Chapter 297: The Earth Within the Small Ruler

On this day, just as Zhang Nuo walked into the small shop, he saw Su Haizhen come before him looking very happy, saying mysteriously:

"I just used a Dharma Array to contact the cultivators in my family, and I didn't expect it to actually succeed! They are in another town just a few thousand miles away from here, and the cultivators from my family are currently rushing here to pick me up! Won't you come back to my family with me?"

Her lively eyes flickered; having not seen anyone from her family for decades, the young girl appeared very excited, but Zhang Nuo's heart sank! He had known Su Haizhen was no ordinary person, but it turned out there really was a powerful family behind her.

With no expression on his face, Zhang Nuo promised casually, but in his heart, he was thinking about another matter. His purpose in coming to the Xianhuan Continent was to improve his strength. Now that he had finally arrived here, if he were to get entangled with other forces, it would be difficult to do what he wanted to do.

Furthermore, because of the Nanxuan Sect affair, Zhang Nuo did not want to join any more forces. With Su Haizhen present, he could not say it directly and could only brush it off.

In order to avoid the Su family, Zhang Nuo found an excuse to leave the shop again. This time, he walked straight out of the town, transformed into a streak of light, and flew toward the interior of the Xianhuan Continent.

This continent was countless times larger than the Tianyuan Continent. After flying for more than five days, he finally landed on the top of a small mountain. Looking out, the surrounding rolling mountain ranges seemed endless. He took a deep breath of the air here and felt that the concentration of Spirit Power was indeed much higher than in the town, though not as powerful as the legends claimed.

With a light flick of the 'Seven Kill Ring' on his finger, the corpse of the lecherous pirate Zhang Nuo had previously killed fell out. Because it had been constantly enveloped in Evil Qi, the corpse had basically not shown any signs of decay, and even the Golden Core within the body had been preserved to some extent.

He aimed his right palm at the corpse, a bloodstain split open in his palm, and the 'Divine Tree' surged out, wrapping the corpse within it before shrinking back into Zhang Nuo's palm.

The corpses of Miao Chi and Tang Xing, which had been absorbed into this tree earlier, had long since disappeared, not even leaving a scrap of bone behind. After finishing all this, Zhang Nuo took out a Jade Slip from his Storage Bag; this was a map of the Xianhuan Continent he had bought in the town.

He submerged his Divine Sense into it and saw that this map roughly depicted some of the terrain around the Xianhuan Continent, though there were no records of the deep interior. However, having this was enough! By comparing the map in the Jade Slip with the map inside the 'Measuring Heaven Ruler', Zhang Nuo quickly identified the locations of the Thirty-Six Xian Mountains and the Seventy-Two Purple Mansion Immortal Caves.

After clarifying the entire terrain, Zhang Nuo could not help but gasp. All the Xian Mountains were in the interior of the Xianhuan Continent; not a single one was in the outer regions.

Yet, according to the description in the Jade Slip's map, the range that cultivators could reach was very limited, and no one had ever ventured deep into the interior of the continent! From this, it was not hard to see that the interior of the Xianhuan Continent was indeed an extremely dangerous place. Otherwise, those high-level cultivators would have long since occupied its interior.

"Senior, in your opinion, what should we do?"

Unable to come up with a plan, Zhang Nuo had to seek help from Chunyangzi. After a long while, Chunyangzi let out a long sigh and said:

"Even those Nascent Soul stage cultivators dare not easily cross the line, so I think caution is best! However, it would be a great pity to leave such excellent Purple Mansion Immortal Caves unexplored!"

Chunyangzi also knew the severity of the situation here, but Zhang Nuo was different from others. He had the map of the Xianhuan Continent and could accurately find the locations of the Thirty-Six Xian Mountains and the Seventy-Two Purple Mansion Immortal Caves, but he was limited by his cultivation and could not venture deep inside.

Zhang Nuo was equally unwilling to give up, but what Chunyangzi said next made him feel even more dejected.

"Kid Zhang! It's not that I want to dampen your spirits, but even if we really find the Xian Mountains and the Purple Mansion Immortal Caves, I'm afraid that with your strength, you won't be able to break the Restrictions surrounding them!"

Suddenly thinking of this problem, Zhang Nuo felt a headache. Chunyangzi was right; although these Xian Mountains had disappeared for a long time along with the Xianhuan Continent, their massive Restriction power would not easily vanish. Back in the Tianyuan Continent, the Dharma Array set up by a descendant of the Xianhuan Continent was already very profound, let alone the Restrictions set up by his ancestors!

"Senior, how about this: let's first go find the Cave Abode of the mysterious cultivator ancestor. Perhaps we might have a way to break the Restrictions inside there!"

With a slight shift in his thoughts, Zhang Nuo spoke up.

"En! We might as well try our luck! I hope the Restrictions set by his ancestor are somewhat similar to that valley from back then. If that is the case, I can think of a way to break them!"

