Chapter 579: Chapter 579

An incredibly thrilling yet perilous showdown between powerful figures erupted in this desolate wilderness, witnessed by only one person, Zhouyang’s Dao Companion, Xiao Ying, who was protected behind him.

"Tattooed Face Butcher" Wu Biao, notorious for his heinous deeds, continued to thrive, unmistakably proving he was no ordinary person.

His true strength could not be simply evaluated by his Seventh-Layer Golden Core cultivation.

Zhouyang only realized after engaging in battle with him that this person had actually cultivated two attacking divine techniques to the Small Success Realm, and they complemented each other, making it extremely difficult for him to cope.

Moreover, this person had been plundering and pillaging for years, amassing considerable wealth, and all the artifacts he used were of fine quality, almost on par with Zhouyang’s.

More importantly, his magical combat experience was incredibly rich, his tactics extremely varied, his insight remarkably astute, rendering Zhouyang’s "Soul Capturing Treasure Pearl" and "Heaven-shaking Copper Gong" ineffective against him.

The opponent’s strength forced Zhouyang to reveal all his abilities without reservation.

Zhouyang felt immense pressure, but so did "Tattooed Face Butcher" Wu Biao.

Although he had already been informed by his employer before attempting to ambush Zhouyang that Zhouyang was not easy to deal with and could not be judged by his apparent cultivation strength,

when he truly confronted Zhouyang, faced with those bizarre and ferocious magic artifact divine techniques, cold sweat broke out on his back multiple times, feeling just a step away from death.

In the past, when encountering such a powerful target, he would decisively choose to withdraw, never entangling for long.

Conscious of his notorious reputation, Wu Biao always ensured not to stay in one place for over half a day, to avoid being besieged once pinned down.

However, this time, he knew Zhouyang definitely had no reinforcements.

Besides, the stronger Zhouyang was, the greater the rewards from killing him; once accomplished, he wouldn’t have to take risks before advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage.

Crucially, he wasn’t worried about Zhouyang escaping, because his Dao Companion was by his side; escaping would mean abandoning her, which he didn’t believe Zhouyang would do.

Indeed, Zhouyang couldn’t bring himself to abandon his Dao Companion, Xiao Ying, to flee, and moreover, Wu Biao, albeit formidable, wasn’t beyond his coping limit.

If not for being distracted protecting Xiao Ying, he wouldn’t fear this person at all.

"With my blood, burn my soul, Green Blood Soul-Burning, complete!"

Suddenly, after nearly half a day of fighting with Wu Biao, Zhouyang suddenly formed a Dharma Seal with his hands, igniting a green soul fire between his eyebrows.

In an instant, Zhouyang’s magical power aura surged, instantly rising to the Sixth-Layer Golden Core.

After obtaining the "Green Blood Soul-Burning Technique" desperate secret technique in the Kunxu Realm, this was Zhouyang’s first time employing it, and the result satisfied him.

Just by burning two-tenths of his essence blood, at the cost of his divine soul being weakened later, he gained a two-layer cultivation boost, not a loss!

Now, he was only one layer apart from Wu Biao in terms of cultivation, making this disadvantage not so prominent.

The surge in magical power boosted Zhouyang’s confidence as well, and with a raised hand, he summoned a golden divine thunderbolt from the sky toward Wu Biao.

Next, golden flames burst from his body, transforming into a golden flame dragon that charged fiercely at Wu Biao.

These moves had been used in the previous fight, and Wu Biao didn’t care much, feeling relieved instead when he saw Zhouyang resorting to such a desperate secret technique as "Green Blood Soul-Burning Technique."

This proved that Zhouyang had really exhausted his means, relying solely on this temporary power boost secret technique to continue the fight.

Once this kid was gotten rid of, the reward bounty would be his, then he would...

Just as Wu Biao breathed a sigh of relief, he seemed to sense something, and his expression suddenly changed drastically.

But it seemed too late for everything.

In a flash of firelight, two golden beams suddenly shot out from Zhouyang’s eye sockets, instantly penetrating his body, and instantly, his divine soul merged with the Golden Core seemed to be grasped by burning red pincers, causing him to scream out in agony.

Meanwhile, a golden token suddenly flew out of Zhouyang’s hand, shattering into golden sword Qi and shooting fiercely towards Wu Biao.

He also clenched his hand into a fist and swung it fiercely at Wu Biao, unleashing a cyan-golden dragon silhouette.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Wu Biao, suffering an attack on his divine soul, couldn’t react in time, barely gathering magical power into his protective divine techniques, and was hit hard by those attacks.

