Next, light flashed out before Chen Feng as a Magic crystal the size of a building appeared before him. There was not a single trace of impurity within the Magic crystal. Rather, it was crystal clear, radiating a dazzling lustre. With the exception of a mine, such a large block of Magic crystal would not appear elsewhere because no one would use such a large block of Magic crystal to purchase items.

“This big block of Magic crystal weighs at least hundreds of thousands of jin. If we cut it, we will be able to cut out at least 1 million pieces!” Chen Feng uttered in shock (1 jin = 0.5 kg).

After that, more big blocks of Magic crystals fell into the Longevity Tower. Some weighed up to tens of jin, some thousands of jin and some other at over ten thousand jin. However, none of them were as large as the earlier one. Additionally, some of them contained some rocky impurities. Chen Feng will have to slowly cut and grind out those impurities himself in the future.

“This should be a small Magic crystal mine. How can there be so many Magic crystals?” Seeing the mountain-like pile of Magic crystal ores, Chen Feng felt slightly astounded.

“Ha ha, what great fortune! This should be a small to medium-sized Magic crystal mine. The Magic crystals within it adds up to several billion pieces! It seems Nine Firmaments Palace did not get an accurate information about this mine. If they did, they would have sent a Sky Human stage cultivator here long ago,” said Tower happily.

“Several billions! Hurry up and absorb all the Magic crystals here! With so many Magic crystals, how far up can my cultivation base rise up to?” Chen Feng shouted in glee.

“I have already absorbed half of the Magic crystals here. Although there should still be some good stuff underground, it is high time we left. If not, should a group of Sky Human stage cultivators surround us, we will be in quite the pickle.” As Tower spoke, another hundreds of thousands of Magic crystals had their energy absorbed, turning into powder as a result. He was presently absorbing hundreds of thousands of Magic crystals in one breath’s worth of time. If Tower could continue for one joss stick’s worth of time, the entire Magic crystal mine would be completely absorbed.

Unbeknownst to Chen Feng, at that very moment, the entire Purplebolt Mountain had disappeared. Only flat lands remained of the mountain. Earlier, several Sky Human stage cultivators had arrived and their battle broke the sturdy Purplebolt Mountain into smithereens. Thus, the Magic crystal mine beneath it had become exposed.

Although there were so many Magic crystal ores before their very eyes, not a single loose cultivator dared to rush forward to snatch them. The reinforcements from Nine Firmaments Palace and Purplecloud Sky Grotto had arrived. The cultivators from Nine Firmaments Palace had killed off those loose cultivators and masked cultivators attempting to plunder the burning house.

This time, Nine Firmaments Palace had sent forth five cultivators. Two of them were sages, cultivators at the Sky Human stage. As for the other three, they were all elite disciples who could develop revolving domains.

Forget the might of these cultivators, even the name of Nine Firmaments Palace alone was enough to shock off the invading loose cultivators. That was especially true considering the ruthless actions taken by the cultivators from Nine Firmaments Palace. The moment they arrived, they had killed off every single one of the loose cultivators there, blowing up their bodies in the process. Seeing that, the rest of the invaders who had been concealing themselves while waiting for an opportune moment to act went quiet. In the Northern Plains, provoking the Nine Firmaments Palace was the equivalent of committing suicide.

Purplecloud Sky Grotto’s Sect Master, Liu Dianfeng had also arrived. He displayed an extremely deferential attitude as he followed behind the five cultivators from Nine Firmaments Palace. There was not a trace of the dignity that a Sect Master should have. In fact, he looked like an ordinary disciple from Nine Firmaments Palace.

“Humph! Liu Dianfeng, looking at the size of this Magic crystal mine, it should have at least several billion Magic crystals. Why did you not report this matter truthfully?” one of the cultivators from Nine Firmaments Palace, a white-faced fellow without any facial hair, asked harshly. A strand of aura spread out from his body and Liu Dianfeng immediately felt as though his body had been pierced through and a chilling sensation ran across his whole body.

“Sir Sage, junior did not know about this. Our cultivation base is shallow after all and we were incapable of probing the depth of this mine. Please dole out the punishment,” said Liu Dianfeng nervously.

“Sage Astral Thunder, what do you think?” The sage, Sage First Origin, suddenly asked.

“Even if Purplecloud Sky Grotto’s Sect Master failed to contribute, he did his best. We cannot blame him for this. For now, we should deal with the problem before us,” said a middle-aged cultivator who sported a thick beard. He was none other than Liu Yuntian’s master, Sage Astral Thunder, one of the cultivators from Nine Firmaments Palace.

“Just what kind of magic treasure is down there? It possesses such power. To be capable of absorbing hundreds of thousands of Magic crystals in one breath, it should be above the Prized artefact. Could it be a Sacred artefact?” Sage First Origin’s face was solemn. The moment the two of them arrived, they had sensed Longevity Tower’s aura. However, due to their feelings of vigilance, neither of them dared to attack.

“If it really is a Sacred artefact, we won’t be enough to handle it.” Sage Astral Thunder’s brows furrowed together.

Swoosh!

It was at that moment that the youngster who fought against Chen Feng’s group earlier flew out from the hole leading into the mine.

“Greetings, Sir Sages, fellow senior brothers!” shouted the youngster the moment he came forward.

“Liu Mu, what is going on underground?” asked Sage First Origin.

“I do not know either. There is a magic treasure down there. It is a nine-level pagoda. It suddenly appeared earlier and is furiously absorbing the spiritual energy from the surrounding Magic crystals. I dared not get close to it earlier. However, there were plenty of cracks on the surface of the pagoda. It is probably a damaged magic treasure. Disciple speculates that it is absorbing the spiritual energy of the Magic crystals to restore its strength,” Liu Mu quickly answered.

