Chapter 334: The Truth

Just as the Baijiaowang led the Sea Flood Dragon Clan to join the struggle for the Tianqi Immortal Mountain, several other formidable forces also participated, making the previously chaotic battlefield even more bewildering!

At this moment, Nanxuan Laozu was within his escape light, his Divine Sense fully unleashed as he searched for Zhang Nuo's whereabouts. However, after several consecutive days, he had not even seen a shadow of Zhang Nuo, which made him increasingly anxious!

"Nanxuan!"

A cold, sinister voice suddenly came from the clearing below. Nanxuan Laozu looked down to see the Demon Emperor with his hands behind his back, and beside him lay several cultivators' corpses, scattered in disarray!

Frowning slightly, Nanxuan Laozu had no intention of fighting the Demon Emperor; his current goal was solely to find Zhang Nuo! With a shift of his thoughts, the escape light on Nanxuan Laozu flashed, and he flew toward the distant sky!

"Want to leave! It's not that easy! Today, we shall settle our new and old grudges together!"

The Demon Emperor noticed that Nanxuan Laozu seemed to be hiding something in his heart and was unwilling to entangle with him. After a brief thought, the Demon Emperor let out a long whistle and gave chase!

Sensing the Demon Emperor pursuing from behind, Nanxuan Laozu's expression turned gloomy! It seemed the situation had become tricky; even if he could find Zhang Nuo, he had no way to deal with the Demon Emperor behind him for the time being!

Pushing his escape light to the limit, Nanxuan Laozu wanted to use his speed to shake off the Demon Emperor, but their cultivation levels were almost evenly matched, and their flight speeds were neck and neck; for a moment, he could not pull away any significant distance!

Back at the Tianjiang Pingmian, Nanxuan Laozu had nearly ruined the Demon Emperor's grand plan, a grudge he would never forget in his life! The two of them, one in front and one behind, left two streaks of light in the sky as they chased each other through this Tianqi Immortal Mountain!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Immortal Mountain, Zhang Nuo hid in a valley. With his Divine Sense fully unleashed, he did not discover any other cultivators, so he landed in a patch of forest.

Slowly spreading his right hand, a blood-red crack split the sky in his palm, and a miniature tree grew out! Among the lush branches and leaves of the small tree, an old man was bound—it was none other than Jin Buhuan!

Looking at his dying appearance, Zhang Nuo could not help but let out a cold snort.

"Stop pretending! I know you aren't unconscious!"

With a movement of his Divine Sense, several branches and leaves immediately transformed into a tree spear and thrust toward the center of the old man's brow!

"No!"

The old man, who had been keeping his eyes tightly shut, suddenly let out a cry of alarm, his face filled with fear!

"Hehe! Now can you tell me about the Great Underworld Mansion?"

With a cold expression, Zhang Nuo gritted his teeth and said sternly.

"What do you want to know?"

Jin Buhuan seemed to be deliberately trying to please Zhang Nuo; in his dejected state, the previous arrogance was gone!

"What is your name?"

Seeing that the old man was sensible, Zhang Nuo did not resort to further harsh measures.

"This old man is named Jin Buhuan!"

"Oh! What is the name of the man with the red hair?"

Zhang Nuo nodded slightly and asked again. The old man's heart skipped a beat; he had long guessed that Zhang Nuo would ask this. Rolling his eyes slightly and calculating a strategy in his mind, he said with a bitter expression:

"His name is Chi Bilie, and he is a renowned figure in the Great Underworld Mansion; even I have to give him some leeway! Especially since this person is extremely ruthless—the Blood Sacrifice in the village was his doing! This old man once tried to persuade him that doing so would damage his virtue, but he wouldn't listen..."

The old man spoke incessantly. Judging by his words, he had been forced to join the Great Underworld Mansion against his will. As soon as Zhang Nuo heard the name Chi Bilie, the image of the red-haired man immediately surged into his mind! Especially Jin Buhuan's later words about the Blood Sacrifice in the village made his heart sink, as if he saw that huge blood pool in the center of the village once again!

"What is that Blood Sacrifice used for?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Zhang Nuo said with a cold gaze. The old man was still talking on and on, but his expression changed abruptly when he heard Zhang Nuo ask about the Blood Sacrifice. Seeing this, Zhang Nuo suddenly sneered and said:

"Don't try to deceive me with lies! If I sense even a hint of anything unrealistic, I will take your life immediately!"

As he spoke, the tree spear aimed directly at the center of the old man's brow!

"Fellow Daoist, don't misunderstand! This old man is already a dying person, why would I tell lies? The Blood Sacrifice is for finding the 'Mysterious Heaven Insect Cocoon'!"

Fearing that Zhang Nuo would kill him, Jin Buhuan answered without hesitation. Zhang Nuo's expression was uncertain; it seemed Sun Yiyang and the others had guessed correctly—the Blood Sacrifice was indeed for finding something! Fortunately, before the Blood Sacrifice, the Mysterious Heaven Spirit Insect had already been planted in Zhang Nuo's arm, otherwise, it might have really been found by these people from the Great Underworld Mansion!

"You destroyed the Divine Sword Sect, was that also to find the cocoon?"

