Crossing the Kunpeng Sea Again and Entering the Black Iron Cave Residence

Because the spirit boat from Universal Salvation Temple was extremely fast.

Therefore, it wasn't long before they arrived at the westernmost part of the Compassion Sea and saw the famous Ember Sea Spectacle Compassion Sea of Ashes.

It was early morning, and the sky was not yet fully bright.

On the contrary, one can see more clearly the magnificent sight of lava gushing out from beneath the sea surface year-round.

Crimson-gold flames surged forth, dyeing the vast expanse of waves before them a molten amber hue.

Amidst the surging waves, shimmering gold light danced, making it difficult to distinguish whether it came from lava or the dawn.

The morning mist and sulfurous haze intertwined, forming a crimson veil that lingered over the sea.

"I have long heard of the magnificent Ember Sea Spectacle, where at dawn and dusk, the rosy clouds reflect on the sea, and clouds and mist rise and gather."

This was the first time Zen Master Fa Zhao had come here. Standing at the bow of the boat, gazing into the distance, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "Today I have witnessed it; it truly is like Heavenly Fire falling into the sea."

"It has the graceful posture of Vermilion Bird with drooping wings and the soaring flight of a Fire Phoenix; it is truly dazzling and mesmerizing."

Xiao Chen was much calmer than him, after all, strictly speaking, he had already come three times before.

Even the most beautiful scenery becomes commonplace after you've seen it many times.

He had a vague feeling that the Ember Sea he saw this time was somewhat different from the previous times.

However, perhaps it's just because of the fog that it looks a bit unfamiliar.

"We should now be on the south side."

Xiao Chen surveyed the surroundings, then gave directions. "First, head north along the Ember Sea. It should be about 30,000 li from there."

Upon hearing this, Zen Master Jing Hua immediately waved the Formation Flag in his hand, and the spirit boat quickly turned and headed north.

Before long, the daily morning Spiritual Qi Tide began to blow in from the east.

During this period, which resembles a tide, the Spiritual Qi Concentration in the world rises rapidly, generally a level higher than at other times.

As the Spiritual Qi Concentration increased, the lava erupting from the western seabed suddenly became even more violent.

"Hmm, is there some movement?"

Xiao Chen and the others immediately noticed the loud boom that followed.

Turning my head, I saw pillars of fire shooting out of the cracks in the ground, one after another, as if hundreds of fire dragons were dancing in the sea.

The terrifyingly high temperature instantly steamed up a white fog that seemed to blot out the sky, the dense moisture being hundreds or even thousands of times more concentrated than the sparse morning mist.

In the blink of an eye.

The entire sea area, along with the spirit ship where Xiao Chen was located, was completely shrouded in mist, as if they were in another world.

"Strange, I've never heard of clouds and mist in the Ember Sea."

Zen Master Fa Zhao's eyes widened, his first thought being to recall if he had missed any relevant descriptions while reading the book.

But it's clear that it wasn't that he wasn't paying attention.

However, for a considerable period of time in the past, no similar incidents had been reported near the Ember Sea.

When people mention this place, they often only talk about the amber-colored sea and the damp sea breeze carrying the smell of sulfur.

Xiao Chen was also a little surprised at this moment, wondering if he had come at the wrong time the previous times.

Because I missed the Spiritual Qi Tide, I unfortunately missed witnessing this scene.

Otherwise, how could such a large-scale anomaly suddenly occur here?

It is worth mentioning that although the nearby white fog has rapidly expanded to both sides for several thousand miles.

However, this fog or water vapor only obstructs vision and does not interfere with the cultivator's Divine Sense.

After all, they were formed by high-temperature evaporation, not by some kind of Law Technique or disaster.

Therefore, Xiao Chen could still use his Divine Sense, which had expanded to a radius of two thousand miles, to continue directing the Spirit Boat to travel northward.

Then he precisely located the underwater canyon where he had originally obtained the Yang Fire Evil.

Having already had the experience of diving into lava to search once, this time they arrived at the hollow without any problems.

