Chapter 929: Chapter 929

At this moment, Gusu Qingwen was suspended in midair. It was already impossible for her to evade now.

Just as the fireball was about to strike her, Gusu Qingwen suddenly felt herself being embraced by someone. In the next instant, they shot away at an extraordinarily rapid speed.

Startled, Gusu Qingwen finally realized she was being held by Ding Fan. He was carrying her as they soared on his flying sword!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Fireballs kept erupting around them. Thanks to Ding Fan's mastery in sword control, they barely managed to dodge the onslaught of fireballs.

Now that Gusu Qingwen was safe, she turned to look at the source of the fireballs. On the surrounding walls, she saw a swarm of massive beetle-like creatures.

Each of these insects was the size of a watermelon. They were densely packed, clinging to the stone walls around them. The fireballs earlier had been spewed from the mouths of these beetles.

Gusu Qingwen didn't recognize these beetles, but Ding Fan knew what they were.

During his time in the Cultivation World, Ding Fan had encountered these creatures before. They were called Fire-Storing Beasts.

Fire-Storing Beasts preferred hot and arid environments and were commonly found around areas with magma and volcanoes.

When threatened, these Fire-Storing Beasts would spit fireballs, resembling bees in behavior. However, once they expelled a fireball, their bodies would become hollow, resulting in their eventual death.

Ding Fan guided the flying sword skillfully, carrying Gusu Qingwen as they carefully evaded the fireballs being launched from all directions.

Looking at the oncoming rain of fireballs, Gusu Qingwen felt a wave of terror. If Ding Fan hadn't jumped down in time to save her, she would have most likely perished by now.

Although Gusu Qingwen had her own tasks to accomplish on this trip, she was also burdened with a mission from her Sect.

If she had died here, the secret of the Seal Stone would remain unnoticed, and the Immortal Sect would likely also be implicated.

"Use your inner strength to protect yourself. Below us might be magma," Ding Fan said to Gusu Qingwen, who was still in his arms.

Since mental energy couldn't be used here, Gusu Qingwen glanced around but saw no magma in sight.

Still, after a moment of hesitation, she obediently mobilized her inner strength to shield her body as Ding Fan had instructed.

As they continued descending, the number of Fire-Storing Beasts gradually lessened, and the barrage of fireballs stopped soon after.

Not long after, waves of heat surged upward from below. Moments later, Gusu Qingwen could clearly see the roaring magma beneath them.

She looked at Ding Fan with disbelief.

Divine sense couldn't be used here, so how was Ding Fan able to perceive the magma's presence? Could it be that his divine sense was so formidable that even in such conditions, he could locate it?

There was no way Gusu Qingwen could know that Ding Fan hadn't relied on his divine sense to detect the magma.

In fact, Ding Fan's divine sense was also unusable here. He had deduced the magma's presence based on the behavior of the surrounding Fire-Storing Beasts.

Once Ding Fan and Gusu Qingwen descended to a certain point, Ding Fan stabilized the flying sword, suspending them in midair.

"What is it?" Gusu Qingwen asked, puzzled as she looked at Ding Fan.

"If my guess is correct, beneath this magma lies the Seal Stone," Ding Fan said calmly.

Ding Fan could faintly feel the unique aura carried by the jade pendant he had received from the woman in Is City.

Based on this, he concluded that the Seal Stone was indeed located beneath this magma.

"The Seal Stone? How do you know?" Gusu Qingwen asked. She distinctly remembered never mentioning anything about the Seal Stone to Ding Fan. She didn't understand how he could know about the Phoenix Sister Stone.

"This isn't the time for that discussion. What we need to do now is figure out how to reach the bottom of the magma," Ding Fan replied indifferently.

Even with both of their cultivation levels at the Profound Level, diving into the magma would only lead to annihilation.

Gusu Qingwen knew it was pointless to ask further right now. She pondered for a moment, then offered, "Perhaps there's only one way."

Ding Fan looked at Gusu Qingwen and gestured for her to continue.

Gusu Qingwen spoke directly, "We can't go beneath the magma, but we could divert its flow. If we change the direction of the lava so it doesn't pass through here, wouldn't the area beneath it be revealed?"

Ding Fan found her suggestion reasonable. At the moment, there seemed to be no other options, so he agreed.

He examined the surroundings.

The two of them were surrounded by smooth stone walls. To dig a new channel for the lava to flow in another direction, they needed a secure foothold first.

Ding Fan promptly retrieved a longsword from his storage ring.

Having slain many powerful cultivators, Ding Fan had amassed numerous third- and fourth-grade Artifacts of Attack in his storage ring.

Using these swords, he began carving a decent-sized hollow in the smooth rock wall. After that, he placed Gusu Qingwen inside the hollow.

Ding Fan, on the other hand, maneuvered his flying sword to inspect the area below.

Once he confirmed where to redirect the lava, he used his sword to dig furiously.

