Chapter 427: Six-Cave Mountain Gate (Two-in-One)

Sun Lingtong was filled with shock and suspicion.

At this moment, his thoughts raced, rapidly reviewing everything he had just experienced.

"How exactly did I get hit by the petrification technique?"

The skin on his hands was still turning into stone. Sun Lingtong hurriedly examined it, confirming that this petrification technique was quite profound; he could not discern its origins.

"This is a trap, a deadly one! Before me, there might have already been many victims."

"No, that's unlikely."

"If that were the case, the group of hooded black-robed figures just now wouldn't have come to pay their respects to the mountain so grandly, performing sacrifices and causing deaths."

"Moreover, they didn't even dare to enter the cave, clearly implying that this Soul Transformation-level existence is still alive."

"I used the magic treasure to excavate the treasures, and after they were transported into the mechanical swimming dragon, I personally handled and inspected them."

"It's these treasures that are the problem!"

Sun Lingtong analyzed the situation, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

The petrification technique was still eroding him, and his magic power suppression was actually showing signs of drinking poison to quench thirst. Because the petrification technique came into contact with his magic power, it benefited, and the technique's power began to increase.

"This won't do, I must immediately explain the situation to Xiao Zhuo!"

"That group of black-robed cultivators cannot be lost; I must go and find trouble with them to see what intelligence can be extracted through interrogation."

Sun Lingtong hurriedly sought to save himself.

On one hand, he controlled the mechanical swimming dragon to immediately leave the cave and chase after the departing black-robed cultivators.

On the other hand, he wrote a flying letter and sent it directly to Ning Zhuo's room.

As for Ning Zhuo, after receiving a round of criticism from Sun Lingtong, he returned to his living quarters.

At first, he was very calm.

He subconsciously wanted to meditate and cultivate, but remembered that Sun Lingtong had forbidden him from doing so.

He then lay on the bed, deciding to sleep.

As a result, he closed his eyes, but could not fall asleep at all.

According to common sense, he had not yet fully recovered, the aftereffects of the qi deviation still lingered, and he was physically and mentally exhausted. Under these circumstances, he should have easily fallen asleep.

But the reality was the opposite; Ning Zhuo tossed and turned, his eyeballs moving constantly beneath his eyelids.

He took a light breath and suddenly opened his eyes.

He stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, then sat up in agitation.

He didn't maintain this posture for long before getting up and sitting on the edge of the bed.

After sitting for a dozen breaths, he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles and had to stand up.

Restlessness.

Annoyance.

All kinds of negative emotions grew rapidly.

"Brother Linghu has been confined so many times, yet he can endure it; how impressive!"

"Boss Sun's lesson is absolutely right."

"I can't even endure this little bit of free time; I feel restless and think I'm wasting time."

"My mindset has undergone many subtle changes compared to before."

"Sigh..."

Ning Zhuo was so uncomfortable; reason told him that cultivation and work should be balanced, but his emotions were chaotic, making him pace and wander around the room constantly.

Just at this moment, a knocking sound came from the cabin door.

Ning Zhuo opened the cabin door and saw a flying letter fly into the cabin, unfolding naturally in the air.

"Why is Boss writing to me?"

Ning Zhuo was quite strange and cast his gaze over.

After reading it once, he understood the reason and his expression changed immediately: "Boss is in trouble!"

Ning Zhuo flicked his finger, shooting out a flame that drifted upward and burned the flying letter.

He immediately began to write a letter.

The mechanical swimming dragon originally had a device that allowed Sun Lingtong to transmit sound to Ning Zhuo's living cabin. But Sun Lingtong worried that the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon would also be petrified, so he had begun to minimize its range of use.

He was even more worried about Ning Zhuo's safety, so he used a flying letter to notify Ning Zhuo of what had happened, and in the letter, he instructed Ning Zhuo to burn the flying letter in time, not to enter the storage cabin or the dragon head cabin, and to stay as far away from Sun Lingtong as possible.

