“For this level of strength to only be given the inner disciple rank. Does Extreme Celestial Sect not value talents, or is Chen Feng a low-key person?” Tie Changkong said with a smile.

“If it is because Extreme Celestial Sect does not value talents, I will think of a way to recruit Chen Feng into our Sword Hall.”

“Your Sword Hall consists of pure sword cultivators. I think Chen Feng would be more suited for our Flowing Cloud Hall,” replied Shangguan Yun smilingly.

The two of them could not be blamed for wanting to recruit Chen Feng into their respective sects. It was not simply due to the reward they would receive by recruiting a talent into their sect. They could also obtain a comrade who will fight alongside them in the future.

Joining the immortal dao sects was not an easy feat. However, that was only for ordinary cultivators. Should they encounter talents, those great sects would discard their vanity and snatch the talent.

“Let’s not fight about this. We should wait for Chen Feng to come out before talking about this.” Finally, Shangguan Yun laughed.

“What are you two talking about? You sound so happy.” A clear-sounding voice suddenly rang out from within the billowing black clouds.

“It’s Chen Feng. He’s come,” said Tie Changkong in surprise as he looked at Chen Feng, who appeared before the two of them, looking completely unharmed.

The two of them regarded Chen Feng from top to bottom and asked, “Did anything happen?”

“What could happen? Don’t you see? I am fine,” replied Chen Feng with a smile.

“Then, did you encounter anything after entering?” Tie Changkong asked.

“Nothing at all. The vile energy up front is too strong. I had to turn back after reaching my limit,” Chen Feng said. Naturally, Chen Feng would not tell them the truth.

“That’s fine. We should think of a way to get out. Staying underground gives me a suffocating feeling,” Tie Changkong said with a smile.

The three of them then moved according to the flow of the black clouds. It did not take them long to find an exit.

“Phew! We are finally out. We can see the sky again!” Tie Changkong could not stop himself from shouting.

“Ha ha! This cannot be considered as seeing the sky yet. Let’s leave this black cloud-filled area first.” Chen Feng laughed.

“That’s right. Only by leaving this vile zone can we actually see the sky. What a huge loss this has been. Not a single gain. What a waste of time!”

“It’s not a complete waste. At least, we encountered some Bloodthirsty Bats.”

After deciding on a direction, the three of them set forth, covering a distance of thousands of zhang in just one breath’s worth of time. Then, they noticed several stone pillars rising high up from the ground.

“What is that? Let’s go check it out.”

There was a total of 12 circular pillars, all with identical appearances. Each of them had a radius of one zhang and a height of 100 metres. There were countless array patterns engraved into the pillars and dazzling-looking gems could be seen embedded into them.

In the middle of the stone pillars was a circular stone platform. There were also patterns engraved into the surface of the platform. The patterns there were connected to the patterns on the surrounding stone pillars.

“This is a teleportation array. By the looks of it, it is very old,” said a shocked Tie Changkong.

“Teleportation array!” Chen Feng’s eyes lit up.

“Could it be a teleportation array to leave the immortal mountain?”

The three of them were pleasantly surprised. However, they quickly calmed down.

“Not necessarily. Maybe it is connected to other dangerous places. Not to mention, can this teleportation array even work?”

“Since we’ve found it, we should try it out. Surely, we aren’t going to keep moving forward like this? Although there isn’t any danger, this kind of adventure is terribly depressing.”

The three of them quickly came to an agreement. Then, they walked into the teleportation array together.

“I wonder, how do we activate this teleportation array?” Chen Feng said, sending a stream of primary energy into one of the pillars.

The stream of primary energy seemingly fell into a bottomless pit. The stone pillar had sucked it all away. Furthermore, it would appear that the stone pillar was not satisfied and it continued sucking primary energy from Chen Feng’s body.

Instantly, 80 % of Chen Feng’s primary energy was consumed. A feeling of exhaustion and feebleness washed through his body.

Chen Feng was scared stiff. He did not think that something like this would happen. Thankfully, though, it did not suck away all his primary energy.

Weng!

Suddenly, the teleportation array began operating and the 12 stone pillars seemingly came to life.

“The teleportation array has activated!” Tie Changkong uttered in shock.

“Brother Chen, are you all right?” Shangguan Yun noticed something amiss with Chen Feng.

“It nearly sucked me dry just now,” said Chen Feng with a sigh as he shook his head. He brought his hand up and a one-chi square Magic crystal appeared on his palm. Next, streams of pure energy flowed into his body.

Chen Feng wanted to quickly replenish the lost primary energy.

“What a big piece of Magic crystal! It must have been directly mined from the mine, right?” Tie Changkong was shocked. The piece of Magic crystal in Chen Feng’s hand was the equivalent of 100 standard Magic crystal pieces seen in markets.

Huala la la!

Chen Feng kept absorbing the energy within and the Magic crystal in his hand cracked without respite. His rate of absorption shocked Tie Changkong and Shangguan Yun once again.

Boom!

Finally, the spatial passageway opened up and an overwhelming suction force sucked the three of them inside.

Where will we be teleported to? The same thought flashed across the minds of all three.

They did not have to speculate long before their feet landed on something soft. They had reached their destination.

“So fast? Isn’t this a little too quick?” Tie Changkong was the first to exclaim.

As for Chen Feng, he was not paying too much attention to their surroundings. He continued gripping the Magic crystal to recover his strength. The large piece of Magic crystal from earlier had been reduced to the size of a fist.

