Zhang Hao looked at Xiao Kuang apologetically and said, "Brother Xiao, I'm sorry, I've implicated you."
Xiao Kuang glanced at Zhang Hao and burst into laughter, saying, "It's not your fault. Actually, I was already mentally prepared. Compared to the tree demons, Ferocious Beast tide, and the Death Swamp earlier, this place is the most dangerous. This flame would appear even without your companion. It's just a matter of time. I just wanted to try my luck!"
Although he said that, Xiao Kuang's expression still carried a trace of regret.
Zhang Hao looked at the fiercely spewing ground fire ahead and asked Xiao Kuang, "Brother Xiao, do you know the origin of this Mountain of Flames? Why does it spew ground fire here?"
Xiao Kuang glanced at Zhang Hao, nodded slightly, and said, "I once heard that beneath the Mountain of Flames in the Death Swamp, a fire demon was once sealed. The fire demon feeds by devouring the Souls of living beings. The more it devours, the more powerful it becomes. However, in recent centuries, the Ninth District has been closed, and fewer and fewer Martial Warriors come here to pass. I'm worried that this time, the fire demon will definitely not let us go."
Zhang Hao understood. He also felt a bit depressed. He understood Xiao Kuang's meaning: in recent centuries, the fire demon hadn't had a good meal, and now so many Martial Warriors had entered at once. It was like a starving man suddenly encountering a delicious feast; naturally, it wouldn't let them go easily.
"What level is that fire demon?" Zhang Hao asked, looking at Xiao Kuang.
Xiao Kuang thought for a moment and said to Zhang Hao, "If my guess is correct, the flame should be above the Martial King level."
"Hiss!"
Hearing this, Zhang Hao couldn't help but gasp. If it was a fire demon of this level, that would be too terrifying. Above Martial King, wasn't that the Martial Grandmaster level? As far as he knew, only the Deans of the Three Great Academies were Martial Warriors of the Martial Grandmaster level. Others, such as the Deputy Deans, were only at the level of Martial King (high stage) or Half-Step Martial Ancestor.
For Zhang Hao at this moment, Martial Grandmaster was absolutely a legend!
Zhang Hao suddenly thought of something and asked Xiao Kuang, "Brother Xiao, you said that fire demon is sealed underground, will it make a move itself?"
Xiao Kuang shook his head and said, "That's impossible. According to the records in our Family's ancient texts, after the flame was sealed, its main body absolutely cannot leave the underground. That powerful being set up a Restriction. As soon as the flame comes out, it will be killed by the Restriction. Unless its power has increased to a point where it can ignore the Restriction. However..."
"However what?" Zhang Hao asked Xiao Kuang.
Xiao Kuang nodded slightly and said, "Over these years, it has also cultivated many monsters using its own essence blood. Some of these monsters are even at the Martial King level."
"Ah!"
Looking at Xiao Kuang, Zhang Hao didn't think he was speaking idly. Clearly, what he said was highly probable.
Zhang Hao was also thinking about how to leave this place at this moment. Although he had many items, they were simply difficult to use. For example, the teleportation ring. This teleportation ring was definitely a Divine Artifact, but it also had usage Restrictions. It must have coordinates, which must first be placed in a fixed location. Only then can one teleport. At this moment, Zhang Hao hadn't used these coordinates, so naturally, he couldn't teleport.
"Look quickly!"
The ground on the Mountain of Flames ahead began to tremble violently. The earth cracked inch by inch, and endless flames spewed up from underground.
The heat of the flames caused the temperature on the platform where Zhang Hao and the others were located to instantly rise by dozens of degrees.
Zhang Hao and the others were instantly drenched in sweat. They knew that even if they weren't burned to death, they wouldn't last long just from this heat. At such a scorching temperature, without enough water sources, they would also die from dehydration.
At this moment, Zhang Hao was pondering how to escape. But after thinking of countless methods, Zhang Hao quickly negated them himself.
Suddenly, Yun Qiuyu pointed ahead and said urgently to Zhang Hao, "Zekai, look over there."
Hearing this, Zhang Hao knew something was happening and immediately looked towards the place Yun Qiuyu was pointing. His expression suddenly changed, because in that place, endless flames were wreaking havoc, and finally, they strangely began to merge together.
"What is this?" Seeing this, Zhang Hao's expression changed drastically.
Xiao Kuang seemed to have seen something terrifying, and he said with a look of horror, "This... this is a Flame Giant."
"Flame Giant?" Zhang Hao looked at Xiao Kuang, feeling a bit puzzled.
Xiao Kuang quickly explained, "This Flame Giant is formed by the fire demon condensing its own essence blood. Its body is condensed from extraterrestrial star stones, which are extremely hard. Ordinary weapons can't do anything to it. Moreover, the Flame Giant will emit terrifying flames all over its body. Touching them means certain death!"
Hearing Xiao Kuang describe this Flame Giant as so terrifying, Zhang Hao slightly furrowed his brow and asked Xiao Kuang, "Xiao Kuang, what level of combat power does this Flame Giant actually have?"
Xiao Kuang thought for a moment and said somewhat uncertainly, "Although I haven't seen it with my own eyes, according to my estimation, this Flame Giant should have the combat power of Martial King first stage to Martial King second stage. Its strength lies in the flames emitted by its body and the toughness of its body, but it also has weaknesses."
"What weakness?" Zhang Hao's heart stirred, and he quickly asked.
Xiao Kuang smiled bitterly and said, "This weakness would be fatal elsewhere. But in this place, it's unsolvable. Because in this place, we simply cannot leave this platform, unless we are Martial Kings who can fly in the sky..."
Hearing this, Zhang Hao's mind flashed, and he blurted out to Xiao Kuang, "Brother Xiao, what... what did you just say?"
Xiao Kuang looked at Zhang Hao's excited appearance and thought to himself, "Is this guy crazy?"
"I mean, we simply cannot leave this platform..."
Zhang Hao quickly shook his head and said, "No... not that... I was talking about the next sentence..."
Xiao Kuang was stunned for a moment, then continued, "Okay, we're not Martial Kings. If we could fly in the sky, we wouldn't be afraid of this Mountain of Flames. But that's clearly impossible. How could a Martial King come to participate in this assessment?"
Although Xiao Kuang was now a Great Martial Master Eight Heaven, it seemed like he was only a few steps away from Martial King. However, little did he know that 99% of the Martial Warriors in the entire Northern Region were stuck at the Great Martial Master Realm. Great Martial Master and Martial King were absolutely two different concepts and life levels.
Xiao Kuang was feeling a bit depressed. But Zhang Hao, on the other hand, became happy.
"Haha! Haha! Haha... Why didn't I think of that? For others, flying in the sky is very difficult, but Young Master is an exception!" Zhang Hao seemed to have thought of something and burst into laughter.
Xiao Kuang looked at Zhang Hao in confusion, thinking to himself, "Is this guy really crazy?"