Mortal's Purple Sky Cave Heaven

Chapter 446 Old acquaintance
Seeing this, the giant tortoise-like beast let out a low roar, a hint of anthropomorphic contempt flashing in its eyes. With a flick of its dozen or so tentacles, it was about to turn into a black shadow once more.

Just as the two sides were about to engage in another fierce battle, the six people and one beast suddenly changed their expressions and almost simultaneously looked up at the high place.

Suddenly, a flash of green light appeared a hundred feet above the ground, and a flying shuttle, over thirty feet long with pointed ends, appeared out of thin air.

"What a powerful aura! A Heaven-Reaching Treasure!" The horse-faced old man scanned the flying shuttle with his divine sense and exclaimed with great joy.

"It's a Nascent Soul cultivator! We're saved!" The other four Nascent Soul cultivators were overjoyed, looking as if they had survived a calamity.

In their view, only seniors in the Integration Stage could possess a treasure of the Heavenly Treasure level!

"Strange. I feel like I've seen this flying shuttle somewhere before, but I can't quite remember where." The old man with narrow eyes was delighted, but his expression was also puzzled.

"Old ghost, have you actually seen a senior in the Integration Stage? A flying shuttle of the Heavenly Treasure level—no one in either the human or demon race has ever been known to possess such a flying treasure. How could you possibly have seen it? I reckon this flying shuttle was something this senior only recently acquired." The horse-faced old man said with an extremely relaxed smile, his eyes fixed on the emerald-green flying shuttle in the sky.

The old man with narrow eyes seemed not to hear, his aged face full of contemplation, still looking like he was deep in thought.

The giant tortoise seemed to sense that the flying shuttle in the air was not to be trifled with. With its considerable intelligence, its eyes darted around, but it did not attack rashly.

"A Void Refining stage Jia Yuan Turtle, its shell is quite a good material for refining weapons, and its inner core is also rare." Suddenly, a man's light laughter came from the flying shuttle.

Although the tortoise could not understand the language, it felt a chill run down its spine upon hearing the sound.

Without hesitation, it let out a low roar, and a thick, yellowish beam of light shot into the air. At the same time, more than a dozen tentacles on its back flew up and transformed into countless black shadows that rushed towards the flying shuttle.

After sensing an inexplicable premonition that its life was in danger, the beast suddenly went berserk.

Upon seeing the giant tortoise's astonishing attack, the six people below changed their expressions drastically. They hurriedly activated their treasures, which transformed into patches of light to protect their bodies, and quietly retreated a few steps.

A long laugh suddenly came from the emerald green shuttle in the air!
The next moment, a golden sword beam flashed out from it, and with a clear sword cry, it struck the yellow beam of light.

Upon contact, the seemingly powerful yellow beam of light was sliced ​​open as easily as tofu, and then shattered into specks of spiritual light by the sword's whirlwind, dissipating and disappearing.

Another sword beam, identical to the previous one, shot out and made contact with the large net formed by the black tentacles.

After a series of rapid clangs of metal clashing, a cloud of blood mist rose in the air, and the seemingly indestructible black tentacles were instantly cleaved into countless pieces, falling to the ground amidst a cloud of dust.

"Roar!" The giant tortoise let out a painful roar, its emerald eyes filled with fear. Immediately, its body emitted a bright yellow light, and it tried to burrow underground to escape.

But it's too late!

The golden sword light flew out again, this time as fast as lightning, and arrived at the top of the giant tortoise's head in a flash.

This strike happened in the blink of an eye!

Before the giant tortoise could react, the golden light pierced its crown, leaving its head a complete mess.

The yellow light on its body dimmed, and the massive body of the Armored Tortoise collapsed with a thud, never to make another sound.

With Nie Zhaonan's current cultivation level at the Void Refinement stage, upon seeing the sharpness of the Gengjin Divine Thunder Sword, even the sword light it unleashed was something that ancient beasts of the same level could not resist, let alone defend against.

The next moment, a ball of silver flame fell, and the body of the Armored Tortoise was engulfed in a thin layer of flame, turning to ashes in just a few breaths.

When the silver flame vanished into thin air, only a giant tortoise shell and an inner core the size of an egg remained, silently floating in mid-air.

Before the eyes of the six people, with a "whoosh," the two objects shot into the sky, shrinking as they flew, and finally disappeared into the emerald green shuttle.

The six Nascent Soul cultivators below were completely dumbfounded.

They had personally experienced the power of this Jia Yuan Turtle, which possessed the cultivation level of the Void Refinement stage, and had almost perished at its hands.

However, this senior did not even show his face, but simply released three sword beams and killed him cleanly and efficiently.

