Chapter 258

Ning Zhuo opened his mouth slightly, wanting to say something, but he never did.

In the end, he turned his gaze to the cloud whale on the distant horizon.

The cloud whale was so huge, occupying a corner of the sky; compared to it, Ning Zhuo was like an ant.

After a moment of silence, Ning Zhuo asked: "Was such a huge cloud whale once a small cloud seed?"

Song Fuli laughed softly: "Yes, that is exactly the case."

"It's hard for outsiders to imagine, isn't it?"

"This is the magic of cloud seeds."

"They are born and nurtured in the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea; after being nurtured to a certain extent, they automatically detach from the cloud sea and drift everywhere with the wind."

"In the process of drifting, they swallow the essence of the sun and moon, absorb various gang-qi in the sky, and encounter countless brilliance and rosy clouds."

"Cloud seeds absorb them, grow continuously, and finally transform into various types of cloud beasts with peculiar temperaments."

Song Fuli said this and also looked at the cloud whale in the sky.

He continued: "This cloud whale was not raised by me from a young age."

"I encountered it halfway, and because of a coincidence, and also with the help of a noble person, I was able to make it my own."

"According to our speculation, this cloud whale should have swallowed a large mass of majestic atmosphere during the cloud seed period and encountered the Leisurely Cluster Clouds."

"In the Leisurely Cluster Cloud layer, it slept for many years. So it is huge in size, has a very wide storage space, and has a very good temper, quite gentle."

"Such a temper has both advantages and disadvantages; on one hand, it is indeed easy to control; on the other hand, its combat power is not so ideal, even though it is Nascent Soul-level."

Song Fuli said this and looked at Ning Zhuo: "The Flying Cloud Kingdom has quite a lot of specialties, especially various cloud qi, which are numerous in variety, and even I am dazzled and cannot know them all."

"When you go back in the future, you can go and feel it properly."

"Coming into contact with cultivation resources from different places and different categories is very inspiring for cultivation itself."

"Young Master Ning Zhuo, your mechanical attainment is not bad, and new materials can also stimulate your inspiration for many mechanical creations."

Ning Zhuo nodded instinctively, his heart pounding. But when he thought of the Lava Immortal Palace, this excitement suddenly disappeared.

Ning Zhuo kept staring at the cloud whale: "I heard that every cloud beast actually has its own lifespan limit; the higher the strength of the cloud beast and the larger the body, the shorter their lifespan?"

Song Fuli nodded: "Yes, that is indeed the case."

"So this cloud whale of ours is actually already old."

"In a few years, we will assist it in returning to the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea."

"Every cloud beast will fly back to its birthplace—the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea—the moment it feels its deadline is approaching."

"They are born there, and likewise, they will die there, just like a cycle."

"No matter how humble or dazzling they were in the past, they return to where they came from, and all achievements are buried with the wind."

"The past is buried, and new hope will be nurtured. Such a Nascent Soul-level cloud beast will nurture massive new cloud seeds."

"And these new cloud seeds will also follow nature and drift outward. In the end, they may become various cloud beasts, and if they are lucky, they will also become new cloud whales."

Speaking of this, Song Fuli sighed: "The life of a cloud beast is actually very similar to our life, isn't it?"

"Our cultivators in the Flying Cloud Kingdom have always had a close relationship with cloud beasts."

"Many cultivators will start to receive and raise cloud seeds at the beginning of their cultivation."

"By investing various cultivation resources, they cultivate cloud seeds into cloud beasts of various forms."

"Huge cloud beasts are our homes while wandering outside, and they are the Immortal Palaces that belong to each of us."

Song Fuli looked at the mountain peak; he knew that the Lava Immortal Palace was there.

He said to Ning Zhuo: "In terms of hard collisions, even our cloud whale cannot beat the Lava Immortal Palace."

"But in terms of size and storage space, the cloud whale is much larger than the Lava Immortal Palace."

"The cloud whale has other advantages, for example, it is easy to maintain."

"It mainly feeds on cloud qi and spiritual energy between heaven and earth, and at the same time, it can self-repair and heal naturally."

"And for something like the Lava Immortal Palace, it is not so easy to repair."

Ning Zhuo suddenly thought of something, his expression changed slightly, and he couldn't help but ask:

"Senior Song, listening to what you just said, cultivators in the Flying Cloud Kingdom generally cultivate cloud seeds. Then, does everyone have a cloud seed?"

Song Fuli nodded: "Almost everyone will have a cloud seed, but it is not so easy to really cultivate it."

Ning Zhuo asked urgently: "I have a question! My mother was from the Flying Cloud Kingdom, but there were no cloud seeds or cloud beasts in her belongings."

Song Fuli said solemnly: "I haven't asked for your mother's honorable name, Young Master Ning Zhuo."

Ning Zhuo then said: "My mother's surname is Meng, and her name is Yaoyin."