At first, Xiao Chen habitually activated the <Receive Fire Treasure Talisman> to absorb the surrounding Fire Qi.

However, he soon discovered that after breaking through to the Nascent Soul, this level of Fire Qi could no longer penetrate his true essence barrier.

For Purified Dust Zen Master and others, it was even easier.

As is well known, Fourth-Order Zen Master can manifest a layer of Buddha light around their body. This is not just something to be admired; it can produce many wondrous uses as one's cultivation level increases.

Even the Zen Master Fa Zhao, who had only recently broken through to the fourth level, was no exception.

Simply by using the Buddha Light Body Protection, one can easily penetrate deep into the magma, unafraid of the surrounding high temperatures and Fire Qi.

"This is the place where the Yang Fire Evil was discovered on the spot."

Xiao Chen gestured with his finger, roughly drawing a circle. "However, there isn't enough time yet, so no new Yang Fire Evil has been generated."

Purified Dust Zen Master was prepared for this.

Therefore, he first bowed and thanked him, saying, "It's no trouble at all, this humble monk thanks Daoist Xiao for his help."

Then he instructed, "Junior Brother Jing Hua, come and help set up the array plate. We'll start by checking from the right side."

"Junior Brother Fa Zhao, use the Memory Stone to preserve the specific environment here."

Seeing that they were getting busy, Xiao Chen took a few steps back and stood behind Zen Master Fa Zhao.

He could have left already, but since he was already here, there was no need to rush.

I waited patiently for a few more quarters of an hour and carefully watched the Universal Salvation Temple's handling process.

In particular, I observed their various methods of investigating suspicious areas.

It's important to understand that Xiao Chen wasn't just watching the show.

Only by gaining a thorough understanding of detection methods can we effectively conduct counter-detection when necessary in the future.

It must be said that while major powers have complicated rules, their corresponding detection methods are also quite diverse.

For example, Purified Dust Zen Master used the Reconnaissance Formation and specially made Buddhist Artifact he carried with him to determine that several groups of people had indeed come to this place one after another.

Various protective and detection Law Technique were cast inside, leaving behind different Magic Trace.

Some relatively fresh traces were even observed.

It can be basically determined that around the beginning of last year, at least two other people must have come here looking for Sha Qi.

"It seems that it was thanks to Layman Xiao that the negative energy of this place was collected in advance, which is why the two later arrivals missed their target."

Zen Master Jing Hua couldn't help but sigh, "If they were to take away the Sha Qi first, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Purified Dust Zen Master nodded. "What you say is quite right, Junior Brother."

He also added, "However, judging from the traces left at the scene, one of the two people used Protective Spell from the Ink Barrier Sect to resist the attack of the Fire Qi."

"The other person looks somewhat unfamiliar; they seem to be using some kind of uncommon Talisman."

"Junior Brother Fa Zhao, please retrieve another Memory Stone to document this matter. When we return later, we can hand it over to the Ink Barrier Sect along with the Memory Stone to investigate the traitors."

Honestly, that's pretty impressive.

It's important to understand that the traces they're referring to now are from over a year ago, almost two years ago.

However, they can still identify the sect they belong to, thereby obtaining additional clues.

Hmm... wait a minute, if that's the case, does that mean the New Cultivation World is even more powerful?

Xiao Chen suddenly realized that he had already made two moves over there.

Doesn't that mean that if the Holy City were to investigate, they would soon discover traces of the Sky-rushing Palm in both battles?

In this way, they can deduce that the same Nascent Soul Cultivator participated in both battles.

Based on the situation on the ground, one could even conclude that they were the only person involved in the battle.

Good heavens, thankfully the Law Technique I used is probably considered a niche Law Technique in the New Cultivation World.

Therefore, they cannot directly determine their origins through Law Technique.

Otherwise, we would probably have been exposed by now.

Hey, wait a minute!

Xiao Chen suddenly remembered that the Cultivation Method he was currently practicing came from the Gui Yun Sect.

If that's the case, then you'll have to be careful not to reveal in the New Cultivation World that you've learned the "Disaster Transfer Art".