It's incredible!
"So this is the power of a Nascent Soul stage expert!" The man with the missing arm stared blankly into space, muttering to himself.

"Golden light? How come I've never heard of any sword cultivators in the Fusion Stage of the human and demon races who possessed such supernatural abilities?" The horse-faced old man was filled with doubt.

"Thank you for saving my life, senior. May I ask your honorable name? Are you perhaps a Saint-level being at the Integration Realm?" The woman's small eyes were filled with doubt and surprise, as if she had thought of something. She asked while expressing her gratitude.

"Fusion? I am still far from that realm. As for my name, it has only been a little over six hundred years since we last met. Has Senior Brother already forgotten me, Nie?" The man's voice rang out again from the flying shuttle.

The man with small eyes was none other than Nie Zhaonan's junior brother, Xiang Zhili.

The old man with the horse-like face was none other than Feng Laoguai, with whom he had a close relationship.

This time, the voice sounded strangely familiar to Xiang Zhili, who trembled and exclaimed:
"Junior Brother Nie, it really is you!"

He looked up in disbelief and, sure enough, saw a figure gradually appearing in front of the shuttle.

Dressed in a dark black robe, with a faint smile on his lips, who else could it be but Nie Zhaonan?

"Fellow Daoist Nie, it really is you!" Upon seeing Nie Zhaonan's face clearly, Old Monster Feng, who had met him once before, exclaimed in disbelief.

The other four Nascent Soul cultivators, two men and two women, looked puzzled. How could their two captains know this senior, and even seem to have a close relationship with him?

“Senior Brother Xiang, fellow Daoists are also returning to Tianyuan City, right? Your injuries are quite severe, and you can't possibly travel long distances. Please rest and recuperate quietly on the flying shuttle. I also need to return to the human territory.” Nie Zhaonan glanced around and smiled faintly. “Thank you for your great kindness, Senior!”

"Junior, please obey!"

Xiang Zhili's expression was complicated and unreadable, and he remained silent for a moment. After expressing their gratitude, the others flew to the deck of the flying shuttle in a flash of light.

Nie Zhaonan raised his hand, and two silver magic spells shot out, disappearing into the flying shuttle in a flash.

Instantly, the runes on the surface of the Azure Shuttle churned, and then in a flash, it transformed into a ball of azure light and shot towards the horizon.

"Junior Brother Nie, is it really you! Your current cultivation level?" After a while, Xiang Zhili murmured again, his tone full of disbelief.

"It is indeed me, Nie. As for my cultivation level, I just entered the Void Refinement stage several decades ago," Nie Zhaonan replied with a faint smile.

"Senior Nie's strength is far too formidable. You killed the Armored Tortoise so easily. I thought you were a Nascent Soul cultivator." Old Monster Feng stared at Nie Zhaonan for a long while, his expression changing, before finally speaking respectfully.

“Fellow Daoist Feng, you and Senior Brother Xiang are old acquaintances of mine. Since we have met again in the Spirit Realm, please address me as ‘fellow Daoist.’ Reaching the Integration Realm is still a long way off. It is truly remarkable that you two have been able to break through your bottlenecks one after another in such a short time and reach your current late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation.” Nie Zhaonan said with a smile, his tone calm.

“Our cultivation speed is nothing special, but Junior Brother Nie’s progress is astonishing. If I remember correctly, he is only over eight hundred years old and has already become a Void Refinement cultivator. Such a cultivation speed is unprecedented in the records of both our human and demon races. What puzzles me is, how come Junior Brother is outside the human race’s territory?” Xiang Zhili was silent for a while before asking the question he wanted to know.

Even if they smuggled themselves into the Spirit Realm through spatial nodes, even if they didn't appear directly at the Flying Immortal Platform in Tianyuan City, they should still have appeared within the human race's territory.

Unlike his junior brother Nie, who actually appeared directly in the fierce and desolate land.

"A hundred years after you entered the spatial node, I also left the human realm. However, I encountered some accidents in the void outside the realm and ended up elsewhere. But I was also quite lucky, and it was by chance that I became a disciple of a powerful cultivator in the Integration stage. With his guidance, I was able to advance to the Refinement stage so quickly." Nie Zhaonan said simply, naturally not revealing some important details.

"So that's how it is. Being accepted as a disciple by a Nascent Soul stage expert, Junior Brother Nie is truly fortunate!" Xiang Zhili said with envy in his eyes.

Having stayed in the mortal realm for too long, even with successive advancements that increased his lifespan, he still has very little lifespan left, making it hopeless for him to break through the major bottleneck of Void Refinement.

