111: Chapter 103 Listening

The roar of the magma was constant, like the rhythmic heartbeat of some ancient creature—not fast, yet never stopping.

When Pei Duo landed, the heat seeped through the soles of her shoes directly into her feet, permeating the gaps between her bones. She looked up; above her, the orange-red liquid magma flowed slowly, baking the entire space into a blast furnace. The wails from afar drifted up from the extreme depths, one after another, without direction.

Xu Mo scanned the surroundings and pushed up his glasses.

"Eighteenth Layer." His tone was like he was reading a list. "A closed space independent of any external rules; none of our current methods will work here."

The meaning was clear: the jade pendant had lost connection, it was outside the jurisdiction of Fengdu, and no help could be requested.

Lin Sa didn't speak. She looked around at the terrain, glanced at her slightly trembling right hand, and clenched it into a fist.

"Split up and find an exit. We'll meet at the main passage in half an hour."

With those words, she turned and slipped into a side path on the right, her figure vanishing in an instant into the shadows where the magma's light could not reach.

Xu Mo walked to the left.

Pei Duo stood where she was, glancing down at the silent black jade pendant. She made no move, instead looking up to examine a line of crooked inscriptions on the stone wall directly in front of her. The handwriting was too archaic, looking neither like the Ghost Seal Script common in the Underworld nor like any script circulating in the human world, yet it seemed strangely familiar. She reached out, her index finger tracing the air in front of the stone surface, her mind flipping through those thick, heavy tomes from the archives.

Xu Mo walked alone in the straight passage. After seven or eight minutes, once the wails were distanced, the surroundings became unnervingly quiet.

The cavern ahead suddenly opened up.

A massive white silhouette was huddled by the rock wall, breathing steadily. Its rhythmic rise and fall in the orange-red light made it look like a breathing snow mountain.

Xu Mo stopped at the entrance.

An evaluation was completed in his mind within half a second: its size did not match any known Hell Guardians, and since it hadn't attacked proactively, it wasn't a purely aggressive entity—or, it simply didn't feel it was necessary to act. The latter was more dangerous.

He began to back away, crouching low and sliding the soles of his boots lightly against the ground, suppressing the range of every movement to the limit.

One step. Two steps. On the third step, his boot caught a piece of gravel, making an almost negligible, fine rustling sound.

The white silhouette moved.

Two golden pupils opened in the magma's light, locking directly onto his position.

"A lowly soul reaper—where did you get the nerve to step into this great one's territory?"

The voice was deep. The moment each word landed, the stone slabs beneath his feet vibrated slightly, as if something were squeezing out from the gaps in his bones.

The hair on Xu Mo's body stood on end as his mind rapidly scanned all mythological records regarding Eighteenth Layer of Hell—not a single one matched.

He steadied his voice and bowed. "I have entered this place by mistake. For the offense of disturbing you, I ask—"

The white wolf stood up.

Its massive body fully extended with the movement, blocking the magma's light from the entire cavern. Where its paws landed, the stone slabs shattered into powder like paper.

"Did I say you could leave?"

A front paw rose, and the tip of a claw slammed down with a pressure that distorted space. Xu Mo rolled to the right. The claw strike smashed a bowl-deep pit into the stone, and the aftershock sent him flying several meters. He only managed to steady himself by bracing his hands against the ground.

The white wolf glanced at him. There was no anger in its eyes, only a deeper sense of amusement.

This thing wasn't taking its attack seriously. This realization made Xu Mo feel that he was one step closer to death than before.

Lin Sa arrived, following the vibrations of the ground.

She saw the second paw rise and, without hesitation, whipped out the soul hooking rope to intercept it, using her entire body weight to pull in the opposite direction.

The screech of twisting metal pierced the side passage. The counter-shock traveled back through the chain; the web of Lin Sa's thumb split open, and she spat out a mouthful of hot blood. The force of the impact sent her flying, and she only stopped by stabbing a dagger into the rock wall.

But that instant was enough. She drew her blade, pulled Xu Mo up, and the two of them rushed back-to-back toward the main passage.

Behind them, the white wolf's footsteps were unhurried, leisurely following them with a certain rhythm, as if it were taking a stroll.

Between gasps, Xu Mo lowered his voice. "It's playing with us. Against an entity of this level, we have no means—"

"I know." Lin Sa gritted her teeth, the blood from her hand already soaking half her sleeve. "Just keep running."

