Chapter 570: Ninth Layer

Upon entering the "Heaven-Reaching Tower," Li Mu and his companions had already searched quite a few places, but among all the spiritual objects obtained previously, the highest was only a third-tier top-quality item. This was the first fourth-tier spiritual object they had found since entering the tower.

Lifting the golden ginseng in his hand to take another look, Li Mu happily put it away and spoke to the few people in front of him:

"Being able to obtain this item, this trip of ours can be considered worthwhile. Now that the time agreed upon with the Spirit Hidden Sect and the others is nearly here, let's hurry and rendezvous with them first!"

Hearing that Li Mu wanted to leave immediately, Li Wu hurriedly asked: "Uncle-Master Li, the fire-attribute Qi here is so abundant that it can actually nurture Nascent Soul-stage spiritual bodies. Should we collect some to bring back to the sect?"

Fire-attribute Qi is also a spiritual object that can help cultivators of Yang-attribute arts temper their physical bodies. In the Floating Yunshan Range cultivation world, one could almost no longer find this kind of high-tier fire-attribute Qi that Li Wu and the others were seeing. When they first entered the valley, Li Wu and the others had also been shocked by the vigorous fire-attribute Qi here.

Looking at Li Wu, whose face was full of excitement, Li Mu shook his head slightly at him and smiled:

"The fire-attribute Qi in here is not a natural thing; it is formed by the acquired restrictions within the Heaven-Reaching Tower. As long as it is taken away from this place, it will immediately vanish into nothingness. Otherwise, with it being opened continuously for so many years, the fire-attribute Qi here would have long since been taken clean by others."

"So that's how it is! I also felt this place was a bit strange at first; I didn't expect the restrictions in this valley to be so powerful, capable of creating such high-tier fire-attribute Qi."

"Hmm! Being too greedy here is also useless. Being able to find one or two fourth-tier spiritual objects is already considered quite good for us."

The Golden Feather Demon Emperor raised his hand to signal the several demon kings beside him to exit the stone chamber, then cast a spell to take out a golden-red feather fan and walked step by step toward the fire python in front of him.

Just as they walked in, the sharp-eyed White Dragon Demon King immediately saw several magic treasures wrapped in spiritual light placed on a table not far away. Just as he was about to step forward to take the treasures, he was stopped by the Golden Feather Demon Emperor at his side.

Half an hour later, following a burst of air-piercing sounds, the Golden Feather Demon Emperor, with three parts more joy on his face, led several demon kings out from underground first and landed on a patch of ground.

The pressure emitted by this purple fire python was already approaching the Nascent Soul stage. Once attacked at close range by this fire python, the White Dragon Demon King estimated he would be unable to preserve his life and would fall right there on the spot.

"You all step back; I'll handle this guy!"

After saying a few more words on the spot, the Xiaoyao Sect group quickly boarded the fourth-tier flying boat Li Mu was on, turned into a streak of spiritual light, and rapidly disappeared into the valley.

Seeing the somewhat cautious look on the Golden Feather Demon Emperor's face, the White Dragon Demon King asked in confusion: "Your Highness, why not take those magic treasures?"

Upon hearing this, the Golden Feather Demon Emperor asked with some surprise: "Why so fast this time? Could it be that those cunning human cultivators are already preparing to go up now?"

Just as the several demon kings were feeling puzzled by the Golden Feather Demon Emperor's abnormal behavior, the few magic treasures that the spiritual light had just approached suddenly emitted a dazzling white light. Immediately following this, two of the magic treasures instantly transformed into a purple fire python with fierce eyes staring at the demons opposite.

"So that's how it is. Then let's go rendezvous with Fellow Daoist Lie Feng first; we mustn't fall too far behind them!"

"According to the intelligence obtained by Fellow Daoist Lie Huo, some human cultivators have already begun to assemble and head toward the direction of entering the ninth layer. It looks like this time they want to make a move in advance to test things out," the Brother Chiyun Demon Emperor responded somewhat anxiously.

Just as they were about to leave this place, several streaks of spiritual light suddenly lit up in the sky not far away. Not long after, the Brother Chiyun Demon Emperor, bringing three subordinates with him, appeared before them.

"Hehe! Brother Golden Feather, it really is you here. I just received a message from Fellow Daoist Lie Huo notifying us to hurry and rendezvous with him."

"This actually turned out to be an illusion!" Seeing the purple fire python with not-low cultivation in front of him, the White Dragon Demon King shouted in surprise, and his back suddenly felt a bit chilly. If the Golden Feather Demon Emperor hadn't stopped him just now, rushing forward rashly would definitely have led to falling into the purple fire python's trap.

The Golden Feather Demon Emperor did not answer his words but instead released several streaks of spiritual light with one hand, heading straight for the magic treasures on the table.

At the same time, deep underground at a distance from here, the Golden Feather Demon Emperor, clad in golden armor, forcibly shattered a bluestone gate blocking his path with one punch, then led the several demon kings behind him and strode into a huge underground stone chamber.

On a relatively desolate mountain peak, seven or eight streaks of spiritual light suddenly flew in from the distant sky, transforming into several people clad in black robes.

The leading black-robed old man had a thin, long face with a tuft of black beard at the corners of his mouth. The majesty revealed in his gaze made the few people following beside him not dare to look directly at him.

