Mortal's Purple Sky Cave Heaven

Chapter 513 Helpless
"That's the Soul-Slaying Sword. Although it resembles sword energy, it's actually a soul attack. Spirit insects are inherently less intelligent and have weaker souls, so it's normal for them to be countered by this sword. However, your Gold-Eating Insects are clearly much more intelligent and have much stronger souls than ordinary spirit insects. Killing such Gold-Eating Insects will require a significant amount of mana." After taking some elixirs to restore her mana and energy, Yue Li's complexion improved noticeably, regaining some rosy hue.

Nie Zhaonan withdrew his gaze, looked at Yue Li, and nodded slightly:
"Yes, under the constant attacks of the swarm of insects, even if these people are Mahayana cultivators, their mana will be depleted at a rapid pace and they will be exhausted sooner or later. Moreover, this place has become a complete prison, and they have nowhere to escape. We just need to wait for their mana to be exhausted and for them to be completely devoured by the Gold-Eating Insects."

"By the way, is it really okay to take the Prisoner Old Monster into the cave?" After all, the Prisoner Old Monster was an old monster in the Tribulation Transcending stage, so Yue Li still asked with some concern.

"Don't worry, I've used the power of the Purple Cloud Cave Heaven to isolate a space within it, surrounded by the power of the boundary, and not just any ordinary boundary power like the Spirit Realm. If the Prisoner Demon can truly break free from the boundary power, then the Purple Cloud Cave Heaven can be destroyed as well. But how could such a treasure as the Purple Cloud Cave Heaven be destroyed by a cultivator who isn't even a True Immortal? Yue'er, you can rest assured." Nie Zhaonan thought for a moment and then said without hiding anything.

Imprisoning the Old Monster of Prison in the Purple Cloud Cave was Nie Zhaonan's trump card that gave him confidence when facing Yin Gangzi and the White Bone Immortal.

However, the strength of the Prisoner Old Monster was naturally superior to those two. Fortunately, Yue Li had the Xuan Tian Frost Fan, a mysterious treasure, which could temporarily freeze the Prisoner Old Monster.

Otherwise, faced with such an exceptionally powerful expert, the two of them would have had no choice but to hide in the Purple Cloud Cave.

However, hiding in the Purple Cloud Cave Heaven is a last resort, since most Mahayana cultivators would think of the cave heaven's treasures as soon as they see the two suddenly disappear in the sealed area.

Moreover, they had important business to attend to on their journey to the Thunder Continent. Although hiding in the Purple Cloud Cave Heaven could save their lives, the Sea King Clan would never give up and would choose to continue sealing off the place. In this way, they would be unable to leave and would naturally miss the opportunity to enter the Guanghan Realm.

Upon hearing this, Yue Li felt a slight sense of relief.
"That's good then. I originally thought that the Purple Cloud Grotto was just a treasured grotto for living in, but it turns out it's also a treasure for suppression. According to you, even if the True Dragon Grand Elder entered the grotto, he wouldn't be able to escape. Your methods are truly impressive."

As if recalling some unpleasant memories, Yue Li rolled her eyes dramatically.

She had previously been trapped in the Purple Cloud Cave by Nie Zhaonan, who then used a combination of temptation and threat.
"The Purple Cloud Cave Heaven is indeed a good place to suppress powerful enemies, but it also has great limitations. As long as the opponent resists even slightly, I will not be able to send them into the cave heaven, let alone suppress them afterwards. It is all thanks to Yue'er that you were able to freeze the Prisoner Demon Old Monster." Nie Zhaonan said softly, his words full of praise for Yue Li.

For Nie Zhaonan, praising his woman was an incredibly simple thing.

"I'm not as powerful as you say. I only rely on the power of the treasure fan. It all comes down to you."

Upon hearing this, Yue Li's slight resentment vanished instantly, and her tone even unconsciously carried a hint of joy, as if she was extremely pleased with Nie Zhaonan's praise.

As a seasoned player in the game of love, how could Nie Zhaonan not sense the subtle change in Yue Li's tone? He smiled slightly and said:

"Alright, there's no need for us to stand here doing nothing. Let me heal your wounds."

Seeing Nie Zhaonan reach out and embrace her slender waist, a blush appeared on Yue Li's still slightly pale face.
"No, I'm badly injured right now. Let's wait until I'm healed before we mess around."

Nie Zhaonan's actions immediately reminded her of what happened on the bed.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. Your magical power is almost exhausted, and you’re even having trouble refining pills. I just wanted to inject my magical power into your body to help you refine the pills. Yue’er, do you mean you want to cultivate together? It’s not impossible.” Nie Zhaonan smiled faintly, picked up Yue Li, and walked into the Cloud Palace Sacred Ship.

