Chapter 739: The Thunderstorm Is Coming
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The group of youngsters were in a comparably more jovial mood. Cao Zhendong and Yun Jinxi were even joking around with each other,
Luo Yao was a lot calmer than before as well. Once the Nine Spirals Golden Pill was retrieved from his body, his life was no longer in danger as long as he followed the pack. If they ran into something that not even Mu Yu or Lu Ning could handle, then there was nothing much he could do either.
Luo Yao felt a little different from before. His instincts told him that there was something different about him, but it was inexplicable and he could not quite put his finger on it.
He shook his head and laughed a little at himself. The things that he just encountered in the past few days were so daunting, dramatic and life-changing – they were more exciting and substantial than what he had experienced throughout his entire life.
He recovered his footing and looked up to see Lu Ning watching him quietly.
Lu Ning did not even try to mask her line of sight. She glanced a Luo Yao again before turning away.
Luo Yao could not help but feel a little uncomfortable. Lu Ning was a nascent soul stage cultivator and was actually more powerful than even Mu Yu. And him – he was only a Qi cultivation stage small fry, and if he came up against her it was like an ant versus and elephant. There was just nothing he could do if Lu Ning wanted something from him.
Mu Yu forged two Nine Spirals Golden Pills, and during the demonic invasion that caused the pill furnace to explode, one of the pills accidentally entered his body.
This pill was forged under Huang Ming’s orders, and since Huang Ming was working together with the Marquis of Jinghuan, it was natural that they were to split one pill each.
Lu Ning wanted to sacrifice Luo Yao on the spot to retrieve the pill but Mu Yu stopped her. The solution was that Mu Yu was willing to give the other available pill to Lu Ning in exchange for Luo Yao’s life.
Now that both pills were safe and sound, there was no reason why a great nascent soul stage cultivator like Lu Ning would care anything at all about a puny Qi cultivation stage independent cultivator like him. However, he kept getting goosebumps and kept feeling chills run down his spine.
Luo Yao was anxiously thinking to himself, but what he did not know was that Lu Ning was frustrated as well.
She had communicated with the Marquis of Jinghuan previously to report everything that had just transpired. She was meticulous and did not leave out a single detail – from Lin Feng’s appearance to the end of the drama.
She thought that her task was just to retrieve the Nine Spirals Golden Pill and deliver it to the Marquis of Jinghuan once it was done. However, after some contemplation, the Marquis of Jinghuan ordered her to stay behind and travel with the rest of the company.
More accurately put, the Marquis of Jinghuan wanted her to travel with Luo Yao.
"Since you detected that there was a trace of the Steel Tree Avatar, then this nascent soul stage cultivator could very well be an avatar of the Celestial Sect of Wonders."
There were not many people who had seen Lin Feng’s Steel Tree Avatar before. Thus, it was highly unlikely that independent cultivators inside the East Sea were able to recognize him. However, the Marquis of Jinghuan knew better and was thinking to himself, "His original body is not here in the East Sea and it’s just an avatar. He’s not travelling with his disciples either – looks like he’s planning something else on his own."
"Luo Yao has interacted with him privately before, and is also Lin Feng’s beneficiary for the favor of retrieving the powers of the pill. They might interact with each other again in the future, so you should just be patient and observe for a while longer."
"If nothing’s happening after a long period of time, you have my permission to take him down and use the Soul-Searching Technique to see if there’s anything out of the ordinary."
She was a little confused when she first heard these instructions and glanced at Luo Yao once more. She had already used her consciousness to sweep Luo Yao’s body but to no avail.
"Forget it. I’m just going to wait a little longer, and if I still turn up with nothing then I’m just going to use the Soul-Searching Technique."
Everybody had their own thoughts and worries. They travelled together and headed back in the direction of the Luofu Mystical Islands. Mu Yu and Lu Ning were both injured and their nascent souls were weak, thus they were not able to open the void and travel through it. All they could do was sweep up the others and travel in the sky.
There were a couple of demons along the way that tried to mess with them. Thankfully, there was not a single demonic lord stage demon so their journey was pretty much peaceful and safe.
The number of demons declined a lot more as they got closer and closer to the Luofu Mystical Islands. Cao Zhendong, Yun Jinxi and the others became even more relaxed. However, neither Lu Ning nor Mu Yu had any intentions of lowering their guard – on the contrary, they became even more wary.
Luo Yao had been uncomfortable throughout the entire journey. Even though his expression was calm, it was a little gloomy.
Yun Jinxi laughed at his look and said, "What’s up, Big Luo?"
Luo Yao glanced at Mu Yu and Lu Ning before he lowered his voice and whispered, "I can feel a great calamity coming."
Yun Jinxi was stunned momentarily as Cao Zhendong turned to look at him as well.
Luo Yao pondered for a moment. "When we actually return to the Luofu Mystical Island then we will be safe. Demons won’t dare to invade the island itself, and since that’s the case, then they will probably be launching their very last assault at a place not too far from the island."
"The danger of this final invasion will be a lot greater than before. After all, it’s their last chance at revenge."
Yun Jinxi asked, "Then why did they not concentrate their forces before to attack us? The areas near the Luofu Mystical Islands are ultimately still dangerous for them. We don’t even have to talk about the Luofu Holy Man, the other cultivators on the island will come to our aid for sure."
Luo Yao continued to explain. "Areas too far away from the Luofu Mystical Island could have been too open and it would have been difficult to trap us in a choke. We could have escaped towards any direction. In this scenario, then they would have to stretch their resources and powers across a large surface area and this would weaken them."
"This is like the miscellaneous demons that we encountered along the way. We would have just rolled over them," it was obvious that Luo Yao was a little worried. "We have to return to the Luofu Mystical Islands in the end. This destination will not change, so it will be easier for them to ambush us at a place not far from our final destination."