Ning Zhuo's flying letter was soon delivered to Sun Lingtong's hands.

"At least Xiao Zhuo knows." Sun Lingtong breathed a sigh of relief and quickly read the contents of the flying letter.

In the letter, Ning Zhuo asked about Sun Lingtong's specific injuries and suggested cracking the flying letter that the hooded black-robed figures had proactively sent into the giant cave earlier, but which Sun Lingtong had intercepted.

But in fact, Sun Lingtong had already begun to do so.

The flying letter was soon cracked; in fact, the sender had not encrypted it.

Old Monster Shi Zhong:

We, the cultivators of the Six-Cave Sect, respectfully follow the orders of the Cave Master of the Demon Heart, and hereby submit this letter, sincerely inviting the Old Monster to wake up.

Our Six-Cave Sect has long heard of the Old Monster's great name and has always admired your earth-element divine abilities, which shake all directions. Now, the imperial army is surrounding the Thousand Peaks Forest, and the situation is critical. We need the Old Monster's help to display heavenly might and share the joy of slaughter.

If you agree, the Six-Cave Sect will definitely reward you generously!

"These people are actually from the Six-Cave Sect?" Sun Lingtong naturally had long known about the grudge between the Ning family and the Six-Cave Sect.

Sun Lingtong fixed his eyes on a certain line above: "As the Six-Cave Sect, the tone is one of treating Old Monster Shi Zhong and the Cave Master of the Demon Heart as equals..."

"Could it be that Old Monster Shi Zhong was originally a Nascent Soul cultivator, and this time he tried to break through to a higher realm but failed, resulting in his death?"

Sun Lingtong discovered some key intelligence, but it was far from enough.

Under his control, the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon easily followed the envoys of the Six-Cave Sect.

The envoys quickly descended the mountain and stood at the foot of the mountain, each taking out mounts for travel, all of which were demon beasts like lions and tigers.

They were full of anxiety, their brows deeply furrowed, and when they communicated with each other, they didn't use spiritual sense, but spoke with words.

Along the way, they were discussing how to report back.

Clearly, this mission had ended in failure, making them feel immense pressure.

Life Hanging by a Thread!

During this process, Ning Zhuo specially used his divine ability to plant "Life Hanging by a Thread" on these four people one by one.

The mounts of the black-robed cultivators were quite fast, and soon they arrived at a station on the mountainside.

Through the teleportation array in the station, the four envoys left completely.

Generally, when tracking to this point, a cultivator could only look at the sky and sigh. But Sun Lingtong, possessing the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon, was different.

This mechanical creation reached the Nascent Soul level and possessed the ability to traverse the void that only Nascent Souls had.

Any teleportation array's principle was void evasion.

Therefore, Sun Lingtong decisively controlled the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon to directly escape into the void.

"Xiao Zhuo, it's up to you!" Sun Lingtong communicated through the magic treasure.

Ning Zhuo gave a hum and immediately activated his divine ability.

Upper Dantian—Bright Mirror Spiritual Light Dantian.

The complete divine ability, resembling a white lotus with green leaves, began to shine brilliantly.

Ning Zhuo couldn't help but open his mouth wide; although he could sense the four targets, the sensing in the void was completely different from the real outside world.

Ning Zhuo felt left and right reversed, distance lost, and even the world spinning.

For a time, he didn't know how to describe it.

This process of traversing the void was still too profound for him, far exceeding his limit of understanding.

Fortunately, he and Sun Lingtong had realized this in advance. Ning Zhuo was only responsible for inputting what he sensed into the mechanical swimming dragon, letting the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon perform on its own.

A moment later, the dark curtain dissipated, the silver light expanded, and it turned into the real world.

Sun Lingtong was in the dragon head cabin, fixed his eyes, and cheered: "Success, haha, Xiao Zhuo, well done!"

