Ding Ran: Seeking an Audience with Senior, Bearing a Precious Treasure!

Within the azure light at the forefront was a tall, slender young man. His azure robe was torn in several places and stained with blood, and his loose black hair was Feiyang backward by the strong wind.

His eyebrows were rather short, but his eyes were unusually sharp. Even in his disheveled state, a fierce and unwilling look still shone deep in his pupils.

This person was none other than Ding Ran.

He rode on his flying sword at full speed, but due to the long battle, his Spiritual Qi was nearly depleted, and his meridians ached faintly.

A faint, dim, blood-red glow still flickered on his body, a trace left over from the use of the Blood-Burning Secret Technique.

The price of forcibly unleashing his potential is slowly backfiring on his physical body.

Having been hunted for several days, he was now almost out of ammunition and food.

Ding Ran suddenly turned his head and looked at the five streaks of light that were chasing closely behind him, a ferocious look flashing in his eyes.

His cold, hoarse roar rang out, "Deng Qi! If I don't die today, I will surely kill you tomorrow!"

The wind howled, tearing his roar apart between the clouds.

All of this stemmed from the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng egg in his spirit beast pouch!

The Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng is a renowned and powerful Demon Beast clan in the Heaven Severing Mountain Range.

It is said that the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng has a trace of the Golden-Winged Great Peng Bird's bloodline, and the strongest of them can even grow to the Nascent Soul Realm. They feed on dragons and snakes and are known for their ferocity.

By fortuitous opportunity chance, he obtained the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng Egg in a secret realm.

He was accompanied by his close friend Deng Qi at the time.

The two reaped considerable rewards within the secret realm.

Besides this Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng egg, there were also many pills, materials, and so on.

Even the other gains, when added together, are almost equivalent to the entire fortune of a Peak Foundation Establishment cultivator.

However, because this Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng egg had been dormant in the secret realm for countless years, its signs of life were extremely weak.

Even if a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator like Ding Ran were to exhaust all his resources, he might not be able to hatch this Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng egg.

Therefore, when it came to the final distribution, Ding Ran and Deng Qi each took a share of the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng Egg and the other spoils.

The two agreed to each take one.

At first, Ding Ran was also hesitant, unsure which reward he wanted.

After all, the life signs of this Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng egg were so weak that the possibility of it hatching into a spirit beast was too low.

If the hatching fails, all their wealth will be lost.

However, Deng Qi spoke first, asking for the share of the other harvest.

Ding Ran didn't argue. The two were close friends, and he didn't want to ruin their relationship over a beast egg with barely any life force.

On the other hand, he himself is not someone who is content with mediocrity.

Since he had been forced to make a choice, he decided to take a gamble on this fortuitous opportunity.

What if?

If we win the gamble, it'll be a huge profit!

With a natal spirit beast capable of growing to the Nascent Soul Perfection, he will become one of the top geniuses under the rule of the entire Ten Thousand Beast Mountain!

If resources are exhausted and the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng egg cannot be hatched, then one can only accept defeat.

If all else fails, we can always start over!

To his utter surprise, after Deng Qi took the spoils from the secret realm, he actually sold the news that he possessed a Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng Egg to Chen Chuanmo, a core disciple of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain!

Chen Chuanmo was born into the Chen family, a top-tier Golden Core clan under the jurisdiction of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain.

Although the life signs of this Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng egg are weak, given the Chen Household's resources, the chances of it hatching are much higher than Ding Ran's!

This naturally made Chen Chuanmo quite interested.

He immediately sent someone to find Ding Ran and demand the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng Egg.

If Chen Chuanmo is willing to offer a fair price to buy the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng Egg from Ding Ran is also willing to sell it.

After all, he didn't want to offend a core disciple of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain.

As a result, the people sent by Chen Chuanmo actually claimed that the life signs of the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng egg were too weak, and intended to buy the beast egg for the price of a Mid-Grade Spirit Artifact.

How could Ding Ran accept this?

He naturally refused the request from the people sent by Chen Chuanmo on the spot.

As it turned out, the people Chen Chuanmo sent were even more arrogant than he had imagined. They immediately started robbing and even planned to kill him to silence him!

In the end Ding Ran used all his trump cards to barely fight his way out.

After escaping, Chen Chuanmo's men and Deng Qi pursued them relentlessly, and the chase lasted for several days.

Ding Ran had exhausted all the pills in his Storage Bag, and had no talismans left. Even his spirit pet, which had been with him for many years, had died in battle.

Standing atop the flying sword, Ding Ran roared, then felt a sweet taste in his throat. Unable to suppress the surging injuries within him any longer, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The bloodstains on the green robe were quickly dried by the gust of wind.

