Chapter 473: Traces of Pirates

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Zhang Nuo rarely practiced the Eight Extremes Demon Veins, but to ask him to give up this cultivation technique entirely was something he absolutely could not do!

After summoning Baji Laomo and asking him in detail about matters regarding the technique, Zhang Nuo then cautiously began to continue practicing the "Eight Extremes Demon Veins"!

Several years later, Zhang Nuo was sitting cross-legged in meditation, with Demonic Qi swirling around his body! Suddenly, a Sound Transmission Talisman shot into the Cave Abode. His Divine Sense stirred, sensing something amiss, and he immediately ceased his cultivation, casting his gaze toward that streak of firelight!

Before going into seclusion, Zhang Nuo had once warned Liu Qingshan not to disturb him unless there was something particularly important. Yet now, a Sound Transmission Talisman had actually come in; could it be that there was progress on the two matters he had previously mentioned?

He reached out and grabbed the Sound Transmission Talisman, closing his five fingers with force, and the light and fire burst open, with Liu Qingshan's voice coming from within!

"Pavilion Master! The pirate who used the small hammer has been located!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Nuo's entire body gave a jolt! A smile appeared on his face! It seemed the Sacrificial Heaven Four-Piece Set was finally within reach! With a flick of his robe sleeves, he took the Qiongqi beast from the side onto his person! As for Xuan Jin, he had not returned in these few years, but Zhang Nuo was not particularly worried about him!

At the very least, with Xuan Jin's supernatural powers, there was likely no Restriction in this world that could trap him!

After exiting the Cave Abode, Zhang Nuo flew directly toward the direction of Yulong Hall. Along the way, Zhang Nuo's eyes were almost fixed in a stare! He simply could not believe that this was Yulong Immortal Mountain; he saw layers upon layers of pavilions and halls everywhere! Compared to before, it was simply like heaven and earth!

Before long, when he arrived at Yulong Hall, he saw Liu Qingshan pacing back and forth anxiously! Upon seeing Zhang Nuo, he rushed up in a single bound!

"Pavilion Master! I just received news that the pirate who uses the hammer Magic Treasure is active in a sea area not far from the Xianhuan Continent! Inside this Jade Slip is the specific sea chart! You should take the large teleportation array to the outpost at the edge of the continent immediately; if you are late, I fear that pirate leader will move to another place!"

Liu Qingshan spoke very urgently, simultaneously handing a Jade Slip to Zhang Nuo!

"I have troubled you, Elder Liu!"

Zhang Nuo took the Jade Slip, and after a polite remark, his figure turned and he rushed straight out of the hall! Liu Qingshan watched Zhang Nuo's receding back and let out a long sigh. Zhang Nuo had entrusted him with two major tasks, and now one was finally close to completion! As for the remaining one, it was extremely thorny; with the current capabilities of Yulong Immortal Mountain and Yulong Workshop, they still hadn't managed to gather the required items!

It was truly unimaginable what kind of major event Zhang Nuo intended to carry out with those items!

At the edge of the Xianhuan Continent! Inside a room within the long-term outpost of the Giant Spirit Pavilion in a large city, after the humming of the teleportation Dharma Array faded, a man of about twenty years old stepped off the array—it was Zhang Nuo!

"Respectfully welcome, Pavilion Master!"

Beside the array, two disciples at the Golden Core Stage stood with hands at their sides. Upon seeing Zhang Nuo appear, they immediately stepped forward to salute! This Pavilion Master had not shown his face for a long time, and now that they saw him, he was no different from before!

"En!"

Zhang Nuo nodded slightly and walked straight out of the teleportation room. Grasping the Jade Slip Liu Qingshan had given him, he sank his Divine Sense into it. A moment later, his escape light rose, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished from the sight of the two Golden Core disciples!

The two of them looked at each other, their eyes filled with envy. Zhang Nuo's supernatural powers were such that he came without a trace and left without a shadow, like a divine dragon that shows its head but never its tail! They wondered when they would ever have such cultivation!

Setting aside the envy of those two, Zhang Nuo piloted his escape light and flew for several days until he reached the sea area recorded in the Jade Slip! He hovered ten thousand feet in the air, opening his Divine Sense wide to carefully investigate every movement in the surroundings! But a moment later, Zhang Nuo shook his head in disappointment!

The nearby sea surface was calm and waveless; let alone pirates, not even a single merchant ship could be seen!

However, the information Liu Qingshan provided could not possibly be false, so Zhang Nuo had no choice but to wait here like a farmer waiting for a rabbit to hit a tree! One day, two days, three days—he waited for half a month, and the pirates still did not appear!

Zhang Nuo was somewhat discouraged; perhaps the pirates had changed locations and were no longer operating in this sea area! His body slowly descended to the sea surface, and he looked around!

Here, the sea and sky were one uniform blue! In this boundless Mist Sea, one could not know how many cultivators had lost their lives!

At this moment, Zhang Nuo's Divine Sense discovered that, several hundred miles away from him, a large ship was slowly sailing on the sea. Because it was relatively close to the Xianhuan Continent, the cultivators on the ship had relaxed their vigilance, lying lazily on the deck to sunbathe!

Zhang Nuo had long since become accustomed to all of this! In the past half month, countless merchant ships had passed through here, and no pirates had appeared!

