Chapter 2044 - 2034: Black Cloud Stone Bead

Lin Tian made his move, far too suddenly!

As swift as thunder!

The Evil Cloud Sect and Tianhua Palace disciples guarding the entrance were sent flying like sandbags.

The two of them slammed brutally into the cliff face, blood spurting wildly from their mouths, and passed out the moment they hit the ground.

Hua Donghuang froze on the spot.

He just stood there, dumbfounded.

He hadn’t expected Lin Tian to attack without the slightest warning!

These were Cultivators from the Ancient Domain!

And on top of that, they were disciples of major sect powers like Tianhua Palace and Evil Cloud Sect!

"Fellow Daoist, you’re asking for trouble to come knocking on your door!"

Hua Donghuang gave a helpless wry smile, shook his head at Lin Tian, and sighed.

"Just those two? Hardly enough to make me feel troubled!"

Lin Tian said to Hua Donghuang with disdain, "You’re at least a堂堂 Fake Infant Stage Cultivator, yet those two clearly didn’t take you seriously at all, and you still wasted half the day talking reason with them. Aren’t you just asking to be uncomfortable? They were putting on airs under another’s name to guard this place—obviously there’s a treasure inside! Since we’re here, it was guaranteed things wouldn’t stay pleasant, so what’s the point of talking reason? Not killing them is already giving them face!"

"Fellow Daoist... they’re people of the Ancient Domain!"

With bitterness on his face, Hua Donghuang replied, "Leaving aside how much stronger the Ancient Domain Cultivation Realm is compared to our surface Cultivation Realm, just Tianhua Palace and Evil Cloud Sect alone—if they come knocking, my Nine Immortals Mountain won’t have the slightest ability to resist!"

It seemed the Earth Cave Ancient Domain was even more powerful than he’d imagined!

Lin Tian nodded lightly, pondering in secret.

Then he asked, puzzled, "You’ve been to the Ancient Domain? And you’ve clashed with people from over there?"

From the look of fear and unease on Hua Donghuang’s face, his understanding of the Ancient Domain clearly went far beyond hearsay.

Otherwise.

With his status and strength, to make it this far, which one of them isn’t proud and arrogant by nature!

Yet the moment he heard "Ancient Domain," he shrank like a mouse that had seen a cat, the life draining out of him.

He’d clearly suffered a huge loss at the hands of people from the Ancient Domain!

"A hundred years ago, this old man had already heard of the Earth Cave Ancient Domain’s existence. But at the time I thought it absurd and treated it as nothing more than a story! Later, my master stepped into the Tianhe Port Ancient Domain and then inexplicably fell. Only then did I become certain that the Earth Cave Ancient Domain really existed!"

With bitterness etched on his face, Hua Donghuang sighed. The wrinkles across his face carried a trace of sorrow and helplessness as he said, "Over ten years ago, I stepped into the Golden Core Middle Stage, just a step away from breaking through to the Golden Core Supreme realm! Back then, thinking myself strong enough, I went to the Tianhe Port Ancient Domain! On the one hand, I wanted to see the Earth Cave Ancient Domain for myself and see if I could pick up a bit of treasure, since it’s said the Ancient Domain is the best-preserved remnant of the Ancient Cultivation World on Earth!"

"Secondly, I wanted to see how my master fell back then! But I never imagined I’d run into a monstrous talent from Evil Cloud Sect!"

"He was just a Fake Core Realm cultivator named Ren Changfeng, around thirty years old, a monstrous talent of Evil Cloud Sect, with an utterly terrifying level of strength!"

"This old man fought him, but in the end I was no match. I fled in disgrace, sneaking off Evil Cloud Sect’s territory with my tail between my legs! After that, I ran into two Elders from Evil Cloud Sect and Tianhua Palace, and they beat me half to death..."

"Only when those two later learned that this old man was a Cultivator from Nine Immortals Mountain outside did they stay their hands and let me leave!"

...

By the time he finished speaking, Hua Donghuang’s face was full of deep fear and humiliation.

