Chapter 257

Just then, Jiang Yu saw another Nascent Soul swiftly fly and settle beside the master; this time she grabbed Guojue: "Don't move, Elder Gu of the Profound Heaven Sect has also arrived."

If each batch transmits ten people, this batch has at least three late Nascent Soul cultivators, or even more; since they have already revealed themselves, we had best not make any unnecessary moves.

"So as not to be trapped inside the city, forcing the True Lords to withdraw their efforts."

Guojue took a close look and indeed it was the Nascent Soul Grand Elder of the Profound Heaven Sect; he suppressed his earlier urgency and nodded: "Good."

But at this moment, among the four Nascent Souls in midair, the flood dragon had already switched to sound‑transmission conversation; all the cultivators observing the proceedings, aside from seeing Da He send a jade box to the flood dragon, could not hear a word of what was being said.

As it turned out, Master Juewu was quite sincere, offering the flood dragon a dragon‑scale fruit and negotiating to exchange the captives back.

And Elder Gu of the Profound Heaven Sect was saying to the two Nascent Soul cultivators of the city lord's manor: "I am surnamed Gu; sorry to disturb you, fellow Daoists. We fell into the deep sea under external influence, which is how we encountered the flood dragon."

The two Nascent Soul cultivators exchanged a glance; they harbored various doubts. Although there are not few Nascent Soul cultivators in the Dragon Emperor Archipelago, each one has a backing.

The two Nascent Soul‑level cultivators who suddenly appeared before them were entirely unfamiliar to them.

One of the late Nascent Soul cultivators, Elder Shen, responded: "Fellow Daoist Gu, may I ask where your immortal abode lies? How is it we have never met before?"

"The Profound Heaven Sect of the Heavenly Origin Continent." Elder Gu, after catching up with Master Juewu nearby, had already agreed to reveal their identity.

Because the flood dragon frequents the vicinity of the barren island, it seized the Golden Core cultivators fleeing the island; three others hastily sent out distress calls, which led to the appearance of the two of them.

That flood dragon is ninth‑rank, not stupid, and presumably has some affinity with this island; otherwise it would not, after seeing five Nascent Soul cultivators, seize two juniors and desperately flee toward the human race.

Moreover, along the way it summoned a ninth‑rank giant whale and giant turtle to intercept them, leaving the other three fellow cultivators still entangled and unable to break free.

After this incident, whether human or Yao Race, they will surely come to inspect the island; the spell formation at the cave mouth cannot remain concealed for long.

Rather than later being passive and having the teleportation array seized by the other side, it is better to lay out the facts now.

Thus, amid the shock of the two Nascent Soul cultivators, Elder Gu disclosed that they had unintentionally discovered an ancient long‑distance teleportation array on the Heavenly Origin Continent and had specially dispatched a group of cultivators to ascertain its destination.

"One batch? How many?" another Nascent Soul cultivator of the city lord's manor, who was only at early Nascent Soul stage, upon hearing this felt a little unable to stay calm.

Elder Gu only said this batch consisted of ten people, without mentioning the previous two batches or specifying how many Nascent Soul cultivators there were, and instead said: "As soon as we realized the sea area was different, we immediately ordered one person to transmit back."

I cannot say how many will come in the next batch.

Only after pursuing the flood dragon this way and happening upon passing cultivators did we realize that your land is very likely the Dragon Emperor Island that has been out of contact with us for over a thousand years.

"Since you are fellow Daoists who have come from afar, why not go into the city for a chat?" Elder Shen of the city lord's manor immediately signaled the early‑stage Nascent Soul cultivator beside him to return to the city to fetch people, then he faced Elder Gu and Master Juewu alone.

Of course, he also sent a sound transmission to the flood dragon informing it of the situation.

Although the flood dragon had accepted compensation and intended to release the captives, upon hearing that sound transmission it immediately moved, actually coiling around the two Golden Core cultivators and refusing to let go, standing side by side with Elder Shen.

Master Juewu let out a soft sigh; indeed, when facing outsiders, the human and Yao races act as one.

He furtively fiddled with the message jade talisman inside his sleeve, demanding that Ye Xingde and the two others still on the barren island immediately return to the Heavenly Origin Continent to fetch reinforcements.

