() Lone Smoky Mountain, located more than 2,000 miles southeast of Nanting City, surrounded by no grass and barren. Due to the red-hot magma flowing deep in the pass, the ground around Lone Smoky Mountain is constantly hot, and from time to time there are pungent yellow sulfur smoke rising from the surface. The mountain pass spews a puff of blue-blue smoke all year round, and it does not drift away, reaching straight into the sky, even if it is seen hundreds of miles away. There is a poem that says:

Under the lonely clouds of bald peaks and ravines,

The smoke covers the sky and the sun is half in the air.

Grass and trees are shadowless limestone,

The river of fire runs in the mountain pass.

The summer breeze is bleak in all seasons,

The people in all directions are desolate.

The green pillar has a shape that runs through the world,

The heat wave is boundless.

The harsh environment makes it impossible for people to live within a radius of a hundred miles, but this barren place is a forbidden place for the Nangong family, and no one can approach it without the permission of the patriarch.

The main reason for this is the rare "molten core stone". Every 19 years, the magma at the bottom of the Lonely Smoky Mountain will rise once, usually starting in late mid-autumn, and the duration is not long, often rising to the highest point in about half a month, and then gradually disappearing. However, even at the height of the magma, it is dozens of feet away from the mountain pass. Occasionally, magma droplets are stirred out of the mountain pass and rolled down the slope, forming "molten cores". "Molten core stones" are valuable precisely because of their uncondensed molten cores, which is the only way to harness magma. The magma has a high temperature and can melt ordinary refractory things, which can be used as raw materials for alchemy and as auxiliary materials for casting. Moreover, this kind of thing has always been priceless, because the core has been around for so short.

Secondly, the magma torrent at the bottom of the mountain often caused rare minerals to be associated with it, such as the blazing iron collected by Nangong Yan's "Blood Blazing" Demon Knife, which was one of them.

In addition, the rocks near the Soot Mountains have been scorched over the years, becoming extremely dense, hard, and resistant to high temperatures, making them an excellent material for masonry casting furnaces, furnaces, and fire-resistant walls.

In addition, 200 miles away from the Solitary Smoky Mountain, there are scattered plants and trees. Don't underestimate these plants and trees, every point close to the lonely smoke mountain, the vitality of the plants and trees is tenacious. As a result, many of these plants and trees are highly prized medicinal herbs.

All in all, it is not an exaggeration to call Lone Smoky Mountain a "natural treasure house" in the territory of Nangong Mansion.

After getting the approval of the patriarch Nangong Yan, Xiao Tianhe and Nangong Xue took the time to go back to Nanlu City and asked Nangong Xu to refine the "Wujue Pill". Nangong Xu found the formula and refining method of "Wujue Dan" in many alchemy books, and started alchemy overnight. Fortunately, the material reserves of Nanlu City are still abundant, and Nangong Xu has been refining twenty Wujue Pills for the early stage of Xiao Tianhe, and he will refine more in the future, and then send someone to send them to the two of them.

After resting, Xiao Tianhe and Nangong Xue flew to Lonely Smoky Mountain with various materials. In order not to consume too much mystical power, the two flew during the day and rested at night. At this rate, it would take days to arrive.

One day while flying, Nangong Xue suddenly asked, "Brother Xiao, have you ever thought about what if this method of casting knives doesn't work?"

"Of course I thought about it, but I'm not worried, success is success, failure is failure, as long as you do your best, you won't regret it. Xiao Tianhe replied, "Actually, I don't like to think too much about something before doing it myself." If you expect the outcome to be good, you may take it lightly, and if it is not, you may be discouraged. It's a burden on yourself. ”

Nangong Xue agreed: "That's true. I also understand this truth, but for some reason, I can't be as free and easy as you when I encounter problems. ”

"Maybe it's because you didn't have the appreciation of others in the past. Xiao Tianhe guessed, "It's not easy to learn the formation, and if you have the time and energy to practice the sword technique and body technique, maybe you will often feel that your skills are inferior to others." In addition, Ling Zun has always been strict with you, and I am afraid he has not praised you a few times. I can understand his feelings, though. ”

"Maybe......" Nangong Xue recalled the past.

"Hey, you're kind of proud of this magic treasure conference. ”

Nangong Xue turned her head to look at Xiao Tianhe, smiling like a flower: "That's also thanks to Brother Xiao." After a pause, she said again: "The Fengyun Conference is coming, the other contestants are all outstanding children from the three major families, I really don't know if I can ......" She didn't finish the next words, and turned to a soft sigh.

