Cultivating Disciples To Breakthrough

by Stayrr

Within a quiet pavilion on top of a lonely mountain peak, Xuan Hao slowly opened his eyes with a bewildered look on his face, he had transmigrated into a cultivation world as an elder of the Flying Sword Sect. He was even an expert at the Nascent Soul Realm, who had the power to easily destory an entire city with a wave of his hand. Most importantly, he had a system that allowed h

17. 545

Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough #Chapter 545: The Mysterious Crack in the Ground~ - Read Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough Chapter 545: The Mysterious Crack in the Ground~ Online - All Page - Novel Bin

Chapter 545: The Mysterious Crack in the Ground~

Following the group of demonic cultivators while listening to them talk among themselves, Xuan Hao quickly learned that two of the people in the group were indeed from the Frost Devil Sect like he had expected when he had first discovered them.

However, this was not the most interesting thing he had managed to find out during his time following the group of demonic cultivators… Instead, it was the identity of the third demonic cultivator in the group of three! A member of the Black Rose Sect!

The fact that one of the demonic cultivators came from none other than the Black Rose Sect was more than enough to catch Xuan Hao's interest. After all, since his last encounter with the Black Rose Sect where he saved Chu Yang, he had not seen the shadow of the demonic cultivators from the Black Rose Sect, as they had seemingly disappeared over night.

Now that there was actually someone from the Black Rose Sect together with two Frost Devil Sect members, it was more than enough to cause Xuan Hao to start speculating over just what had happened to the Black Rose Sect.

Perhaps they ended up moving to the Frozen Wasteland and became a subordinate sect under the Frost Devil Sect?

This was Xuan Hao's best guess at what might have happened to the Black Rose Sect, and it was not too unrealistic, as demonic sects were more than happy to take in weaker demonic sects as subordinate sects and have the weaker sects work for them and in return get protection. Not too different from how normal sects would take care of weaker sects under them.

"Look! There is something in the distance! It looks like a large crack in the ground…"

Hearing one the demonic cultivators suddenly call out; Xuan Hao and the other two demonic cultivators all turned their attention towards the large crack in the ground that had suddenly appeared in front of them.

The size of the crack was nothing to scoff at, as it was dozens of miles long and several hundred meters wide.

Whoosh~

Using his divine sense in an attempt to find out if Zhu Lian might be inside the crack that had appeared out of nowhere, Xuan Hao was slightly taken aback when he suddenly felt his divine sense being blocked after only going a few hundred meters down into the crack.

Whoosh!

Trying a few more times to forcefully breakthrough the invisible barrier blocking him, Xuan Hao could only give up after realizing that there was no way for his divine sense to penetrate it and enter the deeper parts of the enormous crack breaking up the beautiful scenery of the frozen tundra.

Unlike Xuan Hao's frustration over not being able to search through the crack with his divine sense, the group of demonic cultivators reacted completely differently, as all of them excitedly felt the increasingly dense yin qi in the air around the crack in the ground.

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"A natural formation formed by yin qi!? Haha! To think we would be lucky enough to stumble upon a natural formation formed by yin qi!" Saying this, the excitement and greed on the first demonic cultivators face became visible for all to see.

"Are you sure…? Even if the yin qi is dense around here… If there really is a natural formation formed by yin qi, it would mean that-"

"That we might have an opportunity to reach the Second Demonic Transformation! Maybe we can even reach the Third Demonic Transformation if there is a rare natural yin treasure down there! The old woman should also be down there!" Interrupting the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect who was still a little doubtful about the claim, the first demonic cultivator did not bother waiting for the other two's answer, as he jumped into the enormous crack that split apparat the frozen tundra without the slightest bit of fear.Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

""…""

Staring blankly at each other for a short moment after seeing their companion jump into the crack, the second demonic cultivator from the Frost Devil Sect and the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect quickly jumped into the crack as well.

It had to be known that neither of them believed that their companion would wait for them before consuming whatever treasure he came upon. At the same time, they had already felt the dense yin qi in the air around the crack and believed that their companion's prediction of there being a natural formation formed by the dense and pure yin qi in the crack to be correct.

After all, outside of that, for what other reason would such pure and dense yin qi be present in the air above ground?

…

A natural formation formed by yin qi…?

Not knowing what the natural formation formed by yin qi was, Xuan Hao could only shake his head as he realized his knowledge regarding formations was still quite lacking.

However, one thing was certain from watching the behaviour of the demonic cultivators and that was the fact that the so-called natural formation formed by yin qi was not dangerous at all. Instead, it looked like it was a heaven-sent opportunity for demonic cultivators given how excitedly they had entered the crack.

Even more importantly than that, the old woman, who was most likely Zhu Lian, was hiding inside the crack…

[Time Limit: 1.9 days]

Checking out the time left for the quest requiring him to save Zhu Lian, Xuan Hao could not help frowning.

If Zhu Lian was truly hiding inside the crack filled with yin qi, the demonic cultivators would easily find her within an hour. At that point in time, with her strength and in an area beneficial to demonic cultivators, she would likely not be able to escape again!

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For her to be able to survive for a little under two days like this… Xuan Hao had a feeling that the crack in the ground was not as simple as the demonic cultivators believed it to be!

…

"Hah… I really can't absorb any more of this damnable yin qi or my body will collapse! Why is this irritating yin qi so pure?! Ah! How frustrating, I even need to use what little qi I recovered to protect myself!"

Talking to herself in a frustrated tone, Zhu Lian could not help cursing the yin qi that surrounded her, freezing up her body as she slowly tried to escape from the yin qi that was becoming stronger and stronger behind her.

Just a few minutes ago, she had been trying her best to recover her strength by slowly refining the yin qi in the air around her. However, luck was not on her side, as the purity and strength of the yin qi in the air around her had suddenly begun increasing rapidly.

In the end, she had been forced to stop refining the yin qi, as it got way too dangerous for her. Even forcing her to use what little qi she had managed to recover to block out the now increasingly strong yin qi around her.

"Hm? A flower?" Noticing a small blue flower in front of her, Zhu Lian stopped for a short moment before she began cautiously inspecting the small blue flower that had blocked her path forward.

After what she had gone through over the past few days, Zhu Lian did not dare be the slightest bit careless. Even a flower might be some kind of hidden trap out to kill her!

Thinking along this line, Zhu Lian decided to go around the blue flower that had suddenly appeared in front of her and not interact with it. Even if it might have been some sort of rare spiritual herb, Zhu Lian was not willing to take the risk…

In the end, she successfully managed to make her way past the blue flower without any trouble and soon managed to reach a new place where the yin qi in the air was way more manageable than before. The only problem-

"W-why… Why are there so many of those weird blue flower!?"

Was that a large flower field filled with flowers similar to the blue flower from earlier spread out before her.

At this point in time, there was no way for her to continue moving forward without having to come into close contact with the weird blue flowers.

"Looks like I will have to take the risk…" Feeling as the yin qi in the air around her was still growing stronger with each passing second, Zhu Lian reluctantly entered the flower field in front of her.

"I'm safe! Hah… It looks like I worried over nothi-"

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Feeling happy that nothing happened even when she entered the flower field filled with the weird blue flowers, it did not take long for things to go wrong, as a large, blue-coloured demon beast appeared behind her.

Looking closer, Zhu Lian discovered that the blue-coloured demon beast was eating a few of the weird blue flowers and was making its way towards the flower field she was currently inside of…

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Chapter 546: Time Reduced!

Roar!

Not even a second later, the demon beast spotted her, as it rushed towards her direction. Approaching at a speed way too fast for her to escape in her current condition!

Where did you even come from?!

Feeling like crying as she watched the rapidly approaching blue coloured demon beast, Zhu Lian did not plan to wait around for it to reach her, as she still used what little strength she could muster to escape in the opposite direction. Even knowing that she had no chance of running away from the demon beast, Zhu Lian still understood that only by buying more time would she have a chance to discover a way out of her current rather precarious situation.NvεlB¡n: Your Escape into Infinite Tales.

"Hehe, I never expected for there to be so many yin flowers down here! Even a fraction of these would be more than enough for me to break through to reach the Second Demonic Transformation Realm!"

Suddenly hearing a familiar voice laughing happily in the distance, Zhu Lian could not help narrowing her eyes as she rushed in the direction of the voice without the slightest bit of hesitation.

"Hm? You are-"

Whoosh!

Before the demonic cultivator who had already started gathering the yin flowers in front of him with an excited expression on his face could react, Zhu Lian used most of the qi she had managed to recover since falling into the crack and ending up in her current situation to run straight past him before he had a chance to stop her.

ROAR!

Not giving the demonic cultivator any time to follow after Zhu Lian, the blue coloured demon beast directly attacked the demonic cultivator. After all, in its eyes, Zhu Lian and the demonic cultivator were working together to steal its food. In the demon beast's eyes, the demonic cultivator was a far bigger target, as it could clearly see him currently in the process of stealing!

Bang!

Barely managing to defend against the demon beast that had suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere, the demonic cultivator was soon locked in combat with it. Soon discovering that the demon beast was far stronger than him.

"Help!" Knowing that he was not the demon beast's match, the demonic cultivator called out for help.

Bang-bang-bang!

However, even after a few minutes of him getting knocked around by the demon beast. No one showed up to help him…

"There is a strong demon beast and its guarding a field of yin flowers-"

"Junior brother! I'm here to help!"

"Where is that vile demon beast! I will make sure that it won't be able to get away!"

"…"

Frowning visibly with an annoyed expression on his face as he watched the two others show up even before he finished what he was saying, the demonic cultivator in the process of getting beat up by the blue coloured demon beast could not help rethinking his choice of travel companions…

In the future, he would find someone different to travel with!

…

At the same time that the three demonic cultivators engaged in battle with the blue coloured demon beast, Zhu Lian collapsed on to the ground on the edge of a large cliff leading even further down into the increasingly mysterious crack she now found herself inside of.

"Hah… I should be… Hah… safe for now…" Feeling the last bit of strength left in her body disappear, Zhu Lina could not help smiling happily when thinking about how she had managed to escape from the blue coloured demon beast.

"More importantly than that… How did those three manage to find me? I'm sure I left them behind after escaping into the Frozen Wasteland…" Muttering this to herself as she absorbed the surround yin qi to recover her strength, Zhu Lian soon stopped as she realized that the other party might be tracking her through some kind of special technique.

Whoosh~

Scanning herself thoroughly with her divine sense. Making sure to check every corner of her clothes, Zhu Lian soon managed to discover something hidden on her robe.

The thing in question, was a small bug the size of a grain of sand. Even if she used her divine sense to search her surroundings, she would not be able to discover it. Only when thoroughly searching herself for anything that might be used to track her location, did she manage to find the small bug hidden on her robe.

 Ptsh!

Using her divine sense to crush the little bug to death, Zhu Lian decided to move away from her current location and find another place to recover her strength. Just in case the demonic cultivators came looking for her at the location where they had last felt the little bug.

"This should be fine, the yin qi around here is also easy to absorb!"

Finding a new location, Zhu Lian sat down before closing her eyes to absorb the surrounding yin qi.

Luckily for her, the yin qi in the air around her was not too different from the qi at the surface and it was relatively easy for her to absorb and refine. Given a few hours, she would be able to recover her full strength at her current speed. At that point. Finding a way out of her current situation would be way easier!

…

Back up at the surface, Xuan Hao did not follow behind the group of demonic cultivators immediately when they entered the mysterious crack. Instead, he observed the natural formation formed by yin qi that engulfed the crack to see if anything changed after the group of demonic cultivators had rushed inside.

"Looks like nothing happened…" Muttering this to himself as he watched for any changes to the formation, Xuan Hao could not help breathing out a sigh of relief.

From the looks of it, the natural formation formed by yin qi was not some sort of offensive formation that would attack once someone entered it. Instead, after carefully observing it for some time, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the natural formation formed by yin qi was rather similar to the Qi Gathering Formation. The only difference was that one was for normal cultivators, while the other was for demonic cultivators…

Swish~

Knowing that he wouldn't be in any danger after entering the massive natural formation formed by yin qi below, Xuan Hao slowly flew down before entering the mysterious crack in the ground.

The inside of the crack was covered in a thick fog that made it hard to see more than a few meters ahead. Even with his current strength, Xuan Hao still felt his divine sense being restricted to the extreme after having entered the mysterious crack covered by the natural formation formed by yin qi.

At this point in time, he could only cover an area a thousand meters around himself with his divine sense! It was easy to imagine that the demonic cultivators who entered before him would most likely not even be able to use their divine sense in an area more than a few meters around themselves…

[Warning! Detected a change has taken place in location of a time limited quest. Sect quest [Save Zhu Lian, time to complete quest reduced from 1.9 days to 2 hours!]

"…"

Suddenly seeing this message appear in front of him shortly after he passed through the invisible border of the natural formation covering the mysterious crack, Xuan Hao could not help feeling like he had something to do with this "change" that took place in the area where Zhu Lian was located…

At the very least, he was now certain that the old woman that the three demonic cultivators had been chasing after was indeed Zhu Lian!

However, Xuan Hao now felt like he had to speed up, as he now only had two hours left to save Zhu Lian!

Finding her in two hours inside the mysterious crack where his divine sense had been restricted… Even Xuan Hao felt like he might not be able to do so. Not to mention, he had no idea what the change that had taken place was and it could very well be something that would make it even harder for him to find Zhu Lian!

"Ah… Didn't one of those demonic cultivators say he had a way to track Zhu Lian…?" Suddenly remembering that one of the three demonic cultivators had boasted about using some sort of bug to track Zhu Lian's location, Xuan Hao narrowed his eyes as he gazed in the direction of a flower field located at the edge of his divine sense where a battle was currently taking place between three demonic cultivators and a blue coloured demon beast.

"Hm… I think it should be a good idea to ask these three if they would be kind enough to help me out in finding Zhu Lian…" Showing a splendid villainous smile as he said this to himself, Xuan Hao soon utilized his movement technique before appearing directly at the centre of the battle between the three demonic cultivators and the blue coloured demon beast.

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Chapter 547: Befriending Demonic Cultivators

"Wha-"

"Who are you!?"

Roar?

Seeing someone appearing directly in front of them, the demonic cultivators and the blue coloured demon beast stopped their fight as they sized up the person that had suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Hm… Now that I think about it, I would only need the one with the tracking ability…"

Listening to the person who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in front of them mutter something to himself as he ignored them, the demonic cultivators felt annoyed over the fact that they had been ignored, while the blue coloured demon beast had recovered from the shock of suddenly seeing someone appear in front of it.

Roar!

Before the demonic cultivators had a chance to say anything to the mysterious person that had appeared in front of them, the demon beast let out an angry roar filled with killing intent before charging towards Xuan Hao.

In the demon beast's eyes, Xuan Hao was just another human who had appeared together with the others to steal from its food supply. For this reason, demon beast did not bother thinking about how Xuan Hao had been able to appear in front of it before it attacked. Not bothering to think how it had not been able to detect him.

Swish~

Seeing the demon beast that was charging towards him filled with killing intent, Xuan Hao directly used his Sword Domain. Instantly killing the demon beast before it even had a chance to understand what had just happened to it.

Thump!

""…""

The demonic cultivators speechlessly watched as the demon beast they had been struggling to deal with fell dead on the ground all of a sudden. From start to finish, they had no idea how the demon beast had suddenly died, but all of them were certain that the person who had just appeared in front of them had something to do with it.

For this reason, all three of them could not help feeling a shiver run down their spine as they realized that the person who had appeared in front of them was an existence far stronger than them!

"Y-you are the person from back then!" As the two other demonic cultivators were thinking about how to get out of their current situation alive, the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect could not help exclaiming in shock as he recognized Xuan Hao from his past visit to the Black Rose Sect when they had still been stationed inside the territory of the Flying Sword Sect.

Even now, he could still remember how his sect master had been beaten up by the other party without any chance to properly fight back against the other party.

Thinking about it, the demonic cultivator suddenly realized that he was way weaker than his sect master had been back then!

"You know this person? Is he perhaps a demonic cultivator?"

"If he is not a demonic cultivator, why would he bother entering a place like this filled with yin qi? Even if there were any treasures in here, they are of no use to those normal cultivators…"

About to kill off the two demonic cultivators from the Frost Devil Sect and getting the one from the Black Rose Sect to guide him to where Zhu Lian was located, Xuan Hao suddenly thought of something as he grabbed hold of the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect before he had time to answer the other two demonic cultivators.

"I'm a demonic cultivator who became friends with your sect master in the past… Got it?"

"Y-yes!"

Not daring to say a word as he heard Xuan Hao's voice inside his head having been transferred through his divine sense, the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect could only fearfully nod his head. Knowing very well how he would end up if he disagreed with him…

"Good!" Smiling happily after seeing that he understood, Xuan Hao let go of him. Killing the demonic cultivators for now was not a good idea, as he might be able to use them to find the location of the Frost Devil Sect after he found Zhu Lian and made sure she was safe…

"Is something wrong?" Seeing Xuan Hao suddenly grab hold of their companion, the other two could not help feeling a bit confused.

"N-no, it's nothing, this person is a friend of my sect master and just so happened to chance upon this place like us."

"Indeed, I happened to meet the sect master of the Black Rose Sect in the past. Back then, both of us got along quite well and he even helped save my life in the past, so it's only a given that I help look after his people!" Not allowing for the two other demonic cultivators to grow suspicious, Xuan Hao quickly cooperated what the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect said.

"I see… So, it's a friend of the Black Rose Sect!"

"I didn't expect for the Sect Master of the Black Rose Sect to have such a strong friend… Might I be so bold as to ask which transformation you have reached…?"

Hearing the question, Xuan Hao released his aura together with his Ice Domain, as it was rather similar to yin qi. Together, it formed an aura not too dissimilar to a demonic cultivator!

"The… The Third Demonic Transformation!" Feeling the powerful and ice-cold aura being released, the demonic cultivator who asked the question feeling quite sceptical regarding the identity of Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine upon realizing that the person in front of him was indeed a demonic cultivator. Not only that, but it was a demonic cultivator only a single step away from the True Demon Realm!

"I apologize for my rude behaviour! I hope senior will spare this junior!" Falling to his knees the instant he realized this, he quickly begged for forgiveness. After all, he very well understood just how ruthless those powerful demonic cultivators were!

Even if it was someone from his sect, if he disrespected one of those powerful demonic cultivators, he might still end up dead!

"… No worries, I will let you go on behalf of the Black Rose Sect!" Narrowing his eyes as he said this, Xuan Hao wondered whether he should kill the demonic cultivator to sell his image of a demonic cultivator to the last remaining demonic cultivator from the Frost Devil Sect. After all, he only needed one of them to show him the way to the Frost Devil Sect…

"Thank you senior! This junior will not forget your kindness!"

"Don't let it happen again!"

Seeing the demonic cultivator nodding his head eagerly knowing that he had just escaped from death, Xuan Hao had a feeling that he would have a higher chance at getting them to show him the way to their sect this way.

"Might I ask for what reason senior has come here? With you cultivation, these yin flowers should not be useful to you…" Having already understood that Xuan Hao had a reason to spare him and the other demonic cultivators, the one from the Black Rose Sect asked this. Trying his best to not show a fearful expression in front of the other two demonic cultivators.

"Hm… Actually, I came here looking for someone. An old woman, who should be somewhere in here according to my information… Do any of you perhaps have any idea about the location of this person?"

"Ah! I think we know about this person! We have been chasing an old woman for the last few days and she happened to hide in here. Perhaps this is the person you are searching for?" Finishing what he was saying, the demonic cultivator slowly drew a portrait of Zhu Lian in the air in front of him with his qi for Xuan Hao to see.

"Indeed! This is the person I have been searching for! Do you perhaps have any idea on where to find her?" Feeling happy upon confirming that it was indeed Zhu Lian, Xuan Hao asked this while keeping an eye on the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect.

"Yes, brother Beetle planted one of his bugs on her and can track her!"

"Is that true…?"

"Yes… I do have a way to find her!"This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

"Great! Help me find her and I will allow you three to keep all the yin flowers here!" Already knowing that the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect called Beetle had a way to find Zhu Lian, Xuan Hao still decided to act surprised as he said this. Instantly causing the two demonic cultivators from the Frost Devil Sect to encourage their friend to help.

Whoosh~

Hoping that Xuan Hao would keep his promise after finding the person he was looking for, Beetle quickly used his technique to find the location of the bug he had placed on Zhu Lian.

"Hm?" However, he quickly realized something was wrong, as he soon realized that the bug in question was no longer alive. All he could get was the location just before its death!

"The location of the bug is not too far from here-" Not daring to share this news with Xuan Hao for fear that he might be killed off by the other party, Beetle decided to give Xuan Hao the location just before the death of the tracking bug.

Whoosh~

Not doubting the authenticity of what Beetle said, Xuan Hao quickly left in the direction that he had given him.

The main reason why he did not doubt the authenticity of what Beetle had told him, was because the location he had given him was extremely close to his current location.

As a demonic cultivator, Beetle should at the very least understand what would happen if he gave him wrong information…

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Chapter 548: Centipedes~

"Haha, I never expected brother Beetle to know someone like that!" As Xuan Hao left, one of the two demonic cultivators walked over to the demonic cultivator from the Black Rose Sect known as beetle while he said this with a smile on his face. Clearly happy that they would still be able to get their hands on the yin flowers.

"Let's just harvest the flowers and get out of here as quickly as possible… It would be best for us to leave as soon as possible!" Not feeling as happy as his companions, Beetle grabbed a large number of yin flowers as he said this with a solemn expression on his face. After all, he understood very well how he would end up in case Xuan Hao found out he had lied to him…

For now, Beetle hoped sincerely that the old woman was still staying around the location that he had given to Xuan Hao. At the very least he would be able to buy enough time to gather the yin flowers and escape back to his sect this way!

"I see… Guess that guy is not that good friends with your sect master and might change his mind later on after finding that old woman…" Understanding what their companion meant to some degree, the other two demonic cultivators quickly picked up their speed and began harvesting the yin flowers as quickly as possible.

As for leaving the yin flowers behind and escaping? There was no way they would give up a chance of possibly being able to reach the Third Demonic Transformation! Especially when they had just witnessed just how strong someone at that realm was!

Like this, the three demonic cultivators worked together in harmony to harvest all of the yin flowers. Not fighting with each other over who got what, as they understood doing something like that might cost them precious time.

When Xuan Hao returned in the future and possibly changed his mind about allowing them to take the yin flowers, they would regret having wasted even a single second arguing with each other over who would get what.

…

At the same time that the three demonic cultivators were busy harvesting the yin flowers, Xuan Hao arrived at the location that Beetle had pointed him in.

Whoosh~

Searching for any sign of Zhu Lian with his divine sense in his surroundings, Xuan Hao soon reached the edge of what could only be described as a bottomless abyss leading even deeper.The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

"Don't tell me she fell down there…" Muttering this to himself as he felt just how pure and dense the yin qi was inside the abyss.

Just from a glance, Xuan Hao understood that even if Zhu Lian was at full strength, she would not be able to survive for long inside the abyss in front of him. Even he himself might have to put in extra effort to make sure not to freeze to death inside the abyss if he went too deep…

I should look around the edge first and make sure if she really did enter the abyss or not.

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao decided to not enter the abyss for now, as he began searching close to the edge of the abyss.

No matter what, Zhu Lian should not enter the abyss unless she had no other escape path. Given that the three demonic cultivators were no longer chasing after her, she should be fine for now-

Rumble~

"Hm? Centipede demon beasts…?"

Suddenly seeing a massive number of centipede demon beasts appear in the distance as they made their way towards the abyss filled with pure yin qi, Xuan Hao could not help feeling surprised upon realizing that the centipede demon beast all had strength ranging between the middle and later stages of the Nascent Soul Realm.

In front of the group of massive centipedes, there was even one who was over a hundred meters long and had managed to reach the Domain Lord Realm!

[Sect Quest: Save Zhu Lian]

[Description: Save the Eighth Nascent Soul Realm Expert of the Flying Sword Sect before she dies.]

[Time Limit: 1.8 hours]

Feeling a bit afraid that the worst could have happened to Zhu Lian, Xuan Hao only managed to breath out a sigh of relief after seeing that nothing had changed to the quest. At least she should still be alive for now.

Looking closer at the group of massive centipedes approaching the abyss, there seemed to be someone running in front of them-

"Wait… Isn't that Zhu Lian!?"

Realizing just who the person running away from the group of massive centipedes was, Xuan Hao could not help wondering just how she would be able to get out of her current situation alive. After all, according to the quest, she would still be able to survive for around two more hours!

Knowing this, Xuan Hao felt a bit curious about just how she would escape from the massive centipedes as he decided to hide with his domain and follow close by.

Making sure to keep far enough away from the Domain Lord Realm centipede so as to not be found. After all, hiding close to a demon beast that had reached the Domain Lord Realm was impossible with his current strength!

…

Only a short time before Xuan Hao had showed up at the edge of the abyss, Zhu Lian, who had just found a place to recover her strength-

Bang!

Was interrupted as a giant centipede dozens of meters long suddenly broke through the ground a few meters away from the place that she was sitting.

Wha-

Swish~

Before she even had time to react, a massive eagle demon beast with a wingspan big enough to cover a small estate dived down from above as it grabbed hold of the massive centipede with its claws before carrying it off into the distance.

Bang-bang-bang!

What in the world is this place!?

Following the first massive centipede that got taken away by the massive eagle like demon beast, Zhu Lian could only freeze up in fear as she watched more than a dozen similar sized centipede break through the hard rocks beneath her before they began making their way in the direction of the abyss located not too far away from her current location

Rumble~!

Suddenly feeling the ground beneath her begin shaking violently, Zhu Lian quickly moved out of the way as another massive centipede emerged from the ground. This time around, directly beneath the place she had been sitting just a second ago!

Roar!

Spotting her the moment it emerged from the ground the centipede roared loudly. Instantly alerting the other massive centipedes in the distance as they all turned their attention towards her.

RUUMBLE!

However, before any of them could charge towards her, the ground beneath began shaking even more violently than before.

Whoosh!

Using this opportunity while the centipedes were all distracted by the loud rumbling noise coming from the ground, Zhu Lian rushed past the centipede still not fully out of the ground in front of her before making her way in the opposite direction of the centipedes. Wanting to get as far away as possible from them before they decided to eat her.

BANG!

ROOOAR!

However, she did not manage to get far before a loud sound of rocks breaking apart followed by a terrifying roar echoed out behind her.

Turning around for a short moment, Zhu Lian could not help feeling a shiver run down her spine as she witnessed a massive centipede more than a hundred meters long crawl out from the ground. Not only that, but she also discovered that the centipede focused its attention on her as soon as it appeared.

Just the stare from the massive centipede alone was more than enough to cause her to freeze up in fear as she felt a deep sense of hopelessness well up when confronted with the massive centipede demon beast that was staring directly at her with an all too clear killing intent.

Roar!

Rooooar!

Roar! Roar!