The two quickly reached an agreement. Without any delay, Zhang Nuo leaped up, and enveloped in his light, he continued to head toward the depths of the Xianhuan Continent.

…………

At this moment, in a certain place deep within the Xianhuan Continent, a Golden Core stage cultivator had just landed on the ground. This person had white hair and a beard, looking aged and weathered. When his Divine Sense swept the surroundings and he discovered no danger, the old man breathed a sigh of relief, sat cross-legged under a large tree, and began to practice breathing exercises.

The Spiritual Qi deep in the Xianhuan Continent was much denser than on the other continents. After many days of flying, the Divine Sea within the old man had long since dried up. Now that he felt the Spiritual Qi, he naturally absorbed it greedily.

Just as the old man was absorbing the Spiritual Qi, a few yards away from him, the ground moved slowly. Afterward, the soil there began to glow with spiritual light, and finally, the dirt actually condensed together to form a clay giant nearly a zhang tall.

Sensing an anomaly nearby, the old man hurriedly opened his eyes. Upon seeing the clay giant, he gasped in terror!

"It seems the rumors from the outside world are all true! Deep in the Xianhuan Continent, those dirt and rocks have gained spirituality under the nourishment of powerful Spiritual Qi!"

The old man muttered in horror, stood up quickly, and kept backing away. Although it was just a giant made of dirt, judging from the Spirit Power fluctuations emanating from its body, it had the strength of the Foundation Establishment Late Stage!

As soon as the clay giant took form, its gaze fell upon the old man. It let out a low roar as if it had seen something extremely interesting, then took a step with its massive feet and charged toward the old man.

'Boom! Boom!'

Every time the clay giant's feet hit the ground, a heavy boom would echo, shaking the surrounding ground incessantly! Despite its massive size, its running speed was not slow at all!

Seeing this, the old man secretly estimated the strength between himself and the clay giant, then flicked his sleeve, and a Flying Sword slashed out.

A faint white light enveloped the foot-long Flying Sword, which slashed directly onto the clay giant!

With a soft 'Boom', as the spiritual light erupted, one of the clay giant's arms was slashed off. Seeing this, the old man felt a surge of joy, but before the smile on his face could fade, what happened next left him completely frozen in place.

He saw that the arm slashed from the clay giant disappeared as soon as it hit the ground. Subsequently, a brand-new arm grew out from the severed area. Furthermore, with a grab, it pressed directly toward the top of the old man's head.

Shrinking his neck in fear, the old man dodged quickly and drove the Flying Sword with his Divine Sense to slash at the clay giant's head again. However, the result was the same as before; the head fell to the ground and merged into the soil, and the next moment, another head grew out from its neck!

He slashed several more times in succession, but the results were all the same. Only then did the old man realize that attacking this big guy with a Flying Sword was useless. The clay giant was formed from dirt itself, and the earth was its mother body; no matter which part of its body was lost, it would immediately absorb it back from the ground.

'Boom!'

One of the clay giant's large feet slammed toward the old man's body, causing his frantic thoughts to stop instantly. He dodged, the giant foot missed, and what followed was the clay giant's second wave of attacks!

'Boom, boom!'

The continuous attacks forced the old man to run around everywhere; the huge marks left on the ground by the clay giant's attacks were everywhere! Finally, having no other choice, the old man had to drive his light and fly away.

The clay giant looked up for a while, let out a roar of frustration, and then its body submerged back into the ground!

Things like this happened many times every day deep in the Xianhuan Continent. Those like the old man were considered lucky; some cultivators were inexplicably wiped out by clay giants!

Zhang Nuo continued to fly toward the depths of the Xianhuan Continent. The sights he saw along the way were varied, and he even discovered Seventh Rank demonic beasts. Not daring to provoke them too much, he bypassed the locations of the demonic beasts and continued flying forward.

Just at this moment, Chunyangzi in the Sword Box suddenly told Zhang Nuo to stop.

"What happened?"

With his body enveloped in light, Zhang Nuo hovered in mid-air and asked.

"I sense a strange fluctuation of herbal Spirit Power below. It might be a Spiritual Medicine. Why not go down and take a look?"

Zhang Nuo's perception of Spiritual Medicine was far inferior to Chunyangzi's, so he did not doubt it. Especially since Spiritual Medicine grown on the Xianhuan Continent was the best of the best; perhaps it would be of great help to his cultivation.

"Since there is Spiritual Medicine, we cannot let it go!"

As he spoke, Zhang Nuo dove downward. His feet landed steadily on a patch of grass, and he scanned his surroundings. He saw that the grass here was fragrant, and the breeze blowing by was mixed with a faint, refreshing scent.

Everything here was something even the Spiritual Medicine garden of a large sect could not hope to match! With his Divine Sense fully expanded, Zhang Nuo covered the surrounding area and then carefully checked every inch of the place, fearing he might miss the Spiritual Medicine that Chunyangzi had sensed!

A moment later, his heart stirred, and his Divine Sense locked onto a plant with extreme agility! After a smile appeared on his face, he walked toward a spot not far away!