For ordinary cultivators, drilling into the earth was extremely difficult.
Experts of the Mystic Realm could only use brute force to forcibly blast open the ground, open up a tunnel, and then go down to excavate spiritual medicines and such. But at most, they could only reach depths of several hundred zhang, and they also had to prevent the tunnel from collapsing, with millions of catties of mountain rocks crashing down to bury them alive inside. Even a powerful figure at the fifth layer of the Mystic Realm, the "Heaven and Human Realm", only had the power of ten thousand galloping horses. If buried alive at a depth of a hundred zhang, they would suffocate to death and be unable to extricate themselves.
Let alone at a depth of a thousand zhang.
The dirt deep underground could not be compared to the bottom of the sea.
Even for experts who had cultivated various earth-attribute magical powers, opening up an underground tunnel consumed both time and energy. Although an expert at the ninth layer of the Mystic Realm could execute their "Heaven and Earth Dharma Image" to drill underground, they could not last long either. The influence of the underground primary magnetism on the "Heaven and Earth Dharma Image" was quite severe.
If cultivators wanted to bore into the earth, unless they refined some earth-drilling magic treasures, such as shuttle-type items. However, this type of magic treasure was extremely difficult to refine; once successfully refined, they were supreme-tier Treasure artifacts, yet their usefulness in combat was not very significant. Therefore, very few people refined them.
Precisely because of various reasons, even if many cultivators clearly knew there were treasures underground, they could only "look at the ground and sigh in vexation," unable to do anything about it.
Yet the underground was where the most treasures were hidden. Cave dwellings of various ancient cultivators, having undergone earth-shaking changes, were buried underground. There were also various rare ore veins, spiritual medicines, animals, and plants.
Fang Han had successfully cultivated the "Five Emperors Great Demon Magical Power", among which the Yellow Emperor Earth Sovereign Way resided in the center and was the most formidable. It was directly linked with the "Yama Golden Body". Relying on the Earth Sovereign Dipper Qi to travel underground was like a fish in water. It could be said that underground, even several experts at the tenth layer of the Mystic Realm would find it difficult to kill him.
Even against an expert at the first layer of the Longevity Realm, as long as Fang Han could smoothly drill underground, he could completely escape with his life.
Unless it was an expert who had cultivated to the second layer, the Undying Body, then he would have nowhere to run. Because others relying on the Undying Body to fuse into the earth would be much faster than him drilling into it.
However, in this world, Giants of the Ages in the Longevity Realm were already few, and those who had cultivated to the second layer Undying Body were even fewer.
In truth, Fang Han bringing the Pure Fox little demoness underground was not because he believed her story about the Demon Sealing Ridge treasure vault. He completely did not believe that the moment he stepped out, he would stumble upon a treasure vault, especially since this demon fox was deceitful and full of tricks.
But once underground, the initiative would be in his hands.
Now that they had drilled deep underground, if he were to pull away and leave at any time, no matter how great the Pure Fox little demoness's magical power was, she would be smothered to death alive underground.
Those melted soils, after Fang Han left and the magical power faded, would solidify anew.
"This is still my first time executing the Earth Sovereign Dipper Qi to drill into the earth, I never expected the underground world to truly be this miraculous." Rapidly shuttling through the underground, Fang Han had a delightful time playing around. Huala, a large swath of dirt was turned into yellow water. Within that yellow water, there were some rare spiritual beings, such as gold and silver pangolins, six-eared spiritual mice, and earth dragon earthworms, all struggling violently, not knowing what had happened.
Simultaneously, there were also some spiritual medicines of wood nature that had not been melted, but were all floating in the yellow water.
Fang Han naturally would not let them go; he collected all of them into the Yellow Spring Diagram for storage.
Many ore veins faintly transmitted massive auras. The underground was indeed rich in hidden treasures.
The deeper he drilled underground, the thicker the Wutu vital energy became. Fang Han did not drill straight downwards, but drifted about in all directions. Because within the underground dirt, there were some hard ore veins that could not be melted at once; he did not forcefully break through them, but evaded them to search somewhere else.
This was also the reason why ordinary experts were unable to forcefully open up underground tunnels. Certain underground rocks were the bones of mountains, hard as diamond; when flying swords slashed onto them, they could only break open some small gaps.
Gradually, Fang Han penetrated to a depth of five thousand zhang underground. The surroundings were pitch-black and silent. Everything was now hard basalt rock, the tectonic plates of the earth. Advancing became much more difficult; even when the Earth Sovereign Dipper Qi shone down, it took a long time to melt it.
Fortunately, his magical power was inexhaustible. With the support of the World Tree, there was no danger of depletion. Otherwise, his power would have failed by now, and he would be buried deep underground forever.
"How could this person have such long-lasting magical power…" The Pure Fox little demoness was also secretly alarmed. "I once invited a Grand Elder of my fox clan to explore this Demon Sealing Ridge. That Grand Elder had already cultivated a Heaven and Earth Dharma Image, at the ninth layer of the Mystic Realm, escaping his dharma image to drill underground. But when reaching the basalt layer here, his magical power was almost exhausted, and he nearly couldn't get out. He didn't find out any activity whatsoever. This Fang Han is merely an expert at the sixth layer of the Mystic Realm, the Unity Realm. The endurance of his magical power is something even the Grand Elder cannot match. No wonder he could kill the Ghost Emperor."
"We are now at a depth of five thousand zhang underground. The tectonic plates here are all basalt layers. For every step I advance, I must consume a massive amount of magical power. You must give me some dharma crystal jade stones to replenish my magical power. Otherwise, I won't be able to hold on, and can only drop you and walk away."
Fang Han suddenly stopped his body and spoke.