"Don't you think too much? Don't worry, I'll be with you then. Xiao Tianhe comforted her.

Nangong Xue's heart moved, and she responded happily: "With Brother Xiao's words, I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Heh, who made us partners of the same clan? And Nangong Wei and Nangong Xi, as long as the four of us work together and give it a go, what does it matter if we succeed or fail?"

"Hmm. Nangong Xue's smile dimmed again, and she hung her head slightly, looking at the white clouds passing under the magic knife.

Xiao Tianhe glanced at her, how could he not know what Nangong Xue was thinking?" "Sister Xue, promise me one thing. Xiao Tianhe said solemnly.

"What?" Nangong Xue looked up.

"No matter what the situation is at the Storm Cloud Conference, you can't fight as hard as you did in the first round of the Demon Treasure Conference. ”

Nangong Xue frowned slightly, and her expression hesitated: "This ......"

"If you don't say yes, we won't be friends anymore. I'm no longer your 'Big Brother Xiao', and I won't call you 'Snow Sister' anymore." Xiao Tianhe's tone was very serious.

Nangong Xue bit her mouth gently

Lips: "Alright then, I'll promise you." She smiled again: "Actually, you are really not my 'Big Brother Xiao', and you really shouldn't call me 'Sister Xue'." ”

"Huh?" Xiao Tianhe was stunned for a moment, and then immediately reacted, patting the back of his head, "This ...... Sorry, I'm used to calling each other that way, and I should have changed my mind after the first round of the Demon Treasure Conference. I'll have to call you 'Sister Snow'......"

Nangong Xue hurriedly waved her hand: "Oh, don't! What 'Sister Xue', it's hard to hear!"

"It's not called 'Sister Xue', do you want to call it 'Aunt Xue'? or 'Grandma Xue'?" Hahaha-" Xiao Tianhe suddenly sped up his flight speed.

Nangong Xue chased after him angrily, and said with disgust in her mouth: "I hate it, Brother Xiao, you obviously know that I like to hear you call me 'Sister Xue'......"

The two of them frolicked and chased after me, flying over the beautiful rivers and mountains.

......

Perhaps because of the magma rise not long after the rise of the magma, the unpleasant smell of sulfur smoke could be faintly smelled more than 100 miles away from the Lonely Smoky Mountain. As we got closer, the smell became more and more pungent. The blue-blue smoke rising from the Lone Smoke Pass reached into the sky, like a giant pillar of optimus.

"Sister Xue, I don't have a problem. Since the Lonely Smoky Mountain Domain is the forbidden land of Nangong Mansion, why is there no one guarding it on the way here?" Xiao Tianhe asked.

"The place is too big, how can you see it? Besides, the most precious thing in this place is nothing more than 'molten cores' and some associated minerals. 'Molten core stones' only appear every nineteen years, and they quickly condense into ordinary stones, so there is no need to worry about someone stealing them. Most of the associated minerals are produced in hard-to-reach places in mountain passes, and even experts come to mine them with great difficulty, and it is impossible to steal them without huge manpower. This is the hinterland of Nangong Mansion, and if outsiders were to make a big move here, they would have been discovered a long time ago. Nangong Xue explained.

The distance is getting closer and closer, and the gray-white solitary mountain is constantly fluctuating and distorting under the influence of the hot air seeping from the surface, which seems very illusory. A wave of heat hits your face, making you feel like you're in a huge stove. If you listen closely, you can hear the "sizzling" sound between the cracks in the rocks, and there is a dull sound in the towering mountain pass, which may be the sound of lava bubbling and flowing.

The Smoky Mountains are roughly conical in shape, surrounded on all sides by steep slopes filled with round and oval grayish-white stones, with only a few huge rocks protruding in a few places.

The smoke was billowing from the mountain pass, and it was inconvenient to land, so the two fell to the ground halfway up the mountain. Stepping on the rocks, I suddenly felt a burning heat coming through the soles of my shoes. Heat spilled from the surface of the earth, rising from the rocky caverns, and the hem of the robe fluttered with it. The two of them simply lifted the hem, tied it around their waists, and hurried to the mountain pass.

The color of the pass was different from that of the hillside, with a tinge of iron blue, mixed with a hint of dark red. Because the magma in Lone Smoky Mountain is lava, the temperature is higher than the magma at the bottom of the Flame Tower.