Seemingly in response to what the over a hundred-meter-long centipede did, the other massive centipedes all around it began roaring angrily towards her before all of them suddenly charged towards her filled with killing intent.

"I… I can't move?"

Feeling her body not responding properly to her as she felt the stare of the hundred-meter-long centipede, Zhu Lian could not help panicking as she saw the massive centipedes rapidly approaching her.

No! I have to escape! I just managed to reach the Nascent Soul Realm not too long ago, there is no way I will die like this!

Thinking about this as she desperately tried to move her body, Zhu Lian barely managed to turn her head around. Looking away from the hundred-meter-long centipede and in turn instantly causing her to regain control over her body again and also allowing her to use her movement technique with the qi she had managed to recover to run away just before the massive centipedes had time to catch up to her!

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Chapter 549: Rescue...?

Continuing to run with all her remaining strength, Zhu Lian could not help cursing to herself when she watched the abyss she had left after finding out about the bug that had been placed on her and used to track her location appear in front of her.

Turning to the side a moving towards the location of the demonic cultivators to use them as a distraction like she had done just a few minutes earlier was not an option, as she doubted that she would be able to reach them before the centipedes caught up to her. Not to mention the massive hundred-meter-long centipede that was the leader of the group of centipedes!

In front of such a powerful demon beast, even the three demonic cultivators she had struggled trying to escape from were nothing more than a bunch of sheep waiting to be slaughtered!

With that in mind, Zhu Lian understood that she had no way out of her current situation. Even if she jumped into the abyss, she very well understood that she would just be delaying the inevitable, as even if the centipedes did not kill her, the pure yin qi would.

After all, with her current strength, there was no way for her to resist the yin qi inside the abyss for more than half an hour. Maybe a little more than an hour if she was lucky and found a place to hide where the yin qi was a bit less pure.

However, there was no way she would just give up and allow the centipedes to catch up to her!

Whoosh!

For this reason, Zhu Lian did not hesitate in the slightest when she reached the abyss. Directly jumping into it just in time to dodge one of the massive centipedes that had launched itself towards her with its mouth wide open.

Swish~

Bang!

The centipede flew directly over her before crashing into the rocky walls of the abyss on the other side. However, this was not the end of the flying centipede-

Ptsh!

As it was unfortunate enough to fall down into dozens of large spiky rocks covered in some sort of liquid.

Roar-

Barely letting out a single roar, the centipede soon stopped moving.

However, the centipede that had just died was not on Zhu Lian's mind as she continued falling downwards towards the bottom of the abyss. Trying her absolute best to stop the increasingly strong yin qi from freezing up her body and soul.

Thump!

"Ah-!"

Landing on the bottom of the abyss after falling for at least two minutes straight, Zhu Lian could not help letting out a scream of pain, as she felt like all the bones inside her body had been broken from the fall. The fact that her physical body had even manged to survive was a miracle!

After all, if she had to fly around with her nascent soul in her current environment, it was easy to imagine how things would play up, as the surrounding yin qi would instantly invade her nascent soul before freezing it up and killing it. Not something she wanted to happen…

Well… Nobody would really want their soul to freeze up and die…

Rumble~

"They are still chasing me!?" Suddenly hearing a loud rumbling sound from above, Zhu Lian could not help narrowing her eyes in shock upon realising that the massive centipedes were still following after her.

Looking around herself, Zhu Lian quickly realized that there was no path of escape. The abyss was in the end just a very large hole in ground, with no way out outside of climbing back out again, something she had no way to do with her current strength and that was not to mention the massive centipedes currently heading down towards her from above. Blocking any chance, she would have of escaping from the abyss!

…

[Time Limit: 1.8 hours]

Looking at the time left, Xuan Hao remained hidden just beside Zhu Lian with his domain before glancing up at the massive centipedes that would reach her in less than a minute.

How on earth is she going to survive this…?

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao truly could not see how Zhu Lian would be able to escape alive from her current situation.

The abyss itself was also quite disappointing, as it was literally just a hole in the ground. No secret yin related treasure or anything was hidden at the bottom of it.

Seeing Zhu Lian growing increasingly desperate as she looked for a way out of her current situation just a few meters away from him, Xuan Hao could not help frowning upon noticing that the yin qi was slowly starting to infiltrate her body and in turn her nascent soul.

If things continued for any longer, her soul would most likely be permanently damaged by the yin qi!

Even if he was curious about how she would be able to get out of her current situation, there was no way he would risk Zhu Lian permanently damaging her soul due to this.

"Zhu Lian…." For this reason, he decided to call out to Zhu Lian before revealing himself.

"E-elder Xuan?!"

To say Zhu Lian was surprised upon seeing him would be an understatement, as she froze on the spot. Not knowing how Xuan Hao had suddenly appeared beside her when she was about to die.

"Yes, it is me, I came looking for you since you didn't show up and seemed to be in some sort of trouble… From the looks of it, I arrived just in time!" Not sharing the fact that he had been secretly following her from the time she jumped into the abyss, Xuan Hao just said this as he walked over to Zhu Lian before using his domain to keep the surrounding yin qi at bay. Preventing it from further damaging her already half dead physical body.

"…" Looking at just how badly damaged her physical body was, Xuan Hao could not help feeling bad about not saving her the moment he saw her.

Although the physical body would be relatively easy to fix with a few rare spiritual herbs and potions, it was still something that would take time to do.

At the very least I have to help her out when it comes to reconstructing her body…

Handing over a few spirit stones for her to at least recover enough to be able to move properly, Xuan Hao glanced towards the massive centipedes that had already made their way down into the abyss.

"Just recover your strength enough to move for now, I will deal with these centipedes."

Seeing Zhu Lian mindlessly nod her head as she accepted the spirit stones handed over to her, Xuan Hao focused his attention on to the massive centipedes. Keeping most of his attention on the hundred-meter-long centipede among them.

Normally, dealing with the hundred-meter-long centipede would not be too difficult for him given his current strength… But things were different in his current situation, as he was currently inside a rather confined space filled with yin qi and also had to make sure to keep Zhu Lian safe at the same time.

In such a situation, it would be better to avoid fighting with the group of massive centipedes and from the fact that the massive centipedes had not attacked yet, it looked like their leader had also decided that it would be best for them to not fight.

Rooooar!

Rumble~

Staring at each other for close to a minute like this without moving, the hundred-meter-long centipede finally let out a loud roar as it burrowed into the ground together with the other centipedes. Disappearing from sight.

"Hah…" Letting out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding, Xuan Hao could not help looking back at Zhu Lian absorbing the spirit stones he had handed over to her without paying any attention to what was happening around her.

Whoosh~

Using his domain, Xuan Hao caused Zhu Lian to levitate off the ground before he took her and moved both of them out of the abyss before anything happened. After all, even if he could use his domain to resist the surrounding yin qi, it was still rather draining for him to protect both himself and Zhu Lian at the bottom of the abyss.Immerse Yourself in the Storyverse: NvεlB¡n.

The yin qi at the bottom of the abyss was simply way too strong, to the point that a Nascent Soul Realm Expert like Zhu Lian would not be able to survive for more than a minute or two without the yin qi permanently damaging their nascent soul!

Looking back down towards the bottom of the abyss after he reached the top, Xuan Hao could not help wondering just how Zhu Lian would survive for so long at the bottom of the abyss without his help…

[Time Limit: 1.7 hours]

Why has the time limit not changed yet!? Is it perhaps because we are still inside the crack…?

Suddenly realizing that the quest had not been completed even after he had rescued Zhu Lian and helped her recover her strength, Xuan Hao could not help feeling that something bad was about to happen…

Whoosh~

As if to answer his worries, the massive natural formation that covered the crack suddenly began moving, as all the yin qi inside of it began rapidly gathering towards the abyss he and Zhu Lian had just left.

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Chapter 550: Seals Inside the Abyss

Along with the yin qi inside the crack gathering together inside the abyss just behind them, Xuan Hao slowly felt the restrictions on his divine sense lessen with each passing second.

If the yin qi in the air continued decreasing, he would soon be able to fully utilize his divine sense and strength inside the crack without any restrictions.

Crack~

Observing as the yin qi inside the abyss liquified at the bottom of the abyss, Xuan Hao could not stop a shiver from running down his spine as he witnessed bottom of the abyss crack apart under the pressure of the liquified yin qi slowly increasing on top of it.

For it to start breaking the ground beneath it that had supported the massive hundred-meter-long centipede and several dozens of massive centipedes, it was easy to imagine just how heavy the liquified yin qi was!

BANG!

As the liquefied yin qi on the bottom of the abyss reached a height of a single centimetre, the ground beneath it cracked apart before revealing that the abyss was even deeper!

During the split moment before the ground beneath the liquefied yin qi cracked apart, Xuan Hao barely managed to spot a large symbol briefly shinning as it tried to prevent the yin qi from breaking apart the ground to no avail.

At the back of his mind, Xuan Hao had a feeling that he had seen a similar symbol somewhere before. However, he could not seem to remember where...

"We should get out of here…" Muttering this to himself as he turned his attention towards Zhu Lian who had just opened her eyes after absorbing one of the spirit stones he had handed over to her, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the reason why the quest had not been completed yet had something to do with the yin qi inside the crack being gathered together inside the abyss by the massive formation they were currently inside of.

For some reason, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the abyss was a seal of some sort after briefly witnessing the symbol that briefly tried stopping the liquified yin qi above it!

If that was really the case, it was likely that whatever was sealed inside the abyss would be the cause of Zhu Lian's death!

With this in mind, it should at the very least still take over an hour for the seal to break apart.

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao could not help looking at the timer slowly ticking down below the sect quest for saving Zhu Lian.

"Hm?"This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

[Time Limit: 1.2 hours]

Frowning as he saw that the time limit had suddenly decreased by a large margin after what was most likely a seal had been broken through by the liquified yin qi, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the timer of the quest did not consider for the liquefied yin qi helping quicken the speed of the seals in the abyss breaking.

Did this perhaps mean that the yin qi gathering together inside the abyss and increasing the speed at which the seal broke apart had something to do with him?

Shaking his head at this thought, Xuan Hao only managed to understand that he should probably leave the mysterious crack with Zhu Lian as quickly as possible!

After all, while he was curious about what had been sealed inside the abyss, he was not dumb enough to risk both his and Zhu Lian's life!

"Wha-!?"

Hearing the surprised voice of Zhu Lian from behind him as she let out a small yelp in surprise after witnessing the terrifying amount of yin qi flowing towards the abyss from all directions the moment, she opened her eyes. Followed by her quickly moving away from the edge of the abyss, Xuan Hao could not help smiling a bit wryly upon realizing the fact that he had placed her right next to the edge of the abyss…

"Elder Xuan… W-what is happening?" Barely saying this as she kept her attention fully focused on the abyss, Zhu Lian could not look away from the seemingly endless streams of yin qi flowing into the abyss.

"This… I think that-"

Rumble~

BANG!

Just about to answer Zhu Lian's question, Xuan Hao was taken aback as an even louder sound could be heard from the abyss. Followed by the yin qi flowing towards the abyss gathering at an even faster speed than before.

Did another seal get broken through by the liquified yin qi…?

Not paying too much attention answering Zhu Lian's question after realizing what had just happened, Xuan Hao quickly turned his attention towards the timer for Zhu Lian's death.

[Time Limit: 48 minutes]

Indeed, it had decreased once again, this time around, there was less than one hour left before the seal would break under normal circumstances. However, given the current speed at which the seals inside the abyss were breaking apart, Xuan Hao doubted that they would be able to last for more than five minutes!

"Let's get out of here for now!" Not waiting for Zhu Lian to answer, Xuan Hao grabbed hold of the old woman before using his movement technique to rapidly move out of the crack.

"Wah-!?"

Not knowing what was happing as she suddenly found herself flying through the air, Zhu Lian had no idea what to do as she could only allow Xuan Hao to carry her while making sure to observe her surroundings.

Along the way, they even managed to find the three demonic cultivators all panicking as they were trying their best to climb out of the crack with several blue flowers stuffed into every part of their clothes.

From the looks of it, the three demonic cultivators did not have a single interspatial ring… Not too surprising given the fact that demonic cultivators would not be as proficient at spatial manipulation as normal cultivators.

Normally, a demonic cultivator who had reached the realm equivalent to a Domain Lord was even worse than a normal Peak Nascent Soul Realm cultivator when it came to spatial manipulation.

Getting their hands on an interspatial ring was slightly harder for demonic cultivators, but they could always rob them from some normal cultivators. To be honest, Xuan Hao was a bit surprised that none of the three demonic cultivators had an interspatial ring. After all, two of them were from the Frost Devil Sect that was likely to have several demonic cultivators who reached a realm equivalent to the Domain Lord Realm…

Whoosh~

Seeing that they were just about to leave the crack and would be able to make it out in time before the seal broke, Xuan Hao did not bother to help them as he continued out of the crack while carrying Zhu Lian.

At this point in time, the yin qi in the air had almost completely disappeared. Making flying way easier and less energy consuming compared to do doing so in an environment filled to the brim with yin qi that tried its best to invade and freeze up the body and soul.

…

Thump!

Not stopping before getting at least a few miles away from the mysterious crack, Xuan Hao landed on top of a small icy hill together with Zhu Lian who had been fully immersed in the feeling of flying through the air.

"Cultivate here for now and recover your strength as much as you can, I will help repairing your body after returning to the sect." Saying this before Zhu Lian even had the chance to say anything, Xuan Hao handed over a few more spirit stones before turning his attention towards the sect quest involving Zhu Lian.

[Sect Quest: Save Zhu Lian (complete)]

[Description: Save the Eighth Nascent Soul Realm Expert of the Flying Sword Sect before she dies.]

[Reward: Zhu Lian lives, location of undiscovered spirit stone mine inside the territory of the Flying Sword Sect.]

After he left the mysterious crack in the ground, the sect quest had immediately been considered to have finished and she was no longer in any danger. For this reason, Xuan Hao did not worry about leaving Zhu Lian alone as he moved closer to the mysterious crack after making sure she was properly recovering her strength.

For now, he wanted to check out what was going to happen when the seal was broken. After all, according to the system, he should not be in any danger as long as he did not enter the crack itself.

Rumble~

Not long after he had arrived a short distance away from the crack, a loud rumbling sound could be heard across the entire frozen tundra as the massive crack in the ground suddenly began closing.

"…"

Before he even had any time to comprehend how such a massive crack could close, it had already finished closing up. Leaving behind no traces of it ever existing in the first place.

Whoosh!

Scanning the area where the crack had been just a few seconds ago, Xuan Hao could not help frowning upon realising that even after his divine sense spread far underground there was no traces of what he had seen inside the crack.

"Hm… At least those three managed to escape…" Shaking his head in disappointment after not finding anything, Xuan Hao turned his attention towards the three exhausted demonic cultivators exhaustedly gasping for air in the middle of the empty frozen tundra.

Now that he had managed to save Zhu Lian, the demonic cultivators only had one use left… Showing him the way to the Frost Devil Sect!

However, it would have to wait, as he first had to make sure Zhu Lian got back safely.

Whoosh~

With this in mind, Xuan Hao made his way back to icy hill where he had left Zhu Lian to recover her strength. In the first place, it would take quite some time for those three to recover and begin moving again. Not to mention they would likely also think that he had disappeared along with the crack, thus giving him some more time to make sure he could at least send Zhu Lian back out of the Frozen Wasteland.

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Chapter 551: Rabbit Thief!

Reaching the icy hill where he had left Zhu Lian to recover her strength just a few minutes earlier, Xuan Hao found a place not too far away from her.

"I should have Feng Chen send someone over to help her get back to the sect…" Realizing that he would not be able to follow the three demonic cultivators if he also had to guide Zhu Lian safely back to the sect, Xuan Hao took out his communication talisman before contacting Feng Chen. Having him send over someone to help get Zhu Lian back to the sect safely.

Even if she should be fine as long as she didn't encounter anyone in the Nascent Soul Realm with bad intentions, Xuan Hao did not want to take the risk!

"Hm… It should still take a few days before anyone arrives at the borders to the Frozen Wasteland…" Muttering this to himself as he said this, Xuan Hao shook his head and threw these thoughts to the back of his mind before sitting down to cultivate while waiting for Zhu Lian to finish absorbing the spirit stones, he had handed over to her.

Cultivating on the frozen tundra was something he had already wanted to try the moment he realized just how much easier it was to improve his ice domain inside the Frozen Wasteland. Doing it while waiting for Zhu Lian was something Xuan Hao was more than happy to do.

As for the location of the spirit mine he had received after completing the quest, Xuan Hao doubted that he would be able to do anything by himself, as he did not really have any experience when it came to setting up any sort of mine. Be it a spirit mine or one for spiritual metals…

For this reason, he planned to give the location to Elder Song after returning to the Flying Sword Sect. After all, he would be able to put the information to use and set up a proper mining operation and establish a new spirit stone mine.

Thinking about it, it was a good idea to leave something like that to Elder Song… Hopefully, he would not end up with too much work on his hand and in turn neglect his granddaughter. In the worst-case scenario, he could always look after Song Jia for Elder Song.

Turning his attention back onto cultivating, Xuan Hao felt himself merge together with the surrounding environment as he felt the cold wind blow past him while a few young snow-white rabbits curiously peeked their heads out of the snow to inspect the two people that had suddenly appeared on the icy hill where their burrow was located.

Following this, Xuan Hao felt his senses spread out in all directions as he fully immersed himself in the environment of the Frozen Wastelands. Along with this, Xuan Hao also felt his comprehension of the Dao of Ice increasing, which in turn caused the strength of his ice domain to increase.

Even if the increase in strength was miniscule and almost impossible to detect over such a short period of time, Xuan Hao still managed to feel it, as he understood just how great it was for him to cultivate in such an environment filled with ice and snow.

Maybe the reason why his sword domain grew stronger faster than his ice domain, was because he spent most of his time cultivating inside a sword sect where most of the people walked the path of the sword?

Shaking his head as he felt these distracting thoughts enter his mind, Xuan Hao emptied his mind before fully immersing himself in comprehending the Dao of Ice that was seemingly ever present across the Frozen Wasteland.

…

Time slowly passed as Zhu Lian finished absorbing the spirit stones Xuan Hao had handed over to her.

"Ouch!"

Getting up from the frozen ground beneath her, Zhu Lian could not help letting out a small yelp of pain as she felt pain spread through her entire body. After having spent the last few hours absorbing the spirit stones that Xuan Hao had given to her, she had completely forgotten about the current state of her body!

For this reason, the pain had caught her by surprise, causing the small yelp of pain earlier to escape from her lips as she stood up.

Even though her physical body was still in a bad state at the moment, Zhu Lian soon concluded that she could still move around by herself without any trouble through the support of her cultivation base. Fighting someone at the Core Formation Realm should also be possible, as for someone at the Nascent Soul Realm… In her current state, it would be best not to fight someone at the Nascent Soul Realm!

If she really was unfortunate enough to encounter someone in the Nascent Soul Realm who had bad intentions-

"Ah!" Suddenly remembering that she was not alone, Zhu Lian looked around herself before finally finding Xuan Hao silently meditating a few meters away from her.

Seeing him, Zhu Lian did not know what to feel as she remembered what she had gone through over the past few days. From getting hunted down by demonic cultivators to getting trapped inside an ancient formation and the mysterious crack that suddenly appeared beneath her when she was trapped inside the ancient formation… Too much had happened over the past few days and Zhu Lian felt happy knowing that it should be over.

Even the pain constantly spreading through her body didn't hurt so much after this realization!

"You finished absorbing all the spirit stones?" Before she had time to think about anything else, Xuan Hao suddenly opened his eyes as he asked this.

"Yes!" Nodding her head up and down rapidly like a young child in acknowledgement of his question, Zhu Lian could not help feeling a bit embarrassed upon realizing how immature she was acting.

Feeling the embarrassment getting even worse upon noticing Xuan Hao's weird look after seeing her childish act, Zhu Lian could not help but wanting to find a hole to jump into a burry herself out of sight.

Swish~

Luckily, this did not last for long, as a snow-white rabbit suddenly dashed towards them before it ate the spirit stone, she had just finished absorbing. After closer inspection, there was still a tiny amount of spirit energy left in the spirit stone before the snow-white rabbit had swallowed it.

Zhu Lian and Xuan Hao were both baffled upon seeing this scene. Wondering where the snow-white rabbit had grown so courageous. Even daring to charge in and snatch away the almost empty spirit stone.

Even if the amount of qi it had absorbed was miniscule, it should still be enough to allow the snow-white rabbit to transform from an ordinary mortal animal into a demon beast!

Swish!

After having consumed the almost empty spirit stone, the snow-white rabbit quickly disappeared back into its burrow only a few meters away from their current location.Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Neither Zhu Lian or Xuan Hao knew what to say at the display of both courage and speed of the little rabbit. At least it helped Zhu Lian, as she no longer felt the embarrassment, she had felt just a moment ago.

"Let's get going, I will be taking you to a small city located close to the edge of the Frozen Wasteland. One of the other Core Elders will come and pick you up after a few days."

Feeling a bit disappointed when she heard that Xuan Hao would not be the one to take her to the Flying Sword Sect, Zhu Lian recalled the three demonic cultivators who had also been inside the mysterious crack.

Could it be that those three were still following her even after the bug used to track her had been killed by her?

Then again, those three should not be any threat to someone like Elder Xuan…

Thinking this to herself, Zhu Lian decided not to pry into why Xuan Hao was leaving her in the hands of one of the other core elders instead of just escorting her to the Flying Sword Sect by himself.

Whoosh~

Seeing that Zhu Lian understood that he had something to do and didn't complain over the fact that he was essentially going to leave her alone to fend for herself for a few days in the small city he and Feng Chen had decided to be the safest option for her to stay alone in her current condition, Xuan Hao didn't bother wasting any more time, as he took to the sky before flying in the direction of the small city in question. Wanting to get it done as quickly as possible so he could return back to the location of the three demonic cultivators and find the location of the Frost Devil Sect!

…

Thump!

"The person who will come looking for you is called Zu Fei; she looks like this-"

Whoosh~

Conjuring forth a small image with his qi of Zu Fei, Xuan Hao didn't explain any further as he jumped back into the air before rushing back towards the Frozen Wasteland after making sure Zhu Lian understood what he said and had memorized the image of Zu Fei he had conjured.

Swish!

"…"

Seeing Xuan Hao quickly disappearing into the distance, Zhu Lian let out a soft sigh before finding a secluded location close to the entrance of the small city to quietly meditate. Waiting for Zu Fei to show up and at the same time making sure that her body's situation didn't end up worsening any further during the next few days she would have to wait.

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Chapter 552: The Higher Level of the Drifting Cloud Steps

Making his way back towards the location inside the Frozen Wastelands where the three demonic cultivators were recovering after having left the mysterious crack, Xuan Hao could not help feeling worried that they might have already left the area and disappeared into the endless frozen tundra that spread out all around him.

Even with his current cultivation realm, searching through the entire Frozen Wasteland would be an impossible task, as the Frozen Wasteland itself was enormous.

Reading about the Frozen Wasteland in the book he had been given by Yi Min, Xuan Hao realized just how scary the Frozen Wasteland was. Not only did it cover an area far larger than the Sky Empire, but it was also an area that was famous for the sheer number of demonic cultivators hiding inside of it.

As long as he went deep enough into the Frozen Wasteland, he was guaranteed to accidently stumble upon a demonic cultivator who had reached the True Demon Realm, the demonic cultivators equivalent of the Soul Ascension Realm!

If he really encountered a demonic cultivator at the True Demon Realm, it would be too late for regrets…

Not to mention, the presence of demonic cultivators who had reached the True Demon Realm was more than enough to cause any Soul Ascension Realm cultivator to think twice about entering the deeper parts Frozen Wasteland!

The only good thing about the Frost Devil Sect, was the fact that they should be hidden somewhere close to the border between the Azure Sky Kingdom and the Frozen Wasteland. Not anywhere deeper inside the Frozen Wasteland.

After all, Yi Min would not ask him to do something impossible like finding a demonic sect located at the core of the Frozen Wasteland.

Even if he managed to find the demonic sect, Yi Min would likely not be too eager to attack a demonic sect in such an area, as she might end up attracting the attention of a demonic cultivator in the True Demon Realm…

"Hah… How lucky, it looks like they are still here! From of the looks of it, it seems like they are still absorbing yin qi from the yin flowers that they managed to bring out from the mysterious crack before it disappeared…" Smiling happily to himself as he arrived back at the location of the three demonic cultivators, Xuan Hao felt that he was lucky that the demonic cultivators didn't move immediately after recovering from the injuries they had received during their time inside the mysterious crack.

However, this was also not really surprising. After all, they were still inside the Frozen Wasteland and could encounter another group of demonic cultivators at any point in time if they were unlucky enough… At that point in time, a fight would surely erupt of the yin flowers they were carrying around with them!

Not having an interspatial ring was truly an inconvenient thing…

Having fully understood why they had not moved yet, Xuan Hao decided to wait until they finished absorbing the yin flowers.

No matter what, they were only absorbing the yin qi inside the yin flowers and did not refine it and make it their own yet. Doing so would not only require a long time to digest all the yin they had absorbed, but also a safe environment where they could do this without getting attacked.

The safe location for the two members of the Frost Devil Sect would surely be their sect!

As long as he followed them, he would easily be able to find the location of their sect and give it to Yi Min and fulfil her request. Paying her back for the information she had given him regarding the location of a Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb… Of course, he would only give her the location of the Frost Devil Sect after he had managed to confirm that the information, she had given him was accurate!

Having come up with a plan, Xuan Hao found a small mountain not too far away from the demonic cultivators, as he settled down and closed his eyes to cultivate while waiting for the demonic cultivators to finish absorbing all of the yin flowers.

…

"Hah… When are you guys done? Even if we were lucky enough to escape from the crack before it closed and disappeared, we can't spend too much time sitting around. Don't forget those people from the Fire Ghost Sect have been seen roaming around this area lately!" Having finished absorbing his part of the yin flowers, one of the three demonic cultivators was quick to complain as he said this.

"You can always hand a few of them over to-"

"Don't worry too much about the people from the Fire Ghost Sect, the ones that were found by our seniors did not even reach the First Demonic Transformation! Even if some of those Fire Ghost disciples show up, we three are more than enough to deal with them!" Knowing that his companion just wanted to get his hands on his yin flowers, the other disciple from the Frost Devil Sect frowned visibly as he said this before absorbing the last few yin flowers he had on him.

The one called Beetle from the Black Rose Sect also soon finished absorbing his yin flowers, as all of them had finished absorbing all the yin qi into their body.

"Now that all of us are more or less ready, we can head back…" Seeing that the other two had finished absorbing their yin flowers, the one from the Frost Devil Sect who had finished absorbing his yin flowers first could only say this in a slightly regretful tone after realizing he would not be able to get any more yin flowers.

"Indeed, we have to get back quickly or the yin qi we just absorbed will end up going to waste!" Not caring too much about the regretful expression on his companion's face. The other person from the Frost Devil Sect nodded his head in agreement before getting ready to leave.

