Chapter 178: CH 178 | The Island with Dominant Yang
"A little late?"
Zhu Xian turned, looking over at the two clan members still with her. Both of them reacted the same way, shaking their heads, not sure what the man meant.
"We don’t understand what you mean, Senior," Zhu Xian said.
Lin Tian figured that made sense, Zhu Wei hadn’t told them he was sending someone to rescue them.
They’d just been waiting, hoping someone would come save them.
They were lucky Lin Tian showed up, because according to what Ling Weixi had told him, the gate to the valley wouldn’t be opened for the general public again.
That meant if Lin Tian hadn’t come to save them, they would’ve been trapped there for a very long time, no question about it.
Lin Tian stepped forward, and in an instant he shifted position, appearing right in front of the three of them.
The two clan members assigned to guard Zhu Xian immediately snapped into a defensive stance.
Even though Lin Tian had just saved them, there was no guarantee his good intentions were entirely pure, or whether there was some other reason behind it.
"Don’t come any closer, Senior," one of them pleaded.
The man heard them, but he didn’t just stand there doing nothing.
He raised his hand up to chest height, a golden qi orb forming at his fingertip, then released it forward, splitting into three golden orbs.
The three orbs entered each of their bodies, spiritual energy filling every part of them, refreshing their meridians and restoring their strength.
Realizing this, they immediately let their guard down, figuring Lin Tian really had come with sincere intentions to save them.
"Go ahead and cultivate. Get yourselves back in shape."
"Y-Yes, Senior."
The three of them sat down cross legged right away and formed technique seals. They began absorbing qi, aided by Lin Tian’s primordial qi.
Since that location was saturated with dominant Yin energy, ordinary cultivation techniques weren’t very effective.
The golden qi orbs stored in their bodies helped filter out the Yin element carried within the spiritual energy.
That way, they could absorb the energy more efficiently, even while dealing with the Yin element present in that place.
While they cultivated, Lin Tian released four sealing flags and formed a simple formation to shield them from the snow in that area.
A rune dome formation took shape perfectly, keeping the snow from the rumbling black clouds from interfering with their cultivation.
"Zhu Xian?"
Hearing her name called made the woman pause her cultivation. She stood up straight and bowed respectfully, "Yes, Senior?"
"Have you gotten your hands on the Yin Moon Mirror artifact yet?"
Zhu Xian was completely stunned, and so were the two clan members beside her. Their eyes went wide hearing the man in front of them ask something about that artifact.
That artifact is supposed to be a Zhu Clan secret. How does he know about it?
I can’t lie to him. His cultivation is way higher than mine, he could kill me.
"W-We have it, Senior," Zhu Xian said quietly.
"Then stay right here and don’t leave the formation."
"I’ll come back once I’ve saved your brother."
Lin Tian turned away and flew off from that place with a powerful surge of qi.
The two clan members turned to look at each other, both catching the sharp, tense expression on Zhu Xian’s face.
"How does he know all that?" one of them asked.
"I don’t know," Zhu Xian answered, "But he knows about the artifact and the Zhu Clan’s plans, even about my brother. There’s a chance... he came here on my father’s orders."
"The Zhu Clan Head? But he’s at Soul Formation, it doesn’t seem likely Clan Head Zhu Wei would ask something like this of him."
"You’re right," Zhu Xian said.
"Better to just focus on cultivating again while we wait for him to come back with Zirong."
Right after Lin Tian left the island, the rumbling black clouds started dropping Yin snow over the area again.
Luckily for the three of them, the snow melted the instant it touched Lin Tian’s formation dome.
For the time being, Zhu Xian and her two clan members could cultivate in peace.
Meanwhile, Lin Tian kept flying fast through the sky above the cluster of islands, cutting through clouds and pushing through the air.
His field of vision stretched out far ahead, letting him clearly make out the farthest island in his line of sight.
