Chapter 423 - Arriving at the Sinkhole in Shennongjia!
Chapter 423: Arriving at the Sinkhole in Shennongjia!
They finally arrived close to Shennongjia over an hour later.
There were people everywhere when they looked over. Many cars were parked at the bottom of the mountain. There were luxury cars including Lamborghinis and Ferraris. The cheapest one would be a Bentley.
Countless people in odd attires were walking up the mountain.
“Wow, there are so many people!” As Yu Lian walked out of the car, surprise filled her beautiful eyes.
Zhizhi, on the other hand, was not surprised. She said dutifully, “Sister Yu Lian, I think they’re here for the Longmen Convention which is held every three years. I heard there will be immortals coming.”
“Immortals?” Yu Lian failed to react.
“That’s right, immortals!” Zhizhi nodded in excitement. “I heard from my dad that these immortals have power. Not only can they ride on clouds, but they can also call upon the rain and the wind. It’s not an exaggeration to call them gods.”
“Hehe!” Yu Lian chuckled out loud. “Ride on clouds? As powerful as gods? Zhizhi, I can’t believe that you buy all this mumbo-jumbo. Passersby might think that you’re telling me a fairytale.”
“I’m speaking the truth!” Zhizhi panicked.
“Alright!” Yu Lian said, “Zhizhi, what you said only exists in movies or novels. Listen to me. There are no immortals in this world. Believe in science, understand? If there really are people like that in this world, wouldn’t it be chaotic?”
“You’re right!” Yu Lei nodded.
The Fire Phoenix was a special force unit. As members of the Fire Phoenix, the most powerful thing Yu Lian and Yu Lei had ever seen in the unit was someone slapping a nail into a plank, and that only was only possible after years of practice.
Zhizhi looked as if she was in deep thought. She could not help but glance at Ye Chen who stood aside in silence. “Brother Ye, do you think there are really immortals in this world?”
“Err…” Ye Chen smiled calmly. “There should be!”
“There should be?” Yu Lian rolled her eyes at him and said angrily, “No means no. What do you mean by ‘there should be’? Zhizhi is just a kid. Stop giving her the wrong idea. Those immortals that she’s talking about are scammers.”
Ye Chen was speechless.
At that moment, from behind them came a voice that they could not discern was friend or foe. “Young lady, I don’t like what you said!”
They turned their heads to see a lady in black martial arts attire holding an old man in traditional Chinese attire over. They walked very slowly. The old man was approximately 60 years old, and he wore a jade ring on his thumb.
Yu Lian frowned and said, “I don’t think I said anything about you, old man.”
The old man said in between tears and laughter when he arrived before them, “You didn’t say anything about me directly. However, you were criticizing me when you called us scammers.”
“I was talking about immortals. Don’t tell me that you’re an immortal!” Yu Lian looked annoyed and she scoffed after saying that.
“I’m Yuan Qitai from Xianyang. This is my disciple, Deng Chan. I’m not an immortal, but I think that I’m pretty well-versed in feng shui and spells.” The old man shook his head lightly and proceeded, “I failed to hold back after hearing that you humiliated the spell world earlier.”
“Aren’t people in feng shui scammers?” Yu Lian chuckled. She had never believed in feng shui and fortune-telling. Although she had seen a Battle Mechanic from Xieling earlier, they were just scammers to her.
Yu Lei glared at her immediately and smiled at Yuan Qitai in an apologetic manner. “Sorry, old man. My sister is hot-headed. Please don’t mind her.”
Yu Lian still had a smirk on her face.
The lady, Deng Chan, who was next to Yuan Qitai, could not help but comment in fury after noticing Yu Lian’s smirk. “What a bunch of hillbillies!” She stretched her arm and waved at Yu Lian as she spoke.
Yu Lian and Yu Lei were shocked as if they had just met an enemy. They thought she was going to attack.
However, Yu Lian noticed there was a red butterfly hairpin in Deng Chan’s hand. She could not help but touch her head by instinct. To her shock, she realized that there was nothing on her head. She said angrily, “How did you get my hairpin?”
“Haha!” Deng Chan laughed in disdain, then she blew at the butterfly hairpin. Within the blink of an eye, the hairpin turned into a red butterfly that flew into the sky and flitted around them, flapping its wings.
Yu Lian was dumbstruck watching that. Yu Lei and Zhizhi were also in disbelief.
“I’ll give it back to you!” Deng Chan waved at the butterfly in the air. The butterfly returned to her hand and turned into a hairpin again. With a toss, the hairpin returned to Yu Lian’s head accurately. Deng Chan had pride on her face. “I guess you guys know what’s a spell now, hmm?”
Yu Lian felt embarrassed.
On the other hand, Yu Lei suppressed his shock and clasped his fists at Deng Chan and Yuan Qitai. “So, both of you are masters. We must be blind to not have realized that. Please forgive us.”
“Don’t worry about it!” Yuan Qitai smiled calmly with the elegance that a master should have.
Deng Chan glanced at Ye Chen by instinct. She frowned when she realized there was no surprise on his face at all. The pride within her vanished.
“Let’s go!” Ye Chen spoke when Zhizhi was going to ask Deng Chan to teach her the spell.
Zhizhi glanced away reluctantly and led them to the other side of the mountain road. It was a small path that connected deep into Shennongjia.
Yuan Qitai glanced at where the few of them left and shook his head. He said, “Xiaochan, don’t show off before others again. Understand?”
“Master, they were humiliating you. I was just mad!” Deng Chan was upset.
“Let them be. Remember, don’t show off before others. Otherwise, you’ll only bring bad karma and trouble upon yourself.” Yuan Qitai sighed softly and lifted his eyes to take a look at the crowd before them. He said, “It seems people from the other three sects aren’t here yet. Let’s check out that sinkhole then.”
…
Half an hour later, they arrived at the lowest point of the mountain.
Zhizhi wiped her sweat and pointed beneath. She said, “Sister Yu Lian, Brother Ye, that’s the sinkhole that has erupted down there.”
The few of them looked at where she was pointing. They were surprised to see a giant hole on a barren land 20 meters beneath them.
The hole was approximately ten meters in diameter. It was bottomless while the soil within a kilometer around it was burnt. If one were to look carefully, they would notice that the air above the hole was rippling and distorted. Clearly, it was caused by the high temperature of at least 50 degrees Celsius.
“It’s so hot!” Yu Lian took out a napkin and could not stop wiping the sweat on her face. However, she realized there was no ending to that. Her cheeks were like ripe apples.
Yu Lei nodded as he was drenched in sweat.
“Sister Yu Lei, let’s go. It’s too hot here!” Zhizhi took out her water bottle and took a huge gulp. Steam was rising above her head.
Yu Lian could not help but look at Ye Chen and say sharply, “Sir Ye, you should be done checking it out. Let’s go, or we’ll be killed by the heat. The temperature is just too high here.”
Zhizhi and Yu Lei looked at him.
“No, you guys can leave. I’ll go check it out!” However, to their shock, Ye Chen shook his head lightly. He walked toward the road beneath without waiting for them to react.