Thus, in order to seize that sliver of immortality, he had no choice but to join forces with Old Monster Feng, along with a group of Nascent Soul stage members, to venture deep into this desolate wilderness, risking their lives in search of such an opportunity.

“Although Xiang Laogui and I are ascended cultivators with good potential, it’s not as easy for us to be accepted as disciples by a Nascent Soul cultivator as it is for Fellow Daoist Nie. Besides needing some good fortune, we also need to have at least the cultivation level of the Void Refinement stage. After all, the Void Refinement stage is considered to have a long lifespan. As long as we are strong enough, we can easily cope with one great tribulation after another and live for tens of thousands of years. This is also a considerable help to a Nascent Soul cultivator.” Feng Laoguai shook his head and said with a slightly darkened expression.

He and Xiang Laogui are now no different from those cultivators who have exhausted their potential. In the eyes of Nascent Soul cultivators, there is no need to cultivate them. They can only turn their lives around after successfully advancing to the Void Refinement stage.

"Who can predict the future? The fact that you two were able to break through to the Nascent Soul stage in a place as spiritually scarce as the mortal realm shows that your potential is far greater than that of ordinary ascended cultivators." Hearing their words, Nie Zhaonan's expression changed, and he also offered words of comfort.

"Hehehe, I hope so." Xiang Zhili and Feng Laoguai exchanged a glance and said with a helpless smile.

"By the way, I haven't asked about your experiences yet. Although I haven't returned to the human race, I'm still very interested in the situation there. Could you two tell me about it?" Nie Zhaonan suddenly remembered something and asked with a slightly curious expression.

The old man with the horse-like face let out a long sigh and gave a bitter smile:
"We two have no experience. After joining forces to withstand the storm in the void, as we approached the spirit realm, we were naturally guided by the Flying Immortal Platform and appeared in Tianyuan City."

"Because we are ascended cultivators, we carry a strong aura of another world. We have no choice but to serve as Azure Guards in order to obtain the Extinction Pill to temporarily eliminate this aura. Otherwise, we would perish under the two-colored lightning tribulation."

"Now, several hundred years have passed. Apart from carrying out missions, we have been desperately searching for opportunities in this wilderness. As for the human and demon races, the three realms and seven lands, we two have not had the opportunity to set foot there yet. We have only read some records in the ancient books."

To be honest, it's nowhere near as carefree as it is in the human world.

Fearing that Nie Zhaonan might not know about Tianyuan City, Xiang Zhili continued enthusiastically:

"We ascended cultivators usually carry out the most dangerous missions in Tianyuan City. On two occasions, we encountered powerful enemies, and I was seriously injured both times, and several team members also perished."

"However, Junior Brother is a Void Refinement cultivator, so he is naturally different from us and should be able to directly assume the position of Golden Armor Heavenly Guard. With Junior Brother's terrifying strength of annihilating his peers invisibly with a flick of his wrist, the only people we need to be wary of in Tianyuan City are the Integration Stage elders of the Elder Council. However, Integration Stage elders are elusive and rarely seen, and they don't really get involved in anything."

"Tianwei is a pillar of Tianyuan City and wields considerable power, so Junior Brother Nie has nothing to fear in Tianyuan City. I humbly request that you help us in any way you can. Of course, we will follow your lead."

Finally, Xiang Zhili put on a fawning smile on his smooth face.

"I, Feng, share the same sentiment as Old Ghost Xiang. If Fellow Daoist Nie needs anything, please let me know as soon as possible." The horse-faced old man was an exceptionally decisive person, and he spoke without hesitation.

After all, they had witnessed Nie Zhaonan's strength firsthand, and given their previous relationship, it wasn't unacceptable for them to obey his orders.

“Since you two have said so, I naturally won’t refuse.” Nie Zhaonan nodded and agreed.

Upon hearing this, Xiang Zhili's face lit up with even greater joy. This meant that they now had a powerful backer in Tianyuan City, which would make things much easier for them in the future.

Suddenly, his expression changed, as if he had thought of something, and he spoke up:

"By the way, Junior Brother, you have many Daoist partners in the mortal realm. Do you need us to inquire about the news of your partners ascending to the Spirit Realm?"

Nie Zhao's expression was somewhat strange, and then he said without hiding anything:
"There's no need to trouble you with this, Senior Brother. All my fellow Daoists are already on this flying shuttle, without exception."

The women had already broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, so they naturally couldn't suddenly appear in the True Dragon Realm. But returning to the human race now was a good opportunity.

Although the spiritual energy has become increasingly pure and abundant due to the setting up of the Myriad Wood Array, making it an excellent cultivation sanctuary, we can't let the women stay in the Purple Cloud Cave forever.

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(End of this chapter)