"Correct! Back then, Chi Bilie was chasing Zhu Tong, and he disappeared near the Divine Sword Sect, so we took over the Divine Sword Sect as a base, hoping to find some clues about the cocoon from the surrounding area!"

After hearing the old man's words, Zhang Nuo sighed deeply in his heart; it seemed the destruction of the Divine Sword Sect was inseparable from the Spirit Insect! He never expected that a single insect would cause so many cultivators to perish!

The old man trapped in the Divine Tree, seeing Zhang Nuo lost in thought and not paying attention to him, shifted his thoughts and suddenly let out a light shout. The Golden Core inside his body erupted with intense golden light, and then his body burst forth with ten thousand rays of Golden Light, like a small sun. By the time Zhang Nuo realized something was wrong, the scorching Golden Light had already blinded him!

Swish! After a soft sound, the old man, wrapped in Golden Light, actually broke free from the constraints of the Divine Tree, flashed into the high sky, and fled into the distance without looking back!

Zhang Nuo was stunned by everything before him. That someone could escape from the constraints of the Pure Underworld Divine Tree was simply unbelievable. Where did he get the power? One must know that the Divine Tree was constantly absorbing the Spirit Power of those trapped; no matter how high the cultivation, without Spirit Power, one could not use any techniques!

Yet the Golden Light on the old man just now was clearly a gathering of immense Spirit Power. Where did he get such vast Spirit Power?

Just as Zhang Nuo was pondering, Jin Buhuan's figure disappeared into the distant sky, vanishing in the blink of an eye! His speed was so fast that even Zhang Nuo could not catch up!

Cursing bitterly, Zhang Nuo unwillingly retracted the Divine Tree. He had wanted to ask more about the Great Underworld Mansion from the old man, but instead, he had given the opponent a chance to escape! Since Jin Buhuan had already escaped, he could no longer stay here. With a flash of his escape light, he also left the valley.

Wrapped in a layer of Golden Light, Jin Buhuan's expression was exceptionally ugly; his aged skin looked like a withered tree, and his eyes were dull and lifeless!

After flying nearly a thousand miles away and seeing that Zhang Nuo was not pursuing, he finally felt relieved. His figure slowly landed on the ground, and he looked around. This place was relatively quiet, with no cultivators fighting. The old man struggled to walk to a large rock and sat down with a thud!

"Zhang Nuo! Everything I have suffered today, I will pay back double in the future!"

Squinting his eyes and looking inward, he saw that the Golden Core in his dantian was more than a full circle smaller than before, and his cultivation had dropped to the Golden Core Middle Stage!

If he hadn't known a secret technique capable of instantly stimulating the potential contained within his Golden Core, he would never have been able to break free from the constraints of the Pure Underworld Divine Tree!

However, this secret technique had its flaws; the lost Golden Core power could not be replenished in a short time and required re-cultivation. The old man had originally been at the Golden Core Late Stage Great Perfection, but he had regressed!

Decades of effort had vanished in an instant, but compared to losing his life, this loss was worth it! Taking two Pills from his Storage Bag, Jin Buhuan threw them directly into his mouth. After about half an hour, his physical strength finally recovered a little!

Just at this moment, an escape light flew from the distant horizon. The old man was startled at first, thinking it was a cultivator from some sect heading his way. With his current strength, even an ordinary Golden Core Stage cultivator could take his life! But after he saw the escape light clearly, he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Soon, the escape light from the horizon arrived in front of the old man. After landing, the light faded, revealing the appearance of the man with the surname Chi!

"Brother Jin! What happened? How did you end up in such a sorry state!"

With just a sweep of his Divine Sense over the old man, Chi Bilie discovered that his cultivation had dropped significantly!

"Alas! This time I capsized in the gutter!"

With a long sigh, the old man angrily recounted his battle with Zhang Nuo. When Chi Bilie finished listening, his expression also turned ugly instantly! Among the three of them, the old man had the highest cultivation; he never expected that he would still be outmaneuvered by Zhang Nuo!

"If I hadn't used a secret technique to escape, I'm afraid you wouldn't be seeing me!"

"Brother Jin! I think this kid Zhang Nuo is no ordinary person; we should find Brother Qin before making any decisions!"

Looking at the old man's miserable state, Chi Bilie understood in his heart that he was not much stronger than Jin Buhuan; if he were to encounter Zhang Nuo alone, he imagined he wouldn't fare any better!

"That is the only way! With the strength of the two of us, in a one-on-one fight, I'm afraid neither of us is a match for that kid!"

The old man nodded slightly, and thus agreed! The two turned into streaks of light simultaneously, flying off toward the distant sky!

At the same time, within the small lake below the broken wall, dozens of Array Disks circled incessantly before Chunyangzi, and over a thousand array flags shone with brilliant five-colored light, constantly intertwining with the Fowen emanating from the light screen opposite him!

Bursts of booming sounds continued to ring out, but only Chunyangzi himself knew of all this; from the surface of the lake water, one could not see any abnormality at all! This Restriction was truly terrifyingly strong; even with Chunyangzi exhausting all his divine abilities, he remained completely at a loss!

As for everything happening to Zhang Nuo, he was completely unaware; he had only one thought in his heart, and that was to open the Restriction! To open the Purple Mansion Immortal Cave!