Chapter 234 - 227: News from the Outside World

Chapter 234: Chapter 227: News from the Outside World

After killing the Sand Worm, Jiang Zuo immediately collected the blood from its corpse and offered it to the Desolate Heaven Beast Bone Armor.

’90 Beast Soul Power, nice!’

After collecting the blood, Jiang Zuo also dug out a small Inner Core from within.

Jiang Zuo didn’t let the rest of the corpse go to waste, storing it in his Pet Beast Spirit Garden to give his Spirit Beasts an extra meal.

Unsure which direction to go, Jiang Zuo simply created a Blood Qi Avatar so they could split up and search.

However, it wasn’t long before both Jiang Zuo and his Blood Qi Avatar encountered more Demon Beasts one after another.

The Blood Qi Avatar even ran into a fourth-rank Sand Worm, while Jiang Zuo’s was only third-rank.

The Blood Qi Avatar tried to bypass it, but before it got far, it ran into another Sand Worm—also fourth-rank.

The sheer number of Demon Beasts in a Secret Realm that only appeared once every five thousand years was staggering.

Soon, the Blood Qi Avatar was swarmed by several fourth-rank Sand Worms and ultimately destroyed.

Seeing this, Jiang Zuo gave up on the idea of using a Blood Qi Avatar to scout the path.

As Sand Worms emerged one after another along the way, Jiang Zuo simply killed his way forward.

Regardless of whether they were third or fourth-rank, Jiang Zuo didn’t even need to use his Spiritual Power. He could kill one with a single hand.

Jiang Zuo stored all the corpses in his Pet Beast Spirit Garden. Whatever his Spirit Beasts couldn’t eat could be used for compost.

As for fourth-rank Inner Cores, his collection steadily grew.

’Anyone without the strength of the Three Flowers Realm would be walking to their death by coming to this Talismanic Daoist Holy Land.’

Jiang Zuo casually mused to himself as he continued to slaughter Sand Worms.

However, after he had killed a great many of them, no more Sand Worms appeared.

It seemed the noise had drawn them all to him, and Jiang Zuo had slaughtered every last one.

With the path much clearer, Jiang Zuo picked up his pace.

After walking for some time, Jiang Zuo suddenly saw a signal flare shoot into the sky ahead and to his right.

After a moment’s thought, Jiang Zuo headed toward the signal.

Soon, Jiang Zuo saw a swarm of third and fourth-rank Sand Worms gathered in a circle.

In the center of the swarm was a miniature Array.

A young female cultivator was trembling inside it.

The Array was projecting a miniature Light Shield, holding the Sand Worms at bay.

But it was being besieged by a huge number of Sand Worms, including three or four at the fourth rank.

As powerful as the miniature Array was, it looked as if it wouldn’t be able to withstand their assault for much longer.

"Senior Brother, please save me! I’m a disciple of the Spirit Seal Sect! If we can get to the Celestial Talisman Inquiry Sect, I can definitely be of use to you!"

Seeing Jiang Zuo, the female cultivator shouted frantically, as if clutching at a lifeline.

’A disciple of the Spirit Seal Sect?’

Jiang Zuo was a little surprised.

Jiang Zuo had a favorable impression of the Spirit Seal Sect. After all, if Yu Subai hadn’t come to warn them over two years ago, the Black Tortoise Dao Sect would have suffered devastating casualties.

Seeing that the Array wouldn’t hold much longer, Jiang Zuo strode forward.

"Senior Brother, be careful! There are four fourth-rank Demon Beasts here!"

The female cultivator was overjoyed that Jiang Zuo was willing to save her.

But when he seemed to not understand how dangerous these Sand Worms were, she hastily warned him.

But before she could finish, she froze in shock.

Jiang Zuo made no attempt to hide his power. He walked over and crushed the third and fourth-rank Sand Worms as easily as if they were ants.

After crushing them, he casually collected their corpses.

It looked as if Jiang Zuo had simply walked over and picked up the ferocious-looking Demon Beasts one by one.

In the blink of an eye, the twenty-odd Sand Worms surrounding the female cultivator had vanished without a trace.

