After crossing a low hill, Yang Zhen and the Shameless Cat arrived at a place that resembled a valley. They craned their necks to look inside and were immediately taken aback.
In the vast mountain valley, there is a shimmering golden lake. The beam of light that pierces through the sky emanates from it. From a distance, it doesn't appear so magnificent. Only when you get closer do you realize how enormous this beam of light is, spanning a hundred feet in diameter.
A group of cultivators gathered by the lake, mostly between the Void Refinement Realm and Spirit Wandering Realm. They possessed powerful auras and exuded a strong killing intent, clearly indicating that they had killed many people on their way here.
Yang Zhen even spotted two young women, Spirit Maiden Hongluan and Xiu'er, in the crowd. Bai Xuan and Ye Zhiming were standing beside them, which surprised Yang Zhen. He wondered when these people had gotten together.
Not far from Spirit Maiden Hongluan and the others, a sinister-looking man dressed in green stood with a cold expression and a disdainful smile on his lips, playing with a dozen or so Golden Life Orb in his hand.
The Shameless Cat stared in disbelief, then asked in astonishment, "Kid, this must be the Heavenly Mandate Spring that Scarface mentioned. Let's hurry down; it's been ages since I've had a proper bath."
Yang Zhen took a deep breath and said, "Have you seen that guy Lin Tianli?"
The Shameless Cat paused, looked around the crowd, and shook its head, saying, "It doesn't seem to be here."
Yang Zhen frowned, grabbed the Shameless Cat, and said, "Let's bypass this place and go find the little girl first."
Almost everyone in the crowd, whether they had seen her before or not, was there, but Yang Zhen didn't see Hua Youyue. It was as if Hua Youyue had disappeared without a trace after she came in.
The Shameless Cat kicked its legs frantically, furious. "This is clearly a good place! There's something in this Heavenly Mandate Spring that can temper the soul, and you're not even going to soak in it for a while?"
"You can soak in the Heavenly Mandate Spring anytime. The young girl and Lin Tianli aren't here, so they obviously think the same thing. Let's find them and talk to them first."
The Shameless Cat flipped over and bit Yang Zhen's hand, mumbling, "Save your breath, kid. If the little girl really awakened her bloodline, she wouldn't need to soak in this spring. What does that idiot Lin Tianli know? This is the most precious thing we've encountered in a long time. Trust me, you'll thank me later."
Yang Zhen, stung by the Shameless Cat's bite, was equally enraged. He slapped the Shameless Cat on the head and said, "Damn it, you've gone too far! How dare you bite this Sage of Saunter?"
"Damn it, you think I'm afraid of you? If you're so tough, let's go fight in the Heavenly Mandate Spring!" The Shameless Cat wouldn't back down an inch, staring at Yang Zhen with wide eyes.
Yang Zhen and the Shameless Cat's voices seemed to have alerted the group by the lake, as a clear exclamation rang out. " Yang Zhen!"
Upon hearing the voice, Yang Zhen paused in his action of slapping the Shameless Cat. Seeing everyone looking over, he grinned and waved, saying, "Oh, what a coincidence, you're all here."
Xiu'er's big eyes immediately curved into crescent moons as she waved to Yang Zhen and said, " Yang Zhen, over here, come here!"
Yang Zhen glared at the Shameless Cat and said, "Are you sure you don't need to soak in this stuff after you awaken your bloodline?"
The Shameless Cat curled its lip and said, "You still lack understanding of Ancient Bloodline. You should really find some books to read when you have time."
Upon seeing Yang Zhen again, Xiu'er was clearly very happy, and curiously looked Yang Zhen over, saying, "Why did you take so long to come?"
Yang Zhen smiled, noticing that Spirit Maiden Hongluan and the others were also looking at him curiously, and explained, "I relieved myself on the way, so I'm late."
Everyone: "..."
Damn it, what's so convenient that it's taken so long? Everyone else has been fighting their way here, and Yang Zhen is only now slowly making his way over.
Bai Xuan's complexion was not good. His Qi and Blood were still churning, and his killing intent was quite strong, but he looked weak. He looked at Yang with curiosity, and then asked with a strange expression, "Brother Yang, did you walk all this way?"