"Sigh," Yue Li wanted to refuse, but the words just wouldn't come out.

"Alright, with his help, I can recover faster. The commotion here is so great that it might attract other Mahayana experts soon, so I must recover my strength as soon as possible." A reason naturally came to Yue Li's mind.

She convinced herself.

Several days later, the great battle that had broken out here finally came to an end.

The aftermath of the great battle evaporated almost half of the seawater within a radius of tens of thousands of miles.

At this moment, Nie Zhaonan had almost finished healing Yue Li and also stepped out of the sacred ship onto the deck.

The first thing that catches the eye is a pile of storage bracelets of various colors, which clearly belong to these Mahayana cultivators of the Sea King Clan.

Seeing that Nie Zhaonan had put the Gold-Eating Insects away again, Yue Li couldn't help but speak up:

"The Sea King Clan is one of the most powerful clans in the Spirit Realm, and these are Mahayana cultivators of the Sea King Clan. Their storage bracelets must contain many treasures. After this trip, you will be the wealthiest cultivator in the entire Spirit Realm."

“I don’t care about how wealthy I am. What I care about is how many rare and precious treasures I have, because cultivation is the most important thing,” Nie Zhaonan said, his expression unchanged.

"Why don't we just take a look and see?" A hint of doubt appeared on Yue Li's jade-like face. At this moment, her complexion was excellent, and her physical damage had almost completely recovered.

After all, she had no shortage of healing pills, not to mention that Nie Zhaonan helped her refine them carefully. She didn't need to exert any effort herself; she only needed to absorb the medicinal power inputted by Nie Zhaonan.

"No rush, let's go check on the old monster, Prisoner Demon, first." Nie Zhaonan smiled slightly, flicked his sleeve, temporarily put away the storage bracelet, and then quietly disappeared with Yue Li.

High above the edge of the Purple Cloud Cave Heaven, the old monster Prisoner, whose face was covered in scales, sat cross-legged in the void with his eyes closed, motionless.

Within a few dozen feet of him, there was a square cage formed by a transparent substance, trapping him there.

Before this, he had tried countless supernatural powers to break free from the cage formed by the power of the interface, but all of them ended in failure.

He knew perfectly well that he was finished.

Suddenly, the old monster, Prisoner of the Demons, opened his eyes and coldly looked at Nie Zhaonan and his companion, who had appeared a hundred feet away. "A treasure of a grotto-heaven—if I'm not mistaken, its grade is definitely not just a simple Xuan Tian treasure. It's rumored that even Xuan Tian treasures are graded in the Immortal Realm. Xuan Tian treasures born below the Immortal Realm can only be the lowest ninth-grade immortal artifacts, like the Xuan Tian Spirit-Slaying Sword and the Xuan Tian Frost Flower Fan in your hands, both ninth-grade immortal artifacts. I wonder if Fellow Daoist Nie could tell me what grade this grotto-heaven is?" The old monster, Prisoner of the Demons, asked slowly, his face expressionless.

"Rank? You can consider this cave heaven as a first-grade immortal artifact, or even higher." In this situation, Nie Zhaonan naturally had no need to hide anything and told him frankly.

"Hehehe, how arrogant! Although I don't know the specific classification of immortal artifacts, I do know that the strongest treasure in the immortal realm is only a third-grade immortal artifact, and it is said to be an auxiliary treasure. You actually say that this cave is a first-grade immortal artifact. Isn't that too arrogant, or just a casual remark?" The old monster, Prisoner of the Demons, sneered repeatedly.

"Just take it as me saying it offhand." Nie Zhaonan was too lazy to argue with a dying man.

"What are you doing here to see me? Do you think that by trapping me, you can really kill me? You two are far from being strong enough," the Prisoner Monster shook his head.
"Having cultivated to my level, it's almost time to say my lifespan is endless. This grotto-heaven is indeed miraculous, completely isolating me from the outside world. But that's also good, as it spares me from the danger of heavenly tribulation, and I no longer need to worry about perishing under it. Don't even think about getting anything from me unless you can kill me, but that would be tens of thousands of years from now. If I'm lucky during that time, you might unexpectedly perish."

He didn't believe that Nie Zhaonan would ask Elder Jinlong to kill him, because even someone like Elder Jinlong would be tempted by such a treasure from a celestial cave.

"Can't kill you? Why don't you ask how those Mahayana cultivators of your Sea King Clan are doing now, whether they're dead or alive?" Nie Zhaonan wasn't angry, he just said calmly.

As he spoke, with a thought, a large swarm of gold-devouring insects silently appeared around him, completely surrounding the area.