The female cultivator from the Spirit Seal Sect couldn’t help but wonder if she had even been in danger just moments before.

"Thank you for saving my life, Senior Brother. I am Gongyun Pill of the Spirit Seal Sect. May I ask your name?"

Gongyun Pill snapped out of her daze, realizing she’d been incredibly lucky to run into such a heaven-defyingly powerful expert.

’Still, how could I have no recollection of such a powerful male cultivator?’

"Just call me Brother Zhou."

Jiang Zuo replied casually.

’Since Gongyun Pill doesn’t recognize me, it’s better to keep things simple.’

"Alright, Brother Zhou."

Gongyun Pill didn’t press the issue. Powerful cultivators often had eccentric personalities, so it wasn’t strange for one to conceal their name.

"Junior Sister Gong, do you know which way the Celestial Talisman Inquiry Sect is?"

Jiang Zuo asked without much expectation.

"I do! My Senior Sister, Bu Yuehua, is also in this Secret Realm, and she has a way to sense the location of the Celestial Talisman Inquiry Sect."

"I have a Talisman that can sense her location, so we just need to head in her direction."

Gongyun Pill replied immediately.

Her Cultivation was relatively weak, so she had made many preparations before entering the Secret Realm.

She never expected that upon entering, she’d not only be separated from the other disciples of her sect, but also be surrounded by so many Demon Beasts.

She had barely been running for a short while before she had exhausted nearly all of her life-saving measures.

If she hadn’t run into Jiang Zuo, she would have met her end here.

"Then let’s go find her."

Jiang Zuo nodded.

Jiang Zuo wasn’t surprised that Bu Yuehua had also entered the Secret Realm.

Given her talent with Talismans, it would have been stranger if she hadn’t come.

Following the Talisman’s guidance, Gongyun Pill traveled with Jiang Zuo, heading forward and to the left.

Along the way, Jiang Zuo used the excuse of having been in seclusion for the past two or three years to ask about recent events in the outside world.

Seeing Jiang Zuo’s incredible strength—killing a Demon Beast with a single hand—Gongyun Pill didn’t doubt his words in the slightest.

’Who else but a reclusive cultivation fanatic could possess such terrifying strength?’

From Gongyun Pill, Jiang Zuo soon learned of the major events that had transpired in the Cultivation Realm over the past two or three years.

Two or three years was but the blink of an eye in the Cultivation Realm.

Thus, the single greatest event was the Demon Race’s invasion of the Black Tortoise Dao Sect and their subsequent declaration of war against the human race.

However, due to the Celestial Eye Black Pupil and the inexplicable spatial collapse that followed, seven Demon Race Venerables ended up being swept into a spatial rift.

Six months passed before four of the seven Demon Race Venerables managed to return to their domain.

Three of them were severely injured, and one had lost an arm.

The other three were never heard from again. It was widely believed they had perished in the chaotic spatial currents.

The war between the two races had yet to truly begin, and the Demon Race had already suffered an unprecedented, crippling blow.

To put it in perspective, in past wars, inflicting such a loss on the Demon Race would have required countless major battles and the sacrifice of innumerable cultivators.

For this reason, the war between the races was all thunder and no rain. After their declaration, the Demon Race’s grand army made no move whatsoever.

For a time, the Nine Nether Demon Venerable became a laughingstock among both humans and demons.

Jiang Zuo listened in silence.

’I never expected that simply destroying that Pocket World Spirit Treasure would lead to such consequences.’

’Half of the seven Demon Venerables were lost in one fell swoop, and I personally killed one of them, the Golden Wolf Demon Venerable.’

Gongyun Pill also mentioned what had become of the Black Tortoise Dao Sect.

The Black Tortoise Dao Sect had been severely damaged in the spatial collapse. Its sixth-rank Sect Protection Array was utterly destroyed.

However, after confirming the seven Demon Race Venerables had been swept into the spatial collapse and the remaining demons had retreated, Sect Leader Gu Yunkui led the disciples of the Black Tortoise Dao Sect back to their home to begin rebuilding.