Beetle from the Black Rose Sect was the same, as he also got ready to leave.

Absorbing the yin flowers at the spot was fine in the short term, but in the long term, it would cause the yin qi they had absorbed to slowly destroy their body if they did not manage to refine it in time.

In the worst-case scenario, they could always expel the yin qi from their body… But this was not something any of them wanted to do. Mainly due to the fact that the yin qi would be rendered useless after they expelled it from their body!

Whoosh~

Not spending too much time talking to each other after deciding to get moving, the group of three soon used their own movement techniques to move across the frozen tundra.

"Hm?"

At the same time the group of three demonic cultivators began moving, Xuan Hao sitting with eyes closed meditating on top of a small snow-covered mountain opened his eyes as he gazed in the direction of the three demonic cultivators.

"Looks like they are finally moving… For a moment, I thought they would try to breakthrough before moving on!" Muttering this to himself as he gazed up at the sky that had already gone dark during the past few hours of waiting for the demonic cultivators to start moving, Xuan Hao could not help lamenting over just how long it had taken for them to absorb the yin qi inside the yin flowers…

Whoosh!This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Standing up from the ground he had been sitting motionless cultivating for the past few hours, Xuan Hao directly used the Drifting Cloud Steps as he soon arrived in the air a few hundred meters above the group of demonic cultivators.

After having used the Drifting Cloud Steps for some time to move around, Xuan Hao had slowly gotten more used to it. Not only did it allow him to fly without the use of his domain, but it was also way more energy efficient to move with it. Not to mention faster.

Glancing down on the three demonic cultivators below him moving rapidly through the frozen tundra, Xuan Hao had a feeling that it would still be some time before they reached the Frost Devil Sect.

For this reason, Xuan Hao decided to secretly practice the Drifting Cloud Steps while remaining hidden from the three demonic cultivators below him.

Stepping on the air while using the Drifting Cloud Steps, Xuan Hao decided to try out a higher level of the movement technique that required spatial manipulation-

Swish!

Not leaving any time for him to comprehend what was happening, the world around him suddenly twisted before a new yet familiar scenery appeared in front of him.

Looking around himself through his divine sense, Xuan Hao quickly realized that he was over a hundred meters away from his previous location. The three demonic cultivators were no longer directly below him, as they were instead a few hundred meters to his right.

"So, this is the Drifting Cloud Steps…?" Muttering this to himself as he felt a wave of surprise wash over him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling amazed.

Even if he had no understanding how he had done it, he still understood that he had just managed to essentially teleport himself a few hundred meters away from his original location with a single step!

Swish!

Trying it again, Xuan Hao soon realized that he had no way to control where he appeared. In the end, he just ended up randomly appearing a hundred meters away from his original position after using the higher level of the Drifting Cloud Steps together that required spatial manipulation…

Looks like I will have to practice the Drifting Cloud Steps more when I get back to the sect…

From the looks of it, it was still too early for him to use the higher level of the Drifting Cloud Steps. Thinking about it, Xuan Hao could already imagine how he would accidently end up teleporting directly into his opponents attack during a fight. Not something he wanted to experience first-hand…

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Chapter 553: Frost Devil Sect

Time passed by slowly, as Xuan Hao continued to practice the Drifting Cloud Steps while following the three demonic cultivators through the frozen tundra of the Frozen Wastelands.

The frozen tundra was seemingly never ending, as the only sign of life during the journey was the snow-white rabbits that seemed to be the only animals living inside the frozen tundra. No demon beast or demonic cultivators showed up along the way. Making Xuan Hao begin to doubt that they were really heading towards the location of a major demonic sect.

Even if there were no living creatures around outside of the snow-white rabbits, there should at the very least be a few demonic cultivators present… Right?

Feeling more doubtful about where they were heading as the three demonic cultivators suddenly slowed down and began cautiously advancing forward, Xuan Hao stopped practicing the Drifting Cloud Steps and instead focused his full attention on keeping an eye on the three demonic cultivators and their surroundings.

Whoosh~

However, even after scanning his surroundings with his divine sense, he could not find anything and was left wondering why the demonic cultivators had suddenly become so cautious all of a sudden.

Looking closely, the three were clearly fearful of something, as they already had their weapons ready while moving through the empty frozen tundra.

"Hm?"

Searching for any abnormalities, Xuan Hao soon found out that his divine sense had been blocked by some kind of barrier located only a few kilometres away from his current location. Not only that, but he could also sense several hundred demonic cultivators located around the barrier in question!

Knowing that it might be the Frost Devil Sect that he had been searching for, Xuan Hao did not dare to forceful try and pry inside the barrier with his divine sense. Instead deciding to wait and see what the three demonic cultivators would do after reaching the barrier.

After all, he had not come to fight with the Frost Devil Sect. All he wanted was the location of the sect so that he could fulfil the request Yi Min had given him in exchange for the location of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

Of course, he would only give her this information after getting his hand on the spiritual herb and confirming what Yi Min had told him was indeed true!

…Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

"Haa… We are almost there! I feel like my body is about to burst apart at any moment!" Glancing around at the lifeless tundra spreading out in all directions around him, one of the two demonic cultivators from the Frost Devil Sect could not help exclaiming as his body had slowly begun freezing due to the massive amount of yin qi inside of him.

"Don't let your guard down! We can't be careless this close to sect… Don't forget what happened the last time we returned to the sect!" Not the slightest bit relaxed knowing that they would soon be reaching their sect, the last member from the Frost Devil Sect tightened his grip around the sword in his hand.

"…" Beetle from the Black Rose Sect did not say anything when hearing the conversation between the two demonic cultivators, as he just cautiously observed his surroundings. Looking for any suspicious movements in the snow.

As a demonic cultivator, he understood the reason why the demonic cultivator from the Frost Devil Sect was so nervous upon realizing that he was getting close to his sect…

Swish!

"Hehe, If it isn't the-"

Bang-bang-bang!

Just as someone appeared in front of them to block their path forward, the three simultaneously launched an attack towards the person in question. Directly sending him flying before he even had a chance to finish talking.

"Let's increase our speed, if not, our dear junior and senior brothers might gather together and block us from entering the sect!" Looking into the distance where the person who had suddenly appeared in front of them flew, one of the two demonic cultivators said this before rapidly increasing his speed.

""…""

Knowing what he meant, the other two demonic cultivators did not wait around, as both of them used all their strength to rush forward, as they soon saw more and more demonic cultivators appearing before rushing towards them. Wanting to know if they had managed to get anything good during their journey away from the sect.

…

"Well… This is rather entertaining…" Muttering this to himself as he observed the entire frozen tundra suddenly get filled with all sorts of demonic cultivators chasing after the group of three, Xuan Hao could not help wondering why there were so many demonic cultivators hiding around what he assumed to be the location of the Frost Devil Sect.

Don't tell me… Are these demonic cultivators perhaps waiting for some of their juniors to show up after having gone out to adventure and are lying in wait to rob them…?

Realizing this, Xuan Hao could not help wondering why anyone would want to join a sect that allowed for something like that to happen… Then again, it was a demonic sect, so they were bound to have a different way to go about things…

However, no matter how hard Xuan Hao thought, he could not think of a way in which what was currently happening to the three demonic cultivators was in any way a positive thing for the development of the demonic sect.

Perhaps if Elder Song was around, he could think of a reason as to why the demonic sect was doing what it was doing and in what way it would help the development of the demonic sect!

Shaking his head at this thought, Xuan Hao focused his attention on to the three demonic cultivators, as they were slowly getting closer and closer to the location of the barrier that had blocked his divine sense from advancing any further.

Bang!

"Ah… How unlucky…"

Watching one of the three demonic cultivators suddenly getting knocked to the ground by a group of demonic cultivators, Xuan Hao did not feel the slightest hint of pity as he watched the group of demonic cultivators proceed to ruthlessly kill the person who should be a member of the same sect before forcibly absorbing the yin qi still inside his body.

A demonic sect truly gave off a different feeling compared to a sect like the Flying Sword Sect…

Turning his attention towards the last two remaining demonic cultivators who rushed towards the barrier that was likely the entrance to the Frost Devil Sect, Xuan Hao silently approached the barrier without being noticed by any of the demonic cultivators before remaining hidden in the area just a few meters above the area of the barrier that the two remaining demonic cultivators were rushing towards.

The reason for this, was that he wanted to see if he would be able to catch a glimpse of the Frost Devil Sect while the two passed through the barrier and entered the sect. To confirm that it was indeed the Frost Devil Sect and not a branch of the Frost Devil Sect.

Using his divine sense was completely out of the question, as Xuan Hao fully understood that he would very likely get spotted if the Frost Devil Sect was really hidden behind the barrier in front of him.

"We are almost there!"

Hearing the voice of the last remaining demonic cultivator from the Frost Devil Sect among the former group of three echo out behind him, Xuan Hao could not help frowning upon noticing a group of demonic cultivators hiding only a few hundred meters away from them in front of the barrier.

The group of demonic cultivators were preparing to attack the two. Greed written all over their faces. Having clearly sensed the dense yin qi that oozing out from the two demonic cultivators, who were barely able to stop themselves from blowing up from the massive amount of yin qi inside their bodies.

Whoosh!

Narrowing his eyes as he saw the group was about to jump into action and ruin his chance to confirm whether the barrier in front of him really led to the Frost Devil Sect, Xuan Hao directly used his ice domain to freeze the entire group of demonic cultivators to death before they had any time to react.

This action was not noticed by anyone, as the two demonic cultivators directly rushed past the frozen demonic cultivators on the ground below. Oblivious that these demonic cultivators had been alive just a short moment ago.

"Finally…"

"According to the sect rules, they can't attack us inside the sect!"

Hearing the happy exclamations of the two demonic cultivators, Xuan Hao watched in anticipation as the barrier slowly began lifting in front of them. Revealing a large gate with the words [Frost Devil Sect, written boldly on top of it.

Creak~

Hearing the sound of the large gate slowly starting to open, the demonic cultivators rushing over quickly stopped rushing towards the two escaping demonic cultivators before retreating. Knowing that they would no longer be able to catch them.

Standing in the air only a few meters above the two, Xuan Hao narrowed his eyes upon seeing the bold words written on top of the large gate-

Swish!

Before rapidly retreating after feeling a terrifying aura appearing from the other side of the gate.

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Chapter 554: Location of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb

Crack~

As the large gate appeared in front of the two demonic cultivators before slowly opening. The rest of the demonic cultivators retreated back to their hiding spots, while Xuan Hao followed them in moving away from the gate as quickly as possible. Hoping that the person he had sensed beyond the gate did not have enough time to notice him.

Bang!

All of a sudden, the gate that had been slowly opening in front of the two demonic cultivators flew open as a skinny elderly man appeared from the other side before scanning through the surroundings with his divine sense. Completely ignoring the presence of the two demonic cultivators who had been scared silly by the elderly man's sudden appearance.

"…"

Barely escaping the range of the elderly man's divine sense as he remained hidden with his domain, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine as he looked at the skinny elderly man who had come out from the gate.

Even at a glance, Xuan Hao could clearly tell that the man should have reached the Peak of the Third Demonic Transformation. Essentially placing him at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm!

Well… At least I can be certain that this is the Frost Devil Sect…

Swish~

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao decided not to risk accidently revealing himself, as he slipped away before the skinny elderly man standing at the gate scanning the surrounding area with his divine sense noticed him.

In the first place, he had only come for the location of the Frost Devil Sect. Not to fight the Frost Devil Sect!

…

Having escaped far enough away from the Frost Devil Sect, Xuan Hao stopped as he spent a few minutes before taking out the map of the Frozen Wasteland that Yi Min had given him back in the Iron Sky Kingdom. Soon managing to figure out where he had ended up after sneaking away from the Frost Devil Sect's front door.

"Hm… I should not be too far away from the location of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb…" Muttering this to himself as he looked down at the location of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb noted down by Yi Min on the map in his hands, Xuan Hao quickly recalled the little information Yi Min had given to him regarding the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb during a short conversation while he had been making his way towards the Frozen Wasteland.

According to what Yi Min said, the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb was located at the border between the Frozen Wasteland's inner and outer region. Not only that, but she had also mentioned that there should be a Domain Lord Realm demon beast guarding the spiritual herb.

When he tried asking about the strength of the demon beast, Yi Min had just answered that she had no idea about it…

Answering that when she found the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb, she had still not reached the Domain Lord Realm and had only chanced upon its location out of sheer luck. Thousands of years had already passed since then and she did not know what realm the demon beast had reached at this point in time.

Other than this, Yi Min did not have much information about the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

Recalling all of this, Xuan Hao could not help praying that the spiritual herb had not fully matured yet and was still around.

This was not too unrealistic, as a Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb could take thousands- If not tens of thousands of years to fully mature!

Swoosh~!

Not standing around for too long, Xuan Hao put away the map before flying in the direction of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb that had been noted down on the map.

Given his current speed, it would take around two to three days' time to reach. During this time, Xuan Hao decided to use the Drifting Cloud Steps and increase his mastery over the movement technique.

…

At the same time Xuan Hao was making his way deeper into the Frozen Wasteland, Chu Yang was lazily gazing up at the clouds passing by above him as he felt bored to the extreme.

During the past few days after the bandit attack, he had not done anything and could only cultivate silently, watch the scenery pass by around him or spent his time observing the clouds drifting by overhead.

The job of guarding the caravan along with the luxurious caravan was fine for the first few days, but it slowly grew more and more boring with each passing day. Not to mention, the bandits that attacked them were all below the Core Formation Realm and were dealt with by the remaining guards without him needing to do anything.

However, following the caravan was his only way of safely getting back to the Flying Sword Sect's territory without getting lost along the way-

"We will soon be reaching the Small River Town!"

Suddenly hearing one of the guards located in the front call out, Chu Yang could not help jolting awake from his dazed state before jumping down from the roof of the luxurious caravan where he had been staying most of the time during the journey.

Thump!

Ignoring the confused looks of the surrounding guards who saw him jump down from the roof of the carriage; Chu Yang rapidly moved to the front of the caravan to confirm what he had heard.

"That is… The Small River Town…?" Reaching the front of the caravan, Xuan Hao could not help opening his eyes in amazement as he saw a large town appearing in the distance with several small rivers flowing through it.

Following the small rivers flowing through the town, Chu Yang watched how all of them intertwined and merged together into a large river a short distance away from the town.

On the large river, a small port with several trading ships could be seen ready to make a trip up the river. Likely heading to a town or city where they could trade the things, they were carrying with them.

"Indeed, the Small River Town is quite well known for their trade of several different spiritual fruits." Standing beside him, one of the guards that was familiar with the Small River Town said this before pointing towards several orchards located around the small rivers both inside and outside of the Small River Town.

Looking more closely at the town after hearing this, Chu Yang could not help feeling a bit surprised upon realizing that more than half the town was actually just orchards… And that is not counting the orchards located in the areas just outside the town itself!

Indeed, with so many orchards around, it was no wonder that the Small River Town would be famous for the spiritual fruits they produced!

However, an important question appeared the moment he realized this and that was how the Small River Town could keep control over so many spiritual fruit trees.

Even if they were they only produced the lowest grade of the spiritual fruits, it would still not be something that would be easy to hold on to. Let alone if some of the spiritual trees of the Small River Town produced higher grade spiritual fruits!

How could I not know about a town like this inside the Flying Sword Sect's territory!?

Frowning to himself as he wondered how he had not learnt anything about the Small River Town while going over the different important places located inside the territory of the Flying Sword Sect in preparation for his adventure, Chu Yang could not help feeling interested in the Small River Town.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Given that he was already going there together with the caravan, Chu Yang decided to spend some time in the Small River Town and try to see if he could learn more about the town and the people who lived inside of it.

Swish~

Turning around after having thought about all of this, Chu Yang made his way back to the luxurious carriage before informing the people inside about the fact that they were about to reach the Small River Town. Something he had been told to do by the servant so he could wake up his master in time for their arrival.

Following this, Chu Yang returned back to the roof of the luxurious carriage where he began to go over his options on where to go after staying at the Small River Town for a few days.

Given that there was also a branch of the Explorer Union present inside the Small River Town, Chu Yang felt confident that they would be able to help him out with finding a path to the location he decided to go after having stayed at the Small River Town.

Sitting on top of the luxurious carriage as he thought about this, Chu Yang gazed towards the large town slowly getting closer and closer in the distance.

After reaching the Small River Town, he would once again be able to resume his adventure… This time around. Hopefully staying inside the territory of the Flying Sword Sect!

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Chapter 555: The Young Master

"Thanks for the help during the journey, I will have to report what happened during the escort mission to the Explorer Union and I hope you will be able to help continue to look after my master during this period of time. Don't worry, I will of course pay you for this!"

"No problem at all."

"Great! I will be back shortly!"

Having reached the Explorer Union, Chu Yang waved goodbye to the servant as he entered the Explorer Union branch in the Small River Town before jumping back on top of the luxurious carriage.

Watching over the carriage for the servant while he reported the people who had run away during the escort mission to Explorer Union should not take too long and Chu Yang did not feel reluctant to do this in the first place. Especially considering that the servant would pay him for it!

After all, he still needed spirit stones for his travels considering that he had lost all the spirit stones he had on him only a little over a week earlier…

"Hm… I wonder who the young master of the servant is…" Sitting on top of the luxurious caravan, Chu Yang could not help looking down at the carriage beneath him as he started to feel a bit curious about the identity of the young master that he was protecting.

Even after having travelled together for around a week, he had still not managed to see the shadow of the young master that the servant was protecting!

Not to mention seeing the young master, he had never heard anything from the luxurious carriage while staying on top of it during most of the journey to the Small River Town. Making him believe that there was likely some sort of silencing formation in place on the luxurious carriage. Preventing anyone from listening to what was said on the inside.

Thump!

Standing up before jumping down from the carriage, Chu Yang turned around to face one of the luxurious carriage's doors-

Knock knock~

Before gently knocking on the door. Hoping that he would be able to get a chance to see the young master of the servant hiding away inside the carriage.

"…"

However, even after waiting for a good fifteen minutes. Nothing happened, as the young master inside the carriage did not show himself.

Having already grown bored waiting after the first five minutes had passed, Chu Yang returned back to the roof of the carriage to wait for the servant to return. Not expect for the young master to show himself.

Creak~

For this reason, Chu Yang could not help feeling a bit shocked when he suddenly heard the carriage door below him starting to open all of a sudden.

Leaning over the roof of the carriage to look down towards the carriage door that had just been opened, Chu Yang could not help feeling surprised upon witnessing a young boy no more than 10 years of age peek his head out from the carriage before beginning to survey his surroundings. Clearly looking to see if the person who had knocked on the carriage door just a few minutes earlier was still around.

"H-hello…?" Not spotting anyone in the area around the carriage, the young boy called out as he continued looking around for any response. Not looking up to see Chu Yang inspecting him from the roof of the carriage.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

"…" Not saying anything as he continued inspecting the young boy, Chu Yang could not help sighing in amazement upon noticing at least a dozen different artifacts strapped onto the young boy's body.

Not only that, but the artifacts were not low-level artifacts in any way and would be more than enough to even prevent him from harming the young boy… To be honest, Chu Yang had a feeling that even someone at the Nascent Soul Realm would have a difficult time trying to break through the artifacts that protected the young boy!

Just where is this young master from…?

Feeling himself growing even more curious about the young boy's identity after seeing all the artifacts he carried on him, Chu Yang quickly went through the different powers with Nascent Soul Realm Experts inside the Flying Sword Sect's territory and what had once been the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

However, he couldn't come up with one that could hand over so many precious defensive artifacts to a young boy barely reaching the age of 10…

As he thought about this, Chu Yang realized that the young boy was most likely the young master of some sort of power that existed outside what had once been the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. Not only that, but he should also belong to a relatively strong power given the powerful defensive artifacts he could wear!

Thump!

Not waiting around any longer after having finished inspecting the young boy, Chu Yang jumped down from the roof of the carriage before landing directly in front of the young boy. Shocking him silly as he rapidly retreated back into the carriage.

"Y-you are…?" Cautiously poking his head back out after a few seconds, the young boy could not stop himself from asking this, as he was curious about the person who had suddenly dropped from the sky before landing in front of him.

"Chu Yang, your servant told me to watch over you during his absence." Saying this, Chu Yang made sure not to sound threatening as he waited for the young boy to introduce himself. Hoping that he would be able to get some clue about where he was from through his name.

"I-I see… I'm- Ah!" Nodding his head in understanding, the young boy was just about to introduce himself when he suddenly seemed to remember something as he quickly stopped himself before saying his name.

Haa… Looks like he was told not to disclose his name…

"Don't worry about telling me your name." Feeling a bit disappointed upon realizing this, Chu Yang gave up on finding out the young boy's name, as he quickly reassured him it was fine.

"O-okay…" Fiddling around with his hand nervously, the young boy clearly did not feel comfortable after having realized that he could not properly introduce himself.

Looking at this from the side, Chu Yang could not help feeling bad about having caused the young boy to be in such a situation, as he soon managed to get him back into the carriage. Knowing that he would likely not be able to get any useful information from the young boy.

As for doing it forcefully… Not to mention the artifacts he had protecting him and the servant inside the branch of the Explorer Union just a few meters away from their current location, Chu Yang had no plans to randomly become enemies with someone who most likely belonged to a rather powerful sect, clan, or kingdom.

"Hm? You are back?" Just as the young boy had returned to the carriage, Chu Yang spotted the servant exiting the branch building of the Explorer Union before making his way over with a frown on his face.

"Yes… Here is your payment for escorting us, you don't need to go enter the branch, I also added some extra for helping me look after the carriage for the last 20 minutes." Clearly not in a good mood after having left the branch of the Explorer Union, the servant threw a small pouch towards Chu Yang before entering the carriage to check on his young master.

Creak~

Coming back out from the carriage only a few seconds later, the servant placed himself in the seat of the coachman and soon enough, the luxurious carriage disappeared into the large crowd of people on the street in front of the Explorer Union branch.

"…"

Looking in the direction that the carriage disappeared in, Chu Yang could not help wondering what had caused the servant's mood to turn so bad in only 20 minutes.

Did something perhaps go wrong during his conversation with the people from the Explorer Union?

Thinking this, Chu Yang turned his attention towards the branch building located just a few meters away.

The building itself was way better decorated compared to the one he had encountered in Flame Mountain City. Not to mention, upon closer inspection, the branch building was also way bigger than the one in Flame Mountain City!

Given how large the branch was, did this not mean that there was some sort of ancient ruin or dangerous demon beast infested area nearby!?

As this thought occurred to him, Chu Yang decided to make his way inside the branch building and ask around to see if there really was some sort of ancient ruin or demon beast infested area nearby.

If there really was, it would be a good opportunity for him to train and look for opportunities to increase his strength!

Not to mention, it would be easier for him to find the places if they were nearby…

Swoosh~

With all of this in mind, Chu Yang entered the large branch building belonging to the Explorer Union.

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Chapter 556: Explorer Union... Gambling Den!?

Entering the large branch building of the Explorer Union, Chu Yang could not help feeling shocked upon seeing the luxurious decorations all over the place. Compared to the branch of the Explorer Union that he had seen back at the Flame Mountain City, the branch inside the Small River town was a completely different world!

Not only that, but Chu Yang also discovered that the people inside the branch were very clearly not part of the Explorer Union, as most of them were younger people with close to no cultivation spending their time drinking and gambling around luxurious tables all over the branch building.

After a closer inspection, Chu Yang realized that the actual part of the branch where he could accept requests and sell monster parts or treasures, he found was located in a small corner that didn't even fill up a tenth of the large building's interior.

Is this some sort of hang out spot for wealthy young masters and ladies…?

Thinking this to himself as he watched a few young men gambling with a few hundred spirit stones, Chu Yang felt like he understood why the servant had been in a bad mood after having left the branch building.

Among the people gambling, the weaker guards that had participated in the escort mission from the Explorer Union with him could also be seen among the crowds of gamblers inside the large building. Gambling away the spirit stones that they had just earned a short time ago.

This could no longer be called a branch of the Explorer Union, it would be more appropriate to call it a gambling den with a small branch of the Explorer Union attached to it…

"Hello cutie~ How can I help you~?

Hearing the voice of a young lady, Chu Yang turned around to see a young woman dressed in a rather provocative manner make her way over towards him while keeping her gaze focused on the pouch filled with spirit stones that could barely be seen hanging off the side of his robe.

"Are you looking for some fun? This older sister-"

Swish~

Before the young woman even manged to finish her sentence, Chu Yang had already moved across the floor of the large building towards the corner that the Explorer Union branch was located in.

"W-where did he go!?"

The young woman had no idea where he had gone and could only look around herself for a short moment before giving up and moving towards a middle-aged man who entered the building a few second later.

Not even a minute later, the young woman happily escorted the middle-aged man towards a gambling table located only a few meters away from the entrance.

Perhaps the reason why the Explorer Union was placed in the corner was to catch the people who came to complete their request or sell monster material.

Chu Yang could not help shaking his head when he thought of this. Wondering how the manager of the Explorer Union branch had even allowed for the Explorer Union to be placed inside a gambling den in the first place…

Not thinking too deeply about the odd location of the Explorer Union branch, Chu Yang made his way towards one of the two people from the Explorer Union that were available. Given that there was a gambling den between the branch and the entrance to the building, there was not many people present at the branch and he only had to wait for less than five minutes before it was his turn.

"What can I help with…?" Reaching the desk, the voice of the older man standing behind the counter came out as he asked in a tired voice deprived of energy. Just from looking at him, it could be seen that he was about to fall asleep at any moment.

"I would like to know if there are any ancient ruins or area filled with demon beasts nearby." Ignoring the exhausted look on the older man's face, Chu Yang decided to still ask the question he had entered the Explorer Union for.

"Ancient ruins? Demon beasts? Haa… No idea. Maybe there are some nearby. Try asking around town-"

Thump!

Before the old man managed to finish what, he was saying, he suddenly began waying slightly before collapsing on to the floor. Having fallen asleep due to his exhaustion.

"…"

Seeing this scene take place, Chu Yang had no words, as he had never expected for something like that to happen in front of him.

Not only did the person from the Explorer Union collapse in front of him due to exhaustion, but he also didn't even manage to give him a proper answer and had just asked him to ask around town!

The Explorer Union of Small River Town is truly in a bad state. Really makes me want to see who the manager of this branch is…

Thinking this to himself as he observed the old man who had fallen asleep on the floor behind the counter, Chu Yang was just about to move towards the second person from the Explorer Union-

Thump!

When he noticed that he had also fallen asleep on the floor behind the counter together with the old man.

All of a sudden, there was not a single person left managing the Explorer Union branch!

"Haa… Looks like we got here too late today brothers, we will have to come back in a few hours when one of them wakes up to complete our mission…"

"This damnable manager! Refusing to hire more than two people and forcing them to work for days without rest!"

"Don't bother complaining, you should know how petty that person is! If he hears what you say…"

"I know… It's just, why is our branch in such a terrible condition compared to other branches!? This place should not be called a branch of the Explorer Union anymore, it would be better to just call it a gambling den at this point!"

