Dragon Clan gacha, start as the top player in Takamagahara

If the Tama River is a great river flowing on the ground, then the Akagi River is surging deep within the earth, more than 300 meters below the surface.

Two long rivers, one on the ground and one underground.

In this underground river, the Akaki River is formed by the confluence of two different streams. One stream flows through Mount Fuji, where the water is heated to boiling point as it passes through the magma layer. The other stream originates from the deepest part of the earth, making the water exceptionally cold. This convergence of hot and cold water produces a thunderous roar that is extremely loud and can be heard by the outside world. Therefore, this valley is also known as the Thunder Valley.

There is also a legend that the mythical Yamata no Orochi drank from eight rivers with its eight heads, one of which was the Tama River. The mythical creature was later killed by Susanoo, and its crimson blood soaked the surrounding area for hundreds of miles. The ground soaked in Yamata no Orochi's blood turned crimson and has not faded for thousands of years, so it is also known as the Crimson Soil.

As we descended, we could see the crimson river water surging up through the porthole, making it feel like we were traveling through hell.

However, neither Genjiro, who was used to killing, nor Hayashi, who had absorbed Zenitsu Agatsuma's spiritual world which was also full of demons, appeared very calm in the face of this scene. At least they did not faint from fright like ordinary people.

"Wow, it's bubbling! The water must be really hot!" Lin Ye asked, his face full of surprise.

Yuan Zhisheng nodded. "That's right. This is river water that has flowed through a magma layer. It's like it's been heated extremely quickly. The temperature is at least 100 degrees Celsius. But don't worry, we're in a deep-sea submersible now. It can easily withstand temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius, so the boiling water outside won't affect us."

Yuan Zhisheng comforted Lin Ye as he spoke.

In his view, Lin Ye was probably worried about the quality of the deep-sea submersible, but this emotion was very normal. If he didn't have rich combat experience, he would also feel a little uncomfortable in this situation, especially when he couldn't even see his surroundings clearly.

However, Lin Ye seriously rubbed his chin, looking at the bubbling red water outside the porthole, and couldn't help but sigh: "Oh, but what I mean is that eating hot pot in this kind of boiling water must be really exciting, right? Soak some tripe in it, dip it in some chili sauce, tsk tsk... After all, this is water that flows through underground lava, and maybe those magmas are tens of thousands of years old."

I've also heard of a face mask that's supposedly made with volcanic mud, and it's said to prevent breakouts. By the way, is your skin oily?

When Lin Ye looked at him seriously and asked if his skin was oily, Yuan Zhisheng felt a black line slide down his forehead.

When Lin Ye mentioned using boiling water from outside to cook hot pot, he sensed something was wrong, and later, speechless, they started talking about face masks.

Seriously, what does my oily face have to do with lava? And can this guy stop thinking so wildly? We're diving deep underground to hunt that third-generation species, not playing house.

Genjiro wanted to cover his face.

He felt that his initial worries seemed unnecessary. Lin Ye wasn't afraid at all; instead, she enthusiastically started explaining all sorts of strange and wonderful things to him.

"Sorry, I forgot your skin is very delicate, you shouldn't get pimples," Lin Ye said seriously.

Genjiro suppressed the urge to beat the other person up, then suddenly remembered something, "Oh right, I heard you were going to beat me up last night?"

Lin Ye's eyes widened. "Good heavens, did I say that? Why are you making such baseless accusations?"

Genjiro said with certainty, "I was planning to go see Erii last night, and I heard everything outside the secret room. You still want to deny it?"

Lin Ye's expression became unnatural. "Then you must have misheard. What I meant was that I would beat up anyone who bullies Erii. I didn't name names."

"Oh? But I think I heard you calling me 'your brother' over and over again. How about this, since I didn't get enough of a fight with you last time, and I didn't even activate my Dragon Bone state last time, how about we have another match sometime?" Yuan Zhisheng suggested with great interest, even looking eager to try.

"This one……"

Just then, the entire submersible shook violently.

"arrive."

The 3D data model on the dashboard clearly shows that the submersible has reached the bottom of this underground river tributary, and the vibration just now was the collision between the two.

"Young Master, you have now reached the tributary riverbed. Because of the branch, there is no rushing water where you are now, and the water temperature is 36 degrees Celsius. You can prepare to exit the cabin."

Miyamoto Shigeo's calm voice came from the wireless earphones they were wearing.

The submersible is equipped with a signal amplifier-like function, with one end connected to the outside world via an embedded cable. Sounds from the outside world are then transmitted back through the equipment on the submersible. As long as Yuan Zhisheng and Lin Ye are within 100 meters of the submersible, they can clearly hear the sounds coming from inside the submersible.

Looking out the porthole, the crimson river flowed slowly, but it did not submerge the submersible; it appeared to only reach an adult's knees.

With a hiss, the submersible's hatch popped open.

Lin Ye didn't come down immediately. Instead, he touched the crimson water with his finger and found that it was indeed over 30 degrees Celsius before he felt relieved and stepped down.

