Several hours after Gu Long killed the Rank 5 Radiant Moon Magus and departed for the surface world of the Magus World, he encountered his first problem.
In truth, it was a relatively big problem because he noticed that he miscalculated the distance between the mansion of the Magus and the Volcano Area; it was quite a distance, and even he, with his current speed and power, would spend several days to arrive there.
Even though Gu Long could be considered an unmatched expert in the surface world and even in the 1st Layer of the Subterranean World, he didn't dare to get arrogant about it because his father always drilled him to be cautious.
Arrogance was the doom of even stronger and more peerless experts who fell to their own arrogance and were killed by much weaker opponents exploiting their weakness.
This was something that he always needed to be wary of, and his father had drilled him thoroughly about this.
"I am still several days away from the Volcanoes where the entrance to the Subterranean World is located."
Gu Long muttered while he decapitated another magical beast; there were a lot of them on the road because the Subterranean World was a very dangerous place.
Countless magical beasts up to even Tier 7 roamed around the 1st Layer.
Even in the memories of the Magus he killed, there were several forbidden zones where, apparently, Tier 8 magical beasts were slumbering, and according to the ancient legends, some of those were close to becoming Beings of Law.
Bad news for Gu Long was the fact that the entire volcanic area where he was heading was one huge forbidden zone where magical beasts known as Scarlet Flame Serpent were slumbering.
It was a terrifying magical beast that reached the peak of its rank and was halfway to the Being of Law.
Several centuries ago, it almost drove the civilizations of the 1st Layer of the Subterranean World to extinction when some of the greedy Magi woke it from its sleep when they were searching for some precious ores within the depths of volcanoes.
"According to the latest information, it should still be sleeping in the core magma... but its Nucleus should be helpful to my advancement..."
Gu Long was right now in a deep conflict about what to do with the Scarlet Flame Serpent. Naturally, if he wanted, he could effortlessly sneak past the sleeping creature and leave for the surface world, but at the same time, he was tempted to fight the snake and kill it.
He was pretty much confident in his strength and with the equipment he had in his disposition, he was even more confident of killing it.
As it was halfway to the Rank 7 Being of Law, its Nucleus should be of immense help to his further advancement as he himself was only a step away from ascending to a new form.
Due to his peculiar path, Gu Long needed to put in several times more worth of effort compared to his peers because, similarly to his father, he was walking the Path of Law Godhood as the master of Kadath Universe called it.
"No risk, no gain..."
He analyzed the risks and gains and in the end, he decided to take the risk. He could gain much more from it if he killed the Scarlet Flame Serpent. With that, he continued his journey while occasionally hunting for some stronger magical beast.
Because this was Subterranean World, it was impossible today when it was day or night, but Gu Long decided to pack it up for today and found a nice spot, where he created a small provisionary camp.
He took out the corpse of the highest-ranked magical beast that he hunted today, which was peak Rank 5 one and started dissecting it. It took him several minutes to completely dissect the humongous beast before he started roasting it upon the open fire.
Gu Long had a huge appetite, which was mainly attributed to his dragon racial characteristics. So for him, it wasn't many problems with eating several hundred kilograms of food.
When he was well fed, he erected some really powerful protective barriers and some wards around his camping ground and went to sleep. It never hurt to be careful about the situation, and Gu Long was paranoid enough that he could be attacked by someone in sleep.
The next day, he woke up and continued with his journey to the volcanic area. When he was walking further and further, Gu Long noticed the climate change, as it was getting hotter and hotter.
With his speed, he was quickly approaching the volcanic area, and after four days of running at the best of his abilities, he finally arrived at the volcanic area.
The entire area where the eye could see was filled with active or dormant volcanoes as well as other volcanic features, mainly volcanic lakes, geysers, and fumaroles. Magiome was rising to the surface, or over the hotspots, where the magma from deep within the earth melted through the crust.
Countless, weaker magical beasts that preferred this type of environment were roaming around, enjoying the conditions that the place brought to them.
From time to time, one could observe some of the more active volcanoes erupting high in the air and spawning magma and volcanic dust everywhere.
"It is more lively than I thought..."
Gu Long scanned the area carefully because he didn't want to wake up the Scarlet Flame Serpent, who was sleeping underneath the biggest and most aggressive volcano which was in the center of the area.
He hid his aura and even used a few high-tiered stealth spells to hide his presence, not to attract attention from the magical beasts as he was advancing to the center of the volcanic area.
For a powerful dragon like him, this environment was nothing, or on the contrary, it was even beneficial for him, as he could use it to temper his physique in extreme conditions.
His dragon eyes were searching for the paths and scanning the place as he soon arrived in front of the biggest raging volcano in the entire area.