To be beaten into flight by a junior in the Fake Core Realm—he’d thrown away the face of Golden Core Cultivators!

Other than himself, no one knew about this!

And now.

This was the first time he’d spoken of it; Lin Tian was the first to know!

Lin Tian, for his part, was left gaping.

A Fake Core Realm cultivator had beaten him into such a sorry retreat!

That exaggerated?

Lin Tian was inwardly astonished.

He knew.

The reason he could crush Hua Donghuang was not only because he’d been reborn, but also thanks to cultivating the Nine-Turned Three Life Technique and other factors.

Otherwise.

Even if he could defeat Hua Donghuang, it definitely wouldn’t have been this easy.

At the very least, he’d have to go all out, and might even have to shed a layer of skin!

After all, this kind of leapfrogging challenge is tough even against Cultivators from a slightly weaker Earth Cultivation World!

Yet back then.

Hua Donghuang had at least been a Golden Core Middle Stage Cultivator, and he’d actually been beaten into a sorry escape by a junior in the Fake Core Realm.

That showed just how powerful that Ren Changfeng was!

"Now that you’ve said all that, I’m even more interested in the Ancient Domain! I’ll have to make a trip when I get the chance!"

Lin Tian stroked his chin, nodded, and spoke.

He thought of how Su Zhenbai had previously come to ask for his help; the Su Family was eighty percent likely going to the Tianhe Port Ancient Domain.

Tagging along with them then would be perfect!

"Uh... Fellow Daoist, you really aren’t a Cultivator from the Ancient Domain?"

Hua Donghuang’s eyes went wide, then as if thinking of something, he exclaimed, "Fellow Daoist, you must be from the Central Continent, right! Only monstrous talents from over there could contend with the geniuses of the Ancient Domain!"

"Let’s go, we’ll head in and take a look!"

Lin Tian curled his lip and didn’t explain, simply saying, "As for injuring those two, you weren’t the one who did it. If they want trouble, they’ll be coming for me!"

In the end, Hua Donghuang could only sigh and take the lead, stepping inside.

The entrance to the cave that had appeared on Black Cloud Mountain had a cliff face above it that was clearly very new.

But the passage inside carried an old, musty aura, suffused with a sense of ancient years.

Walking a few steps into the passage, they could still see bits of shattered corpses. Other than being able to tell they were bones, it was impossible to distinguish whether they had belonged to humans or demon beasts.

Clearly.

This place had once seen a bloody battle.

The remaining corpses had long been smashed to bits, leaving only faint traces!

"Sure enough, it’s an Array—an Illusion Array coupled with a Sealing Array. No wonder you couldn’t see through it!"

Walking behind, Lin Tian glanced around, observed for a while, and then spoke to Hua Donghuang.

Hua Donghuang could only give a bitter smile.

He could only accept that he’d missed out on a treasure!

As they walked, Lin Tian’s Divine Sense had already spread toward the deepest part.

When his Divine Sense reached the innermost part of Black Cloud Mountain’s mass, he discovered a huge hollow space within the mountain.

Inside were ruined stone beds, stone tables, candlesticks, and so on.

Everything showed that someone had once lived here!

But it must have been long ago, perhaps even dating back to the Ancient Cultivation World.

It might very well have been some Cultivator’s cave mansion back then!

Within the space inside the mountain, two groups of people were in a standoff.

At the same time, they were gathered around a strange Sealing Array, all at their wits’ end!

But Lin Tian’s Divine Sense merely swept over these people, then moved on.

He used his Divine Sense to envelop the Sealing Array in the center.

And he saw clearly what lay within.

"As expected, Black Cloud Mountain wasn’t named just because it’s dark and gloomy—there really is Black Cloud Stone here!"

Lin Tian’s eyes lit up, and he murmured, a hint of excitement on his face, "And sealed inside that Array is a Black Cloud Stone Bead, the most refined essence of Black Cloud Stone! If I fuse it into Evil like Xiaotian, the power of that Flying Sword..."

Thinking of this, Lin Tian grew even more excited, and his feet unconsciously sped up.