I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

Chapter 348 Slaying the Demonic Flood Dragon! The Four Great Rogue Cultivators of the Great Jin Dynasty!

"Perhaps, a hundred years from now, when I plan to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, I will try to get a few Demon Essence Pills."

Zhou Yuan picked up his teacup, took a sip of the spiritual tea, and said with a smile.

His tone was calm, yet it carried a powerful confidence, as if reaching the Nascent Soul stage was only a matter of time for him.

Upon hearing this, Xiang Zhili's eyes flashed with admiration, and he laughed heartily, "Excellent! With Fellow Daoist Zhou's talent and accumulated experience, breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage within a hundred years is indeed a great possibility!"

"If needed, I can introduce you to Old Demon Hu. Although that old fellow has an eccentric temper, he will still give me some face. Getting you a few Demon Essence Pills shouldn't be a problem."

"Then I, Zhou, will thank you in advance, Fellow Daoist Xiang." Zhou Yuan cupped his hands in thanks.

The three then enjoyed tea and discussed philosophy, exchanging insights on cultivation and their understanding of the laws of heaven and earth.

Although Zhou Yuan's cultivation was still at the Nascent Soul stage, he was very knowledgeable and his many views were refreshing to Xiang Zhili and Feng Laoguai, who were secretly amazed.

Zhou Yuan also benefited greatly from the two Nascent Soul cultivators' experiences and precautions regarding the breakthrough to Nascent Soul.

Before we knew it, the sun had set.

The three of them then reluctantly ended their meeting and went their separate ways.

After bowing to the two Nascent Soul cultivators to bid them farewell, Zhou Yuan left Mount Silent Extinction alone, transforming into a pale golden stream of light.

A few days later, Zhou Yuan appeared on the coastline of Huayun Prefecture in the eastern part of the Great Jin Dynasty.

He hovered high in the sky, gazing at the boundless, surging blue sea before him, the sea breeze carrying a salty, fishy smell.

His arrival here was not without purpose.

About a year or two ago, he heard some news:

A group of vicious dragons migrated from an unknown place to the coastal area of ​​Huayun Prefecture.

There are at least a dozen of them!

Among them were even two dragons that had reached level eight and were already able to transform into human form!

These vicious dragons are cruel and powerful. They frequently raid coastal towns and villages inhabited by cultivators and mortals, burning, killing, and looting, committing all sorts of evil deeds.

Moreover, they are extremely cunning. After each crime, they immediately flee into the vast ocean, making them difficult to catch.

-

A while ago, the largest sect in Huayun Prefecture, the "South Sea Sect," was so bothered by the dragons that they took the lead in organizing a grand "Dragon Slaying Conference." They gathered more than a dozen Nascent Soul cultivators and hundreds of Core Formation cultivators to form a huge dragon-slaying team that ventured deep into the outer sea, hoping to wipe out these scourges in one fell swoop and kill the dragons to obtain treasures.

However, the sea is vast and boundless.

Small islands are scattered throughout the landscape.

Those dragons were extremely cunning. The dragon-slaying team searched the outer sea for months and killed several seventh-level dragons, but they still failed to find the lair of the two eighth-level dragons.

On the contrary, one small team underestimated the strength of the dragon and was ambushed, suffering heavy losses, including the death of one of the Nascent Soul cultivators in the team.

Even now, those vicious dragons still occasionally come ashore and wreak havoc, causing widespread panic along the coast.

However, more and more Nascent Soul cultivators heard the news and rushed from all over the Great Jin Dynasty to provide support, vowing to completely annihilate this group of evil dragons.

Zhou Yuan was concerned about this matter because he had gathered most of the main materials for refining the replica of the Tongtian Lingbao "Three Flames Fan", but he was still missing some key materials, including the natal scales of a fire-attribute dragon!

This item is an excellent vessel for carrying fire-attribute spiritual power and is one of the core materials for crafting the Three Flames Fan's surface.

He originally planned that if he couldn't find suitable materials here, he would go to the Chaotic Star Sea, where the resources of demonic beasts were much richer.

But since we happened to run into each other, we just picked up the materials and saved ourselves the trouble of making another long trip.