"It's such a disgusting place. Nangong Xue frowned and complained, took out the Wujue Pill, and the two of them took one each, "The medicinal effect of one Wujue Pill can last for about half a day, and twenty pills are enough for us for several days." ”

"Although the environment is evil, it is a treasure of feng shui. Looking at the green smoke alone, it is thin and grainless, but it does not disperse in the wind, and we are close at hand, but we do not feel that it is smoky at all. It follows that the magma at the bottom of the pass must be pure. The only thing I'm worried about now is if there's a place in the pass for me to forge. "Xiao Tian Dao.

"You can rest assured of this. I roughly know the situation inside, the rock wall is not so flat, there are convex rocks and rock platforms everywhere, and there is always a suitable place to stay. ”

The two climbed to the edge of the mountain pass, Xiao Tianhe looked left and right, although the situation on the opposite side could not be seen due to the obscuration of the blue smoke giant pillar, it can be estimated according to the arc of the mouth on both sides, the diameter of the mountain pass is more than fifty zhang, to say the least.

The probe looked inward and couldn't see anything, because the thickness of the green smoke pillar was comparable to that of the mountain pass, and the heat wave was scorching, so the two had to use Xuan Li to protect their bodies.

"It seems that I can't see it clearly. Sister Xue, you pull the rope here, and I'll go down first to find a suitable place to stay. "Xiao Tian Dao.

"Be careful. Nangong Xue admonished. She methodically set up a double heat-insulated auxiliary array on Xiao Tianhe's body. Xiao Tianhe put on the silkworm clothes, and Nangong Xue wrapped him whole with the silkworm cloth, tied his mouth with a golden wire rope belt with the thickness of his fingers, and dug four holes in the cloth bag with the Tianqiu knife, two large and two small. Xiao Tianhe stretched out his arms from the big hole and put on the silkworm gloves. Two small holes are used for binocular vision. Nangong Xue was not at ease, and set up a heat-insulating auxiliary array on the silkworm bag, due to the rejection of the formation, Nangong Xue tried her best, and her face was red and sweaty, so she barely laid out an extremely weak auxiliary array, but after all, it was better than nothing.

Nangong Xue tied the other end of the golden wire rope around her waist, found a good place to step on, and stuffed the prepared Mad Xuan Dan and Nayan Dan into Xiao Tianhe's hands: "If you can't bear it, take the pill immediately." Thick smoke covers the eyes, the noise is chaotic, you and I can only be tied with a golden rope. Pull it three times in a row, and I'll pull you up immediately. ”

"Rest assured. Xiao Tianhe retreated to the edge of the mountain pass and climbed down the pass into it. Nangong Xuema walked steadily, grabbed the golden wire rope tightly, and put it in little by little.

This golden wire rope was specially made by the patriarch Nangong Yan when he collected blazing iron before, and the raw material was taken from the trees and vines closest to the Lonely Smoky Mountain, which was mixed with several kinds of heat-resistant, wear-resistant metal thick wires, as well as several kinds of precious twine with a tough texture and not afraid of burning

It is wrapped in metal foil and tightened with metal foil, although it is not as heat-resistant as the silk ribbon, but the toughness is far above it.

According to Nangong Yan, at this time, the Guyan Mountain Pass is about 200 zhang above the magma, and the golden wire rope is 150 zhang long. Since it can't get too close to the magma, this length is more than enough.

As the depth increased, Xiao Tianhe gradually got a glimpse of it. The pass is also roughly cone-shaped, as Nangong Xue said, the convex stone stands up, and the horn rock is layered.

The cavity of the mountain glows red, and the bottom of the abyss beneath is a stream of orange and yellow. The rising sound of "whirring" and the flowing sound of "toop" were endless, and Xiao Tianhe felt that his eardrums were about to burst. The hot air burned his eyes and tears, and once the tears flowed out, they were immediately dried and salt crystals formed. The salt crystals were quickly roasted again, stinging around the eyes. The scorching sensation ran from his throat to his lungs, and Xiao Tianhe even felt like he could breathe fire.

The oppressive space, the torturous environment, if it weren't for the sake of forging a knife, how could he come to this purgatory-like place to suffer?" "Maybe every master will have to suffer a baptism of pain before he becomes famous!" Xiao Tianhe thought to himself.

Looking up at the gradually fading mountain pass, and then looking down at the increasingly dazzling firestream, Xiao Tianhe silently estimated the distance of the descent. After about a hundred zhang or so, he almost couldn't help it, it seemed that the blood in his body was already boiling, his limbs were trembling constantly, and the silkworm cloth bag was tightly attached to his body, although it resisted most of the heat for Xiao Tianhe, but the remaining heat through it was still unbearable for him. The weak auxiliary array on the cloth bag had already collapsed in the terrible heat wave, Xiao Tianhe closed his eyes, trying to recall every detail of the ice breaking and searching for stones in the extreme north ice field of the Qinglong Continent, recalling the cold feeling that froze his muscles and bones, so, he seemed to feel better.