Yuan Zhisheng, who was standing to the side, saw Lin Ye squat down and dip his finger in the river water, afraid that the other party would suck that little finger into his mouth and then say, "It tastes really good, let's have hot pot."

The two stepped out of the submersible one after the other and into the crimson river water, which flowed gently, just above their knees.

If we only consider the length of this underground river, it must stretch for at least ten kilometers. And along this long river, there are dozens of branches, making the underground river called the Red Demon River intricate and complex, with unknown dangers hidden in each channel.

The hiding place of that pure-blooded dragon, which is suspected to be a third-generation species, is in one of the branches.

According to the family's data analysis, this dragon never moved. Moreover, based on the fluctuation data it emitted, the peaks rose and fell in a very regular pattern. At the highest peak, based on Kaguya's data simulation, it was determined to be from the third generation.

The reason why the data graph fluctuates is just like this third-generation species is hibernating or sleeping. Therefore, it is very likely that the pure-blooded dragon hidden here is a third-generation species.

A breeze, seemingly from nowhere, carried a foul odor, indicating that something like protein had been decomposed in the river, and was still decomposing; otherwise, such a strong smell would be impossible.

The white beam emitted by the submersible was extremely penetrating, reaching even tens of meters away. It was possible to see many phosphorus and nitrogen compounds in this huge cave, which were obviously the excrement of a large number of organisms. This proved that the biological density in the Akagami River was very good, and that a complete ecosystem had been established.

However, the so-called complete ecosystem here is not a simple food chain, but a food chain composed of dragon subspecies and dragon-blooded creatures.

They must all be creatures with dragon blood, and they may have even undergone terrible mutations. After all, to survive in such a harsh and extreme environment, even a tiny leech could be deadly.

Because this leech has been enhanced by dragon blood, it may have become a dragon leech. Once it burrows into a human body, it may instantly suck the skin dry. The higher up the food chain a creature is, the more terrifying its strength becomes.

At the very top of this food chain is most likely that pure-blooded dragon of the third generation.

One can imagine that for thousands of years, this third-generation species remained in a dormant state for most of the time, sleeping for hundreds or thousands of years after each meal. However, each meal it ate was probably terrifying, almost causing the extinction of the local ecosystem. It wasn't until thousands of years later that the ecosystem recovered, and then the dragon began to feast again, and so on, in an endless cycle.

Every time is like eating at a buffet, you can always get your fill.

This time, the Snake Clan detected fluctuations from the underground river, and these fluctuations were more intense than before; otherwise, they wouldn't have been detected by the research institute. This also shows that this third-generation species has successfully fed this time and may no longer choose to hibernate, but may be preparing to go out and cause trouble.

But this guy is hundreds of meters underground. If such a huge tunnel hadn't been dug, how would he have gotten out? Yes, this guy might have unleashed a massive shockwave and blasted himself out from hundreds of meters underground.

If that happens, it would be equivalent to detonating a bunker-buster missile deep underground. And with the full-scale outbreak of the third generation, there would be at least more than one, or even a whole wave. At that time, it would definitely cause violent fluctuations in Mount Fuji, and might even directly trigger the eruption of this supervolcano.

Therefore, for whatever reason, this third-generation species must be eliminated, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.

This pure-blooded dragon doesn't care about the devastation of life. Its purpose in awakening this time is to bring disaster to the human world. Dragons are inherently cruel creatures, treating their own kind this way, let alone those of other species.

Lin Ye also observed the ecosystem inside the cave, but he knew that things here were not so simple.

The so-called ecosystem here may not have been conceived by the first three generations of the species; it might have been the work of that sacred remains.

Even that third-generation species wasn't at the top of the food chain. The truly top-level creature should be that sacred remains, the bones of a god. However, it wasn't a skeleton that had been dead for countless years. It was like a parasite, capable of parasitizing the bodies of powerful beings and controlling their bodies.

In their previous life, the Snake-Headed Eight Families prepared over 5,000 tons of mercury in order to kill the god, intending to revive the mythical story of Susanoo killing Yamata no Orochi. Moreover, to ensure a decisive victory, they also threw countless thermite incendiary bombs into it. The explosion could instantly unleash a temperature of over 3,000 degrees Celsius, causing even mercury to vaporize into dense mercury vapor, which would then inflict massive damage on the dragons until they died.

However, the truth is that the god was only injured. That's right, it was only injured. Those who died were the dragon-blooded creatures. The true god was not afraid of those deadly corrosive attacks. Even while injured, it seemed to break out of its cocoon and be reborn, completing another evolution of itself.

"Young Master, you have approached the slumbering place of the third generation of beings."

After wading in the river for about ten minutes, Miyamoto Shigeo's notification came through the headphone channel.

Lin Ye and Yuan Zhisheng exchanged a glance and both breathed a sigh of relief.

