Ahead, just a dozen or so miles away, was a massive rift spanning several dozen miles.
Sticky magma flowed like the blood of a demon god, constantly spewing out from the rift, its boiling waves occasionally splashing several miles away, cascading down like a waterfall into the bottomless abyss.
The temperature here was extremely high. After removing his armor and helmet, Wu Tie's hair was scorched by the high temperatures, emitting a pungent smell.
Several miles away, a roaring river rushed through and slipped into the abyss below.
Massive quantities of magma and water collided in the abyss, causing huge amounts of vapor to roll back and rise as high-temperature steam, spreading out in all directions into the secret realm under the pressure of the impact, along the dome.
This place was like hell, with intense fluctuations in the air, distorted vision, and everything becoming hazy and unreal.
Wu Tie held the large head of the Crystal Demon in his hands and stood at the edge of the abyss, looking down below.
Below was a dazzling firelight, with a lake composed of lava in adjacent areas. Near the lava lake, a large body of water rippled, constantly giving off large amounts of vapor. Faint rumbling sounds from the whirlpools in the lake could be heard.
Such a spectacular scene amazed Wu Tie.
After gazing for a while, the dazzling firelight below made Wu Tie a little dizzy. He shook his head and focused his gaze on the large head in his hands.
"Lao Tie, what exactly is the Crystal Demon?" Wu Tie weighed the head in his hands.
With his strength now, he felt that the head was quite heavy. Roughly estimating, this head, similar in size to Lao Tie's head, probably weighed around fifteen to sixteen thousand jin.
The density was quite astonishing.
"The enemy," Lao Tie replied succinctly.
"What kind of enemy?" Wu Tie curiously asked him.
After a moment of silence, Lao Tie said in a low voice, "An enemy that destroyed everything we once had, a terrifying enemy...the Crystal Demons. You should have seen their power. Those crystal clusters in the cave where the Cow Hero died... they were remnants of the Crystal Demons' power."
"They can turn rocks and earth into rainbow-colored crystals, right?" Wu Tie looked at Lao Tie.
"Not just rocks and earth, anything tangible or intangible that is contaminated by their power will turn into crystals," Lao Tie said solemnly. "If it's flesh and blood, it will be turned into a demonic puppet by their power, letting them control it."
"This head is already dead, but it is still a source of terrible contamination," Lao Tie sighed. "Just dump it. I don't have enough strength to destroy it right now, I can only deal with it using magma."
Wu Tie aimed at the magma lake below and threw the large head down heavily.
The enormous head accurately fell into the center of the magma lake, splashing up waves hundreds of meters high. With a roll of the magma, the head was swallowed up.
The high-temperature magma would slowly burn away the head, turning the energy it released into nothingness.
"How long will it take for this head to be completely refined?" Wu Tie took a final look at the boiling magma lake and followed Lao Tie, leaving this terrifying abyssal zone.
"This guy was strong even before his death... Probably around a hundred thousand years... In a hundred thousand years, this head can be refined," Lao Tie said casually as they walked. "Fortunately, it's just a head. If his complete body were here, ordinary magma wouldn't be able to do anything to him."
Along the edge of the river, Wu Tie and Lao Tie walked quickly.
A group of metal spiders carried Lao Tie's two arms and followed closely behind them.
In the distance, the assassins from the Misty Blade Sect came and went mysteriously, following Wu Tie and Lao Tie closely, keeping a close monitoring stance.
Wu Tie was quite annoyed by the surveillance of these Misty Blade assassins. Several times, he ran over to try to expose the two unlucky eggs and give them a good beating, but as soon as he moved, these assassins immediately ran away.
Their ability to conceal their tracks was extremely strong. After a few twists and turns, Wu Tie could no longer find them.
After several attempts, Wu Tie didn't bother with them on the way back to the Ancient God Camp.
However, Wu Tie felt a hint of unease deep in his heart.