"Let's just get going before any of those troublemakers show up…"

Listening to the three other people that were still left waiting in front of the man who had just collapsed and fallen asleep from exhaustion, Chu Yang could not help frowning upon realizing that this scene seemed to be a regular thing.

Not only that, but it seemed to be the intention of the manager of the Explorer Union branch…

Why on earth would the manager do something like that, is he not afraid of angering his higher ups…?

Remembering how the Explorer Union had sent someone at the Nascent Soul Realm to the branch in the Flame Mountain City to calm down things following the Raging Flame Sect's fall, Chu Yang could not help wondering why the manager had dared to essentially cripple his own branch for seemingly no reason.

"Hello…"

"Hm? You are… Someone new?"

"Yes, I wanted to ask about this branch's condition… If it's not too much trouble of course…"

Seeing that the three had stopped talking and were about to leave, Chu Yang quickly jumped forward and asked them. After all, they had seemed like the only people he had seen so far that could answer any of his questions regarding the current situation of the Explorer Union branch. Hopefully, they would also know about a nearby ancient ruins or area filled with demon beasts…

"Ah… I understand, but it's not good to talk about those things here… Let's go outside and we can find a quiet place to talk!" Understanding what Chu Yang meant, one of the three said this before signalling for him to follow them out of the branch building.

"Sure!" Nodding his head in understanding, Chu Yang quickly made his way out of the branch building belonging to the Explorer Union, that had somehow turned into a gambling den.

As for being cautious in case the group of three were planning to ambush and rob him? Chu Yang really did not view the three of them as his opponent. Mainly because the strongest among the three had only barely managed to reach the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

With his current strength, Chu Yang could easily kill someone at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Let alone someone who had just barely managed to reach the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm!

…

"Hm? Those two idiots collapsed again, and it looks like someone new showed up… He seems to be different from that group of Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation Realm cultivators from earlier… Maybe one of the experts from the caravan that just entered the town?"

At the same time Chu Yang left the gambling den together with the three who had been complaining about not be able to turn in their completed mission, a large man in the shape of a ball almost rolled across the upper floor of the building as he narrowed his eyes while watching Chu Yang and the three leave.

"Looks like I will have to investigate who it is and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble for my business…" Muttering this to himself as a faint killing intent appeared in his eyes, the man signalled to a few people nearby-

Whoosh!This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Causing them to nod their head before disappearing from the upper floor of the building.

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Chapter 557: Origin of the Gambling Den~!

"So, what is the reason for the branch of the Explorer Union becoming a gambling den? As far as I know, something like that should not be normal…" Having followed the three cultivators out of the building that the branch of the Explorer Union was located inside, Chu Yang could not hold back his curiosity as he asked this. Wanting to find out how a branch of the Explorer Union had essentially transformed into a gambling den.

"Wait with your questions, we have to get somewhere quiet and away from this place before we can talk without worrying about that vicious meatball finding out about it!"

Only able to tilt his head when he heard this as he wondered who the vicious meatball was, Chu Yang followed the group of three as they made their way towards the edge of the Small River Town. Soon arriving in front of a large restaurant.

"We will get a private room, just bring the usual."

"Sure, boss! I will be back soon after checking which rooms are available!"

Watching the man who he assumed to be the leader of the group of three talking with one of the servers at the entrance of the small restaurant, Chu Yang thought about how odd his current situation was.

He had just met the group of three a few minutes ago and now it felt like they were about to divulge some big secret about the Explorer Union branch of Small River Town.

Thinking about it again… To say his current situation was odd, would be an understatement!

"Please follow me, the third private room is available." Returning only a few seconds after he had left to check the private rooms, the server smiled happily before leading them into a rather spacious room on the second floor of the restaurant.

The room was not only spacious, but Chu Yang could clearly feel some sort of formation surrounding the private room.

After closer inspection, Chu Yang realized that the formation was extremely weak and would break if he accidently walked into it.

What is the use of such a weak formation…?

Barely whispering this to himself as he looked over the formation, Chu Yang did not take more than a few seconds to understand the use of the weak formation that surround the small room.

The formation was not for attacking, defending, trapping or anything similar. Instead, it existed to dampen the voices of the people inside the formation.

Not like an isolation formation that made it impossible to hear what was happening inside the formation… It merely silenced the sound of those inside the formation. Making it harder for people outside to hear what the people inside the formation were talking about!

To be honest, Chu Yang was a bit shocked upon realizing this, as he did not expect that a voice dampening formation actually existed…

"Okay, this place should be good enough for us to talk…" Interrupting his train of thought before he ended up dwelling deeper into the mysterious that was the weak noise dampening formation, the man who had reached the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment said this before looking around himself cautiously.

Even if he said that the place was good enough for them to talk, he clearly did not feel safe given how he was looking around himself…NvεlB¡n: Your Escape into Infinite Tales.

Rolling his eyes as he thought about this, Chu Yang could not help wondering just what this manager of the Explorer Union branch had done to make these three people so terrified of him… Was he perhaps a demon in human form or something?

"So, the same question from earlier… What is the reason that the branch of the Explorer Union is a gambling den?" Asking the question, he had asked just after they had left the Explorer Union branch again, Chu Yang patiently looked towards the strongest of three people sitting together with him. Waiting eagerly for an answer.

"Haa… This all happened a few years ago when the old manager of the Explorer Union branch retired and left to live the rest of his life in the village he was born. The new manager arrived shortly after and built up his gambling den. Slowly turning the once large and lively Explorer Union branch into what it is now…

At first, some wanted to resist and complained to the larger branches located deeper inside the Sky Empire… However, this was to no avail as the father of the current branch manager seem to have quite a few connections inside the Explorer Union. At the very least enough to make sure his son does not get in trouble for what he turned the Small River Town Explorer Union branch into…"

Shaking his head filled with sadness as he said this, the man almost looked like he was about to cry when explaining the current situation of their town's Explorer Union branch.

The other two sitting beside him were the same, as they looked down at the table with depressed expressions on their faces.

To the three of them, the Explorer Union was not only their source of income, but was also the reason why they had managed to step onto the path of cultivation in the first place!

Witnessing how bad the situation of their branch had become, it was obvious that they would feel sad and disheartened. Especially when they saw many of their former friends get addicted to gambling. Wasting what little they earned for risking their life against demon beasts or other cultivators!

Even thinking about the group's situation was more than enough for Chu Yang to feel bad for them.

Given that they were all in the Foundation Establishment Realm, it would not be hard for the three of them to take an escort mission to another town or city with an Explorer Union branch in it and never return to the Small River Town.

As for why they had not left the Small River Town… Chu Yang guessed that it was most likely because their friends and family were still living there… If not, Chu Yang doubted that the three would not have left after witnessing what the branch of the Explorer Union turned into!

"Then, what about the manager of the Explorer Union, why are you so… Scared of him?" Asking the last question that was on his mind regarding the Explorer Union, Chu Yang eagerly waited for them to answer. After all, the manager of the Explorer Union was the reason why everything had ended up going astray.

Back at the Explorer Union branch, he had indeed managed to spot a ball shaped man who was most likely the manager of the branch spying on them while they left the building, but he was only someone around the Fourth Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Not to mention, he had clearly ended up with his ball shaped appearances due to an over consumption of pills used to forcefully increase his cultivation realm.

Even the leader of the three in front of him who had only reached the Second Stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm should be more than capable of dealing with someone who had been fed so many pills-

No! Even someone at the Peak of the Qi Condensation Realm might be able to deal with the ball shaped man he had spotted spying at them. After all, the ball shaped man's movement should be extremely limited due to his shape. Making it rather easy to dodge him and at the same time land an attack…

"Actually… We are not really afraid of the manager himself. Even I can beat that human shaped ball with little effort. The problem is the guards that his father sent to guard him and help him out in anything he does. From what I know, even the weakest among them are at the Foundation Establishment Realm, while there is also another two at the Core Formation Realm!

With me and my two brothers' strength, there is no way we can beat someone like that! Not to mention that no one in Small River Town has the strength to fight with those two guards at the Core Formation Realm. The next strongest person is the town lord, who just recently broke through to the Core Formation Realm with the help of those two experts…"

Hearing this explanation, Chu Yang understood why the three people in front of him were so nervous and did not dare to speak ill of the branch manager.

They clearly feared that someone would tell him about it and that he would in turn sent over some of his subordinates to beat them up!

"Now… Another question, this time it's not about the branch manager or anything like that. I'm curious if any of you know if there is any ancient ruins or area filled with demon beasts nearby? I tried asking at the counter of the Explorer Union earlier… But it was not really of much help…" Asking this, Chu Yang looked up towards the group of three.

Compared to knowing about the situation of the Explorer Union, he was much more interested in finding a location where he could go to improve his strength…

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Chapter 558: Ancient Ruins Upstream

Hearing Chu Yang's question, the leader of three thought about it for a moment before coming up with an answer.

"Ancient ruins? A place where there is a lot of demon beasts? Hm… If I'm not wrong, there is some ancient ruins filled with demon beasts further upstream. The treasures inside the ancient ruins have already been taken away, but there is still a lot of demon beasts around. Although… Most of the demon beast are at the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm or above!"

Listening to the description of the ancient ruins, Chu Yang could not help smiling happily. The ancient ruins described by the leader was indeed what he had been looking for and from the looks of it, it was the perfect place for him to train with his current strength.

Not only that, but from the looks of it, it also seemed like there wouldn't be too many other people hunting for demon beast given just how empty the Explorer Union of the Small River Town was… That was not mentioning that the few strong people he had seen so far in the Small River Town did not exceed the earlier stages of the Core Formation.

Even at this point in time, Chu Yang could not help lamenting over just how weak the Small Rive Town was compared to the Flame Mountain City.

Although, it was not too surprising given that the Flame Mountain City was located at the borders of the Burning Mountain Range where demon beasts even above the Nascent Soul Realm could be found… In such a location, strong people would gather with the intention of exploring the dangerous Burning Mountain Range for an opportunity to increase their strength.

If not for the fact that the Flame Mountain City was located outside the Flying Sword Sect's territory and the fact that he would most likely not be able to find his way out, Chu Yang would have been more than happy to spend his time exploring the Burning Mountain Range and fight the demon beast there while searching for ancient ruins spread across the Burning Mountain Range.

Feeling a shiver run down his spine as he recalled the image of the massive wolf like demon beast roaring towards the sky. The demon beast he had encountered after having been teleported inside the Burning Mountain Range was far more terrifying than any demon beast he had ever encountered. Even the Nascent Soul Realm Expert he had encountered during his short adventure with Qing Yi was nowhere near the same level as the massive wolf like demon beast!

"Thanks for the help, I should get going…" Shaking his head as he threw the thoughts of the massive wolf like demon beast to the back of his mind, Chu Yang stood up before making his way out of the private room.

"Wai-"

"Your food is here!"

The leader of the group of three that was just about to say something to the leaving Chu Yang, was suddenly interrupted as the server from earlier entered the room with a large amount of food just as Chu Yang left.

"Please enjoy!" Ignoring the fact that Chu Yang left the private room, the server quickly placed the food on the small table in the middle of the room which the three were sitting around before taking his leave.

The server already knew the identity of the group of three cultivators and understood that it was best for someone like him without any cultivation to stay away from any cultivators chatting with each other…

Who knew if they suddenly talked about some rare artifact or spiritual herb, and he happened to accidently overhear them!?

One of the server's friends was unfortunate enough to run into this kind of situation and had been outright killed before the other party escaped from the Small River Town to avoid any repercussions.

Whoosh!

Even if cultivators were customers that paid several times what ordinary mortals did, he did not want to end up like that! It was best just to keep his distance and hope for them to leave a few spirit stones for him…

""…""This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Seeing how quickly the server left after having laid the food out on the table in front of them, the three cultivators could not help frowning as they all wondered if something was wrong for both Chu Yang and the server to escape so quickly.

"Hah… And here I thought we would be able to recruit someone new to our group…" Letting out a sigh, the leader of the group could not help muttering this to himself as his intentions for talking with Chu Yang became clear to the other two.

"So, you wanted to recruit him!"

"Never expected that… I just thought you were nice enough to warn the newcomer…"

"Haa… You two… That young man should at least be in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Recruiting him would definitely be able to increase our strength and allow us to take on more difficult missions from the Explorer Union, I just didn't expect for him to run away so quickly after I answered a few questions…" Shaking his head as he said this with a regretful expression while looking at the two others, the leader began eating the dishes in front of him.

"Foundation Establishment Realm!? I never expected for someone that young to have reached the Foundation Establishment Realm… I fear that he should be someone with a background to have reached the Foundation Establishment Realm at such a young age!" Exclaiming in surprise upon hearing what his leader said, one of the other two could not help lamenting at the difference between him and the young man.

The young man should be in his late teens or earlier twenties, but he had already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm!

It had to be known that all three of them were over forty years old. The Leader being a little over fifty!

The fact that Chu Yang was 20 to 30 years younger than them was more than enough to render the other the remaining two speechless and unable to eat the food in front of them for a short time.

…

"Hm… They didn't follow me?" Having left the restaurant along with the three Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, Chu Yang could not help feeling a bit surprised after realizing that they had not followed after him.

He was almost certain that they wanted something from him… Why else would they take him to the restaurant and answer all of his questions without getting anything in return?

Maybe they really did just want to help me out and warn me about the branch manager of the Small River Town Explorer Union…?

Thinking this to himself, Chu Yang could not help feeling a bit touched.

The group of three had clearly risked their own safety to warn him about the branch manager without asking for anything in return. Cultivators like them were way too rare and Chu Yang had never expected to encounter someone like that!

"Well… If you really just wanted to help me, I guess I will have to help you three out in the future if we encounter each other again…" Muttering this to himself, Chu Yang began making his way out of the Small River Town.

Following the small rivers that went through the Small River Town before they merged together into a large river would not be hard. All he had to do was follow the dozen or so small rivers and he would be able to reach his destination!

Even if the small rivers ended up going off in some other direction, he would always be able to backtrack and try again in case he ended up getting lost…

With this in mind, Chu Yang made his way out of the Small River Town before following the small rivers upstream towards the ancient ruins and demon beasts that the leader of the three cultivators had mentioned to him.

As for investigating the spiritual fruit trees scattered all over the Small River town, Chu Yang decided to do it after he had visited the ancient ruins upstream.

In the first place, it was not like he would not be able to return to the Small River Town after having explored the ruins. Especially given the fact that he would always be able to follow the small rivers back without fear of loosing his way in the process!

Whoosh!

Using his movement technique, the moment he was far enough away from the Small River Town to not be seen by anyone, Chu Yang began his journey upstream towards the ancient ruins and demon beasts.

It was only a few days later that Chu Yang realized he had never asked just how far away the ancient ruins were from the Small River Town.

At that point in time, it was already way too late for him to regret not having asked this before leaving, as he could only continue his journey upstream. Hoping to soon encounter the ancient ruins…

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Chapter 559: Demonic Cultivators... Are Scary...

Travelling through the Frozen Wastelands in the direction of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb for three days straight, Xuan Hao could not help feeling excited upon seeing a mountain range of several large mountains covered in snow and ice appear in the distance.

According to the map of the Frozen Wasteland that Yi Min had given to him. The mountain range in front of him was the location where she had encountered the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb and its guardian demon beast.

Bang-bang-bang!

Suddenly hearing the sound of someone fighting in the distance, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he quickly hid himself before looking over in the direction of the sound of battle.

"Demonic cultivators…" Narrowing his eyes after recognizing the demonic techniques used by the two groups fighting a short distance away from his current location, Xuan Hao soon continued moving towards the snow-covered mountain range in the distance after making sure that none of the demonic cultivators would spot him.

During the past few days, he had encountered many similar situation where demonic cultivators were fighting with each other for the few resources available in the Frozen Wasteland. In some cases, the demonic cultivators would not even fight over resources and would instead fight to devour their opponent's cultivation…

In the Frozen Wasteland with scarce resources, the most precious resource to demonic cultivators, was other demonic cultivators who wandered the seemingly endless wasteland in search of opportunities to improve their strength!

Not only were these demonic cultivators extremely ruthless, but they were also extremely strong! Just during the short three days he had travelled through the Frozen Wasteland, he had encountered more than 10 demonic cultivators at the Third Demonic Transformation.

This was more than 10 Peak Domain Lords! Even a strong empire like the Sky Empire should not have the ability to easily gather up so many Peak Domain Lords!

What was worrying was that he had encountered most of them during the last day of travel as he got closer to the core part of the Frozen Wasteland.

If the outer part of the Frozen Wasteland was so dangerous, just how terrifying would the core part be? Would he perhaps encounter a demonic cultivator in the True Demon Realm the moment he stepped foot into the core of the Frozen Wasteland…?

As this thought appeared in his head, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine at the thought of encountering a demonic cultivator in the True Demon Realm. After all, with his current cultivation realm, he doubted that he would be able to fight back.

"Hm?" Coming to a stop mid-air a short distance away from the snow-covered mountain range, Xuan Hao squinted his eyes as something headed towards him at a speed far surpassing his own speed. Even with the help of the Drifting Cloud Steps, Xuan Hao doubted that he would be able to archive such speed.

"That is-"

Whoosh~

Having realized what, the thing flying towards him was, Xuan Hao barely managed to dodge before getting hit, as it continued forward before violently hitting one of the snow-covered mountains.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

BOOOOOM-!

Directly passing through it before coming to a stop after smashing into a second mountain behind the first.

Whoosh

Not even a second later, the thing that had smashed into the second mountain suddenly stood up before rushing into the sky. Revealing itself to be a demonic cultivator with a pair of large demonic looking bat wings.

"Hm? A demonic cultivator…" Feeling surprised that the other party was actually a demonic cultivator, Xuan Hao suddenly had a bad feeling as he turned to look in the direction that the demonic cultivator had come flying from.

"YOU DARE ESCAPE!?" Along with the loud almost bestial roar, another demonic cultivator appeared in the distance with even larger demonic wings. Heading towards the demonic cultivator in the air above the second mountain, who had just recovered from being sent flying through a mountain a few seconds earlier.

"Hmph! You think I will just wait around for you to catch me!?" Barely able to pick up what the demonic cultivator floating above the second mountain said, Xuan Hao watched as he flapped his large demonic bat wings before flying towards the deeper parts of the snow-covered mountain range.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE FROM ME!?" Not paying too much mind to the very clearly crazy demonic cultivator that came flying towards his current attention, Xuan Hao retreated even further away as he tried his best to hide his presence.

Whoosh~!

As the crazy looking demonic cultivator filled with killing intent flew past him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a little relieved upon discovering that the other party didn't notice him.

Wait! Both of them are heading towards the Spiritual Herb!

Following the two demonic cultivators slowly disappearing in the distance, Xuan Hao was just about to resume his journey towards the Transcendent Spiritual Herb when he suddenly realized that the two demonic cultivators were moving towards the exact location of the spiritual herb.

Whoosh!

Not daring to wait around after realizing this, Xuan Hao quickly used his Drifting Cloud Steps to chase after the two disappearing demonic cultivators in the distance.

If it was just two normal demonic cultivators, the guardian demon beast would most likely have the ability to deal with them. The problem was the two demonic cultivators currently moving towards the deeper part of the snow-covered mountain range was far from normal!

The weaker one being chased had very clearly reached the Third Demonic Transformation, while the stronger one should be half a step into the True Demon Realm!

Even if the guardian demon beast had grown stronger over the thousands of years since Yi Min had seen it, he did not think that it would have grown strong enough to deal with a demonic cultivator half a step into the True Demon Realm!

Thinking about it for a short moment while chasing behind the two, Xuan Hao doubted that he would have the ability to deal with a demonic cultivator half a step into the True Demon Realm!

…

Feeling the two auras of the demonic cultivators come to a sudden stop as the half a step True Demon Realm demonic cultivator had caught up, Xuan Hao also came to a stop as he observed the two demonic cultivators start fighting with each other.

Boom-boom-boom!

Not even a second later, two terrifying auras belong to the Third Demonic Transformation Realm appeared in the distance before clashing violently with each other. Instantly destroying a few nearby mountains in the process.

Watching the fight from a distance, Xuan Hao could not help lamenting over just how one-sided the fight between the two was. Even if the two had reached the same realm, it was easy to see that there was a massive gap in strength between both of them…

"Aaaah-!"

Not even a minute had passed since the start of the fight before the pitiful scream of the weaker Third Demonic Transformation Realm demonic cultivator echoed across the snow-covered mountain range.

"Hmph!" Not intending to let his opponent escape again, the stronger demonic cultivator transformed one of his hands into several large tentacles that quickly tied up and stopped his opponent from running away.

"Hehe, I would like to see you run away this time around!"

"N-no! P-please don't- Aaah!"

Not knowing what he was watching anymore as the tentacles slowly began to suck away the yin qi of the demonic cultivator by forcefully entering his body, Xuan Hao decided to look away as he instead began to look for signs of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb that should be somewhere close to his current location.

Inspecting his surroundings and only seeing snow-covered mountains in all directions, Xuan Hao wondered how he would be able find the exact location of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

Maybe the guardian demon beast had already died of old age. Leaving no one behind to guard the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb…?

Although this sounded like a good thing, as he would not need to deal with a guardian demon beast, it also made it way harder to find the Transcendent Spiritual Herb… After all, the location Yi Min had given him was not that precise and could at most be considered a rough location. Given how the environment had changed over the past few thousand years since she had been there, it was even harder to find!

"…"

Looking out at the countless mountains covered in a thick white blanket of snow looking the exact same, Xuan Hao felt like he might be forced to search through the entire place with his divine sense. Resulting in him spending way more time in the Frozen Wasteland than he first expected.

"Aaaaah~!"

Hearing a weird scream of pain echo across the snow-covered mountains from the direction of the two demonic cultivators, Xuan Hao felt a shiver run down his spine as he caught a glimpse of what was happening to the weaker demonic cultivator while the yin qi inside his body was sucked dry by the tentacles.

Demon cultivators… Were truly terrifying!

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Chapter 560: Guardian Demon Beast

Hiding himself further away from the demonic cultivator currently in the process of absorbing the yin qi inside the now dead demonic cultivator, Xuan Hao silently waited for the other party to finish, as he really didn't want to fight the other party. Especially knowing what would happen to him in case he lost…

Even if the chance of it happening with his current strength was close to none, he didn't want to risk a fight when he didn't need to. Hiding at the side until the other party left was a way better option!

Not to mention, his ice domains hiding ability inside the frozen wasteland was far above that of other domains at the same level. Making it far easier for him to hide inside the thick layer of snow beneath him.

"Haha! After absorbing that fool, I no longer have anything stopping me from reaching the True Demon Realm! Just a few months of closed-door meditation and I should be able to finish the demonic transformation and officially step into the True Demon Realm!"

Oblivious to the fact that someone was hiding nearby, the demonic cultivator half a step into the True Demon Realm let out a loud laugh. Not able to contain his happiness after sensing the fact that the bottleneck to the True Demon Realm had almost completely disappeared after having absorbed the yin qi of the Third Demonic Transformation Realm demonic cultivator.

Even from afar, Xuan Hao could sense that the demonic cultivator's aura had very clearly changed and become far stronger than it was before. If before Xuan Hao thought he should be around the same level as the demonic cultivator half a step into the True Demon Realm, he no longer thought so, as the demonic cultivator seemed to have undergone a complete transformation after absorbing the yin qi inside the Third Demonic Transformation Realm demonic cultivator.

A few seconds later, the demonic cultivator retracted the tentacles before landing at the ground next to the dried-up body of his opponent.

"P-please, k-kill me-"

Hearing the voice from his hiding spot, Xuan Hao could not help shivering as he realized that the demonic cultivator who had all his yin qi sucked out of him was still alive.

Given what he had gone though, it was easy to imagine just how much pain he was in as he only barely managed to get out a few words before gasping for breath in the cold environment, his body slowly starting to freeze up without the yin qi protecting it from the biting cold of the Frozen Wasteland.

"Hmph! Given how much you helped me, I guess I should send you off properly…"

Ptch!

Frowning slightly upon hearing the words of what was left of his opponent, the demonic cultivator conjured a simple spear with his yin qi before stabbing into the dried-up body. Killing his opponent and erasing his soul instantly.

"Now, let's see if you have anything good~"

Not affected by his opponent's death, the demonic cultivator happily picked up his interspatial ring before going over the things inside of it. Taking all of them out to get a good look before putting them into his own interspatial ring

"…"

Watching this from the side, Xuan Hao could not help cursing to himself as he watched the other party take out several precious spiritual herbs and artifacts from the interspatial ring before slowly putting them back into his own interspatial ring.

The demonic cultivator at the Third Demonic Transformation Realm was clearly someone very rich. Not to mention, it looked like he had just gotten back from robbing the treasure vault of a sect with all the spiritual herbs and artifacts he had on him.

Even Xuan Hao felt tempted to fight for the resources that the demonic cultivator showed to him before slowly putting it all away in his interspatial ring.

The main reason for this was not because the artifacts and spiritual herbs shown were high level, but simply because of the sheer quantity of them.

If he could get his hands on so many resources, the Flying Sword Sect would definitely be able to have an easier time when moving the main sect in the future… The only problem was that the demonic cultivator in front of him was far stronger than any opponent he had faced in the past. Making Xuan Hao hesitate to attack the other party, as he should be stronger than him.

In such a situation, let alone killing the other party and taking away the interspatial ring, he might very well end up getting sucked all the qi out of him by the tentacles…

Crack~

"Hm?"

BOOOOOM!

Just at this moment, the ground beneath the demonic cultivator cracked apart as a violent explosion occurred the next moment. Instantly melting any nearby ice and snow before vaporizing it.

Whoosh!

The demonic cultivator had barely managed to react in time, as he had used his large demonic bat wings to escape into the sky.

"WHO IS IT!?" Clearly not having expected to be attacked all of a sudden while going over the treasures he had just gotten his hands on, the demonic cultivator yelled loudly towards the massive hole that had appeared where he had been standing just a moment ago.

The hole in the ground was the location where the explosion had occurred and also seemed to be the place where his opponent was hiding!

"You don't want to come out? Then I will just have to force you out!" Along with these words, the demonic cultivator eyes filled with killing intent before a massive ball of eerie looking blue fire appeared above him.

Having been formed by yin qi, the fire did not give off any heat, but instead carried a terrifying cold that seemed to freeze the world around it.

"Hmph!"

Swsih~!

Not waiting for even a second after the massive ball of blue fire had formed above him, the demonic cultivator threw it into the massive hole beneath him before getting ready to fight.

Even if he acted confident and fearless filled with killing intent, the demonic cultivator still understood that his opponent would not be weak given that the other party could hide from him and even launch a sneak attack from beneath without him noticing!

Whoosh~Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

As the massive ball of blue fire entered the hole in the ground, it did not cause any wild explosion. Instead, it caused everything it came into contact with to freeze!

ROOOOAR!

