Chapter 327: Chapter 314: Revenge Achieved, Gains Obtained
The "Qianyang Treasure Pearl," once a Tier Seven "Immortal Artifact," has been silently absorbing Zhouyang’s magical power to restore its strength ever since it merged into his dantian.
Over the past hundred years, the power of this magical artifact has greatly increased compared to when Zhouyang first obtained it.
In all these years, Zhouyang refrained from using this magical artifact unless absolutely necessary, allowing it to fully regain its strength.
Now, as he activates the magical artifact, this Tier Seven "Immortal Artifact" reveals a mere fraction of its mighty power.
Boom!
Pure golden true flame suddenly erupts from Zhouyang’s palm.
Even from seven or eight miles away, Zhu Ziyu could feel the scorching heat wave rushing towards him the moment the pure golden true flame appeared.
Beneath their magical combat, the flora within a radius of twenty to thirty miles withered rapidly, visibly drying and dying under the unbearable heat emanating from the "Qianyang True Flame."
"What kind of flame is this! Why is it so terrifying!"
As a Tier Four Middle-grade Alchemist, Zhu Ziyu was well-versed in all kinds of heaven and earth spiritual fires, and knew quite a few true fire divine techniques cultivated by Golden Core Stage cultivators and even Nascent Soul Stage cultivators.
Yet, the pure golden flame in Zhouyang’s hand left him in doubt.
Yes, in doubt.
There are many types of golden flame divine techniques in the cultivation realm, including heaven and earth spiritual fires.
For example, the "Sun Golden Flame" is golden in color among the heaven and earth spiritual fires, and besides "Qianyang True Flame," other well-known true fire divine techniques like "Golden Radiance Holy Fire" and "Heaven-Burning Golden Flame" are also of this color.
Zhu Ziyu’s inability to recognize the origin of the golden flame in Zhouyang’s hand is quite understandable.
But being a well-informed Late-Stage Purple Mansion cultivator, after quickly recalling the characteristics and details of several heaven and earth spiritual fires and true fire divine techniques in his mind, his face drastically changed, and he couldn’t help but exclaim loudly, "This is the ’Qianyang True Flame,’ you’re actually a Treasure Body Cultivator!"
"Treasure Body Cultivator" is the term used in the cultivation realm to refer to cultivators with special treasure bodies, distinguishing them from "Spirit Body Cultivators."
Even in the expansive Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, with its vast territories and countless populations, these two types of cultivators are extremely rare, with only a few appearing every thousand years.
And as long as any "Treasure Body Cultivator" or "Spirit Body Cultivator" reveals their true identity and their background is clean, they can easily join major sects, even becoming core disciples.
Zhu Ziyu never expected the little Foundation Establishment cultivator he once offended out of greed to be that one-in-a-hundred-thousand "Treasure Body Cultivator!"
"Die!"
Zhouyang shouted loudly, unwilling to waste any words on a dead man, and directly activated a secret skill from the "Profound Sun Fire Manipulation Technique" called "Flaming Dragon Burst" using a spell.
In an instant, the pure golden flame burning in his hand twisted, transforming rapidly into a golden flame dragon no more than half a foot long, lunging towards Zhu Ziyu.
The blazing dragon roamed the skies, causing vegetation to wither and the earth to crack...
This was not the so-called "Dragon Might," but it was even more overpowering than legendary "Dragon Might!"
This was the power of the supremely yang "Qianyang True Flame," one of the most dominant flames in the world.
The "Qianyang True Flame" unleashed by Zhouyang with the help of the "Qianyang Treasure Pearl" had truly acquired some of the might of incinerating mountains and boiling seas!
Mountains can be burned, seas can boil, let alone mere humans?
"No—"
Zhu Ziyu screamed, desperately trying to escape the sword array, struggling in vain.
But it was too late; just as he barely forced his way out of the sword array with the protection of a cyan dragon illusion, the flame dragon, under Zhouyang’s control, had already assaulted him.
