Chapter 355: A Close Call, Elder, It's Just a Golden Core Cultivator in Pursuit
Chapter 355: A Close Call, Elder, It's Just a Golden Core Cultivator in Pursuit
At this moment, beneath the mountain range of the mine, a gray-robed elder with a Golden Core cultivation base appeared as soon as the bald elder's Nascent Soul departed.
Comparing the sizes of the mines, this one was larger than the one previously occupied by the Yin Demon Sect from the Purple Moon Sect.
However, as this mine had always been under the control of the Yin Demon Sect, it was relatively less dangerous.
Hence, the Yin Demon Sect's defense here was somewhat weaker.
It was precisely because of this that the bald elder, a Nascent Soul cultivator, would occasionally appear here.
When the gray-robed elder saw the bald elder, who had just left not long ago, returning now without his physical body, his expression changed drastically.
"Elder Cao? You lost your physical body?"
Hearing this, the bald elder's Nascent Soul replied impatiently, "Do I look like I still have my physical body?"
"Did a Nascent Soul cultivator from another sect come?" The gray-robed elder quickly changed the subject.
At the same time, his face also showed a hint of worry.
"Elder Cao, did they pursue you?"
"Rest assured, I used a secret technique to shake them off," the bald elder said, his eyes narrowing at the gray-robed elder.
"It won't be so easy for them to take your life."
Hearing the bald elder's words, the gray-robed elder's face turned awkward.
"Elder Cao, the fact that a Nascent Soul cultivator can force you to such an extent means we don't stand a chance against them. If they had pursued you here, I fear that the spirit stones we just mined..."
Hearing this, the bald elder waved his hand dismissively, "Alright, alright, no need to explain. The spirit stones are all in my storage bag, and nothing unexpected happened."
"That's good! That's nearly seventy percent of the spirit stones from this mine," the gray-robed elder sighed in relief upon hearing this.
The bald elder's Nascent Soul then sniffed and said, "My Nascent Soul just used a secret technique, so if it's not something important, don't disturb me."
With that, the bald elder's Nascent Soul flew directly into a courtyard.
It was only at this moment that the gray-robed elder's eyes widened in surprise.
"I wonder which sect's Nascent Soul cultivator it was that forced Elder Cao to destroy his physical body. Fortunately, they fought outside. If they had pursued him here and discovered this mine, we would probably be in great danger as well. However, since such a significant event has occurred, I should still report it to the sect."
With this thought in mind, the gray-robed elder took out a black crow from his waist-bound spirit beast bag.
He then attached a transmission talisman to the crow and threw it into the air, sending the crow on its way.
Just as the gray-robed elder was about to turn around and return to his own courtyard, his gaze was once again drawn upwards.
He looked towards the direction from which the bald elder had just flown and saw a beam of light rapidly approaching.
The speed of the incoming light beam startled the gray-robed elder.
"What's going on? Could it be the cultivator who was pursuing Elder Cao?"
Thinking of this, the gray-robed elder quickly flew towards the courtyard that the bald elder had just entered.
"Elder Cao, it's not good! There's a beam of light rapidly approaching us!" the gray-robed elder exclaimed.
Before the gray-robed elder could finish speaking, the bald elder's Nascent Soul rushed out of the courtyard, his face filled with terror as he looked up at the sky.
Within a hundred li, Chu Ning arrived in the blink of an eye and soon reached above the mountain range of the mine.
With the bald elder's Nascent Soul and the gray-robed elder's eyesight and spiritual sense, they could now clearly see Chu Ning.
At that moment, their expressions were completely different.
The bald elder's Nascent Soul was shocked.
The gray-robed elder, on the other hand, heaved a sigh of relief and turned to the bald elder's Nascent Soul, saying, "Elder Cao, it's just a Golden Core cultivator in pursuit."
However, before the gray-robed elder could finish speaking, his face and eyes were filled with astonishment.
At that moment, he saw the look of horror on the bald elder's Nascent Soul, as if he had seen a ghost.
Before he could ask what was wrong, he saw the bald elder's Nascent Soul flee in a panic.
"Why is Elder Cao so nervous? Even if it's a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, he's still a Nascent Soul cultivator. Why didn't he even bother to ask what's going on and just ran away?"
As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, the gray-robed elder sensed a powerful force appearing in the air.
Immediately afterward, a black light shot out, moving faster than the ear could hear, and headed straight for the bald elder's Nascent Soul.
Although this strike was not aimed at him, the power contained within it was enough to make his heart palpitate.
"What's going on now? Who is this Golden Core cultivator, and why are they attacking so abruptly?"
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the gray-robed elder's movements were not slow. He had already taken out a magical treasure from his storage bag.
At the same time, he shouted, "Defend against the enemy!"
However, as soon as he finished speaking, his expression changed drastically.
At that moment, a young woman appeared in the air, accompanied by two large golden eagles.
As soon as she appeared, the woman brought the two Golden Core cultivators with her and rushed towards the gray-robed elder.
The gray-robed elder was only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm.
