You, a living person, are telling me I've served in the underworld for ten years?

"Uh... ah..."

A painful groan escaped Chen Yang's throat uncontrollably. His face turned from white to green, and the veins on his forehead and neck bulged like earthworms. Sweat poured down like a stream, instantly soaking his clothes. He looked as if he had just been pulled out of the water, and his body began to convulse slightly uncontrollably.

Liu Piaopiao, who was standing to the side, was extremely anxious. Although she did not know exactly what had happened, Chen Yang's extremely painful appearance and his rapidly weakening and disordered breathing were undeniable.

What worried her even more was that the noise and footsteps coming from the stairwell below were becoming clearer, indicating that many people had entered the tower and were searching upwards!

"Brother Chen!"

"Brother Chen, wake up! Stop! Someone's coming up from below! If this continues, you'll be in danger!"

Liu Piaopiao couldn't help but call out anxiously again, her voice trembling with tears.

She tried to get closer, but the aftershocks of the barrier and the terrifying pressure field surrounding Chen Yang prevented her from getting within a foot of him.

Chen Yang turned his head with difficulty and glanced at Liu Piaopiao, his eyes filled with pain, determination, and an indescribable depth.

"It's...okay...I can...keep...on...the...way..."

He practically squeezed each word out from between his teeth, his voice hoarse and terribly dry.

Liu Piaopiao was so anxious that she kept stamping her feet.

"You still say you're fine! I can barely feel your breath! Stop it!"

The moment she finished speaking, another unexpected event occurred!
The already violently fluctuating aura around Chen Yang suddenly underwent an incomprehensible distortion!
His entire being seemed to have transformed into an unstable energy vortex, his body outline appearing eerily blurred and stretched in the dim light, and even faint, fine, pale golden cracks, like shattered porcelain, appeared on the surface of his skin!

That was a sign that his physical body was beginning to disintegrate under the terrifying pressure of the rules!

The next moment, the distortion intensified suddenly!
Chen Yang's figure seemed to be gripped and kneaded by an invisible hand, and he was about to be completely torn apart and disintegrated by that invisible force of space and law!
"Brother Chen!"

Liu Piaopiao could no longer care about anything else. With a scream, courage and strength welled up from somewhere and she broke through the barrier of the pressure's aftershocks. She lunged at Chen Yang, grabbing his almost ice-cold, stiff arm tightly with both hands, trying to pull him back from that destructive force!

However, the instant her fingers touched Chen Yang's arm—

"Boom!!!"

The terrifying pressure field that had originally enveloped Chen Yang seemed to have found a new "fulcrum" or "connection point," instantly enveloping Liu Piaopiao as well!

Immediately afterwards, the barrier in front of the two suddenly burst out with an unprecedentedly dazzling light, and the ancient rune phantoms that were flashing wildly suddenly shrank inward, forming a rapidly spinning, silver-blue vortex!
An irresistible spatial devouring force, far exceeding any previous suction force, suddenly erupted from the center of the vortex!

"what--!"

Liu Piaopiao only had time to let out a short cry of surprise before she and Chen Yang, like two pebbles thrown into a whirlpool, were instantly swallowed up by the silver-blue light!
The two figures vanished without a trace at the fourth-floor stairwell!

All that remained were the lingering ripples of energy in the air and two puddles of sweat on the ground.

Almost at the same time that Chen Yang and Liu Piaopiao disappeared.

The sound of hurried footsteps came from below, and more than a dozen figures quickly rushed up to the fourth floor.

The leader was a burly man with a scar on his face and fierce eyes. The cultivators following behind him were also all imposing and clearly not to be trifled with.

They immediately noticed the corpses scattered on the ground, the gradually dimming but still present barrier light at the stairwell entrance, and... the empty ground in front of the barrier and the fresh marks.

"Huh? I clearly heard some noise upstairs just now, and a woman's scream!"

A skinny man with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face looked around in confusion.

"Why is nobody here?"

"look!

There are footprints here! And water stains! Fresh!

The other person squatted down and pointed to the traces left by Chen Yang and Liu Piaopiao.

The burly man with the scarred face stepped forward, his sinister gaze sweeping over the barrier and the marks on the ground. He then looked at the pile of withered bones and let out a cold laugh.

"Humph!

It seems someone got here before us and triggered the restriction. I don't know if they're dead or teleported elsewhere.

"Big brother, what do we do? This restriction looks dangerous."