Rumble!
The golden firelight illuminated the sky.
Evaporating clouds, cracking the ground, leaving visible "scars" beneath the flame’s fury.
When the firelight dissipated, there was no trace of Zhu Ziyu left in the sky.
He was completely reduced to ashes!
As the instigator, Zhouyang was momentarily stunned by the sight, then sighed with regret, "What a pity! I wanted to leave him with an intact body to collect the relics on him!"
Having been blasted to ashes, how could the storage bag possibly remain?
After a long sigh, he quickly accepted this reality.
With a wave of his hand, Zhouyang collected flying swords that had been blasted away, ready to flee.
With Zhu Ziyu, his enemy, now dead, he saw no reason to continue entangling with the cultivator Hu and his wife, especially since in his current state, he might not be able to defeat them.
But what he didn’t expect was that the female cultivator, who had arrived thirty to forty miles away and witnessed Zhu Ziyu’s fall, was immediately frightened, stopping her pursuit and hurriedly turned back to reunite with her Dao Companion.
In the end, this couple had no intention of avenging Zhu Ziyu but instead fled the battlefield together, escaping towards the Yunxia Country!
This scene made Zhouyang, who noticed it while escaping, pause in surprise.
"What is this? A stick beating a wolf, afraid at both ends?"
A strange expression flashed across his face, and he burst into laughter.
However, with the enemy no longer pursuing, it was always a good thing, and he could slowly fly while refining spirit stones to replenish his magical power.
As for landing now to meditate and recover magical power, he wasn’t foolish enough to do such a thing.
The commotion from the battle earlier could be seen within a thousand miles; it wouldn’t take long before high-tier cultivators nearby came to investigate.
If he were to stay near the battlefield to recover magical power, did he truly believe that everyone in the cultivation realm was helpful and kind-hearted?
After flying for over a thousand miles, Zhouyang finally landed in a desolate mountain area, where he released his flying sword to carve out a temporary cave dwelling to enter and meditate.
After a whole day and night of meditation and energy circulation, he finally restored his state to fullness.
According to his plan, he should now venture into the "Cloud Mist Marsh" to see the scenery of this forbidden area within the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.
However, while meditating to recover, he suddenly remembered that the Purple Star Pavilion in Seven-Colored Immortal City seemed to be without a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator stationed after Zhu Ziyu had fallen.
In that case, should he seize the opportunity to raid this Purple Star Sect shop?
After all, having killed Zhu Ziyu, he had already formed an unerasable vendetta with the Purple Star Sect, which only had a few Golden Core Stage cultivators and a dozen Purple Mansion Stage cultivators.
If so, adding another crime of raiding the Purple Star Sect’s assets seemed to be like lice not itching more?
Thinking this, Zhouyang could hardly sit still.
The spirit stones and treasures on him had been consumed largely after the journey to Immortal Sun City, and killing Zhu Ziyu hadn’t yielded any material reward but rather wasted two of his "Beast Soul Talismans."
That won’t do!
"Anyway, I have no ties in this Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, and Ying’Er has Xu Zhengyang helping to look after her. Even if the Purple Star Sect finds out I killed Zhu Ziyu and raided their assets, if they want revenge, they have to find me first!"
Talking to himself, Zhouyang seemed to be building up confidence, his eyes gradually becoming resolute.
He was a man of principle; if there was no enmity, he would never stoop to robbing other cultivators.
However, with the Purple Star Sect and him, they had already become actual enemies, and even if he didn’t raid the Purple Star Pavilion in Seven-Colored Immortal City, they wouldn’t spare him.
If so, striking first to weaken the enemy’s strength was reasonable.
Having made up his mind, Zhouyang again changed his appearance and infiltrated Seven-Colored Immortal City.
Since Zhu Ziyu had already informed the Second Shopkeeper of the Purple Star Pavilion of his reason for leaving the city, when he didn’t return after a couple of days, the cultivators of the Purple Star Sect in the Pavilion knew he was likely in danger.