“A damaged magic treasure!” Sage Astral Thunder and Sage First Origin exchanged glances. A passionate look flashed across their eyes. Clearly, they planned on taking action.

“Let’s take action!”

The two sages at the Sky Human stage hastily descended and unique ripples spread out from their bodies. Those were none other than worldly laws, something that only Sky Human stage cultivators can comprehend. With their thoughts, they mobilized the worldly forces around them.

“Spatial Lock!” The two sages swiftly moved both their hands to send out streams of light, which rapidly seeped into the surrounding space before disappearing.

Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!

A series of soft clicking sounds rang out and the space around them, extending to a distance of tens of li, were locked up. Everything fell silent and it seemed as though there were no more life forms within the space (1 li = 0.5 km).

This level of spatial lock was far beyond anything the cultivators with revolving domains could hope to accomplish. This was the magic techniques of cultivators at the Sky Human stage. Sky Human, Sky and Human as one. The Sky was above Human. This was a core advancement and transformation for human cultivators, exceeding the scope of ordinary cultivators. Compared to Sky Human stage cultivators, Concealed stage cultivators can only be considered as ordinary cultivators.

Naturally, if a cultivator at the Sky Human stage can further advance, he or she would begin to shed off the concept of ‘Human’ to became an immortal amongst humans. The moment they acquire the word ‘Immortal’, it would signify detachment and loftiness.

“The other party has taken action. To think that they would utilize the Spatial Lock trick. If I hadn’t devoured these Magic crystals, escaping would have been somewhat difficult. Now, even if several more Sky Human stage cultivators come, they cannot stop me from leaving!” said Tower jubilantly. By then, he was already the size of a palace. The Longevity Tower suddenly gave off a pulse and energy currents flowed out in every direction, causing a tear to appear upon the space that it was occupying. At the same time, the tear in space began spreading outwards. A void passageway appeared beneath the Magic crystal mine and the chaotic energies from the void raged out, sucking in the surrounding Magic crystal ores and reducing them to powder.

“Let’s go.”

The Longevity Tower flew into the void passageway and disappeared. By the time Sage Astral Thunder and Sage First Origin arrived, all they saw was a spatial crack closing up. There were also waves of tyrannical power remaining.

“Spatial Jump! That is definitely a Sacred artefact! Not to mention, it is a damaged Sacred artefact! Pity! What a pity! If only we had known, we should have gathered more people to come. Even a damaged Sacred artefact is more valuable compared to this Magic crystal mine,” sighed Sage First Origin.

“Sacred artefacts have a mind of their own. I wonder if that Sacred artefact is acting on its own or is someone using it. How strange, how strange! A nine-level pagoda, and a damaged one to boot. Where did it come from? After we return to our sect, we must check this properly. To dare offend our Nine Firmaments Palace, even a Dao artefact must be obedient and allow themselves to be subdued.”

“More than half the Magic crystals here have been devoured. Liu Mu, Yuan Ye, Hei Tian, you fellows stay here and help Purplecloud Sky Grotto with their mining operation here.”

“Liu Dianfeng, although you failed to give us a proper report of the situation here, a Magic crystal mine of this size is enough to give you merit. Additionally, we managed to catch a glimpse of a Sacred artefact. The two of us have enough authority to make this decision. Select another four cultivators from your Purplecloud Sky Grotto. We will accept them as inner disciples.”

Sage Astral Thunder and Sage First Origin quickly had a discussion between themselves before issuing command after command.

“Thank you, Sir Sages!”

Liu Dianfeng was overjoyed and he hastily stepped forward to show his respects. With four people from his Purplecloud Sky Grotto joining Nine Firmaments Palace, his sect’s position will become more stable. This was something of a repayment for Liu Yuntian’s death.

After issuing out the commands, the two sages quickly left. Liu Mu and the others were responsible for cleaning up the mess. Earlier, Liu Mu had not revealed to the two sages about the fight between him and Chen Feng’s group. For Liu Mu, his failure to capture Chen Feng’s group was a humiliating matter. It would be better for him to keep it a secret. Additionally, Liu Mu had failed to make the connection between Chen Feng’s group and the sudden appearance of the nine-level pagoda. Liu Mu assumed that Chen Feng’s group had either used the chaos to flee or died within the chaos. Still, judging by the fact that Chen Feng possessed a Prized artefact, the chances of him successfully escaping was much higher.

Hopefully, those fellows did not die. In the future, should the opportunity arise, I will personally capture them. Liu Mu thought to himself.

…

Inside the Longevity Tower, Chen Feng and the others watched the chaos outside. Chaotic void powers filled the outside area and Chen Feng knew that Longevity Tower was jumping through the void.

Incredible, this is true void jumping. It is different from my method of utilizing spatial arrays to jump through a short distance. This nine-level tower is at least a Sacred artefact. Additionally, I get the feeling that it is most likely a Dao artefact. A Dao artefact! Even an immortal dao sect like Nine Firmaments Palace does not have many of those. What origins does this Chen Feng has? Or could it be he simply has Heaven-defying luck to coincidentally stumble upon a legacy grotto-mansion that an extraordinary character left behind, thereby receiving this magic treasure? Ye Ziming pondered silently.

It was not just Ye Ziming. Even the way Lu Ta regarded Chen Feng had changed. Within the Longevity Tower, only the Four-eared Spirit Monkey and the Purplebolt Silverlight Wyrm continued to practice cultivation silently, ignoring all that was transpiring outside.