“Sword energy barrier!”

Although their attacks had taken Jian Xiaotian by surprise, he did not panic. Sword light shone all around and a huge sphere of sword energy wrapped Jian Xiaotian up.

This time, the barrier lasted for one whole breath’s worth of time. During that time, Jian Xiaotian darted around several times and the desert fire scorpions kept dying to him. One yao core after another fell out and flew into Jian Xiaotian’s hand.

As Jian Xiaotian was fighting the desert fire scorpions, Chen Feng quickly went about recovering his exhausted strength. Even though there were a few times when Jian Xiaotian appeared to be in danger, Chen Feng did not do anything.

Finally, Jian Xiaotian returned, arriving beside Chen Feng, his whole body stained with blood. Although he had killed a good number of desert fire scorpions, the wounds on his body were even more serious than the wounds on Chen Feng’s body just now.

Firstly, Jian Xiaotian did not possess a top-grade Prized-tier body armour like the one Chen Feng possessed. Secondly, his fleshly body was also not as strong as Chen Feng’s fleshly body. Thirdly, the scorpions were intelligent creatures. After fighting Chen Feng for some time, they eventually adapted and used a new method to deal with Jian Xiaotian.

His torn flesh was so painful that Jian Xiaotian kept gnashing his teeth. That was not the most unbearable issue for Jian Xiaotian. Rather, it was the fire poison invading his body, going all over to burn and corrode his body. The damage to his skin was easy to recover from. However, the fire poison would require a serious amount of effort to unravel and refine.

After returning to the passageway, Jian Xiaotian swiftly brought out some medicinal pills and shoved them into his mouth. As the same time, he also brought out some medicinal powder, which he sprinkled over his wounds. Immediately, his wounds sizzled and white smoke wafted upwards. It was so painful that Jian Xiaotian could not stop himself from swearing.

Chen Feng pressed his palm on Jian Xiaotian’s body and strands of the fire poison were immediately sucked into Chen Feng’s palm.

“Huh! This fire poison is really troublesome. It is difficult to extinguish and refine. Additionally, it will continuously burn the primary energy within my body.” After Chen Feng sucked out all the fire poison inside his body, Jian Xiaotian exhaled deeply. The amount of pain he had to endure had lessened significantly.

When Jian Xiaotian was more or less healed up, Chen Feng’s figure darted forward again as he left the passageway to kill the desert fire scorpions.

Once again, the desert fire scorpions changed their method of fighting. The scorpions, which had been clustered together, quickly split up. Next, they formed coordinated teams, occupying the surrounding space as they attacked Chen Feng in teams.

Shua!

With a swing of his flaming sword, Chen Feng broke up one team of scorpions, killing three of them instantly. Before Chen Feng could feel happy about it, however, the attacks from another team of scorpions arrived from the front. This time, Chen Feng did not dodge the attacks and instead took their attacks head on to kill off another two scorpions. As a result, he ended up with a bloody cut on his body.

Boom!

A team of scorpions furiously slammed against Chen Feng to knock him into the midst of a swarm of scorpions. Instantly, the countless desert fire scorpions surrounded and pinned Chen Feng in the centre. They brandished their sharp pincers, desirous of tearing Chen Feng into pieces.

After just one breath’s worth of time, they had inflicted countless wounds on Chen Feng’s body. If it were not for the fact that Chen Feng’s skin had melded with the body armour, this round of attacks would have torn open his abdomen.

Weng!

A domain abruptly unfurled. This time, the domain Chen Feng released was filled with slicing sword beams. The sudden appearance of the domain shredded all the desert fire scorpions around Chen Feng.

Next, Chen Feng grasped and over 30 yao cores flew into his hand, all of them emanating a fiery aura.

I exhausted one tenth of my power with that move. However, I managed to get these yao cores. It can already be considered a decent trade. Chen Feng smiled.

This time, Chen Feng only fought for one hour. When he had nearly exhausted his strength, he used up all his strength to kill a way forward to return to the passageway.

“Thankfully, even though the number of desert fire scorpions is enormous, their level of strength is fairly average. There are no powerful fellows amongst them. If that’s the case, we can stay here and train ourselves a bit here,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“Are these scorpions idiots? What is the point in surrounding this place? They are just waiting to be killed,” Jian Xiaotian said, his killing intent soaring. He was already fully recovered. Wielding a sword in hand, he made ready to charge out again.

“Wait! Something is going on.” Chen Feng suddenly stopped Jian Xiaotian.

The desert fire scorpions surrounding the massive building grew more excited and some rapidly flew up into the sky. One sword beam after another shot down from the sky, streaking through the gaps between the desert fire scorpions.

“Some other fellows are here!” Jian Xiaotian was surprised.

“They had probably come in together with us. However, I wonder which sect they are from?” Chen Feng wondered.

“Those fellows are likely sword cultivators. Clearly, they were also attracted to this tower. However, charging in will not be easy,” Jian Xiaotian said.

Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian carefully observed the situation and found that there was a total of five cultivators. The five cultivators possessed high cultivation bases. Although there were hundreds of desert fire scorpions surrounding them, the desert fire scorpions were constantly getting killed during the fight. Unfortunately, there were simply too many desert fire scorpions. It will be quite difficult for the five cultivators to break through the defensive perimeter set up by the desert fire scorpions and enter the passageway.