Some people stared at the light screen, still shaken. They had gotten nothing on the first and second floors and were already furious; now, seeing that someone might have gotten there first only fueled their anxiety.

"Wait? Wait my ass!"

A hot-tempered, bearded man glared at the barrier light screen.

"Those two might be hiding up there! Daring to get ahead of us? I'd like to see what kind of bastards they are!"

Without waiting for a response, he raised the ghost-headed broadsword in his hand, gathered all his magical power, and slashed fiercely at the barrier of light!

"No..."

Scarface tried to stop him, but it was too late.

"clang--!!!"

The demon-headed broadsword struck the light screen, producing a deafening clang of metal against metal!

However, the light screen only rippled slightly, remaining completely unharmed. On the contrary, the bearded man felt an overwhelming force of recoil travel along the blade, instantly splitting his hand and drawing blood. His ghost-headed broadsword flew out of his hand with a "whoosh," crashing into the wall behind him, sparks flying everywhere!

Even more terrifying, a flash of silver light appeared on the light screen, and a pale blue cold light, several times thicker than the one used to attack Liu Piaopiao, suddenly shot out, its speed exceeding visual perception!
"Pfft!"

A burst of blood erupted from the bearded man's chest as the cold light pierced through him. His face filled with astonishment and disbelief, he fell backward to the ground, twitched twice, and then fell silent. His chest was quickly covered by a thick layer of ice crystals.

"Third brother!"

"The third one!"

Everyone gasped and rushed forward to check, only to find that the bearded man was already dead. The cold light had not only pierced his heart, but the extreme cold contained within it had also instantly frozen his life force.

"This...this restriction is incredibly powerful!"

"The backlash is terrifying!"

The crowd was both shocked and furious, their eyes filled with apprehension and fear as they looked at the barrier.

Scarface's face was ashen. He squatted down to examine the wound on the bearded man's sideburns, then looked up and stared intently at the restriction, a hint of resentment and ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

"This restriction... is simply not something we can force our way through! The person who set this up is far more powerful than we imagined!"

"Big brother, are we just going to let this go? The revenge for third brother..."

Someone asked, their eyes red.

"Of course we must avenge our grievances!"

Scarface stood up, looked around at everyone, and spoke in a cold voice.

"Those two people who came up first must know something, or have a special method!"
They might not be dead, just teleported up there. We'll wait here! Wait for them to come out! Or... wait for this barrier to change on its own! I refuse to believe they can go in and never come out!

"right!

"Wait for them to come out!"

"Those who dared to kill the third brother must pay the price!"

Amidst the fervor of the crowd, despite their fear of the restriction, they were unwilling to retreat. They found places to sit or hide on the fourth floor, their eyes fixed on the stairwell leading to the fifth floor and the barrier's light screen, like hungry wolves waiting for their prey.

Meanwhile, Chen Yang and Liu Piaopiao, whom they were "thinking about," were experiencing a completely different, yet equally bizarre, encounter.

After the silver-blue spatial vortex swallowed the two of them, Chen Yang felt dizzy, as if he had been thrown into a high-speed spinning drum. His five senses were completely impaired, and he only felt an endless sense of weightlessness and the tearing sensation of space.

Li Rou's possession state was forcibly interrupted during the violent spatial teleportation. She groaned and her true spirit quickly retreated into the Sumeru space in front of Chen Yang's chest to be nurtured, completely returning control of her body to Chen Yang.

I don't know how much time passed; it might have been a moment, or it might have been a long time.

When the nauseating dizziness and tearing sensation suddenly disappeared and a solid feeling returned to his feet, Chen Yang opened his eyes abruptly and instinctively helped Liu Piaopiao, who was still somewhat dizzy and unsteady on her feet.

"Where...where is this?"

Liu Piaopiao shook her head, barely managing to stand, and looked around with suspicion and uncertainty.

What they saw was not the top-floor room of the tower they had expected, but an... extremely bizarre space!
The place was incredibly vast, seemingly without boundaries. Looking up, there was no ceiling, only a hazy, chaotic dome emitting a dark red glow. Beneath one's feet was a hard, warm, dark red floor, as if paved with some kind of metal or strange rock.

The air was unusually dry and scorching, and inhaling it made your mouth and nose feel like they were burning. The temperature was so high that it felt like you were in a giant oven!

In just a short while, the two were drenched in sweat and had dry mouths.

Even more bizarre is the "scenery" of this space.

The surroundings were not empty; instead, they were scattered with many... indescribable "things".

