In the dark space, a figure flashed past at incredible speed.
When he arrived before a cavern embedded with fluorescent stones, the figure stopped and looked toward the entrance. Seeing the faint spiritual light mixed into the glow of the fluorescent stones, a nearly imperceptible hint of surprise appeared on the man’s handsome, cold face. Then he quickly became cautious again.
“Wuwu~~”
Beside the man, a demonic beast with black fur, resembling a leopard, let out a whining sound, as if urging him to hurry inside.
Ning Zhezou lowered his head and looked at the Nether Leopard beside him. In this cold, dark space, the Nether Leopard almost blended into its surroundings. Only its eyes, glowing in the darkness, contained a power that seemed to come from the netherworld itself, making one realise it was different from ordinary demonic beasts. It seemed as though, with the slightest carelessness, it could drag a person into the underworld.
He reached out and patted the Nether Leopard’s head, saying slowly, “No rush.”
Although the Nether Leopard was anxious, seeing his caution, it could only paw impatiently at the ground and endure.
Ning Zhezou tested the area for a while. After confirming that there was no danger inside the cavern, he finally led the Nether Leopard in.
The cavern was extremely deep and dozens of zhang high. Fluorescent stones were embedded high in the stone walls, and their cold, blue-green light illuminated the entire cavern. It also allowed him to clearly see the enormous fierce beast coiled deep inside. Its eyes were closed, as if it were asleep.
Suddenly seeing such a colossal creature, Ning Zhezou’s expression stiffened slightly, and he instinctively grew alert. Fortunately, he could sense that the beast no longer had any life aura. Even so, the powerful aura of a high-level demonic beast still lingering around its corpse was enough to make one’s heart tremble. No one would dare share the same space with it lightly.
For it to still possess such a terrifying aura after death showed just how powerful it had been when alive.
This was the corpse of a king-level demonic beast that had at least cultivated to the transformation stage, equivalent to a cultivator above the Yuan Emperor Realm.
Although he did not know how many years it had been dead, its corpse was preserved extremely well. Every strand of fur on its body was like a sharp bristle, without the slightest sign of decay. Its demonic bones had condensed all of its cultivation and were incomparably hard.
The Nether Leopard once again let out an urging whine. Its gaze toward the fierce beast’s corpse was filled with intense desire, but also a few traces of fear.
Ning Zhezou soothed it. “No rush. It’s yours.”
With that, he stepped forward and collected the fierce beast’s corpse. A demonic beast’s entire body was treasure. Even after death, it could not be underestimated, especially a high-level demonic beast that had already reached transformation.
Just as he stored it in his storage pouch, Ning Zhezou swiftly turned around, held his sword horizontally before him, and shouted, “Who’s there?”
The Nether Leopard reacted extremely quickly. Like a ghostly shadow, it crouched in the darkness. Its figure disappeared, yet it seemed to be everywhere at once, already locking onto the intruder outside the cavern.
A figure appeared before the cavern.
The newcomer was a handsome man dressed in a pale-blue brocade robe. His brows were elegant and his eyes handsome; his hair was bound with a jade crown, and a green jade forehead ornament rested against his brow. A jade flute hung at his waist, and his bearing was extraordinary. His expression was indifferent, and the way he looked at Ning Zhezou carried a hint of appraisal and casual arrogance, along with the aura of someone long accustomed to being above others. He was not someone a small place could raise.
Ning Zhezou’s gaze sharpened slightly. In an instant, he understood that this person was not a cultivator from Dongling Kingdom.
He was relatively familiar with the younger generation of cultivators in Dongling, yet he had never seen this person before. In addition, after entering Lin Tai Hunting Valley, several Dongling cultivators had been killed. He had already realised that during this opening of Lin Tai Hunting Valley, many outside cultivators had mixed in.
