This was a scorched, blistering space—a place where survival was nearly impossible. The lava here burned at temperatures above seven or eight hundred degrees Celsius, and depending on its composition, it could get even hotter. Everywhere, the air shimmered with blazing red light, dotted with churning lakes of molten rock, precarious outcroppings to stand on, and pillars to climb. It looked like a flood-swept field, with sticky waves and land all mixed together, impossible to tell apart.
A fierce wind howled through the underground space, its deep rumble never letting up. The direction changed constantly, and it blew at force seven or eight, at least. Anyone who's lived through a typhoon knows what that's like—just walking outside, you'd be hunkered down and struggling. If someone tried to leap from rock to rock through the lava, they'd probably be blown off course before their foot even landed.
But it was precisely this wild wind that made the air here just barely breathable.
In the space where lava tangled with dry, pitch-black stone, a strange streak of light and shadow roared by with a thunderous noise. It was like a speedboat slicing through waves—nothing could stop it, not even the burning sea of lava. From above, it looked like a meteor streaking across the sky, trailing a blazing tail.
That was the Rebel Rider.
“This Rebel Rider is wild—it really can ‘walk through fire and water’!” Princess Embroidered Jade sat on the back seat, her face full of wonder she just couldn't hide. A classical beauty wrapped in icy dust, sitting side-saddle on a ridiculously macho motorcycle and cruising through a sea of fire—now that's a sight you don't see every day.
“And what’s this strange fire? Why does it burn so close without feeling hot at all? It’s like it keeps the molten flames outside.” Princess Embroidered Jade couldn’t help reaching out to touch the hellfire of the Rebel Rider. The flames, like a horse’s mane, curled and danced around her jade fingers and wrists, but didn’t harm her one bit.
“That’s called Flame Tide. I’ve got no clue where it came from, but apparently it’s only afraid of not being hot enough!” Jack Young’s sleeves were blown to shreds—giving him a bit of a trendy look, actually, which fit the scene. He was honestly surprised too; he hadn’t expected the Flame Tide to go this far. If he’d known it could do this, he would’ve whipped it out when he first fell into the lava lake, instead of sweating bullets.
Just now, after carefully driving off the lava, the Rebel Rider changed again. Usually, its hellfire would gather on the body or form fiery tracks under the wheels. But in this terrain, for some reason, the Flame Tide seemed to get ‘excited’ and suddenly exploded with even more power.
The front and rear wheels turned into blazing fireballs, and the flames around it looked just like a Super Saiyan’s aura. Steel is denser than lava, but when charging through, it barely sank at all. It was like cruising, shoving the molten flow aside and sending waves of lava splashing to either side. With all this hellfire protection, the two riders actually felt cooler than before.
Maybe it was burning too much power just to block out the heat, but the Rebel Rider wasn’t moving all that fast. Still, its flames roared as it prowled the blood-red sea like a giant demon, making the place feel like its home turf. Princess Embroidered Jade could finally catch her breath and recover some energy, thanks to this fiery ride.
“With this Rebel Rider, the road ahead is smooth—unbelievable!” Princess Embroidered Jade couldn’t help stroking the bike’s body. Its wild, over-the-top design and trendy lines were a total shock to her. For someone so cool and reserved, her sparkling eyes were a rare sight. She held back her surprise, though, and got down to business: “It doesn’t feel stuffy here at all, so it must connect to the outside. We can use the Rebel Rider to find a way out.”
“Let’s look around first. Wind Wushang, Lady Simone, and the Golden Blade King are all missing, but I don’t believe they’d die from lava alone, so we’d better be careful.” Jack Young replied, then flashed her a grin. “Besides, I bet there’s something good hidden here.”
Before pulling the lever, Jack Young used his foot to feel out the markings like reading Braille. The inscription started with a serious warning: unless you’re a true descendant of the gods, don’t open this—there’s danger below. It also said that while descendants of the gods can’t be executed, if one messes up badly, they’ll be banished down here. And below, it claimed, lay a thousand-year treasure—the very foundation of the South Wasteland, the real holy land.
A thousand-year treasure—not something you write lightly. The ‘foundation of the nation’ bit was even more intimidating. It’s like the East Sea Dragon Palace’s Sea-Calming Needle: if they say don’t touch it, you really shouldn’t. Move it, and boom—everything goes wild.
The deeper you go in the South Wasteland Temple, the more important the stuff gets. If that rule still holds, then even in this lava-filled place, there’s gotta be something even more treasured than the Wedding Dress Divine Skill. They say there’s always treasure in desperate places—it’s a joke, but not entirely wrong. After all, what makes a place unreachable is that normal folks can’t get there. Just like the Soul-Breaking Valley under Misty Peak, where Jill Young stashed all her treasures.
Riding the Rebel Rider, they wandered through the underground maze. The place was full of twisting tunnels and walls, sometimes opening up into a boundless sea of fire, sometimes as tangled as the old anti-Japanese war tunnels. There were even levels up and down, like a giant beehive—enough to make your head spin. Princess Embroidered Jade had already given up on finding her way; she left that to Jack Young, the little navigation genius. She focused on staying alert and recovering her energy, hoping to unlock Jack’s sealed meridians soon.
