“If that happens, I will really be able to recover back to the Dao artefact tier. However, that is unrealistic. No matter how lucky a person may be, there is no way that person could end up getting such a Heaven-defying amount of benefits. That we were able to find more than one Immortal artefact fragments during this trip is already something that I am feeling pleased about. Right now, what you should be considering is your strength.” 

“Your rate of cultivation is still horrendously slow.” Finally, Tower said it.

“What, this is still considered slow?” Chen Feng grew dissatisfied. When compared to other cultivators, his rate of cultivation was already a defiance of Heaven.

“If you can cultivate at this rate without any resources, then you can indeed be considered as a genius. However, you have so many resources at your disposal. Spirit stones, cultivation techniques, magic treasures, medicinal herbs, you have it all. And yet, after all this time, you have yet to enter the Human Immortal stage. Tell me, are you not slow?” Tower said coolly.

“Stop it. I am not going to banter with you about this. You should just hurry up and find the location of other Immortal artefact fragments.” Chen Feng waved his hand, not wanting to continue with the discussion.

He was aware that even if his rate of cultivation was twice as fast, Tower would still have complaints about it.

“There are no Immortal artefact fragments nearby. However, there is a swamp 500 kilometres ahead. He he! There might be something good there,” Tower said with a snicker.

“What exactly is it? Can’t you be more specific about it?” Chen Feng rolled his eyes.

“You’ll know when you get there.” There was a rather peculiar smile on Tower’s face.

Chen Feng pursed his lips to the side. He had spent a long time with Tower. Thus, he had also gained some understanding of Tower’s behaviour. Unquestionably, there was something good up ahead. However, there will unquestionably be some troubles waiting for him as well.

A distance of 500 kilometres was nothing much for Chen Feng. In just one hour, he was already inside the swamp.

Strange. This is a swamp. Why is there such a thick power of fire here?

 Chen Feng shook his head quizzically. Although the spiritual energy there was somewhat chaotic, he was still able to quickly sense the oddities within his surroundings.

Looks like there is something unusual about this swamp

. Chen Feng began slowing down his advance. Since entering the swampy area, he could sense not just chaos in the surrounding streams of spiritual energy but also a slight deviation with the force of gravity there.

Sou!

Chen Feng’s figure fluttered forward before coming to a halt before a small pool of mud. Next, he stretched his hand out and grasped, but nothing happened to the pool of mud. After one breath’s worth of time, the surface of the pool of mud shook lightly and something charged out to fly into Chen Feng’s grasp.

It was a reddish-black stone. After inspecting it in detail, Chen Feng said smilingly, “It’s a piece of Five Elemental Darksteel! Not to mention, it is a high-grade one. No wonder there is a power of steel here. Looks like there will be other ores here as well.” 

Next, Chen Feng kept moving forward, occasionally stopping here and there. Surprisingly, he was able to gain quite a lot there. He managed to find some top-grade ores that he had never seen before. Unfortunately, not a single one was something that the Longevity Tower needed.

Are there only some metal-type ores?

 Chen Feng kept glancing around, his gaze sweeping through the muddy area. Suddenly, a formidable suction force emerged from the ground to envelop Chen Feng, desirous of pulling him down.

“What is this?!”

Chen Feng stretched his hand and quickly slapped down with it, causing the surrounding mud, covering a radius of 100 zhang, to burst outwards. The mud evaporated in mid-air and a massive passageway appeared beneath Chen Feng.

It looked like the opened mouth of a colossal monster.

What a formidable power! It is strong enough to devour the average Sky Human stage cultivator. However, the thing below is likely not a yao beast.

 Chen Feng’s eyes shone with light and he was able to clearly determine everything happening over 100 zhang below him. He did not detect any yao beasts.

I’ll head down and check it out.

After making up his mind, Chen Feng’s figure moved down. After he entered the passageway, the suction force acting on him grew even stronger. Due to that, his figure began shaking.

“So hot!”

After descending through over 100 zhang, Chen Feng felt the temperature around him spiking and heatwaves rose up from beneath him.

The rising heatwaves here are already comparable to the magma underground. There must surely be something in here.

 The primary energy inside Chen Feng flowed without respite to stop the surrounding heatwaves.

Due to his surroundings, even his eye technique was affected somewhat. Thus, Chen Feng warily observed his surroundings as he descended.

After descending through over 1,000 zhang, Chen Feng stopped upon a protruding rock. A perfunctory glance revealed that the rock weighed at least tens of thousands of jin. Due to the heatwaves, it became red in colour. And yet, it was not showing any signs of melting.

This is a special type of rock that exists underground. Not even magma can melt it. However, there is still quite some distance between here and the layer of magma. How could this type of rock exist here? 

Hmm, that means this rock was ejected out from below.

There is a mysterious power down below. It is likely not something from the core of this planet.

Chen Feng dared not be careless. His domain unfurled and the domain power within kept flowing and transforming to form a small world, blocking and absorbing the surrounding streams of energy.

