Chapter 195: The Mysterious Cultivator's Cave Abode

"It is right here!"

Zhong Yan stopped his movement and swept his gaze toward Zhang Nuo, only to see his eyes were vacant, not knowing what he was thinking in his heart. Hearing the sound, Zhang Nuo nodded slightly and said:

"Is this the Cave Abode of that mysterious cultivator the senior spoke of?"

"Correct! I believe he has long since fallen, and this Cave Abode is now empty! The things inside will belong entirely to the two of us!"

Zhong Yan deliberately said "the two of us," using such words to stir up Zhang Nuo's greed. A Nascent Soul stage cultivator's Cave Abode naturally would not lack good things. Just imagine, among mere Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, how many would not be tempted?

Just as Zhong Yan expected, a burst of wild joy appeared on Zhang Nuo's face, saliva was almost flowing from his mouth, and his eyes were filled with greed. However, despite this, Zhang Nuo did not immediately rush toward the Cave Abode, but instead kept smacking his lips on the spot, as if he were overly excited and somewhat at a loss!

Witnessing this scene, Zhong Yan sneered inwardly. When he first met Zhang Nuo, the other party was still on guard, but now that he saw the benefits before him, he had actually lost his composure!

"Use your Magic Treasure to test it first and see if there are still any Restrictions around this Cave Abode?"

After Zhang Nuo's expression eased a little, the phantom then said.

"Understood!"

Having agreed, a Flying Sword flew out from the Nine Dragon Sword Case on Zhang Nuo's back, flying toward the cave entrance without the slightest hesitation, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished into the interior of the cave. A moment later, it flew back.

"Senior, there are no Restrictions inside; my Flying Sword can enter and exit freely!"

Zhong Yan had also seen everything that just happened, and the joy in his heart could no longer be concealed; he raised his head toward the sky and laughed wantonly.

"I never expected that while the cultivators who entered with me all fell, I would still be able to find the location of the Cave Abode! Heaven has not treated me poorly!"

Zhang Nuo looked at the phantom laughing in a state of agitation, a strange look appearing in his eyes, but it flashed and vanished, and Zhong Yan did not notice it at all.

"Since there are no Restrictions, let us go in! Little friend, you possess a physical body, so please walk in front!"

Hearing this, Zhang Nuo sneered in his heart, but he still feigned an extremely greedy appearance and walked to the front almost without thinking.

The phantom only sneered; this was exactly the result he had hoped for. Following behind Zhang Nuo, the two entered the Cave Abode one after the other. This Cave Abode was very spacious inside, and as soon as they walked in, a large hall appeared before their eyes.

Only to see that on the walls of the Cave Abode hung countless luminous pearls, illuminating the entire hall as bright as day. Zhang Nuo swept his gaze and discovered an old man sitting cross-legged in the center of the hall!

At this, not only was Zhang Nuo terrified, but even Zhong Yan behind him almost cried out in alarm! Both of them retreated several steps simultaneously, and with a movement of their Divine Sense, over a dozen Flying Swords flew out from the Nine Dragon Sword Case, blocking in front of them.

The two were tense to the extreme, but the old man sitting in the hall acted as if he had heard nothing of all this; his slightly closed eyes remained unopened, and even his eyelids did not move at all.

Zhang Nuo frowned, and when his Divine Sense swept over the old man's body, he finally let out a long sigh of relief. It turned out the old man in the hall had long since fallen, and what was sitting there now was merely a shell!

"S-so he was already dead!"

Still shaken, Zhong Yan even stuttered when he spoke. With his cultivation and mental fortitude, to be frightened like this by a mere corpse shows just what kind of supernatural powers the owner of this place possessed.

Zhang Nuo glanced sideways at the phantom, finding it funny in his heart; it seemed this fellow was not as fearless as he claimed to be. He withdrew the Flying Swords in front of him and scanned the entire Cave Abode once more.

On the left and right sides of the hall, there were two long corridors; it seemed there were other rooms inside the Cave Abode. Just as Zhang Nuo was looking around, the phantom slowly approached the old man in the center of the hall.

Zhang Nuo did not stop him, only watching him carefully. Very quickly, Zhong Yan arrived before the old man, looked at his body for a long time, and then slowly extended a finger to point at the old man's remains.

The moment the phantom's hand touched the old man's body, the remains crumbled like dry wood and rotten grass, turning into a pile of dust in the span of a single breath.

The instant the old man's body was destroyed, Zhang Nuo saw a ray of light flash within it, which was snatched into the phantom's hand in a flash.

"Hehe! Measuring Heaven Ruler! It is finally mine!"

When Zhong Yan grabbed that item from the old man's remains, he could no longer control his emotions, and bursts of sinister laughter echoed endlessly throughout the Cave Abode. Zhang Nuo felt a layer of cold sweat break out upon hearing it; it seemed that item inside the old man's body was extremely important to him.

Observing intently, he saw that in the phantom's hand, he was clutching a small ruler about twenty-some inches long. This small ruler was silver and shimmering all over; despite the passage of such a long time, waves of not-insignificant Spirit Power were radiating from the body of the ruler.

"A treasure!"

The first thought that flashed through Zhang Nuo's mind was that this silver small ruler was definitely a rare Magic Treasure, even far more powerful than the Ancient Treasure Heaven-Turning Seal.