The golden sword Qi was unstoppable, instantly slicing through the defensive magical artifact Wu Biao used for protection and still had power left to strike the protective divine technique, causing cracks to form on his protective light shield, almost shattering it.

The cyan-golden dragon silhouette followed closely, completing a perfect finishing blow, easily destroying Wu Biao’s protective light shield at its limit, hitting his body.

Even so, Wu Biao didn’t die, because he was wearing an incomparably precious protective inner armor, which blocked most of the dragon silhouette’s power.

Lacking the protection of magical artifacts and protective divine techniques, he staggered when faced with the golden treasure tower that suddenly moved above his head, opening its gate, and was directly sucked into it.

Since Zhouyang refined the "Qianyang Golden Tower" as his lifebound spiritual artifact, the process of capturing two Golden Core stage cultivators absorbed by the tower had been easy.

Wu Biao was formidable, but upon entering the golden tower, he couldn’t make any significant waves either.

As a suppressive and confinement type of artifact, the "Qianyang Golden Tower"’s most powerful divine technique is its suppressive seal ability. Inside contains a restriction known as "Scattered Soul Golden Light," aimed specifically at the divine soul and nascent soul of the trapped cultivators.

Another restriction called "Body-Stabilizing Golden Light" is aimed at the physical body; the longer exposed to the golden light, the harder it becomes to move even slightly.

Therefore, once caught inside the golden tower, unless one’s cultivation is a whole great realm above Zhouyang and the artifact’s grade, or they possess special divine soul secret techniques, even self-detonation of the golden core and nascent soul is difficult.

The lifebound spiritual artifact, refined mainly using "Nine Heavens Profound Gold," wouldn’t suffer irreparable damage even if someone self-denotated within.

Of course, the aforementioned functions are only effective against cultivators below the tribulation crossing true immortal stage. Once reaching the tribulation crossing true immortal level, having a true immortal body and primordial spirit, even if trapped within the tier-seven level "Qianyang Golden Tower," the restrictions’ effects would be significantly weakened, not rendering them powerless.

Regardless, the power of the "Qianyang Golden Tower" fully justifies Zhouyang’s efforts and sacrifices to refine it and will surely accompany his growth and become famous in the cultivation realm.

After suppressing Wu Biao, who was trapped inside, Zhouyang quickly ceased the use of "Green Blood Soul-Burning Technique," collected the various artifacts Wu Biao had dropped, and swiftly left the battlefield with his dao companion Xiao Ying.

They rushed all the way until Zhouyang could no longer hold on and had to rest, only then did he settle down on the clouds, letting his dao companion Xiao Ying protect him, and sat down to take spirit pills for healing.

This went on for three days and nights before he slightly improved and woke from meditative contemplation.

"Husband, you finally awoke!"

Seeing Zhouyang awake, Xiao Ying, who had vigilantly guarded him all this time, breathed a sigh of relief and then inquired about his injury with great concern.

"There’s no major issue for me, just excessive loss of essence blood and weakness in the divine soul, rest for a while and I’ll be fine."

Zhouyang didn’t want his dao companion to worry, so he didn’t reveal the true situation.

The true situation was, due to the "Green Blood Soul-Burning Technique," burning his divine soul. If he couldn’t find those spirit elixirs to nourish and strengthen the soul to make up for the burnt divine soul origin, it would be hard to improve his cultivation in the future.

But he still believed it was all worth it.

No matter how hard it is to find those spirit elixirs, as long as one is willing to pay the price, they can surely be found.

If he hadn’t used the "Green Blood Soul-Burning Technique" for quick resolution at that time, the longer it dragged on, the more likely he was to be defeated.

Although Xiao Ying did not know the real details, seeing Zhouyang’s fatigued and weary appearance made her feel deeply pained and she cried out with self-blame: "It’s all my fault; if it weren’t for me, Liu Family wouldn’t have hired that villain Tattooed Face Butcher, Wu Biao, to assassinate you!"

She’s not foolish; through Zhouyang’s questioning before the battle, she’s already guessed how Tattooed Face Butcher, Wu Biao, found the two of them.

"You silly, this matter isn’t as simple as you think. If it were just for you, a tier-four alchemist, Liu Family wouldn’t have spent a fortune hiring a master like Tattooed Face Butcher, Wu Biao. I don’t believe they have the ability to connect with Wu Biao."

"Only Guo Family, only Copper City Guo Family, which has a deep foundation within the Liuyun Commerce Alliance, could connect with Tattooed Face Butcher, Wu Biao, and lure him with profit to assassinate me. Liu Family is likely coerced by them to monitor you!"

