Chapter 465: Chapter 450: When Paths Cross!
When the Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators launched a surprise attack, the three Golden Core Stage cultivators responsible for the security of the underground auction suddenly disappeared. Not only did Zhouyang want to curse upon witnessing this, but the other participants of the auction were also furious.
The enemy situation was unclear, and the cultivators still in the valley had no idea how many Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators were outside, nor how many Golden Core Stage experts were among them.
Additionally, everyone was hiding their identity, so nobody recognized each other.
Under such circumstances, expecting the cultivators in the valley to join forces against the enemy was clearly wishful thinking.
Zhouyang wisely never entertained such thoughts.
After discovering the disappearance of "Mr. Jia" and the other two, the ominous feeling in his heart intensified. So, after a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth and directly deployed his magical artifact to protect himself as he rushed towards the outside of the valley.
He was well aware that rushing out would certainly meet the enemy’s frontal attack, perhaps even being the focus of fire.
But that was still better than staying inside the valley and being trapped like a turtle in a jar.
The valley was only so big, and once several Golden Core Stage cultivators start fighting here, even if he as a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator wasn’t deliberately targeted, he could easily be killed by the aftermath.
Rushing out of the valley meant that as long as he survived the first wave of attacks, the enemy shouldn’t divide their forces to pursue a single Purple Mansion Stage cultivator like him.
While Zhouyang was taking action, seven or eight cultivators reacted as quickly as him, making the same choice to rush outside the valley.
However, they all tacitly chose different directions to avoid gathering too many people and facing concentrated enemy fire.
Flying out of the fog area covering the valley, Zhouyang finally got a clear view of the situation outside.
Outside the valley was a mountain forest that stretched onunknown what mountain range it belonged to, and in the sky outside the valley, more than twenty Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators in white robes were joined forces in a massacre of those cultivators who had previously escaped.
No sooner had Zhouyang flown out of the valley than several magical artifacts aimed at him, including a Tier Five magical artifact, a curved saber.
With no time to dodge, Zhouyang had no choice but to activate his "Azure Dragon Body Refining Technique" to trigger the Dragon Scale Armor to protect his vital areas, and then fully deploy the "Spirit Turtle Shield" magical artifact to face the attack head-on.
With a loud "bang," the first Tier Four high-grade magical artifact Zhouyang had refined in his artifact refiner career shattered into countless pieces, and he himself was struck by the exploding fragments and the golden curved saber, flying out.
Just as the owner of the golden curved saber thought this strike had killed its target, and took back the saber to continue attacking other cultivators, Zhouyang, who had been struck flying, suddenly burst with golden light, and his body instantly transformed into a golden long rainbow, dashing through the sky and leaving his original spot.
"Hmm? He actually escaped?"
The owner of the golden curved saber, a gaunt-looking middle-aged Golden Core Stage cultivator, narrowed his eyes, staring at the direction of the golden long rainbow’s departure, with a cold killing intent flashing in his eyes.
For just a mere Purple Mansion Stage cultivator to withstand his saber strike and survive, even pretended to be dead and escaped, made him feel a flicker of annoyance in his heart, feeling he had lost face.
But just as he was ready to soar through the clouds to catch up with that escape light and save face by capturing the runaway, a low voice stopped him.
"Ba Yan’Er, don’t forget why we came here!"
The one who uttered the low voice was a handsome young man with blond hair who looked as young as Zhouyang, but his cultivation was genuinely Golden Core Stage, and it was at the late stage.
He was currently mastering several magical artifacts, engaged in a duel with another Golden Core Stage cultivator of equivalent level, who happened to be the cultivator who had won the "Dual Cultivation Cauldron" at the underground auction.
This person seemed to hold high prestige among these Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators, and the Golden Core cultivator who attacked Zhouyang immediately abandoned the thought of pursuit upon hearing his words, promptly turning his golden curved saber magical artifact towards another cultivator who had rushed out of the valley.
On the other side, after escaping over a hundred miles using the "Rainbow Light Gold Escape" divine technique, Zhouyang breathed a sigh of relief, noticing no one was pursuing him, knowing he had gambled right.
He dared not linger, quickly deploying the "Illusory Cloud Ship" to continue flying in one direction while taking out the map jade scroll given to them by "Mr. Jia" and examining it.
Upon seeing it, Zhouyang was suddenly astonished.
According to the markings on the map jade scroll, their current location was already tens of thousands of miles away from Haoyang Immortal City, less than ten thousand miles away from a border of Jinyang Country.
Hosting the underground auction so far away, and linking the recent disappearance of "Mr. Jia" and others after the appearance of Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators, Zhouyang suspected that the organizers of the underground auction had long known the Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators would arrive, and even suspected whether they had intentionally led them there.
But if this hypothesis were true, what was the purpose of the organizers of the underground auction doing so?
"No matter what they’re trying to do, I should first return to Haoyang Immortal City. Those Great Brightness Immortal Palace folks can be arrogant, but they wouldn’t dare cause trouble under the watchful eyes of the Haoyang Sect!"
