"Sister Long, what the hell is this place? Why is it so hot? I feel like I'm going to be roasted—"
…
Seven days later, when the little dragon girl Ao Ling appeared again, Li Zhi had completely refined the black tiger's leg bone.
Under the catalysis of the second layer of "Cangming Jue", the tiger bones were completely vaporized within the sea of consciousness, constantly nourishing every inch of Li Zhi's skin, every acupoint, and every muscle and bone from the inside out.
Visible to the naked eye, Li Zhi's body has become stronger, and his height seems to have increased a little?
Li Zhi could feel that his strength had increased again. He usually relied more on his cultivation, but now half of his strength came from the muscles and bones themselves.
Not only that, when refining the tiger bones, he also extracted the energy contained in them.
Li Zhi himself did not absorb it, but gave it to his clone Chunwu.
Li Zhi now has no way to assimilate the energy related to the demon clan into his own mana, just like the Green Wolf Inner Pill he obtained on "Shaohua Mountain".
However, this is a rare energy after all. How can it be as high as the Green Wolf Neidan?
Adhering to the principle of never wasting anything, Li Zhi let Chunwu swallow it in one gulp, and he personally protected him.
Sure enough, when Chunwu absorbed this energy, he fell into madness several times. The violent raging was completely beyond Li Zhi's expectation.
As a last resort, Mo Wen had to be brought over to share the burden. With the combined efforts of the two of them, it was still difficult to completely tame the remaining tyranny of the black tiger.
"...Therefore, existence and non-existence arise from each other, difficulty and ease complement each other, long and short complement each other, high and low complement each other, sound and sound harmonize each other, front and rear follow each other, and they are eternal."
"When the Tao rushes into use, it may not be full. The abyss seems to be the ancestor of all things, and the deep seems to exist. I don't know whose son is the first of Emperor Xiang..."
At his wits' end, Li Zhi accidentally remembered the "Tao Te Ching".
He obtained this scripture at "Bi Luo Ju" on the bank of Luoshui River, and he used it to break through to the "Nascent Soul" realm in one fell swoop.
Later, he inexplicably came up with a set of "Cangming Jue", and Li Zhi never recited the "Tao Te Ching" again. Now that he reads it again, the subtle words and great meanings in it seem to have a new interpretation?
"Haha, I, you have to work hard. The two of us have reached the late stage of 'God Transformation', but you are still stuck in the middle stage of 'God Transformation'——"
I don't know how much time had passed, but when Mo Wen and Chun Wu both finished their work, Mo Wen teased Li Zhi.
Li Zhi didn't take it seriously. The clones were also part of his own strength. What's the difference between them becoming stronger and himself becoming stronger?
However, in terms of cultivation, it seems that there are really few examples of clones walking in front of the main body.
"You two are concentrating on practicing here. When the time comes, there will be many important things that you two need to deal with."
The incident with the Dragon Clan made Li Zhi feel more clearly that the world was not as simple as he imagined.
This is true for the Dragon Clan, but what about the Phoenix Clan and Qilin Clan?
There are also the Witch Clan and the Demon Clan. They were once the most dominant races in this world, but what are they like now?
…
With Ao Ling's benefit, Li Zhi would follow her previous agreement, but when she saw Ao Ling again, she still did not reveal the purpose of her trip.
"Yes, it seems that that piece of tiger bone is indeed useful to you, but it's a pity that it was a waste of time to stay in the Dragon Palace for so many years."
After personally "checking" the results of Li Zhi's refining, Ao Ling was very satisfied and became more confident in his next actions.
"Sister Long, do you have any more useless tiger bones like this? If you really think you have no place to dispose of them, you might as well give them to me. I'm not a picky eater."
Maybe the two of them had a friendship like a black tiger's leg bone. Li Zhi was no longer so restrained when he spoke, and his call "Sister Long" was particularly natural.