Not even a second later, a terrifying roar erupted from the hole in the ground as the blue fire reached the bottom.

"A demon beast…?" Not having expected that his opponent was a demon beast, the demonic cultivator was slightly surprised before quickly calming himself down. In the end, it didn't matter whether the other party was a demonic cultivator or a demon beast!

"Wait… If I absorb this beast… Won't I be able to directly break through to the True Demon Realm!?" As he felt the aura of the demon beast coming up from the hole in the ground, the demonic cultivator could not help feeling excited as he realized this.

Even if he had said he would be able to break through to the True Demon Realm after a few months of meditation earlier due to feeling his strength grow. The demonic cultivator still understood that it was not a guarantee that he would break through during his closed-door meditation.

After all, breaking through to the True Demon Realm was a life and death situation!

However, absorbing more yin qi and strengthening himself would increase his chances of surviving and reaching the True Demon Realm…

For this reason, the demonic cultivator was not at all afraid when he sensed the powerful aura of the demon beast approaching from beneath him. Instead, he felt excited at the prospect of absorbing the demon beast to increase his chances of reaching the True Demon Realm!

BANG!

ROOOOOAR!

Jumping up from the hole in the ground before landing on the ground beneath the demonic cultivator, the demon beast roared loudly filled with killing intent.

Swish~!

The demon beast itself looked like a massive version of the snow-white rabbits scattered all across the Frozen Wasteland, as it jumped into the air towards the demonic cultivator.

"HAHA! Little rabbit, watch how I devour your blood and essence!" Seeing the appearance of the demon beast, the demonic cultivator laughed loudly filled with confidence as blue fire manifested around him. Ready to fend off the massive snow-white rabbit rushing towards him from below.

…

Boom-boom-boom!

"Looks like this should be the guardian demon beast… That would mean inside the hole is the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb…" Muttering this to himself as he watched how the two clashed with each other in the air above the snow-covered mountain range, Xuan Hao slowly began approaching the hole in the ground that the demon beast had appeared from.

While the rabbit demon beast and the demonic cultivator were busy fighting each other, Xuan Hao planned to sneak in and take the spiritual herb away without any of them noticing…

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Chapter 561: Robbing the Rabbit Demon Beast~

Moving closer and closer to the hole in the ground that the rabbit demon beast had come from, Xuan Hao made sure that he was not discovered as he slowly jumped down the hole without the rabbit demon beast or the demonic cultivator noticing him in the process.

In a sense, Xuan Hao felt grateful that the demonic cultivator was kind enough to help him distract the guardian demon beast, as the rabbit demon beast was clearly far stronger than he had expected. Even having the ability to fight the demonic cultivator without being at a disadvantage!

If he had to fight the guardian demon beast by himself, Xuan Hao doubted that he would have been able to win. Even if he did, he would most likely end up injured in the process…

"Haa… No use thinking about it, I just have to get the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb and get out of here before the fight ends…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while moving deeper down the hole that the rabbit demon beast had dug out, Xuan Hao glanced towards the surface where the loud sounds of fighting constantly echoed out before continuing to make his way down the hole created by the rabbit demon beast.

Not even a few seconds after he had started making his way down the hole, Xuan Hao reached a tunnel around the same size as the rabbit demon beast at the bottom of the hole.

Having nowhere else to go and with the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb nowhere in sight, Xuan Hao did not stand around for long as he entered the tunnel.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Soon finding himself in the middle of a relatively small underground space just barely big enough for the rabbit demon beast to live inside of.

Looking around the small space that visibly carried the aura of the rabbit demon beast, it did not take long for him to find a small flower surrounded by extremely pure spiritual water at the centre. Especially given the fact that the flower itself leaked an extremely powerful aura that made it hard to ignore.

"The Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb! From the looks of it, it should have already matured… The rabbit demon beast should have been just about to devour it!" Instantly realizing that the flower was the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb that he had been looking for, Xuan Hao could not help smiling happily upon realizing that it had fully matured.

As for how, Yi Min, who had not yet reached the Domain Lord Realm, would have been able to escape after having seen the flower in the past? Xuan Hao didn't really care, as he carefully harvested it before taking out a small wooden container to store the flower inside of.

The wooden container was of course not made of normal wood, but was made of spiritual wood and had been engraved with several different formations to make sure the spiritual herb would not be damaged in any way. At the same time, the wooden container also helped seal the aura of the flower!

Of course… This was not perfect, as parts of the aura still leaked out. Even when the flower had been placed inside his interspatial ring! The flower was simply way too powerful and Xuan Hao had no way to fully seal it without damaging it with his current cultivation!

Swish~

Not wanting to leave behind the pure spiritual water that the rabbit demon beast had likely gathered to help the flower mature, Xuan Hao decided to also take it away together with the flower.

Not only the pure spiritual water, but Xuan Hao also took anything precious inside the rabbit demon beast's home. Spiritual Herbs, spirit stones, artifacts and all kinds of things it had collected over its long life was directly taken away by Xuan Hao.

In the end, he had filled up more than three interspatial rings!

Whoosh~!

The entire thing happened in an instant, as Xuan Hao harvested the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb and the rest of the rabbit demon beast's treasures before rushing back towards the surface. Not wanting to stay around in case it returned and realized that its spiritual herb and all its treasures had been stolen.

…

Now… How do I get out of here without getting found…?

Boom-boom-boom!

Peeking up from the hole in the ground towards the battle taking place only a short distance away from his current location, Xuan Hao did not sneak away with the use of his ice domain like he had done before…

The main reason for this, was that he was certain that the two fighting in the air above him would notice the aura of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb the moment he left his current location and tried escaping.

Digging through the ground trying to escape their vision was not an option either, as the act of digging through the ground would be far easier to spot. Let alone someone at the Domain Lord Realm. Even someone at the Nascent Soul Realm would notice him if he tried digging right under them!

Of course, there were some exceptions to this… Like the rabbit demon beast currently locked in a deadly battle with the demonic cultivator...

"Haa…" Not seeing any way out of his current situation without the two spotting him, Xuan Hao wished that he could also become a rabbit demon beast and dig through the ground without anyone noticing him….

Bang!

"Ah-!"

However, this did of course not happen, as the demonic cultivator above was suddenly sent flying into a nearby mountain by the rabbit demon beast.

ROAR!

Roaring loudly filled with killing intent. Having shed his human form and looking like a massive demon that had crawled out from the depths of hell several times larger than his normal size, the demonic cultivator flapped his massive demonic wings as he and the rabbit demon beast violently ripped each other apart, causing rivers of blood to form beneath them as their massive bodies rapidly healed any damage they took.

The fight seemed to get more brutal the longer it went on, as both parties continued the fight with no intention of retreating.

"…"

Watching this take place, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say, as the demonic cultivator no longer used any techniques and instead used his physical body to fight with the rabbit demon beast.

Maybe this is a chance…?

Suddenly realizing that both the rabbit demon beast and the demonic cultivator seemed to be fully absorbed on each other as they violently ripped each other apart, Xuan Hao decided to sneak out from the hole in the ground under the cover of his ice domain. Slowly moving away from the battlefield of the rabbit demon beast and the demonic cultivator.

Riiip~

ROOOOAR!

Just at this moment, the demonic cultivator suddenly seemed to have gained the upper hand in the brutal melee fight, as he ripped off two of the rabbit demon beast's legs before throwing them towards the ground below.

Whoosh~

As the rabbit demon beast's legs flew through the air, Xuan Hao who was just about to reach a safe distance away from the battle, could not help cursing at the demonic cultivator upon realizing that the rabbit legs were heading directly towards him!

Swish!

Not only that, but the rabbit demon beast was still very intent on keeping its legs, as it rushed in the direction that its legs were flying. After all, making a new pair of legs would require far more qi compared to just reconnecting the pair that had been ripped off by the demonic cultivator…

"Hehe, think I will just let you get your legs for free!?" The demonic cultivator wanted to take advantage of this fact, so he sneakily moved behind the demon rabbit. Prepared to launch a deadly attack the moment it tried to reconnect its legs!

"…"

Seeing the two rushing towards him, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say…

Whoosh~!

In the end, all he could do at this point was use the Drifting Cloud Steps to run away before the two got any closer to him. After all, there was no way he would be able to hide if those two ended up fighting next to him. Not to mention the fact that they would likely end up finding him even before they started fighting again…

Roar?

"Huh?"

Seeing someone suddenly appear on the ground beneath them, both the demonic cultivator and the rabbit demon beast were left speechless as they stared dumbly in the direction that Xuan Hao had escaped in for a short moment. Not understanding how someone had been able to hide so close by without any of them noticing anything.

ROOOOOOOOOAR!

Suddenly feeling the aura of the Spiritual Herb that it had been taking care of for thousands of years in preparation to use it to reach the Soul Ascension Realm, the rabbit demon beast's eyes went bloodshot, as it grabbed its legs before rushing in the direction that Xuan Hao had escaped in-

Whoosh!

Ignoring the demonic cultivator who had still not reacted to the sudden appearance of Xuan Hao…

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Chapter 562: Chased across the Frozen Wasteland!

"You-! Wait for me!"

Swish-!

Suddenly finding himself standing alone watching the figure of the rabbit demon beast disappear into the distance, the demonic cultivator finally reacted as he angrily yelled in the direction of the rabbit demon beast before he used his large demonic wings to chase after it. Not intending to get left behind.

This was especially true given the fact he had just been about to land a fatal blow on the rabbit demon beast before someone had suddenly appeared out of nowhere to interrupt his plan! Not only that, but the other party had run away together with the rabbit demon beast, while he had just remained shocked on the spot.

It was truly embarrassing for something like that to happen given his current cultivation realm… For this reason, the demonic cultivator not only planned to kill the rabbit demon beast when he caught up, but also Xuan Hao who had interrupted him just when he was about to succeed in taking down the rabbit demon beast!

…

Whoosh!

Dashing across the barren landscape of the Frozen Wasteland, Xuan Hao could not help anxiously looking at the rabbit demon beast behind him.

The speed of the rabbit demon beast was simply way too fast, as it jumped through the air. Crossing over the distance of several kilometers in an instant.

The natural speed of this demon beast is simply way too strong… The demonic cultivator had also appeared in the distance at this point as he was trying his best to catch up. Even though he was slightly slower compared to the rabbit demon beast, the demonic cultivator would still be able to catch up the moment he and the rabbit demon beast started fighting!

Thinking this to himself as he felt the rabbit demon beast get closer and closer together with the demonic cultivator, Xuan Hao further increased his speed with the Drifting Cloud Steps. Only stopping after reaching the limit of what he could handle at the moment.

Increasing his speed any further with the Drifting Cloud Steps would require the use of spatial manipulation. Not something Xuan Hao planned to try in his current situation, as he understood that he might accidently end up teleporting backwards. Delivering himself to the rabbit demon beast.

"It's still getting closer?!" Realizing that the rabbit demon beast also increased its speed together with him and even started closing the distance between them at an even faster speed compared to before, Xuan Hao could not help exclaiming loudly as he felt a shiver run down his spine.

The rabbit demon beast's speed was simply terrifying! Even with a movement technique like the Drifting Cloud Steps, he had no way to outrun a demon beast focused on speed like the large snow-white rabbit chasing after him!

At this rate… Let alone escaping from the Frozen Wasteland, I won't even be able to make it halfway there!

Trying his best to think up a way to escape his current situation without having to face the rabbit demon beast and the demonic cultivator in a fight, Xuan Hao suddenly remembered the Frost Devil Sect that he had visited just a few days earlier.

Even if he would not be able to leave the Frozen Wasteland before the rabbit demon beast caught up to him together with the demonic cultivator, he should still be able to reach the Frost Devil Sect…

Whoosh!

As this thought appeared in his mind, Xuan Hao changed directions from the closest way out of the Frozen Wasteland, to the location of the Frost Devil sect.

"Wha-!? Why are you two so fast!?" Realizing that he was being left behind again as Xuan Hao and the rabbit demon beast both increased their speed, the demonic cultivator could not help cursing to himself before he took out a large blood vial from his interspatial ring.

"Blood Sacrifice, Enhance Speed!"

Roaring this to himself, the blood vial he had just taken out from his interspatial ring shattered.

Whoosh~

Shortly after the blood vial shattered, the demonic cultivator was covered in a red light for a short moment before his speed rapidly increased. Allowing him to catch up with the rabbit demon beast and Xuan Hao the next moment.

…

Compared to the days it had taken him to travel to the location of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb, Xuan Hao used only half a day to reach the perimeter of the Frost Devil Sect!

The main reason for this, was because he no longer needed to care about hiding his presence and being careful whenever he encountered any demonic cultivators. Instead, he could focus all his strength on escaping without caring if any large group of demonic cultivators managed to spot him.

In the first place, the demonic cultivators who spotted him would be scared silly the moment they noticed the terrifying rabbit demon beast and demonic cultivators chasing after him. After all, both the demonic cultivator and the rabbit demon beast were already one step into the Soul Ascension Realm!

An existence like them stood at the peak of the outer region of the Frozen Wasteland! For this reason, most demonic cultivators decided not to follow when they saw them and instead chose to hide away…This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

However, there were still a few demonic cultivators at the Third Demonic Transformation Realm who were brave enough to chase after them… Sadly for these demonic cultivators, they soon realized that they were far too slow to keep up, as they soon chose to give up.

"There it is!" Feeling the familiar auras of a few hundred demonic cultivators hiding around the entrance to the Frost Devil Sect in the distance, Xuan Hao could not help smiling happily as he felt a few terrifying auras flare up from the direction of the Frost Devil Sect.

Compared to when he had first come to the scout out the Frost Devil Sect to make sure that it was truly the main sect of the Frost Devil Sect without being found by hiding with his domain, this time around the elders from the Frost Devil Sect spotted him the moment he entered the perimeter of the sect.

"WHO DARES BARGE INTO THE TERRIFTORY OF THE FROST DEVIL SECT!?" Just as he was about to reach the entrance of the Frost Devil Sect, an even more terrifying aura not the slightest bit inferior to the demonic cultivator and rabbit demon beast chasing him appeared from the core of the sect.

Swish-!

However, Xuan Hao did not care about this, as the sword gifted to him by Yi Min appeared in his hand before slashing down towards the entrance of the Frost Devil.

BOOOM!

Although the entrance of the Frost Devil Sect had been reinforced and was strengthened by the sect's defensive formation, it was far from strong enough to resist an attack at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm and had no way to resist Xuan Hao's sword. Directly shattering apart to reveal the Frost Devil Sect hidden behind it.

Whoosh!

Not waiting around, Xuan Hao directly rushed into the Frost Devil Sect before the formation managed to fully activate and repair the damage he had caused.

"YOU-!?" Not expecting Xuan Hao to directly ignore him and shatter his sect entrance before rushing inside, the voice from the depths of the Frost Devil Sect erupted violently filled with killing intent before rushing towards Xuan Hao who had just entered his sect.

Bzzz~

Together with the angry voice, the formation covering the Frost Devil Sect also fully activated and repaired the damage Xuan Hao had caused. Instantly sealing him inside the Frost Devil Sect with no way out.

"Hehe, you have no way out now! Why would you stupidly rush into my sect, your cultivation is not even comparable to mine-"

BOOOM!!

RUMBLE~

Just as the Sect Master of the Frost Devil Sect appeared in front of Xuan Hao and started to taunt him, the formation of the Frost Devil Sect began violently shaking before cracks appeared all over it.

The demon rabbit had arrived! Not only that, but it had directly attacked the formation of the Frost Devil Sect after realizing that the person who had stolen its spiritual herb was hiding inside of it.

In the eyes of the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao had clearly escaped to the Frost Devil Sect and was working together with the Sect Master of the Frost Devil Sect! There was no way the rabbit demon beast would just allow him to hide away inside the Frost Devil Sect and get away with its chance to become a Soul Ascension Realm demon beast!

Filled with killing intent as its gaze focused at Xuan Hao inside the formation of the Frost Devil Sect, the rabbit demon beast was met with Xuan Hao tauntingly smiling towards him, his eyes clearly filled with disdain!

Crack~!

BOOOOOOOOM-!

Feeling its anger reach a new level upon seeing this, the rabbit demon beast used even more strength. Directly breaking apart the sect protection formation of the Frost Devil Sect!

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Chapter 563: Throw the Frost Devil Sect into the Fire and Run Away~

"My sect formation…" Seeing the sect formation that had taken years to build and countless resources collapse after a few attacks from the rabbit demon beast, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect froze on the spot in a slightly dazed state. Not understanding what had just taken place.

Whoosh~

"Master! Please help me!" Screaming this loudly upon seeing the dazed state of the Frost Devil Sect's Sect Master, Xuan Hao quickly dashed behind him before the rabbit demon beast had time to reach him. Placing the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect between himself and the rabbit demon beast.

"Huh?"

ROAR!

Not able to say anything before Xuan Hao had dashed behind him to escape the attack of the rabbit demon beast charging into his sect, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect was suddenly met with the terrifyingly fast paw attack of the rabbit demon beast-This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

BANG!

Managing to defend against the attack in the last second, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect was not injured by the rabbit demon beast, as he was just sent flying backwards towards the place Xuan Hao was standing.

It's all this guy's doing! He wants to use me to deal with this rabbit demon beast!

Realizing what was happening as he flew through the air towards Xuan Hao, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect narrowed his eyes as a terrifying killing intent appeared in the depths of his eyes.

After all, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect was still an expert close to reaching the True Demon Realm! Using someone like that was never something that would be easy to do and Xuan Hao understood this very well as he took out the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

"The sect master is truly powerful! I believe it will be no problem for the sect master to deal with this demon beast just as you planned! After that, the sect master is sure to reach the True Demon Realm with the help of the spiritual herb!" Saying this out loud, Xuan Hao could not help chuckling to himself upon seeing the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect freeze up once again after seeing the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

Bang!

Swish!

Using the opportunity, Xuan Hao rushed forward with the help of the Drifting Cloud Steps and used the flat side of his sword to send the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect flying back towards the rabbit demon beast.

"You-"

Realizing what had happened when it was already too late, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect could only curse at Xuan Hao in his mind, as the rabbit demon beast charged over filled with killing intent.

From its expression, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect could clearly tell that it had heard what Xuan Hao had said. Even worse, it did not doubt his words…

Boom-boom-boom!

Not able to come up with anything to defend himself from being drawn into conflict with the rabbit demon beast, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast soon started fighting each other in the air above the Frost Devil Sect.

The battle instantly caused a large part of the Frost Devil Sect to collapse, as the battle between two experts half a step into the Soul Ascension Realm was simply not something the Frost Devil Sect could deal with. Especially now that their sect protection formation had been destroyed…

"What in the world is happening… How come the rabbit suddenly started attacking the Frost Devil Sect…" Arriving to this scene, the demonic cultivator who had been chasing Xuan Hao and the rabbit demon beast all this time could not help tilting his head in confusion. Not understanding why, the rabbit demon beast had started fighting with the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect.

"Ah! Brother Black Hand! Please help me out! This demon beast-"

Bang!

Familiar with the demonic cultivator who had arrived, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect called out to him for help. Only to have the rabbit demon beast take advantage of his lack of attention to use its large paw to slam him into the ground below before using a special technique to slowly crush his body and soul trapped under its large paw.

"This idiot…" Seeing the scene where the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect was easily supressed by the rabbit demon beast, the demonic cultivator revealed to be called Black Hand could not help shaking his head in disdain.

The sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast were both at the same realm, yet the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect had been supressed so easily by the other party within less than a minute of fighting!

"Haa… Guess I will have to help this idiot if I want to deal with this rabbit demon beast before it runs away again…" Muttering this to himself as he remembered just how much faster than him the rabbit demon beast was, the demonic cultivator decided to help the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect.

Swoosh!

Bang-!

Sending the rabbit demon beast flying, the demonic cultivator called Black Hand easily helped free the now haggard looking sect master of the Frost Devil Sect.

"Let's deal with this rabbit… I will of course take its body after-"

"W-we can't let that person escape! He is the one who set me up. Not to mention he also got his hand on a Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb!"

Interrupting Black Hand before he could finish what he was saying, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect anxiously pointed towards a figure slowly disappearing in the distance.

…

A little earlier after the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast started fighting with each other, Xuan Hao put away the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb before hiding himself with his ice domain before sneaking away from the Frost Devil Sect.

In the first place, his plan had been to use the Frost Devil Sect to delay the rabbit demon beast and buy enough time for himself to put a large enough distance between himself and the rabbit demon beast so he could safely make it out of the Frozen Wasteland and back into the territory of the Sky Empire.

"Hehe, when that demonic cultivator shows up and interrupts those two, I will already be gone!" Chuckling to himself as he thought about this scenario playing out, Xuan Hao could not help feeling grateful towards the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect for his help in holding back the rabbit demon beast.

Even if it had been a gamble for him to enter the Frost Devil Sect and try to use its sect master as a distraction, Xuan Hao understood that he had no other way to escape from the rabbit demon beast.

In the end, the rabbit demon beast was simply way too fast, and he had no way of reaching the border between the Frozen Wasteland and the Sky Empire before it caught up to him…

Even if he reached the border of the Sky Empire and made his way over it, Xuan Hao doubted he would survive long enough for the experts of the Sky Empire guarding the border of the Sky Empire against any powerful invaders to notice and come over.

Having made it far enough away from the Frost Devil Sect, Xuan Hao no longer bothered hiding himself. Instead using the Drifting Cloud Step to escape at the fastest speed possible. Even if the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect spotted him, he knew that the other party would be too busy fighting off the crazed rabbit demon beast to say anything.

Swish-!

Crossing the frozen tundra of the Frozen Wasteland at a terrifying speed, Xuan Hao barely managed to catch sight of the powerful demonic cultivator who had been chasing behind him and the rabbit demon beast arriving to save the struggling sect mater of the Frost Devil Sect before they were no longer in sight.

However, he was no longer worrying about the three of them any longer as he had already managed to leave the three half-step Soul Ascension Realm Experts in the dust. Leaving them no chance of catching up to him before he had made it back inside the territory of the Sky Empire!

No matter how brave the two demonic cultivators were, Xuan Hao doubted that they would dare follow him outside the Frozen Wasteland. After all, demonic cultivators were seen as the enemy of most cultivation sects, religions, kingdoms, and empires across the Ewaria Continent.

Only inside the Frozen Wasteland could demonic cultivators move around freely without fear of being hunted down...

Inside a large empire like the Sky Empire things were different, they would have to be prepared to not only be hunted down by experts on their own level, but also experts at the Soul Ascension Realm!

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Chapter 564: The Chase Continues...

"So, the person who just asked was had a Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb on him…?"

"Yes! This is most likely the reason why the rabbit demon beast chased after him and even started attacking me after he convinced it that he was working for me to steal the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb!"

Having managed to push back the angry rabbit demon beast momentarily, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect wasted no time in informing the demonic cultivator called Black Hand about what had taken place.

Of course, the knowledge of this was more than enough to stop Black Hand from continuing his attack on the rabbit demon beast. After all, a Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb would be far more useful than devouring the rabbit demon beast…

That was not mentioning the fact that he would still have to kill the rabbit demon beast if he ever wanted to devour it. Not something he thought would be possible if the rabbit demon beast used all its strength to run away after sensing that it was about to die…

ROOOOOAR!

Roaring loudly filled with killing intent, the rabbit demon beast seemed to have realized that the person who it had been chasing had disappeared along with the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

Whoosh~!

Not waiting for the two demonic cultivators to finish talking with each other, the rabbit demon beast completely ignored them as it rushed in the direction Xuan Hao had disappeared. Tracking him through the scent trail left behind by the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

""…""

Not expecting for the rabbit demon beast to act faster than them, the two demonic cultivators looked awkwardly at each other before a pair of large demonic wings appeared behind both of them.

Flap~

Flapping their large demonic wings, the two demonic cultivators soared into the sky. Wanting to chase after the rabbit demon beast and Xuan Hao.

"Sect master! What are we supposed to do!?"

Having been left behind without knowing what had just happened, one of the elders of the Frost Devil Sect who had survived the battle yelled out loudly in hope that his sect master would answer him.

Swoosh~

Sadly, his sect master ignored him and soon disappeared behind the horizon together with Black Hand.

Not only was Black Hand tempted by the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb, but so was the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect!

The reason why he didn't hide anything about the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb from Black Hand was because he understood that he had no chance of getting his hand on the spiritual herb alone… Having Black Hand help him out and taking the spiritual herb away while he was busy fighting with the rabbit demon beast seemed like the best option!

As for worrying about Xuan Hao who had run off with the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb? The sect master of the Frost Devil Sect did not really worry about him, as he had already realized that the other party was far weaker than him!

Black Hand of course understood the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect's train of thought, as he had already thought up a few ways to deal with his good friend when it came down to it and secure the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb for himself…

Whoosh-!

Like this, Black Hand and the rabbit demon beast resumed their chase. The only difference being the addition of the Frost Devil Sect's sect master!

…

At the same time Xuan Hao was trying his best to make his way out of the Frozen Wasteland with two demonic cultivators half a step into the True Demon Realm and a demon beast half a step into the Soul Ascension Realm chasing him, Zhu Lian was about to reach the Flying Sword Sect under the protection of Zu Fei.

"We will soon be back at the Flying Sword Sect, I hope the journey haven't been too rough on you…" Saying this all of a sudden, Zu Fei looked a bit worried towards Zhu Lian.

"I'm fine… I should be able to keep going for a few more hours before needing to rest…" Understanding that Zu Fei was genuinely worried about her, Zhu Lian smiled warmly as she said this while doing her best to move forward without showing any signs of weakness.

However, Zu Fei still managed to notice how much she was struggling to move…

"I will carry you the rest of the way!" Lifting up the dead looking Zhu Lian, Zu Fei decided to carry her the rest of the way to the Flying Sword Sect.

"I… Fine…" Understanding that Zu Fei would not accept a refusal, Zhu Lian let Zu Fei pull carry her before rapidly moving towards the Flying Sword Sect where she would at least be able to get treated and stabilize her current condition.

"Haa…"

Seeing how much she was struggling with her current condition; Zu Fei could not help remembering how she had first seen Zhu Lian. Back then, Zu Fei had been shocked at just how damaged her body was and had wondered how she had even managed to keep her physical body alive in such a situation.

Not only that, but after investigating the state of her body, Zu Fei had also discovered that her nascent soul had sustained some damage. Although not as much as her physical body, it was still damage to her soul!

Luckily, it looked like most of it had been repaired by someone who she guessed was Xuan Hao… If not for that, Zu Fei doubted that Zhu Lian would ever be able to recover from the injuries she had sustained…

Of course, all of this made Zu Fei curious about just what had happened to Zhu Lian for her to end up in such a state. However, in the end she still decided not to ask her about it as it might not be something she wanted to talk about to a person she had just met for the first time…

Thinking about it, Zu Fei realized that Zhu Lian had most likely not met anyone from the Flying Sword Sect outside of Elder Xuan and the new elder called Chi Hu according to what she had been told about her before setting off to escort her to the sect!This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Hm… If it's like this, why don't I become her friend…?

