Chapter 493

"Elder Zhang Pian, this time the Nascent Soul Cultivators willing to join the Sun and Moon Palace team total twenty-four, and they have all arrived." Lie Tian looked at the middle-aged man in green robes before him and said.

"Only twenty-four?" Zhang Pian furrowed his brow, stroked his beard: "Never mind, it's better than none."

Speaking, Zhang Pian stepped forward a few paces, hands behind his back, looking at the crowd and said: "Fellow Daoists, I am Elder Zhang Pian of the Sun and Moon Palace."

"Greetings, Elder Zhang."

"Hmm." Zhang Pian nodded: "Those of you willing to serve the Sun and Moon Palace, we are naturally grateful. However, the Abnormal Region is dangerous; I hope that upon entering the Abnormal Region, while you search for the Sect Master's seal, you do not forget to cooperate. As long as it is our Sun and Moon Palace team, whoever brings out the seal will be rewarded."

"Thank you, Elder!"

"Then please wait a moment; the remaining teams from the other factions will arrive shortly."

The crowd stepped to one side, waiting for the other factions' teams to arrive.

Wu Qian whispered: "It seems the Sun and Moon Palace doesn't care whether we can find the Sect Master's seal."

"I reckon they never even thought about this." Yan Buji laughed: "Besides, everyone gets a reward for bringing it out; as long as we make sure it doesn't fall into other teams' hands, we can just freely explore the Abnormal Region, right?"

"That's true, Brother Xu sees it clearly." Wu Qian laughed.

Actually, which of the cultivators present truly sincerely wants to serve the Sun and Moon Palace?

Aren't they all here because they heard there are treasures in the Abnormal Region to explore? Even if they know the Abnormal Region is a place where sages attain the Dao, it's not somewhere these Nascent Soul Cultivators can lay their hands on.

"Here they come, quite a few people." Wu Qian looked behind; two groups approached.

The leaders were all Void God Cultivators; they merely gave Zhang Pian a light clasped-fist greeting, then voluntarily stood to one side.

"Looks like everyone's here." Zhang Pian glanced at the three groups and nodded.

"Open the Abnormal Region!"

Boom—

With a clap of thunder, a distorted spatial entrance suddenly appeared before the square; abruptly, an Abnormal Beast burst through the entrance and appeared on the square!

Strange Abnormal Beasts always make one feel physically uncomfortable, but the ones that emerged were only of the third transformation level, and were quickly suppressed and slain by the nearby Sun and Moon Palace cultivators.

"Everyone, enter now; don't forget about the seal."

Hmm?

Yan Buji furrowed his brow, glanced at Zhang Pian.

There's always a sense of unease, isn't there?

Not figuring it out, Yan Buji still followed the main force into the Abnormal Region.

Meanwhile, the Void God Cultivators of the three factions left outside exchanged glances and smiled at each other.

Abnormal Region.

Yan Buji had only been there twice: once in the Nan Ting Mountain Region when he first cultivated; the other time inside the Penglai Pavilion, where he almost fell victim to a scheme.

"Such a strong spatial seal; it must be the Sun and Moon Palace's seal, so we can't use the Heaven Gate Law." Yan Buji narrowed his eyes, looking around.

After being transmitted in, the people gathered in twos and threes, not clustering together.

Yan Buji looked at the Nascent Soul Cultivator before him; they should be from the other two factions' teams.

"Everyone, kill!"

Yan Buji froze for a moment, watching those Nascent Soul Cultivators charge at him; as he retreated, he shouted: "Everyone, we just met—there's no need to go for the kill, right?"

"Heh heh, kid, your luck's bad—you ran into our Black Wind Pirate Gang!"

"Black Wind Pirate Gang? That's the bandit force that robs and plunders everywhere in the Turbulent Sea, right?"

Yan Buji looked strange; the Black Wind Pirate Gang's reputation is indeed not small—after all, five or six Nascent Soul Cultivators drift on the sea as pirates, with a large retinue underneath, all ruthless killers, infamous.

Back when Yan Buji was in the Turbulent Sea, he had actually once from afar watched the Black Wind Pirate Gang raid a merchant ship; they would even clear the area beforehand to give non-targets a chance to escape.