Just as he was about to rise back into the air, suddenly a small, fast boat rushed at high speed toward the direction of that merchant ship! Looking at the small boat, there seemed to be more than a dozen cultivators on it!

Zhang Nuo's eyes lit up; it was very clear that the people on that small boat were up to no good! At the same time, the cultivators on the merchant ship also discovered this. They never imagined that so close to the Xianhuan Continent, there would still be pirates active!

In terms of the sharpness of Zhang Nuo's Divine Sense, he had long since investigated the people on the small boat clearly. Their cultivation was primarily at the Golden Core Stage, with a few Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators mixed in! What made Zhang Nuo feel most excited was that standing at the bow of the boat was a man of about sixty years old with a very short beard; at a glance, he was that pirate leader from back then, only a bit older!

Zhang Nuo's heart was pounding! He had finally seen hope. Thinking of this, Zhang Nuo did not rush to act! Because he still wanted to see if that pirate leader still had the "Heaven Breaking Hammer"!

Very quickly, the pirates' small boat met the merchant ship. Without too many words, the two groups began to fight. However, what surprised Zhang Nuo slightly was that the pirate leader did not make a move, but merely stood at the bow of the small boat, watching the battle coldly!

Zhang Nuo suppressed the impulse in his heart and floated quietly on the sea! At this time, the battle was basically nearing its conclusion; there were a few cultivators on the merchant ship whose cultivation was clearly not weak, and they were on the verge of driving the few pirates off the ship!

Just at this moment, the pirate leader finally made his move. He saw him flip one hand, and a golden Magic Treasure was unleashed. This treasure looked like a hammer, and amidst its golden radiance, it emitted a not-insignificant Spirit Power fluctuation. The moment the hammer Magic Treasure appeared, it immediately struck a cultivator on the merchant ship!

When Zhang Nuo saw that hammer Magic Treasure, a sharp light flashed in his eyes! He was overjoyed! His shoulders shrugged, and Butterfly Wings sprouted from his back. Hugging the surface of the sea, Zhang Nuo's figure flickered, and with a "swish," he rushed toward the place of the battle!

Due to the high-speed flight, the seawater beneath his body was kicked up into a layer; looking from afar, it was like a massive beast galloping across the water!

The two sides currently engaged in battle suddenly discovered this strange occurrence and looked toward Zhang Nuo's direction one after another. Zhang Nuo, however, did not stop for even a moment, reaching the merchant ship in one breath. It was not until his figure stood still that the row of afterimages behind him quickly returned to his main body! Such fast movement speed left everyone present in shock! The cultivators on the merchant ship thought he was a helper for the pirates, while the pirates thought he was a reinforcing cultivator from the merchant ship!

These two groups simultaneously discovered that Zhang Nuo's strength was not weak! Immediately, a leading cultivator on the merchant ship cupped his hands toward Zhang Nuo from afar and said:

"This Senior! May I ask where you come from?"

The person speaking was only in his forties, but his cultivation was not weak, reaching the Golden Core Late Stage! Zhang Nuo did not even look at him, his gaze locked firmly onto the small golden hammer in the pirate leader's hand!

As he took a slight step forward, everyone felt an immense pressure descend, and they were almost unable to breathe! The pirate leader, discovering that Zhang Nuo's gaze had fallen onto his Magic Treasure, hurriedly hid the treasure behind his back and moved his mouth a few times to say:

"Who are you! Stop meddling in my business!"

Zhang Nuo let out a cold laugh, looking at this fellow whose cultivation was still trapped at the Golden Core Stage, and reached out to point lightly as he said:

"Do you not remember me?"

Saying this completely confused both sides! The pirate leader scrutinized Zhang Nuo for a long time, but in the end, he still shook his head!

"Senior's cultivation is profound; I truly cannot recall!"

This pirate leader, whose brain was a bit slow, had just realized that Zhang Nuo was actually a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. However, he had never had any dealings with any Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, so even if he racked his brains, he could not figure it out!

"Sigh!"

Zhang Nuo looked at him and sighed, saying:

"Do you still remember, over a hundred years ago, deep in the Mist Sea, when you were robbing a merchant ship and several of your brothers were killed by a cultivator?"

Zhang Nuo helped him recall. As soon as this was mentioned, the pirate leader finally had a bit of memory. That time, he had lost more than a dozen brothers, and in the end, it was all for nothing!

After studying Zhang Nuo for a while, he suddenly let out a shout!

"Ah! It's you!"

The other pirates on the small boat were greatly puzzled. What was wrong with the boss today? The cultivator in front of them was a Nascent Soul Stage old monster; by saying such disrespectful words, they could be in mortal danger at any moment!

"En! You finally remembered! Since that is the case, I want to ask you for something; I wonder if you can give it? If you give it, I will spare your life today! If you don't, then you can go into the sea and feed the fish!"

Although Zhang Nuo said these words with a smile, his face was filled with murderous intent, and even the few cultivators on the merchant ship broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing them!

"You dare to want my things! Do you know who my boss is?"

The pirate leader acted contrary to his usual behavior, pointing at Zhang Nuo's nose and saying.

"Who is your boss?"

At this moment, Zhang Nuo also became interested!

"I'll scare you to death if I say it! My boss is none other than the famous Zhang Nuo of the Immortal Illusion Continent!"

Once these words were spoken, even Zhang Nuo himself was stunned! Since when did he become the boss of a pirate?