Chapter 73: Beauty

Jiang Yu couldn't help but feel a joy in her heart, but in the expanded Sea of Knowledge, the talisman book suddenly sucked her spiritual energy fiercely.

She quickly gathered her mind, silently recited the Foundation Establishment period's Cave Profound Thunder-Fire Formula, swiftly guiding more external spiritual energy into her body, refining it into her dantian for a short time, half of which was sucked away by the talisman book.

At the same time, the stars above the cave residence became unusually brilliant.

"Now." Jiang Tu sensed a wisp of qi, instantly released his dantian, and soon attracted more spiritual energy to swirl around the mountain peak.

Fortunately it was midnight; most cultivators around the old site of Yunwu Sect were in cultivation, and due to their low Qi refinement, they could only feel spiritual energy blowing away like wind, unable to perceive anomalies hundreds of li away.

But Foundation Establishment cultivators had stronger sensing, and some quickly tracked the fleeing spiritual energy, intending to snatch the opportunity.

Indeed, Jiang Tu's demon‑form pill required massive spiritual energy, sweeping the spiritual energy of several hundred li around.

Wind follows the dragon, clouds follow the tiger.

Above this mountain peak, in an instant wind rose and clouds surged, a black mass pressing down toward their cave residence.

Fortunately, within three hundred li there were no Dan‑formers, and the nearest Foundation Establishment cultivator would still need half an hour to arrive for inspection.

A massive flow of spiritual energy kept rolling in; as Jiang Tu seized the chance to quickly condense a Golden Core, part of the spiritual power poured into the dragon pearl space.

Another portion was claimed by the talisman book that had been constantly devouring Jiang Yu's spiritual energy.

Slightly drowsy, Ao Ze, who had slept for nearly two years, was roused by this unusual spiritual wind.

He looked up at the scene reflected by the dragon stele, a startled spirit reverting to human form, then flashing into space.

"Jiang Tu, I'm here to protect." This guy, the Dan‑former didn't even wake himself.

And Jiang Yu is unreliable too; why did she start Foundation Establishment while Jiang Tu was forming a Dan?

Jiang Yu, lying on the gun: …

Focused, Jiang Tu heard him speak, opened his eyes to look at him, then continued his cultivation.

"Thanks, hold the formation token." After each small microcosmic circulation technique, Jiang Yu would glance at Jiang Tu's condition; at that moment she heard Ao Ze's voice and projected her spirit sense to give him the formation token.

"For now no one should be able to come in, do not exit the formation." Once Foundation Establishment was complete, her Muddy Pellet Palace expanded into a vast Sea of Knowledge.

Her spirit sense projected outward, able to detect subtle changes within five li, farther than the ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator's two or three li, likely thanks to the Starry Dao technique she cultivated.

Ao Ze, hearing this, looked outward; a few Foundation Establishment cultivators flew in from afar, but were held back by a massive spiritual pressure, kept more than ten li away.

Among them, there was actually someone he had seen before: Min Wu of the Min family.

Ao Ze turned his head to tell Jiang Yu, but seeing her resume her practice, he abandoned it.

And Min Wu did not approach further like the other Foundation Establishment cultivators; having seen several elders of his clan form Dan, he knew the front was at a crucial moment of a cultivator condensing a Dan.

Advancing now to disturb would surely earn people's resentment.

But being able to choose a spot with sparse spiritual energy to form a Dan likely means he is a lone cultivator.

If so, he immediately congratulated himself on behalf of the Min family.

If he fails, that would mean he falls under the nine thunder tribulations, but he could still scramble for a share of the leftover benefit.

He didn't expect that this Dan‑former's progress was especially slow; only when the next day's sunrise rose in the east did the first lightning strike.

At this moment, more cultivators had gathered nearby, even Dan‑former real persons were present.

But shortly after, the mountain peak facing the tribulation did not, like ordinary cultivators, lift its summit to meet the thunder.

Instead it waited dryly for three bolts of lightning to finish, then a massive amount of spiritual energy suddenly condensed into a huge dragon shape, soaring rapidly into the mountain base.

"Not human race, it's the Yao Race forming a Dan here."

"And it's of dragon‑blood lineage." A Dan‑former, with a swift flash of light, flew toward the mountain peak whose misty illusion had been blown apart by lightning.