The combined efforts of more than forty Mahayana cultivators were indeed formidable. Of the original 700,000 mature Gold-Devouring Insects, only less than 600,000 remained, representing the extermination of more than 100,000 Gold-Devouring Insect swarms.

However, this was something that the Sea Kings achieved only by risking their lives.

"You...you can actually control so many mature Gold-Eating Insects, it's truly unbelievable." The old monster Prisoner stammered as he spoke.

After all, given his level of cultivation, how could he not know that a mature Gold-Devouring Insect consumes a great deal of divine sense?

A typical Nascent Soul cultivator can only control a thousand Gold-Devouring Insects at most, and their divine sense power will be exhausted in an instant.

No one had ever possessed tens of thousands of mature Gold-Eating Insects before, but according to his estimation, even a typical Mahayana cultivator could not control more than ten thousand Gold-Eating Insects.

"Now, fellow Daoist, do you think I, Nie, am still no match for you?" Nie Zhaonan said, raising an eyebrow.

"Ah," the old monster Prisoner looked deeply at Nie Zhaonan and sighed deeply.
"It seems that all the Mahayana cultivators of my Sea King Clan who participated in this operation have perished."

“Since you have laid an ambush on me, you must pay the price, and you are no exception,” Nie Zhaonan said without any emotion.

Upon hearing this, Yue Li subtly pinched the waist of the person beside her. It sounded nice, but the despicable person beside her had taken advantage of her almost threateningly, yet hadn't paid any price, hadn't been injured at all, let alone lost his life, and had instead gained quite a few benefits.

Nie Zhaonan naturally understood what Yue Li was angry about, but he showed no reaction on his face.

"You are merely Nascent Soul cultivators, yet you possess three Mysterious Heavenly Treasures. In my eyes, what difference is there between you and a toddler clutching a piece of gold? My attack on you is nothing more than a normal occurrence in the cultivation world. However, defeat is defeat. I am willing to disintegrate myself, only hoping that you will not implicate the Sea King Clan." The Prisoner Demon Old Monster burst into wild laughter, but after saying the last sentence, his tone suddenly turned low and somber, like a bottomless abyss.

“That’s natural. As long as the masterminds are all dead, I, Nie, will have nothing to say. Besides, I am not a cultivator who practices blood demonic arts, so I’m too lazy to go through the trouble of blood sacrifices, and I have no interest in the Sea King Clan.” Nie Zhaonan nodded slightly.

"Alright, I also believe that you are not a fickle or unreliable person."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old monster Qiuchi used some kind of secret technique to disintegrate his body, which turned to ashes without any warning, including his clothes.

Soon, in the eyes of Nie Zhaonan and the other, only a dark purple storage bracelet remained in the void where the old monster Qiuchi had been sitting cross-legged.

"An old monster is indeed an old monster; he even used a secret technique to disintegrate his body." Nie Zhaonan couldn't help but sigh. Compared to this old monster who had cultivated for over 100,000 years, the secret techniques and supernatural abilities he knew were truly limited.

“Of course, there are many similar secret techniques for self-disintegration among the True Dragon Clan. Some say that after reincarnation, there is a chance to retain some memories of the previous life, while others hope to enhance the cultivation aptitude after reincarnation. There are all sorts of them, but reincarnation is mysterious, and no one can really verify whether those secret techniques are truly effective.” Yue Li was also intrigued and said slightly.

"If we want to explore the mystery of reincarnation, our cultivation level is naturally far inferior." Nie Zhaonan shook his head slightly, and with a thought, the transparent square cage disappeared silently.

Yue Li moved swiftly, blocking Nie Zhaonan's path. With a wave of her hand, the Xuan Tian Frost Fan appeared:

"How could you be so reckless? What if the old monster Prisoner isn't really dead and has a backup plan!"

Seeing Yue Li's unusually wary expression, Nie Zhaonan couldn't help but chuckle to himself, while a warm feeling welled up inside him. He explained softly:
"I've already said it, this cave is completely under my control. If the old monster Prisoner hadn't been completely destroyed, how could I not know? Yue'er, you're overthinking it. But I'm quite pleased. It seems that I still hold a high place in your heart, as you were the first to protect me."

"Hmph, I'm just worried that if you die, I'll be trapped here forever." Yue Li said coquettishly, being quite stubborn, but she casually put away the precious fan in her hand.

Nie Zhaonan knew that Yue Li was still somewhat angry about the price he had mentioned earlier.

He was also somewhat helpless, wondering how he had gotten into trouble with Yue Li just because of his conversation with Qiu Chi.

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(End of this chapter)