As the lord of the Netherworld, Zu'an had a natural familiarity with death, even though the Netherworld had not yet been established.
The mountain below looked brightly lit, but it was so quiet that it seemed particularly eerie in the darkness.
The goddess of Wushan looked grave: "Everyone, be careful."
He immediately urged the clouds beneath his feet to fly faster.
As they drew closer, everyone felt a wave of heat wash over them, and even the clouds beneath their feet began to dissipate.
Zuan frowned, as if nothing good ever happened whenever he encountered this kind of sweltering heat.
With a flick of her sleeve, the Goddess of Wushan dispersed a wisp of water vapor, making the clouds beneath her feet even more solid. She then explained, "Shouyang Mountain is actually a huge volcano. The Wu tribe here used their superb craftsmanship to transform this volcano into a giant furnace, which can be used to forge some peerless divine weapons."
He then pointed to the surrounding peaks: "At the same time, he diverted the earth fire from the main peak to the seventy-two surrounding peaks, turning them into countless smaller forging platforms."
At this moment, Zaun and the Mermaid Queen had already seen the Shouyang Mountain in the very center, with a huge circular opening at the top spewing out dark red light, staining this area with a layer of blood.
The seventy-two smaller peaks surrounding the area were distributed in a peculiar pattern, and Zuan could even faintly sense some pale blue ancient runes deeply engraved on those mountains.
Clearly, all of this, together with the main peak Shouyang Mountain, forms a grand formation that allows the entire system to operate safely and smoothly.
The air was filled with a strong, pungent smell, a mixture of sulfur, metal, and various precious materials. Over the long years, countless divine weapons and powerful artifacts have been born here.
As they drew closer, the Goddess of Wushan could no longer keep up with the rate at which the clouds beneath their feet were being consumed, so the group had no choice but to stop outside a mountain peak.
Zuan gazed at the faintly visible arrays in the sky and said in a deep voice, "The defensive array here is still functioning normally. If we had continued flying in, it might have triggered a counterattack."
"That's strange. If the defensive formation is still functioning normally, how could something have happened here?" The Mermaid Queen looked around. They had been in the Shouyang Mountain area for quite some time, but they had not seen any local witches.
“It is indeed a bit strange. If it were an invasion by foreign enemies, it would be impossible for there to be no trace of battle at all.” The Goddess of Wushan pondered and said, “Over the years, because the Shouyang Wu tribe is skilled in forging, it has not only accumulated a lot of wealth, but also provided a lot of precious materials by powerful people from all over the world who came to forge weapons.”
"Over countless years, Shouyang Mountain has accumulated a vast amount of wealth. So it has attracted the covetousness of outsiders. However, the Shouyang witches are quite powerful in combat and skilled in weapon forging. The defensive formations they create can deter those with ill intentions."
"After several infamous evil cultivators invaded this place and died tragically, no one has dared to touch it since."
As she spoke, she kept looking around, clearly not quite understanding what was going on.
"Let's go inside and take a look." Perhaps only Zuan in the arena truly understood what was going on; the aura of death inside was incredibly dense.
The Goddess of Wushan nodded. She had been here once before, so she led the way.
The seventy-two outer peaks are connected to each other and to the main peak by suspension bridges.
Red streams flow beneath the bridge, but upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that they are not rivers at all, but rather flowing lava.
Puffs of smoke, made from sulfur and other materials, floated in the air.
The main body of the suspension bridge is made of black iron, and the top is covered with wooden planks. It gets quite hot underfoot when you walk on it, and who knows why it didn't catch fire in this environment.
As Zuan pondered what kind of formation the Shouyang Witch Clan was using to ensure the safety of these suspension bridges, he suddenly noticed that the Goddess of Wushan, who was walking ahead, had suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
"nothing."
The Goddess of Wushan continued walking forward, casually fanning herself and wiping the fine sweat from her forehead. Her collar was slightly lower than usual, revealing her porcelain-white skin.
“Brother Zu, why are you suddenly so slow-witted? I am a sea creature, and her Wushan Mountain is the embodiment of clouds and mist. Obviously, neither of us naturally likes this kind of environment.” The Mermaid Queen tugged at his sleeve and quietly reminded him.
Seeing a strand of her hair stuck to her cheek and her face flushed, Zu An suddenly realized what was going on. He used Snow Phoenix's power slightly, and the surrounding air became cooler, with snowflakes even faintly visible falling.
"So beautiful..." The Goddess of Wushan subconsciously reached out and caught a snowflake, but immediately realized it was Zu An's thoughtful care, and nodded slightly, "Thank you, young master."
"Thanks to the goddess's help along the way, what is my little favor?" Zu An smiled.
Feeling the other party's warm smile, the Goddess of Wushan dared not look into his eyes and quickly looked away: "Young master seems to be proficient in several elemental abilities at the same time, which is very rare in the world."
Zuan was taken aback: "Does that mean everyone only knows how to use one ability?"
In fact, later cultivators often specialize in one elemental ability. Could it be that the more powerful ancient era was the same?
“Not everyone is like that, but the witch and demon races in the world have powerful bloodline power, so generally speaking they only specialize in one ability and make it the best they can be. But you cultivate several completely different elemental abilities at the same time and don’t seem to be affected. Is this the learning talent of the human race…” As the goddess of Wushan was speaking, the group had already arrived at the main peak in the middle.
The entire Shouyang Mountain has been transformed into a nine-story forging platform. Nine is the ultimate number, which is why many buildings in the world like to follow this rule.
Each floor is a huge space, with many forging stations, markets and residences, making it more like a small city.
The higher one goes, the smaller the space becomes, but the size of the forging platform and the exquisiteness of the residences increase significantly, clearly representing status and position within their tribe.
They crossed the suspension bridge and arrived at the fifth floor, but this floor was deserted, making the vast city seem like a ghost town.
They continued upwards until they reached the top floor before stopping.
Although this floor is much smaller than the eight floors below, it is still a huge plaza. In the very center of the plaza stands a bronze statue of a man, hundreds of feet tall, holding a giant hammer. If one were to see it on a normal day, one would marvel at the exquisite craftsmanship of its carving.
But now, none of the three people's attention was on them; instead, they stared at the ground, their faces pale.
Countless people were kneeling on the ground, and judging from their appearance and attire, they were clearly the Shouyang Witch mentioned by the Goddess of Wushan.
They knelt in the square, seemingly praying to the bronze statue, each with a faint smile on their face.
What was supposed to be a heartwarming scene became eerie because they were devoid of any life.
The Mermaid Queen subconsciously moved closer to Zu An: "Brother Zu, they look just like the people from the Chang clan."
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