The more time he spent on cultivation, the deeper Chen Feng’s understanding of the domain became. Every time he levelled up, he would feel that the domain power was simply too profound of an existence. The domain, formed from eight fundamental forces, Heaven, Earth, wind, lightning, mountains, lakes, water and fire. After reaching a sufficiently high level, a cultivator would be capable of transforming the domain to create their personal world.

Naturally, there was still a long way to go for Chen Feng to accomplish that. However, the defensive power that he could create by bringing out his domain was already comparable to that of his body armour. 

At full power, not even a Human Immortal can casually break through Chen Feng’s defensive barrier.

“Tower, do you know what is down there?” Chen Feng secretly asked.

“Of course,” Tower answered lazily.

Chen Feng shook his head. Upon noting the tone that Tower was using, he decided against asking more. Instead, he sped up, his domain power surging continuously around him. His entire figure became like an arrow speeding down below.

The heatwaves coming from down below gradually grew more ferocious and it seemed as though Chen Feng was moving through underground magma.

Boom!

After descending for an indeterminate amount of time, Chen Feng finally saw surging magma. The searing magma there kept churning as it bubbled and fiery energy waves rose up to assail Chen Feng, causing crackling sounds to ring out from his domain.

This is somewhat peculiar. I have cultivated in magma before, but that magma is far inferior compared to the magma here. Additionally, I can sense a hint of danger.

 Chen Feng considered.

Gulu! Gulu!

The magma surged at an even greater rate and a dull sound rang out from deep within the magma.

Is it about to erupt?

 Chen Feng was suddenly reminded of the rocks he saw on the way down.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

As predicted, not long after the thought came to Chen Feng’s mind, clumps of magma burst out. They charged out like burning meteors, speeding up to the surface.

Wrapped within the clumps of magma were none other than the hard rocks that Chen Feng had seen before earlier.

Chen Feng’s figure flashed to evade the clumps of magma. Next, his domain power surged out to envelop one of the clumps of magma. Due to that, the magma disappeared, revealing the hard rock within.

Chen Feng kept evading the clumps of magma. After a while, the magma there turned calm again. During that time, tens of magma clumps had been ejected upwards. Seeing that, Chen Feng came to understand why the surface could remain as a swamp. Despite their existence, the scale of the commotion caused by the magma here was practically negligible for the surface area, incapable of affecting the terrain there.

I’ll go in and have a look.

 After considering it for a moment, Chen Feng decided to enter the magma and investigate.

The tangible quality of his domain grew. Chen Feng then took a step forward, causing the magma around him to spread outwards. Next, he disappeared.

All Chen Feng could see beneath the magma was endlessly roiling expanse of deep red. With the exception of the power of fire around him, the other forms of pressure bearing down on him were negligible.

This is quite a good place for cultivation.

 Chen Feng reached out with one hand and grasped. Next, strands of the power of fire converged upon his palm to form a ball of fire, which emanated a fiery-red colour.

“Eh?”

After descending some more, Chen Feng suddenly blurted out. He had sensed a life signature coming from below.

As expected, there is something down here. I wonder what it could be. Let me check it out.

Magic Eyes of Darkness!

Both of Chen Feng’s eyes turned black and black-coloured, tangible rays of light pierced through the surging magma below him. 

It did not take long for a huge and blurry silhouette to appear within Chen Feng’s mind.

What is this creature?

 Chen Feng was shocked.

From what Chen Feng could see, it was a sleek and oval-shaped creature. It had no limbs and Chen Feng was also incapable of finding anything that appeared to be its head. It was 100 zhang long and it floated silently within the magma.

“Just approach it and you will be able to figure it out,” Tower said with a chuckle.

Chen Feng nodded. Bringing out a blood-coloured battle lance, he thrust with it to create a passageway from the magma.

After descending through another 1,000 zhang, Chen Feng arrived before the creature. Although it was completely enveloped by magma, it remained still. If it weren’t for the life signature coming from it and the power of fire converging into it, Chen Feng would have assumed this to be a non-living object.

Chen Feng then waved his hand and the magma in front of him disappeared to reveal the creature’s true form.

A body that was 100 zhang long and completely red in colour, its surface was as smooth as a red crystal. However, there were patterns filling every part of its surface. Additionally, there were also some orderly-looking spiral patterns.

“This looks like, a bug?” Chen Feng said, a note of uncertainty in his voice.

“This is an Ancient Flame Beetle,” Tower interjected.

“So, it is a bug. However, why is it not moving? It looks like it is sleeping.” After saying that, Chen Feng then stretched out a hand to rap it twice.

Pa! Pa!

Two knocking sounds rang out. Despite how it looked, the move from Chen Feng contained a force of over half a million kilogrammes. Even a Great Yao could be killed by that. However, the bug remained still.

“Eh?” Chen Feng grew shocked.

“The Ancient Flame Beetle. It would usually absorb the power of fire to evolve itself. Its mode of attack is very simplistic, fire breath. However, its defensive power is astonishingly strong. It is capable of blocking off attacks that are a few levels above it. Most importantly, this creature requires a long time to develop wisdom,” Tower said.

1 li = 0.5 km

1 zhang = 3.333 m

1 jin = 0.5 kg