"Meng Yaoyin?" Song Fuli heard this and showed a look of confusion: "Why does it sound a bit familiar?"

Ning Zhuo couldn't help but feel curious and nervous: "Why, Senior Song, do you know my mother?"

Song Fuli frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head slightly: "It's just familiar, I can't think of anything for a while."

"However, although there are so many people in the Flying Cloud Kingdom, there are not many with the surname Meng. There is a clan of Meng people who are not simple, with extraordinary roots."

Ning Zhuo then pursued the matter.

Song Fuli explained to him: "The Myriad Phenomena Sect of the Flying Cloud Kingdom is a super-large sect, and the Myriad Phenomena Cloud Sea is almost controlled and managed by it."

"There are twelve peaks in the Myriad Phenomena Sect, one of which has long been controlled by the Meng family."

"This Meng family established itself with mechanical arts and was once very powerful, but in the last few decades, it has declined."

"The Meng family..." Ning Zhuo whispered, keeping this information firmly in his heart.

He did not forget the cloud beast and continued to ask:

"Although my mother has passed away, I did not find any cloud beasts or cloud seeds in her belongings."

"If these cloud beasts still exist, where would they be?"

Song Fuli shook his head: "This question is difficult for me."

"To cultivate a cloud seed, a lot of resources are needed, especially to reach the Jin Dan level, which often requires a long sleep."

"But as far as I know, your mother, Young Master Ning Zhuo, was only a Foundation Establishment mechanical cultivator; it is basically impossible to own a Jin Dan-level cloud beast."

"And cloud beasts at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment levels are not powerful, and it is very likely that they dissipated halfway."

Ning Zhuo sighed, noncommittal.

The two talked to this point, and the subordinates of the caravan came to report to Song Fuli: "Leader, all the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkeys have been counted, and there are no errors in quantity or quality."

After Song Fuli confirmed, he laughed and said goodbye to Ning Zhuo.

Before leaving, his footsteps paused slightly, and he turned to hand Ning Zhuo a talisman.

"This is a talisman we made using the cloud mud on the cloud whale."

"You can understand it as a boat ticket."

"As long as you carry it, you can enter the body of the cloud whale, thereby taking the cloud whale to other places."

Ning Zhuo hurriedly thanked him and also indicated: although he had this boat ticket, he might not necessarily return to the Flying Cloud Kingdom with Song Fuli and his party.

Song Fuli waved his hand: "We are not going back to the Flying Cloud Kingdom immediately either. Next, we will take a tour around the Nandou Kingdom. If the business goes well, we might continue to go south."

"This talisman is actually not only valid inside the cloud whale, but it is also a certificate."

"In the future, if you encounter other cloud merchant caravans, you can also use this to prove your good relationship with our cloud merchants. With this talisman, cultivators can still take other cloud merchants' ships and cloud beasts."

The practicality of the talisman given by Song Fuli far exceeded Ning Zhuo's imagination.

Ning Zhuo thanked him again and watched Song Fuli carry many mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkeys and fly back into the cloud whale.

A large number of mechanical monkeys were sent into the body of the cloud whale, and the cultivators in the caravan carried out the handover.

"Next, I'll leave it to you!"

"Counting is complete, the numbers match."

"Okay, open the warehouse door, and we will put these goods in."

The door of the storage warehouse dissipated rapidly like cloud smoke.

Subsequently, cloud beast octopuses flew out of the warehouse.

These octopuses floated in the air, stretched out their tentacles one after another, bound the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkeys, carried them into mid-air, and then drifted slowly into the warehouse.

The empty Warehouse No. 188 had a very wide space.

There was nothing in the warehouse, not even a shelf.

The cultivator in charge of warehouse management came to the wall, took out his identity token, and stuck it on a key position on the wall.

He urged his spiritual power to pour into the token.

The token soon emitted a faint yellow light.

The yellow light spread rapidly to the surroundings, penetrated into the cloud-like walls, flowed out rapidly, and turned into streams of pipeline-like array patterns along the way.

These array patterns spread rapidly to the entire wall.

The next moment, the wall deformed, like clouds swirling, and then condensed rapidly, forming a huge shelf close to the wall and ceiling.

The octopus grasped the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey, drifted into mid-air, and stuffed the mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey into the compartments of these shelves.

Obviously, these compartments could also be adjusted at will. The current space was just enough to hold one mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey.

Under the work of hundreds of octopus cloud beasts, although there were many mechanical monkeys, it only took a cup of tea to arrange them all neatly.

After the caravan cultivator checked one last time, he put away all the spirit beast octopuses and got up to leave.

After he left, a large cloud of mist slowly emerged and then condensed rapidly, forming a solid wall, replacing the position of the door.

At this point, Warehouse No. 188 was empty and very quiet.

Suddenly, a ripple appeared in the air.

Sun Lingtong and Yang Chanyu crawled out from the body of a mechanical Fire-Exploding Monkey.