Otherwise, it would leave the other party with a point of suspicion that they could investigate.

And not just in the New Cultivation World.

In the future, no matter where you are, whenever you want to disguise your identity...

It is best to proactively replace several Law Technique that have not been publicly used before, and to use Spirit Artifact that have not been used before.

This way, it won't be easily exposed.

Very good, Xiao Chen nodded in satisfaction. This trip was definitely worthwhile.

An hour later, Purified Dust Zen Master and his companions, having found nothing, finally prepared to return home.

"Daoist Xiao, aren't you going back together?"

Seeing that Xiao Chen showed no intention of boarding the ship after emerging from the cave, Zen Master Jing Hua asked curiously, "We can take you back to Azure Sea Market first."

"Then we'll go to the next place."

Now that we've brought the person out, we're responsible for sending them back.

"Um, no need to trouble yourself. I happen to have some personal business nearby."

Xiao Chen waved his hand. "It's not far from here, you can go there yourself."

Since that was the case, the other party did not stay any longer.

After exchanging farewells, Zen Master Jing Hua waved his Formation Flag and took the lead in steering the spirit boat further north.

Judging from their appearance, they seem to have gathered multiple pieces of information and are now heading to the next place where Sha Qi might exist to try their luck.

With the strength of Universal Salvation Temple, as long as they are determined to find it, it will definitely be much easier for them than for Xiao Chen.

It's estimated that it's only a matter of time before Sha Qi within the Compassion Sea is completely wiped out.

Fortunately, they acted relatively late.

If it had happened a few years earlier, Xiao Chen would probably have had a very difficult time gathering Five Elements Sars.

However, on the other hand, if he hadn't Nascent Soul Formation, perhaps the Sea Race wouldn't have been forced to use the Thirty-Six Revolving Cold Smoke Golden Talisman, and they wouldn't be searching for Sha Qi now.

Hmm, now that I think about it...

It seems that Purified Dust Zen Master and the others were forced to travel around on missions to investigate Sha Qi because of him.

No, no, no, you can't think like that.

Xiao Chen shook his head; this was none of his business.

After watching the spirit ship of Universal Salvation Temple disappear into the horizon, he determined his location and then continued westward, crossing the Ember Sea and leaving the territory of the Compassion Sea.

Then, following the route he took to get here, he crossed the Kunpeng Sea again.

In fact, Xiao Chen is now Nascent Soul True Lord, so he can be much bolder.

There's no need to be as cautious and evasive as when you were in the Golden Core stage.

Whether it was the territory of Fourth-Order great demon, a dangerous place that could easily kill Golden Core, or the Frost Condensing Mist Lock that forced him to take a detour, etc.

Most of the dangers that once posed a threat to him are no longer obstacles for him.

As long as you avoid the very few super-large natural disasters, you can basically withstand the rest by relying on your strength, and you can even consider doing some jungle clearing on the side.

But Xiao Chen still chose the original route.

It wasn't for any other reason than to visit an old friend.

Only three days have passed.

Xiao Chen then saw once again the dark purple algae that stretched for thousands of miles on the sea surface.

Unfortunately, it was daytime this time, and the faint glimmers of light at the tips of the algae leaves were suppressed by the sunlight, so we couldn't see that beautiful scene of stars reflected in the water again.

He continued forward and soon saw the Willow Tree, about six zhang tall, in the center of the algae.

"Tsk, it seems to have shrunk a lot."

In Xiao Chen's memory, it was a colossal tree standing on the sea, with tens of thousands of willow branches.

But now that they meet again, although his Spiritual Sense Probe tells him that the Willow Tree in front of him is still six zhang tall.

But in my heart, it felt like it was just a slightly larger tree.

That's all.

I have seen many Sea Race Great Demon that are hundreds of feet long, and even Giant Sea Beast that are thousands of feet long.

The size of six zhang (approximately 33 meters) no longer brought Xiao Chen the same shock as before.

"Hmm~, it really does feel like things have changed."

Looking at the weeping willow in the distance, Xiao Chen suddenly felt that he had grown so much again.

