Chapter 125: Tie Lin Appears (Seeking First Subscription)

The celestial phenomenon of Golden Core formation lasted for a full half-day throughout the entire Trial Ground. When everything returned to calm, a long, low roar erupted from within the cave where Tie Lin was located; the roar traveled several miles away before gradually fading.

Gu Yu stood at the peak of the mountain. As his expression shifted slightly, he flicked his robe sleeve, and a Flying Magic Tool was summoned. Stepping onto the magic tool, he surged toward Tie Lin's location amidst flashing spiritual light.

Upon arriving at the cave entrance, Gu Yu could still sense dense Spiritual Qi. He peered into the cave with his small eyes, only to see a pitch-black void inside, devoid of any sound or movement, quiet enough to be frightening.

After hesitating for a moment, he stepped into the cave. Inside, he saw eight black-robed cultivators sitting motionless in a circle. In the center, sitting cross-legged, was a black-robed figure; this person was none other than Tie Lin.

Feeling the immense Spiritual Pressure radiating from him, a look of pleasant surprise flashed in Gu Yu's eyes!

"Congratulations to Senior Martial Brother on successfully forming your Golden Core!"

Tie Lin's motionless body suddenly stirred. He raised his head to look at the approaching Gu Yu, the muscles on his face twitching rapidly a few times before he slowly spat out a sentence after a moment.

"Junior Martial Brother! You have worked hard during this time!"

Tie Lin's voice was not loud, but every word revealed a chilling pressure. Even Gu Yu, who was always gloomy, felt a chill run down his spine upon hearing it.

"It was no hardship! The harvest during this time has been quite substantial as well!"

Blinking his small eyes frequently and forcibly calming his emotions, Gu Yu said with a smile, though his smile looked somewhat forced and appeared extremely unnatural.

Ignoring Gu Yu, Tie Lin's gaze turned toward the eight black-robed cultivators surrounding him. These eight remained motionless, as if they had not heard the conversation between the two at all.

At this moment, Gu Yu also noticed this. He swept his Divine Sense over the eight, but to his astonishment, there was not a shred of Spirit Power fluctuation on them; even their breathing had stopped.

A cold snort suddenly escaped Tie Lin's lips. At the same time, the Spiritual Pressure on his body surged. With a soft 'Whoosh!', when the pressure touched the eight black-robed cultivators, their bodies shuddered, then shattered like powder, turning into eight piles of black ash in the blink of an eye.

"This..."

A rare look of terror appeared on Gu Yu's face. These eight were clearly disciples of their own sect who had set up the 'Spirit Gathering Array'; how had they turned to ash in the blink of an eye?

"It is a pity their cultivation is too low. After helping me form my Golden Core, they were unable to continue gathering Spiritual Qi. If they could have held on for a few more days to let me consolidate my Foundation Establishment stage cultivation, that would have been better!"

Tie Lin did not show the slightest surprise at the demise of the eight, as if he had known this would be the result.

"Why did they end up like this?"

"This Spirit Gathering Array was personally designed by Master himself. However, its only drawback is that it requires the consumption of the life essence of those setting up the array. All eight of them were at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage; being able to support me until my Golden Core formation was successful is already quite good!"

Hearing Tie Lin's explanation, Gu Yu finally understood a little. So it was an array set up using life essence; no wonder the speed of gathering Spiritual Qi was so fast! However, while marveling, a layer of gloom also clouded his heart.

When these eight cultivators were initially asked to set up the array, no one had told them that this array would consume their life essence. These eight had lost their lives without even knowing it! To ensure Tie Lin's Golden Core formation succeeded, Leng Xinghun truly stopped at nothing! He did not even care about sacrificing the lives of his own sect's disciples.

"Continue to stand guard for me for a while longer. I will first stabilize my cultivation, and then we will go together to slaughter the cultivators of other sects in the Trial Ground!"

Tie Lin gave a cold, sinister smile, his neat, bone-white teeth emitting rays of cold light. With just a slight nod, Gu Yu walked out of the cave. He looked toward the distance of the Trial Ground, and the same cold smile appeared on his face as well.

At this time, the Trial Ground was already in a state of panic. The cultivators of various sects and factions had no mood to pick Spiritual Medicine anymore; each of them was choosing hidden locations, waiting for the truth of the matter.

After Zhang Nuo finished watching the Golden Core celestial phenomenon, he was also suspicious in his heart. However, he did not know what had happened, so he simply continued flying toward Zhuge Qing's location. But halfway there, he encountered several Nanxuan Sect cultivators, and among them, he even saw the figure of Chu Budong.

"Junior Martial Brother Zhang!"

As soon as he spotted Zhang Nuo, Chu Budong shouted loudly. His figure flashed as he flew out from the crowd. Arriving before Zhang Nuo, Chu Budong patted his shoulder very happily and said:

"It is truly great to see you! Where is the Young Sect Master?"

His gaze swept past Zhang Nuo, but he did not find Zhuge Qing. Chu Budong was immediately astonished. He had seen with his own eyes that Zhang Nuo had rescued the young girl; now that she was not by Zhang Nuo's side, could it be that some accident had occurred?

"The Young Sect Master is currently in a cave in secluded meditation to heal her injuries; she hasn't come out for several months!"

Fearing that Chu Budong might misunderstand, Zhang Nuo hurriedly said.

Chu Budong had seen Zhuge Qing get injured by the two-headed snake back then. Upon hearing that the young girl was in secluded meditation to heal, he set his anxious heart at ease.