As this thought appeared in her mind, Zu Fei could not help feeling a bit excited at the prospect of her becoming friends with Zhu Lian. The main reason for this being that she did not really have any close friends among the elders of the Flying Sword Sect outside of the Core Elders who she met up with every now and then.

However, all things considered, the other core elders were all old men well above a hundred years old… Until the Spring Flower Sect and the Flying Sword Sect merged together, Zu Fei knew that she would most likely not get a female friend who was around the same strength as herself and wouldn't die off after two or three hundred years…

After all, for a Nascent Soul Realm Expert, the lifespan of a Core Formation Realm Expert would make it hard for them to truly become close and form a friendship…

In a sense, most cultivators were like that, as they would not form close friendships or become dao companions with people below their cultivation realm. No one wanted to watch their best friend or lover slowly age away as death soon claimed them!

"Zhu Lian… When we reach the Flying Sword Sect and your situation have stabilized, you can come to my place, and I will show you around the sect." Feeling a bit nervous while saying this, Zu Fei waited for a response.

"Sure, that sounds great!"

Hearing Zhu Lian's response, Zu Fei could not help smiling slightly to herself as she began looking forward to showing Zhu Lian around the Flying Sword Sect and the different places she liked to cultivate whenever she didn't feel like doing it inside her own pavilion.

"Great! I will make sure that those people at the Alchemy Hall helps stabilize your situation as quickly as possible!" Saying this with a satisfied and happy expression on her face, Zu Fei increased her speed as she couldn't wait to reach the Flying Sword Sect.

Swish~!

Acting nothing like how she normally did in the Flying Sword Sect in front of Zhu Lian.

…

Finally! The border of the Frozen Wasteland!

At this time, Xuan Hao could not help breathing out a sigh of relief as he saw the border of the Frozen Wasteland appearing in the distance.

Even if the three half a step Soul Ascension Realm Experts were closing in on him, Xuan Hao understood that none of them would be able to catch up to him before he crossed over the border and entered the territory of the Sky Empire!

Even the rabbit demon beast that was chasing him filled with an unbearable killing intent would not be able to catch him before he had crossed the border!

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Chapter 565: Crossing the Border

Wasting no time keeping an eye on the three chasing after him filled with killing intent after making sure that none of them would have a chance to catch up to him before he made it back into the territory of the Sky Empire, Xuan soon crossed the border between the Frozen Wasteland and the Sky Empire.

Whoosh!

Of course, he did not stop after crossing the border as he very well understood that he would not be safe there. Even if the Sky Empire discovered the two powerful demonic cultivators and demon beast entering their territory, it would still take some time for them to respond and actually have someone come over to deal with them.

After all, the three were just a single step away from the Soul Ascension Realm and were not someone that could simply be dealt with by the normal guards at the Domain Lord Realm patrolling around the massive borders of the Sky Empire. At the very least, someone with similar strength would have to show up…

Thinking about this, Xuan Hao didn't rush back to the Flying Sword Sect, but instead chose to make his way towards the core region of the Sky Empire. This way, he would not accidently end up putting the Flying Sword in danger and at the same time would make it easier for the Sky Empire to show up and deal with the three following behind him.

To be honest, Xuan Hao was a bit surprised when he looked back and saw all three cross the border between the Sky Empire and the Frozen Wasteland without the slightest bit of hesitation.

"I need to find a way to properly hide the Ascendent Grade Spiritual Herb before the people from the Sky Empire shows up…" Muttering this to himself, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit worried.

The reason why they had followed him into the Sky Empire without any hesitation was because of the Ascendent Grade Spiritual Herb!

Thinking about this, Xuan Hao began to feel a bit nervous about the fact that the people from the Sky Empire might react in a similar way and try to take the Ascendent Grade Spiritual Herb from him.

All things considered, he did not really have much of an identity inside the Sky Empire and the people coming to deal with the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast would most likely not care about offending him for an Ascendent Grade Spiritual Herb that could help increase their chances of reaching the Soul Ascension.

Before that happened, he had to find a way to properly hide the Ascendent Grade Spiritual Herb!

…

At the same time Xuan Hao, the rabbit demon beast and the two demonic cultivators crossed over the border and entered the Sky Empire without making any attempt at hiding their presence, a half-asleep soldier was lazily monitoring an artifact inside a large flying ship with the banner of the Sky Empire engraved into it

"Hm?" Having suddenly seen something through the artifact, the soldier could not help raising his eyebrows as he decided to look closer.Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

"This is… Captain!" Not even a second later, the solder stood up in surprise before calling out for his captain.

Through the help of the artifact, he had quickly realized that several powerful people above the Nascent Soul Realm had suddenly appeared at the border between the Sky Empire and the Frozen Wasteland.

In such a situation, the soldier understood just how important it was for him to inform the captain and have him do a thorough investigation with the help of the artifact they had on board for keeping an eye on the borders of the Sky Empire.

After all, the only thing the soldier could see through the artifact was the fact that several powerful experts above the Nascent Soul Realm had appeared, he had no way to fully utilize the artifact with his current strength.

Only the captain who had reached the Domain Lord Realm would be able to fully utilize the artifact onboard the ship to see this, as it required the strength of someone in the Domain Lord Realm to fully use the artifact.

"What is it? Did someone strong perhaps appear?" Hearing the call of the soldier, the captain who was never too far away from the artifact used to monitor the border of the Sky Empire rushed over and asked.

"Y-yes! Someone above the Nascent Soul Realm entered from the Frozen Wasteland! More than one-" Nodding his head anxiously as he said this the moment he saw his captain, the soldier was interrupted as the captain directly pushed him aside and picked up the artifact.

"This is…" Not even a few seconds later, the captain who had used the artifact to investigate what had happened frowned as a fearful expression appeared on his face.

Compared to the soldier who only knew that it was four people above the Nascent Soul Realm who crossed over the border between the Sky Empire and the Frozen Wasteland, the captain of the flying ship could clearly see though the four people's strength with the help of the artifact.

Two demonic cultivators half a step into the True Demon Realm and a demon beast half a step into the Soul Ascension Realm! These three were all chasing after a cultivator who had reached the Seventh Stage of the Domain Lord Realm!

No matter which of these four it was facing him, the captain knew very well that he had no way to deal with any of them as he had only reached the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.

As for why the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast were chasing the cultivator at the Seventh Stage of the Domain Lord Realm… He had no idea and he didn't want to waste time thinking about it!

For now, the most important thing was to get in contact with his superior and inform him about what was happening so he would be able to send someone strong enough to deal with the four people who had suddenly entered the Sky Empire.

Even if the Seventh Stage Domain Lord was not anything to worry about, the same could not be said for the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast who had entered… With their strength and identity, the captain could easily see them destroying the kingdoms and forces of the Sky Empire located in the border region!

Swish~

Disappearing directly in front of the small soldier who had been shell-shocked by his captain's reaction, the captain rushed back to the control room before contacting his superiors about the situation. Hoping that they would be able to send someone over to deal with the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast before they started causing any damage.

"C-captain…?" The soldier who slowly recovered from his shocked state called out in the direction his captain had left in a confused tone.

It was not the first time he had encountered a situation where he spotted a group of experts above the Nascent Soul Realm entering the Sky Empire. However, it was the first time he had seen his captain act so panicked. Not even bothering to explain anything to him before disappearing.

This of course made the soldier and the other soldiers nearby who had witnessed what had happened realize just how serious things were. At the same time, they also realized that the people who had entered the Sky Empire should be someone stronger than their captain and also someone who would very likely cause a lot of damage!

…

As the captain relayed the information about the demonic cultivators and the demon beast that had entered the Sky Empire, the capital of the Sky Empire was informed, and a group of experts was quickly gathered and dispatched to deal with the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast. Half being from the imperial family, while the other half being from the noble families of the Sky Empire.

Given that the church of the plague god was still causing trouble for the three large religions inside the Sky Empire, the imperial family did not feel hesitant when sending out a group of experts to deal with the three troublemakers who had entered their territory.

If not for the church of the plague god, the imperial family of the Sky Empire would have hesitated in sending a group of experts strong enough to deal with what was essentially three experts half a step into the Soul Ascension Realm due to the three religions possibly taking advantage of such a situation. Not to mention that the noble families would most likely not have agreed to help out so quickly…

However, things were different now that the three major religions were tied up in a battle for faith with the church of the plague god. Allowing the imperial family to move without any restraints inside the capital city.

In the end, the noble families could only refuse the imperial family if they had the help of the three religions, without them, there was no way for them to singlehandedly stand against the imperial family of the Sky Empire without repercussions!

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Chapter 566: Back to the Iron Sky Kingdom

Now that I think about it… I never really thought about just how long it would take for the people from the Sky Empire to show up…

No matter how strong the Sky Empire was, it would still take them some time to gather a group of people strong enough to deal with the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast… That was unless one of the Soul Ascension Realm experts from the imperial family ended up taking action to deal with the matter themselves!

However, given the importance of a Soul Ascension Realm Expert, Xuan Hao doubted that one of the Sky Empire's Soul Ascension Realm Experts would act…

Watching as the rabbit demon beast had almost reached him, Xuan Hao could not help frowning after thinking about this.

In the first place, he still had to find a way to hide the Transcendent Grade Spiritual herb, as it was currently rather easy for someone in the Domain Lord Realm to notice its presence if they were close enough to the interspatial ring around his finger.

"Haa… How troublesome… Wait- Maybe I can ask Yi Min for help…?" Muttering this to himself, Xuan Hao suddenly remembered Yi Min who had been the one to inform him about the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb in the first place.

Given that she was a renowned blacksmith, she would likely also have a way to isolate the aura of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

Not to mention one of the two demonic cultivators chasing him at the moment, was none other than the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect that she had asked him to look for! Not only that, but with her status, Yi Min would most likely not care too much about the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb.

After all, she had used more than one Transcendent Grade Spiritual herb and other Transcendent Grade Natural Treasures in the construction of the massive formation surrounding the capital city of the Iron Sky Kingdom, that was not mentioning the fact that she was the one who had given him the location of the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb in the first place!

Whoosh~!

Having come to a decision, Xuan Hao changed his direction and rushed towards the direction of the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Compared to the past when he had gone together with Qing Yi, his speed was many times faster with the help of the Drifting Cloud Steps. At this speed, crossing a small kingdom only took a few minutes at most!

"I should contact her first before just suddenly showing up at her doorstep with two demonic cultivators half a step into the True Demon Realm and a demon beast half a step into the Soul Ascension Realm…" Remembering just how powerful the three following behind him were, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly before taking out his communication talisman to contact Yi Min.

…

Crash-!

"Hm…? What!? The sect master of the Frost Devil Sect is chasing you together with another demonic cultivator and demon beast at the same realm as him!? Haa… Yes… You can come over, I managed to repair the hidden danger left behind by those people already, so my formation is capable of operating at full capacity again! I will also contact the Sky Empire and have them come over-"

Inside the large palace at the centre of the Iron Sky Kingdom, Yi Min who had just been lazily leaning against a window frame had jumped up with a surprised expression on her face, as the tray filled with all sorts of snacks located just next to her had fallen on the ground together with the cup of tea that had unfortunately been placed on the same tray as the snacks.

"Ah-! No!" Realizing that her snacks and freshly brewed tea had fallen on the ground, Yi Min's expression became downcast, as she understood that she would not have enough time to wait for her servants to make some new snacks before Xuan Hao arrived together with the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast.

Looking down at the several cracked cookies and other snacks on the ground, Yi Min quickly calmed down as she picked the communication talisman back up before contacting the people from the imperial family. Informing them about the place where the two demonic cultivators were going to show up.

The imperial family member she contacted did not ask too many questions about this, but Yi Min still understood that the other party had guessed that she was somehow related to the Domain Lord currently escaping from the three.

In the end, Yi Min did not really care about this… Xuan Hao had asked her for help, so he should at the very least expect that her enemies would think that he had sided with her after finding out about his identity and potentially start targeting him in the future.

All things considered, her biggest enemy already knew to some degree about her involvement with Xuan Hao and the fact that they were on friendly terms… Him coming to her for help would only cement their relationship as allies in these people's eyes…

"Not a bad thing at all…" Muttering this to herself as she thought about this, Yi Min could not help feeling a bit happy as her lips curled into a small smile.

When the entire matter was over, Xuan Hao would not only owe her a favour for helping him out, but he would also be considered to have allied together with her in the eyes of the different factions inside the Sky Empire!

"Now to check the formation… No matter what, I can't let that bastard from the Frost Devil Sect escape alive! The formation is also fully operational now… Hehe, it's been quite some time since I managed to truly use it! Even if you managed to reach the True Demon Realm, there is no way to escape as long as you enter my formation~" Saying this, Yi Min made her way out of the palace room she had been staying inside before making her way towards the borders of the Iron Sky Kingdom where she began checking each of the large towers located all around the border with a serious expression on her face.

…

"To think I would gather so much attention on my way to the Iron Sky Kingdom…" Still making his way towards the Iron Sky Kingdom, Xuan Hao could not help smiling wryly as he looked back and saw close to a dozen angry Domain Lords chasing after him to no avail.

These Domain Lords were the different kings of the kingdoms he had passed through during his escape. Not only did they not ignore him. Instead they decided to chase after him… Very clearly, they had sensed the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb he was carrying! Otherwise, it made no sense for them to try and chase after him with the presence of the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast.

However, in the end, this did not really matter to Xuan Hao, as the Domain Lords quickly got left behind with his speed.

Even if more and more of them showed up, Xuan Hao understood that none of them were strong enough to catch up to him. After all, the Domain Lords in the border region were only at the lower levels of the Domain Lord Realm. The strongest he had seen so far had only reached the Third Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.

Why they had chosen to chase him even knowing they had no way to fight him for the spiritual herb was a mystery, as they most likely just wanted to fish for benefits when the people from the Sky Empire arrived to deal with the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast-

"HAHAHA, so many little fish showing up?! How lucky!"

Just at this moment, the demonic cultivator called Black Hand laughed loudly as he appeared behind a group of Domain Lords chasing Xuan Hao together with them.

Ptch!

The next moment, several tentacles appeared from all over his body before piercing though the bodies of the Domain Lords. Not giving them any time to react and escape.

Swish-!

Devouring the blood and qi of these Domain Lords in an instant, Black Hand's speed rapidly increased as a dark red light covered his body. All of a sudden, his speed far surpassed that of the rabbit demon beast!

How in the world did he get so fast!?This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Watching this scene, Xuan Hao could not help cursing to himself as he watched the demonic cultivator called Black Hand rapidly approaching him.

With his current speed, Black Hand would not only be able to overtake the rabbit demon beast, but he would also be able to catch up to him!

At that point in time, let alone reaching the Iron Sky Kingdom, he would most likely not even get close enough for Yi Min to come out and help him!

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Chapter 567: Yi Min's Arrival!

Knowing that he would not be able to reach the Iron Sky Kingdom before the demonic cultivator managed to catch up to him, Xuan Hao frowned as he prepared himself to fight the demonic cultivator. Hopefully being able to survive long enough to reach the Iron Sky Kingdom...

Swish~

Suddenly sensing something wrong with the rabbit demon beast the moment the demonic cultivator was about to overtake it, Xuan Hao could not help opening both his eyes in surprise, as the rabbit demon beast suddenly appeared on top of the demonic cultivator before using him as a springboard to launch itself forward with increased speed.

All of a sudden, the demonic cultivator had been sent flying backwards by the rabbit demon beast-

BANG!

Directly smashing into a nearby mountain after not having been able to stop the rabbit demon beast from sending him flying…

"YOU DAMNABLE RABBIT!"

Screaming loudly filled with killing intent, the demonic cultivator could only get back up before continuing to chase after Xuan Hao and the rabbit demon beast. However, this time around, he was so far behind that even with his increased speed, he would not have time to catch up with Xuan Hao before he reached the Iron Sky Kingdom!

ROOOAR!

Xuan Hao who had just felt a wave of relief wash over him upon seeing the demonic cultivator being sent flying back by the rabbit demon beast was shocked upon discovering that the rabbit demon beast had actually managed to get close enough to start attacking him, as a large fluffy looking rabbit paw menacingly descended down towards him filled with killing intent.

Whoosh!

Seeing the massive fluffy paw descending down towards him, Xuan Hao didn't dare to be the slightest bit careless as he barely managed to use his ice domain to slow down the paw enough to dodge and continue rapidly moving towards the Iron Sky Kingdom without slowing down too much.

Roar!

The rabbit demon beast roared angrily upon seeing Xuan Hao slipping away once again before it resumed its chase.

However, this time around, the rabbit demon beast had no difficulty catching up to Xuan Hao.

This in turn resulted in Xuan Hao having to dodge a continued stream of attacks from the rabbit demon beast-

"Wha-!?"

Of course, this was not something that he could continue doing just by relying on his ice domain to slow down the movement of the rabbit demon beast whenever it got close enough, as it soon managed to land a hit and in turn causing Xuan Hao to first hand feel just how terrifying a demon beast half a step into the Soul Ascension Realm was!

Bang!

Being hit head on by the massive fluffy and soft looking paw of the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao was sent into the ground below, the paw of the rabbit demon beast being nowhere near as soft as it looked…

Crack-!

As the ground where he landed cracked apart forming a small crater, Xuan Hao rapidly jumped out of the crater before continuing towards the Iron Sky Kingdom-

BOOOM!

Just barely managing to avoid the follow up attack of the rabbit demon beast as the area where he had landed was completely annihilated. Leaving behind what could only be described as an empty wasteland where only the terrifying killing intent left behind by the rabbit demon beast could be felt!

Feeling the terrifying killing intent and the powerful shockwave created by the rabbit demon beast's attack, Xuan Hao could not help shivering as he realized that he would most likely not have been able to defend against such an attack without being injured!

I hope Yi Min's formation is strong enough to keep this rabbit and those two demonic cultivators out…

Thinking this to himself as he looked back at the destruction caused by the rabbit demon beast's attack, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit uncertain about whether Yi Min's formation would really be able to defend against the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast.

After all, he had seen the formation before, and he did have some doubts about whether it would really be able to hold out against the three.

No, she would not have wanted to help me if her formation couldn't hold up!

Filled with renewed confidence after he thought about this, Xuan Hao who had unknowingly started slowing down once again rushed towards the Iron Sky Kingdom without any hesitation. After all, she would not only put herself in danger in such a situation, but her entire kingdom!

Luckily for him, the rabbit demon beast that was closest to him had wasted quite some time on the destructive attack earlier, thus resulting in him still keeping a good distance between them. Even with him slowing down for a short moment.

…

"Hm… I wonder how long it will take for him to show up…" Having already finished checking on the formation that covered her kingdom, Yi Min could not help muttering this to herself in a slightly bored tone as she looked off into the distance that Xuan Hao would be showing up in.

Normally, she would get a tray of snacks in such a situation, but she knew that she could not leave her current position for snacks in case Xuan Hao and the three following after him showed up.

Yi Min really didn't want to encounter a situation where she was too late to help out because she had to go and get a few snacks…

Even if Xuan Hao ended up surviving and everything turned out fine in the end, it would simply be way too embarrassing for her!

For this reason, Yi Min, who loved to have always have a snack to munch on in such a situation, was left standing mid-air without anything to do while waiting.

"Maybe I can just go out and help him…? In the first place, it shouldn't be too hard to track him if he gives me his current location through the communication talisman…" Muttering this to herself as she pulled out her communication talisman, Yi Min quickly contacted Xuan Hao and got his rough position.

However, after finding out about his position-

"He… Is still so far away…" Realizing that he was far enough away to not show up for a minute or two, but still not far enough away for her to get a new batch of snacks and still have time to enjoy them, Yi Min could not help feeling depressed.

"I should go out and help him… At least this way I will have something to do…"

Swoosh-!

Coming to a decision the next second, Yi Min took out several different artifacts, some used to increase her flying speed, some used to properly pinpoint Xuan Hao's current location and others prepared for the inevitable fight before flying in the direction of Xuan Hao.

No matter what, Yi Min did not want to just sit around doing nothing!

…

Swish~

Ptsh!

Being pieced by a black sword, Xuan Hao frowned as he felt a foreign energy trying to invade and corrode his body.

"I should soon be at the border to the Iron Sky Kingdom, but why did Yi Min suddenly ask for my location…?"

Having continued his escape for the last five or so minutes, Xuan Hao was extremely exhausted after the demonic cultivator called Black hand managed to catch up to him and attack in a similar manner as the rabbit demon beast. Apparently, he had devoured a few more Domain Lords in the back and further increased his speed.

Overtaking the rabbit demon beast without getting sent flying backwards and successfully launching several attacks towards him.

Not to mention, Black Hand's attacks were far more troublesome to deal with, as he could attack over a long distance!

Compared to the rabbit demon beast that only attacked him with its paws, this was much more troublesome, as not only did the demonic cultivator not need to get too close to him, but he could also completely ignore his ice domain!

Because of this, Xuan Hao had a harder time dodging the attacks and in turn, his speed had slowed down. At the same time, he had also ended up getting injured to the point that he felt that he might not be able to make it to the Iron Sky Kingdom before being forced to make a stand.

If worst came to pass, he could still throw away the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb… But looking at the eyes filled with killing intent of the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao doubted that it would let him go even if he did this…

Swish!

Haa… Looks like I will have to fight it out here…

Seeing a massive black sword flying towards him from behind, Xuan Hao understood that he would have to stop and defend against it.

If he didn't, he would definitely end up getting killed by the black sword!

Swish-!

"Hm?"

It was just at this moment, that something suddenly flew past him-This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

BOOOOM!

Blocking the massive black sword from reaching him.

"This- Yi Min?!"

Chapter 568: Trickery~

"Yi Min!?"

Turning around to see who had helped him block the attack of the demonic cultivator, Xuan Hao could not help feeling shocked upon realizing that the person who had helped him was none other than Yi Min.

After he had contacted her and asked for her help, Xuan Hao had expected that she would just be waiting around the edge of her Iron Sky Kingdom. Not wanting to leave her kingdom in fear of not only the two demonic cultivators and demon beast ganging up on her, but also due to the fact that some of her enemies might take advantage of the situation to attack her kingdom in case she was locked in battle with the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast!

"Yes, it's me!"

Smiling proudly while saying this upon seeing the surprised expression on Xuan Hao's face, Yi Min felt that it had been a good idea for her to come and help him. Even if she risked one of her enemies taking advantage of her absence to attack her kingdom, Yi Min was confident that her fully operational formation would be more than enough to hold anyone daring enough to attack her kingdom back. Even without her present to control it!

Not to mention, given the situation she had found Xuan Hao in, there was a chance that he would never have been able to reach her Iron Sky Kingdom before being forced to fight it out with the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast-

Wait… Rabbit demon beast!? Isn't it the same demon beast from back then…? To think it's still alive…

Suddenly realizing that the rabbit demon beast was the same demon beast she had seen back when she had first seen the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb, Yi Min could not help frowning slightly upon remembering how she had barely managed to escape alive from it back when she was still in the Nascent Soul Realm.

Back then, she had wandered the Frozen Wasteland looking for an opportunity to breakthrough to the Domain Lord Realm and had chanced upon the lair of the rabbit demon beast that had just recently reached the Domain Lord Realm. Only after sacrificing almost all of her artifacts did she managed to escape. However, the loss of so many precious artifacts had taken her a long time to recover from…

Not to mention the rabbit demon beast, it was also back then that she first encountered the demonic cultivators from the Frost Devil Sect-

"Yi Min, we have to go before they catch up!"

"Y-yeah, let's get going."

Hearing the voice of Xuan Hao beside her all of a sudden, Yi Min quickly realized that she had spaced out for a short moment thinking about her past as she answered him before both of them began making their way towards the Iron Sky Kingdom.

This time around, it was much easier to deal with the attacks sent towards both of them by the demon beast and demonic cultivator called Black Hand. Mainly due to the fact that Yi Min threw out all kinds of artifacts to easily deal with their attacks without having to slow down. Never revealing her cultivation realm during the entire ordeal.

ROOOAR!

"To think he got the help of a blacksmith… We can't let that bastard escape with the spiritual herb!"

Of course, neither Black Hand nor the rabbit demon beast were happy about this development, as they came to some sort of understanding before starting to work together to catch up with Xuan Hao and Yi Min without attacking each other.

Whoosh-!

Using his secret blood techniques on the rabbit demon beast, Black Hand slowed down, while the speed of the rabbit demon beast once again increased. Reaching an unprecedented level.

"Looks like we won't be able to outrun them like this…" Muttering this to herself as she saw the rabbit demon beast rapidly approaching them, Yi Min took out a disc shaped artifact before jumping on top of it. Making sure not to reveal her cultivation base as she soon turned to look towards Xuan Hao beside her.

Swish~

Understanding what she wanted to do, Xuan Hao jumped on top of the disc shaped artifact before it flew into the distance, barely fast enough to stop the rabbit demon beast from catching up to them immediately.

However, this was more than enough time, as they soon reached the border of the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Swoosh-!

Flying past the large towers surrounding the border and successfully entering the formation!

"Ah!?" Letting out a surprised scream after entering the Iron Sky Kingdom, Yi Min showed a panicked expression as the disc beneath her, and Xuan Hao suddenly seemed to lose power as it fell to the ground.

Not understanding what was happening, Xuan Hao soon narrowed his eyes before deciding to play along with whatever Yi Min was up to, as he showed a similarly panicked expression while looking down towards the now destroyed disc that had fallen to the ground beneath them.

"Oh no! The disc thingy!" Of course… His acting was nowhere near as good…

ROOOOAR!

Not even a few seconds later, the rabbit demon beast appeared behind them roaring angrily filled with killing intent before rushing past the large towers on the border. Not realizing the fact that there was a formation directly in front of it, as it remained focused on Xuan Hao who had stolen its Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb!

However, it still came to a stop a short distance away from Yi Min and Xuan Hao and began to examine them with its divine sense after seeing their panicked expressions and the fact that the disc they had used to escape had run out of energy and had fallen to the ground below.

"Haha! Not running anymore?"

"Looks like the artifact beneath that woman is only useful for a short period of time…"

Arriving a short time after the rabbit demon beast, the two demonic cultivators similarly flew past the large towers located on the border before entering the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Both easily realizing what had happened.

"…"

In the end, the reason was not wrong, as Yi Min had deliberately sabotaged the artifact beneath her to make it look like it had been rendered useless.

The reason why she did this was simple, as she wanted to lower the guards of the rabbit demon beast and the two demonic cultivators enough for them to enter the Iron Sky Kingdom without inspecting the towers on the border too closely with their divine sense.

After all, if they really did use some time to properly inspect the towers on the border, it would not take long for them to realize that there was a massive formation directly in front of them.

At that point in time, there was close to no chance that the demon beast or the two demonic cultivators would dare entering the Iron Sky Kingdom. Especially considering the fact that they would have realized to some degree just how strong the formation was…

If that happened, they would most likely just end up escaping back to the Frozen Wasteland. Knowing that they would have no chance of breaking through the formation before the people from the Sky Empire showed up.