They continued onward, remaining vigilant at all times. It would be a lie to say they weren't nervous in the face of a third-generation monster. The two of them communicated less and less along the way, focusing entirely on preparing for the upcoming impact.

After all, there must be other dragon-blooded creatures in the place where the third generation of dragons live, but they did not encounter any attacks until they arrived here.

Could it be that the third-generation creature ate once not long ago and then fell into a deep sleep again?

The idea was somewhat unrealistic, so the two shook off the thought and continued cautiously forward.

According to Miyamoto Shigeo's latest hint, after going a maximum of 20 meters forward, you will pass a cave corner where the so-called third-generation species is sleeping.

As the two moved forward, they soon sensed the terrifying oppressive feeling emanating from the cave. A sound like thunder rang out. At first, they thought it was thunder caused by the alternating flow of hot and cold water, but now it sounded like snoring.

Goodness, you can totally imagine a giant dragon coiled up and snoring, sounding like it's sleeping soundly.

An invisible pressure filled the space like water. The closer one got, the stronger the pressure became. Fortunately, both of them were strong, so they were not afraid of the impact of this pressure. This was the main reason why they descended. If it were anyone else, they would have trembled or even knelt down under this impact, let alone launch a fatal attack on the third generation inside.

This oppressive aura is also the pure-blooded dragon's self-defense mechanism. If someone attacks without warning, this dormant dragon will wake up immediately and launch a fierce counterattack.

However, it was precisely because of the release of this aura that the monitoring system of the external research institute was able to detect the traces of this dragon in the underground river.

The two walked closer and closer until they were about to reach the corner. Lin Ye and Yuan Zhisheng exchanged a glance and nodded to each other.

They then silently arrived at the cave at the corner.

Surprisingly, as they walked in from around the corner, the thunderous snoring in front of them abruptly stopped.

Everything happened so suddenly that both of them felt caught off guard.

They instinctively looked up.

Suddenly, a series of menacing golden eyes lit up in the darkness.

One, three, ten, fifty, one hundred...

Densely packed, the cave ceiling and surrounding stone walls were filled with these menacing gazes, carrying a raging tide of bloodthirsty killing intent.

Especially the last, fierce gaze, the huge golden pupils hanging in mid-air like a pair of millstones, was none other than that third-generation pure-blooded dragon. This guy was twenty meters long, and he had already woken up at some point, obviously waiting for the two of them to appear here.

"Damn it! They're all cunning old bastards! They really think we're a buffet!"

Lin Ye's face darkened, and he couldn't help but swear.

Even Genjiro couldn't help but twitch his forehead.

Seeing this scene, it was clear that this third-generation creature was extremely cunning and treacherous. It had been awake for a long time, but pretended to be snoring. In reality, it was secretly plotting to gather all its power here, just waiting for the two of them to arrive, and then kill them here. It was obviously treating them as a buffet that had been delivered to its doorstep.

The enormous third-generation creature looked over coldly, its ferocious mouth curling up into a human-like sneer.

It roared at the two of them first, like a sudden clap of thunder, or a signal to attack.

The next moment, accompanied by ferocious roars, these dragon-blooded creatures rushed towards Lin Ye and Yuan Zhisheng like a raging tide.

For a moment, the headphone channel was eerily silent.

Countless ferocious roars and ear-piercing sounds of claws tearing filled the air, violently assaulting everyone's eardrums, but there was not a single human voice on the channel.

"Chishin, please answer! Chishin, please answer!"

Inside the rain shelter, Tachibana Masamune spoke solemnly into the microphone, but there was no response from the earpiece.

Everyone present was shocked.

Although I didn't see the scene, it must have been engulfed in a frenzied battle, and their young master was fighting a bloody war, at risk of being torn to pieces by countless dragon-blooded creatures at any moment.

"Master, give the order!"

Miyamoto Shigeo said in a deep, decisive voice.

Behind him, a row of so-called staff members suddenly tore open their white work clothes, revealing sophisticated diving equipment.

To prevent any accidents from happening to their young master, Genjiro, the Snake-Headed Eight Family secretly prepared another contingency plan.

That means sending powerful members of the family, equipped with diving gear, down into the underground river to rescue the young master, or giving the young master enough time to escape while they go down and finish off the dragon.

However, this behavior is undoubtedly a suicide mission, because these members do not have a deep-sea submersible to assist them in diving. They are only wearing diving suits and equipment, and they must first face the strong water pressure, as if they are carrying a fake mountain on their backs.

Moreover, the underground currents are swift and turbulent. A person in them is as insignificant as a grain of sand in the desert, and could be swept away at any moment. If they hit a rock, they would be smashed into mincemeat in an instant. In addition, the underground conditions are complex. If they encounter an attack from a dragon-blooded creature, it would be difficult to fight back while wearing diving equipment. Even if they could fight back, if the equipment breaks, they would still die.

In other words, if even one out of ten members of the clan manages to reach the underground river to rescue their young master, Yuan Zhisheng, it would be considered incredibly lucky.