The Lingering Nan Tianba

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Ye Qin tidied up the fragments of the green jade pendant and scattered them all across the field.

The field was a bit of a mess; over a dozen Dew Grass plants had been caught in the crossfire when Nan Tianba unleashed his Fireball Technique. Several had been struck by the exploding flames and reduced to ash.

Ye Qin felt a secret pang of regret for these innocent Dew Grass plants. They were enough to sustain his cultivation for an entire day, and now they were wasted for nothing.

As the jade fragments were scattered over the field, the Dew Grass began to absorb the spiritual energy within them, growing rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye. The dozen or so plants bloomed and bore fruit in a very short time, only stopping once the spiritual energy in the fragments had been completely drained. In the blink of an eye, the dozen plants had multiplied into eighty or ninety.

Ye Qin used his divine sense to move one of the plants out of the Purple Mansion and into reality. He ate it raw, closed his eyes, and began to meditate, converting the spiritual power of the Dew Grass into primordial energy, which his primordial spirit then consumed.

Endless void.

It was unclear how much time had passed when a point of yellow light appeared on the distant horizon, streaking toward the Floating Island at extreme speed.

"Hahaha, I, Nan Tianba, have returned--!" A sharp howl echoed across the entire Floating Island. In just a few blinks, the yellow ball of light flashed and appeared above the island.

Ye Qin, who was inside the island collecting White Glow, was startled. He immediately flashed into the protective light barrier of the Life Primordial Spirit Stele to take cover.

Ye Qin stared at the returning yellow ball of light with uneasy suspicion, his heart nearly bursting with rage. How did this yellow ball not lose its way in the void and return so quickly? If it kept pestering him, he would never be able to cultivate in peace.

Having been repelled once, the yellow ball of light was now much dimmer and weaker than before. It looked listless and gloomy, as if it had consumed a great deal of its primordial energy. Even so, it was still far more powerful than Ye Qin.

Nan Tianba laughed sinisterly, drifting around the large stone stele like a fox circling a hedgehog, unable to find a way to strike.

"Kid, this protective treasure of yours is quite impressive. It doesn't fear my Fireball Technique at all, and it even sent me flying! But it's a pity; I can see that it is, after all, merely a defensive treasure. It has no offensive capabilities whatsoever and poses no threat to me at all."

"Even if you knock me dozens of miles away, I can return in the blink of an eye. Hey, kid, tell me, what kind of treasure is this rotten stone stele? I have roamed Ping Province for decades and have never seen such a strange thing. Could it be a spirit tool?"

The yellow ball of light pressed tightly against the light barrier, widening its eyes to peer inside. It saw some ancient, crude characters on the large stone stele, but it couldn't recognize a single one, which left it feeling puzzled.

This only made it feel more curious, convinced that the large stone stele was no ordinary treasure.

It had failed to break the barrier with its strongest attacks. After several previous attempts, it had learned its lesson and no longer actively attacked the light barrier to avoid being repelled by it.

If it still had a physical body, attacking a few more times wouldn't matter, as it would only consume the physical body's mana. But without a body, forcibly casting spells consumed its own primordial energy. As a primordial spirit that had already lost its physical form, it had no way to replenish its energy. Every time it cast a spell, it consumed a massive amount of its essence; once that was exhausted, its primordial spirit would dissipate into smoke and clouds.

Since it couldn't break the barrier, it wouldn't waste its energy in vain. As long as it didn't attack, the barrier wouldn't trigger any counter-attacks, allowing it to cling to the light and peer inside.

Ye Qin felt secretly anxious, but he dared not step even half a step away from the Life Primordial Spirit Stele.

Nan Tianba could do nothing to Ye Qin inside the light barrier. Gradually losing interest in him, it began to re-examine the entire Floating Island. It looked suspiciously at the sky of the island, where countless rays of light—the primordial energy Ye Qin called White Glow—were present.

It couldn't help but feel surprised, drifting over to grab those rays of White Glow to see what they were. When it grasped the first wisp of White Glow, its originally dim light actually brightened a little, recovering a trace of energy.

It couldn't help but tremble violently, its brilliance suddenly flaring.

"This~, what is going on? Without a physical body, it is fundamentally impossible to cultivate and increase primordial energy. Why is it that I, without a body, can actually increase my energy and cultivate? This is inconceivable! I have never heard of such a bizarre thing; it defies the common sense that a primordial spirit without a body cannot cultivate. What kind of place is this, to be so miraculous?!"

Nan Tianba shrieked, staring in astonishment at its own slightly brighter body, overcome with a joy it could barely suppress. With this discovery, which drove it mad with excitement, it no longer had the heart to pay attention to Ye Qin inside the Life Primordial Spirit Stele, instead frantically chasing after the White Glow.

Before long, almost all the White Glow on the Floating Island had been consumed by it, allowing its originally dim and weak form to recover some energy.

Seeing this, Ye Qin couldn't help but groan inwardly. He had worked hard to cultivate a large amount of White Glow after eating a Dew Grass, only for it to benefit this yellow ball. If all the White Glow he cultivated in the future was snatched away by this yellow ball, what would he do? How would he improve his cultivation realm?

Ye Qin was sparking with rage, almost wanting to run out and tear the yellow ball apart. But considering the gap in strength between them, he was forced to endure it, desperately trying to think of a way to resolve this crisis. Yet, with such a massive disparity in power, how could he possibly come up with a solution?

Nan Tianba was in a great mood. After swallowing all the White Glow in the air of the Floating Island, it was still unsatisfied. It searched frantically through every rock crevice and every corner of the island, trying to find more, muttering to itself, "Where are those little things? There are too few of them. Those little things must have come from somewhere; when I first arrived, I didn't see them."

"Hey, yellow ball, don't waste your effort searching. I guarantee you won't find another wisp of White Glow on this island. If I don't let them out, they will never appear."

Hearing it still greedily searching for the White Glow, Ye Qin couldn't help but mock it.

Nan Tianba's good mood was instantly ruined by Ye Qin. It said angrily, "Hey, kid, stop calling me yellow ball over and over! I am Nan Tianba, head of the Nan family of Ping Province, a master at the fourth level of Qi Refining. A little brat like you at the second level of Qi Refining dares to speak such nonsense? You infuriate me!"

Ye Qin just snorted coldly. Protected by the light barrier, he didn't fear Nan Tianba at all. "Yellow ball, so what if I call you that? I don't care if you're at the third or fourth level; this place is not for you to command."

Nan Tianba searched the entire island but couldn't find any more White Glow, so it had to drift back in annoyance to argue with Ye Qin. "Hey, kid, don't rely on your sharp tongue. What is this place? Tell me, and I will leave you a whole corpse."

Ye Qin laughed loudly: "If you have the ability, come and kill me! If you can get in to kill me, you don't need to spare me; I'll offer my neck for the blade! If you can't kill me, then you're a grandson, and you should kneel and kowtow to your grandfather a few times."

Nan Tianba was so angry that smoke seemed to be coming out of its seven orifices, its brows twitching and eyes glaring. As a dignified primordial spirit at the fourth level of Qi Refining, it was being ridiculed and mocked by a low-level primordial spirit at the second level of Qi Refining. It was truly unbearable—yet it had to endure it. After all, Ye Qin's primordial spirit was protected by the large stone stele.