The leader of the Misty Blade Sect was here. The Misty Blade Sect had invaded this secret realm on a large scale. The stronghold of the Archpath Sect had been forcibly subdued by the Misty Blade Sect a few days ago, and the two strongholds had completely fallen under the control of the Misty Blade Sect.
This secret realm... was no longer solely Wu Tie's.
"Little guy, we should leave," Lao Tie muttered as he walked. "This place is not an environment where Little Tie can safely grow."
"We should leave?" Wu Tie was a little reluctant.
He had developed an inexplicable attachment to this secret realm and the Ancient God Camp. It was here that he met Lao Tie and Da Tie, embarked on the path of cultivation, and had the opportunity to become stronger...
He had a deep affection for this place.
Lao Tie suddenly said they should leave?
"Didn't you say before that we should...?" Wu Tie remembered the fierce words Lao Tie said when Stone Spirit Qing and the others first entered.
"Those little guys could serve as whetstones to hone your skills," Lao Tie muttered as he walked. "But now, the enemies are too powerful... It goes beyond the limits of 'combat training'... It would be too dangerous to let you take any more risks."
"That leader of the Misty Blade Sect has the strength to eliminate you with ease," Lao Tie grinned strangely. "But he was scared by me, so he doesn't dare to act recklessly."
"His father was beaten by me!" Lao Tie said with a smile. "They say the reactionary forces are nothing more than paper tigers... Now, we two are just paper tigers too." Lao Tie sighed, "Using intimidation doesn't work... When they come back to their senses... tsk tsk... the fate of the Qianzhi Donkey..."
"Qianzhi Donkey? What's a Qianzhi Donkey?" Wu Tie looked at Lao Tie in bewilderment.
"Ignorance is truly terrifying," Lao Tie sneered at Wu Tie. "Although it's not your fault, ignorance is truly terrifying."
Wu Tie felt innocent as he spread his hands, glaring at Lao Tie in annoyance.
"Well, I'll tell you later... It's time to leave," Lao Tie said in a soft voice. "Those who wield the Misty Blade and the Archpath Sect consider this place a treasure... but for you, it's just a prison."
"Let's go to a wider world and explore," Lao Tie laughed a few times. "More resources, broader experience, making you stronger..."
"Always making you powerful enough... to see the boundless stars with your own eyes..." Lao Tie's body suddenly trembled violently. Even a large amount of electric light sprayed out from his neck. It was as if every joint in his body was twisting strangely, and even large flashes of electricity were emitted from his neck.
"Lao Tie?" Wu Tie looked at him worriedly.
After a long silence, a sweet voice of a woman came from within Lao Tie's body.
She sang, with a beautiful melody and even more beautiful lyrics.
After the song ended, Wu Tie and Lao Tie were immersed in the wonderful melody. They didn't speak for a long time.
After a long, long time, Wu Tie sighed, "One more time, Lao Tie?"
Lao Tie shook his head, increased his speed, and walked away. He laughed loudly, "Little Tie, do you have a girl you like?"
Suddenly, electric currents surged upward, and thin electrical currents the size of thumb swept all over Wu Tie's body. Wu Tie let out a miserable cry, twitching all over the ground, and countless electric sparks constantly emanated from his body.
"Good children must be beaten to become successful," Lao Tie shouted loudly, "I thought that saying was right."
Hundreds of meters away, a group of Misty Blade assassins who were responsible for monitoring Wu Tie and Lao Tie stood dumbly among the mushroom grove.
They stood silently there, with faint steam coming out of their eyes.
Even though they had undergone cruel training under the Misty Blade Sect and had become killers who could kill without blinking an eye, when that sweet female voice began to sing that wonderful song... even though they didn't completely hear the lyrics of the song since they were far away, tears still flowed from their eyes due to their instinctive reaction.
A sense of beauty pervaded their hearts.
A warmth entered their stiff hearts, making their weak wills become powerful forces flowing from their bodies and souls. They were like a group of ignorant beasts, in whose souls that had been engulfed by darkness and killing, a ray of light awakened.
