Chapter 528

Chapter 528: Returning to the Golden Luan Cave

The Jade Turtle turned into an artifact with only one purpose: to absorb dark energy and create a prison. Li Hui set it up this way because the Jade Turtle naturally possessed the ability to absorb dark energy, making it highly effective for constructing a confinement. However, this Jade Turtle had an enigmatic origin and terrifying potential. The seals engraved on it couldn’t dominate but instead became a conduit of power, stepping outside the normal scope of artifacts and sharing many similarities with the silver snake bracelet.

The silver snake bracelet was a Dao rhythmic artifact, originally designed around the concept of borrowing power, accumulating countless seals that formed a Dao rhythm, forcibly extracting fragments from the tiger’s mouth.

At this moment, Li Hui crouched down, drawing a boundary in the dirt, allowing a light haze of dark energy to spread and subtly shape a vast prison. Feeling prepared, he abruptly pulled the shadow upward, making all the wooden cabinets in the secret chamber vanish from sight.

“Roar, roar…”

As the cabinets shifted, the beast skin seals on the drawers were awakened, causing fierce beasts to drop to the ground, roaring as they searched for intruders.

But in the prison formed by the Jade Turtle, there were no intruders. The fierce beasts did not attack each other; after a fruitless patrol, they returned to their original positions.

Li Hui sighed in relief. Until now, he had no idea what was inside the drawers, thinking, “No matter whether it’s good or bad, if I find a way to deal with the seals, I’ll get my answer.”

Yang Jiuzhen followed instructions to collect a wooden hairpin and a wooden puppet. Just as she was about to head to the third location, Li Hui rushed over, full of urgency.

“What happened, Senior Brother?”

“Prepare to leave immediately. Tan Tiandi is particularly cunning and might set a trap outside. We must be extremely cautious.”

“Understood!” Yang Jiuzhen was perceptive; she would not risk her life for a few wooden items, especially since they had already obtained the two most valuable wooden artifacts from Zi Xu.

“Boom…”

Suddenly, a brutish figure burst into Zi Xu, completely disregarding the remaining formation restrictions and crashing toward Li Hui and Yang Jiuzhen.

“Up!” Li Hui waved his dust brush upward, piercing the barrier overhead, and shot straight up with Yang Jiuzhen, ascending at an unbelievable speed.

Three thousand zhang, six thousand zhang, nine thousand zhang—when the two reached ten thousand zhang high, a strange light suddenly shot toward them.

“More Absolute Kill Arrows! How many of these guys do they have?” In a flash, Li Hui had teleported to thirty thousand zhang high, the strange light following his ascent. He could only use all his skills, merging his Ideal Body with void escape, applying the Seize the Day Talisman to boost his speed by a hundred times, while the Heart Talisman forcefully increased the time flow rate by forty times, resulting in a chase against time at a hundred forty times speed.

The crossbow bolts flew terrifyingly fast, but Li Hui countered with equal swiftness, soaring to sixty thousand zhang high, now dangerously close to the Azure Sky layer, not even considering it as he dove straight into the depths of the Azure Sky.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…” The defining trait of the Azure Sky layer was the continuous gale. Li Hui cried out, “Winds and clouds, take wing!”

“Boom, boom, boom…” Yang Jiuzhen was astonished as her senior brother’s body emitted thunderous echoes, soaring proudly in mid-air; the gale not only provided no hindrance but instead became a massive support.

Li Hui’s escape skills had been refined over years to perfection. Knowing that Tan Tiandi would pursue him, he would not allow him to succeed. Hence, he used the talisman power accumulated from the Heavenly and Earthly Arrays, letting the talismans in his acupoints unleash their power, forcibly steering the gale to propel him forward, even outpacing the Absolute Kill Arrows.

With this slight edge in speed, he could escape the kill zone of the Azure Sky layer. When Li Hui exhausted his strength, it was Yang Jiuzhen who supported him as they fell to the ground.

