"What is this? It can directly produce swamp mud, and the mud it sprays is filled with deadly poison, strong adhesive properties, and devouring power. Could it be that all the swamp mud in this world has been born from this heart? What exactly is this thing? Could it be the very core of this swamp world?"
Watching the endless flow of mud surging from the heart, Yi Tianxing couldn't help but feel deeply shocked.
If his guess was correct, then this heart was undoubtedly the most important treasure within the swamp realm — possibly even the origin of this entire world.
And as expected, the Heaven Book without Words revealed a paragraph of information:
Swamp Heart: A rare treasure nurtured within the Eight Aspects of Heaven and Earth. The Eight Trigram Altar gathers the forces of heaven and earth, operates the cycles of yin and yang, spawns creation, and evolves into a swamp world. Gathering the aura of the swamp and receiving the blessings of heaven and earth, it gives birth to the Swamp Heart. Upon its emergence, it becomes the core of the swamp realm. It can absorb the world's spiritual energy and endlessly produce swamp mud, turning fertile lands into swamplands. It can open life apertures or be refined into supreme treasures.
Seeing this information, Yi Tianxing couldn't help but gape in astonishment.
This was simply an unimaginable treasure born from the world itself.
Its value was vastly greater than that of the miasma crystals he had found earlier — the two weren't even comparable. The miasma crystals were like dust next to a mountain.
More importantly, this was a true heavenly treasure.Even though it wasn't an offensive treasure, its potential uses were immense — not inferior to any weapon, and possibly even stronger in its own way.
"Excellent! With the Swamp Heart, I can open a new internal space inside the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower. And thanks to the heart's properties, the new space will have special characteristics — it will transform into a unique world of its own."
Yi Tianxing's eyes lit up as countless thoughts immediately raced through his mind.
The Swamp Heart had multiple potential uses, but to him, fusing it into the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower was by far the best option — allowing the tower to fully unleash its greatest power and reach even higher levels of perfection.
This was far more valuable to him than any other treasure.
If the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower willed it, he could easily use the various treasures he obtained to open even more internal spaces, making the tower taller and stronger.However, since it was his Dao Weapon, Yi Tianxing refused to casually fuse ordinary treasures into it — doing so would only lower the tower's potential in the long run.Only treasures that truly enhanced the tower's essence should be merged.Otherwise, even after millions of years, the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower would never evolve to a higher tier.
But the Swamp Heart could create a swamp realm within the tower — this was simply too valuable.
"Good! Become part of my Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower!"
Yi Tianxing was overjoyed. Without hesitation, with a thought, the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower descended toward the Swamp Heart, preparing to devour and fuse it completely into itself.
ROAR!!
Just then, the surrounding swamp mud violently churned.A pair of cold, piercing eyes stared at Yi Tianxing from within the mud. Upon seeing the Swamp Heart, a surge of greed and desire flared within them — a possessiveness that brooked no courtesy.
The Swamp Heart was its treasure!
It instinctively sensed the unimaginable benefits the Swamp Heart would bring — obtaining it would allow its strength to skyrocket.
Seeing the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower approaching the Swamp Heart, it finally couldn't hold back any longer. With a roar, it lunged at terrifying speed.
Yi Tianxing saw a flash of black shadow — the next instant, a huge maw full of razor-sharp teeth appeared right in front of him, snapping shut.Its mouth was so wide it could easily swallow a grown man whole — a truly terrifying maw.
The aura it exuded was overwhelming.
Its bite force was even more terrifying.
"Crocodile!!"
As the shadow pounced, Yi Tianxing finally saw its true form — a giant crocodile, more than ten meters long, covered in grayish scales that shimmered with a cold metallic luster.The patterns on its scales seemed to carry traces of Dao Rhyme, revealing at a glance how incredibly tough its defense must be.
Its long, vicious snout confirmed its identity — but this was no ordinary crocodile.
It was a Dragon Crocodile, a primordial creature carrying dragon blood in its veins.