There were piles of strange minerals and plant roots, radiating various colors of light and full of spiritual energy, which were clearly precious natural treasures.

There are alchemy furnaces and medicine cauldrons of varying sizes and styles, some intact and some broken.

There were various kinds of elixirs floating in mid-air, sealed in transparent crystals, with a fragrant aroma.

There were even some magical artifacts and jade slips that shimmered with precious light, scattered haphazardly on the ground.

However, in stark contrast to these "treasures," scattered throughout many corners of this space are also some things—human skeletons!

Most of these skeletons have an eerie charred black color, as if they have been scorched by high temperatures. Some of them are even in a sitting or struggling posture, and there are often some broken magic artifacts or jade slip fragments scattered around them.

The entire space was permeated with an extremely contradictory atmosphere—a mixture of precious light and deathly aura, intense heat and eeriness, vitality and destruction, making people extremely uncomfortable.

"Where...where have we been transported to? An alchemy room? Or...purgatory?"

Liu Piaopiao wiped the sweat that had instantly appeared on her forehead, her voice hoarse.

Chen Yang also felt the intense heat. His internal magical power circulated spontaneously to resist the high temperature, while he vigilantly observed his surroundings.

He found that although he and Liu Piaopiao were nearly exhausted by the terrifying pressure, the terrible feeling of "spatial confinement" and "law repulsion" had indeed disappeared after entering this space. Although their bodies were tired, they no longer felt the pain of being crushed.

"No matter where this is, at least... there's no more of that deadly pressure for now."

Chen Yang let out a long sigh of relief, feeling that his breathing had become much easier.

"Piaopiao, how are you?"

"I'm okay, it's just... so hot and so thirsty."

Liu Piaopiao licked her chapped lips, her gaze involuntarily drawn to a strange plant growing in the crevices of dark red rocks not far away, its entire body crimson and bearing several glistening fruits.

"That...that's the 'Crimson Flame Fruit'? It's a wonderful thing that can detoxify fire poison and replenish vital energy!"

"Don't rush."

Chen Yang stopped Liu Piaopiao, who wanted to go and pick the fruit, and his gaze swept over the skeletons and seemingly carelessly discarded treasures with a solemn expression.

“There’s something strange about this place. Look at those skeletons, and these readily available ‘treasures’… There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Let’s figure out what’s going on first.”

Liu Piaopiao calmed down and nodded, but the longing and unease in her eyes did not diminish.

“Brother Chen, you’re right. But… how do we get out? This place looks like a completely enclosed space.”

Chen Yang remained silent and began to walk slowly in one direction, while simultaneously extending his divine sense as far as possible to explore this strange space.

Liu Piaopiao stayed close to him.

After walking for a while, they discovered that this space truly seemed to have no clear boundaries. No matter which direction they went, the scenery was largely the same—a dark red ground, scattered treasures and skeletons, scorching air, and a hazy dome. The only difference was the density of the treasures and skeletons.

"Brother Chen, have you noticed?"

Liu Piaopiao suddenly spoke, her tone filled with confusion.

"We've walked for so long, and it feels like we're going around in circles, or like we'll never reach the end."

How big is this place, exactly?

Chen Yang stopped in his tracks; he too had noticed something amiss.

His sense of direction seemed to have completely failed here, and his divine sense was also interfered with and weakened by an invisible force, making it impossible to reach far.

"This... is probably not an ordinary enclosed space."

Chen Yang said in a deep voice.

"It's more like a 'domain' that's been distorted by a special formation or rule."

Just as the two were deep in thought, Li Rou's faint voice rang in Chen Yang's mind, carrying a hint of weariness and a deeper sense of surprise and doubt.

“Master…I…I feel it.”

This place... is not a pill refining room or a treasure trove.

This is a... 'self-refining furnace'!

"The Self-Refining Furnace?"

Chen Yang repeated this unfamiliar word in his mind.

"good."

Li Rou's voice trembled slightly, almost imperceptibly.

“In ancient times, there were some cultivators who took an extreme approach and firmly believed that ‘the physical body is a treasure furnace that can be used to refine pills of all magic.’”

They would seek out or create a special 'furnace' space, immersing themselves within it, drawing upon earth fire and heavenly thunder, the essence of the five elements, and even plundering the cultivation essence of other cultivators to refine themselves, in order to break through bottlenecks and forge an indestructible golden body or some other special Dao body. (End of Chapter)