He himself is much smaller than others. Even if he takes two lifetimes combined, he still can't keep up with the length of time a dragon spends in its mother's womb.
"Humph, then it depends on your performance. If I get what I want, it's not impossible to reward you appropriately."
Li Zhi's "humble" look was still recognized by Ao Ling. The key was that she was the youngest among the dragons and dragon girls in the entire East China Sea.
Now, suddenly there is a person named "Sister Long", which invisibly satisfies Ao Ling's pitiful vanity.
"When you're ready, come with me—"
With Ao Ling in front and Li Zhi behind, they turned and walked towards the depths of the Crystal Palace.
The further they walked in, the denser the spiritual energy became, until they saw a stone door.
The stone door is not big and can only accommodate one person. It is actually embedded in a stone mountain under the water. Looking at the trend of the stone mountain, if the stone door is opened, the passage will go diagonally downward.
"Kuroro, the place we want to go is behind this stone door, but it requires the power of the 'Golden Immortal' to open it. If the third cousin hadn't been punished, we would have been able to enter more than ten years ago. It's a pity that …”
It turns out that this is a secret realm discovered by the little white dragon Ao Lie and Ao Ling together. More than thirty years have passed, and the two have still not been able to enter it.
He simply used the dragon clan's secret method to build a stone gate here, and even built a crystal palace to cover up this secret place.
Fourteen years ago, Xiao Bailong encountered bad luck and met a green tea bride. In anger, he smashed his new house, which accidentally caused a fire and burned the pearl given by the Jade Emperor.
Ao Run, the Dragon King of the West Sea, who is my biological father, actually sued the little white dragon Ao Lie to heaven for the crime of "disobedience".
In the end, Xiao Bailong was beaten three hundred times in public and made to shut up and think about his mistakes. He took advantage of the situation and chose this "Yingchou Stream". It may not be necessary to think about his mistakes, but it is true to heal his injuries.
Coupled with the fact that he was cheated on by his soon-to-be-married wife, he was filled with grief and anger for a while, and his cultivation has not advanced over the years, but has retreated.
Since Ao Ling was punished to stay in seclusion and reflect on her mistakes, it was hard for Ao Ling to come to visit her again. It wasn't until Xiao Bailong followed Tang Monk westward that she came to the Crystal Palace again.
Li Zhiyun looked at the stone gate with his "Golden Eyes of Destruction", energy waves flickered, and there were three restrictions in succession.
"Sister Long, how to open this door?"
Li Zhi didn't know anything about formations, but he had seen Changsun Pingting set up formations several times. When asked, she couldn't tell where she learned it.
"I'll turn off the engine for a while, and then push the stone door with all your strength. Remember, you must do it with all your strength -"
After finishing speaking, Ao Ling was seen making various complicated hand seals with both hands and mumbling words.
"quick--"
Li Zhi didn't understand what Ao Ling did. Hearing her greeting, he gathered his strength with both hands and pushed hard on the stone door.
Hearing Ao Ling's solemn words, he was full of energy from the beginning.
"Crunch - crunch -"
Why is it so heavy?
Visually, the stone gate was only about a foot thick. Li Zhi, who had the "Powerful" skill, was already in the middle stage of "God Transformation". He had even refined the precious tiger bone. With all his strength, Li Zhi actually It only opened a gap about half a foot wide.
"Ah, can you really push away? That's amazing!"
Although she knew that Li Zhi was very powerful, Ao Ling was mentally prepared. When Li Zhi really pushed open a gap, she still couldn't believe it.
Li Zhi didn't know, but Ao Ling knew very well.
This stone gate was a restriction set up by Xiao Bailong Ao Lie and her back then, fearing that someone would come here to steal their opportunity.
To be precise, it should be her Ao Ling's opportunity.
The Dragon Clan has a unique bloodline, and is born with the realm of "celestial immortal". In other words, Ao Ling has been practicing for more than two hundred years, but has not made any progress in his cultivation.