Stroking the silver small ruler with both hands, the phantom kept revealing a fanatical smile.

"Back then, you used this to kill me! Fortunately, I left a strand of Remnant Soul in the Flying Sword! Haha! Today it finally belongs to me! Measuring Heaven Ruler! Measuring Heaven Ruler!"

Almost in a state of madness, Zhong Yan kept repeating the name of the Magic Treasure. Zhang Nuo stood behind him with his brows locked tight. He had never heard the name "Measuring Heaven Ruler" before, but seeing a Nascent Soul stage cultivator show such an expression, he secretly calculated that he must get his hands on this Magic Treasure.

However, before he understood the situation, he dared not act rashly; there were still many secrets here that needed Zhong Yan to answer.

After a long while, Zhong Yan finally awoke from his self-intoxication. Holding the Measuring Heaven Ruler in one hand, his figure slowly turned and he arrived before Zhang Nuo.

"Little friend! I must thank you for this! To show my gratitude, you may take whatever you wish from this Cave Abode!"

Just as if it were his own Cave Abode, Zhong Yan waved his hand very generously! Zhang Nuo did not stand on ceremony either; he stepped forward and walked into the depths of the Cave Abode. Passing through one of the corridors, he arrived before a Stone Chamber and tentatively pushed open the stone door, only to see that this was a place for storing Pills.

As his Divine Sense swept over those Pills, a sharp light bloomed in Zhang Nuo's eyes. Any one of these Pills, if taken out, would have been refined from heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Although he could not name some of them, just by the wafting medicinal fragrance, he could conclude that the Pills in the Stone Chamber could not be found on the Tianjiang Plain at all.

In the center of the Stone Chamber, there was also a medicine furnace a zhang in size; it seemed the cultivator here also understood the art of alchemy! Zhang Nuo spent a full half-hour just browsing this one medicine room.

When he walked out of the Stone Chamber, he saw Zhong Yan standing at the doorway, still playing with the Measuring Heaven Ruler in his hand!

"Senior! The Pills possessed by the owner of this Cave Abode are ones I have never seen before! There are too many!"

Deliberately revealing a look of shock, Zhang Nuo feigned the appearance of someone who had never seen the world, his eyes even emitting a green light!

"Hehe! Go and take a look at the other Stone Chambers!"

The phantom seemed to have no time to bother with Zhang Nuo and said so afterward. Zhang Nuo did not stand on ceremony and walked straight toward the other Stone Chambers, but when he saw the things inside, he was truly stunned!

The other Stone Chambers were, unexpectedly, an Artifact Refining Room, a Talisman Refining Room, an Array Room, and a Puppet Room. The owner of this Cave Abode was truly a genius, having dabbled in things from across the Cultivation World.

One must know that human energy is limited; if one attends to one thing and loses another, learning one more thing will cause other things to be neglected. Yet, everything before his eyes proved that the owner of this Cave Abode was a man of great learning!

Zhang Nuo dared not imagine how glorious the owner of the Cave Abode had been back then. For a Nascent Soul stage cultivator to achieve this step was already not simple at all. Take Nanxuan Laozu for example; although he had already entered the Nascent Soul stage, he did not seem to know these things. Apart from focusing on cultivation, he dared not spare the time to do other things.

"Truly a genius!"

Zhang Nuo muttered to himself in a low voice and slowly walked back into the hall, his heart constantly guessing where this great cultivator had come from.

Within the Nanxuan Sect, he had never heard of such a person, and even among the previous generations of cultivators of the Nanxuan Sect, such a figure had never emerged!

"Where on earth did he come from?"

"He came from a continent we have never known! It is rumored to have long since disappeared from the world!"

Zhong Yan's voice suddenly rang out behind Zhang Nuo, and his heart gave a violent jolt. He had been too preoccupied with his reflections just now and had forgotten there was still a dangerous person behind him!

Slowly turning his head, Zhang Nuo looked blankly at the phantom.

"Disappeared from the world?"

"Correct! It is said that the cultivators on that continent were all gifted with heaven-defying talent, and their overall cultivation was relatively high. To put it bluntly: Nascent Soul cultivators walked everywhere, and Golden Core cultivators were no better than dogs!"

Zhang Nuo gasped; this was too exaggerated! What kind of scene was that, where Nascent Soul cultivators walked everywhere and Golden Core cultivators were as common as dogs! It was truly unimaginable!

"However, for some unknown reason, that continent suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving behind only endless legends! We only guessed back then that the owner of this Cave Abode came from that mysterious continent! Now, judging by everything in his Cave Abode, it must be true!"

Zhong Yan's expression was grave; recalling the events from before, he still felt a lingering fear, and unconsciously, he gripped the Measuring Heaven Ruler in his hand even tighter.

Seeing him so attentive to this ruler, Zhang Nuo felt increasingly strange, and he made up his mind that once he finished using this fellow, he would definitely seize the Measuring Heaven Ruler to study it properly himself.

Thinking this in his heart, Zhang Nuo wanted to ask a few more questions, when suddenly a red light flashed across Zhong Yan's eyes, and then his eyes became hollow and vacant.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Nuo raised his eyebrows slightly, and then his eyes looked toward the phantom's eyes! With this one look, his heart instantly turned cold! His body stood frozen on the spot as if struck by lightning.