The two rounded three bends. The white wolf maintained its calm pace, even stopping during the gaps when they caught their breath, staring from a distance with those golden eyes—

Until they rounded a wide stone arch corner, and Xu Mo suddenly braked.

Pei Duo was standing in the passage behind the corner, looking up at the inscriptions on the stone wall, her fingers tracing the air in front of her chest as if silently copying the words.

Xu Mo didn't have time for explanations and directly pressed down on her shoulder. "There's something behind us, run!"

Lin Sa caught up, pointing toward the corner out of breath. "White... giant wolf... chased us the whole way—"

Before she could finish, the area behind them fell into an eerie silence.

Three seconds, five seconds, eight seconds.

The expected airwave didn't come, the ground-shaking sound of paws didn't come, and even that rhythmic breathing had stopped.

The suffocating pressure at the corner vanished silently in an instant, even faster than it had appeared. Then, the sound of hurried, light paw-steps approached with a brisk rhythm, carrying the characteristic bounce of a small animal.

A white ball of fluff emerged from the corner.

It wasn't a divine beast.

It was a Samoyed. With fluffy fur, a round head, and triangular ears standing straight up, it trotted over to Pei Duo and stopped abruptly. Its dark, bright eyes examined Pei Duo seriously—

The dog's entire body lowered as it proactively bowed its head, tucking its tail between its hind legs in a perfectly standard posture of obeisance—a carbon copy of how Xu Mo bowed every time he was before Pei Fei.

Then, it let out a clear "Woof," full of fawning intent.

Xu Mo froze in place, remaining silent for a full five seconds. He took off his glasses, looked at the lenses carefully, put them back on, and confirmed once more the Samoyed bowing on the ground.

There was nothing wrong with the lenses. The divine beast had indeed turned into a pet dog, and the pet dog was indeed bowing to Pei Duo.

Lin Sa looked down at the web of her thumb; the bleeding hadn't stopped, and the fine cracks on the back of her hand were still seeping. She looked up, meeting the excessively bright gaze of the Samoyed directed at them.

She was silent for about five seconds before squeezing out a voice: "...So, the thing that made me spit blood is this dog?"

Xu Mo slowly closed his slightly agape mouth and chose his words carefully: "...Logically, yes."

Pei Duo didn't laugh. She squatted down and looked directly into those dark, bright eyes. Those eyes were clear and transparent, hiding a depth that spanned long years, completely different from ordinary canines.

She was silent for a moment, her voice a bit softer than usual: "...Diting?"

The Samoyed's ears suddenly perked up, and then it wagged its tail slightly.

Xu Mo's brain paused for 0.3 seconds, then spun rapidly—

Diting. A divine beast of the Buddhist sect, the mount of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. This beast can listen to the hearts of all things in the world and knows all the secrets of the Three Realms, yet it cannot speak or tell; it only listens and then informs Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

This divine beast had appeared in Eighteenth Layer of Hell. This closed space, independent of any divine system, was guarded by Diting.

Which meant—

Xu Mo's gaze slowly swept from Diting to the surroundings, to the depths of this hell where magma surged and wails were unending.

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's fundamental vow was "If Hell is not empty, I will not become a Buddha." His divine beast was here right now. From the moment the three of them fell, the master of this place might have already known.

Pei Duo reached out and gently patted Diting's round head. The Samoyed quietly accepted it, resting its chin on the back of her hand.

Xu Mo spoke, his tone extremely calm—so calm it didn't sound like he was describing something normal: "Pei Duo, the name you just called implies that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva might be somewhere—"

"Yeah, watching us," Pei Duo cut in, her tone as if she were saying the weather was nice. "Are you two okay? There's so much blood on your hands."

Lin Sa: "...I'm fine."

Xu Mo pushed up his glasses and didn't speak again.

Diting lazily changed its posture, resting its fluffy head on the tip of Pei Duo's boot, its tail sweeping the stone floor every now and then. The orange-red light of the magma warmed its white fur, making it look just like a real pet dog.

But its golden eyes remained open, staring toward some invisible direction deep within the passage.

Then, its tail stopped. Its ears leaned forward slightly, its nose twitched as it sniffed, and it let out a very short, low whine—not like a warning, but more like a response to some silent call.

Xu Mo followed its gaze and looked up.

The roar of the magma hadn't changed, and the wails hadn't changed, but in the orange-red flow overhead, a faint golden light had appeared at some unknown point.