The Dao Sovereign of Shennong

"Hmm? The Lava Plains are in frenzy?" Zuo Zizhi was sipping his wine when he noticed one of the mirrors trembling, and he immediately looked over.

In fact, it wasn't the mirror itself shaking, but the surface of the mirror rippling as if a stone had fallen into a calm lake, stirring waves.

"Brother Zuo, no need to be alarmed," Lu Bang didn't even open his eyes. "With three suns in the sky, a first to third-level frenzy is normal. The earth veins of the Lava Plains are inherently unstable."

Zuo Zizhi glanced at the red bead next to the mirror, and sure enough, it flashed three times.

However, just as Zuo Zizhi was about to look away, the red bead flashed once more.

"Hmm? A fourth-level frenzy?" Zuo Zizhi put down his cup and looked up at the rising sun. "Brother Lu, there's no fourth sun in the sky. Is a fourth-level frenzy normal?"

Zuo Zizhi had not been in the Ten Suns Cave Heaven for long, so his familiarity with the place was not as deep as Lu Bang's.

Of course, his mastery of spells was also inferior to Lu Bang's.

Zuo Zizhi was from the Tianshi Sect, and while he had a passable grasp of geomancy spells, he wasn't an expert.

Lu Bang, however, was proficient in both, and he also had a deep understanding of mechanics and constructs.

"A fourth-level frenzy?" Lu Bang opened his eyes. "Are all three suns aligned with their cardinal positions?"

"No," Zuo Zizhi shook his head.

"Let me check if there's an issue with the Earth Mirror Device." Lu Bang walked over to the mirror, inspecting the numerous mechanical formations behind its smooth surface. "No problem... then something unusual must be happening in the Lava Plains."

"Let me see what's going on."

After some adjustments by Lu Bang, the image in the mirror stabilized. Although the screen still rippled slightly, the view zoomed out, allowing them to clearly see the affected area.

"Got it, Brother Lu! We can see it now," Zuo Zizhi called out from the front. "Hmm? A new recruit is casting a spell."

"Oh?" Lu Bang walked over and looked at the mirror.

In the mirror, they saw Zhao Xing's figure.

As he cast his spell toward the earth veins, the rocky layer of the Lava Plains split open, causing large amounts of lava to spray into the air, forming arcs that eventually rained down on the ground.

The crack stretched over ten li long, with the widest part spanning over a hundred meters, and even the narrowest sections were twenty to thirty meters wide.

"Hmm? That's the Earth-Splitting Technique?" Lu Bang observed the scene with great interest.

"The Earth-Splitting Technique can have such power?" Zuo Zizhi asked in confusion. "That doesn't seem right. A recruit shouldn't have the strength to create such a massive rift."

"It's probably the Five Elements Earth-Splitting Technique," Lu Bang speculated. "The power of the single-element Earth-Splitting Technique is fixed, and its strength at various levels is well-known. But the Five Elements Earth-Splitting Technique is unpredictable."

"Moreover, this area already has weak rock formations, and this person's spell just happened to disrupt the balance, triggering the frenzy in the earth veins."

"Should we send someone to fix it?" Zuo Zizhi asked.

"No need," Lu Bang shook his head. "In a few hours, the fourth-level frenzy will subside on its own. Besides, with the three suns about to reach their cardinal positions, any repairs would only maintain the situation at a third-level frenzy, which isn't much different."

Zuo Zizhi hesitated, "But what about the latecomers?"

Lu Bang laughed, "We didn't cause the fourth-level frenzy. This kid used his abilities to block others from passing through the Lava Plains. It's none of our concern."

"If the latecomers aren't strong enough, they can take a detour. If they know they can't handle it but insist on pushing through, then they'll die, and it's better for the entire army that such fools are weeded out early."

Zuo Zizhi nodded. He was more gentle by nature and didn't like seeing new recruits get hurt, but since Lu Bang was the chief officer overseeing the new recruit reporting process, his decision was final.

Besides, Lu Bang had a point. If someone wasn't strong enough to get through and still forced their way, any consequences would be their own fault.

"Why aren't you going back to sleep, Brother Lu?" Zuo Zizhi asked as he saw Lu Bang return to his seat and start flipping through the roster again.

"That kid is interesting. I want to see what his name is," Lu Bang replied as he scanned through the roster.

The crack in the Lava Plains was certainly due to the inherent instability of the area, but the effects of the Five Elements Earth-Splitting Technique couldn't be ignored.

The Five Elements Earth-Splitting Technique was notoriously unpredictable. Most people wouldn't even bother learning it—who would want to mess with such an unreliable spell?