Jack Young steered the bike in arcs and circles, looping through the maze. Suddenly, his sharp eyes caught something, and he sped over. On a chunk of rock, there was a patch of charred ash—no way regular ash would survive this wind, so it was definitely odd. Judging by the size and shape, the two martial arts masters immediately saw the clue.
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“It’s a right arm.” Princess Embroidered Jade swept out a burst of energy, scattering the charred ash and revealing the bones inside. “The arm was chopped off by a sharp blade, left here, and baked by the earth’s fire. Whose is it?”
“It’s the Golden Blade King’s.” Jack Young recognized the owner of the right arm at a glance—after all, he’d fought the Golden Blade King before and knew his bone structure well. “Looks like when he fell, he caught up with his severed arm and carried it here. He abandoned it again at this spot, so something big must’ve happened.”
The right arm that once gripped the golden blade was here, but the blade itself was gone—meaning the Golden Blade King took the weapon and left. Whatever made him ditch his arm and just take the blade had to be serious.
“Look, footprints! Let’s follow them!”
Even for an Innate King, surviving here was no picnic, so they had to keep their power flowing constantly. Especially someone like the Golden Blade King, who wasn’t great at hiding his presence—every step left a mark. The deeper the footprints got, the more out of control his power was. Princess Embroidered Jade observed, then quietly guessed, “Judging by the depth, I think the Golden Blade King has broken through and reached the Heavenly King level.”
Jack Young stiffened, then nodded. The Golden Blade King had everything except the right technique. Now that he had the Wedding Dress Divine Skill and landed in this scorching place, it was only natural for his energy to evolve. Besides, the Wedding Dress Divine Skill was intense and domineering, a perfect match for his Heavenly King Ghost-Slaying Blade. Stepping up to the Heavenly King level was just a matter of time.
With Wind Wushang now at Innate Level Six, the Golden Blade King’s breakthrough to Heavenly King was definitely worth celebrating.
“Look, blade marks.” Not far away, a dramatic slash was carved into the stone wall, still glowing red-hot. Just from that scar, Jack Young could picture how fierce and ruthless that strike must’ve been.
That strike was stronger than any he’d unleashed before.
“There—and over there, too!” Blade marks popped up everywhere, stretching through the blazing world like signposts. Not long ago, the Golden Blade King must’ve been on a rampage, chasing someone down. The two of them leapt from spot to spot, using the stone walls to propel themselves, leaving behind signs of a fierce battle. And the Golden Blade King just kept getting stronger—the blade marks got deeper and deeper.
But when Jack Young and Princess Embroidered Jade met each other’s gaze, their faces were serious. They could both sense it—those blade marks were filled with a ‘do-or-die, burn-it-all’ kind of intent. Dying for a cause, sacrificing for justice—the Golden Blade King might not have been a saint, but when it came to avenging his family, he was all in. That’s why every slash here felt like the last stand of a madman.
This was starting to feel bad, so Jack Young floored the throttle and sped up the chase.
“Wait, there’s a leg over there!”
A severed leg floated and burned atop the lava. The bone, not yet consumed by the heat, bobbed up and down, looking heartbreakingly bleak.
No doubt about it—that bone belonged to the Golden Blade King too!
Was the Golden Blade King dead?
No, at least not yet. Jack Young’s eyes swept over the rocks, picturing the Golden Blade King fighting like a madman with just one leg and one hand, still hacking away at Wind Wushang. That kind of fighting spirit really moved you.
“Over there!” Jack Young’s eyes flashed as he spotted something. The Rebel Rider was too slow in the lava, so the two of them stashed the bike and leapt into the air, bouncing off the rocks toward a bend in the river of fire. If the lava was a giant river, this was the bay where it curved, leaving just enough ground to stand on.
At the edge of the bay, a left arm lay limp on the ground. The blood had long since baked into black-purple stains, and the arm itself was starting to char, making a creepy sizzling sound. Not far from the severed limb, a man lay on the ground—it was the Golden Blade King. He’d lost both arms and a leg, but he wasn’t dead yet. He panted, eyes wild and fierce, still ready to jump up and kill at any moment.
He was biting the spine of his golden blade, blood smeared on the edge—no telling if it was his or his enemy’s.
Jack Young and Princess Embroidered Jade landed next to the Golden Blade King. They could see right away—he was down to his last breath. The only thing keeping him alive was sheer willpower; his life force was basically gone.
Clang—the Golden Blade King opened his mouth and dropped the blade to the ground. He stared straight at Jack Young, his voice weak but still fierce: “Didn’t expect you’d be the last one I’d see! Come on, help me up. Lying here like this makes me look like a loser!”
Jack Young helped the Golden Blade King up. He managed to stand on one foot, barely keeping his balance, so Jack had to hold his shoulders to steady him. Princess Embroidered Jade instinctively stepped back to keep watch—she could tell that, at the end, the Golden Blade King only wanted to talk to Jack.
