Chapter 156: Exploration and the Lava Platypus

The thirtieth peak of the Tianxu Mountain Range, and also the fifth of the Blood Wolf Ten Monster Mountains.

Since this mountain lay at the core of the blood wolf territory, housing three packs totaling nearly three thousand blood wolves in all, even Cao Chengyu was not confident in his ability to handle them easily.

Therefore, he proceeded with extreme caution.

The closer he got to Daoist Lin, the more precise Cao Chengyu's previous spiritual aura casting and tracking became.

Making twists and turns around several blood wolf packs, the three of them eventually found a cave entrance. Fortunately, because they had been bound and careful, no unexpected incidents had occurred.

Judging by the traces, the surrounding soil and rocks had been freshly turned, indicating it had been dug out only recently.

Daoist Lin's spiritual aura was right inside, not far away now.

Cao Chengyu took the lead and walked in front, while the two brothers conversed behind him.

"Damn-Wen, why is your face so pale? Don't tell me you're scared. If you're a coward, you can go wait outside; Master will be rescued by yours truly."

"You, a female ghost knight, have the nerve to lecture me? Should I recount your glorious deeds to Senior Li? Huh? Haha..."

"Mmph..."

Just as he started laughing, Lin Wen's mouth was covered by Lin Qiu. Facing Cao Chengyu's probing gaze, he offered a sheepish smile.

"Keep it down and concentrate. We could encounter danger in here at any moment."

The two hurriedly nodded, whether due to Lin Qiu's interruption or something else.

Lin文 felt his body growing much more comfortable, except for a slight itching sensation on his skin and teeth. Glancing at his senior brother's neck, he couldn't help but swallow hard.

As they ventured deeper, the light within grew dimmer.

Cao Chengyu ignited four fireballs, hovering them around the four corners of the group to maintain illumination.

The cave passage continued for a full half-hour before reaching its end, where the ground at the terminal point showed clear signs of collapse.

The fallen soil had completely blocked the original path.

"Hold onto me, both of you. I'll take you down."

"Oh, oh." ×2.

With the fifth version of the Wall-Passing Technique, taking people through solid earth was no longer an issue. As for why he brought these two along, Cao Chengyu himself wasn't entirely sure; his spiritual perception simply told him it was best to bring them.

It would be helpful to him.

His mastery of the Qimen Dunjia had reached an extremely profound level. Although he couldn't yet see the future, he still placed great value on the hints and premonitions it gave him regarding himself.

Such spiritual intuition was often more accurate than a sixth sense, offering immense reference value.

As Cao Chengyu executed the Wall-Passing Technique, the three of them gradually sank into the earth. The two of them, experiencing this for the first time, were filled with wonder.

"Don't move around randomly. If an accident happens and only a single arm manages to come down with me, don't blame me for not warning you in advance."

With a casual reprimand, their reckless demeanor vanished instantly, and they even held their breath.

Cao Chengyu was quite satisfied with this effect.

It seemed he could use this kind of threat more often in the future.

---

Sinking merely five hundred meters—about one li—Cao Chengyu sensed a vast underground cavern opening up ahead.

He proactively accelerated the circulation of his magic power, speeding up slightly.

After passing through the final layer of earthen barrier, what greeted his eyes was a massive expanse of drifting, shimmering blue light motes.

This gave the subterranean space an exceptionally surreal atmosphere.

It felt dreamlike and unreal.

"How beautiful."

"Duh, do you even need to state the obvious? Am I blind?"

Ignoring their bickering,

Cao Chengyu swept his divine sense outward inch by inch, discovering another forward path extending deeper into the earth. However, extremely dense fire-attribute spiritual Qi was surging from within that passage.

It was even more intense than an underground fire vein.

Walking over briskly, Cao Chengyu's eyes lit up.

At the entrance of this tunnel, some excavation tools and discarded talisman papers lay scattered about.

Judging by the layer of dust, the previous group had entered some time ago.

Without further delay, Cao Chengyu took the lead and stepped inside.

As expected, the interior was a sea of magma. Only a magma ocean of this magnitude could concentrate fire spiritual Qi far superior to ordinary underground fire veins.

There were no floating stones in the center; they would have to fly across.

With his body-refining cultivation realm, taking a bath in the magma sea for under half an hour would not pose much of a problem.

The tricky part was the two deadweights behind him. The moment they stepped in, their hair curled from the heat waves, making crossing this magma ocean quite a formidable challenge.

