Longevity starts from having a daughter in old age - Chapter 399

Chapter 399: Chapter 368: Earth Fire Body Refinement_1

Xu Mu unleashed his skill, his body wrapped in mana, he tunneled towards the ground at an extremely fast speed. It was just like being underwater, where the hard bedrock could not slow him down the slightest bit.

“Black Iron, Bronze Essence, Star Crystals! I never thought that there would be so much wealth hidden underground!”

After diving down hundreds of meters, Xu Mu released his Divine Intent which quickly discovered a multitude of Spirit Veins residing underground.

The island the Palace of Pure Heart resides on holds a medium-sized Spirit Vein and several smaller veins. These veins not only provide spiritual energy for cultivation to the disciples of the Palace of Pure Heart, they also nourish the island itself over time.

Not mentioning the various precious Spirit Stones hidden underground, even the stones that make up the ground itself already rival the hardness of common iron.

Consequently, the entire island where the Palace of Pure Heart is situated is a treasure trove. This is also one of its underlying strengths.

In the future, these resources can be exploited if need be.

The deeper Xu Mu dives, the more Spirit Stones and treasures he finds. He even sees the medium-sized Spirit Vein, which deeply resembles a giant dragon, already nurturing a considerable amount of Spirit Stones.

In order not to disturb the Spirit Vein, Xu Mu refrained from any close examination.

“Normally, a medium-sized Spirit Vein should already be able to nurture top-grade Spirit Stones, that’s some serious treasure there!”

A top-grade Spirit Stone, compared to superior grade stones, already underwent a qualitative change. Not only does it possess the abilities of an ordinary Spirit Stone, but it also serves as a medicinal ingredient.

If mining these stones didn’t damage the Spirit Vein, Xu Mu would really want to carve out a few to keep for future use.

“However, just because I don’t want to dig them up for the sake of the continued development of the Palace of Pure Heart, doesn’t mean others won’t!”

Xu Mu expanded his Divine Intent and indeed identified many defensive and alert formations in the distance. As expected, the Palace of Pure Heart most likely set up these formations to prevent outsiders from secretly mining their resources.

Besides that, Xu Mu noticed Divine Intents from the Foundation Establishment Stage sweeping around now and then, clearly disciples on patrol were also appointed.

In addition, spiritual beasts tamed by the Palace of Pure Heart patrol the waters around the island. If anyone tries to sneak in from the water, they will be discovered very quickly.

This triple-layered defense is able to prevent most cultivators, and possibly only a small number of high-tier cultivators, from breaking in.

However, for a peak Nascent Soul Stage cultivator such as Xu Mu, these defenses pose no issue at all.

This situation wasn’t surprising considering that if someone at the Nascent Soul Stage attempted to trespass, they would not need to sneak in. Even if they mined openly, the Palace of Pure Heart likely wouldn’t dare to protest too much. As long as nobody was too excessive, they would turn a blind eye.

Of course, there likely wouldn’t be any Nascent Soul Stage cultivator audacious enough to do such a thing in the Cang Ming Ocean Territory. Everyone knew their place and understood that such unbridled behavior would inevitably lead to chaos.

This is why the Cluster Stars Sect, despite having an overwhelmingly superior force, didn’t dare to act recklessly. They even had to protect the other two factions.

As for Xu Mu, he merely made a quick observation. He avoided disturbing the patrols and did not disrupt the formations.

Following the traces of the Earthfire Formation, after diving approximately eight hundred meters, Xu Mu finally sensed a wave of searing heat.

The purpose of the Earthfire Formation is to extract the Fire Spiritual Power from the Earthfire, similar to how a well functions. It doesn’t mean that the Earthfire directly surfaces.

If the Earthfire did reach the surface, that would mean a volcano is present.

The original location of the Liyang Sect was rooted around a volcano, utilizing the massive Earthfire Formation. Its power was tremendous and the use of the Earthfire was more efficient.

Of course, it has its disadvantages too.

The closer you are to the Earthfire, the more powerful its Fire Spiritual Power becomes. Not only does it contain the poison of the Earthfire, living close to the Earthfire for a long time could cause cultivators to become irritable and aggressive. It could also reduce their lifespan.

This is why the Li Fire Sect could claim a colossal volcanic crater with just three Nascent Soul cultivators.

Of course, if one was willing to pay the hefty price for deploying many filtration and control formations, these side effects could be mitigated.

The Earthfire vent underneath the grounds of the Palace of Pure Heart is quite extensive, but because it’s far from the surface, it doesn’t pose a significant threat.

The drawback is that harnessing the Earthfire’s power requires more Spirit Stones to operate the formation.

Now, as Xu Mu approached the Earthfire vent, he felt an immense aura of heat, different from normal Fire Spiritual Power.

The heated and violent aura rushing towards him made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

However, as his own Spiritual Power circulated, this feeling was quickly suppressed.

At this moment, he was still merely approaching it and had not entered the Earthfire vent.

Xu Mu continued to submerge himself deeper and after diving two to three hundred meters, he saw piping hot lava rivers constantly flowing underground.

The surrounding temperature was already over a thousand degrees, rocks which weren’t hard enough had already melted, resulting in many cavernous areas.

Xu Mu entered one of these cavernous areas and then removed his robe, retracting his Spiritual Power within.

This time he came to utilize the Earthfire to cultivate the Body of True Tribulations. His robe was inscribed with a temperature-controlling formation that would automatically activate against high temperatures, hence it wouldn’t help with tempering.

Since his martial method was cultivated to the highest level, there would be automatic responses of resistance to the heat, hence, he had to retract his Spiritual Power.

As he took off his robe, and his protective Spiritual Power was withdrawn, the environment that was only marginally uncomfortable changed as a relentless heat began to rise.

However, Xu Mu’s Body of Purple Lightning and Flame had already reached the level of Transcendent, and his physical body could rival a tier ten treasure. Merely this level of heat was not enough to harm him.

At this moment, Xu Mu was stood by the Earthfire, as if a regular person was standing beneath the sun.

He did not feel any discomfort, instead a hint of the warm bliss of sunbathing was present.

“It appears that the robe, for me, not only does not have an effect, but on the contrary, has a slight hindrance!” Xu Mu sighed.

Because his physical body was overwhelmingly powerful, any robe below tier ten would just be a burden. The discomfort from earlier was actually a reaction from the magical formations in the robe.

This was akin to a tribesman living in the wilderness who would feel uncomfortable when suddenly made to wear clothing.

His current state was optimal.

However, it would be a little odd to not wear any clothing when he’s out and about.

The high heat in the vicinity of Earthfire poses no risk, therefore the Body of True Tribulations didn’t react at all.

After a brief observation of his surroundings to ensure there was no danger, Xu Mu, now stark naked, stepped into the river of lava.

Hiss!

The moment Xu Mu’s body with its Spiritual Power came into contact with the lava, it immediately caught fire, making a hissing sound, then quickly got burnt to ashes.

Despite this, Xu Mu’s brows didn’t furrow the slightest bit, he continued moving deeper until the lava reached his chest.

Only then did he slightly knit his eyebrows together.

“This…this attack power is way too weak!”

Being immersed in lava, Xu Mu felt as if he had stepped into warm water. Not only did it not harm him in the slightest, it even felt comfortable.

It has been a long time since he last took a hot bath!