Chapter 230

Chapter 230: The Perils of the Earth Veins

On the fifth level of the Black Fortress, Blood Shadow cursed, "Useless things! You let Wan Nest Island sink while I haven’t even collected the spiritual plants! There are a few Lin Zhang Blood Chess Grasses; those are top-notch!"

“Boom…”

Light splashed everywhere, golden light sweeping across as Blood Shadow crashed toward the gap, trying to reach the Ancient Well.

“Crazy old man…” Hongmo Zheng began to transform into light, as if to drift away with the wind, but the powerful formation here held him back, making his transformation excruciatingly slow.

“Ah, you call me old crazy man again; you’re asking for trouble!” Blood Shadow roared, "As long as I destroy the Ancient Well, Wan Nest Island will stop descending. All the spiritual plants and treasures here will be mine, all mine…"

Hongmo Zheng turned to Li Hui and said, “Brother, you need to leave now! If he comes over, I’ll stall him for a moment. This crazy old man has deep ties with the Hongmo Sect; he could do anything."

"Don’t be hasty…" Li Hui wanted to stay to help fight when a tremendous force suddenly pushed him, sending him tumbling into the Ancient Well.

From above, a voice called down, "I’ve long wanted a grand battle! Isn’t it just Blood Moni’s Blood Body? Take care, brother! Raise your cultivation quickly, and we’ll meet again! Hahaha, the True Demon is free; I can do whatever I want!"

“Bastard!”

A wave of heat covered his vision, and Li Hui plunged straight into flames, ice-cold talisman light bursting outward and forming a foot-sized ice mass that sank into the magma.

“Boom, boom, boom!!!”

The lava flowed violently, and the heat became terrifying, as Wan Nest Island continued to sink into the sea, generating immense pressure within the earth’s axis.

“Fire Avoidance Talisman, go…” Hundreds of red lights flickered fiercely, and the heat surrounding him rapidly diminished. Li Hui had already sunk to the bottom of the lava river, hastily releasing the Yin-Yang Nine Heads.

“Stack the Nine Heads, escape quickly through the earth.” The Yin-Yang Nine Heads merged together, moving in a shimmering light like bubbles entwined.

Golden light surged magnificently, the dignified presence of Buddha driving away the surrounding lava as it burrowed deep into the earth’s axis.

Li Hui leaped onto the large head, observing the light and shadow flickering beside him. The golden light squeezed down forcefully, passing through soil and rock layers, suddenly merging into a profound atmosphere, causing his descent speed to slow.

“Entered the earth’s axis? It truly is as described in the records; the magnetic force here is incredibly strong, and it becomes difficult to move at certain depths.” The Ideal Body, powered by electromagnetic forces, was particularly sensitive to geomagnetism.

Although it was pitch black in the earth’s axis, the magical dragon eyes at the rear of the Yin-Yang Nine Heads still reflected everything within thirty miles into his mind.

Li Hui felt a shock in his heart: “There’s no stone wall in sight on either side; this earth axis is much wider than I imagined. Wan Nest Island likely floats thanks to the power of the earth axis.”

The large head floated downward, gradually coming to a stop, hovering in the darkness, feeling weightless, as if even the air had thinned.

It was indeed like this inside the earth’s axis; without extraordinary cultivation or immense pressure to propel him upward, going down would be as hard as ascending to heaven.

The root of the earth axis typically connects to the earth veins, akin to the earth’s dantian; only by finding the main meridian of the earth axis could one access the earth courtyard, filled with peril that only great powers could navigate.

Whether he could escape with his life depended on the pressure generated as Wan Nest Island sank into the sea…

A distant wave emerged, the moment for Wan Nest Island to close was approaching, and it was accelerating its descent into the deep sea.

Li Hui couldn’t see it, but the sea floor was also filled with formations. Since Wan Nest Island had abandoned its outer and outer ring parts, the formations underwater quickly began to contract and merge, strengthening the formation power madly to wipe out leftover demonic creatures and outsiders.