Disciples who had fled on their own also rushed back one after another.

Although the Black Tortoise Dao Sect had suffered grievous losses during the demon invasion and lost its all-important Sect Protection Array, the sect had no better alternative.

In the Cultivation Realm, every desirable spot was already taken. Any land with even slightly dense Spiritual Qi had long been claimed.

With so many disciples, the Black Tortoise Dao Sect couldn’t possibly find another place to relocate; their only option was to rebuild.

If they truly wanted to find an unclaimed Spirit Vein, their only option would be to venture into some unknown Forbidden Land and pioneer it themselves.

However, even without their Sect Protection Array, they at least still had Gu Yunkui, a great cultivator at the Manifestation realm.

As long as the Demon Race didn’t invade again, life at the Black Tortoise Dao Sect wouldn’t be too different from how it was before.

Jiang Zuo breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Beyond that, because of the Nine Nether Demon Race’s declaration of war, the major sects of the Cultivation Realm had begun making their own preparations for the impending conflict.

The atmosphere in the major sects had suddenly grown much more grim than before.

Jiang Zuo knew the actual situation was probably far more complicated.

But that wasn’t something Gongyun Pill would know, and Jiang Zuo wasn’t particularly concerned about it anyway.

Just as Gongyun Pill was finishing her story, the two of them finally spotted a massive stone stele in the distance.

The Celestial Talisman Inquiry Stele!

The sight of the stele lifted both of their spirits.

Gongyun Pill, in particular, felt like she could cry.

Even though she had just been following Jiang Zuo and hadn’t had to lift a finger, she felt the journey had been unbelievably arduous.

If she hadn’t been lucky enough to meet Jiang Zuo, she would have died several times over on the road here.

However, they celebrated a little too soon.

A Chameleon Lizard, having lain in wait for some time, suddenly lunged out from the side.

But Jiang Zuo sensed it the instant it moved.

The Chameleon Lizard was a fourth-rank Demon Beast.

While it was lurking, not even Jiang Zuo’s Divine Sense could detect it.

’The Demon Race?’

Jiang Zuo pulled Gongyun Pill to the side and faced the Chameleon Lizard.

Unlike the Sand Worms he had encountered earlier, which had attacked him and Gongyun Pill on pure instinct, this Chameleon Lizard radiated palpable hostility and Killing Intent.

’It seems a great war between the two races is inevitable, sooner or later.’

The Demon Race was not suited to the Learning of talismans. Their only purpose in entering this place was to eliminate as many of the human cultivators within the Secret Realm as possible.

If they could kill a large number of these cultivators, all of whom had considerable skill with talismans, the human race’s advantage in a future war would be significantly diminished.

It was a good plan on the Demon Race’s part. Unfortunately for them, they had run into Jiang Zuo.

The fourth-rank Chameleon Lizard was undoubtedly powerful.

However, at Jiang Zuo’s hands, it was still captured in a single move.

If it had attacked Jiang Zuo with a Divine Weapon, things might have been different.

But a purely physical attacker like this was just serving itself up on a platter.

It could be said that Jiang Zuo’s physical body was the perfect counter to such creatures.

He crushed it, collected the corpse, and it was as if the Chameleon Lizard had never even been there.

Gongyun Pill had been terrified, but watching the Chameleon Lizard seemingly leap into Jiang Zuo’s hands only to die, she was rendered speechless.

’This Brother Zhou... he’s simply unreal!’

’Unimaginably powerful!’

After the Chameleon Lizard, the pair faced no further attacks.

The number of cultivators in the vicinity began to increase dramatically.

However, every one of them was rushing toward the Celestial Talisman Inquiry Stele with a feverish look in their eyes, paying no mind to anyone else.

"Brother Zhou, I’ve made contact with Senior Sister Bu and the others! Do you want to come with me?"

Gongyun Pill said, pleasantly surprised.

"No, I’m not fond of crowds. The Celestial Talisman Inquiry Sect is right ahead, so you should be safe for now. Let’s part ways here."

Jiang Zuo said, and without giving Gongyun Pill a chance to respond, his figure flickered and vanished from her sight.