This ‘道’ character shaped river that flowed within the Sky Dao Abandoned Mountain was an entire 300km deep, and it was like a bottomless abyss that led to the core of the earth.
Moreover, there were numerous restrictions and some ferocious and savage demon beasts distributed within it.
All along the way, Chen Xi had seen countless restrictions, and the deeper he went, the stronger the might of these restrictions became, causing him to have no choice but to spend some time to deal with them one by one.
Fortunately, Chen Xi’s grasp of the Dao of Talismans had already attained the peak of perfection, so the restrictions that were extremely troubling in the eyes of others weren’t capable of stopping his footsteps.
This was like problem solving questions, and they started from simple to complicated, and the difficulty multiplied in order. But so long as one grasped the ability of deducing talisman formations, then one grasped the path of answering these questions, and one just had to spend some time to solve them.
Compared to these restrictions, it was the demon beasts that frequently emerged within the water that gave Chen Xi a headache. The threat they posed wasn’t great, but there were too many of them, and they seemed boundless and never ending no matter how many of them he killed.
Unlike the demon beasts in the outside world, practically all the demon beasts within the river were fearless towards death, and they seemed as if they didn’t possess any intelligence. So long as they noticed someone approaching their territory, the person would suffer wave after wave of attacks. Even though these attacks weren’t enough to pose a threat to him, it was extremely annoying and unending like flies.
Under his helplessness, Chen Xi could only execute the ‘External Avatar’ technique while he dealt with the restrictions, and he split his mind to carry out two activities at one, killing demon beasts while dealing with the restrictions.
In this way, it was really much more relaxed for him.
This was the magical effect of the ‘External Avatar’ technique. It was only possessed by cultivators at the Nether Transformation Realm in body refinement, and with Chen Xi’s current comprehension in Dao Insights, it was sufficient for him to execute 10 External Avatars in battle.
This was different to his clone. The clone possessed intelligence and all his experience in cultivation. Besides its cultivation, it wasn’t the slightest bit different to his main body. On the other hand, External Avatars were a combat technique, and the bodies formed from this were purely condensed from Shaman Energy and Dao Insights. Moreover, they didn’t possess the slightest intelligence, and they had to be controlled and used in battle by the main body.
But even then, their combat strengths were capable of rivalling the main body.
After all, the reason body refiners at the Nether Transformation Realm were capable of crushing the multiplied combat strength executed by qi refiners at the Nether Transformation Realm was because of the formidableness of the External Avatar technique.
Moreover, just like the multiplied combat strength of qi refiners, even single Grand Dao profundity that was grasped to the Perfection Realm would allow a body refiner at the Nether Transformation Realm to condense another External Avatar.
For example, Chen Xi had grasped 10 Grand Dao profundities to the Perfect Realm, so he was capable of condensing 10 External Avatars.
After an entire 20 hours of time, Chen Xi finally arrived at the bottom of the river, and his Shaman Energy was almost completely consumed.
The reason was extremely simple. The deeper he went, the more terrifying the might of the restrictions became, and the few restrictions at the end were even comparable to Immortal Restrictions, so merely dealing with them caused him to exhaust seven or eight hours.
At the same time, the strengths of the demon beasts within the river became extremely formidable as well, and they were no different to ordinary Earthly Immortal Realm experts and were huge in number.
Under these circumstances, the pressure he faced was obvious, and if it was any other Earthly Immortal Realm expert, the person might not be able to get past all this safely!
But Chen Xi obtained great gains as well. This path all along the way allowed him to witness numerous restrictions and talisman formations he’d never seen in the past and diffusing them was a type of tempering and improvement of his cultivation in the Dao of Talismans.
Especially when he diffused the last few terrifying restrictions at the end, they allowed his understanding of talisman formations to grow even more deeper, and if it wasn’t for the restraint of his cultivation, he would be capable of comprehending Immortal Restrictions right now!
Besides that, in terms of combat, the boundless demon beasts that his External Avatars had killed all along the way allowed him to flawlessly and skillfully control his body refinement cultivation and might at the Nether Transformation Realm.
After all, the body refinement cultivation Chen Xi’s main body possessed a few days ago was only at the perfection-stage of the Rebirth Realm. Now that this clone of his had advanced to the nether Transformation Realm, then no matter if it was cultivation or Shaman Energy, it had undergone a tremendous qualitative change.
This was an entirely new realm, so he naturally required time to properly temper and grasp it.
When he thought about it carefully, the combat strength of his clone was roughly on par with his main body. After all, all the Divine Abilities he’d mastered were top existences in the three dimensions, and every single realm of improvement in his cultivation would allow the might exerted by a Divine Ability to double.
For example, the Eye of Divine Truth, the Stellar Lightningform, and the Grand Astral Palm, all of them were practically unique and supreme existences in the world and coupled with auxiliary Divine Abilities like the Heavenly Transformation and Deity Transformation, their might would increase even more.
All of this had predetermined how formidable the combat strength of Chen Xi’s clone would be!
Unfortunately, my main body is recuperating within the world of stars now. Otherwise, if I merge with this clone, then the strength I’d be able to exert would surely improve greatly…
The bottom of this river was extremely flat, and the ground was completely barren and paved with strange rocks that were extremely pitch black and hard.
After he arrived here, there weren’t any more restrictions nor boundless demon beasts, and the environment was silent and desolate to the extreme.
According to the path on the treasure map that Chen Xi remembered, he only had to move forward along a secret path at the bottom of the river and reach its end before he would be able to arrive at the outer area of the Sky Dao Palace’s treasure vault.
But he didn’t make a move right away, and he choose a place to meditate and recover his strength instead.
One day later, Chen Xi awoke from his meditation, and he stood up before flashing out without the slightest hesitation.