Its aura had already surpassed the level of a Tier 1 ferocious beast.This was a Tier 2 ferocious beast — a being whose attack and destructive power were absolutely horrifying.
A Tier 1 beast could already match a cultivator at the Spirit Sea Realm.And thanks to their monstrous physical strength and bloodline abilities, ferocious beasts often had even greater destructive power than human cultivators.
Tier 2 ferocious beasts were terrifying existences on par with Life Aperture cultivators.
The Dragon Crocodile's power was unimaginable.
It had been lurking in the swamp mud, moving freely as though it were the ocean to a fish.Yi Tianxing, focused on the Swamp Heart, had slightly let down his guard.Now, faced with the sudden ambush, it was too late to react properly.
Without hesitation, he circulated his blood and vital energy through his body.
A divine brilliance shimmered across his flesh, and a protective energy shield formed around him.
CRACK!!
But the crocodile's lunge was too fast. In the blink of an eye, it had swallowed Yi Tianxing whole, its powerful jaws biting down fiercely.
Its bite force was terrifying, and its fangs were as sharp as divine weapons.
Despite Yi Tianxing's sturdy body, the attack felt like being smashed by a hammer — his internal organs shook violently, his bones creaked under the pressure, and his protective shield was instantly shattered.
The sharp teeth slashed into him, tearing open ghastly wounds across his body, though his resilient flesh managed to block the worst of it.Still, the divine glow protecting him dimmed significantly.
Moreover, his powerful physique produced a tremendous rebound force, forcing the crocodile's jaws apart slightly.
But the Dragon Crocodile was too ferocious.With Yi Tianxing's blood in its mouth, it became even more crazed.
Feeling him struggling, it immediately whipped out its tongue, coiling around his body and yanking him deeper inside.
Without caring about anything else, it decided to swallow him whole.
Confident that its digestive abilities could break down even stones and iron, it was certain Yi Tianxing would soon become nourishment.
From the moment it attacked to swallowing Yi Tianxing, less than a second had passed.Its speed and ferocity were unimaginable.
And as soon as Yi Tianxing was swallowed, the crocodile greedily eyed the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower and the Swamp Heart.
Without hesitation, it opened its mouth again and swallowed them both in one gulp.
"I actually got swallowed by this beast... Looks like it's never read Journey to the West — not everything can be eaten," Yi Tianxing thought coldly.
Sliding rapidly through the beast's esophagus, Yi Tianxing felt an icy chill run through him.
It had dared to swallow him whole — he would make sure it deeply regretted it.
Moments later, he landed in a sealed chamber.
Surrounded by an extremely foul-smelling acid, Yi Tianxing could see remnants of half-digested antelopes floating around — this was the beast's stomach.
Standing in the stomach acid, his shoes and clothes immediately began to corrode.The acid's power was incredibly strong — even a large rock thrown in would quickly dissolve.
The acid tried to corrode Yi Tianxing's flesh as well, but his refined body radiated divine brilliance, preventing the acid from doing any real harm — though his blood and vital energy were slowly being consumed.
"If you dared to swallow me, then don't blame me for punching holes through your body. Either you die — or I do."
Yi Tianxing took a deep breath, a cold smile forming as he glanced around.
DING!!
Just as he prepared to attack, he suddenly saw the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower fall from above, along with the Swamp Heart — both having been swallowed too.
"This beast dares to swallow everything it sees..."
Yi Tianxing's mouth twitched slightly, but soon, joy welled up in his heart.
The Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower immediately collided with the Swamp Heart, and in an instant, it devoured it without hesitation.
As the Swamp Heart was absorbed, the tower radiated divine light and grew taller — its five layers becoming six layers.
The Swamp Heart had successfully fused into the tower as the sixth artifact.
The treasure fell into Yi Tianxing's hand, and he instantly felt a strange connection — sensing the tower's own joy.
Inside the tower, changes had already begun.
The internal space, originally expanded to over twenty miles across, shrank slightly to about eighteen miles — even the chaotic space contracted.
But a new world had been born inside: A swamp world, completely covered in mud, with wisps of miasma rising from its surface from the very beginning.