Yang Zhen was taken aback and asked in surprise, "Didn't you walk over? Did you fly over?"
Bai Xuan gave a wry smile and shook his head, saying, "That's not what I meant. Why don't you have any killing intent on you? Didn't you encounter Golden Life Ferocious Beast?"
The Golden Life Ferocious Beast" should be one that emits golden light. Seeing the curious looks on everyone's faces, Yang Zhen honestly replied, "Yes, we haven't encountered one. What is Golden Life Ferocious Beast?"
Seeing Yang Zhen's reaction, everyone present looked rather grim. Xiu'er pouted and said somewhat reluctantly, "Is this your first time on Spirit Road?"
Bai Xuan's expression froze for a moment, then he said with a wry smile, "It's all my fault. I forgot to tell Brother Yang on the way here that only cultivators who possess the Golden Life Orb can enter this Heavenly Mandate Spring in front of us. The Golden Life Orb was obtained from the Golden Life Ferocious Beast."
Xiu'er's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at Yang Zhen and Bai Xuan. She said irritably, "Are you two idiots? How could you forget something so important? What are we going to do now? Yang Zhen doesn't have the Golden Life Orb; how is he going to get into the Heavenly Mandate Spring?"
Bai Xuan and Ye Zhiming's expressions turned somber. They sighed and were about to speak when a golden light suddenly flashed before their eyes.
Xiu'er reluctantly tossed a Golden Life Orb to Yang Zhen, muttering, "Honestly, you really are a handful."
Seeing a golden light tossed towards him, Yang Zhen instinctively reached out and caught it, then looked at Xiu'er in surprise and asked, "For me?"
Along the way, almost all the corpses on the road were killed because of the Golden Life Orb, including what Yang Zhen learned from the scarred youth. Yang Zhen now fully understood the value of the Golden Life Orb; each one could cause a bloodbath, and some people might even lose their lives because of it.
Although Xiu'er was somewhat reluctant, she gave him one without hesitation. Yang Zhen was quite surprised by the girl's generosity.
The Spirit Maiden Hongluan glanced at Xiu'er with equal surprise, then smiled and gave Yang Zhen two, saying, "I don't have many here either, so I can only give you two."
Bai Xuan and Ye Zhiming exchanged wry smiles, especially Bai Xuan, who said to Yang Zhen with a wry smile, "The responsibility for this matter lies with me. I originally thought that even if you hadn't been to the Spirit Road, you must have heard about what was inside from Spirit Maiden Hua. I didn't expect... I was injured, and I don't have many Golden Life Orb left. I can only give you one."
Ye Zhiming also took out one and said, "This thing is too rare. I've encountered six Golden Life Ferocious Beast along the way, and one of them was stolen by someone else."
As he spoke, Ye Zhiming tossed a Golden Life Orb into Yang Zhen's hand.
Yang Zhen and the Shameless Cat exchanged bewildered glances at the five Golden Life Orb in their hands, and asked in surprise, "How did you know I didn't encounter any golden beasts?"
Xiu'er glared at her and said, "Didn't you notice that everyone here carries some killing intent? Although those Golden Life Ferocious Beast aren't true living beings, fighting them can more easily affect a cultivator's temperament. When the murderous intent in one's heart is strong, the killing intent on one's body naturally intensifies. You don't have any killing intent on you at all, so what else could it be but that you haven't encountered any?"
Yang Zhen suddenly realized that, after looking around, he saw that everyone, just as Xiu'er had said, had some degree of killing intent. He hadn't been wrong about it earlier.
However, Yang Zhen still had a lingering doubt: wasn't killing intent something that couldn't be easily suppressed?
No, Yang Zhen didn't hide his killing intent; rather, he simply threw it away, or rather, discarded it, very easily and casually.
What's going on?
Just then, a sarcastic voice rang out. " Spirit Maiden Hongluan, is it appropriate for you to give such an important Golden Life Orb to a useless Void Refinement Realm?"
A useless person in the Void Refinement Realm?
Yang Zhen turned his head and saw the sinister-looking boy in blue walking towards them.
Damn, this guy has the strongest murderous aura.