However, things were different now that she had managed to get all three of them to willingly enter her formation…

At this point, there was no way she was going to let the three of them escape alive. Especially the rabbit demon beast and the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect whom she already had a grudge with…

Thinking about this, Yi Min could not help smiling happily while she looked towards the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast.

"Hm? Why are you smiling all of a-"

Rumble~

Having spotted the weird smile that suddenly appeared on Yi Min's face the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect did not have enough time to finish his sentence before he suddenly felt tremor coming from the ground beneath him.

"What in the-"

Similar to the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect, Black Hand also realized something was wrong.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Bzzz~

However, before he could retreat, the towers on the borders of the Iron Sky Kingdom suddenly lit up as they were covered in several ancient looking symbols.

Whoosh~!

Following which several thin lines of light connected the towers together before the ground beneath them were covered in similar looking ancient symbols spread across the entire Iron Sky Kingdom.

"This is… A formation!?" Realizing that he was inside a massive formation and coupled together with the odd smile Yi Min gave them, Black Hand quickly realized that he had fallen into a trap.

Not only that, but he, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast also very quickly realized that the formation was not something that they would be able to easily escape from, as the aura of several different Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herbs and Natural Treasures could be felt throughout the formation the next moment.

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Chapter 569: Yi Min's Formation!

Whoosh~

Roar?

As the two demonic cultivators who were looking around themselves filled with panic upon finding out that they had walked directly into a formation, the rabbit demon beast also looked around itself. However, compared to the two demonic cultivators, the rabbit demon beast looked around itself with a more confused than panicked expression, as the formation soon trapped all three of them inside the Iron Sky Kingdom without the rabbit demon beast having any idea about what had just happened.

The reason for this, was that the rabbit demon beast had never really had the chance to see any formations in the area that it lived.

Different from the two demonic cultivators, who had a far better understanding over their current circumstances compared to the clueless rabbit demon beast looking around itself with a now both confused and fascinated expression at the colourful symbols formed by the formation.

However, this did not last, as the rabbit demon beast soon discovered that both Yi Min and Xuan Hao had disappeared-

ROOOOAR!

Causing the rabbit demon beast to once again be filled with anger as it charged towards the bright looking symbols that floated in front of it. Not realizing that it was charging headfirst into a formation…

BANG!

Not at all unexpected, the rabbit demon beast did not manage to break through the formation and was instead flung backwards before crashing into the ground below that had been similarly covered in the same symbols that floated all around them. Almost forming a large dome with a diameter of a few kilometers just barely inside the borders of the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Ching~

Not intent of giving up so easily, a sound of metal hitting metal soon sounded out across the dome that the rabbit demon beast and the two demonic cultivators found themselves inside of, as the rabbit demon beast tried digging into the ground to no avail.

"Let's work together to break out of this formation!"

Knowing that they would not be able to break free from the massive formation by themselves, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect, took the initiative by launching an attack towards the formation that was soon supported by Black Hand.

BOOOM!

The attack of two half a step True Demon Realm demonic cultivator was devastating, but the formation showed no signs of budging. Only wavering slightly after the two's combined attack!

"Come on little rabbit! You know that we won't be able to leave this place alone!" Realizing that he could not escape from the formation even with his friend Black Hand's help, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect showed a panicked expression on his face for a brief moment before motioning towards the rabbit demon beast that was still busy trying to dig into the ground below them to no avail.

Roar… Roar roar roar!

Seemingly understanding what the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect said, the rabbit demon beast nodded its large fluffy head before dashing into the air where the two demonic cultivators were standing.

"Let's try again…"

Seeing that the rabbit demon beast decided to cooperate with them, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect sighed in relief before attacking the formation once again-

BOOOM!

Crack~

In the end, only a tiny crack appeared on the formation for a split second before the crack repaired itself.

"Looks like it will not be easy to break this formation without going all out… Rabbit, Black Hand, we have to go all out, or we won't be able to escape! If we continue holding back, the people from the Sky Empire are likely to show up. At that time, none of us will be able to escape back to the Frozen Wasteland alive!"

Saying this with a serious expression as he watched the area where they had created the small crack fully recover, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect could not help worrying about the fact that he might not be able to escape the formation before the people from the Sky Empire showed up to deal with the demonic cultivators and demon beast that had entered their territory all of a sudden.

Even if he had some connections inside the Sky Empire, he very well understood that they would be of no use in his current situation. After all, the people sent to deal with them, had most likely been gathered together by the current emperor of the Sky Empire!

Black Hand also understood this, as he prepared himself to use his strongest technique together with the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect.

Roar?

The only clueless party in this, was the rabbit demon beast. Not to mention the Sky Empire, it didn't know much outside of the mountain range in the Frozen Wasteland that it had stayed inside of most of its life-

ROOAR! (Fluffy Demon Paw of Death and Destruction!)

Luckily for the two demonic cultivators, it still understood to some degree the danger that it was in, as it gathered its strength in one of its paws before being the first of the three to launch its attack towards the formation.

Swish~!

Seeing that the rabbit demon beast understood and used its trump card, both of the demonic cultivators soon followed it to attack the formation, as a pure black domain manifested behind Black Hand, while a frozen tundra not to dissimilar from the Frozen Wasteland manifested behind the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect.

"Frost Devil's Palm!"

"Black Hand of Death!"

As they arrived in front of the formation together with the rabbit demon beast, a massive black hand came out from the domain that had manifested behind Black Hand, while a massive devilish blue hand stretched out from the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect's domain before heading towards the formation.

BOOOOOOOOOM-!

CRACK!

Not even a split second later, three hand and paw related attacks landed on the formation together. Instantly causing a massive creak to spread throughout the formation as a tiny gap to the outside world appeared at the centre of their attack!

Swish~!

Acting far faster than the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast, Black Hand dashed through the small opening created by their combined attack and escaped to the outside world before the small hole in the formation rapidly closed itself behind him. Not giving the two demonic cultivators any time to escape the formation!

…

"Ah? To think the damage caused to the foundation of the formation by those people back then was in more than one location… Not to mention, their combined attack actually managed to barely reach the Soul Ascension Realm…" Having reached the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom that acted as the core of the formation, Yi Min could not help feeling a bit surprised upon witnessing one of the demonic cultivators successfully escaping.

However, she did not feel too regretful over this, as the demonic cultivator who escaped was not the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect.

Not only that, but it also made her realize that the foundation of her formation was still damaged. Not allowing the formation to reach its full potential where it could deal with someone in the Soul Ascension Realm. At least according to her knowledge of the Soul Ascension Realm…

"Is something wrong?"

Not able to see what was happening to the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast, Xuan Hao could only ask this after seeing Yi Min suddenly showing a surprised expression while looking in the direction of the three.

"It's nothing… The formation is just weaker than I expected, and it seems the damage to the foundation of it back then, was more severe than I imagined. Resulting in one of the demonic cultivators escaping..."

"…"

Hearing Yi Min say this, Xuan Hao had a feeling that he might not be as safe as he first expected inside of Yi Min's formation…

"No need to worry about it! I will take care of the remaining two quickly! Now, witness the power of my formation!"

Feeling that Xuan Hao was starting to doubt her formation after hearing one of the demonic cultivators managed to escape, Yi Min felt that her pride had been hurt, as she took full control of the formation before activating all the killing formations inside of it to deal with the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast.

RUMBLE~!

As the killing formations that were a part of the massive formation activated, a terrifying sound could be heard from beneath as the entire formation before a large number of the symbols making up the formation began moving. Soon gathering in the area where the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast were located before all of them turned into a blood red colour. Menacingly shinning down on the dome from above.

Even from far away, Xuan Hao could still clearly feel the terrifying aura of these symbols, as the entire Iron Sky Kingdom drowned out by their aura.NvεlB¡n: Your Escape into Infinite Tales.

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Chapter 570: The Strength of Yi Min's Formation!

Along with the different symbols coming to a stop surrounding the dome that the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast was trapped inside of, Xuan Hao could not help shivering upon witnessing how close the newly activated offensive formations working together as all kinds of attacks entered the closed off dome in the next moment.

Boom-boom-boom!

In a way, they all seemed to work so well together that it looked like a single formation instead of several different formations that had been linked together…

BOOM-!

Not even a second later, Xuan Hao could clearly feel the demonic cultivator and the demon beast struggling inside the dome, as their auras rapidly began weakening at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Even if he could not see what was happening to them inside the dome created by the massive formation that they had been trapped inside of, Xuan Hao could still feel the aftershocks of the battle for survival that was currently taking place inside the dome.

Given how fast they were weakening, Xuan Hao doubted they would be able to hold on for more than an hour. Even if they survived for longer than that, the people of the Sky Empire would have already shown up at that point in time.

So, even if they escaped after an hour of trying their all, they would only be met with the group of cultivators sent over by the Sky Empire…

"…"

Turning to look at Yi Min who was standing beside him controlling the formation, Xuan Hao could not help smiling a bit wryly after noticing the happy smile on her lips.

From the looks of it, she was enjoying herself quite a bit… Not something unexpected considering that both the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast were her enemies and had caused her to suffer quite a bit in the past.

Not to mention the past, the damage caused by the Frost Devil Sect's members to her formation was still around. Preventing it from reaching its full potential. Allowing for the demonic cultivator called Black Hand to escape before Yi Min activated the offensive part of the massive formation.

I wonder if I would be able to survive if I was trapped inside this formation…NvεlB¡n: Your Escape into Infinite Tales.

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao glanced towards the dome as he felt the aura of the demonic cultivator and demon beast inside it weakening more and more with each passing second.

I would most likely not be able to survive…

Shaking his head as he realized this, Xuan Hao vowed to not become enemies with Yi Min in the future… And to learn how to set up such terrifying formations himself. Not only to better protect his sect and disciple while he was not there, but also so he would have an easier time breaking formations he might encounter in the future!

…

"Ah-! What in the world is this formation to control such a terrifying fire!?"

At the same time Xuan Hao was vowed to become more skilled in the arts of formations, the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect was screaming loudly, as his body was burning inside a massive inferno that had suddenly appeared all around him. Even with his strength half a step into the True Demon Realm, he could only barely keep the terrifying inferno around himself at bay with his domain!

The rabbit demon beast was no better even with its strong physical body, as it was trapped inside a vortex made out of countless wind blades, each strong enough to instantly kill a Domain Lord who had yet to reach the later stages of the Domain Lord Realm.

ROOOAR!

Feeling the pain of the countless wind blades slowly cutting into it, the rabbit demon beast let out a roar of pain as it used its terrifying strength to break the vortex of wind blades-

Fwoosh~

However, it was to no avail, as the vortex reformed shortly after it had been destroyed by the rabbit demon beast!

A burning inferno and a vortex made out of wind blades each having the strength to restrain someone in the half a step Soul Ascension Realm. From this, it could be seen how strong Yi Min's formation was!

However, this was not the end of it… Instead, it was only the beginning!

Rumble!

Not even capable of dealing with a single offensive formation at once, both the rabbit demon beast and the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect were horrified to suddenly witnessing what could only be described as a scene that depicted the end of the world, as both of them were soon swallowed up by the combined attack of close to a dozen offensive formation similar to the inferno and the vortex of wind blades that had restrained them…

BOOOOOOOM-!

Not standing a chance to resist the combined attack of so many powerful offensive formations, both the rabbit demon beast and the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect were reduced to dust within less than five seconds under the combined attack.

Fwoosh~

Not even their souls were left behind, as the inferno that restrained the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect just a few seconds ago. Directly burned both their souls before they even had time to do anything after the death of their physical body!

Like this, the rabbit demon beast, and the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect both perished to Yi Min's formation. Not standing much of a chance against the terrifying formation Yi Min had spent most of her life and resources constructing!

In the first place, both of them had already been dead the moment they entered the formation, it was nothing more than a coincidence that Black Hand managed to escape due to Yi Min's overconfidence in her formation resulting in her not activating the offensive part of the formation before Black Hand had already escaped.

…

"Looks like the rabbit demon beast and the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect are both dead and what a surprise, those people just happened to show up the moment I killed both of them!" Muttering this to herself as she watched the soul of both the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast get burned in the inferno, Yi Min glanced at the group of people that had just arrived outside her formation.

"Both of them are already dead…?"

A half step True Demon Realm demonic cultivator and a half step Soul Ascension Realm demon beast had died in less than a minute!

Not hearing the last part of what Yi Min said, Xuan Hao only managed to pick up that one of the demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast that had been chasing him had died. Making him realize just how strong Yi Min's formation was and why she was able to control the area with the richest spiritual metal ore in the Sky Empire!

"Yi Min and Xuan Hao, we are under orders from the emperor to chase down the three invaders that arrived, I hope both of you will come out!"

Suddenly, a loud voice could be heard echoing out across the entire Iron Sky Kingdom filled with power. Even from the voice alone, Xuan Hao could tell that the person behind the voice was no weaker than the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast that had been chasing through the Frozen Wasteland and all the way to the Iron Sky Kingdom.

Hm? This is-

"Stay in here for now, I will be back shortly… The people sent by the Sky Empire showed up!"

Whoosh~

Before Xuan Hao managed to finish his thoughts about the identity of the voice, Yi Min told him to stay inside the formation before she disappeared in front of him. Most likely going out of the formation that current engulfed the entire Iron Sky Kingdom to meet the person from the Sky Empire.

I wonder why she told me to stay… Is the person from the Sky Empire perhaps someone she does not get along with? Maybe she fears that he will try to take away the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb after realizing I'm carrying one on me?

Not knowing why Yi Min had told him to stay inside the formation as it risked offending the people sent to hunt down the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast by the emperor of the Sky Empire, Xuan Hao still decided to listen to what she said.

Instinctively, he had a feeling that it would better to listen to what Yi Min said compared to a complete stranger.

Not to mention, he had clearly felt the contemptuous tone in which he had referred to both of them just a short moment ago…

Even if he was not at the Domain Lord Realm, he still realized that the person shouting outside the formation likely did not have any good intentions. Not to mention, he and the people from the Sky Empire just so happened to show up just after the death of the rabbit demon beast and the Sect Master of the Frost Devil Sect…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao sat down to meditate while waiting for Yi Min to return.

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Chapter 571: Head of the Hollow Thunder Family

At the same time Xuan Hao sat down inside the capital of the Sky Empire to meditate, Yi Min made it to the border of the Iron Sky Kingdom where the dome trapping the sect master of the Frost Devil Sect and the rabbit demon beast had been just a few seconds earlier.

"Haa… To think that guy showed up as well, did he perhaps make up with the imperial family and decided to help them for no reason…?"This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Staring at the towers surrounding the border that formed into an enormous formation, Yi Min could not help muttering this to herself upon spotting the person standing at the forefront of the group of people standing just outside her formation.

At least the formation prevented anyone other than her from looking through it… If not, the people standing outside would surely have seen just how annoyed she was after seeing them…

Swish~

Having made sure who, the people standing outside her formation were, Yi Min didn't stand around staring at them from behind her formation for much longer, as she took a step forward and left the formation.

Soon finding herself face to face with the group of experts sent by the Sky Empire to deal with the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast that had entered the Sky Empire… Causing no small amount of damage along the way.

This was especially true for the demonic cultivator called Black Hand, as he had ended up killing quite a few weaker Domain Lords belonging to the Sky Empire along the way to further increase his speed during the chase and to help increase his own cultivation at the same time!

"Haha, Yi Min, you finally decided to come out? I wonder where that Xuan Hao fellow is, is he perhaps not coming out? Don't tell me you told him to stay behind because-"

"Shut it, aren't you here to chase the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast that entered the Sky Empire? How do you have time to stay here to chat?" Not letting the man in front of the group finish his sentence, Yi Min rudely interrupted him before saying this. Not feeling the least bit apologetic over what she said.

"You! How dare- Wait… Didn't you deal with the two demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast already…?" About to explode after hearing how Yi Min had interrupted him, the man at the forefront of the group suddenly realized what she had said.

"Hehe~" Seeing the surprised expression on the man's face, Yi Min could not help chuckling to herself upon realizing that the other party had thought she had dealt with both of the demonic cultivators and the rabbit demon beast already.

"Nope, one of the demonic cultivators happened to escape, I think it would be a good idea for you to get going… If not, you won't be able to catch him before he runs away~" Saying this, Yi Min watched the expression of the man change greatly.

After all, he, and the people behind him were all there to deal with the three intruders from the Frozen Wasteland.

"Is that true? One of them escaped…?"

"Which direction did he escape in?"

"This damn bastard… If the emperor finds out that we let one of them escape because we waited here for no reason…"

"Let's go, maybe we can still catch the demonic cultivator who escaped, he should be quite exhausted after escaping from such a powerful formation!"

The only reason why the people behind the man had even bothered waiting in front of Yi Min's formation, was because the man at the forefront had told them that all three of them were trapped inside Yi Min's formation and were as good as dead.

For this reason, they had decided to listen to the man and wait in front of the formation, so that even if they escaped, they would still be caught the moment they managed to escape from the formation!

"He escaped in that direction!"

Whoosh~

Whoosh~

Whoosh~

Because of this, the people who had come under orders of the emperor of the Sky Empire used their movement techniques to move in the direction of the demonic cultivator that escaped the moment Yi Min told them the way he had escaped in.

"…"

Like this, only the man who had convinced the others to stay behind and wait in front of Yi Min's formation. Hoping to use them to intimidate Yi Min, was left behind all alone. Only able to awkwardly stare at Yi Min staring down at him just beside her formation.

Clearly, Yi Min was ready to jump back inside her formation the moment he decided to do anything suspicious…

"So, might I be so bold as to ask for what reason the distinguished head of the Hollow Thunder Family decided to join the subjugation force set up by the emperor of the Sky Empire just to visit me? Surely your not just here to show you loyalty to the Sky Empire…"

Revealing the identity of the man who had remained behind to be a member of the Hollow Thunder family, Yi Min calmly waited for his response.

After all, even if she was confident in dealing with the man in front of her who was the head of the Hollow Thunder family, she had no confidence to deal with the Hollow Thunder family itself.

The main reason for this being the fact that it was one of the Sky Empire's noble families that enjoyed some form of protection by both the three religions and the Imperial family, who both tried to take control over them.

The other reason was the fact that she was not confident in dealing with the ancestor of the Hollow Thunder family, as he had been rumoured to have reached the Soul Ascension Realm!

Even if this might not be true in the end, Yi Min didn't want to risk enter a life and death struggle with the Hollow Thunder family. Especially now that she had found out that her formation was still not fully repaired.

"You know exactly why I'm here and- Wait! Your formation is clearly more than strong enough to deal with the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast. How come one of the- You let one of the demonic cultivators escape earlier!?" Suddenly realizing something, the head of the Hollow Thunder family stared at Yi Min filled with surprise as he said this after having investigated her formation thoroughly with his divine sense during the short time they had spent talking.

During this time, he understood to some extend just how scary the formation in front of him was. Even if he had tried breaking it with the group of experts from earlier, he might not be able to succeed!

How could one of the two demonic cultivators possibly escape in such a situation?

"Maybe~ Who knows~?" Knowing that the weakness in her formation did not show itself unless someone was trapped inside of it, Yi Min decided to play along with the head of the Hollow Thunder family's train of thought. Not forgetting to show a taunting smile along the way.

"You! How- What- Ah!"

Seeing the frustrated expression on the head of the Hollow Thunder family's face, as he thought Yi Min had already known about him being in the group sent out to subjugate the two demonic cultivators and the demon beast and set up a trap for him to walk into, Yi Min felt extremely happy.

"Hehe, if you are done playing around, how about giving me a reason as to your sudden arrival? I don't have all day to waste time like a certain someone who is supposed to be chasing down a demonic cultivator right now~" Chuckling a bit to herself as she felt happy watching the increasingly pissed off expression of the person in front of her, Yi Min prepared herself in case the other party decided to attack her in a fit of rage.

Even if it was not something an expert at the Domain Lord Realm would do, Yi Min understood that the people from the noble family's seemed way more prone to this, as they lost control of their emotions rather easily…

"Haa… Don't think I don't know what you are trying to do! I will be back!"

Swish~!

Barely managing to stop himself from doing something stupid, the head of the Hollow Thunder family turned around after saying this before using a movement technique to rapidly move in the direction that the rest of the group of experts he had come together with had disappeared in just a few seconds earlier.

No matter how much he wanted to continue talking with Yi Min and get to the reason as to why he had come to seek her out through such an unconventional method, he still understood that it would be a bad idea for him to abandon the mission which the emperor had bestowed upon him. Especially so considering the fact that he might end up being blamed for one of the demonic cultivators escaped…

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Chapter 572: Returning to the Sect

"Everything should be fine now; you should be able to return to your sect without any problems!" Having returned to the capital of the Iron Sky Kingdom where Xuan Hao was patiently waiting for her, Yi Min said this with a happy expression on her face.

Even just looking at her from afar, Xuan Hao could see how happy she was over the fact that she had managed to chase away the group from the Sky Empire without encountering any problems.

"Thank you… I don't know what I would do without your help! All I have to repay you at the moment is the location of the Frost Devil Sect that you asked me to look around for. Not that it's enough to repay you for your help…"

Thanking Yi Min for the help she had provided during his time of need, Xuan Hao did not forget to take out the map of the Frozen Wastelands that she had given him during their short meeting just after the end of the alchemy competition.

"No need to worry at all, I even managed to get rid of the Frost Devil Sect's sect master so easily because of you and that is more than enough! Hehe, without their sect master and with the location of their sect, the Frost Devil Sect will be easy to deal with~"

"…"

Seeing Yi Min devolving into a not so friendly expression as a very clear killing intent appeared in both her eyes towards the end of her sentence, Xuan Hao decided to pretend that he didn't hear her as he prepared to leave the Iron Sky Kingdom and return to the Flying Sword Sect.

No matter what, it had already been a few weeks since he had left the sect to save Zhu Lian, find the Frost Devil Sect and finally get his hands on the Transcendent Grade Spiritual Herb needed to set up the Qi Gathering Formation required for the Flying Sword Sect to officially begin moving into the Shattered Star Peaks and use it as their main sect.

At this point in time, Xuan Hao really wanted to get back to the Flying Sword Sect. Not only to check up on Qing Yi and Bai Ning who had not left for an adventure like Chu Yang, but also so he could inform Elder Song about the location of the undiscovered spirit stone mine that he had received from saving Zhu Lian.

"I will be taking my leave…"

Noticing that Yi Min was not saying anything after having talked about how she was planning to pay a visit to the Frost Devil Sect that now lacked a sect master, Xuan Hao quietly took his leave after a quick goodbye.

"Sure~ See you again in the future!"

Of course, only after Yi Min lowered her formation so he could leave. After all, with his current strength, he would have no way to leave her formation without her help…

Swish~

Leaving the Iron Sky Kingdom after Yi Min opened up a passage for him to pass through, Xuan Hao began his journey back towards the Flying Sword Sect.

Making sure to go a bit slower and not reveal himself along the way and at the same time keeping an eye out for the group of experts sent by the Sky Empire in case he happened to encounter them while making his way back to the Flying Sword Sect.

…

"Looks like the experts sent by the Sky Empire went in another direction when they chased after the demonic cultivator that managed to escape…" Muttering this to himself as he arrived back at the Flying Sword Sect, Xuan Hao could not help breathing a sigh of relief as he landed in front of his pavilion.

Luckily, his journey back to the Flying Sword Sect went on without any problems appearing along the way.

Not to mention problems showing up. During his journey, he did not even get in trouble with any of the Domain Lords whose territory he ended up passing through… Although, thinking about it, the reason for this, was most likely the fact that he actually hid himself this time around.

Of course… That was not mentioning the fact that quite a few Domain Lords had ended up dying to the demonic cultivator called Black Hand back then.

Thinking about it like that, most of the Domain Lords that had been present on the path between the Iron Sky Kingdom and the Flying Sword Sect had either died or been scared into hiding…

"Hm? Bai Ning?"

Spotting Bai Ning who just happened to leave the pavilion the moment he landed in front of it, Xuan Hao could not help showing a slightly surprised expression. Not expecting to see Bai Ning suddenly appear in front of him.

Even if he had already sensed him with his divine sense beforehand, he did not pay too much attention to who it was. Instead, being focused on his own thoughts about the group of experts sent by the Sky Empire and the demonic cultivator, they were chasing…

"Master? Your back!"

Hearing his master's voice, Bai Ning showed a similarly surprised expression as he soon became excited upon realizing that his master was back.

During the past few weeks, he had remained focused on increasing his cultivation and even managed to gain enlightenment while in the process of forging an artifact that allowed him to successfully break through and reach the Ninth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

At that time, Bai Ning had not only realized that he could continue cultivating even while he was focused on forging an artifact, but he also realized that his cultivation speed was way faster this way!

It was at that moment Bai Ning wholeheartedly began cultivating the Unformed Mantra with all his heart, because of this. Not only had his cultivation base strengthened, but his presence had also changed and become firmer.

"You reached the Ninth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm already!?"

At the same time Bai Ning was remembering what he had gone through over the past few weeks, Xuan Hao finally discovered that Bai Ning had actually broken through to the Ninth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm… To say it was surprising would be an understatement, as Xuan Hao felt quite baffled over how Bai Ning had not only managed to break through to the Ninth Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm but had even manged to reach the Peak of the Ninth Stage!

Looking over Bai Ning's cultivation base once more, Xuan Hao felt that it would not be wrong to say that Bai Ning was already close to reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm!

"Yes! I managed to understand how to properly use the mantra given by master and-"

Filled with both pride and happiness upon seeing his master mention his cultivation realm, Bai Ning did not hide anything as he quickly went over how he had broken through and his discoveries regarding the Unformed Mantra and how it could be cultivated at the same time that he was forging artifacts.

Not only that could he cultivate the Unformed Mantra while practicing blacksmithing, but it actually increased his cultivation speed if he practiced it while he was forging!

No wonder the Unformed Mantra is considered a Heaven Rank cultivation mantra… It is indeed something specifically made for a blacksmith!

Feeling amazed after finding out about the hidden aspect to the Unformed Mantra that Bai Ning had discovered, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if the mantra that his other two disciples were practicing had a similar hidden aspect to them as well…

"Master, I also practiced the palm technique that you taught me before, but I don't seem to be able to further improve at all…"

"Ah…"

Lost in thought as he thought about whether or not the Heaven Rank cultivation mantras that he had given Qing Yi and Chu Yang had a similar hidden feature in them, Xuan Hao could not help letting out a slightly surprised voice after hearing Bai Ning's question.

You already managed to break through a small realm during the little time I was gone… How come you are still not satisfied…?

"Don't worry about it, its normal to spend more time learning a technique you are not as familiar with!" Even if he thought something different, Xuan Hao still showed an understanding expression as he said this with a wise look on his face.