After the black-robed old man led these people behind him for several hundred zhang on the mountain peak, they arrived at a cave made of giant stones on the side of the mountain. Just as they walked into the cave entrance, unexpectedly, a mass of black mist suddenly emerged from within, rapidly heading straight for the few people at the entrance.

Seeing this mass of black mist, the black-robed old man revealed a bit of disdain on his face. With a light wave of his hand, he released several streaks of fierce blood-colored light, immediately shattering the mass of black mist before him in mid-air.

"Brother Blood Demon, you've always arrived quite early in past years; why are you a bit late this time!"

After a somewhat low voice entered the black-robed old man's ears, at the spot where the black mist had just disappeared without a trace, a young man with a somewhat handsome appearance suddenly manifested.

After the black-robed old man saw this young man, a trace of displeasure appeared slightly on his face. He replied expressionlessly: "What does it have to do with you, Mo Yunting, that I came a bit late? Don't tell me you even want to manage my affairs."

Mo Yunting shook the folding fan in his hand, smiled, and waved his hand: "Hehe! Brother, you've misunderstood. Who doesn't know that your Blood Spirit Sect is the number one demonic sect in the Floating Yunshan Range? Even if I wanted to manage someone's affairs, I wouldn't dare manage them at the Blood Spirit Sect's doorstep."

"It's just that Fellow Daoist Gu has been urging us tightly these past few days, so I just asked an extra question casually. If you don't want to say, then forget it; it's not a big deal, as long as it doesn't delay our subsequent matters!"

"Old Demon Gu has already arrived too?" Hearing Mo Yunting mention this name, the Blood Demon Ancestor, who had never taken others seriously, suddenly revealed a trace of wariness on his face.

After Mo Yunting nodded slightly toward the other party with a dangerous look, he turned around and walked directly toward the depths of the cave. Seeing this, the Blood Demon Ancestor did not say anything more and immediately led the many disciples behind him to follow.

——

Outside a teleportation formation on the west side of the eighth layer of the "Heaven-Reaching Tower," a golden spiritual light suddenly lit up.

A moment later, two figures plus a somewhat burly gray giant bird appeared outside the teleportation formation.

This small team, which seemed somewhat uncoordinated in the entire "Heaven-Reaching Tower," was precisely Huo Feng, Long Feng, and Song Qingming, who had just teleported up from below.

"Hehe! Little Brother Song's methods for breaking formations are indeed quite extraordinary. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid His Highness and I would have needed to expend quite a bit of effort to get up here!"

Hearing Long Feng's praise, Song Qingming hurriedly waved his hand: "Along this journey, I have merely known some formation techniques to help everyone save some effort. How could it compare to the effort put in by Big Brother Long Feng and His Highness? Please don't praise me like this!"

"Those Nascent Soul old ghosts should all still be on the eighth layer. This is not a place for you two to flatter each other. If you don't want to lose your lives in a moment, keep your mouths shut for me."

Huo Feng, who had just come out of the teleportation formation, turned around and glared at Song Qingming and Long Feng behind her, then walked quickly toward the entrance.

Facing Huo Feng's reprimand, Song Qingming and Long Feng looked at each other in embarrassment, not daring to say anything more, and obediently shut their mouths to follow behind Huo Feng.

After entering the seventh layer from the sixth layer of the "Heaven-Reaching Tower," Huo Feng did not rush to continue forward. Instead, after searching for spiritual objects in the seventh layer for five or six days, she led Song Qingming and Long Feng through the teleportation formation to the eighth layer.

These past few days below, Huo Feng had led Song Qingming to search quite a few places together. Although most had already been reached by others first, they still managed to pick up some stragglers and obtained five or six third-tier spiritual objects of decent quality.

What surprised Song Qingming somewhat was that after obtaining these spiritual objects with Huo Feng this time, she did not choose to keep them all for herself as she had in the past. Instead, she distributed these spiritual objects on the spot, and even Song Qingming, who had not contributed much along the way, obtained two third-tier spiritual objects because of this.

The two spiritual objects Song Qingming obtained were a third-tier mid-grade spiritual herb and a bottle of third-tier low-grade spiritual water that could assist in cultivation. The value of these two items on the market could be worth at least thirty or forty thousand spirit stones.

Following Huo Feng up here once and actually being able to obtain so many precious spiritual objects was indeed somewhat beyond Song Qingming's expectations. Now, he was also very glad in his heart for his decision to follow Huo Feng's actions after choosing to enter the tower initially.

Otherwise, if Song Qingming were still mixing in the bottom three layers with Zhao Fenglian and the others now, he certainly wouldn't have had any major gains.

The most critical issue for him being able to find the most valuable few third-tier spiritual fruits in the second layer initially was encountering the "Cloud Thunder Formation" that ordinary Golden Core cultivators found difficult to cross, plus the fact that he happened to have spiritual objects on him that restrained thunder light.

After leaving the vicinity of the teleportation formation, just as the three of Huo Feng were halfway there, a golden pillar of light suddenly lit up from a place some distance to their side, falling directly from the sky.

Seeing this shocking scene ahead, Song Qingming and the others, including Huo Feng, were all slightly startled.

"Your Highness! Could it be that someone is already about to enter the ninth layer?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 571 =====