Yue Yang walked for a long time in the underground Ant Hole, but he had not found the place indicated on the map where volcanoes were supposedly present.
Of course, he could have moved in a much faster speed. However, the Ant Hole which was more twisty than a labyrinth made Yue Yang’s head hurt. The one thing that made Yue Yang sweat most was that most of the markings that the mercenaries had left were either duplicates or incorrect. He had walked in circles and went through a lot of pointless routes. Although Yue Yang did not really care about the time, he was afraid that Yue Bing would be worried waiting outside. She should not by any means enter the Ant Hole to find him, otherwise she would be in danger.
He had walked for an unknown amount of time in the underworld.
Finally, Yue Yang heard the flow of running water, and a blackened underground river appeared in front of him.
Following the markings on the map, Yue Yang waded upstream from the shallow riverbed, then walked for nearly half an hour before finding some traces left behind by the mercenaries on the wall.
Leaving the riverbed, he entered a small hole. After going in a few hundred metres, he found that the temperature of the surrounding had risen noticeably, and the air was thick with the smell of sulphur. Yue Yang increased his speed and walked out of the small hole. To his awe, an extremely huge underworld came into his view.
In a remote area, a low volcano was glowing with lava.
Below the tiny volcano, there was a hot spring lake with steam rising slightly. This caused Yue Yang to be astonished. There were many small islets floating like a chain of islands on the hot spring lake, with each islets having many different kinds of weird plants growing on them. How could there be such a thriving growth in this kind of underworld? Yue Yang had seen this phenomenon before. The Hard-shelled Dragon Fruit was completely different from the Dragon Fruit found normally in the desert. Its leaves, the ‘Sky Measuring Ruler’, were thinner and stiffer. Not only that, they were deep green in colour and was as strong as steel plates. It took root ashore deep into the bottom of the hot spring, absorbing huge amounts of energy as stockpile for its fruits. It required a duration of a thousand years in order to float to the surface of the water. At that point of time, the Hard-shelled Dragon Fruit would slowly separate itself and begin to reproduce itself… It was absolutely impossible to harvest the Hard-shelled Dragon Fruit as and when one wanted to. The only time they could was when it matured, then use a specialised medical scissors to cut it off.
The Twin Dragon Scissors* was a type of medical scissors. Not only that, it was the trademark product of the Smithing Grandmasters, Jiang Clan.
(*Shiro: Previously translated as Double Dragon Shears, I’m changing it to Twin Dragon Scissors as it is easier to remember…)
In the world, there were many plants that could not be cut by ordinary blades. For example, the Obsidian Bamboo, the Iron Bone Scale Star Grass, the Hard-shelled Dragon Fruit and many others.