She has always been known as the "laughing stock" of her peers throughout the world. Even among her siblings, many people laugh at her behind her back.
Only Ao Lie, the third prince of Xihai, protected his little cousin in every possible way, perhaps because he was also a "Fire Dragon".
Thirty years ago, the two of them traveled around and accidentally discovered this strange "Yingchou Stream", and even found this secret place.
The main credit, it seems, must be attributed to Ao Ling.
She has the body of a "fire dragon". Although her cultivation is not very good, she can master all fire spells in one go and master them in one go. She is even better than Ao Lie who is in the Mysterious Immortal Realm.
Unfortunately, precisely because of his inability to improve his cultivation, even if he mastered many fire spells, the power he exerted was vastly different.
As soon as she approached the Snake Pan Mountain, the energy and blood in Ao Ling's body started to surge. It seemed that there was something destined for her in the Snake Pan Mountain?
However, apart from the crystal clear water of "Yingchou Stream", is there anything else special about it?
The two simply stayed at Yingchou Stream in Shepan Mountain for the time being. After careful exploration, they finally found a huge reef at the bottom of Yingchou Stream.
It is said to be a reef because the exposed area under the water is only the size of a room, but in fact it is buried deeper underground.
In other words, there is actually a mysterious mountain buried at the bottom of Yingchou Stream. The thing that makes Ao Ling's blood boil is in the hinterland of this mountain.
Unfortunately, the two of them tried for several years, but still could not find a way to enter the hinterland of the mountain.
In the end, due to his own lack of strength, he temporarily set up a stone gate and built a crystal palace, turning this place into the jurisdiction of the West Sea, which was actually the private property of Xiaobailong Ao Lie.
"Sister Long, have you never thought at all that I can push open this stone door and just try it on me?"
Seeing Ao Ling so excited, Li Zhi was very depressed. It seemed that he was being treated as a guinea pig.
In fact, even if the Dragon Clan has declined, there are still many masters above the Golden Immortal level in the Four Seas Dragon Clan, but Ao Ling is unwilling to ask for help from them, and he does not even intend to tell them the secrets here.
As for Li Zhi, maybe he bumped into her by mistake. Maybe deep down in Ao Ling's heart, she didn't feel that this human race with "a body of leakage from the sky" could bring any real trouble to her.
Thinking that with the help of his brute force, it would be better if it succeeded. If it really failed, she would have to wait a few more years and wait until cousin lie returns from studying for scriptures before opening it.
"Hehe, how can that be? I see that Jiulang has extraordinary strength. Ordinary golden immortals may not have the courage like you. If you work harder, after entering this stone gate, we can officially start the treasure hunt-"
Ao Ling was naturally very happy when he saw the hope of success.
Over the years, she and Ao Lie had prepared a lot for this. If Ao Lie hadn't been hit by three hundred hammers and spent more than ten years recuperating from his injuries, they might have opened the door long ago.
"Treasure hunt? Let's make an agreement first. We'll have a share in it, but you can't keep it to yourself when the time comes?"
After wondering for so many days, this was the first time that Li Zhi heard about the purpose of this trip from Ao Ling. Who doesn't like this, not to mention that Li Zhi is an out-and-out "poor person who cultivates immortality".
"The treasure will choose its own owner. It should be yours. No one can take it away. Just keep doing it——"
Ao Ling continued to play with her dazzling handprints, and Li Zhi became more motivated, but he did not notice a hint of embarrassment on Ao Ling's face.
This place may be a strange existence. After all, every time he comes here, Ao Ling has difficulty suppressing the energy and blood in his body.
It seems like a little daughter-in-law who has been wronged for many years is eager to break out of the shackles of the prison and run to a wider world.
However, if there must be some treasure inside, Ao Ling is definitely talking nonsense, just to make Li Zhi work harder.
After all, Ao Ling is the youngest daughter of Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East China Sea. The old Dragon King once asked an expert to diagnose and treat her, but the conclusion he reached was unconvincing.