According to his personality, leaving them outside would have been the optimal choice; lacking sufficient strength, they would be of no help inside and might even become a hindrance.

However, since his spiritual intuition suggested they would be of great use, it was better to bring them along.

"Hold onto this, the two of you, and I'll carry you across."

Seeing the section of iron chain handed over by Cao Chengyu, both of them looked bewildered.

After a moment of hesitation, Lin Qiu grabbed hold of it.

Lin Wen, on the other hand, went a different route, wrapping the chain tightly around himself multiple times, his voice trembling slightly.

"Senior Li, my life and limb are entirely in your hands now. Be careful, please."

Cao Chengyu's mouth twitched as he nodded.

Seeing this, Lin Qiu also wrapped himself up tightly.

This iron chain was a specialized magical artifact Cao Chengyu used to bind heavenly demons; resisting the temperature of magma was well within its capabilities.

This stuff only looked terrifying; the temperatures generally ranged around 900°C to 1200°C, reaching at most 1400°C.

In contrast, oxyhydrogen and oxyacetylene flames could easily reach temperatures of 2500°C to 3000°C.

Fire was milder than magma; for a body-refining cultivator, this was merely a method of physical tempering and one of the natural environments that could be utilized.

Once Cao Chengyu's body-refining cultivation broke through to the Golden Core stage, drinking a few mouthfuls of magma to warm himself up would be nothing out of the ordinary.

Therefore, for a cold constitution, drinking magma was always the right prescription.

The operation commenced swiftly. Cao Chengyu hoisted the two deadweights and flew rapidly across the expanse of the magma ocean.

There were no arrays or restrictions here, so it should have been relatively safe.

Just as he had that thought, however,

a barrage of magma fireballs, reinforced by magic power from below, shot directly toward him. Sweeping his divine sense across them, he counted a full two hundred and seventy-one.

Oh, for crying out loud.

Because he was carrying two deadweights, it was inconvenient for him to attack and shatter these fireballs. He could only rely on the evasion and shifting footwork of the Yin Talisman Sword-Condensation Movement to dodge them rapidly.

Behind him, he sped forward like a rocket powered by an engine.

The two martial brothers, who had initially been leisurely observing the wondrous scenery of the magma ocean, were scared out of their wits. Lin Wen shrieked at the top of his lungs, his body shaking like a sifter.

"Senior Li, run faster! There are duck monsters down here!"

"They're catching up!"

Cao Chengyu looked back.

Good grief, a dense, countless horde of magma-born strange beasts was poking their heads up from below.

Since their entire bodies weren't visible, it was hard to judge their full size, but their exposed heads alone were three meters long, round and featuring a very flat duck-like bill, making them look quite similar to platypuses.

Their skin was crimson, covered in numerous fissure-like patterns that radiated intense fluctuations of fire spiritual energy.

One molten fireball after another shot out from their wide bills at astonishing speeds, producing sonic booms that tore through the air.

He realized that the deeper one ventured into the magma sea, the stronger the emerging magma platypuses became.

Manifested in their attacks, the fireballs had greater destructive power, higher speeds, and were much harder to evade.

Hardening his resolve, Cao Chengyu simply cast a layer of Heavenly Water Shield over the two deadweights, providing 360-degree all-encompassing protection without blind spots.

Then, utilizing the connection of the iron chains like swinging a giant sledgehammer, he directly smashed apart any incoming fireballs that were difficult to dodge.

The method was effective, and the durability of the Heavenly Water Shield was sufficient; it was just tough on the two rookies.

Lin Wen took the simple and direct approach, rolling his eyes back and passing out cold instantly.

Lin Qiu struggled for a while, realizing that verbal complaints to Cao Chengyu were useless, and since the fireballs merely struck the Heavenly Water Shield protecting him without causing any actual injury,

he actually started cheering and shouting proudly instead.

This state lasted for a solid quarter of an hour before Cao Chengyu finally crossed the magma ocean and reached solid ground on the other side. Casually snatching up a magma platypus, he pierced its skull with a single sword strike.

Tucking it into a storage bag (fresh-keeping bag), he then dashed into the opposite tunnel; he intended to study this creature.

As a strange beast unrecorded in the *One Hundred Explanations of Immortal Cultivation*, this was his first time seeing one, so studying it was only proper.

The new stone-slab passage was free of danger, and the captured magma platypus failed to pursue them. Only then did Cao Chengyu put the two individuals down and put away the iron chains.