When looked at from the outside world, this river was only a few thousand kilometers in length, but a secret path at its bottom actually seemed to be endless and extremely deep.
Moreover, as he continued forward, Chen Xi noticed that the terrain of this secret path was extending deeper downwards, and it seemed as if it led to the Netherworld because it was completely pitch black and horrifying.
Even though he hadn’t encountered any danger all along the way, Chen Xi didn’t dare be careless in the slightest, and he swept the surroundings with the Eye of Divine Truth as he moved forward extremely vigilantly.
After the time for an incense stick to burn, he suddenly stopped moving while the Eye of Divine Truth between his brows flashed, and a wisp of a piercingly cold sheen slipped past it.
“Why is it like this? The drawing of an old sovereign reading the scripture, the drawing of a Black Tortoise shaking the earth, the drawing of a dragon and tiger in the form of Yin and Yang… Why have they all vanished? I clearly remember that all these ancient paintings were branded on the walls the last time I came here…
“Wait, someone has surely come here!”
“It couldn’t be that someone else similarly obtained this treasure map before me, right? Or perhaps, it isn’t just me who possesses this treasure map?”
Suddenly, a wave of muttering sounded out from afar, and it came and went from time to time. Due to the distance being too far, it seemed to be extremely indistinct like the droning of a mosquito.
“It’s actually him. No wonder, so it turns out that he hid in here…” Chen Xi silently transformed into a ray of light that approached the source of the voice.
This was a stone wall that was covered in dark gray colored moss. A 9m tall stone door had been opened up at the center of the rock wall. The surface of the stone door was carved with countless ancient drawings, and after experiencing the corrosion of time, it had already been extremely indistinct since a long time ago and was impossible to distinguish.
At this moment, a small crack was opened up on this stone door, and a strand of gentle light spilled out from within, allowing Chen Xi to clearly see the scene behind the stone door.
Obviously, this was the end of the secret path.
“Right, it completely fits the place marked on the treasure map, and I’ll arrive at the outer area of the treasure vault upon entering through there…” Chen Xi approached silently.
He noticed to his surprise that there was actually a shapeless forcefield behind the stone door, and it completely blocked out the river water from outside, but it didn’t obstruct people from entering.
“What a magnificent hall!” He raised his eyes and looked over, and he noticed that an extremely empty hall was actually present behind the stone door. The walls of the hall had numerous bronze lanterns hung upon it, and they were lit up with Wyrm oil wax that burned forever. They emanated a gentle sheen that illuminated the entire hall.
When one stood within the hall, one was like an ant and seemed to be extremely tiny.
At this moment, there was a tall figure standing before a wall at the left side of the hall, and he seemed to be staring blankly in a daze as he looked up at the wall.
This person wore a violet robe, had a dignified expression, and seemed towering like a mountain. It was the owner of Marquis Wen’s Estate, Wen Tianshuo!
Early on when he slaughtered Elder Yun Zhu, Chen Xi didn’t find a single trace of this person, and Chen Xi thought that he’d fled from terror since a long time ago, yet never had Chen Xi imagined that Wen Tianshuo would actually have hid inside here.
But hiding here was actually very safe. At the very least, it would really be difficult for an ordinary person to pass through the dense layers upon layers of restrictions and the obstruction of demon beasts within the river.
The only thing that Chen Xi felt curious about was that even he had travelled so arduously to arrive here, so how could Wen Tianshuo that was only at the 2nd level of the Earthly Immortal Realm be able to arrive here as well?
After all, according to his knowledge towards the last three restrictions within the river, it was absolutely impossible for Wen Tianshuo alone to traverse them.
“This old goat really concealed it well. He was obviously able to arrive here because he possesses something else to rely on.” A wisp of coldness suffused the corners of Chen Xi’s mouth, and he stopped hesitating and flashed through the stone door.
“Alas, if the Heavenflow Dao Sect didn’t interfere, then perhaps I’d have entered the treasure vault with that kid a long time ago. How could so many setbacks have occurred?”
Within the hall, Wen Tianshuo withdrew his gaze, and he seemed to have thought of something, causing him to frown and sigh without end.
“Do you regret it?” A voice resounded out by his ears, causing Wen Tianshuo to answer without thinking. “Of course.”
After that, his expression froze as he raised his head with shock, and then he saw a tall figure had actually entered the hall and stood far away in the distance without him noticing it.
This figure wore an apricot yellow Daoist robe, had a handsome appearance, and an extraordinary bearing. It was exactly Chen Xi.
“You… You… You… Why are you still alive!?” Wen Tianshuo’s pupils constricted abruptly as if he’d seen a ghost, and even his speech started to stutter.
“Even a shameless fellow that repays kindness with enmity like you is still alive, so how could I dare to die?” Chen Xi said indifferently, “I don’t regret rescuing everyone in your estate, and I only regret not being able to kill you earlier. Now it would seem like even the heavens couldn’t allow it to happen, and it intentionally arranged for us to meet here.”
Even though his tone was calm, it caused Wen Tianshuo’s heart to tremble while his face went pale, and by the time Chen Xi finished speaking, Wen Tianshuo actually knelt on the ground with a thump!
“I was forced to do all of this by the Heavenflow Dao Sect. I swear to the heavens that this was absolutely not my own intentions. Young Hero Chen, please show mercy and spare my life.” Wen Tianshuo had a sorrowful expression as he kowtowed and howled loudly without end.
If he didn’t see it with his own two eyes, even Chen Xi would find it absolutely difficult to imagine that an Earthly Immortal Realm expert would actually disregard his dignity, bow down, and kneel on the ground and kowtow like a pitiable fellow to beg for mercy.