As Lu Bang checked the spell level of the caster, he became intrigued.

"Either this person is extremely lucky, or his spell proficiency is above seven transformations... Ah, found him."

Lu Bang's finger stopped on a name in the roster. Every time he touched a name, the corresponding appearance, age, and background of the individual appeared in his mind.

"Zhao Xing, from Gucheng, Nanyang County, selected by the Shenwei Army. Hmm? He was selected through the official recruitment process?" Lu Bang raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"An official transitioning to active duty and selected by the Shenwei Army?" Zuo Zizhi was also a bit taken aback when he heard this. "That's rare."

"It's not just rare," Lu Bang shook his head. "It's extremely rare. With the Shenwei Army's standards, officials wouldn't normally appear in their recruitment pool. Among the nine stationed armies in the Ten Suns Cave Heaven, officials transitioning into active duty usually wouldn't even be on their radar."

"This time, out of more than 10,000 recruits, most were selected from academies, Daoist institutes, or lower-tier corps."

"Even selecting people from local armies is uncommon."

Lu Bang had only intended to casually browse, but he found Zhao Xing's recruitment method quite unusual. He had skipped the regular Shennong officer examination and was directly brought into the Shenwei Army?

He didn't even have any prior experience in official duties. He had just transitioned to active service and was immediately selected.

"Could it be that Marquis Boping has found another treasure? There was already Chen Shijie, who was quite impressive..."

Thinking of this, Lu Bang made a mental note of Zhao Xing's name.

Three quarters of an hour after Zhao Xing cast the Five Elements Earth-Splitting Technique.

Ouyang Song had made a detour and finally found his way to the edge of the Lava Plains.

"Damn it, I finally got my bearings. The directions were all wrong, but at least I've found a landmark now."

Ouyang Song checked his map to confirm his location.

"With my strength, taking this route through the Lava Plains shouldn't be too difficult. It'll also be much faster."

Confidently, Ouyang Song stepped into the Lava Plains and started making his way forward.

Not long after, more people began to arrive at the edge of the Lava Plains.

Some chose to avoid the area once they realized what it was.

Those who were confident in their strength, however, decided to take the direct route.

Only about 30% of the participants chose to pass through the Lava Plains, while the remaining 70% opted to take a detour.

After all, if the Lava Plains became impassable, they could be overtaken by those behind them.

"Whoo~"

Ouyang Song, using his cloud-stepping technique, leaped through the Lava Plains.

The heat around him was intense, and sweat began to bead on his forehead.

As he progressed, Ouyang Song started to feel the strain.

"This isn't right. The Zhenhai Army's information said the Lava Plains' earth vein frenzy should only range from first to third level."

"Now, the three suns haven't even reached their cardinal positions, so why is the frenzy so strong?"

The Golden Raincoat provided protection against fire and water.

Ordinary heat wouldn't be able to penetrate it.

But now, the Golden Raincoat couldn't fully resist the heat's invasion.

Ouyang Song felt his vital energy consumption increasing as he had to expend more energy to fend off the heat.

"Whoo~"

He cast the Wind Summoning spell, but the wind that came was hot.

Ouyang Song considered resting for a moment and casting Cloud Summoning to create some rain.

However, in the Lava Plains, he could only summon clouds within a 50-meter radius, and only 10 meters above the ground.

"This is ridiculous. I'm using a mid-tier seven-rotation cloud spell..." Ouyang Song sighed, but he still summoned a bit of rain to cool himself down.

After resting for a bit, he continued forward.

However, the further he went, the more wrong things felt.

The clouds above his head grew smaller and smaller.

Two quarters of an hour later, Ouyang Song stared wide-eyed at the fissure before him, with columns of lava spewing out.

"Damn it! How am I supposed to cross this?!"

By now, the earth fire had reached its peak. Forget about summoning rain—Cloud Summoning itself was being compressed to its limits, barely holding its form before dispersing.

"I've been walking for half an hour only to find out I can't get through?"

Ouyang Song was deeply frustrated.

He stubbornly followed the fissure to the left, trying to find a narrower point to cross.

In this environment, even the effects of his cloud-stepping boots were weakened.

The boots' short-range flight ability was highly dependent on the surrounding environment.

With the lava river over 100 meters wide, he feared that halfway across, the cloud beneath his feet would disperse.

Ouyang Song had no intention of taking a bath in lava.

"The narrowest part is still 34 meters, and there are intermittent lava eruptions." Ouyang Song frowned. He didn't want to take a detour.

He had already walked this far and used up a lot of his vital energy. Taking a detour now?