Shaking his head, Zhouyang didn’t dwell further on these unrelated matters, discerning his direction slightly, and then detoured to fly back towards Haoyang Immortal City.
However, after flying a few thousand miles for more than two hours, he suddenly sensed a Golden-Core-level aura speeding towards him.
Without hesitation, Zhouyang immediately diverted his course towards another direction.
He hoped it was just a Golden Core Stage cultivator passing by, who would ignore him upon seeing him change direction.
What made his expression unpleasant was that as soon as he turned, that aura followed and turned to pursue him, and the speed increased significantly.
"Damn it! Do you really think I’m easy to bully?"
With a grim face, Zhouyang cursed, his expression shifting before he quickly put away the "Illusory Cloud Ship" and paused in mid-air, preparing the "Blood Escape Technique" with a spell gesture.
He definitely didn’t want to battle with a Golden Core Stage cultivator; that surely wouldn’t yield any benefits.
Under his deliberate control, the "Blood Escape Technique" wasn’t activated immediately, but a little time was reserved.
Even if he had to escape, Zhouyang wanted to clearly see the face of the Golden Core Stage cultivator showing hostility towards him before fleeing, so that after he formed his core, he could find an opportunity to settle the matter.
After waiting for a while, Zhouyang saw a golden cloud swiftly flying towards him.
But when he clearly saw the face on the golden cloud of that Golden Core Stage cultivator, he was momentarily stunned.
On the golden cloud stood none other than Ba Yan’Er from the Great Brightness Immortal Palace, who intercepted him outside the Nameless Valley more than two hours ago.
However, at this time, Ba Yan’Er’s shirt front was stained red, with a bit of uncleaned blood at the corner of his mouth, and his face was pale as snow, clearly injured and not lightly.
A Golden Core Stage cultivator with injuries, and seemingly separated from the companions of the Great Brightness Immortal Palace.
Seeing this situation, a spark of inspiration flashed in Zhouyang’s mind, and he instantly understood the situation.
He is fleeing for his life!
Upon making this judgment, Zhouyang decisively dispersed the "Blood Escape Technique" spell gesture and directly released eighteen "Great Derivation Divine Light Swords" to actively confront the pursuing Ba Yan’Er.
"Brave boy!"
Seeing Zhouyang’s actions, Ba Yan’Er’s pale face revealed a bit of anger, and with a wave of his hand, he directly summoned his Golden Curved Saber Spiritual Artifact to slash towards Zhouyang.
He was indeed fleeing for his life; after Zhouyang escaped, the battle at the valley changed unexpectedly.
The disappeared Mr. Jia and other cultivators suddenly appeared during the clash between the Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators and those attending the auction, delivering a counterattack that swiftly killed several Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators.
The outcome of this was that those cultivators who initially planned to flee like Zhouyang suddenly found an opportunity and many stayed back to cooperate with Mr. Jia and others to besiege the Great Brightness Immortal Palace cultivators.
Ba Yan’Er broke out under these circumstances and fled outward.
He didn’t intend to bother with a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator when he fled here.
But when he discovered that this Purple Mansion cultivator was the one who previously escaped his blade, he changed his mind and decided to kill Zhouyang before leaving.
What angered him was that Zhouyang, upon discovering him, seemed to have the same idea, intending to keep him there.
The golden curved saber slashed through the air; a Tier Five Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact driven by Ba Yan’Er, a Third-Layer Golden Core cultivator, could severely injure an ordinary Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion cultivator.
However, Ba Yan’Er didn’t expect that his strike, powerful enough to split mountains, was blocked head-on by Zhouyang, a Seventh-Layer Purple Mansion cultivator.
Zhouyang separated the eighteen "Great Derivation Divine Light Swords" into two "Nine Palace Sword Arrays," and breaking just one sword array blocked Ba Yan’Er’s fierce strike.
Then, with a thought, Zhouyang unleashed the "Thousand Blade Disc," which shot out, transforming into countless blades attacking Ba Yan’Er.
Facing this attack, Ba Yan’Er merely waved his hand, releasing a layer of golden protective shield, blocking the attacks of those silver blades.
Seeing this, Zhouyang was not shocked; instead, his face showed a look of delight.
Generally speaking, cultivators prefer to use magical artifacts for attack and defense means, not only because they’re easier to master but also because magical artifacts consume less magical power compared to using magical techniques.
But now Ba Yan’Er didn’t summon a defensive spiritual artifact to block the "Thousand Blade Disc" attack but instead used a more magical-power-consuming defensive divine technique to block it, what does this signify?
It signifies that his refined defensive spiritual artifact and other artifacts were likely damaged in the previous battle.
As widely known, a cultivator’s strength derives at least half from their magical artifacts.
Ba Yan’Er now lost other artifacts, leaving only a Tier Five Spiritual Artifact curved saber, plus he’s injured. If his remaining strength is still sixty percent, that’s pretty good.
If that’s the case, can I possibly...
Looking at Ba Yan’Er on the golden cloud, an insane idea was surging in Zhouyang’s mind.