"I underestimated them, Guo Family. Despite our brief meeting and different face, they found my background and used you to set a trap!"

Zhouyang gently opened his arms to comfort his crying dao companion, sharing his thoughts, finally saying sternly: "Wait for it, this isn’t over. I will surely take revenge, with interest, on Guo and Liu Families in the future!"

To avoid sleepless nights, Zhouyang couldn’t afford to rest peacefully to recover his injuries, and hurriedly pressed onward to Immortal Sun City. Upon entering the city, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter how much Profound Sun Immortal Sect has declined, Immortal Sun City, being one of their banners, guarantees security.

Here, even if his identity is fully exposed, Zhouyang believes Profound Sun Immortal Sect can protect him.

At this time, Lu Xuewei and the others were still on their way and hadn’t arrived yet, so Zhouyang sent a communication flying sword to Master Cyan Yang to inform him of his arrival in Immortal Sun City.

Since returning from the "Dome Heaven Immortal Realm", he finally obtained the right to communicate directly with Master Cyan Yang. The specially crafted communication flying sword in his hand was handed to him by Master Cyan Yang through the intelligence personnel of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect when he was in Liuyun Immortal City.

Receiving Zhouyang’s communication flying sword, Master Cyan Yang attached great importance to it and immediately left the Profound Sun Immortal Sect to come to Immortal Sun City in person.

At this time, the news of the fall of the "Heaven-Sundering True Demon" had already spread across the cultivation realm of Liuyun Continent, and the grounding orders of these Nascent Soul Stage cultivators like Master Cyan Yang were finally lifted. They no longer needed to be constantly vigilant about being ambushed by demons whenever they went out.

"How did it come to this? With your abilities, the cultivator who forced you into such a state must not be an unknown figure!"

Inside Immortal Sun City, because Zhouyang did not mention his injuries in the communication, Master Cyan Yang frowned deeply upon seeing his current state, quite surprised.

"Certainly not an unknown figure. Senior Wu Biao, known as the Tattooed Face Butcher, should be familiar to you. He was the one who forced me into using the desperate secret technique!"

Zhouyang gave a bitter smile and immediately recounted how he became enemies with the Guo family, how he was ambushed, and his deductions, all truthfully.

"No wonder you ended up . That Tattooed Face Butcher Wu Biao has quite a reputation. In the past, even when a Ninth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator ambushed him, he managed to escape. I never thought he would fall into your hands!"

Master Cyan Yang first nodded in affirmation, surprised at Zhouyang’s ability to capture the Tattooed Face Butcher Wu Biao alive, then shook his head and said, "As for the Guo family, knowing Wu Biao fell into your hands would frighten them so much they wouldn’t dare go out. If you give them a chance to reconcile, I bet they’ll offer heavy gifts to beg for your forgiveness."

Finishing his words with a hint of mocking, he said, "These families and sects within the Liuyun Commerce Alliance always have the same demeanor. When dealing with enemies, they first consider whether they can kill them. If not, they’ll resort to the merchant’s method of spending money to avoid disasters. They don’t dare engage in a bloody fight unless absolutely necessary!"

Zhouyang heard the implication in Cyan Yang’s words, indicating that the Profound Sun Immortal Sect might have engaged in conflict with the Liuyun Commerce Alliance before and seemed to have won.

Of course, this had nothing to do with him. Upon hearing Master Cyan Yang’s words, he merely gave a cold smile and said, "They nearly caused me and my Dao companion to perish. Such great enmity cannot be offset by merely spending money to avoid disaster. In the future, when the opportunity arises, I will naturally demand repayment from them!"

He had a personality that believed in revenge being never late for ten years. He had previously spared Guo Conglong’s life and didn’t even destroy the opponent’s lifebound spiritual artifact, thinking the other party would understand his intentions and grudgingly accept the matter.

Unexpectedly, his goodwill made them underestimate him, thinking he was timid and afraid to cause trouble, intending to put him to death. Since that’s the case, he certainly wouldn’t easily compromise with them again.

However, using the golden token treasure obtained from Guo Conglong helped him defeat the Tattooed Face Butcher Wu Biao, causing Zhouyang to also put away his underestimation of those Golden Core Stage cultivators from the Guo family.

The cultivators of the Liuyun Commerce Alliance perhaps lacked the fierceness that Master Cyan Yang mentioned, but their advantage shouldn’t be ignored, which was the generally greater wealth among cultivators at the same realm, providing more life-saving aces.

For instance, the golden token treasure he used sealed a sword qi of a Ninth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator’s gold attribute sword qi divine technique, whose power nearly equaled a full-force strike from a Ninth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator.