These outside cultivators had fairly high cultivation, and their purpose was unknown. They had not come to Lin Tai Hunting Valley for training or treasure-hunting. Some even seemed to look down on the resources here. Since many cultivators had died at their hands, it made one suspect that they had come here simply to kill people for amusement.
As a disciple of Dongling’s imperial clan, Ning Zhezou naturally had a responsibility to protect Dongling’s cultivators. He had happened to encounter a few outside cultivators clashing with Dongling cultivators and had intended to intervene. Unexpectedly, a cave residence had suddenly appeared, and everyone had rushed here, leaving him no time to act or question those outsiders about their purpose.
The newcomer studied him for a moment, then said in an extremely certain tone, “Ning Zhezou of Dongling’s Ning clan.”
Ning Zhezou looked at him calmly and asked, “And you are, senior?”
“Sacred Martial Hall, Yin Xingheng.”
Ning Zhezou’s expression shifted slightly. Stormy waves rose in his heart, and a few traces of it unconsciously showed on his face.
A faint smile appeared on Yin Xingheng’s face. “I believe you should have heard of Sacred Martial Hall. This time, we Sons of Shengwu have come to Dongling to search for the Chosen One.”
Ning Zhezou was not foolish. He instantly understood his meaning and said, “I am one of the candidates for the Chosen One?”
“Precisely.”
Ning Zhezou looked at him with an uncertain expression and remained silent for a long time.
——
Wind swept across the ground, making a low, lingering murmur beside his ears.
“Your Highness, Your Highness…”
Ning Yuzhou slowly opened his eyes. Pain came crashing over him along with consciousness, making him clearly feel as though nearly every bone in his body had been shattered. Yet apart from the pain, there was another unfamiliar sensation.
He could finally sense the primordial spiritual energy that existed everywhere in the air.
Seeing that he had awakened, Qian Shou finally let out a breath of relief. He quickly took out several spirit pills and fed them to him, among them a Bone-Mending Pill.
Falling from tens of thousands of zhang high, Ning Yuzhou, as a mortal with no cultivation, was lucky to have only broken bones. If it had been worse, he would have died.
Enduring the pain of his bones growing and reshaping, like ten thousand ants gnawing at them, Ning Yuzhou asked hoarsely, “Have you seen Ah Qiao?”
Qian Shou paused and did not speak.
A bad premonition rose in Ning Yuzhou’s heart. His voice sharpened. “Where is Ah Qiao?”
Qian Shou glanced at him and said with difficulty, “Madam… is dead.”
“Impossible!” Ning Yuzhou said. The next moment, he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and his already pale face turned ashen.
Qian Shou looked at him nervously and quickly fed him several more spirit pills. Choosing his words carefully, he said, “Your Highness, this subordinate has not lied to you. When we found you both, you still had a few traces of breath left. But Madam’s injuries were too severe, and after falling from above, her body could not withstand it. She was already… completely without vitality.”
At this point, Qian Shou could not bear to look at his expression.
Ning Yuzhou lay on the ground, his lifeless eyes staring up at the dark dome overhead that could not be seen through.
Qian Shou looked at him worriedly. A few days ago, after they entered the light gate, they had not expected the teleportation array behind it to be a random teleportation array, scattering everyone apart. They had wandered through the maze for a long time without finding a way out. Later, for some unknown reason, the maze suddenly collapsed, and a vast dark space appeared below. All of them had fallen from the maze.
Fortunately, they were all cultivators. Although they had fallen from tens of thousands of zhang high and looked somewhat battered and injured, their lives were not in danger.
After the Shadow Scaled Guards gathered together, they hurriedly searched for Ning Yuzhou by following the contract-sense between them. They never expected that when they found him, one of the two would be dead and the other injured.
As for Wen Qiao, this new madam, Qian Shou had only interacted with her for half a month. In his impression, she was a sickly, cold, quiet little girl who looked delicate and weak, as if she needed protection. Although he did not know why his master had brought someone with little combat strength, and who needed protection, into Lin Tai Hunting Valley, he could see that his master valued her deeply. He had even spared no effort to regulate her body and arrange a cultivation plan for her. Everything he did seemed to revolve around her. Even this trip into Lin Tai Hunting Valley had been for her sake.