Ning Zhuo had already collapsed on the ground, his whole body numb, and the mirror surface of his spiritual sense in his mind was almost completely shattered.

He gasped for air, dizzy for a moment, unable to move.

The four black-robed cultivators walked off the teleportation array.

Sun Lingtong controlled the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon, carefully following behind the four black-robed cultivators.

Walking out of the hall housing the teleportation array, Sun Lingtong came outdoors.

He saw that on this giant pillar tree, stone buildings stood in great numbers, with high-rise buildings and low houses, mainly in gray and black.

The sky was covered with a layer of purple-black poisonous mist all year round, blocking the sunlight.

The four black-robed cultivators did not dare to linger, walking straight onto the main road and climbing quickly toward the mountain peak.

On the road, they encountered other cultivators of the Six-Cave Sect from time to time. These cultivators almost all wore black or gray robes, with cold or fierce expressions. Many cultivators were accompanied by lion-tiger beasts, and some were playing with poisonous scorpions, centipedes, or other gu insects.

On the mountainside, Sun Lingtong looked into the distance and saw a huge martial arts arena.

Inside the arena, a large group of cultivators were killing each other, blood flying, and the onlookers roared excitedly, the sound waves spreading out in waves. From time to time, a cultivator would fall completely, losing their life.

Clearly, the competition among the cultivators within the Six-Cave Sect was far more brutal than in the Myriad Medicine Sect!

The four cultivators rushed through the gatehouse and stepped into the hall on the top of the mountain.

Guards intercepted them, and someone turned to enter the hall to report.

Not long after, the guards let them pass.

The four black-robed cultivators looked at each other, all biting the bullet, walking onto the main road, and finally stepping into the majestic hall.

The interior of the hall was incomparably wide, the dome hung high, and various murals were painted on the surrounding walls. Some murals described fierce mountains, evil waters, and miserable mists, some depicted countless cultivators fighting fiercely, and others were scenes of bloody sacrifices. The characters in the murals all had one common feature: regardless of whether they were crying or laughing, their expressions were very ferocious.

The floor of the hall was paved with pitch-black profound iron, cold and hard.

A faint fragrance permeated the air, mixed with a trace of nauseating fishy smell.

In the central area of the hall, six pitch-black stone pillars stood respectively.

The shape of each stone pillar was also quite different.

The middle and upper parts of the stone pillars were hollowed out, and seats or cloud beds were carved out.

The four cultivators walked to the central area of the six stone pillars and bowed down.

On the stone pillars, three seats were empty, and the remaining three had cultivators sitting or lying on them.

These three all had surging Nascent Soul auras, each with different manifestations.

One sat upright on a throne, his figure tall, his upper body bare, covered with black-purple scales, his eyes closed tightly at this time, looking like a stone statue.

One sat cross-legged on a cushion, but his whole body was shrouded in a layer of bloody light, his figure blurry, but his aura was surging, spreading out like the sound of waves.

The third one was lying on a bed, with her back to the outside. She wore semi-transparent purple cloud gauze, her waist and back lines were soft and beautiful, full of temptation. But on her buttocks, a giant scorpion tail grew out. The poisonous sting at the end was glowing with a cold light.

The four cultivators bowed in a grand ceremony.

Through their words, Sun and Ning immediately understood the identities of the three Nascent Soul cultivators before them.

The tall man covered in scales was the Cave Master of the Demon Heart.

The one shrouded in bloody light was the Cave Master of the Blood Shadow.

The charming female cultivator lying down with her back to the crowd was the Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion.

The Cave Master of the Demon Heart opened his eyes; his eyes were clearly cultivated through secret techniques, without normal human pupils, and there was only a blood-red vortex in the eye sockets, which was constantly rotating on its own.

Hearing the report of his subordinates, the Cave Master of the Demon Heart spoke slowly, his voice low: "Hmph, you sacrificed more than a dozen fellow Qi Refining disciples, and yet you didn't even see the face of Old Monster Shi Zhong. You are incompetent, go die."

