Having made his decision, Xiao Yan no longer hesitated and resolutely headed back. He followed the summons cautiously, yet encountered no powerful magical beasts along the way. It seemed there were none above the fifth tier on this route.
After traveling for another half a day, he followed the summons to the base of a volcano. Though somewhat puzzled, Xiao Yan still climbed to the crater. Looking down from its rim, he saw nothing but rolling magma, blazing red and giving off waves of heat. Having never seen a volcano before, Xiao Yan was deeply shaken.
The crater lay more than a hundred meters above the surface of the magma, yet Xiao Yan could still feel the heat waves and had to circulate his battle qi to cool himself. Curiously, he tossed in a branch. Before it even touched the magma, it burned to ashes. Xiao Yan's scalp tingled as he imagined what would happen if he fell in.
Standing at the crater's edge, Xiao Yan became conflicted again. He could sense that the unknown thing calling him was beneath the magma, but he did not dare jump in, afraid that once he went down, he would never come back up. Yet the summons grew increasingly intense, and Evil Flame churned more eagerly, as though urging Xiao Yan to hurry down.
"Ah... screw it, if I die, I die. The original Xiao Yan dared to swim in magma when he wasn't even as awesome as I am. With my strength as a Dou Huang, taking a bath down there shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Xiao Yan said uncertainly.
He wrapped himself in layer after layer of battle qi gauze, adding several layers in all. Only after deciding it was enough did he form battle qi wings and leap into the