At this moment, the other Nanxuan Sect cultivators also arrived in front of the two. Each of these cultivators looked at Zhang Nuo with surprised eyes. Cultivators who could enter the Trial Ground all had some reputation within their sect, but they had never seen the green-robed youth before them whom Chu Budong called Junior Martial Brother.

"I forgot to introduce you all. This is the fellow disciple the Young Sect Master newly took in within the Trial Ground that I told you about, Zhang Nuo!"

As soon as the name Zhang Nuo was spoken, everyone widened their eyes, looking at him with incredulous expressions. Chu Budong had long since told them about Zhuge Qing and the others going to kill the two-headed snake, especially when he spoke of Zhang Nuo cutting off the black snake head; the crowd almost could not believe it.

How could a Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator possess such great divine abilities? But Chu Budong spoke very earnestly, not like he was telling a lie. Moreover, there was no need to lie about such things; even if Chu Budong were helping Zhang Nuo boast, a lie would always be exposed one day.

"Greetings, Senior Martial Brothers!"

Zhang Nuo knew how to handle himself. Amidst the surprise of the crowd, he bowed deeply to them. Having heard of Zhang Nuo's divine abilities, these people did not dare to consider themselves his seniors and returned the salute one after another!

"Senior Martial Brothers, calculating the time, the Young Sect Master should be coming out of seclusion soon. Why don't I take you to find her!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone immediately agreed. Zhang Nuo then led the group, flying toward the cave where Zhuge Qing was in seclusion.

…………

In front of the cave where Zhuge Qing was in seclusion, on a patch of open ground, two small beasts resembling mice were playing with each other. Suddenly, the pile of rubble at the cave entrance moved.

The two small beasts immediately looked toward that spot with vigilance. Not long after, the entrance fluctuated again, and many gravel stones tumbled down one after another.

Following that, with a loud 'Rumble', the rubble blocking the cave entrance was blasted away from the inside. Several pieces fell in front of the two small beasts, and immediately, the two small beasts fled toward the forest in fright.

At the cave entrance, dust and smoke rose everywhere, and occasionally gravel fell from the top. With a 'Whoosh', a figure shot out from the cave and landed on the flat ground in a flash.

The person who flew out had a delicate face with a faint smile hanging on it, making one feel affection upon seeing her. This person was none other than Zhuge Qing! As soon as the young girl came out, she took a deep breath of fresh air; having been in secluded meditation in the cave for several months, she was truly feeling quite stifled.

She glanced around and saw that everything was still the same, with no changes at all. Suddenly, the young girl's gaze looked into the distance, and she saw several rays of light flying toward her from the horizon, among which a few Spirit Power fluctuations were extremely familiar.

Not long after, these rays of light arrived before the young girl. It turned out to be Zhang Nuo and the others who had arrived here by riding their magic tools! Seeing Zhuge Qing come out of seclusion, Chu Budong was very happy and asked a few questions. At this time, Zhuge Qing suddenly said:

"A few days ago, I felt that the Spiritual Qi of the entire Trial Ground was very turbulent. What exactly happened?"

Upon this question, the Nanxuan Sect group all revealed expressions of confusion. Finally, it was Chu Budong who said suspiciously:

"We saw the celestial phenomenon of a cultivator forming a Golden Core in the Trial Ground a few days ago!"

As soon as this sentence was spoken, the young girl's expression changed drastically. On her pretty face, she could not hide a look of horror. Someone forming a Golden Core in the Trial Ground—this news would be shocking to anyone who heard it.

However, with Zhuge Qing's intelligence, after only a moment of thought, she was so frightened that her face turned pale, and her red lips even turned slightly purple!

"There must be a huge conspiracy in this! It seems this Four Sects Trial is going to end in a bloody manner!"

Zhang Nuo knew the young girl's shrewdness well; it was not strange at all for her to say such things!

"Are you saying someone wants to wipe out the elite disciples of the Four Sects who entered the Trial Ground?"

Walking up to the young girl, Zhang Nuo asked tentatively.

"Not the Four Sects! It is three sects. This Golden Core cultivator must be from one of the Four Great Sects. However, as long as we wait for about a month, everything will be clear!"

Zhuge Qing bit her red lips tightly. Even when dealing with the two-headed snake, she had not been seen like this, which showed the severity of the matter!

"Immediately find a way to notify all the cultivators of our sect to gather here. Without my permission, they are not allowed to engage in battle with cultivators from other sects!"

The young girl spoke loudly all of a sudden. Upon hearing this, everyone nodded immediately. Although they did not know why Zhuge Qing would do this, since she, who was always calm, had made this decision in the Trial Ground, something major must have happened!

Before long, all the cultivators were contacting their fellow disciples. In an instant, several streaks of fire transformed from Sound Transmission Talismans flew high into the sky, and with a flash, they all vanished.

Seeing that everyone had finished doing all this, the young girl continued:

"Now, everyone rest where you are and keep your bodies in peak condition! Brother Zhang, come here for a moment!"

After speaking to the group, the young girl specifically said this to Zhang Nuo. This one sentence was no small matter! After hearing it, the Nanxuan Sect cultivators present were all dumbfounded.

The dignified Young Sect Master actually addressed a newly initiated cultivator as "Brother Zhang"! This truly showed the degree of importance Zhuge Qing placed on Zhang Nuo. As a result, everyone felt even more awe toward the green-robed cultivator before them.