He absorbed a wave of Sha Qi from the outside, only to be strangled by willow branches. He escaped thanks to the Night's Edge.

Even after running a thousand miles in one breath, he could still feel the strong Spiritual Power fluctuations in the distance.

But now, he can come back on his own initiative and even approach the tree trunk with ease.

Do you remember me?

Xiao Chen landed in front of the giant willow tree. "When I ran away, I said I would come back to see you."

"Now I'm here to fulfill my promise."

The Willow Tree did not speak. It was not Demon Race, and it had not been lucky enough to obtain fortuitous opportunity, so it had not yet developed true Spiritual Intelligence.

Upon sensing the approach of prey, their instincts compelled them to unleash a burst of energy from the willow branches, launching a direct attack.

"Oh dear, this is not how you treat a guest."

Xiao Chen easily blocked all the willow branches with his Four Symbols Suppressing Mountain Shield: "I came back to see you out of kindness, and you not only don't appreciate it, but you also turn your back on me."

To be honest, he originally planned to come and cut down trees to obtain spiritual materials once he had the ability.

However, upon arriving at the location, it became clear that this Willow Tree, aside from fortuitous opportunity coincidence of generating Sha Qi, possessed no other special characteristics.

Even if you cut it down directly, you'd probably only get a piece of ordinary Fourth-Tier Spirit Wood.

At most, you'll gain an extra tree heart; other than that, there's no other benefit.

"Should we keep it to continue generating Sha Qi?"

After thinking about it for a moment, Xiao Chen realized that from a certain perspective, the Sea Willow Sars was much more precious than a piece of ordinary Fourth-Tier Spirit Wood.

Anyway, I don't need this piece of spirit wood.

Instead of cutting it off completely, it's better to take a gradual approach.

"Be good, don't move around."

Xiao Chen reached out and grabbed one of the willow branches, then took out the Xin Metal Treasure Gourd and absorbed all the Yin Sha Qi within it.

Then, following the same method, they quickly collected a great deal of Sha Qi.

The giant willow's canopy trembled violently, and nearly 100,000 willow branches and roots, gleaming with a bluish light, simultaneously lashed out at the <Four Symbols Suppressing Mountain Shield>.

However, it was to no avail; it could not stop the dissipation of the Sha Qi.

"Well, I'll leave you some room to protect yourself, in case Great Demon happens to pass by and eats you."

Seeing that the gourd was nearly half full, much more than the Yang Fire Evil he had previously stored, Xiao Chen stopped and said, "I'm leaving now, but don't worry about me."

"Stay here and strive to generate more Sha Qi."

"If I have time in the future, I will come back to see you."

He even waved to the Willow Tree before breaking through the surrounding willow branches and continuing his journey towards the Storm Sea.

The giant willow struggled to wave its long branches to block the flow, but it couldn't stop it at all.

It did look like they were waving goodbye.

Of course, if it could develop Spiritual Intelligence, it probably wouldn't be thinking about saying goodbye; instead, it would hope that Xiao Chen would never come again.

They then traveled for about three more days.

Unlike the first half of the journey, which was almost the same as the way there.

In the latter half, Xiao Chen took the initiative to change his direction and headed straight for the cave abode dwelling left behind by the Black Iron Venerable.

As a result, he did indeed encounter many unexpected situations that he had not originally anticipated.

Including, but not limited to, he encountered a massive thunderstorm along the way, which was still expanding, causing him to take a slightly longer route.

Not long after, they encountered a Sea Boiling, but managed to break through it using the Four Symbols Suppressing Mountain Shield.

Then they even encountered a fourth-order great white shark that was over two hundred feet long.

This great shark is no ordinary creature; its fins alone are over thirty feet long.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen learned a relatively basic spiritual material processing Law Technique from Cloud Wave Sword Abode, which is called <Cloud Wave Suppressing Spirit Art>.

Although he wasn't very proficient, he was only at a beginner level.

But that's enough to initially refine it to a size of three zhang (approximately 10 meters), and then put it into Storage Ring.