It dropped another twenty zhang or so, and it had reached the point where Xiao Tianhe could no longer resist with willpower. He immediately swallowed the two pills he was clutching in his hand.

After taking the Crazy Xuandan, Xiao Tianhe's realm was already approaching the early stage of annihilation, and Nayandan's recovery ability also made Xiao Tianhe feel a lot easier.

The period before the Crazy Xuandan expired was the key, and Xiao Tianhe had to find a place to stay. He opened his eyes and glanced at his feet, estimating that it was about seventy feet from the surface of the magma. He twisted his body vigorously, and the silkworm cloth bag spun around, and he took advantage of the situation to scan the rock walls around him.

Because it descends vertically against the side of the mountain pass, the rock wall on the opposite side is too far away from the Xiaotian River. Although there is a flat horn rock protruding from the near wall, it is still nearly 30 zhang away. There's only one way to step on the rocks – use the pendulum to shake the past. However, swinging is not so simple, you have to see if there are any convex stones in the upper rock wall. Xiao Tianhe compared, or the opposite rock wall is relatively flat, Xiao Tianhe also found a corner rock, just climb up the mountain pass to change to the other side and then descend.

Just as Xiao Tianhe wanted to pull the golden wire rope, the rope suddenly sank, startling him, could it be that the tie of the cloth bag was loose? He raised his hand and touched it, the tie was still tightly tied, there was no problem. He let out a long breath, which really shocked him into a cold sweat just now. "Cold sweat?" Xiao Tianhe suddenly felt funny, in this kind of environment, where can sweat come out! He tugged on the golden rope three times.

The sack began to rise. However, the strange thing is that the speed of rising is extremely slow, and it is also accompanied by violent shocks, up and down, left and right, Xiao Tianhe's heart that he just put down immediately raised his throat again-it seems that Nangong Xue is weak!

Xiao Tianhe raised his arms, firmly grasped the end of the golden wire rope, stretched out his feet to open the cloth bag, and cooperated with the shaking of the gold wire rope to stabilize the cloth bag as much as possible to reduce the burden of Nangong Xue. It seemed to work, and the shaking of the wire rope was lessened. However, there was still a trace of doubt in Xiao Tianhe's heart: "With the strength of Nangong Xuekong in the late stage, how can he not have any stamina at all?"

Soon, Xiao Tianhe found that although the golden rope no longer shook violently, it also stopped rising. At a strange time, the golden wire rope suddenly fell several feet, but fortunately, the silk cloth was strong and did not break, but Xiao Tianhe did not hold the end of the rope for a while, and fell in the cloth bag.

"Oh no! there must be something wrong up there!" Xiao Tianhe was shocked with goosebumps, "At this time, in this kind of place, what kind of emergency will there be? Is it man-made or non-artificial? Intentionally or unintentionally?" A series of thoughts continued to intertwine in his mind. He regretted that he didn't bring the Heavenly Enemy Sword down, otherwise he could immediately cut through the Heavenly Silkworm Cloth Bag and fly up.

"Sister Xue, you must not be in any danger, otherwise the two of us will be finished......" In desperation, Xiao Tianhe had no choice but to mutter.

Unfortunately, it backfired, and the rope began to shake violently again. Even if Xiao Tianhe didn't fall into the magma body, once the effect of the Crazy Xuandan Pill passed, he would only have a dead end if he couldn't stand the scorching heat.

"No, I can't sit still like this!" Xiao Tianhe stopped praying, grabbed the golden rope with both hands, and tried his best to climb up. This move will undoubtedly add a huge burden to Nangong Xue, but at this moment, Xiao Tianhe can't care so much.

The golden wire rope was tied too tightly with the silkworm cloth bag, and Xiao Tianhe could only climb with the cloth bag. Wrapped in a cloth bag, it is difficult to exert force, and the speed of climbing is greatly affected. In addition, the touch of the silk cloth is extremely smooth, and at this time, it has become a disadvantage hindering Xiao Tianhe - the golden wire rope is not tightened between his legs. With the strength of his hands, he jumped up and down the rope.

Unexpectedly, at the last moment, the golden wire rope suddenly fell from the Lone Goose Pass!

Xiao Tianhe in the cloth bag exclaimed loudly and fell towards the rolling magma fire river.