"How dare you condense a Yao Dan here, bold!" Another Dan‑former flew over, hoping to, while the Yao was stabilizing its cultivation, subdue a sixth‑grade spirit pet.

Several Foundation Establishment cultivators also wanted to chase, but the front was filled with Dan‑formers; the instinct to preserve life made them halt.

Yet moments earlier, inside the cave residence beneath the mountain peak, Jiang Yu saw the dragon‑shaped spiritual energy fully enter Jiang Tu's body; when it opened its eyes it asked, "Can you now shift into space to stabilize your cultivation?"

"Yes."

"Good, we'll dismantle the formation and leave." Before she finished speaking, three or four Dan‑formers had arrived and, without a word, slashed toward the mountain peak.

"Too audacious," Ao Ze was angry, but he didn't know how to use a formation.

"Damn it, even if she's Foundation Establishment, she runs away at the sight of Dan‑formers taking action, let alone several of them."

Jiang Yu grabbed him and Jiang Tu, sending them together into space; she herself gathered the spirit‑stone fragments and the Yellow River formation, swung her sharp sword to cut away the traces and shattered the entire cave residence.

And from one of the pre‑prepared tunnels, she left the mountain mass.

Afterwards, the talisman script enveloped her as she vanished into the earth, leaving only the Five‑Elements Inverted Formation for those cultivators to attack.

Several Dan‑formers attacked for most of the day; after breaking the formation, they saw the cave had collapsed, not even a single Yao beast hair left.

They left reluctantly, jointly flattening the not‑tall mountain peak completely.

Low‑rank cultivators spying from afar, upon seeing such a display, whooshed away, each faster than the last.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yu had already slipped beneath the scorched‑earth spirit field, flashing into space to check Jiang Tu's condition.

She saw a sleeping, massive dragon‑turtle baby: "Is it okay? It's already at the seventh stage now, right?"

"Hmm, it just entered the second stage; it needs a while of stability before it will awaken."

"The spiritual energy here is sparse; why didn't you urge it to form a Dan within the city?"

"On the spirit‑vein cave, perhaps Ao Ze has already transformed." Ao Ze found this a bit odd about her.

Jiang Yu retorted, "Then, attract a bunch of Nascent Soul cultivators to capture the dragon?"

Ao Ze: "…"

Jiang Yu asked again, "Your seventh‑stage transformation—did you eat transformation herb, right?"

Ao Ze once again couldn't answer, so he shifted back into dragon form, lying beside Jiang Tu, guarding without paying attention to anyone.

Jiang Yu set up two gathering‑spirit formations for him, then sat aside counting the remaining spirit stones of herself and Jiang Tu.

While counting, she sighed, "Really, such a waste."

She herself only had five thousand low‑grade and two thousand five hundred medium‑grade spirit stones left.

Jiang Tu's large box of medium‑quality spirit stones hadn't been used much, but the small box's superior spirit stones, due to the current setup of a large spirit‑gathering array, were down to just over three hundred pieces.

Fortunately the advancement went smoothly, but the Five Elements Inverted Array was a pity; her array disc always gets destroyed in the hands of high‑rank practitioners.

At that moment, Thus: Xuantang Xingjun shouted loudly, "Hey, Jiang Xiaoyatou, let's discuss the terms again."

I know where an ancient teleportation array that leads to the Tianyuan Continent is.

Jiang Yu heard the words, brushed aside the spirit stones, rode her sword to the mouth of the ice cave; the speed was incredibly fast, beautiful.

"You can't be saying the Cloud Mist Immortal Sect has one."

"Tsk tsk tsk, over ten years old and already in Foundation Establishment, and you have a dragon and a space with you; you truly have deep fated blessings."

"I hope that when the time comes for you to choose, you won't waver." Thus: Xuantang Xingjun sized her up for a moment, thinking to himself, "When water is full it overflows."

The last generation of head elders of the Cloud Mist Immortal Sect probably refused to give up the secret of the Taiji Fish Token, which caused the clan‑annihilating calamity.

He said, "Find me a flesh puppet for temporary residence, or a returning spiritual sword for temporary lodging, and I'll tell you."

"How can you guarantee that after you leave you won't leak the secrets of the Dragon Pearl Space or the Spiritual Sword Space?"

"And that at any time you won't harm me, Jiang Tu, or Ao Ze." Jiang Yu wanted to go back, but future safety was also important.