Great Demon Sun Wukong

The great pit, formed by the eye sockets of the Underworld Venerate's skull, truly seemed bottomless. Dao Zhun had flown downward for a full three Chinese hours and had still not reached the end. Nevertheless, the aura filled with Destructive Will grew increasingly intense. Even Dao Zhun felt extremely uncomfortable. The destructive aura, like formless snakes floating in the air, drilled into his body through all 36,000 pores, prompting Dao Zhun to continuously circulate the spatial attribute Spiritual Power within him, thus blocking that destructive force from invading his body.

When Dao Zhun had been flying downward for a quarter of a Chinese hour, complete darkness had surrounded him, with only the light from the hole above shining like a Luminous Pearl. After three Chinese hours, Dao Zhun didn't even know how far he had descended. He only felt that the oppressive force of Destruction was now almost tangible, as if he were struggling to fly through a swamp.

Another three hours passed, and just when Dao Zhun was about to give up, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared in the unrelenting darkness, which greatly shocked him. If he had continued descending into the endless darkness, he might have given up, as he had other important matters to attend to. Although he had convinced himself to come down and explore, he could not accept this kind of aimless descent.

Right after the glimpse of light, more brightness became detectable, and the air gradually grew hotter. Could he have possibly reached the core of the Patrolling Celestial World? Impossible, considering the size of the Patrolling Celestial World, even flying for a whole day and night wouldn't be enough to reach its core. However, the unmistakable scorching heat of lava made it seem undoubtedly like the core's magma.

After another quarter hour, Dao Zhun finally stopped. Then, with his hands forming Magical Decrees, he slowly concealed himself within the Void. Just moments earlier, he had sensed the presence of living beings below, so out of caution, he had to hide his form—since the situation here was unclear, it was best to observe carefully from the shadows. After concealing himself, Dao Zhun didn't continue the direct downward approach; instead, he flew horizontally to the wall of the pit and began to descend slowly, back against the wall.
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The firelight below was now blazing brightly, almost as bright as daylight, and the concentration of fire elements in the air was incredibly dense. Dao Zhun even discovered numerous fire attribute Spirit Stones formed on the walls of the pit, all of superior quality. Continuing downward with caution, Dao Zhun halted again because there was no further path below.

Indeed, beneath Dao Zhun was a lake of magma, boiling and emitting a searing heat. Had he reached the bottom? That couldn't be right. He had distinctly sensed the presence of living souls earlier, yet it seemed he was now at the bottom. And by the size of the Patrolling Celestial World, how could there be magma here? This wasn't a volcano; something was definitely amiss. As the saying goes, an abnormal situation likely harbors a demon. After calming down, Dao Zhun realized that these roiling lava flows were just a Blinding Trick.

Perhaps it was meant to prevent someone from uncovering the secrets lying deeper, or it could be due to a function of the Realm. Regardless, although the magma he saw was real, it was only a single layer. Dao Zhun could distinctly feel a vast space beneath the magma. For others, the only options might be to break through or find a way to tunnel through the wall to bypass it. But for Dao Zhun, it was a simple matter. With one step forward and the next step retracted, Dao Zhun had already appeared behind the layer of magma.

Then, Dao Zhun froze, gazing blankly at everything below. He hung in midair, stunned. With Dao Zhun's status, breadth of vision, and experience, very few things in the world could leave him in such a state. Being one who had survived the great war a million years ago, Dao Zhun had experienced the greatest turmoil in this world, and his mental fortitude was unmatched by ordinary people. Yet, seeing the scene below, Dao Zhun still froze.

What he saw, if one must describe it, was akin to a massive arms factory. What shocked Dao Zhun to a standstill was not the arms factory itself but the person he saw in the depths, millions of miles below—a very familiar figure: Underworld Venerate!

Yes, it was Underworld Venerate, the one whom he had sliced into nine with the Formless Divine Sword and whom the Pioneers had sealed away within the Sealing Stone along with themselves. Now, the Underworld Venerate stood before his very eyes, but the Underworld Venerate he saw was significantly different from a million years ago. What Dao Zhun observed first was the disparity in size. The Underworld Venerate, who had fought the Pioneers in his true form, was a giant capable of stepping on the sun and moon and grasping the stars. Their battle took place in the Endless Void.