In other words, all of Ao Ling's training is effective. Once he can break through his own shackles, his improvement in cultivation will be unstoppable.
If a charlatan had said this, the Old Dragon King could have eaten him alive. However, the person who said this was someone he, Ao Guang, could not afford to offend.
Finally, as a thank you, the old Dragon King politely presented a valuable treasure.
More than two hundred years have passed, and Ao Ling has never been seen getting out of hand. Instead, he is still in the stable early stage of "immortal" as he was when he was just born.
"Ah, open it——"
"Creak-crack-"
The stone door was finally pushed open by Li Zhi. He spent most of his strength on this, breathing heavily.
"Kuro, you are so powerful. This is Dragon Palace's 'Qi Recovery Pill'. You should take a breath adjustment and you will still have some strength in a while."
If there hadn't been that last half sentence, maybe Li Zhi would be more grateful to her. Even so, Li Zhi wouldn't have trouble with the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp.
"Qi Rejuvenation Pill", as the name suggests, can quickly replenish Li Zhi's consumption. Looking at Ao Ling's posture, he has prepared something for everyone.
"Okay, let's go in."
Seeing that Li Zhi's breath adjustment was perfect, Ao Ling said, bowing down and entering the stone gate first, and Li Zhi hurriedly followed.
The stone door opened, and the stone mountain and the stone door that I saw were all gone. Could it be that they were transformed?
At some point, a luminous pearl the size of a bowl appeared in Ao Ling's hand. Its brilliance was dazzling, illuminating everything around it as if it were daytime.
"Sister Long, are we just here to hunt for treasure? Isn't this just a big rock? Do you still think that another Sun Wukong can pop out from here?"
Behind the stone gate, it was desolate, with only a single big stone in the middle. It was so bare that it was unknown how long it had been buried here.
The strange thing is that there is no water stain or dust on the entire stone, let alone the existence of moss.
"Jiulang, the treasure I'm talking about is inside this stone. Look, there is also a door here. Cousin Lie and I discovered it back then, but unfortunately we couldn't enter it for a while."
Opposite the door just now, the side of the big stone is relatively flat. If you look closely, it does look like a door.
However, this door looks like it is painted on the stone!
"We have tried many methods, but have never been able to open the door. This time we will simply break through it violently."
As he said that, Ao Ling's left and right hands each had an extra object. In his left hand was a bright chisel, but in his right hand was a dark hammer.
"Kuro, you are strong, so you should do it."
"Sister Long, are you joking? Are you asking me to use such a small hammer and chisel to open such a big stone?"
Li Zhi had long scanned the big rock in front of him with his "Breaking Golden Eyes". What surprised him was that this was not a big rock, but the top of a mountain.
I don't know how long it has been buried here, and the surface has been polished smooth, and the door "painted" on the stone is indeed the only way to enter it.
However, he saw that from that door down, the entire door was actually solid.
Is this a prank?
"Jiulang, don't underestimate this small hammer and chisel. Although it is not as good as the hammer drill of Xin Tianjun, the god of thunder, it is still a masterpiece of Immortal Master Yun Zhongzi."
Yun Zhongzi was one of the Twelve Golden Immortals of the Chan Sect during the Conferred God Period, but he was the best at refining weapons under the Chan Sect. His favorite thing to do was to imitate various well-known magic weapons.
The power is naturally not as powerful as the original version, but it can't hold him back much. For some low- and mid-level magic weapons, the power of the imitation can even reach more than 50% of the original version.
Li Zhi had no choice but to accept it, because he was just here to work as a coolie.
After hammering it, Li Zhi felt that it was definitely not ordinary. He couldn't tell what kind of material it was made of, but it was probably not less than a thousand catties in weight.
Li Zhi did not simply use brute force, but used a chisel to gently carve out four deep grooves along the four sides of the door on the big stone.
Don't tell me, the chisel is sharp enough, and the boulder is hard enough.
