Chapter 70

Ning Chuan silently committed this information to memory.

Afterwards, Ning Chuan offered further guidance on Wu Gong to Qu Qu Lingfeng and the others.

He provided incisive insights targeting their respective bottlenecks and shortcomings.

This left everyone benefiting greatly once more, their admiration for Ning Chuan flowing like surging rivers, endless and unceasing.

After this instruction, the sky had grown dark.

Everyone departed contentedly, each returning to cultivate in seclusion.

They looked forward to breaking through to a Higher realm soon under Ning Chuan's guidance.

……

Night fell, the moon bright and stars sparse.

Taohuadao was utterly silent, save for the sound of waves lashing against the reefs, echoing through the night sky.

Ning Chuan's massive snake body, under the operation of the Heavenly Snake Body Refining Art, quietly shrank.

From its original terrifying length of nearly nine meters, it reduced to about two meters.

Though still not small, it was far more agile than before and much less likely to attract attention.

Like a shadow in the darkness, he slipped away from his small courtyard without a sound.

He stealthily moved toward the forbidden place where Huang Yaoshi had previously imprisoned Zhou Botong.

That forbidden place lay in an extremely remote valley on Taohuadao.

Strange rocks jutted about, peach forests were dense, and Huang Yaoshi's peculiar Five Elements Array guarded the area.

Ordinary people who accidentally entered would surely lose their way and find it hard to escape.

But for Ning Chuan, who possessed heaven-defying comprehension and some knowledge of Taohuadao's arrays.

These arrays were as if non-existent.

He easily found the life gate of the array and quietly slipped into the depths of the valley.

At the valley's end lay a hidden cave covered in vines.

The entrance was sealed by a massive broken dragon stone.

But Ning Chuan's keen senses detected what seemed to be an imperceptible ventilation hole on one side of the broken dragon stone.

He quietly approached and heard within the cave a fragmented, childlike, and innocent muttering.

"Huang Laoxie, you old villain, full of wicked schemes!"

"Locking me, Old Witty, here, giving me no good food, no fun toys, I'll suffocate from boredom!"

"I wonder how my brother Guo Jing is doing now, whether he's practicing the Left-Right Hand Combat I taught him properly."

"And my Ying Gu... ah, never mind, never mind, the more I think, the more annoyed I get."

"Senior brother, oh senior brother, where exactly have you run off to? Back then, handing that broken scripture to me truly caused me, Old Witty, great suffering!"

"If I had known it would be so troublesome, I should have just burned it!"

"No, no, I promised senior brother to guard it well; I cannot burn it, cannot burn it."

"This Huang Laoxie is truly something; clearly his Wu Gong is far superior to mine, yet he insisted on betting with me."

"Saying that if I could survive three hundred moves under his hand, he would let me leave."

"And the result? I, Old Witty, was momentarily careless and actually lost! It truly makes me furious!"

"Lost is lost; a true man's word is unbreakable; I, Old Witty, keep my promises; if he won't release me, I won't leave!"

"Hmph! When I'm in a good mood another day, I'll figure out a way to get out and find good food, find fun toys!"

Hearing Old Witty Zhou Botong's rambling, self-talking mutterings inside the cave, Ning Chuan couldn't help but smile inwardly.

He suddenly understood.

No wonder Zhou Botong was locked here; although the entrance was sealed by a broken dragon stone, there seemed to be no other restraints like iron chains.

With Zhou Botong's Grandmaster-level strength, if he truly wanted to escape, he might not lack a way.

It turned out he stayed here voluntarily because he lost a bet with Huang Yaoshi.

This Old Witty truly counts as a remarkable person who keeps his promises.

Ning Chuan chuckled inwardly and decided to tease this Old Witty.

He quietly activated the Water Mystic Snake Method, deliberately leaking a trace of faint yet somewhat eerie aura.

That aura, like the most hidden venomous snake in the mountains, silently slithered into the cave.

Inside the cave, Zhou Botong, who had been chattering and complaining incessantly, suddenly paused.

His eyes, which had been somewhat dull, suddenly lit up, as if he had discovered some new and curious toy.

He sniffed hard, then called out in delight:

"Eh? What is this smell? Such a strange aura!"

"Big Black Snake! Is that you, Big Black Snake?!"

"Do you know Old Witty is locked here and came specifically to play with me?!"

"Come in, come in quickly! It's so stuffy in here!"

Zhou Botong's voice was filled with childlike Excitement and Expectation, his eyes shining as he stared fixedly at that imperceptible ventilation hole.