corner, staring at Zhang Ruochen with terrified eyes.
In another corner lay two naked female corpses, covered in blood. They seemed to have died recently, their blood not yet dry.
"This Dragon Elder truly deserves to die!"
Zhang Ruochen's eyes turned icy cold. He immediately withdrew.
Suddenly, the ground shook slightly, and a loud crash came from above.
Immediately after, the mouth of the deep well seemed to be blocked by a heavy object. All light vanished, and the surroundings became pitch black.
"Whoosh!"
On the stone walls, inscriptions emerged one after another, forming a black formation light layer.
As the formation activated, the stone walls of the dungeon transformed into metal, becoming walls of bronze and iron.
Dragon Elder's voice sounded from above, hoarse and coldly laughing: "Boy, I have used the Five Elements Formation to convert the earth-attribute stone walls into Mysterious Iron Golden Walls. Even if you have heaven-defying abilities, you won't escape from inside. Haha! Just wait to die in there!"
Zhang Ruochen remained very calm. He struck out with a palm, producing a deafening metallic roar.
A palm print indentation five inches deep appeared on the wall.
"Such hard metal walls."
Zhang Ruochen touched the cold metal wall with his fingers, a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "Five Elements Transformation: Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth."
A mere layer of golden walls could not stump Zhang Ruochen.
Although the Five Elements generate each other, they also overcome each other.
Among them, Fire overcomes Metal.
Although Zhang Ruochen remained calm, the women imprisoned in the dungeon were panicking, as if a great disaster was imminent, filled with fear and unease.
"Whoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen took out a light-attribute spirit crystal and held it in his hand.
He infused his true qi into the spirit crystal, which immediately emitted a bright light, illuminating the entire dungeon.
Seeing the light, the women quieted down. More than a dozen pairs of beautiful eyes fixed on Zhang Ruochen.
They were all curious about who this extremely handsome man was and why he had provoked Dragon Elder's thunderous rage.
In their eyes, Dragon Elder was a demon-like existence, with boundless magical power and invincibility. He had once single-handedly destroyed an entire city.
They had been captured here as the lowest of slaves, forced to serve Dragon Elder with all their might. Any mistake would lead to death.
Thus, they were terrified of Dragon Elder and did not believe anyone in the world could defeat him.
Zhang Ruochen glanced at them and began to ponder. If he used flame power, it would inevitably melt the entire dungeon.
With Zhang Ruochen's cultivation, he was naturally not afraid of flames, but most of the captured women were ordinary people. Once Zhang Ruochen unleashed his flame power, they would turn to ashes in an instant.
If it were another student, they would not care about the lives of a group of natives. They would die, and it would not affect their martial heart.
Zhang Ruochen was different. If those women were truly burned to death before him, his martial heart would surely develop a knot, potentially hindering his future cultivation progress.
"Could it be that Dragon Elder lured me into this dungeon precisely because he anticipated this?"
Zhang Ruochen's brow furrowed deeper. He thought to himself, there must be another way.
Everyone has weaknesses, and Zhang Ruochen was no exception.
Zhang Ruochen's martial path was nearly flawless, without any cracks, but he was not ruthless enough. Such a person often has their weaknesses exploited, falling into a passive position.