With this little work, Li Zhi, who had the second level of "Cangming Jue" fully activated, was busy for a full hour.
"Sister Long, get out of the way and I'll try to hit you with a hammer——"
Looking at the door that he had dug out on all four sides, Li Zhi used all his skills, and even secretly informed Mo Wen and Chun Wu in the sea of consciousness, asking them to help him.
"Ah, open-"
"boom--"
The hammer in Li Zhi's hand hit the door so hard that even the hammer was lifted up by Lao Gao, and Li Zhi almost let go.
Looking at the boulder, except for the addition of a palm-sized pit, it was completely motionless.
"Isn't this too exaggerated?"
You know, Li Zhi's strongest thing now is "powerful". With that hammer just now, he could flatten half of an ordinary hill.
"It seems that it still doesn't work, Jiulang. This sect should also be blessed by formations. Our level is still too low."
This hammer and chisel is already the most powerful weapon she can take out from the East China Sea Dragon Palace. There are better ones, but it's a pity that she can't pick them up yet.
"Sister Long, you are a fire dragon, can you breathe fire?"
Li Zhi circled the big stone twice and asked thoughtfully.
"Of course, my sister's fire control skills are among the best in the entire dragon clan -"
Finally asked about his strengths, Ao Ling changed his previous disappointment.
"Okay, just follow the position where I cut the door. Sister Long can burn it as hard as possible. The bigger the fire, the better."
Ao Ling didn't understand what he meant, but seeing that Li Zhi didn't seem to be joking, he opened his mouth and directed a line of fire towards the door on the big stone.
Li Zhi didn't shout to stop, Ao Ling kept burning there, watching the blue boulder gradually burn into fiery red, as if even the stone was burning?
Half an hour later, many cracks appeared on the surface of the boulder.
"Sister Long, stop spitting fire and spray water instead. The colder the better -"
Seeing the effect in front of him, Li Zhi was overjoyed. It turned out that in the world of gods and demons, the chemical theories of later generations also worked.
Ao Ling saw the merits of his flames and was full of trust in Li Zhi. He quickly used his magic power to attract water from the "Yingchou Stream" to pour on the big rocks.
Suddenly, there was thick white smoke, and the sound of beeping and popping was clearly more rocks exploding.
"Okay, I'll try again."
After the smoke disappeared, Li Zhi did not use the pair of hammers and chisels again, nor did he return them to Ao Ling. Instead, he put them away without leaving any trace in his "storage ring".
Arriving steadily at the door, he used the "Breaking Golden Eyes" again. He could see that at least ten feet deep inside the big stone had been completely destroyed by water and fire.
"The bear collapsed the mountain——"
Li Zhi shouted loudly and hit the door of Dashi with both palms.
"Boom - click -"
Flying sand and rocks, the huge boulder the size of a room was exposed on the ground, most of it was cut off by Li Zhi's blow, truly "a bear collapsing the mountain".
A downward passage appeared in front of me. It was dark and I didn't know how deep it was.
"This...Kuro, are you really open? What state are you in? Are you hiding your strength?"
Ao Ling rubbed his eyes in disbelief and broke the door violently. This was Li Zhi's naked violent break.
She could no longer feel that the formations that were originally blessed on this big stone could completely destroy this weird big stone by burning it with fire and pouring water on it?
"Sister Long, the door is open, what are you doing here?"
The weirder this place is, the more excited Li Zhi feels. Is there really any treasure?
Ao Ling once again held the Night Pearl in front, and Li Zhi followed closely, but borrowed Mo Wen's black gun in his hand for emergencies.
Sure enough, it is a downward passage. It seems that it is not man-made, but natural.
The stone door is very narrow, but the passage is big enough for three people to walk down side by side, and the further you go down, the wider the passage becomes.
However, Li Zhi couldn't stand it.
"Sister Long, what the hell is this place? Why is it so hot? I feel like I'm going to be roasted—"