Back then, during his battle with Guo Conglong, had the opponent not underestimated his true combat strength far surpassing his external cultivation, unwilling to easily use this life-saving ace, the outcome would’ve been uncertain.

Now the Guo family understood the strength of his power and would definitely spare no expense in preparing various treasures to enhance their combat strength. If he were to charge at them now, he might not benefit much.

Moreover, his immediate priority was to recover his injuries. Otherwise, not only would revenge be impossible, but his future cultivation path would also be blocked.

Thinking of this, he immediately bowed and said to Master Cyan Yang, "Senior can handle this Tattooed Face Butcher Wu Biao as you see fit. I only ask that you bestow spiritual objects to help me heal my divine soul injuries, considering our past relations."

This was the true purpose behind him bringing the living Wu Biao to meet Master Cyan Yang.

Profound Sun Immortal Sect was a renowned righteous sect in the cultivation realm of Liuyun Continent. Before the outbreak of the "Heaven-Sundering True Demon" incident, mentioning the Profound Sun Immortal Sect would elicit praise from the vast majority of cultivators apart from their rival factions, viewing it as an exemplary righteous sect.

This excellent reputation not only made it easy for the sect’s disciples to make friends and gain trust during their travels but also greatly contributed to their recruitment of disciples. After all, most parents hoped their children would join a prestigious righteous sect and become a respected righteous cultivator.

Even in resolving disputes and conflicts in the cultivation realm, the disputing parties often preferred to invite members of the Profound Sun Immortal Sect to preside over justice and witness the proceedings.

But now, the golden signboard was tainted by an almost indelible stain due to the "Heaven-Sundering True Demon" incident.

For Profound Sun Immortal Sect, the only way to clean off this stain was to consistently reinforce their image of "justice".

And how could the attribute of "justice" be reinforced?

Naturally, it was by combating evil.

If the disciples of Profound Sun Immortal Sect could capture and publicly execute a notorious evil like the Tattooed Face Butcher Wu Biao, it would undoubtedly gratify everyone and earn universal praise. Thıs text ıs hosted at ɴovelfire.net

This genuine reputation would far outweigh the bounty rewards tied to Wu Biao’s infamous name for the Profound Sun Immortal Sect.

Thus, upon hearing Zhouyang’s request, Master Cyan Yang almost immediately agreed without much hesitation.

"Very well, upon my return, I will have someone send you a Taiyin Nourishing Spirit Pill. This Tier Five Top-Grade Spirit Pill is more than sufficient to restore the divine soul origin you lost."

Even though Zhouyang had long known that the Profound Sun Immortal Sect, a top-tier major sect, would possess such a Spirit Nourishing and Soul Strengthening Pill, only now, upon finally achieving his wish, could he breathe a sigh of relief.

After resolving this primary issue, he turned to ask Master Cyan Yang about his cultivation on the Spirit Mountain.

"May I ask, Elder, when can the junior move to the Spirit Mountain you promised me for cultivation? What do I need to do?"

A Spirit Mountain rich in Spiritual Qi is undeniably important to a cultivator.

Moreover, the Spirit Mountain promised to Zhouyang by Master Cyan Yang is a Tier Five Top-Grade Spirit Mountain.

"The Spirit Mountain designated for you is called Chongxuan Mountain, located within the realm of the Yuqing Daoist Sect. We have already negotiated with the Yuqing Daoist Sect; they are willing to allocate Chongxuan Mountain and the surrounding thousand-mile area for your use!"

"But you also understand the value of such a Spirit Mountain. Once you accept this Spirit Mountain, if the Profound Sun Immortal Sect or the Yuqing Daoist Sect has matters requiring your assistance before you reach the Nascent Soul Stage, you absolutely cannot shirk or refuse. Otherwise, not only will we reclaim the Spirit Mountain, but we’ll also require you to compensate double for the rental fee of the Spirit Mountain."

"Of course, you need not worry that we’ll treat you as a mule. Only when encountering some tricky issues where it would be inconvenient for our sect disciples to intervene will we ask for your help, and we certainly would not ask you, at the Golden Core Stage cultivation level, to deal with challenges beyond your capacity, such as Nascent Soul Stage cultivators or Tier Six Demon Kings."

"If you agree to these conditions, you can set off for Chongxuan Mountain with the token the elder gives you now. When you arrive, remember to use the alias ’Qingyun Wanderer.’ Whenever you interact with other cultivators in the future, use this alias and appearance. Here is a Jade Scroll that records some information about ’Qingyun Wanderer,’ so you can have an idea after reading it."