"There is a void..." A Misty Blade assassin murmured in a low voice.
...
Open and aboveboard, in front of the Misty Blade assassins responsible for monitoring, Wu Tie and Lao Tie returned to the Ancient God Camp through the corridor.
In an open and aboveboard manner, Wu Tie, with a large group of metal spiders jumping and flying around, hunted and killed giant river horses and other large prey by the riverside. Pieces of flesh were transported back to the Ancient God Camp and quickly turned into bottles of Foundation Building Medicinal Elixir.
In an open and aboveboard manner, Wu Tie and Lao Tie stood before the massive chain of the Misty Blade that ferried large amounts of supplies and slaves back and forth in front of the Misty Blade assassins' faces. They assessed the possibility of leaving this secret realm following the chain.
The number of Misty Blade assassins around the Ancient God Camp increased day by day.
Even a few days later, the leader of the Misty Blade Sect personally came to a place less than a hundred meters away from the entrance to the Ancient God Camp to observe the situation up close.
The passage of the Ancient God Camp opened, and the expressionless Big Tie appeared from the passage.
Standing at several meters tall, a giant metal skull with a pale white color, Big Tie obviously scared the leader of the Misty Blade Sect. The leader immediately retreated cautiously, and he called back all the nearby Misty Blade assassins.
Wu Tie continued to hunt large amounts of prey every day, stockpiling Foundation Building Medicinal Elixir.
In just a few days, Wu Tie had accumulated over a thousand bottles of the elixir. Lao Tie instructed Wu Tie to consume the two dragon horns again.
Another round of excruciating pain ensued. This time, his left forearm was burned to the point where the skin was charred, and the color of the forearm bones became much deeper. The forearm bones had become extremely hard, reaching the level of crushing stones into powder.
After Wu Tie swallowed the two dragon horns, Lao Tie led him into another newly appeared metal hall.
Anxiously waiting outside, Wu Tie had no idea what Lao Tie was doing inside.
His current body was that of the Skyhowl Hound.
Could it be that Lao Tie would attach his own arms to the body of a Skyhowl Hound?
A human head, a dog body, plus two human arms... Wu Tie thought about that appearance and found it extremely beautiful.
The virtual sun rose and then extinguished.
Three full days passed like this. Finally, Lao Tie walked out of the metal hall.
All the metal spiders that had been scurrying around the Ancient God Camp disappeared without a trace. Lao Tie's figure increased in size, and he slowly walked up to Wu Tie. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared behind him, and two clusters of flowing light revolved. The nearby muscles shifted, and two long and slender metal arms suddenly shot out.
"Hahaha!"
Lao Tie burst into laughter and waved the four arms that were four times the length of a normal person's arms, skillfully gesturing with his ten fingers in strange movements. He proudly looked at Wu Tie and said, "How about it, a genius idea... with these four arms... hehe."
Wu Tie stared in shock.
Looking at the large fist that stopped three inches in front of his lower abdomen, Wu Tie racked his brains and finally came up with a more accurate term as a response.
"Sleazy... extremely sleazy... Lao Tie, you are really too sleazy." Wu Tie was speechless in the face of Lao Tie's sudden inspiration.
He discovered that ever since he merged with the body of the Skyhowl Hound, Lao Tie not only learned to bark 'woof woof,' but his actions became a bit strange as well. He couldn't tell if it was his nature or if he was influenced by the body of the Skyhowl Hound.
"Hahaha!" Lao Tie just laughed a few times, turned around, and looked at Big Tie with blood-red eyes.
"Big Tie, we need to leave... Little Tie needs to grow, and it's obvious that this place cannot provide him with a safe environment for growth."
"We need to leave. Prepare to seal off the Ancient God Camp."
"When we come back."
"We will definitely come back."
"Then, we will fight back together." Lao Tie laughed with a low voice, his laughter carrying a hint of near madness and killing intent.
(End of this chapter)