When had Qian Shou ever seen his master care so much about one person? So he knew his master liked this wife, to whom he had been betrothed since childhood.
But now Madam was dead.
After an unknown length of time, Ning Yuzhou spoke hoarsely. “Where is her body?”
Qian Shou returned to his senses and hurriedly replied, “It was taken by a demonic beast that looked like a rabbit.”
Ning Yuzhou turned his head to look at him. The expression in his eyes was faint, yet it made Qian Shou’s back turn cold. He could only brace himself and say, “This subordinate is incompetent. I don’t know where that demonic beast came from. It was extremely fast, and its strength was unimaginably great. While this subordinate was saving you, it dragged Madam’s remains away. This subordinate has already sent the other Shadow Scaled Guards to search.”
Ning Yuzhou said nothing. He continued lying on the ground. The clothes on his body were torn and tattered, stained all over with blood—both his and Wen Qiao’s.
Qian Shou guarded him. Seeing that he did not speak, he did not dare open his mouth rashly.
The surroundings were very quiet. Only the low sound of wind echoed, whimpering like sobs. From the distance, the faint murmur of flowing water could be heard.
This was an underground space, and it was extremely vast. Not only was there an underground river, there were also many caverns. Some demonic beasts inhabited this place, and there were rare spiritual herbs of extremely high grade, difficult to see outside.
This was clearly beneath that cave residence. Judging from the environment, Qian Shou guessed that this was the place where the owner of the cave residence usually moved about.
From this, one could also guess that the owner of the cave residence was likely a transformed demonic cultivator. The maze above was a place the demonic cultivator had used to deceive the world; this was the true cave residence. As for why the cave residence had suddenly appeared and caused such a huge commotion, there was not enough information gathered at this stage to analyse it.
Just as Qian Shou was analysing the underground space, he suddenly sensed the movement of heaven-and-earth primordial spiritual energy. It was surging madly toward this place.
He turned his head in shock and looked at the person lying motionless on the ground.
At some unknown point, Ning Yuzhou had closed his eyes, allowing the heaven-and-earth primordial spiritual energy to pour wildly into his body. The aura around him was changing as well.
As if some kind of shackle had been broken, Ning Yuzhou changed from a mortal incapable of cultivation into a cultivator entering the path.
Not long after, Ning Yuzhou opened his eyes and slowly sat up.
Although his injuries were extremely severe, in the instant he became a cultivator, the heaven-and-earth primordial spiritual energy changed his flesh and bones, nourishing his injured organs and shattered bones. The wounds on his body healed at an astonishing speed.
Qian Shou stared at him in shock. “Your Highness…”
Ning Yuzhou said faintly, “The confinement within my body has been broken. I can cultivate now.”
When he said this, his tone was calm and indifferent, as if it were an ordinary matter, without the slightest trace of wild joy.
“How could this be?” Qian Shou did not know whether this situation was good or bad, and said worriedly, “Wasn’t it said that only after Your Highness reached adulthood could that seal be broken…”
There was clearly still one year left. Why had the seal broken early? Was it because his injuries this time were too severe? Or was there something in this cave residence capable of breaking the seal?
“No,” Ning Yuzhou said softly. One hand moved to cover his chest, his expression complicated. “It was Ah Qiao’s blood.”
Qian Shou let out an “ah” and looked at him blankly, not understanding. He suspected he had misheard.
**Nomad: This will now be updated twice a week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays until said otherwise. It will post at 6:00am GMT + chapter number. So chapter 24 will post at 6:00 + 24 so 6:24. The next/previous might be a bit messed up so its best to go to the contents page and navigate through there until I fix it which is usually within a day or 2**
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