And he said to Elder Shen opposite him: "Fellow Daoist, we came here only to ascertain the endpoint of the teleportation array; now that we have discovered it is Dragon Emperor Island, we have additionally conceived the idea of mutual exchange between the two places."

"Not bad; the Heavenly Origin Continent has also lacked Void Refinement cultivators for many years, and we have strained to block the teleportation array leading to the East Continent, solely to preserve peace in our domain."

After all, the East Continent still has more than a dozen Void Refinement cultivators, and we do not wish to repeat the Dragon Emperor Island's fate. Elder Gu also spelled out the gravity, strongly implying a desire for joint action between the two places.

Elder Shen gave no clear answer; seeing the city lord arrive striding on the wind, he immediately declared: "I am merely an elder of this island and have no authority to decide other matters."

And he introduced them to the lord of Pursuing Origin Island, who is none other than the city lord.

The city lord proved to be a decisive person; after only a brief conversation with Master Juewu and company, he ordered the flood dragon to release the two Golden Core cultivators.

Jiang Yu, seeing this from the rooftop, let out a great sigh of relief—but the next moment she saw those few in the sky, including the flood dragon, flying off toward the south.

"That is the direction we came from." Guojue said this and immediately seized the message jade talisman to contact his master.

And Jiang Yu swiftly sent a message to Xu Wu, informing her of her position and asking what had happened.

Moments later they all received replies; Master Juewu only gave a brief response, telling them to stay quietly in the city and do nothing.

Xu Wu, having ridden Master Juewu's escape light, was able to give Jiang Yu a more detailed explanation of the circumstances.

As it turned out, this batch of theirs also numbered ten, with five late Nascent Soul cultivators respectively hailing from the Profound Heaven Sect, the Great Enlightenment Temple, the Loose Cultivators Alliance, the Heavenly Demon Sect, and the Union Joy Sect.

As for the Golden Core cultivators, besides Xu Wu, Qin Zhuo, and Ye Xingde, the other two were also from the demonic path.

Back then, upon seeing the jade slip at the cave mouth, Elder Gu had repeatedly warned, when breaking out of the formation, that the five Nascent Soul cultivators should each explore the ten‑thousand‑li sea area, while the five Golden Core cultivators remain inside the cave to await orders at any time.

However, the two demonic Golden Core cultivators disregarded the admonition and, after the Nascent Soul cultivators departed, insisted on patrolling the entire island.

Then they provoked the ninth‑rank flood dragon, even luring it to the cave mouth, forcing Xu Wu and her two companions to be unable to intervene; the outcome was surely not a match for them.

"They not only caused trouble, but also forgot righteousness and flung me and Qin Zhuo toward the flood dragon."

"True Person Ye ran away the fastest." Xu Wu was extremely indignant.

What could Jiang Yu say? "Perhaps the transmission here will be taken over by Pursuing Origin Island."

As long as two‑way travel is possible, Guojue doesn't mind who controls it: "The Heavenly Origin Continent actively sealed the teleportation to the East Continent; now being able to confer with Dragon Emperor Island about the future is also a good choice."

Back in the room, the little snake Biluo, unwilling to remain idle, asked: "Are we just going to wait like this?"

Will Pursuing Origin Island send people to investigate and discover our presence?

"Hmm, they don't even need to investigate much; the great yao will themselves inform them, and within two days they'll see how many people are coming and going."

Xu Wu said the thing that blocked the other three Nascent Soul cultivators was a ninth‑rank giant whale, which should be the one we encountered.

"We are safe waiting here." Jiang Yu pondered, then took out the message jade talisman given by True Lord Xunzong and recounted everything that had just happened in detail.

True Lord Xunzong had already found another human sea island to reside in; he replied: "Please inform Fellow Daoist Juewu not to reveal the East Continent identities of the three of us."

He would not say it, and Master Juewu could not possibly tell the Dragon Emperor Island cultivators.

Meanwhile, on the barren island, the city lord stood before the sealed spell formation at the cave mouth and said: "The two of us request to enter and have a look."

"Hey, this is my turf—you'd better dispel the formation at once." The flood dragon, however, was not so polite; it shifted its shape into a middle‑aged man, raised a hand, and hurled a fireball at the formation's light.

Master Juewu didn't even have time to warn, when myriad sword rays burst forth from within the formation's light.

The fierce sword qi made everyone's blood run cold, and all present shot away at high speed.