About two sticks of incense later, a thunderous roar resounded from above, accompanied by a tremor in Li Hui’s heart. He thought to himself, “Here it comes!”

Firelight exploded, and spiritual power surged toward him. Li Hui sensed the profoundness through his Ideal Body and suddenly realized, “So that’s how it is! Wan Nest Island previously drew on the geomagnetism to rise, and now it’s borrowing from the earth axis to cushion the overwhelming force. The pressure is far greater than I imagined; I need to prepare to endure a powerful impact, as it could happen any moment.”

At the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief; what was meant to come had finally arrived, indicating that the Ancient Well had not been destroyed and that Hongmo Zheng was likely still alive, having used the Hongmo Sect’s teleportation light to return.

“Boom, boom, boom…” The spiritual pressure transformed into waves, crashing down like a waterfall from above.

Li Hui affixed talisman after talisman onto the Yin-Yang Nine Heads, also placing many on himself, keeping them in a state of readiness, so that a single hand seal could activate them in sequence. Mastering hand seals could unleash many unexpected effects; inspired by the layered talisman power technique he learned from Xiù Qiú, he couldn’t help but ponder them, and today he had gained some insight.

The howling sound approached, and although it felt like the speed wasn’t fast, it was hard to resist due to its immense force, causing his body to make “bang, bang” sounds, followed by the rapid descent of the Nine Heads, moving so quickly he couldn’t react.

Fortunately, the Yin-Yang Nine Heads merged into one body; otherwise, it would be difficult to withstand such force.

Even with thirty miles of vision, in a blink, countless miles passed. Li Hui felt his insides churning; if not for his training with the Ideal Body, an ordinary Spirit Motion Stage Cultivator would have turned to mush under this pressure.

“Buzz, buzz, buzz…”

The vibrations intensified, and after about sixty breaths, the speed began to slow. However, a massive pressure surged once more from above, the force of the second impact ten times stronger than the first.

At that moment, the world spun, and Li Hui lost all sense of direction.

His mind couldn’t keep track of how many impacts he had endured; heat suddenly surged, igniting the edges of the Bamboo Box.

“Go!”

The Guanghan Ice Soul Talismans and Fire Avoidance Talismans erupted simultaneously, dissipating the heat and lowering the temperature, causing ice and snow to swirl around his body. At that moment, it felt like entering an underground river made of lava; without the chilling aura to support him, he would have been completely scorched.

“I’ve entered the earth veins and am moving rapidly!”

“Indeed, the veins here mostly consist of fire veins, especially under the ocean, where the veins often connect to volcanoes. I hope the volcano can shoot me out directly.”

This was a nice thought, but as the force surged forward with a “boom,” he still hadn’t encountered a volcano.

Li Hui continually tossed Guanghan Ice Soul Talismans and Fire Avoidance Talismans; his reserves were quickly running low. Once only two hundred talismans remained, he hurriedly took out the Ice Picking Short Sword.

Though he didn’t know what material this short sword was made of, it was certain that the Cold Armor Emperor mined a lot of mysterious ice with it. Upon encountering heat, it would immediately unleash a wave of cold air.

“Great! This should last for a while!” As Li Hui said this, he absolutely didn’t expect how long he would drift in the fire veins, until half an hour later, the force provided by the earth axis slowly diminished, and he was still amidst the fire veins, with blinding light surrounding him, all filled with scorching lava.

The Yin-Yang Nine Heads flowed downstream; its speed was many times slower than before, appearing akin to a turtle’s pace. Unexpectedly, just when things couldn’t get worse, the surface of the Ice Picking Short Sword lost its chill and slowly grew hot—was this trying to take his life?

“Where’s the way out?” Li Hui accelerated the operation of the Heavenly and Earthly Arrays, absorbing spiritual energy from the surroundings. After a while, he felt a wave of joy as, in addition to the Fire Spirit power, a thread of Water Spirit power was also drawn forth just ahead.