"I see… I will have to spend some more time practicing the palm technique in the future…"

"Hm… Now that I'm back, how about I teach you?" Seeing the slightly sad expression on Bai Ning's face after hearing his response, Xuan Hao decided to ask this. After returning to the sect, he was more than happy to spend some time teaching Bai Ning.

In the first place, informing Elder Song about the spirit stone mine and beginning the construction of the Qi Gathering Formation could wait a few hours…

"Really!?"

"Yes, let's go to the training ground for now."

Whoosh~This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Like this, Xuan Hao spent the next few hours in the training ground together with Bai Ning. Helping him not only improve his mastery over the palm technique, but also teaching him a few easier qi techniques to help him increase his control over his qi.

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Chapter 573: Reaching the Outer Walls of the Ancient City Ruins

"Finally… The ancient ruins! I never expected that it would take so long for me to reach them…" As his master was busy teaching Bai Ning, Chu Yang let out a sigh of relief as he finally spotted a few ancient ruins further up the small river he had been following.

Not to mention taking a few days to reach, it had taken him more than a week to find the ancient ruins that the three cultivators from the Explorer Union had told him about!

Although… He had ended up quite unlucky, as he only found the correct river leading to the ancient ruins after having followed the other small rivers all the way to their source... If he ended up following the correct river from the start. Not to mention it taking a few days to reach, Chu Yang doubted it would even take him a day with his current speed!

"No use thinking about it! At least I managed to reach the ruins!" Muttering this to himself as he no longer thought about the pain he had gone through over the past few weeks; Chu Yang began making his way towards the ancient ruins he had spotted in the distance, while at the same time keeping an eye out for any demon beast that might be lurking in the surroundings.

After all, the main reason why he wanted to find the ruins mentioned by the cultivators from the Explorer Union, was not to seek out any treasures that might still be left in the ancient ruins, but instead to hunt down the Core Formation Realm demon beast that he had been told were around the ruins.

This way, he should be able to gain some real combat experience with opponents who had reached the Core Formation Realm just like himself! As for the bandit he had fought during the escort mission? It was far from enough for him to gain a clear understanding of his current strength after having reached the Core Formation Realm…

…

Continuing towards the ruins he saw, Chu Yang soon found himself in front of what had once been some kind of stone house. Now, all that was left was the foundation of the house, with only parts of the walls still being intact.

Observing closer, Chu Yang did not take long to find signs of several people having searched through the ruins in the past. Not too surprising considering that the ruins had been discovered long ago and all the treasures and artifacts that might be hidden there had already been looted by the members of the Explorer Unions that had once frequented the ruins upon its first discovery.

"That should be the outer wall of the ancient city…"

Looking into the forest just a short distance away from the ruins of what had once been a relatively large house, Chu Yang barely managed to make out the broken down, mossy walls of what had once been a large city.

The rest, hidden by the large forest located beside the small stream he had followed.

The ruins themselves were an ancient city, the history of the city and who inhabited it was a mystery according to what little information he had managed to gather from the locals while making his way out of the Small River Town.

Not only that, but the ruins had first been discovered a little over three hundred years ago and along with its discovery, a branch of the Explorer Union had quickly been established in the Small River Town.

Back then, the ancient ruins and the Small River Town were a hotspot for members of the Explorer Union looking for lost artifact or other treasures that might be hidden away inside such a large ancient city.

However, things did not last for long and slowly the number of explorers coming to the Small River Town began rapidly decreasing. Soon, most of the explorers inside the Small River Town were locals who were looking to make a living, or step onto the path of cultivation.

This was not too hard, as there was a small library inside the Small River Towns Explorer Union contained a few cultivation mantras that one could access and learn after becoming a member of the Explorer Union.

Although… Thinking back, Chu Yang did not remember seeing the small library mentioned by the locals…

Did it perhaps get torn down to expand the gambling den…?

Understanding what had happened to the small library storing most of the cultivation mantras that could be found inside a small town like the Small River Town, Chu Yang decided not to think too much about it.

After all, the matter of the gambling den did not have anything to do with him, it was a problem for the Explorer Union, and they would have to eventually deal with it themselves!

Ching~

Having slowly made his way towards the mussy broken-down outer wall of what had once been an enormous city in the past, Chu Yang pulled out his spear to make sure he was ready for battle in case anything happened.

After all, the ancient city had become home to demon beast over the years, with the weaker ones having reached the Foundation Establishment Realm in the outer part of the city and the stronger having reached the Core Formation Realm being located at the core of the ancient city ruins.

However, from time to time, demon beast at the Core Formation Realm could still be found roaming around the outer edges of the city looking for prey.

With all this considered, it would not be difficult to predict that he would encounter a demon beast after entering the city.

Crack~

Stepping over a few branches on the ground, Chu Yang could not help feeling amazed as he looked up at what remained of the outer walls of the ancient city.

Just standing in front of them, he could clearly feel a terrifying pressure enveloping him. Allowing him to understand that the walls in front of him had once been part of some sort of powerful protection formation that had likely been instrumental in protecting the city that stood before him.

As for just how strong the formation had been, he had no idea…

Given how terrifying the presence still left behind in the outer walls was, Chu Yang believed that it should at least be someone in the later stages of the Nascent Soul Realm. Maybe even stronger than that!

In the end, his cultivation realm was too weak to properly pinpoint the strength of the presence that was still present inside the outer walls of the ancient city.

Rustle~

"Hm?"

Just at this moment, the sound of something moving behind the outer walls could be heard, causing Chu Yang to tighten his grip around his spear-

Swish~

Before jumping on top of the barely standing outer walls of the city to get a better view of what had caused the sound.

Rustle~

Looking down towards the crown of a small tree that had almost merged together with the tall section of the outer wall he was standing on top of, Chu Yang could not help smiling a bit wryly to himself upon discovering the source of the rustling sound.

Chirp chirp~This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

The source in question being a pair of normal birds which had not even reached the Qi Condensation Realm!

"Looks like I'm already on edge knowing that there could be a Core Formation Realm demon beast waiting in ambush on the other side of the wall…" Muttering this to himself as he lowered the spear, he had unintentionally been pointing towards the still unaware birds hard at work making a small nest in the tree crown below him, Chu Yang took a deep breath before calming himself down.

Even if he ended up encountering a Core Formation Realm demon beast, he was still more than strong enough to deal with and was not the thing he was worried about.

Instead, the thing he was worried about, was a Core Formation Realm demon beast catching him off guard in an ambush!

If that really happened, it didn't matter how much stronger he was compared to the demon beast! Even a Foundation Establishment Realm could potentially fatally injure him in a successful ambush where he had let down his guard, let alone a Core Formation Realm demon beast!

For this reason, Chu Yang did not dare lower his guard even the slightest bit after having entered the ancient ruins of the city.

"Well… At least this will help training my senses as well…" Muttering this to himself with a slightly wry smile on his face, Chu Yang turned away from the small birds in the tree crown below him before taking in the small part of the city that he could see from on top of the outer wall.

Unfortunately, the forest was way too dense for him to see much of the city itself from his current location.

"Demon beasts…"

At least he did manage to spot a few demon beasts at the Foundation Establishment Realm roaming around what had once been the roads of the ancient city ruins.

As for Core Formation Realm demon beasts? He did not manage to spot a single one…

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Chapter 574: Weird Translucent Stone

Well… The Core Formation Realm demon beasts should normally not be present around the outer part of the ancient city ruins in the first place… Not to mention, it looks like the demon beasts here are not worried about anything in the first place…

Shaking his head as he thought this to himself while observing the Foundation Establishment demon beasts that he could see from the top of the outer walls of the city.

The demon beasts were not really doing anything interesting, as almost all of them were lazing around in the few spots where the sun broke through the thick tree canopy covering the ancient city ruins from above.

Thump!

Chirp!Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Jumping down from the outer wall, Chu Yang felt a bit bad as he watched the pair of birds in the process of building their nest fly away. From the looks of it, he had ended up scaring them away.

At the same time, he had inevitably also ended up alerting some of the nearby Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts that were hiding nearby.

Rustle~

Along with the rustling sound, a group of wolf demon beasts filled with killing intent moved over before surrounding him in a half circle. The outer walls of city located behind him; Chu Yang found himself completely surrounded by the group of Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts.

Grrr~

Seeing that he had been surrounded without any way out, a large wolf moved to the front before growling towards him with a hungry expression in its eyes. Even from a glance, Chu Yang realized that the wolf demon beast had actually reached the First Stage of the Core Formation Realm!

However, the group of wolf demon beasts along with the Core Formation Realm leader were not acting cautious at all. Allowing Chu Yang to understand that none of them had managed to see through his cultivation base. Instead, they thought he was just some random human who had happened to wander into their territory!

Because of this, he had ended up looking like free dinner to them!

Howl!

Giving out a signal to the others, the leader of the wolf pack at the First Stage of the Core Formation Realm carelessly jumped towards Chu Yang. Not viewing him as a threat and instead just being eager to get the first bite of the human that had foolishly wandered into its pack's territory!

However, because of this, things did not end up going as the wolf pack leader had expected…

Swish~

"Mountain Piercer!"

Before the leader of the wolves even managed to reach him, Chu Yang used the second move from the Divine Soul Spear Mantra, Mountain Piercer-

Ptsh-!

Catching the wolf demon beast completely off guard, as the spear flew through the air before piercing through the stomach of the wolf demon beast with a terrifying momentum.

HOOOWL-!

As the energy from the attack spread through its body, the wolf pack leader could only let out a howl filled with pain before falling onto the ground, dead!

Howl!

Howl!

Howl!

Seeing their leader suddenly being killed with a single attack, the remaining wolf demon beasts howled loudly filled with panic at what had just transpired before fleeing in all directions without looking back.

Given that they had been able to survive until the Foundation Establishment Realm inside the ancient city ruins filled with demon beasts far stronger than themselves, the wolves understood when to escape and when was a good time to fight… With their leader being instantly killed, it meant that it was time for them to escape before they ended up with the same fate as their now former leader!

Whoosh-!

Watching the wolves disappear faster than they had appeared, Chu Yang could not help smiling a bit wryly.

Even with his speed, he doubted that he would be able to catch up to more than one or two of the escaping wolf demon beasts!

For this reason, Chu Yang decided to just ignore them as they ran away.

Demon beasts like the wolves were cowardly and Chu Yang doubted that they would try to attack him again after they had learnt about his strength!

"Hopefully I won't encounter a pack of Core Formation Realm demon beasts…" Muttering this to himself as he realized that there was a possibility of encountering a pack of Core Formation Realm demon beast similar to the wolf demon beast he had just encountered, Chu Yang could not help shivering.

No matter how easily he had dealt with the group of Foundation Establishment Realm wolf demon beasts, Chu Yang understood that the only reason why he had been able to do it was because he was in the Core Formation Realm and had been able to catch their leader off guard. Killing it and as a result scaring the rest of the pack away.

A pack of Core Formation Realm demon beasts would not be that simple to deal with, as Chu Yang doubted that he would be able to kill the leader of such a pack easily.

At that point in time, he might be forced to deal with close to a dozen Core Formation Realm demon beasts attacking him at the same time! No matter how strong he was for his cultivation realm, he was still only at the First Stage of the Core Formation Realm!

I will have to avoid the core of the ancient city ruins for now… Maybe after getting a better understanding of the powerful Core Formation Realm demon beasts in there, I can go there to explore and find some suitable demon beasts to fight…

Thinking this to himself, Chu Yang felt something weird as he looked down on the body of Core Formation Realm wolf demon beast.

After having been pierced through by his spear, the wolf demon beast had a large gaping hole through its chest. However, this was not what caused Chu Yang to suddenly look down an inspect the body.

"Hm? What is this…?"

Instead, it was a small, weird stone inside its body that had become visible.

Digging the small almost translucent stone out of the wolf demon beast's body, Chu Yang could not help frowning as he felt a weird energy suddenly seep into his body from the small translucent stone the moment, he picked it up with his hand.

Not only that, but the energy from the weird stone directly entered his dantian!

By the time Chu Yang realized a foreign energy was entering his dantian and let go of the weird stone, it was already too late, as the energy from the stone had already entered his dantian.

Thump~

Crack!

The weird translucent stone that was now completely empty soon landed on the ground, as it directly shattered into pieces before seemingly dissolving into the surroundings. Leaving nothing behind for Chu Yang to inspect.

"What in the world is this energy…" Muttering this to himself, Chu Yang quickly found a place to hide inside the ruins of a nearby house before sitting down in a lotus position.

Using his cultivation mantra to calm himself down, Chu Yang did not waste a single second as he felt the foreign energy that was now present inside his dantian.

To his surprise, the energy did not do anything and just floated around his dantian with seemingly no aim. Not to mention harming him, the energy did nothing at all other than floating around.

After a careful inspection, Chu Yang also discovered that the energy was far too weak to do any actual harm to his dantian. Allowing him to relax, though not too much, as he still had some sort of foreign energy floating around inside his dantian.

Even if he knew that it couldn't harm him in his current state, who would know for certain if it decided to attack him during a battle?

If it really started to cause chaos inside his dantian while he was fighting, Chu Yang knew that the foreign energy might end up costing his life… Not to mention, given his current location and goals, he was one hundred percent certain he would end up fighting in the soon to be future!

For this reason, Chu Yang wanted to quickly get rid of the foreign energy that had entered his dantian.

…

Like this, close to half an hour passed, as Chu Yang tried forcibly pushing the foreign energy out of his body to no avail.

"Hah… This damnable energy blob… How persistent can it be!? Maybe I should try something different…" Muttering this to himself, Chu Yang stopped trying to push the energy out of his body as he tried to think of another way to deal with it that did not involve expelling it from his body.

Ah! Why don't I try using my golden core to forcibly refine the energy…? If it really succeeds. Not only will I be able to get rid of this hidden danger, but I might also be able to increase the strength of my golden core!

As this thought appeared, Chu Yang didn't waste any time, as he slowly began drawing the foreign energy towards the red golden core at the centre of his dantian…

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Chapter 575: Chu Yang In Trouble~

Drawing the foreign energy inside his dantian towards his golden core, Chu Yang could not help frowning the moment he started the refining process.

Not only could he refine the foreign energy from the weird translucent stone inside his dantian without any difficulties, but it was almost as if he was meant to.

The foreign energy that had been refined had turned into an extremely pure form of qi that was quickly absorbed by his golden core. Strengthening it and allowing him to edge closer to the Second Stage of the Core Formation Realm.

Knowing that the foreign energy was not harmful to him in any way and instead helped him increase his strength after being refined, Chu Yang focused his full attention on refining the rest of the foreign energy inside his dantian before allowing his golden core to absorb it.

Swish~

Absorbing the last bit of the foreign energy inside of his dantian after a simple refinement with the help of his golden core, Chu Yang opened his eyes before standing up to inspect how much his strength had increased after absorbing the refined foreign energy from the translucent stone.

"To think I actually managed to reach the Peak of the First Stage of the Core Formation Realm after absorbing the energy inside the weird stone… I wonder what in the world that translucent stone inside the wolf demon beast actually was… And more importantly if there are more of them inside the ancient city ruins?" Thinking this out loud, Chu Yang had a feeling that there were still some treasures hidden away inside the ruins. The weird translucent stone he had just found being one of them!

Having come to this conclusion, Chu Yang decided to spend some more time looking around the outer part of the ancient city ruins before heading towards the core part of the ancient city ruins where the stronger demon beasts were located.Ñ00vl--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Hopefully, he would be able to find more of the weird translucent stones while searching through the outer part of the ancient city ruins.

This way, he might also be able to breakthrough to the Second Stage, Third Stage, or maybe even the Fourth Stage of the Core Formation Realm in less than a single day if he managed to find enough of the weird translucent stones!

Understanding just what kind of opportunity he might have chanced upon; Chu Yang didn't stay around inside the somewhat intact house ruins that he had been refining the energy from the translucent stone inside of.

Swoosh~!

Jumping outside, Chu Yang began searching his surroundings. Looking for not only any of the translucent stones that might be around, but also for any demon beasts. After all, the place he had first found a translucent stone was inside the body of a demon beast!

Roar…?

Like this, an unknown calamity descended on the weak Foundation Establishment Realm demon beast in the outer parts of the ancient city ruins, as a certain human with a spear in hand began killing any and all demon beast that entered his eyes...

Of course, something like this happening would not go unnoticed by the more powerful demon beast in the core of the ancient city ruins.

ROOOOAR!

Even more so given that most of the Foundation Establishment Realm demon beasts in the outer part of the ancient city ruins were their offspring!

How could the powerful Core Formation Realm demon beast simply allow for someone to randomly go around slaughtering their offspring?

Roar!

ROAR ROOOOAR!

Roar? Roar Roar!

Given how many of their offspring he had already killed, the demon beasts that were normally against each other fighting for territory easily came together with the simple goal of discussing how to deal with Chu Yang!

Like this, the powerful demon beast at the centre of the ancient city ruins came together. Not taking more than a few minutes to decide that they would all work together to kill the impudent human who had been slaughtering their offspring. Not planning to give him any chance to escape or fight back!

…

"Hm? Why do I have a feeling that Chu Yang is about to get into a dangerous situation…"

At the same time the powerful demon beast in the centre of the ancient city ruins were planning to band together to deal with his disciples, Xuan Hao had just finished teaching Bai Ning, as he was making his way down the mountain to meet up with Elder Song.

"It's probably nothing, I guess I'm just getting worried because he is out on his own. Not to mention he also encountered a young master according to the system…"

Shaking his head as he pushed the thought of Chu Yang being in a dangerous situation aside, Xuan Hao continued making his way down his mountain towards Elder Song.

For now, he wanted to inform Elder Song about the location of the spirit stone mine that he had been given by the system as quickly as possible so he could make arrangement and sent a group of elders over and get ready to mine out the spirit stones.

Having already secretly checked out the spirit stone mine in question on his way back to the Flying Sword Sect, Xuan Hao understood just how massive it was.

Gaining a brand-new spirit stone mine was no small thing to the current Flying Sword Sect.

Not to mention, the spirit stone mine in question was by far the largest inside the territory of the Flying Sword Sect, it would not only allow more spirit stones to be distributed but would also be of use in the construction of the future main sect in the Shattered Star Peaks.

The main reason why it would be such a big help, was because the spirit stone mine would be able to produce far more than 10 times the high-grade spirit stones yearly that the spirit stone mine on their border with the former Raging Flame Sect could!

Even if he was not sure how many it would be able to produce, he was certain that it would be far more than what the Flying Sword Sect was currently producing!

Thump!

Landing on the ground beneath his mountain as he thought about this, Xuan Hao did not hurry towards the location of Elder Song. Instead taking his time as he observed a group of young disciples passing him while talking among themselves.

Now that I think about it, there should have been another batch of new disciples not too long ago… I should go and take a look and see if there is anyone talented among them after finishing things up with Elder Song… Hm… But it will be too late by then… Maybe I should hold a lecture for the new disciples tomorrow? This way, I will also be able to complete the sect quest of holding a lecture for the sect disciples…

Thinking this to himself as he continued moving towards the location of Elder Song, Xuan Hao decided to hold a lecture for the new disciples of the Flying Sword Sect the following day.

Not only would he be able to search for any talented disciples that might have entered the sect without his knowledge, but he would also be able to complete the sect quest at the same time. Having Bai Ning join the lecture could also be a good idea as he might be able to make a few friends during the lecture.

The main reason why he wanted Bai Ning to become friends with some of the new disciples, was due to the fact that the only friends other than his two older disciples and Zhi Ruo, was a bunch of middle-aged uncles and elderly blacksmiths…

Other than that, Xuan Hao was also a little annoyed by the fact that those elderly people constantly came to ask for Bai Ning whenever he was around!

Those old people were clearly not friends with Bai Ning but were instead a bunch of old people trying to steal away his disciple while he was not around! No matter what, he had to prevent something like that from happening and the best way to do this, was to have Bai Ning get a few friends who were of similar age to himself.

This way, he would also not have to worry about some old man trying to take in Bai Ning as his blacksmithing disciple whenever he went to visit one of his friends!

"Hm? Did something happen with Elder Song…?"

Reaching Elder Song's home while thinking about all of this, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he saw the state of Elder Song's house. Not only was it completely messed up, but he quickly understood the reason for this messed up appearance being the aftermath of a cauldron exploding!

At least his alchemy knowledge came into use in something other than brewing potions. Although, it was not in a way Xuan Hao had expected.

After all, since when did Elder Song become an alchemist? Not to mention it looked like he might have blown up his own cauldron…

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Chapter 576: Elder Song's Hidden Trouble

Whoosh~

Feeling curious and worried about Elder Song at the same time upon seeing the state of the house, Xuan Hao did not remain standing in front of the house for more than a few seconds before entering to find out what happened.

"Cough! Elder Xuan? Is that you…?"

Hearing the weak voice of someone calling out to him the moment he entered the half-destroyed house, Xuan Hao quickly turned in the direction of the voice. Only to be met with a person covered from head to toe in some sort of black gooey liquid.

"Elder Song…? I-is that really you…?" Already knowing who the person covered in some sort of black gooey liquid was with a quick scan of his divine sense, Xuan Hao still did not dare believe it. After all, Elder Song's current appearance was a stark contrast compared to what he was used to. The wise elder was nowhere to be seen and had instead been replaced by a human shaped black gooey liquid…

"Yes, It's me! I… I happened to encounter an accident while refining the medicine for my granddaughter…" Smiling a bit awkwardly while saying this, Elder Song pointed towards the area at the centre of the disaster that had just taken place.

"I see that, it's quite lucky for you that Song Jia is not here at the moment- Now that I think about it, where is your granddaughter? Did she perhaps run away after you locked her up at home for too long…?" Looking around the room as he realized that Song Jia was nowhere nearby, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit curious about what had happened to the little girl.

After all, she had quite a good talent when it came to finding spiritual herbs and sensing the aura of people around her. Even if she was blind, she could still somewhat see the world around herself by sensing the aura of people and plants around herself… At least that was Xuan Hao's conclusion about Song Jia so far.

Even more importantly than that, Xuan Hao understood that Elder Song would not be one to be wasting his time refining medicine if his granddaughter had run away!

"My granddaughter? Ah! You don't have to worry about her, I asked Zu Fei to help me look after her for the next few days so I could focus on refining her medicine without any worry! The Sect Master also helped take care of my usual workload… Although I doubt, he will be able to last for more than a day or two…"

"I see, that's great! For a second, I thought she had run off to explore the demon beast forest just next to the sect…"

"Haha! Indeed, that would be something that little one could come up with! If that really happened, I would indeed not be able to calmly refine medicine for her… Well… Not that I even managed to refine any medicine in the first place…"

Assured that Song Jia had not run away to explore a demon infested forest or something even more dangerous, Xuan Hao focused his attention on the location where the cauldron had exploded and the 'medicine' that covered Elder Song from head to toe.

Analysing the spot where the cauldron had exploded first, Xuan Hao could not help frowning as he realized just how strong the explosion of the cauldron had been.

Even if he retreated in time, such an explosion would be more than enough to injurie someone at the First Stage of the Nascent Soul Realm like Elder Song!

"…"

Inspecting Elder Song more closely with his divine sense, Xuan Hao could not help sighing in his heart upon realizing that the old man had been injured by the explosion. Not only that, but the injuries he had received would take up to a week to recover from!

Looks like Feng Chen will have to take over for Elder Song for a bit longer than he expected… Will he really be okay…?

Preforming a silent prayer for Feng Chen, Xuan Hao focused his attention on the black sludge that covered Elder Song from head to toe.

From a glance, the black sludge did not look special in any way, but after looking closely, Xuan Hao could clearly make out that several Spirit Grade Spiritual Herbs had been used in the making of the black sludge. Allowing him to understand that the medicine Elder Song had been trying to make clearly a potion made by an Expert Alchemist! Not only that, but a Peak Expert Alchemist!

"Now that you are on the topic, would you mind if I took a look at the medicine you are making for Song Jia? I'm quite skilled as an alchemist, so maybe I can help out?"

Feeling curious about the medicine in question, Elder Song's sudden alchemy skills and the reason why Song Jia needed the medicine, Xuan Hao could not stop himself from asking this as he waited for Elder Song's response.

"This…" Seeing Xuan Hao's expectant look, Elder Song was caught slightly off guard, as he didn't know how to answer. The fact that he had not asked the Alchemy Hall for help when it came to refining the medicine for Song Jia had to do with the origins of the medicine and the price one had to pay while making the medicine!

However, after thinking it over for a short moment, Elder Song realized that there was no reason to hide anything about the medicine in front of Xuan Hao. In the first place, he understood very well that he would not be able to refine the medicine by himself in time this time around with his current injuries…

"Haa… Actually, it's like this-"

Having decided to explain the medicine he was making for Song Jia to Xuan Hao in hope that he would help him make, Elder Song fully explained what the medicine in question actually was!

"-The medicine is not really something belonging to the normal branch of alchemy like you might have expected. Instead, it belongs to the demonic branch of alchemy! The medicine-"

Listening to Elder Song talk about the medicine he had been making for Song Jia, Xuan Hao could not help feeling shocked! Not because of the fact that it was a demonic medicine, but due to the price Elder Song paid every time he refined the demonic medicine for Song Jia! The price in question was his lifespan!

Every time he refined the medicine, he would lose 1 year of his natural lifespan! Even if this did not sound like much, Elder Song had done it over the past 12 years and had lost 12 years of his lifespan due to this!

The price in question was not something one would normally have to pay while refining the demonic medicine, but Elder Song was unwilling to sacrifice some innocent person to refine the medicine according to the recipe. For this reason, he had used a year of his own lifespan as a substitute for this!

Considering he had reached the Nascent Soul Realm; it did not sound like much. Especially when people in the Nascent Soul Realm could live for thousands of years… However, constantly drawing on his own lifespan had caused a backlash and he had ended up in his current situation. The reason for this, was that it was incredibly damaging to not only his body, but also his soul to forcibly extract his own lifespan!This chapter was first shared on the Ñøvlß1n platform.

Not to mention, he had done it so many times.

Xuan Hao could not help feeling a wave of shock go through him after realizing this. After all, Elder Song should have been incredibly exhausted and weak due to constantly draining his own lifespan… But even with all this, he had never seen Elder Song exhausted before!

Not only had he never seen him being exhausted before, but Elder Song was always the one to do the most work in the Flying Sword Sect! Even now, he was doing his best to help refine medicine for Song Jia without anyone knowing just how much he was sacrificing to do this!

"Elder Song… Take a rest for now, I will go over the medicine and see if I can came up with a way to safely make it without having to sacrifice something to make it…" Letting out a soft sigh as he said this, Xuan Hao used his power to clean up the house and Elder Song before making the old man get some rest.

Over the years, Elder Song had always been giving his all to help him and the rest of the Flying Sword Sect out. Even if he had used demonic alchemy, Xuan Hao did not care about this at all. Especially considering the fact that he had been using his own lifespan to refine the medicine in question. This time around, he should be the one to help out Elder Song for once…

Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao quickly picked up the demonic medicine recipe laying on the floor before starting to read through it.

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