Chapter 516: Demon Beast Tide

Watching Kong Mu remain silent, Yan Baiyu, who was standing below, stepped forward and said:

"Captain! By the time we arrived at the Stationing Tower, Zhang Nuo and the others were nowhere to be found. Furthermore, there were no signs of a struggle in the tower, so it shouldn't have been a sneak attack. In my humble opinion, could it be that Zhang Nuo and his team neglected their duties..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Kong Mu shot him a glare! This Yan Baiyu, despite being the disciple of Tianyi Laodao, was so narrow-minded, always doing things to disparage others and elevate himself!

Kong Mu knew Zhang Nuo's character very well. Although this person had only recently joined the Guard Domain Third Team, he had always seen things through to the end and would never neglect his duties!

Seeing that Kong Mu was somewhat displeased, Yan Baiyu did not continue with what he was about to say!

"Do you all know why the other Stationing Towers are fine, but the one Zhang Nuo and his team went to had an incident?"

Kong Mu's words left everyone present stunned! Although some of them had stayed in the Guard Domain Third Team for many years, they were not very clear about the intricacies of this matter!

"Please enlighten us, Captain!"

Jiang Jingda said, swaying his short frame. He had once witnessed Zhang Nuo's supernatural powers; just relying on his Divine Sense was enough to make Yan Baiyu suffer a loss. Such supernatural powers were not something an ordinary cultivator could compare to. Since even Zhang Nuo had disappeared so strangely, the matter here was certainly extraordinary!

"The Stationing Tower that Zhang Nuo and his team went to is the place closest to the 'Nine Lives Desert'. You must all know about the Nine Lives Desert; there are countless demon beasts inside! Even if I, your captain, were to enter, I fear it would be a narrow escape from death!"

Everyone nodded in unison. This point was beyond doubt; as long as one was a cultivator of the Immortal Domain, there was no one who did not know of the 'Nine Lives Desert'! But what did this have to do with the Stationing Tower?

"Tens of thousands of years ago, a Demon Beast Tide once erupted in the Immortal Domain. The so-called Demon Beast Tide means a large number of demon beasts attacking the Immortal Domain together. Although I did not experience that scene personally, I have heard descriptions from previous cultivation records; the battle was extremely tragic, and the Three Great Powers alone suffered heavy losses! Yan Baiyu, your master must have told you about these things, right?"

As a disciple of Tianyi Laodao, Yan Baiyu should know more than other cultivators.

"My master once mentioned it. At that time, the 'Tianliang Dao Sect' lost nearly thirty thousand cultivators or more, and every one of them had a cultivation level no lower than the Spirit Severing Stage!"

This sentence made everyone gasp! More than thirty thousand Spirit Severing Stage cultivators had fallen in the demon tide; that was a terrifying number. And this was just the loss on the side of the 'Tianliang Dao Sect', so the 'Jile Temple' and the 'Human Emperor Realm' probably did not fare any better!

What made them feel the most heart-palpitating was that this was just the number of Spirit Severing Stage cultivators, so one could imagine how many low-level cultivators had fallen!

"Correct! After that battle, although the Immortal Domain won, its vitality was already severely damaged, and it had no ability to strike deep into the Wilderness anymore! In the end, they had to use the 'Nine Lives Desert' as a boundary, forcing the high-level demon beasts that had opened their spiritual wisdom to retreat into the desert! And it was precisely from that time that the 'Immortal Domain Sixteen Chambers' set up Stationing Towers around the Immortal Domain! And our Protective Domain Seventh Team took on this task of stationing!"

Only then did everyone understand the true origin of the Stationing Towers.

"The Stationing Tower where Zhang Nuo and his team were located is the closest to the 'Nine Lives Desert', which means they were also the closest to the powerful demon beasts. Once an accident occurred, that place would inevitably become the first target of attack. Therefore, the cultivators sent there each time are the ones with the strongest supernatural powers among all the Stationing Towers!"

As Kong Mu spoke, he glanced downward and saw several Spirit Severing Stage cultivators puffing out their chests; these were all cultivators who had once been stationed there! According to Kong Mu's words, they belonged to the ones with no weak supernatural powers in the Third Team, far exceeding the others!

Yan Baiyu's expression was somewhat unsightly. He had never been stationed there before. Could it be that his strength was not up to par?

"Therefore, when I received the Ten Thousand Mile Sound Transmission Talisman sent back by Zhang Nuo and his team, my first thought was to guess that the demon beasts in the Nine Lives Desert had taken action! For the sake of safety, I immediately went to notify the 'Immortal Domain Sixteen Chambers'. Those old monsters discussed it for more than a month, and the answer they finally gave was actually that they still needed to wait and see! They told me to just send more manpower!"

Kong Mu's old face showed some anger. Those old fellows in the Sixteen Chambers all had strong cultivation levels, but they were always indecisive when doing things, fearing that they would trigger a conflict between the demon beasts and the Immortal Domain again! But now that things had reached this point, and that small team of Zhang Nuo's had also mysteriously disappeared, it was enough to show that it was unusual!

"Later, I will personally head to the Immortal Domain Sixteen Chambers, and the affairs of the team will be left to you to handle for now. Additionally, you are not allowed to go to that Stationing Tower without authorization, and especially do not let word out about the disappearance of the cultivators!"