Xiao Chen even stopped and searched the surrounding area.

However, they did not find any other Fourth-Order great demon, and even only encountered one Golden Core Sea Fish; the rest seemed to have been eaten by the great shark.

"Huh, why are there wild Flying Sword here?"

While passing by a rare Desolate Island, Xiao Chen discovered a Flying Sword in the center of the island that appeared to be almost undamaged.

There were almost no signs of a fight around them; the Flying Sword had simply been left on a pile of pebbles.

Curious, he picked it up and discovered that it was actually a Third-Tier Spirit Tool, with ample residual spiritual energy on it.

"It looks like it was left here two or three years ago."

Xiao Chen, out of curiosity, used his Divine Sense to search the entire island.

However, no one was found. Only traces of a campfire and remaining bloodstains were discovered on the beach not far away.

It seems that something unexpected happened, causing a Golden Core cultivator to abandon his Flying Sword and flee.

"That's really strange, how did they do that?"

Xiao Chen was very curious about this. "No matter what happened, there's no reason to leave the Flying Sword here, is there?"

Not to mention that for many cultivators, escaping also requires Sword Control Technique.

Even a cultivator who practices the Five Elements Escape Technique Cultivator of Magic wouldn't discard their weapon.

However, Xiao Chen has a good habit.

That is, when faced with things he can't figure out in a short time, or things that are too mentally taxing, he can quickly choose to give up thinking about them and get rid of the troubles.

If you can't figure it out, just stop thinking about it for now.

If it's something important, you'll find out sooner or later.

As for unimportant things, they're not important anyway.

After casually storing the found Flying Sword in his Storage Ring, Xiao Chen continued on his way.

They rushed to the area of the sea that they had seen in their mind's eye after choosing Hextech.

"Let me see... Hmm, all the details and locations match up perfectly. This is most likely the place."

Xiao Chen carefully compared the information, then released his Divine Sense to search for the location of the cave abode.

He actually knew that the cave abode was hidden on the seabed, next to a large, oval-shaped rock.

But what's amazing is that whether he Spiritual Sense Probe or stands outside the cave abode and reaches out to touch the rocks or seaweed, it doesn't matter.

None of them could sense the existence of the cave abode.

"It looks so real! If I were just passing by normally, I would never have noticed that there was a hidden cave abode here."

Xiao Chen sighed and took out the token.

When the token appeared near the cave abode, the seemingly real rocks and seaweed immediately vanished into thin air.

Instead, a deep passage appeared.

The passage was pitch black, and there was no idea where it led.

More importantly, it is filled with powerful restrictions. These restrictions not only suppress Divine Sense, but also limit cultivators' ability to fly and use escape techniques.

In other words, if you want to get inside, you have no choice but to walk in step by step.

If an ordinary cultivator saw this, they would inevitably hesitate and have some doubts.

However, Xiao Chen trusted his Hextech completely; since it had given him the token, it couldn't possibly be wrong.

So he confidently stepped inside and walked in.

After walking for several miles, the passage finally turned three times in a row, leading him to a huge black iron gate.

The door was made entirely of black iron, emitting a faint, cold light.

The surface is covered with intricate Artifact Inscription, each line shimmering with a faint light, casting the entire passage in a flickering glow.

In the very center of the gate, there is a circular protrusion that is a foot long.

At the very center of the protrusion, there is a horizontal indentation.

In terms of size, it matches the token Xiao Chen received perfectly.

As clever as Xiao Chen, he immediately realized that this was a lock, and the way to unlock it was to put the token inside as a key.

So he immediately placed the token on the door.

With a crisp "click," the entire circular protrusion suddenly emitted a bluish light and slowly rotated half a circle counterclockwise.

Immediately afterwards, the heavy door hinges made a dull thud, and the two iron doors slowly parted to the sides as if pushed by an invisible hand.

A gust of long-dormant air wafted towards us.

The first thing that comes into view is a stone tablet that is over ten feet tall.

The surface of the stele is engraved with two lines of large seal script characters in sharp strokes, and below it is densely covered with a piece of tiny regular script.