"Hopefully I'll be lucky enough to encounter those two level-eight dragons soon."

Zhou Yuan muttered something to himself, then without further hesitation, his figure blurred, transforming into a pale golden streak of light, and plunged directly into the vast sea.

At the same time, his powerful divine sense, comparable to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator, spread outwards in all directions like an invisible radar, carefully scanning the seabed and every island encountered along the way.

The search in the sea lasted for about three days.

On this day, Zhou Yuan arrived at a relatively unfamiliar sea area.

His divine sense suddenly stirred, sensing that on a small island not far ahead, only a hundred miles in size, with lush vegetation but exuding a faint demonic aura, was the aura of the target he had been searching for!

He carefully concealed his presence, approaching the island stealthily like a ghost.

In his divine sense, two powerful demonic energies lurked on that small island; they were the two level-eight dragons!

Moreover, one of the demonic energies, burning hot like fire, was exactly the fire-attribute dragon he needed!

"Looks like I'm in luck." Zhou Yuan was delighted. Without the slightest hesitation, he revealed himself and landed above the small island, looking down at the scene below.

In the center of the island lies a deep, bottomless ravine, from which faint scents of blood and demonic energy emanate.

"Come out."

Zhou Yuan spoke, his voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable authority, like rolling thunder, echoing throughout the entire island.

As soon as the words were spoken, a deafening roar suddenly echoed from the deep ravine! Immediately afterwards, two enormous black shadows shot into the sky from the ravine!

Those were two terrifying dragons, each a thousand feet long!

A creature covered in azure scales, surrounded by swirling water vapor, was none other than the water-attribute dragon.

The other one was entirely crimson red, like charcoal, with magma flowing through the gaps in its scales, radiating scorching heat waves—it was the Crimson Fire Dragon of the fire attribute!

The two dragons circled in the air, their enormous bodies rapidly shrinking into two humanoid figures.

A man dressed in a blue robe had a cold expression, and some blue scales that had not completely faded remained on his face and arms.

The other person wore a long red robe, had a rugged face, and even had a pair of short dragon horns on his head. His skin was a crimson red and was also covered with fine red scales.

This is precisely the first stage characteristic of an eighth-level demon beast's transformation—it still retains obvious demonic features.

"Huh? A human cultivator at the late Nascent Soul stage has actually come knocking?"

The blue-robed dragon looked at Zhou Yuan, a hint of surprise flashing in its eyes, but not much fear. Instead, it grinned and revealed a sinister smile.

"It seems those human cultivators have truly been driven to desperation by our attacks; even late-stage cultivators have had to show themselves!"

"Haha! Big brother is right! He's just a late-stage cultivator! If the two of us brothers join forces, even if he's a late-stage cultivator, he can't take us down!"

The red-robed dragon laughed wildly, its eyes filled with bloodlust.

The dragon race is born with a strong physique and great supernatural powers, far surpassing human cultivators and ordinary demon beasts of the same level.

These two level-eight dragons believed that even if they were to face a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, and were unable to defeat him, they could still easily break through using their innate supernatural abilities and powerful physical bodies.

Therefore, although they were surprised by Zhou Yuan's cultivation level, they did not take him seriously.

Zhou Yuan looked at the two arrogant and domineering dragons in front of him with a calm expression and said indifferently, "If you voluntarily peel off a few scales and hand them over, I can spare your lives in consideration of your hard-won cultivation."

He was not a bloodthirsty person.

Now that these two dragons have taken human form, they can be considered sentient beings. He did not want to commit unnecessary killings.

However, upon hearing this, the two dragons seemed to find it the biggest joke in the world, and their laughter became even more rampant!

"Hahaha! Did I hear that right? He actually wants us to peel off the scales ourselves?!"

The red-robed dragon laughed so hard it bent over. "Do you know that every single scale of our dragons is infused with a vast amount of our essence and magical power? How could we possibly hand it over to a human cultivator?! Want scales? Dream on—"

"Stop wasting time talking to him! Attack him together!"