The Azure Sky layer concealed untold secrets, and Li Hui was smart enough not to touch the shadows visible to Bai Ze’s divine eye. He was merely shifting within the lowest layer of the Azure Sky, which wasn’t particularly difficult.

“Senior Brother, where do we go next?”

“This place is still not safe. Tan Tiandi can calculate our location; we need to return to the Golden Luan Great Thousand Cave.”

“Return?” Yang Jiuzhen hurriedly advised against it. “Dai Qingtian’s sect will definitely send someone, and what about Jian Wujie? His sect is formidable; they’re ruthless sword cultivators, some of whom can even help themselves reincarnate. It’s definitely more dangerous.”

“It’s alright. If someone from your sect arrives, join them immediately. If Dai Qingtian and Jian Wujie’s sect come to find you, just say I went to the Yuan Chen Heavenly Mansion. Instead of hiding, letting the cultivators friendly with the Nine-Mystic Continent hunt us down, it’s better for me to choose a place to set up and confront them boldly.”

“Senior Brother, please don’t act recklessly,” Yang Jiuzhen urged, her concern evident.

“Don’t worry; I have everything under control, relying on this jade ring,” Li Hui asserted with a firm nod. Suddenly, he raised his left arm, and the dark energy from the surrounding mountains began to converge here, transforming into dark clouds that rushed into the jade ring.

After that, the two sped away. The next day coincided with the appearance of the dark moon, and the jade ring transformed back into the Jade Turtle. Initially, it was only as large as a basin, but somehow it attracted a river of dark energy and opened its mouth wide to inhale. Two hours later, the Jade Turtle grew to the size of a grinding disc and found a forest to roll in powerfully, and when it emerged from the woods, it had transformed into a colossal wooden turtle.

“This is how the wooden turtle came to be? After being washed in dark energy, it evolved into Xuan Yin wood, with the wood patterns fitting together seamlessly, as if carved from a giant piece of Xuan Yin wood. What is the true origin of this Prime Minister Turtle?” Li Hui was astonished, recalling the silver snake’s mysterious origins as well.

“Hahaha, it’s fate, destiny, and fortune! My Prime Minister Turtle has returned!” The wooden turtle chuckled foolishly, as if engaging in some contest with the heavens, careful not to appear too blatant for fear of lightning striking.

Li Hui and Yang Jiuzhen stood on the turtle’s back, and Prime Minister Turtle did not turn against them, obediently flying forward while sweeping away dark energy in its wake.

Every two hours, this creature would find a forest to tumble wildly in, turning up countless wood shavings that adhered to its body, quickly merging into one.

By the fourth day, the wooden turtle had reached a length of three hundred zhang and a height of one hundred zhang, looking like a black hill from a distance. It had condensed twenty-three layers of Xuan Yin wood before halting to once again transform into a wooden ring.

During this time, Li Hui and Yang Jiuzhen recovered somewhat, and he began to discern patterns, noticing that this turtle had an acute fear of death, cleverly concealing itself within multiple shells. Additionally, each layer of Xuan Yin wood could detonate, killing enemies and allowing for a quick escape.

On the fifth day, Yang Jiuzhen suddenly produced a jade token, and Ren Jiufeng’s voice came through: “Junior Sister, where are you? Master has brought five senior sisters to Wutu; hurry back to meet with her!”

“Ah! Jiuzhen is just about to return to the Golden Luan Great Thousand Cave, only half an hour away. Dai Qingtian and Jian Wujie’s sect haven’t come to trouble the senior sisters, have they?”

Ren Jiufeng laughed coldly, “I have enmity with the Nine Maangs practitioners, so I naturally won’t welcome those sects allied with them. There’s news that Junior Brother Li annihilated Dai Qingtian, Jian Wujie, Lin Qingtian, and another guy named Tie Hu—good riddance! We can invite him to meet Master too.”