Master Cyan Yang didn’t keep anything hidden and promptly explained the situation to Zhouyang in detail, clearly well-prepared.

After hearing his words, Zhouyang’s expression shifted continuously before settling into calm, softly saying, "I am not in such a hurry. I should recover from my injuries before heading there; Elder, just give me the token, and I will inform you when I depart."

Upon hearing this, Master Cyan Yang immediately handed him the tokens and things while waving his sleeves, saying, "Then you can recuperate here. The elder will arrange a cave mansion at the Profound Sun Pavilion for you to recover. If you need to purchase anything, you can use the ’Profound Sun Order’ I gave you to contact the shopkeeper at the Profound Sun Pavilion for assistance."

Having said this, he took with him Wu Biao, the "Tattooed Face Butcher," restrained in the room, back to the Profound Sun Immortal Sect mountain gate.

Half a day later, Zhouyang, after settling with his Dao companion Xiao Ying in a Tier Five cave mansion arranged for him by the Profound Sun Pavilion, the "Taiyin Nourishing Spirit Pill" promised by Master Cyan Yang was delivered to him by a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Profound Sun Pavilion.

As soon as Zhouyang got the elixir, he directly entered the seclusion chamber to consume the Spirit Pill for closed-door healing.

After half a year passed, he used the medicinal power of the "Taiyin Nourishing Spirit Pill" to fully compensate for the depletion of his Divine Soul Origin caused by the use of the "Green Blood Soul-Burning Technique."

With the most crucial Divine Soul Origin restored, the loss in terms of essence blood was not a major issue, as Zhouyang always keeps Elixirs for replenishing essence blood, thus not needing to worry about this.

After another half year of seclusion, he restored most of the lost essence blood; the remainder could be replenished gradually through meditation, no longer affecting his normal cultivation and magical combat.

This is the power of money!

Though Zhouyang only spent a year healing, one might think his injuries were not severe, but in fact, his rapid recovery was entirely due to spending money.

Not to mention, the one Tier Five Top-Grade Spirit Pill, "Taiyin Nourishing Spirit Pill," is something priceless and marketless, easily fetching a price of four to fifty thousand lower-grade Spirit Stones at an auction.

Those Spirit Pills replenishing essence blood are not ordinary items either, with the lowest being Tier Four Spirit Pills, each valued at tens of thousands of lower-grade Spirit Stones!

But this doesn’t mean Zhouyang suffered a loss; on the contrary, he profited tremendously!

Before handing over Wu Biao, the "Tattooed Face Butcher" to Master Cyan Yang, Zhouyang looted all valuable items from his possession.

Just from these spoils alone, Zhouyang acquired six Tier Five spiritual artifacts, thirteen Tier Five Spirit Talismans, over twenty various Tier Five Spirit Pills, a set of Tier Five Middle Grade array, several rare spiritual objects, and a heap of cultivation manuals.

Finally, the Spirit Stones carried by Wu Biao, the "Tattooed Face Butcher," totaled more than one hundred seventy thousand, along with as many as eighty-two top-grade Spirit Stones!

Zhouyang had killed plenty of Golden Core Stage cultivators, yet it was his first encounter with someone as wealthily endowed as Wu Biao, the "Tattooed Face Butcher."

The various items on him were worth at least over five million lower-grade Spirit Stones in conversion value, a sum that even if some small sects sold their sect mountain and Spirit Mountain, they likely couldn’t gather so many Spirit Stones.

For a moment, Zhouyang couldn’t help but entertain the thought of becoming a bounty hunter, specializing in apprehending vicious villains like Wu Biao, the "Tattooed Face Butcher," to make a fortune from the spoils overnight.

He felt that by plundering two or three individuals like Wu Biao, with such wealth, he could acquire all the spiritual objects needed for his own Refining Pill and Nascent Soul Formation.

Unfortunately, this thought would remain just that, as even if he could ensure victory each time, he fundamentally couldn’t locate those villains.

If Wu Biao, the "Tattooed Face Butcher," hadn’t delivered himself this time, neither Zhouyang nor even Master Cyan Yang could ascertain his whereabouts even by rallying the entire Profound Sun Immortal Sect’s strength.

And when Zhouyang closely examined those cultivation technique manuals, he quickly understood why Wu Biao, the "Tattooed Face Butcher," eluded capture repeatedly, and how he managed to track him so long before being discovered.

It turned out the reason behind all this stemmed from a special divine technique, a technique allowing cultivators to shield against various tracking magic after cultivation, which also endowed them with potent Concealing Breath abilities.