He had now penetrated deep into the rock layer. The three-zhang radius around him was entirely melted rock, not magma, but a mud-like substance.
That was the phenomenon caused by the basalt being melted by the Earth Sovereign Dipper Qi.
"What did you say!" Hearing Fang Han's voice, the Pure Fox little demoness shrieked: "You are looting a burning house! If you walk away, I will be suffocated to death in the rock right now. How is you doing this any different from directly murdering someone?"
"That is correct, it is now approaching a depth of five thousand zhang underground. After I walk away, this melted rock, without my Earth Sovereign Dipper Qi supporting it, will instantly solidify and no one will be able to save you. Perhaps thousands or tens of thousands of years later, you will turn into a fossil; it's even possible you'll be dug up by someone."
Fang Han nodded his head very seriously: "However, I am not looting a burning house, my magical power is difficult to maintain. Do you know? The magical power I consume with every breath to continuously melt the rock using the Earth Sovereign Dipper Qi right now is equivalent to the vital energy an ordinary Mystic Realm cultivator accumulates after a month of cultivation. With such massive consumption, if you do not give me a little bit of benefit, are you treating me as coolie labor?"
"Didn't we agree? Once we find the treasure vault of the Demon Sealing Ridge, we will divide it together. Isn't this benefit enough?" The Pure Fox little demoness said coldly.
"I never take unseen benefits seriously. Only when tangible interests are in my hands will I believe them. To be honest, I do not believe there is any treasure vault in this Demon Sealing Ridge; at least, I haven't discovered it yet. Alright, my magical power is nearly consumed now."
As Fang Han spoke, the brilliance of his life source talisman above his head weakened somewhat. Huala huala, the surrounding melted rock immediately began to solidify, leaving a radius of only two zhang.
"Ah!"
The Pure Fox little demoness immediately moved a little closer to Fang Han, terrified of being solidified in the rock.
"This is your naked threat." Subsequently, she softened down: "I did not lie to you, this is truly the Demon Sealing Ridge, harboring a treasure vault, though it is difficult to find. I once invited an elder of the fox clan, and they did not have magical power as long-lasting as yours, unable to find the hidden treasure vault in the basalt layer of the tectonic plates."
"In this underground, many crafty plots and machinations cannot be deployed, right? I can tell that you still have quite a few magic treasures on your person that can be used to covertly plot against me." Fang Han said with a smile.
"Forget it, I concede to you! This is a gourd of Origin Augmenting Pills refined from dharma crystal jade stones, a thousand pills in total. Taking this, you can presumably hold on, right?" The Pure Fox little demoness took out a large gourd of medicinal pills from her myriad treasure pouch.
"En, not bad, not bad!" Fang Han took the gourd, poured out one medicinal pill, and upon looking at it, found the medicinal pill to be crystal clear as jade. It was indeed refined using dharma crystal jade stones as raw material, capable of replenishing magical power. It could even restore physical strength.
Such medicinal pills had immense benefits used in combat.
Deep in this underground, the Pure Fox little demoness did not dare play tricks. Otherwise, if Fang Han pulled away and left, she would turn into a fossil, sealed in the basalt, and not even an expert of the Longevity Realm could save her.
Having stored away this gourd of "Origin Augmenting Pills", Fang Han rubbed his fingers: "Give me that jade talisman divine thunder of yours as well. I am very interested in this magic treasure."
That jade talisman-like divine thunder had deceived even him. He had thought it was a supreme-tier Treasure artifact. He was almost severely injured by the explosion after taking it.
"You're robbing!" The Pure Fox little demoness's face turned furious; subsequently, she still softened down: "This jade talisman is called the Heavenly Demon Mind Befuddling Thunder. It was refined for me by Lord Demon God with great effort; there is only one. Unless there's absolutely no alternative, I wouldn't take it out to deceive others. On the surface, this jade talisman looks like a supreme-tier Treasure artifact; in fact, it is practically the real deal, with many formations on it. The core formation is the mind befuddling divine thunder. I only have this one left. If I encounter powerful enemies in the future, without this life-saving item, I will die."
"Oh, is that so! Then you keep it to save your life." Fang Han shrank the light of his life source talisman a little more.
"You're ruthless! Here!" The Pure Fox little demoness saw Fang Han act as a gentleman with his mouth but as a villain with his actions. If the talisman light shrank any further, she wouldn't be able to preserve herself. Only then did she realize this person was cruel and merciless, and hastily tossed the "Heavenly Demon Mind Befuddling Thunder" jade talisman over.
Fang Han immediately received it and tossed it into the Gate of Avici of the Yellow Spring Diagram for "Yan" to study it.
"En! This is not me forcing you, but you willingly giving it to me." Fang Han had a face full of indifference. "Now let me see what is odd about these basalt rocks and tectonic plates. If I can't find it, you will have to compensate me further."
As he spoke, the brilliance of the life source talisman above his head flared up, the rocks immediately melted rollingly, and he shuttled everywhere within the basalt rock layer of the tectonic plates.
"This ancient talisman has a reaction!" Suddenly, the Pure Fox little demoness cried out. That spiritual talisman with a painted ancient brush had abruptly twitched.
"Is that so?" Fang Han also sensed a bit of a clue, and hastily drilled towards the location corresponding to the aura sensing.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the rock actually was not melted by the Earth Sovereign Dipper Qi; Fang Han had hit a wall. He hastily fixed his eyes on it! He actually discovered that the originally dark basalt rock had all turned into hard, transparent diamond!
That's right, it was indeed the diamond, extremely precious in the secular world. Right now, it was actually a massive tectonic plate! Stretching for an unknown number of miles! The size of an entire mountain? Even much larger.
Deep in the center of this infinitely large diamond rock layer, a palace seemed to faintly exist.