Now, suddenly besieged by three opponents, all of whom were more powerful than him, his expression turned to extreme horror.
The gray-robed elder was terrified, and the bald elder was even more so. In fact, his Nascent Soul was also terrified.
Of course, his Nascent Soul was not without courage.
As this thought flashed through his mind, the bald elder's Nascent Soul's first instinct was to flee! But just then, a streak of pitch-black light shot towards him!
"Another ancient treasure?"
Upon sensing the power emanating from the black light, the bald elder felt utterly hopeless.
To think that a late-stage Golden Core cultivator possessed not one but two ancient treasures.
And with the Millennial Spirit Liquid to restore his spiritual power, how could he possibly stand a chance?
What was even more crucial was that this short, pitch-black dagger, enveloped in black light, was faster than the previous Yellow Court Seal.
In just the blink of an eye, it had already reached him.
While Chu Ning believed that the Yellow Court Seal was more powerful in terms of offensive might, the speed of this black dagger was undeniably superior!
"Who exactly are you?"
At this moment, as the bald elder sensed the overwhelming power bearing down on him, he couldn't help but cry out.
But the only response he received was the flash of black light! Immediately, the Nascent Soul let out a piercing shriek before it dissipated into nothingness in the air.
Thus, the newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator of the Yin Demon Sect met his demise, body and soul eradicated!
Only then did Chu Ning, who had been flying towards them, wave his hand, summoning the ancient treasure dagger and the storage bag that the bald elder had refused to let go of, into his grasp.
However, he couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
"There is indeed a difference between a Golden Core cultivator and a Nascent Soul cultivator. If not for the power of these two ancient treasures, even with the Five Elements Spirit Sword and various divine abilities in my possession, I might have only been able to drive him away, not kill him.
In battles between cultivators, treasures are indeed important, but one's cultivation realm is the foundation."
With the increasing number of treasures he had obtained recently, Chu Ning reminded himself not to forget what truly mattered.
On one side, Chu Ning easily dealt with the Nascent Soul cultivator with the might of the ancient treasures.
On the other side, Bai Ling and the two Golden Thunder Eagles surrounded the gray-robed early-stage Golden Core cultivator, leaving him utterly defenseless.
With three spiritual beasts, all stronger than him, the gray-robed elder didn't even have the chance to cast his spells before multiple attacks landed, ending his life.
It was only then that the other cultivators in the mine reacted and fled.
But when they witnessed the scene before them, their faces paled, and they turned to escape as well.
However, Chu Ning wasn't about to let them get away.
With the help of his three spiritual beasts, Chu Ning swiftly took care of all the cultivators present.
Only then did he open the storage bag that the bald elder had been holding onto so tightly.
"So many spirit stones!"
Chu Ning's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the abundance of spirit stones within the bag.
Though he didn't have the time to count them all, there were easily hundreds of thousands of low-grade spirit stones, and additionally, a small pile of medium-grade spirit stones, numbering close to ten thousand.
"So it seems that this person came here to collect spirit stones. Then, he must have sensed us using the bone boat and decided to intercept us. But now, all of this has fallen into my lap. From what I saw in the mine earlier, it seems that most of the spirit stones have been mined already.
With these spirit stones, it's as if I've taken away the entire spirit stone mine."
Chu Ning quickly surmised the situation and couldn't help but chuckle. This was indeed an unexpected windfall.
Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.
He had been thinking that the Purple Moon Sect would unlikely let the matter of the beast mountain go unchecked.
Even though he had destroyed all evidence, there was still a chance that the Purple Moon Sect cultivators might uncover something by investigating the line of the Yaochi Palace female cultivator.
Now, he had a rather ingenious plan in mind.
Immediately, Chu Ning took out another bone boat from his storage bag, along with the claw-shaped magical artifacts that belonged to the bald elder. He began to slash and chop the bone boat with the claws.
Though the bone boat was sturdy, these claws had been refined by a Nascent Soul cultivator, and even if Chu Ning couldn't unleash their full power, they were more than enough to reduce the boat to pieces.
Seeing Chu Ning's actions, Bai Ling asked curiously, "Master, what are you doing?"
"Creating a false scene to let the two demonic sects tear each other apart," Chu Ning replied.
As he spoke, he took out some of the magical artifacts and treasures he had obtained from the Purple Glory Sect cultivators he had killed earlier and proceeded to damage them as well, scattering them around the mine.
Chu Ning was aware that this staged scene was rather crude.
However, considering the previous rivalry between the Purple Moon Sect and the Yin Demon Sect over this mine, coupled with the heavy casualties both sects had suffered, it was inevitable that they would blame each other.
It was uncertain when or if the two sects would ever sit down to discuss the matter peacefully.
By that time, Chu Ning might have already led the group of Yaochi Palace female cultivators away from the East Saint Continent.
As he harvested the remaining spirit stones from the mine, Chu Ning explained his plan to Bai Ling.
Then, he recalled Bai Ling and the two golden thunder eagles into their spiritual beast bags and continued in the direction of Cen Zikin and the others.
(End of Chapter)
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