The blue-robed dragon was even more direct. With a fierce roar, it transformed into a beam of blue light, opened its blood-red maw, and spewed out a blue beam of light radiating extreme cold, shooting towards Zhou Yuan!

The red-robed dragon also attacked at the same time, opening its mouth to spew out a blazing crimson fireball that hurtled towards Zhou Yuan like a meteor!

"If you refuse a toast, you'll have to drink a penalty cup."

Seeing this, a cold glint flashed in Zhou Yuan's eyes. He would no longer hold back!

He didn't even use the Great Geng Sword Formation; he simply pointed his fingers like a sword and made a light slash at the blue pillar of light and the crimson fireball!

"laugh--!

""

A golden sword aura, refined to its utmost, sliced ​​the blue pillar of light and the crimson fireball in two as easily as cutting tofu!

Immediately afterwards, the golden sword energy continued its momentum, making an extremely agile turn in the air, as if it had a life of its own, and instantly appeared at the neck of the blue-robed dragon!

"Pfft!"

A soft sound.

A massive, incredulous dragon head shot into the sky! The headless dragon's corpse spewed blue blood several meters high before falling helplessly from the air!

One sword!

Instantly kill an eighth-level transformed dragon!

The sinister smile on the red-robed dragon's face froze instantly, replaced by boundless fear!

Before he could even entertain the thought of escaping, the golden sword energy flashed once more!

"Pfft!"

Another soft thud! His head followed suit and flew into the air!

The two level-eight transformed dragons that had been causing trouble in the outer seas and giving countless cultivators headaches were easily killed by Zhou Yuan before they could even last a single round!

Zhou Yuan waved his hand, pulling the corpses of the two dragons to his front.

He skillfully dissected the dragon's corpse, took out two fist-sized, spiritually rich, level-eight demon cores, and carefully peeled off the most precious scales from the fire-attribute Crimson Fire Dragon, one by one, and put them away properly.

As for the scales of the blue-robed dragon, although they were valuable, they weren't something he urgently needed, so he took them as well.

He also used a secret method to imprison the essence of the blue-robed dragon that had just left its body and had not yet completely dissipated, preparing to refine it into a new spirit-summoning talisman in the future.

Just as Zhou Yuan was concentrating on dealing with the corpses of the two dragons...

On the distant sea, a streak of light was rushing towards them at an extremely fast speed.

The speed of that escape light was extremely fast, clearly indicating that it belonged to a powerful cultivator in the late Nascent Soul stage.

Zhou Yuan was not surprised by this, because before he took action to slay the dragon, his powerful divine sense had already sensed a human cultivator nearby.

A moment later, the beam of light arrived above the island. The light faded, revealing a handsome man dressed in a blue robe.

A middle-aged scholar with a refined demeanor, holding a folding fan.

When the middle-aged scholar saw the two enormous, lifeless dragon corpses on the island, and Zhou Yuan skillfully dissecting them, a hint of longing and regret unconsciously appeared in his eyes.

Even for a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator like him, the demon core and materials of an eighth-level flood dragon were extremely precious treasures.

"My name is Yi Xitian, greetings, fellow Daoist."

The middle-aged scholar cupped his hands in greeting to Zhou Yuan and introduced himself, his tone carrying a hint of politeness and inquiry, "May I ask your name, fellow Daoist? I came overseas this time to find the demon core of an eighth-level flood dragon to refine an elixir for my Daoist partner who has encountered a cultivation mishap. I did not expect you to have preemptively killed those two monstrous beasts; your abilities are truly extraordinary!"

"Yi Xitian?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuan's heart stirred slightly. He vaguely recognized the name.

He appears to be one of the four great rogue cultivators of the Great Jin Dynasty, and is hailed as one of the two most promising cultivators to break through to the Nascent Soul stage in the next few hundred years.

The other person was Zen Master Biyue of the Jinghuo Sect.

I never expected to run into him here.

He raised his head, looked at Yi Xitian, and said calmly, "So it's Fellow Daoist Yi. I did indeed kill these two dragons. As for their demon cores—I have no shortage of them."

"However, if Fellow Daoist Yi can offer something that interests me in exchange, it's not impossible to discuss it."