That would make him much slower than those who had chosen to take the detour from the start.

"This spot will have to do."

Ouyang Song observed the lava's pattern and judged that he had a 70% chance of making it across. He slowly retreated, then sprinted forward.

"Shh, shh, shh~"

Layers of mist appeared beneath his feet, but as soon as the mist formed, half of it dissipated, becoming scorching hot.

Still, Ouyang Song gradually rose off the ground, stepping on the mist, and flew toward the other side.

"Boom!"

Two columns of fire suddenly shot up at an angle, forming an archway or perhaps a fiery net that blocked Ouyang Song's path.

"Gale!"

Ouyang Song quickly summoned wind, directing it at the fire columns.

Before the fire columns could converge, he squeezed through a gap.

"Thud~"

Ouyang Song tumbled to the ground, landing heavily in the dirt.

"Hiss~"

Ouyang felt his face burning. When he looked at his hair, he realized that his hair had been singed and curled from the heat.

"Thank goodness I made it. If I hadn't, my life would've ended here..."

He didn't dare rest. Ouyang Song quickly got to his feet and continued onward, as the ground beneath him was too hot to sit on.

However, after walking for a while, Ouyang Song found another fissure ahead!

"You've got to be kidding me..."

Ouyang Song's mouth hung open. Was this even playable?

"Stop. This path is impassable."

At that moment, a voice called out from ahead. Ouyang Song squinted and saw a tall young man, who looked even younger than himself.

"I am Ouyang Song from the Zhenhai Army. May I ask who you are, brother?"

"Zhuo Li of the Lieyang Army."

The young man didn't even turn around, only staring at the flickering fire pillars ahead.

"Brother Zhuo, what's going on with the Lava Plains? According to the information, with three suns in the sky, the frenzy should be no more than third level."

"Now the suns haven't even aligned, so why is it so difficult to move forward?"

Finally meeting someone, Ouyang Song couldn't help but vent his frustration.

He felt that something was off and thought that the official information might be wrong.

"It's not the information that's wrong. Someone passed through ahead of us," Zhuo Li replied, pointing at the crack in the ground. "The edges of the lava rocks match up perfectly, meaning they split recently."

"Under normal circumstances, even if cracks appeared in the Lava Plains, the edges wouldn't be this smooth."

"The earth veins have been disturbed, and there are traces of spellcasting."

Ouyang Song was furious, "Damn it! Someone crossed and destroyed the bridge behind them!"

Zhuo Li remained silent, thinking that venting rage was pointless.

He had originally considered teaming up with Ouyang Song to cross the lava river, but now it seemed that Ouyang wasn't going to be much help.

"Brother Zhuo, it looks like you have some understanding of geomancy. Do you have... hey?"

Before Ouyang Song could finish speaking, Zhuo Li leapt forward, leaving him behind.

He ran off again?!

What's wrong with these people? I was still talking, but they're not even a bit friendly!

"Sigh, now I've got to figure out how to cross this river..." Ouyang Song sighed, starting to search for a way across. "Damn it, I better not find out who did this! Such a dirty trick!"

At the Shennong Monitor's Taicang Institute.

The red bead on the Earth Mirror Device continued to flash non-stop.

At this point, Zuo Zizhi had forgotten to put down his wine cup, staring at the Earth Mirror Device in shock.

The red bead had already flashed five times!

The Lava Plains had reached a fifth-level frenzy!

"The latecomers taking that route are in trouble now," Lu Bang said gleefully, "A fifth-level frenzy, ha! If their mid-tier Cloud Summoning spell isn't perfected, it'll be useless under such conditions."

"Even Wind Summoning won't disperse the fire energy. Instead, it'll fan the flames."

"With three suns aligned, the consumption of vital energy will increase significantly."

Zuo Zizhi sighed, "Won't Zhao Xing cause trouble by doing this? Brother Lu, should we intervene?"

Lu Bang snorted, "No need. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility. Let's see which general dares to question me."

Having accepted the responsibility for this training, Lu Bang wasn't afraid of any scrutiny. Being appointed by the military to train the recruits of the Nine Armies, he was no pushover.

"I'll leave it to your judgment, Brother Lu, but those new recruits are in for some bad luck..." Zuo Zizhi said, watching the mirror.

Those who hadn't started yet were fine, as it was becoming obvious that something was wrong with three suns in the sky.

But many had already made it halfway.

These people were in a difficult position—they couldn't go forward due to the cracks, but they couldn't go back either!

All they could do was watch helplessly as they became trapped in the plains.

"I hope no one dies," Zuo Zizhi muttered, silently mourning for the unfortunate latecomers.