Logically, although we're different teams, there's no need to kill and loot on first sight—don't you consider how dangerous this place is?

Yan Buji chuckled: "You're from the Liu family's team, right? How many Spiritual Stones did they give you to make you willingly work for them?"

"Kid, no matter how much you say, just you alone against our three brothers—today is your death day!"

"Truly laughable!"

Yan Buji gave a cold snort; since the other side is seeking death, he doesn't mind obliging them.

In the midst of speaking, Yan Buji rushed forward, dodging the two's techniques and charging straight at the nearest person!

"So fast? Martial Cultivator!"

"When did Martial Cultivators also reach Nascent Soul stage.... No, can't let him get close!"

That person reacted, slamming both hands together as terrifying flames erupted from his palms; in an instant, the divine ability containing the Fire Dao Mark turned into a canopy, sweeping horizontally across a hundred-li radius around Yan Buji, blotting out the sky and covering the earth!

Yan Buji furrowed his brow: "Fire Dao divine ability? That's rare."

However, Yan Buji, as an Alchemist, also knows fire control techniques; although he lacks the Fire Dao Mark, sensing the surrounding spirit energy stirring, as long as he avoids the descending fire dao mark's pressure, he won't suffer major harm.

While thinking, Yan Buji fully activated the Blood Heaven Ascension Degree, his Immortal Essence surging like a tide; he employed Instant Shadow Step to continually dodge beneath the flame canopy.

The fire dao cultivator's expression changed, shouting to the side: "This guy's a bit tough, hurry!"

The two nearby cultivators sprang into action, the Water Dao Mark and the slightly rare Cloud Dao Mark working together; their mana continually intertwined and fused, and Yan Buji, trapped within the flame canopy, instantly felt something amiss.

"Combined divine ability?!"

"Myriad Directions Cloud and Rain!!"

As the two Nascent Soul Cultivators' divine abilities and mana converged at one point, the two great Dao Marks within them began to interweave and entwine; however, it's clearly evident that using this level of combined divine ability is still somewhat taxing for them—sweat beaded on their foreheads, their bodies trembling.

But as the dark clouds above the flame canopy finished gathering, the fire dao cultivator ahead immediately withdrew his divine ability!

Rumble—

As if a weight of thousands of jin of rain fell, Yan Buji couldn't dodge; each raindrop felt as heavy as a mountain, striking him until he grimaced and glared, straining to circulate his Immortal Essence to resist.

Not only the weight, but also the suppressive pressure of the Cloud and Water Dao Marks; Yan Buji himself has few Dao Marks, so he could only desperately resist before the second wave of the Tide Technique accumulated.

"Big Brother, is this even human?"

"I've never seen anyone able to resist our combined divine ability with just their flesh! Could he be a body cultivator?"

The fire Dao cultivator's face turned grim as he stared at Yan Buji, who was stubbornly resisting the divine ability, and he said, "He must be a Martial Dao Nascent Soul! You two, step back a bit!"

"Dage, if you use that.... it's too dangerous, right? This is the abnormal zone; there might be abnormal beasts lying in wait to ambush us. If we run out of spiritual power, we'll really be in trouble."

"What else then? We came here precisely to slaughter these Nascent Soul cultivators, didn't we? Once we take their wealth, we'll have enough to cultivate for hundreds or even thousands of years!" As he spoke, the fire Dao cultivator gritted his teeth and pulled something out of his storage ring.

That was a wooden longbow carved with a fire phoenix; as the fire Dao cultivator poured spiritual power into it, the Dao marks circulated, and the longbow suddenly erupted with terrifying scarlet flames.

"I don't believe your fleshly body can withstand a deadly strike from the True Phoenix Bow!"

As the fire Dao cultivator poured spiritual power into it without regard for cost, the vast majority of the power in his thousands of fire Dao marks was drawn away, nearly vanishing; but as long as they weren't completely gone, the total amount of Dao marks remained unchanged and could still be cultivated back.

The truly dangerous ones are those divine abilities that treat Dao marks as spiritual power, releasing them at the cost of completely consuming the Dao marks; their power is even more earth-shattering.