It's not just the Chaotic Giant Clan; even the current Patrolling Celestial World was like a chicken egg in the hands of an adult compared to the Underworld Venerate, not to mention the colossal body of the Pioneers. Now the Underworld Venerate seen by Dao Zhun was about ten thousand meters tall. This was, of course, just his estimate because the Underworld Venerate was sitting cross-legged on the ground at the deepest part of the cave, which made it hard to judge his actual height. But with the upper body alone being three to four thousand meters tall, his overall height was probably around ten thousand meters.

Although this Underworld Venerate is incomparable in size to the original one, its height and stature are still unimaginably gigantic by the standards of the current world. Only beings like the Chaotic Giants or certain naturally colossal Divine Beasts could possibly match it in size with a height of ten thousand meters.

In the Cultivation World, or this Fang Universe, it's not the case that the larger the size, the stronger the being. However, when a creature of immense size also reaches the pinnacle of cultivation, it is truly terrifying. Larger size often means poorer aptitude, and during combat, being big usually implies slower speed, which is a disadvantage. But this is not always true; those born with massive size yet possessing exceptional talent and potential can become almost invincible within their level once they reach a certain stage of cultivation.

Of course, even a Daluo Golden Immortal-level cultivator from a minor world can transform into a giant tens of thousands of meters tall, not to mention those whose strength is at the level of Dao Patterns or even Nine Patterns Supreme. But there is a fundamental difference, for instance, when Sun Wukong transforms into the Heaven-Supporting Giant Ape and stands fifty meters tall, and his opponent is a regular person around two meters tall. Naturally, his opponent could also use Divine Skills and Spells to increase their size to fifty meters or even taller, but that would be a meaningless act.

If one does not naturally have such height, transforming into that form will not increase one's strength; it might even decrease. The Underworld Venerate that Dao Zhun is looking at now, if its combat power exceeds Dao Zhun's, then even if Dao Zhun transforms into a ten-thousand-meter-tall giant, he still would not stand a chance and would definitely be defeated even faster.

Above the body of this Underworld Venerate, Dao Zhun can see that many members of the Underworld God Army are still busily at work. It is evident that the lower half of the seated Underworld Venerate is fully dressed, with a battle skirt, knee guards, and war boots, while the upper body remains bare. On the other side of this massive underground space, there is a colossal smelting furnace at least a thousand meters large. Next to the furnace, there are two areas; one filled with piles of various ores and metals, their radiating spiritual power and coloration indicating they are surely all treasures of supreme rank.

In another area, there are many sets of brand new armor and weapons, all neatly arranged. Just as Dao Zhun was about to shift his gaze back to the seated Venerate, he suddenly noticed that behind the neatly arranged armors on the wall, there was another vast space, which was not visible at first due to the absence of light. Upon closer examination, in that equally enormous space, there was half a piece of armor so large it was almost absurd.

With this sight, Dao Zhun fully understood. It was obvious, without guessing, that the Underworld God Army was using this massive pit as an armory, melting ores with the heat from the magma at the core of the Patrolling Celestial World and refining metals to create weapons and armor. In addition to that, they were forging an incredibly huge suit of armor for the ten-thousand-meter-tall Venerate. From the looks of it, the lower part had been completed, while the upper half of the armor and helmet were still unfinished.

Furthermore, Dao Zhun could tell from the quality and grade of the fire attribute Spirit Stones on the surrounding cave walls that this large hole had probably existed for almost a hundred thousand years, meaning the Underworld God Army had been operating here for that long. And in those hundred thousand years, they had only completed two-thirds of the Venerate's armor. What did that imply? It meant that the armor being fashioned for the Underworld Venerate was profoundly formidable.

Using a somewhat vulgar analogy, it would be like a pit into which one had been defecating for a hundred thousand years; that would surely drown a large swath of land, let alone forging a suit of armor over such an extended period?

What truly left Dao Zhun aghast was the revelation that the seated Underworld Venerate didn't seem to be a corpse, but rather, he seemed to still be alive!

Just then, an idea suddenly formed in Dao Zhun's mind, a plan had already taken shape in his heart! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it on Starting Point (qidian.com) with a recommendation or a Monthly Pass. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)