He stared at the five streaks of light closing in behind him, a look of despair rising in his eyes.

Am I destined to die here today?

A bitter feeling welled up in his heart.

Was he wrong back then? When Chen Chuanmo sent people to get rid of him, he shouldn't have complained that the amount offered was too small and should have just attacked directly.

Then we wouldn't have ended up in this state.

But then I thought about it again...

If he had truly sold himself in such a humiliating way, he would have been filled with resentment and his mind would have been clouded, making it difficult for him to make any progress in his spiritual practice in the future.

If anyone is to blame, it's only myself for being poor at judging people and failing to see through Deng Qi's true nature!

If he dies, I wonder if the Ding Household will be purged?

Ding Ran coughed up another mouthful of blood, his face ashen, and he felt a heavy weight in his heart, making it hard to breathe.

Just then, he suddenly saw a streak of light flashing in the clouds ahead.

Ding Ran looked up reflexively.

Amidst the surging sea of clouds, an enormous flying ship slowly emerged.

The flying boat was a hundred feet long, with layers upon layers of patterns on its hull, shimmering with a soft yet profound radiance.

Three magnificent palaces stood on the boat, their carved beams and painted rafters exuding luxury without losing their solemnity, gleaming with a faint golden halo under the light.

Ding Ran's pupils contracted, and he instinctively tried to change direction and stay far away from the airship's range.

This flying boat is clearly extraordinary.

The person who can ride in such a flying boat must be an extremely important person whom he would never normally be able to meet!

The consequences of clashing with such a being would be unimaginable.

However, Ding Ran and decisively stopped himself from turning around.

He glanced at the five streaks of light that were closing in, a resolute look flashing in his eyes.

Let's give it our all!

At worst, we can hand over the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng Egg to the important figure on this flying boat!

Hopefully, this important figure will consider the Nine Heavens Golden-Winged Peng Egg's reputation and step in to protect him!

It would be best if you could help him sort out Chen Chuanmo's matter as well.

Otherwise, the Ding Household family might have to move away from the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain territory.

Otherwise, facing the Chen Household's targeting, the Ding Household would surely be annihilated!

With that thought in mind, he gritted his teeth, mustered the last of his Spiritual Qi, and charged straight toward the flying boat.

His voice, imbued with spiritual energy, carried far and wide, echoing through the sky. "Senior aboard the flying boat, Ding Ran of the Ding family requests an audience and is willing to offer you a priceless treasure!"

The five streaks of light behind them belonged to Deng Qi and four other disciples of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain.

Like Ding Ran Deng Qi was a cultivator from a minor Aristocratic Clan. He had a square face, a robust build, and an honest and simple appearance.

If someone unaware of the inside story saw this, they would most likely think this person was trustworthy.

However, as he stared at Ding Ran's back, a sinister glint flashed in his eyes.

The other four disciples of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain wore gray and white animal skin robes, which were the standard disciple robes of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain.

Two of them were middle-aged, and the other two were young.

Deng Qi also flew on a sword, while the other four disciples of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain flew on a giant black-feathered eagle Demon Beast, their wings flapping and creating gusts of foul wind.

The five of them also spotted the Flowing Light Flying Boat piercing through the clouds immediately.

The expressions on the faces of all five people changed.

"What a huge flying boat! It must be over a hundred feet long, right?" A young disciple exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"This kind of flying boat must be something only top-tier powers could afford... Could it be that a big shot from one of those top powers is passing by?"

Since the four of them always traveled by beast, none of them had imagined that this was a big shot from the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain.

Since it wasn't from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, it must have come from other top-tier forces.

"Be careful! Slow down! Don't bump into your senior!"

One of the middle-aged disciples from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain quickly spoke up to stop the others from flying too fast.

Such important figures naturally possess the pride of the strong.

These insignificant Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators dared to shout and threaten violence in front of such a powerful figure; who knew if they might anger him?

"We'll continue the chase once the airship has passed!"

"Alright, Ding Ran's Spiritual Qi is almost depleted, he can't get far!"

The group whispered among themselves, about to slow down, when they heard Ding Ran's shout.

This caused the expressions on the faces of the five people to change drastically.

Especially Deng Qi.

From the moment he betrayed Ding Ran, he had already decided to completely eliminate Ding Ran so as to prevent future troubles.

If Ding Ran receive the protection of such a powerful figure, Chen Chuanmo might not dare to continue attacking Ding Ran!

What will Deng Qi do once Ding Ran recovers?

Wouldn't he have to be on guard day and night against the revenge of an enemy he knows inside and out?!

Deng Qi watched Ding Ran's back as it drew ever closer to the flying boat, a dark cloud settled over him, and his eyes grew increasingly gloomy.

No!

We can't let that powerful figure protect Ding Ran!