If the Yin ruins were on an island dominated by Yin energy, then it stood to reason Zhu Zirong would be on an island with its own dominant element.
That part wouldn’t be too hard to figure out, since that element wasn’t nearly as dangerous compared to Yin.
Still, Lin Tian guessed the island in question was probably tied to a dominant fire element.
From a distance, Lin Tian’s eyes managed to spot an island with three volcanoes constantly erupting.
That wasn’t happening because of anything related to spiritual energy, it was simply the island’s unique natural trait.
Even so, once Lin Tian got there, he didn’t see Zhu Zirong anywhere on the island. His eyes lit up with a white gold qi glow as he activated his qi aura vision to look more closely.
Unlike with Zhu Xian, Lin Tian found that Zhu Zirong was trapped inside a cave connected to the base of the tallest volcano.
What surprised him even more was Zhu Zirong’s cultivation level, no longer Nascent Soul, but having dropped severely all the way down to Mid Core Formation.
His condition is really bad, but I can faintly make out his nascent soul, it’s barely flickering, almost out.
His cultivation didn’t drop because his nascent soul got destroyed, it’s because there wasn’t enough spiritual energy to keep that soul’s energy fueled.
There are only two possibilities: either he never cultivated at all, or he’s under some kind of restriction.
Zhu Zirong was lucky, the man beside him was still at Nascent Soul stage, even if only Early stage.
Still, relying on his strength should’ve been enough to keep Zhu Zirong alive and protected.
Lin Tian dropped low and flew into the cave, closing in on their location.
He could now clearly see Zhu Zirong and the clan member with him locked in a fight against a fire lion monster, its strength on par with Nascent Soul.
They were injured and being pushed back, not sure what else they could do.
The clan member with him noticed someone’s presence. He turned around, his eyes locking onto a man in a black robe flying toward them, robe billowing behind him.
"Please, Senior, we really need your help."
Lin Tian summoned a white rune in his hand, then unleashed a white dragon attack straight at the fire lion.
The fire lion monster responded aggressively, spewing scorching flames to clash against Lin Tian’s White Dragon.
But Lin Tian’s improved cultivation base meant the power behind his technique had grown significantly.
The blast of fire from the monster’s mouth barely made a dent against him.
BLAST!
The monster was defeated and destroyed, leaving behind a spiritual crystal that floated toward Lin Tian.
He turned around, his attention shifting to Zhu Zirong and his companion. Both of them were badly hurt, their red robes torn to shreds.
"Thank you for your help, Senior."
"I—"
"I know exactly who you are, Zhu Zirong!" Lin Tian said firmly.
The man with black, reddish tinted hair flinched in shock, then turned to glance at his friend beside him.
Both of them wore confused expressions, unable to figure out how Lin Tian knew about him.
"Who exactly are you, Senior?"
"That’s not important," Lin Tian said. "Tell me... have you already gotten the Yang Sun Ring artifact?"
Once again, Zhu Zirong was even more shocked, since Lin Tian was asking about something he shouldn’t have known at all.
Only the Zhu Clan knew about that artifact, it had never leaked to the public.
Realizing Lin Tian was asking such a thing put Zhu Zirong’s friend immediately on guard.
He summoned his sword, ready in case Lin Tian tried to seize the artifact from Zhu Zirong at any moment.
"Are you trying to steal it from us?"
"I’m asking so I know what my next move should be," Lin Tian answered. "I have absolutely no interest in that artifact."
Zhu Zirong studied the serious look on Lin Tian’s face, it didn’t seem like he was lying.
He let out a quiet sigh and patted his friend’s shoulder, signaling him not to act aggressively.
"Relax, Zhu Yan."
The man stepped forward and pulled out a red ring artifact, glowing bright like the sun.
Lin Tian looked at the artifact and felt a wave of relief. He turned back around and gave Zhu Zirong a brief look, "Come with me. We’ll get you back in shape somewhere else."