Mystic Eyes: My Eyes Steal the Laws of Cultivation Chapter 373 - 374

He immediately began advancing toward the main crater, adjusting his route to climb directly upward instead of circling the mountain.

The path became even more dangerous.

Stronger beasts began appearing with increasing frequency. Some possessed extremely violent energies, clearly superior to the creatures from the Intermediate Area.

Kyrian could feel them before he saw them, masses of fire Qi so dense they felt like miniature suns hidden behind the rocks.

After nearly an hour of climbing, Kyrian encountered the first one.

A colossal serpent emerged from a fissure in the ground.

It was not an ordinary serpent. Its body seemed partially made of liquid magma, red and black scales flowed as though melting, yet still maintained their shape. Drops of lava fell from its body, burning the ground wherever they touched.

Its eyes glowed red as it stared at Kyrian, evaluating him.

Peak Core Formation.

Kyrian sensed it clearly. The beast was on the same level as the Five-Horned Lava Lizard, perhaps slightly weaker in terms of bloodline, but still terrifying.

The serpent’s body stretched over twenty meters long.

The heat radiating from it distorted the surrounding air, creating visible waves that trembled like mirages.

The serpent attacked instantly.

There was no warning. No threatening posture. One moment it was motionless, observing, the next, its mouth opened and a wave of magma erupted from its throat like an explosion.

Kyrian calmly moved to the side.

The movement was minimal, half a step to the left, but it was enough. The lava brushed past him so closely that Kyrian felt the heat burn the edges of his robe.

The magma struck a nearby mountain. The rock melted instantly, turning into glowing liquid that flowed down the slope.

Kyrian’s eyes glowed.

Several streams of ice emerged around the serpent-like living chains, rising from the ground at calculated angles. They wrapped around the beast’s colossal body, around its neck, torso, and tail, tightening with enough force to crack bones.

The serpent’s partially frozen body hissed violently.

The beast roared, a guttural and distorted sound, while trying to shatter the ice. Its strength was immense. Cracks spread through the ice chains almost instantly.

But Kyrian had already moved.

His hand swept in a swift arc, and an ice sword instantly condensed in his palm, not an ordinary sword, but a thin, elongated blade, perfect for piercing.

The serpent was still occupied trying to free itself from the chains.

Kyrian advanced.

The ice blade pierced through the serpent’s eye, the most vulnerable point on its scale-covered head, and stabbed directly into its brain.

Ice spread instantly through the wound, freezing the neural tissue before the beast could even fully feel the pain.

The creature’s roar abruptly ceased, turning into a weak, agonized groan.

Its colossal body crashed heavily onto the volcanic rocks, trembling for several seconds before becoming completely still.

Kyrian slowly exhaled.

The fight had lasted only a few minutes.

But even so, he realized something important.

The Qi consumption in that environment was enormous.

Far greater than he had expected.

Every spear of ice, every chain, and every sword required more Qi than in the Intermediate Area.

Especially because he constantly had to use ice to protect himself from the heat while fighting.

Kyrian did not stay there to rest. He continued advancing.

Fortunately, he did not encounter any Spiritual Awakening Realm beasts during the climb.

If he did, even he would have problems. A beast of that level, combined with the hostile environment, would be a challenge Kyrian was not certain he could overcome.

Time passed slowly.

One hour.

Two.

Three.

The heat increased with every meter of altitude. Kyrian could no longer distinguish where the volcano’s heat ended and the heat of his own body began.

At times, he needed to stop briefly, just to breathe, to focus, to reinforce his Qi barrier. Fatigue was beginning to accumulate.

Five entire hours passed.

The sun had already moved across the sky, though its exact position was difficult to determine through the thick smoke.

Finally, Kyrian reached the summit.

The gigantic mouth of the Great Volcano appeared before him.

Kyrian stopped.

The hot wind blasted violently against his partially burned clothes, making them snap like flags in a storm.

His vision, through the smoke and distorted heat, reached the opposite edge of the crater, so distant that the details vanished into the red environment.

Then...

A distant explosion echoed from the other side of the volcano.

It was not the sound of lava, Kyrian already knew that sound well. It was sharper, like the collision of spiritual techniques.

Then another explosion.

And another.

Kyrian slightly turned his face in that direction, his blue eyes piercing through the streams of smoke.

’The leaders.’ He thought immediately.

It appeared they were embroiled in a conflict with a formidable beast, the cacophony of violent, erratic explosions signaling a true battle.

And he was not mistaken.

On the far side of the Great Volcano, amidst an equally perilous environment, the four leaders of Red Smoke City found themselves confronting two beasts of the Spiritual Awakening Realm.

One was a Thousand-Year Fire Eagle, a creature of immense size with wings wreathed in flame and talons sharp enough to rend steel. The other was a Living Magma Golem, a being of amorphous form, composed entirely of molten rock and lava.

Yet, Kyrian remained indifferent.

These events held no relevance to him.

He refocused his gaze ahead.

Toward the colossal crater.

Kyrian advanced cautiously toward its precipice.

The ground beneath his boots radiated intense heat, causing the soles to begin melting, a sensation he disregarded.

What lay below resembled a realm of inferno.

An ocean of lava churned violently within the volcano's heart, so vast that its opposite shores eluded Kyrian's sight. Gargantuan waves slammed against the crater's inner walls, periodically erupting plumes of magma skyward like a tempestuous tide.

The intensity of the heat warped the very fabric of space, causing the air to shimmer and light to bend erratically.

Kyrian exercised extreme caution, refraining from approaching too closely.

A direct impact from that lava, not a mere splash but a full force strike, would likely spell his demise, even with his ice abilities and his barriers.

His eyes began a meticulous examination of the entire vicinity.

Centuries of magma flow had sculpted the crater's internal walls into irregular patterns of black and red stone. Kyrian scanned for any sign of caves, fissures, or anything that might suggest artificial construction.

Natural caverns, formed by gas pockets within cooled lava.

Cracks, some sufficiently wide to admit a person.

Every minute detail.

Even the most subtle anomaly.

However, initially...

He discovered nothing.

It was simply a volcano.

Immense.

Lethal.

But seemingly unremarkable.

A slight frown creased Kyrian's brow.

‘There’s nothing here?’

It was conceivable that the tomb was not situated here. Perhaps it lay elsewhere within the Inner Area, concealed within a side cavern or a forgotten fissure.

Yet, Kyrian felt a contrary conviction.

An instinct told him he was in the correct location.

Then, at that precise moment...

The lava below receded slightly during a receding wave.

It was a minor retreat, perhaps only a few meters, but it sufficed.

And Kyrian's gaze detected something.

A crimson barrier.

Concealed beneath the magma's surface.

The barrier was faint, almost translucent, camouflaged by the lava's ambient glow. Kyrian would have barely registered its presence had he not been actively searching with intent.

Beyond it...

A small aperture.

A cave.

Crafted not by nature, but by the hands of intelligent beings.

Kyrian's eyes instantly narrowed.

Without his unique sight, he would never have noticed it. No other cultivator present, not even the four leaders of Spiritual Awakening, could have detected that barrier hidden beneath the lava.

The barrier remained perceptible for less than a second.

Just sufficient time for Kyrian to ascertain its location, form, and hue.

Then, the lava surged anew, completely obscuring it.

But that fleeting glimpse was enough.

‘I found it.’

His expression shifted subtly, a spark igniting in his eyes, the corners of his lips turning upwards in a faint smile.

Ming Hai's tomb.

It was real.

And Kyrian had discovered its location.