Looking at the people in front of him, these were the elites of the Third Team. The reason Kong Mu had said so much today was that he felt the severity of the situation! So that they would stop playing petty tricks of intrigue!

Everyone nodded in unison, and then Kong Mu let everyone disperse. After preparing some things, he left Gongyue City and flew toward the depths of the Immortal Domain!

The Immortal Domain was vast, and with his Integration Stage Middle Stage strength, even with the help of large-scale teleportation arrays, it would likely take a long time to reach the Sixteen Chambers!

During this time, Kong Mu prayed secretly that nothing major would happen. He would rather his guess be wrong than hope for another Demon Beast Tide!

Zhang Nuo was still trapped in the Demon Refining Room during this time, but he had recently made a small gain. When Xuan Jin was shuttling back and forth under the Huan Shou Gong, it inadvertently discovered a very small secret chamber. Although there were layers of powerful Restrictions outside the secret chamber, for Xuan Jin, these Restrictions were as good as non-existent! This secret chamber was only two zhang in size, but it was filled with cultivation techniques that demon beasts could practice!

Every day, Xuan Jin would steal a few volumes from it for Zhang Nuo to view, and only when Zhang Nuo felt it was not enough would it send them back and then take other techniques!

After repeating this for a full month, no demon cultivator had yet discovered that the techniques in the secret chamber had been touched. Zhang Nuo had truly broadened his horizons this time, having thoroughly read the demon cultivators' techniques, and he had even selected a few of the most important ones and copied them onto a Jade Slip!

Finally, when Zhang Nuo saw one technique, his eyes lit up! The name of this technique was 'Forbidden Five Thunders Canon'!

It was a technique created specifically for lightning. It was all-encompassing, from attack methods to the Thunder Escape Technique for escape, written in great detail. However, the only flaw was that this was a demon cultivator's technique. If Zhang Nuo wanted to practice it, he would have to change some things in it, and as a result, the power of the techniques recorded in the canon would be greatly reduced!

Within Zhang Nuo's body was the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder, a rare treasure of the world. If he could practice the contents of the 'Forbidden Five Thunders Canon', he would certainly be able to exert the power of lightning to the extreme! However, human cultivators were inherently lacking in their ability to comprehend the various spiritual objects of heaven and earth compared to demon beasts! Therefore, even with a good demon cultivator technique in hand, it was absolutely impossible to achieve the same effect as a demon cultivator!

Zhang Nuo understood this point deeply, so he did not covet mastering the entire technique in a short time; he only chose one Thunder Escape Technique from it to practice!

Through repeated deliberation and modification, Zhang Nuo finally had the confidence to successfully practice the Thunder Escape Technique recorded in the canon in a short time!

After injecting Purple Lightning Wild Thunder into all the Demon Refining Pools, Zhang Nuo sat in the corner with a listless expression, but in reality, he was secretly learning the techniques from the canon!

After another year, Zhang Nuo had basically mastered this set of Thunder Escape Technique, but he was troubled by being trapped in the Demon Refining Room and unable to test it out personally!

Watching those small demons in the Demon Refining Pools gradually approaching their mature state, Zhang Nuo understood that his usefulness was coming to an end. Once all the demon cultivators in this Demon Refining Room succeeded, someone would come to end his life! If some low-level demon beasts came, he still had the confidence to deal with them, but if demon cultivators like Zhan Luo and Hu Bao came, his chance of survival would still be zero!

Thinking of relying on this newly learned Thunder Escape Technique to escape from the palm of an Integration Stage cultivator was almost impossible! At this moment, the Qiongqi beast in his robe sleeve sent a faint mental connection!

Zhang Nuo calmly probed his Divine Sense into the Spirit Beast Bag in his sleeve. Upon seeing this, he could not help but be greatly shocked! He saw that the Qiongqi had actually evolved to the Eighth Rank realm!

Before this, Zhang Nuo had tried feeding the Qiongqi beast some of the green liquid from the Demon Refining Pool, not expecting it to make the Qiongqi advance rapidly!

"Master, give me some more of the green liquid. Maybe I can even reach the Transformation Stage?"

The Qiongqi, which had opened its linguistic spiritual wisdom, kept saying to Zhang Nuo in a pleading tone.

With a bitter smile in his heart, Zhang Nuo had been continuously stealing green liquid from the pool over the years. Although he had done it very covertly, the Divine Tree, coupled with the Qiongqi's consumption, had already attracted the attention of several demon cultivators beside the Demon Refining Pool. If he were to steal a large amount again, it might arouse the suspicion of Hu Bao and the others, and if that really happened, the loss would outweigh the gain!

"You endure for a while! I will think of a way slowly!"

After pacifying the Qiongqi beast, Zhang Nuo racked his brains, thinking about how to steal more green liquid! Once the Qiongqi also reached the Transformation Stage, its power would naturally increase greatly, which would also be of great help for him to escape from the Illusion Beast Palace!

While hiding in the corner and thinking hard, a low-level demon cultivator beside a Demon Refining Pool suddenly roared at Zhang Nuo, the meaning being for him to go to the pool and inject Purple Lightning Wild Thunder!

Over these past few years, Zhang Nuo had been like a servant; whenever a demon cultivator called, he had to go quickly! He felt a sense of stifled anger in his heart! He had truly had enough of these days! He really wanted to leave this hellhole immediately! But everything was just a thought; Zhang Nuo suppressed the impulse in his heart, got up, and walked over!