After observing the situation for a while, Chen Feng found that all five had unfamiliar faces. He did not recognize a single one of them. Thus, he said, “Heh! Who cares which sect they are from? At any rate, they have nothing to do with us. I think we should enter the tower and have a look.”

“Very well. If there are treasures inside this tower and these fellows charge in, we’ll have some trouble as well.” Jian Xiaotian nodded his head in agreement.

As the two of them walked deeper into the passageway, they noticed something unfavourable. The place was restraining their soul power. When the two of them first arrived within this pocket dimension, the laws here had suppressed their powers. This time, another layer of restriction had been imposed on them. Thus, they abruptly halted their steps.

“I can’t even send out 5 % of my soul power. However, it seems our physical power has returned.” Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian looked at each other, looks of shock and doubt on each other’s faces.

“Since we have already entered, how can we back off? Besides, there is only this building inside this desert. No matter what, we must go check it out,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“That’s right! I personally hope there are dangers. That would mean that there are treasures here!” Jian Xiaotian grinned.

There were no doors, only a passageway which was becoming increasingly dark. A cool atmosphere and a still space. After walking through 1,000 steps, the two of them finally made it to the end.

“There is a door!” The two of them were surprised. It was a big, one zhang square door.

Jian Xiaotian stepped forward to touch it for a bit before saying, “It is also made from sand. I’ll open it!”

A sword light flashed out within the darkness and the big door was immediately cut into two. Next, the two of them felt an irresistible suction force emerge from the broken door. The two of them did not even have the time to hesitate before the suction force pulled them into the darkness.

Plop!

A sense of coolness washed over Chen Feng’s body. Next, he found that he could move again. The first thing Chen Feng did was to release his domain to defend himself.

He then found that he was actually within a body of water. Waves of bone-biting coldness caused Chen Feng to grow even more alert.

Bang!

Chen Feng slapped his palm against the water surface and his entire figure rose up into the air. Looking around, he quickly took note of his surroundings.

A calm and endless surface of water. There were no boats and no humans there. There weren’t even any fishes or shrimps. A faint layer of fog hovered atop the water surface to give off the impression of deathly stillness.

When he was about to make contact with the water surface again, Chen Feng’s foot nudged slightly and the Lightstream Shield flew out. Next, Chen Feng hovered above the water surface.

Sou! Sou! Sou!

Riding the Lightstream Shield, Chen Feng flew forward at an incredible speed. In just the blink of an eye, he was already several li forward. However, he quickly stopped. Furrowing his brows, he said, “This is a problem. I didn’t think that using magic treasures here would sap away my strength so quickly!”

Generally speaking, the average cultivator would utilize his or her soul power to refine magic treasures. If their souls were damaged, it would become very difficult for them to empower their magic treasures. However, Chen Feng was different. Because he cultivated the Acupoint Aegis Art, he could even use blood energy and primary energy to empower his magic treasures. Only, soul power was still the main mover.

And yet, Chen Feng could feel that the rate at which his power was getting consumed was too fast. Thus, after a moment’s consideration, Chen Feng slowly descended upon the water surface. His feet stepped upon the water surface and he slowly walked forward.

His soul power spread out, but it could only spread up to a distance of 100 metres. Additionally, his soul power was also rapidly getting exhausted, weakening as it did.

“The water here is quite cold. In the outside world, ice would have formed long ago. Looks like this water is different from ordinary water,” Chen Feng said, waving his hand to pull up a clump of the icy water. Next, he utilized his soul power to carefully inspect the water.

A concentrated power of water. This is a good place for cultivation! Chen Feng’s heart gave a thump and a stream of cold power of water flowed into his body. It did not take long before he utterly refined the power.

The power of water, a soft, yin-type power! This is just right for me to assail the Yin acupoint! With a thought from Chen Feng, his soul power promptly scanned his surroundings. After determining that there were no dangers around, he quickly sat cross-legged on the water surface. Next, he began absorbing the power within the water to cultivate himself.

One hour later, the Yin acupoint was successfully opened. The innate yin energy stored within his body instantly gushed out from his body, causing Chen Feng’s power to rise bit by bit.

That was not all. As the yin power surged, the Yang acupoint within his body stirred as well. The two opposing forces of yin and yang began clashing with one another, causing Chen Feng’s body to fall into a state of chaos. Just as how fire and water do not mix, yin and yang were opposed to each other. The collision between the two forces with completely different attributes created a destructive power that instantly left Chen Feng with internal injuries. Tears had even appeared upon his incomparably resilient meridians. The meridians in some of the more seriously wounded parts were already on the verge of breaking.

Incredible! I didn’t think that these two powers could produce such a formidable power. If I can utilize this power in a fight against my enemies, wouldn’t my offensive power rise to a higher level? Chen Feng worked on healing his wounds while finding a balancing point. Given his current cultivation base, Chen Feng was still incapable of fully integrating these two extreme powers. All he could do was to let them exist within a state of harmony.

Opening the Yin acupoint had only taken him one hour. And yet, getting the powers within him into a state of harmony took him half a day. After that, the wounds within Chen Feng’s body were completely healed up and the Yin and Yang acupoints grew calm. With a thought, yin and yang energies began flowing out following a certain rhythm.

1 zhang = 3.333 m

1 li = 0.5 km