“Hoo...” The Golden Blade King looked at Jack Young, his eyes complicated. They’d started out as enemies, leaving each other with internal injuries, then fought side by side against common foes. Now, at the end, it was Jack who stood by him. He wanted to laugh at fate’s irony, sigh at life’s unpredictability, but finally he just glared at Jack like a hawk: “Will you kill that bastard for me?”
Jack Young met his gaze, calm and unwavering: “I will.”
“Good. Then you’ll have avenged me, and I’ll owe you one. Take my blade—do whatever you want with it. I don’t want it buried in this place.”
“Blade?” Jack glanced at the golden blade on the ground. It was nice, sure, but nothing special—not some legendary weapon. But since it was the Golden Blade King’s dying wish, Jack was happy to help and take it with him.
“Not that blade—this one!” the Golden Blade King roared. Suddenly, a surge of fierce blade energy burst from him, rushing into Jack Young’s shoulder. Princess Embroidered Jade tensed, ready to strike, but Jack stopped her with a look. The blade energy wasn’t meant to harm—instead, it sliced right through the meridian locks Wind Wushang had left behind.
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Breaking the locks was just the surface—the real deal was the intent behind the blade, laid bare for Jack Young to sense.
Jack Young got it—this was the blade the Golden Blade King really wanted to pass on.
“This is my Heavenly King Ghost-Slaying Blade—!!” The Golden Blade King roared to the sky, his eyes blazing. In Jack Young’s mind, a blade scar appeared—the Golden Blade King’s final burst of life, turned into a martial insight that transcended life and death, carved directly into Jack’s consciousness. That scar said more than a thousand words; it was the purest inheritance of the Heavenly King Ghost-Slaying Blade.
Jack Young knew—once the legacy was passed, the Golden Blade King was gone from the world.
But Jack Young had to ask one last thing, so he shouted, “Tell me, was it you who wiped out the Fang family in Flower Kingdom ten years ago?”
“Fang family?” The Golden Blade King shook his head. “I don’t even know anyone from the Fang family in Flower Kingdom.”
He didn’t know them?
“Then how did you know Fang Lingji had clues to the Wedding Dress Divine Skill?” Jack Young grabbed the Golden Blade King’s shoulders, using all his internal energy to stir up the last bit of blood and keep him alive a little longer. “If you weren’t part of the massacre, why were you chasing Lingji?”
This was where it all began—the first big event Jack Young faced in this world. The Golden Blade King froze, thought for a moment, then suddenly realized something. His face twisted with shock, awe, anger, hatred, and mockery all at once: “So it was him…”
I don’t have time for your dramatic faces! Jack Young yelled, “Say it—who was it?”
The Golden Blade King’s face grew desperate, mouth open as if he had a lot to say, but in the end, he only managed three words: “Silver...blade...King...”
The light faded from his eyes, and his massive body lost all its strength.
From that moment on, the Golden Blade King was no more.
“Silverblade King?” Jack Young’s eyes widened as he thought it over—he realized that Silverblade King’s shadow was in a lot of these events.
Silverblade King had ambushed Flower Shifter Village and poisoned Princess Embroidered Jade and the village’s fighters, weakening them.
Silverblade King had made a trip back to Roc Kingdom, and then—suddenly—all the famous Innate masters from Roc Kingdom showed up in the South Wasteland.
And Wind Wushang’s ambush of Ou Yezi happened after that. In the end, Silverblade King even showed up with Wind Wushang, making a big scene at the South Wasteland Temple.
Silverblade King—he was everywhere.
Among the Innate masters, Silverblade King’s cultivation wasn’t that high—just Innate Level Two. Every time he showed up, there was always someone stronger and flashier nearby. He played the role of “the tough front-line guy, but not the boss,” so people just assumed he was there to help out and overlooked his true role in these events. But the only one who kept showing up, over and over, was him.
Of course, Wind Wushang was still the prime suspect. From start to finish, Wind Wushang was a schemer, always manipulating and trying to seize power, obsessed with the Wedding Dress Divine Skill and ruthless in his methods. Silverblade King was his subordinate. If Wind Wushang was behind everything, it would make perfect sense to Jack Young.
If Jack Young had to pick a mastermind, he’d always bet on Wind Wushang. Now, he was still ninety-nine percent sure—but he had a nagging doubt about Silverblade King.
He couldn’t figure it out for now, so he set it aside and focused on the present.
“Let’s go.” Jack Young stored the Golden Blade King’s body in his storage space. They’d been enemies, but Jack still wanted to find him a proper resting place.
“Yeah.” Princess Embroidered Jade nodded, her quiet obedience making her seem even more gentle.
The Golden Blade King was dead, but the enemy was still out there. They had to keep moving. But just as they were about to leave, both of them stopped and turned at the same time.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from behind—unnaturally cold.
In a place filled with lava, to feel such a bone-chilling wind? The two exchanged a glance, instantly understanding: the legendary treasure of the South Wasteland might be right where that cold came from.
After searching so long, they finally had a clue.
“Come on, let’s check it out.”