Pa!

Finally, a snapping sound rang out as the Magic crystal in Chen Feng’s palm was reduced to pieces before falling all over the ground. With that, Chen Feng had devoured the energy from 100 standard Magic crystals.

However, that was not enough. Chen Feng could feel it. He had not even recovered half of his primary energy. Given their unfamiliar and dangerous situation, maintaining a prime state was the only way he could feel confident in facing anything.

Thus, Chen Feng stopped absorbing Magic crystals. Instead, he brought out a bottle of medicinal pills. Pouring out three pills, he directly stuffed them into his mouth. In terms of energy absorption, spirit stones could not compare with medicinal pills.

The pills that Chen Feng took were Human-tier medicinal pills, Pure Essence Pills, the most suitable for replenishing energy. Chen Feng possessed a considerable number of varying medicinal pills. He had been accumulating them up all this time. At that moment, Chen Feng did not possess any Earthen-tier medicinal pills. Still, he did possess over 100 types of Human-tier medicinal pills. However, Chen Feng did not even know the names of most of them or what their functions were.

The three Pure Essence Pills dissolved and Chen Feng immediately felt pure energy filling him. Although he could not yet fully recover his primary energy, he could at least remain calm when encountering any issues.

Add Chen Feng’s mighty fleshly body to the equation, the lack of primary energy was not as concerning.

“What am I seeing?” After seeing what was laid out before them, Tie Changkong could not stop himself from exclaiming.

“A desert, are you kidding me?” Chen Feng too, widened his eyes.

The three of them were standing in the middle of an ancient-looking teleportation array. There were 12 tall and circular pillars around them, identical to the pillars of the teleportation array that they had used earlier. If it were not for the difference in their surroundings, they would have assumed that the teleportation array had failed.

After walking out of the teleportation array, they regarded the endless desert, looks of confusion and dumbfoundedness on their faces.

“Are we still inside or outside?”

“We must surely still be inside. Although the environment appears harsh, the surrounding spiritual energy is still very exuberant.”

“Hopefully, this desert is not too big.”

The three of them did not hang around for long. They quickly flew 1,000 zhang into the sky. As the terrain was flat and exposed, they could see up to 50 kilometres ahead.

Peering ahead, they saw an expanse of rolling yellow sand. Not a single tuft of grass could be seen.

“Should we return using the teleportation array?” asked Chen Feng, a smile on his face.

“Forget it. I don’t want to return to that black cloud-filled place. This environment is harsher. However, does it count as anything for cultivators like us?” Tie Changkong shook his head.

The three of them did not know which way to go. They could not tell north from south. However, with a thought, Chen Feng circulated the Magnetic acupoints on his feet.

Soon, Chen Feng raised a hand and pointed. “This way is east.”

“How do you know?” Tie Changkong was curious.

“I practiced a secret technique that allows me to determine the cardinal directions,” Chen Feng said with a smile.

“There is a secret technique for that? How wondrous!” Both Tie Changkong and Shangguan Yun felt curious.

“However, even if we know the cardinal directions, it is still useless. We’ll still have to head towards a direction without knowing what lies ahead.” Tie Changkong smiled.

“I think there is no need for us to choose a direction anymore.” Chen Feng’s tone suddenly changed as he pointed ahead.

Wu! Wu! Wu! Wu!

Strong winds roared and the yellow sand surged as hurricane after hurricane spun forward from the distance, covering the sky as it did. Every hurricane was several hundred zhang long, one end was connected to the sky while the other end was connected to the ground. The grains of sand on the ground were all sucked into the hurricane to further increase the power of the hurricane.

“A sandstorm!”

Their faces sank greatly. Hurricanes of this level were things that not even cultivators could defend against. Furthermore, it would appear that there was an even more ferocious sandstorm in the distance.

“Down!”

Knowing how urgent their situation was, all three of them instantly descended to the ground.

Sou! Sou! Sou!

Sword beams shot out from Tie Changkong’s hand to create a large hole on the ground. A great number of yellow sands was sprayed out as a result.

Chen Feng simply brought out Bloody Soul and hurled it down. With a flash of bloody light, the sands beneath exploded, leaving a crater that was tens of metres deep before them.

Sou!

Quickly, they landed within the crater and simultaneously unleashed attacks on the ground to increase the depth of the crater.

“Are you kidding me? The sands here are so thick!” Tie Changkong could not stop himself from bellowing.

Despite having gone tens of metres down, they had yet to encounter soil. There were only scalding yellows sands around them. After the three of them descended, the yellow sands on top poured forth to bury them inside.

“Not enough, keep digging!” Chen Feng’s head was directed downwards while his feet were hanging upwards. His hand wielded Bloody Soul, which kept spinning, quickly drilling underground. Tie Changkong and Shangguan Yun were close behind him.

Bang!

A monumental force spread towards the three of them through the thick layers of sand above them. Sensing that, they knew that the sandstorm was already upon them.

“Hurry!”

The three of them struggled desperately to dig deeper as they felt their bodies growing lighter. They knew it was because a great deal of the yellow sands was being sucked away.

Even with their cultivation bases, getting sucked into the sandstorm meant getting torn to pieces. Furthermore, the constant assaults from the grains of sand would mean that not even bones would be left of their bodies.

1 zhang = 3.333 m

1 chi = 0.333 m

1 li = 0.5 km