"At the same time, as we get closer and closer to the island, then our guards will drop as we become more and more relaxed…" Luo Yao looked up and saw Yun Jinxi glaring at him as Cao Zhendong and the other cultivators blushed a little. He turned away awkwardly and hurriedly continued, "…so they could be waiting for that to happen and use some geographical advantage somewhere to ambush us."
"Of course, such a plan is risky business for them. Just like you said, if somebody from the Luofu Mystical Island has detected anything wrong, they will come to our aid as fast as they can. However, it can be because of this very fact that our adversaries’ strength will be stronger and more ferocious. They will be aiming to eliminate us as quickly as they can."
After hearing his words, the rest of the company started to contemplate amongst themselves. They wanted to rebut his argument, but Luo Yao’s prediction had a real possibility of happening. Furthermore, Mu Yu and Lu Ning did not say anything in response and it was quite clear that they were in agreement with Luo Yao’s judgment.
The troupe’s jovial mood died down in an instant. Yun Jinxi forced out a smile and said, "There’s logic behind Big Luo’s words. We have been a little blinded by our emotions. Keeping our guards up is always the right thing to do – we should only start to relax once we enter Luofu Mystical Island."
Everybody nodded their heads in agreement. Yun Jinxi surveyed the ocean areas surrounding them and tried to make a rough gauge of the distance they still needed to cover. All of a sudden, she laughed heartily and exclaimed, "Senior Cao, we are reaching our families’ very own tiny little island."
Cao Zhendong glanced around and started laughing as well. "Heh, you’re right."
Luo Yao remained silent. The tiny island in which both Yun Jinxi and Cao Zhendong were born was the same island that he grew up in.
He shared a childhood with Cao Zhendong and Yun Jinxi. He was the same age as Yun Jinxi, and Cao Zhendong was slightly older. The Cao and Yun Families could be considered small cultivation-based families and were relatively more influential.
When both Cao Zhendong and Yun Jinxi displayed outstanding talents for cultivation, they were both sent by their respective families to seek mentorship inside the Luofu Mystical Island.
He, on the other hand, was an orphan. He was raised by an old priest on the tiny island. The old man treated him like a son and he treated him like a father. At the same time, they were like mentor and disciple as well, and all the ordinary mantras that he now possessed were passed down by this man.
The old priest was only in the foundation establishment advanced stage and was unable to form the aurous core. Ultimately, he brought this regret to the grave and only after Luo Yao held his wake and funeral did he leave the tiny island to explore the world. He was invited by Yun Jinxi to travel together and ended up in the place where Mu Yu forged his pills.
Mu Yu had known him since a long time ago. Mu Yu had already developed intentions to nurture this orphan kid from the very start, so he closed one eye and let Luo Yao stick around. This eventually led to the accidental explosion of the pill furnace and the Luo Yao’s unintentional consumption of the magic pill.
As they came closer to the tiny island of their childhood, Luo Yao could feel his emotions stirring in his body. He tried his best to control it, however. Cao Zhendong and the others tried their best to suppress their own emotions as this was not the right time to visit their families and return home.
As they passed by the tiny island, both Mu Yu and Lu Ning’s faces changed.
Cao Zhendong and company stared for a moment longer before their expressions turned gray as well. The tiny island was in a state of devastation so great that it was visible to the naked eye. There was no need to probe it with one’s consciousness as it was crystal clear.
A deathly aura could be felt coming from the tiny island.
"Master…" Yun Jinxi looked up at Mu Yu with tears in her eyes eyes. Mu Yu heaved a heavy sigh and took everyone down onto the tiny island. Lu Ning remained in the sky where she was, even though she did not object and neither did she take her leave.
It was a tragedy. The people inhabiting the island had been slaughtered, and every single building was laid to ruin. Every single structure became a pile of rubble as broken beams and pillars littered the grounds.
Besides the Cao and Yun Family, there were a few other tiny cultivator families living on the island as well. However, the individual with the highest level of cultivation was only at the foundation establishment stage. It was clear that there was no way they could repel any incoming assaults, and the ultimate consequence was complete annihilation.
Cao Zhendong stared ahead at the old Cao residence that was now a pile of dust. He was rooted to the ground and his mouth was half-open but no sound came out at all.
On the other side, Yun Jinxi was having an even harder. She could clearly see the dreadful remains of her dead family members lying all around the crumbled Yun residence. Her dignified and magnanimous father, her lovely and caring mother…
Luo Yao did not really know what to say to Yun Jinxi as the young girl started to wail and bawl. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew that simple words were meaningless and would ring hollow. He wanted to offer to exact revenge together, but he was only at the Qi cultivation stage, so that would have been a laughable offer. Yun Jinxi herself was a lot stronger than he was.
He had always been inclined towards this lively and vivacious girl. As he watched her cry her eyes out, Luo Yao felt some pressure bearing down on him as well.
Lin Feng witnessed the very same scene from the void and sighed to himself. He had discovered the tragedy that had befallen this tiny island way before their company did. The only regret was that it had already happened.
The demons were not powerful enough to find out Luo Yao and Yun Jinxi’s backgrounds on their own. Even if they wanted to seek vengeance, they would be seeking out Huang Ming and Mu Yu instead. The fate of this tiny island was a purely unfortunate coincidence – the demons wanted to do something to vent their anger, and this tiny island just happened to be there, ripe for the taking.
"This is not the time to be grieving," Lin Feng shook his head a little as he turned towards the skies on the far end of the horizon. "The calm before the storm has passed – the real thunderstorm is coming."
After a while, Lu Ning felt a chill run down her spine as she turned to look in the same direction. A hole opened in the sky as countless demons spilled out from within and lunged towards the tiny island!