The four cultivators knelt on the ground, just wanting to open their mouths to beg for mercy.

Bang, bang, bang.

After a series of explosions, their chests burst open, and four hearts flew out.

The fresh hearts flew in front of the Cave Master of the Demon Heart, and the scales in the center of the latter's chest suddenly split open, revealing a vertical slit the size of a palm.

The slit opened, revealing a blood-red heart, with black tendons on the heart like coiled dragons, or like tree roots, densely entangled.

Every time the Demon Heart beat, it would detonate a heart in front of it.

The essence of the shattered hearts was successively thrown into the slit in the chest and swallowed by the Demon Heart.

On the other side, the Cave Master of the Blood Shadow on the black pillar let out a cold laugh.

The bloody light shrouding him also split into a stream, shining on the four corpses.

The four corpses with burst chests withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, and almost all their essence and blood were sucked out, finally merging into the blood light of the Cave Master of the Blood Shadow.

As for the Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion, she also slightly shook the scorpion tail behind her.

The cold light of the scorpion tail flashed in mid-air.

Immediately, the withered corpses all turned into four pools of purple poisonous water.

The poisonous water quickly turned into purple smoke, steaming upward and gathering on the scorpion tail.

The Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion laughed: "The great war is imminent, yet we are slaughtering sect disciples to cultivate demonic arts. When the Great Cave Master returns and finds that there are a hundred or eighty fewer cultivators in the sect, he will definitely be furious. Hehehe."

The Cave Master of the Blood Shadow snorted coldly: "Nowadays, the vanguard army of the dynasty's crusade has approached the Thousand Peaks Forest, and subsequent armies are constantly being dispatched. Even if the Great Cave Master is angry, what can he do at this juncture? How can a few Foundation Establishment cultivators compare to our Nascent Soul-level combat power?"

The Cave Master of the Demon Heart said in a low voice: "If you can't even invite Old Monster Shi Zhong, what is the use of keeping such trash? The only use is to serve as materials to help us increase a trace of cultivation."

"The great war is imminent, and at the critical moment, it is very likely that this tiny gap in cultivation can determine life and death!"

The Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion laughed again: "Hehe, that Old Monster Shi Zhong was born from a ten-thousand-year-old earth essence, most loves quiet, and can be called the oldest. Inviting it out of the mountain was the most difficult task from the beginning. Second Cave Master, you have used this method to eliminate many of the sect's rising stars; I think we can slow down. After all, without these cannon fodder, do we have to take the field in the early stages of the war?"

The Cave Master of the Blood Shadow snorted coldly: "Poison Scorpion, you speak nicely. The real reason is that your love poison has reached a bottleneck and needs to be refined for a period of time before you can continue to progress."

"You are worried that if we continue to cultivate like this, your share will be missing, right?"

The Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion was exposed, but didn't care: "Hehehe, so what if you see through it?"

"My love poison must collect the most vivid emotions. This kind of horror, fear, terror, and anger before death is the best material for refining poison."

"What's wrong with you two slowing down?"

"The hearts and essence blood of these Foundation Establishment cultivators are of little help to you two; they are dispensable."

The Cave Master of the Blood Shadow snorted coldly: "You and I are both leaders of the Six-Cave Sect, helping each other is naturally fine. Then, what about the reward?"

The Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion flicked her scorpion tail and threw out two things.

One was a fist-sized Blood Fiend Demon Stone, and the other was a section of a mechanical carriage.

"A Nascent Soul-level Blood Fiend Demon Stone, not bad, not bad." The Cave Master of the Blood Shadow put away the demon stone, very satisfied.

The Cave Master of the Demon Heart said unhappily: "Poison Scorpion, you want to dismiss me with just a magic tool-level mechanical carriage? Do you know that you are provoking me, that you are insulting me?"

The Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion laughed coquettishly: "How would little sister dare. Second Brother Demon Heart, look carefully, this mechanical carriage appears to be a magic tool on the surface, but it is actually at the level of a magic treasure, just disguised very cleverly."

"Back then, we plotted against the Ning family and confiscated a large amount of their wealth. We all overlooked it, and this mechanical carriage was treated as a magic tool and rewarded."

"One time, I accidentally discovered the mystery of this mechanical carriage, so I designed to harm that disciple and captured this item."

"Second Brother Demon Heart, isn't your son Lin You always plotting for the Pale Savage Elephant?"

"This is not good."

"The new Elephant King is very protective of his own, and with a great enemy approaching, we must unite that group of White Tooth Elephants."

"Lin You, this kid, loves to show off, nothing more than wanting a mount to show off his power. With this mechanical carriage, with a little modification, it will definitely satisfy him."

The Cave Master of the Demon Heart then showed a smile, took the initiative to reach out, and put away the mechanical carriage.

"Good, these past few days, You'er has indeed been quite noisy."

"Poison Scorpion, you have a heart."

The Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion laughed coquettishly: "As long as Second Brother is satisfied!"

The Cave Master of the Blood Shadow snorted coldly: "Poison Scorpion, you are spending a little money to do a big thing, I admire you, I admire you."

Inside the mechanical swimming dragon, Ning Zhuo was trembling with anger!

He recognized that mechanical carriage; it was exactly what his mother had described to him, a vehicle she had ridden in back then, convenient for pregnancy.

"Could it be that Mother moved her fetal qi because of the long journey after this carriage was snatched?"

"Poison Scorpion, and Demon Heart!"

"Six-Cave Sect!"

"I swear, I will definitely take back the mechanical carriage!"

Just as Ning Zhuo made up his mind, the Cave Master of the Demon Heart suddenly showed a strange expression.

This Nascent Soul-level demonic cultivator spoke: "Something is wrong."

"What?" asked the Cave Master of the Blood Shadow.

The Cave Master of the Poison Scorpion laughed: "If Second Brother is not satisfied, little sister can add some more."

The Cave Master of the Demon Heart had a stern face and slowly shook his head: "I ate these hearts, but I have a feeling of foreign objects, as if something was mixed in."

Speaking of this, he immediately activated his magic technique.

For a time, demonic energy overflowed, radiating throughout the hall, conducting a powerful investigation.

The investigation yielded nothing.

The Cave Master of the Demon Heart then activated another magic technique.

Demonic energy surged wildly, like giant waves, shaking the entire hall.

In the dragon head cabin, Sun Lingtong gritted his teeth, nervous and sweating all over.

And outside the cabin, Ning Zhuo's mechanical ring suddenly tightened.

"Not good!"

"Boss, run!!"

Ning Zhuo shouted subconsciously.

Hearing Ning Zhuo's voice, Sun Lingtong was startled; his brain hadn't reacted yet, but his body moved first, immediately opening the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon and rushing out of the hall.

Bang!

The next moment, the door of the hall closed with a bang.

The Cave Master of the Demon Heart laughed loudly, his momentum rising suddenly, standing up slowly like a giant standing between heaven and earth.

The red clouds in his eye sockets accelerated their rotation, and his invisible vision firmly locked onto the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon.

"Hahaha, rats peeping at my Six-Cave Sect, what great courage!"

"All of you die!!"

The Demon Heart in his body beat with a bang.

In the mechanical swimming dragon, Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong both spat blood.

At the critical moment of life and death, the Ten Thousand Mile Swimming Dragon escaped into the void.

The blood light of the Cave Master of the Blood Shadow followed closely, hitting the mechanical dragon body, quickly dyeing the dragon body red.

Run, run, run!

Sun Lingtong's hair stood on end, his mind filled with only this one thought.

As for Ning Zhuo, his heart almost burst, and he fell directly to the ground, fainting.