Ding Fan's sword was sharp enough to cut through iron like mud, making it easy for him to carve through the stone. Before long, he had created a new channel in another direction.

At the new channel's entrance near the magma, he left a thin stone wall intact. Once this wall was blasted apart, Ding Fan planned to block the original channel with large rocks, forcing the magma to flow along the new path.

Ding Fan placed an explosive talisman on the stone wall.

After setting it off, he quickly threw the large rocks he had gathered into the original channel. The roaring magma surged toward the new channel immediately.

In no time, the old channel was completely clear of magma.

Having completed this task, Ding Fan returned to the hollow where Gusu Qingwen was waiting.

Gusu Qingwen had observed everything Ding Fan had done. Now that the magma had receded, she strained her eyes to look below.

But with the magma only just withdrawn, it was still impossible to fully explore the area that had been exposed.

After about ten minutes, Ding Fan signaled to Gusu Qingwen to go down for a look.

The two descended into the channel. Ding Fan used his longsword to scrape at the ground, removing the sediment layer. Before long, a large piece of white stone was revealed.

"It really is the Seal Stone," Gusu Qingwen exclaimed, her eyes wide with astonishment.

Ding Fan cast a puzzled glance at her.

He had seen the Seal Stone before, only because the woman in Is City had shown it to him. But how did Gusu Qingwen know what it was?

"You've seen the Seal Stone before?" Ding Fan asked flatly.

Gusu Qingwen nodded slowly. "I have."

"Then tell me about it," Ding Fan said, watching her closely.

"When you decide to tell me how you know about the Seal Stone, I'll tell you how I know," Gusu Qingwen replied, mimicking his tone.

Ding Fan was taken aback.

He hadn't expected such a response from her.

But thinking it over, it made sense. If their roles were reversed, it would indeed be strange if she openly divulged her own secrets to him.

This wasn't the place for storytelling, and with that, Ding Fan drew his longsword and swiftly excavated the Seal Stone, storing it in his storage ring.

Although Gusu Qingwen wanted to say something, she ultimately stayed silent.

However, just as Ding Fan secured the Seal Stone, he noticed a large deposit of spirit ore beneath it.

He began collecting samples. After retrieving a substantial amount, he quickly realized this was part of a mineral vein.

Recalling the intense surge of spiritual energy they had sensed earlier, Ding Fan's heart brimmed with excitement. Today, fortune had smiled on him.

He immediately began mining with fervor.

Gusu Qingwen furrowed her brows as she watched Ding Fan's relentless mining.

In the Immortal Realm, Gusu Qingwen had always been a core disciple under special cultivation. She had never paid much attention to cultivation resources and thus found it hard to understand Ding Fan's obsession with the spirit ore.

The vein turned out to be quite large. Ding Fan mined tirelessly for five days, completely exhausting the deposit.

By the end, all five of Ding Fan's top-tier storage rings were filled to capacity.

Satisfied with the haul, Ding Fan silently celebrated his luck. Even the top-tier sects in the Cultivation World might not possess so many spirit stones.

After storing everything, Ding Fan and Gusu Qingwen returned to the underground world above.

On their way up, they didn't encounter any attacks from the Fire-Storing Beasts. Most of them had already perished during their descent.

Back on the surface, neither Ding Fan nor Gusu Qingwen was in a hurry to return to the desert above. Instead, they decided to rest and recuperate underground.

Gusu Qingwen was already injured, and Ding Fan had sustained some wounds while fighting the spiritual beast earlier. Additionally, the area around the magma was riddled with corrosive toxins. It was an opportune time for them to heal and detoxify.

After two days of recovery, Ding Fan felt he had returned to peak condition. Read full story at 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥

Throughout his frantic mining, whenever his True Qi was depleted, Ding Fan had relied on Foundation Building Pills to sustain himself.

"I want the Seal Stone," Gusu Qingwen declared when Ding Fan awoke to find her already waiting for him.

"Do you know how to unlock the passage from the Immortal Sect to the Mortal Realm?" Ding Fan asked calmly.

Gusu Qingwen hadn't expected Ding Fan to know so much, including that the Immortal Sect's passage was sealed off by the Seal Stone.

Her heart stirred inexplicably at this realization.

Ding Fan had once mentioned that he intended to return to the Immortal Sect in three years to prove himself.

Could it be that he was aware the Immortal Sect was sealed and wanted to open it just to find her?

"Why do you want the Seal Stone?" Gusu Qingwen asked, probing to confirm her suspicion.

"My goal is the same as yours—to open the passage to the Immortal Sect," Ding Fan responded calmly. "That's all you need to know."

"Why do you want to open it?" Gusu Qingwen asked, her expression carrying a trace of anticipation.

Deep down, she vaguely hoped Ding Fan would say it was for a woman...

"You know Ruan Yuan, right? I made a promise to help him," Ding Fan replied indifferently.

Gusu Qingwen felt a pang of disappointment. "So that's all?"

Ding Fan looked at her, slightly puzzled. "What else?"