Thus, following the Purple Star Sect’s rules for such situations, the Second Shopkeeper temporarily took charge, ordered the shop’s closure, and sent a detailed report of the events to the sect’s mountain gate, awaiting instructions from the sect senior members.
No one would have thought that Zhouyang, the "murderer," would dare to return to Seven-Colored Immortal City to target the Purple Star Pavilion after killing Zhu Ziyu.
So, when he skillfully controlled a patrol cultivator and disguised himself as a patrol officer to inspect the Purple Star Pavilion, the Second Shopkeeper inside, despite many doubts, after repeated observation, opened the array to them—him, apparently at First-Layer Foundation Establishment, and the Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation patrol cultivator—into the shop.
What happened next was simple. Zhouyang entered the shop and easily subdued and controlled all personnel in the Purple Star Pavilion.
Then Zhouyang threatened, persuaded, and quickly pried open the Second Steward’s mouth to discover the location of the Pavilion’s treasure vault.
However, only Zhu Ziyu possessed the key and knew the spell to enter and exit the vault. After Zhu Ziyu’s downfall, even the Second Shopkeeper replacing him couldn’t enter it; only when a high-tier cultivator from the sect came to investigate Zhu Ziyu’s demise with a spare key could the vault be opened.
Arriving at the vault without access to its contents, Zhouyang was unwilling to leave empty-handed.
Thus, after contemplating for a moment in front of the vault, he suddenly gritted his teeth, took out another array from his storage ring, deployed it within the Purple Star Pavilion to conceal the commotion, then used the pure golden "Qianyang True Flame" to burn at the vault’s door.
The pure golden "Qianyang True Flame" could burn anything; although the vault door materials were exceptional and protected by an array, it was still forcibly burned by Zhouyang into a human-sized hole.
With all personnel in the Purple Star Pavilion knocked unconscious and two arrays inside and out isolating the noise, his actions created quite a commotion but went unnoticed externally.
Thus, entering through the hole, the various treasures stored inside the vault all fell into his pocket.
Because Seven-Colored Immortal City’s Purple Star Pavilion was tens of thousands of miles away from the Purple Star Sect’s mountain gate, the sect would supply inventory every fifteen years; it had only been seven years since the last supply, so nearly half of the elixirs remained unsold, including five Foundation Establishment Pills and several Tier Four Spirit Pills!
Additionally, the spirit stones earned by the Pavilion from selling goods, as well as the "Cloud Mist Marsh" specialty spiritual objects purchased from Yunxia Country cultivators, were stored in the vault awaiting collection by the sect every fifteen years.
Thus, the number of spirit stones Zhouyang found just in the vault exceeded two hundred thousand, various Tier Three and Tier Four Spirit Elixirs numbered dozens, and even more spirit ores and demon beast materials were found.
But what pleased Zhouyang most were two pieces of "Cloud Mist Immortal Tea" and a precious spiritual object that assists in Core Formation called "Ice and Fire Spirit Liquid."
These two pieces of "Cloud Mist Immortal Tea" were Zhu Ziyu’s greatest gain in recent years; he always wanted to collect three pieces to help himself advance to the Ninth-Layer of the Purple Mansion.
As for the "Ice and Fire Spirit Liquid," Zhu Ziyu spent over three hundred thousand spirit stones at an auction to buy this precious spiritual object, intending to use it to impact the Golden Core once his cultivation reached the Ninth-Layer of the Purple Mansion.
Before going out this time, he worried about the risks and left many valuable but non-combat-useful treasures in the vault to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
Included among them were two pieces of "Cloud Mist Immortal Tea" and the "Ice and Fire Spirit Liquid," along with precious Tier Four Spirit Elixirs and Spirit Pills.
But unexpectedly, his precautionary measure not only failed as an insurance but instead became an action that equipped the enemy!