196: Shen Jinze

Gao De hid in the crown of an ancient tree, his dragon eyes coldly overlooking the battle below.

The Middle Stage second-rank Golden Ni was indeed fierce, and the pure sharp gold Qi contained in its Bloodline tempted Gao De, but what concerned him more was the appearance of these three Heavenly Sword Alliance Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

They had ventured deep into such a wild land and were besieging this Golden Ni with a clear goal; it was definitely not as simple as hunting a Yao Beast.

The Heavenly Sword Alliance's actions must carry a deeper plot.

"The disparity in strength is perfect for testing what I've gained over these ten years," Gao De thought to himself.

Dealing with three Foundation Establishment Cultivators and one injured second-rank Yao Beast posed no threat to him at all.

Below, the battle was nearing its end.

Although the Golden Ni was brave, it had been injured beforehand and was trapped by the sword formation; it charged left and right but could not escape, its aura becoming increasingly withered.

The Late Stage Foundation Establishment Heavenly Sword Alliance Disciple looked triumphant, commanding two green Flying Swords to continuously add wounds to the Golden Ni's body, shouting, "Vile beast, why don't you surrender obediently! We only need your heart's Essence Blood and the location of the gold Qi nodes in these mountains. Considering your cultivation wasn't easy, we might leave you a sliver of hope for survival!"

Gold Qi nodes? Gao De's heart stirred.

It seemed that the place where this Golden Ni resided indeed had something special; perhaps it was a convergence point of some kind of gold-attribute Spiritual Vein that nurtured this exotic beast, or it might hide gold-attribute treasures.

The goal of these Heavenly Sword Alliance Cultivators was likely the gold-attribute resources contained here, as well as the Golden Ni Bloodline itself.

Just as the Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator produced a large golden net shimmering with runes, preparing to completely capture the Golden Ni—

A sudden change occurred!

The sky above the originally clear valley was suddenly enveloped by a layer of grayish-white thick mist without warning!

The mist came extremely fast, instantly swallowing the sunlight and turning the entire stone platform and the surrounding area of a hundred zhang into a maze of perception.

Heaven-Confusing Illusionary Mist!

"What's going on?!"

"Careful! There's an ambush!"

The three Heavenly Sword Alliance Disciples turned pale with fright and immediately formed a defensive formation back-to-back, with Flying Swords circling them. Their Divine Senses tried their best to probe outward, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea; they could only perceive the surrounding area of a few zhang, and their sense of direction was completely scrambled.

"Roar!" The Golden Ni was also stunned by this sudden turn of events, but it instinctively sensed a momentary sluggishness in the sword formation restraining it.

"Suppress!" A low, majestic voice seemed to explode directly within the Divine Souls of the three people and the beast!

In the next moment, an unimaginable heavy pressure descended out of thin air!

The Prison Suppressing Thunder Domain unfolded silently. The Domain, fused with the power of thunder flames, not only brought a thousand-jun weight but also had strands of scorching thunder flame filaments wandering through the mist, bringing the double threat of paralysis and burning.

The three Foundation Establishment Cultivators felt as if a mountain were pressing down on them; their mana circulation instantly became sluggish, the brilliance of their Flying Swords dimmed, and the golden net they had produced also drifted down powerlessly.

The Golden Ni's limbs went weak from the pressure, and it slumped to the ground, letting out a low, fearful growl.

The mist churned, and a slender violet-gold flood dragon shadow seemed to step out of the void, hovering above the stone platform.

He did not reveal his full true form, his entire body shrouded in a hazy halo, with only a pair of dragon eyes burning with violet-gold thunder flames, like a high and mighty deity, looking down coldly.

"Sen... Senior, have mercy! We are Disciples of the Heavenly Sword Alliance, performing a mission here by order. We don't know where we have offended you, Senior, but please stay your hand!" The Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator was drenched in cold sweat, forcing back the fear deep in his Soul as he shouted with a trembling voice.

The opponent hadn't even officially attacked; just by relying on the Domain and pressure, they were rendered immobile. This was definitely an expert at the Golden Core Stage or above! Maybe even stronger!

"Heavenly Sword Alliance?" Gao De's voice came through the mist with a hint of amusement. "This place is deep in the wilderness, not within the jurisdiction of your Human Race Sects. Why have you come here? And what is so special about this Golden Ni?"

"Rep... Replying to Senior!" another Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Disciple hurriedly answered. "We were ordered by the branch alliance Deacon to come here to search for the 'Gengjin Earth Vein' nodes and capture this exotic beast that contains a sliver of the ancient Golden Ni Bloodline to take its Essence Blood to temper Magic Treasure Flying Swords! This is the 'Gold-Seeking Compass' and 'Demon-Binding Golden Net' bestowed by the Lord Deacon..." He pointed to the golden compass on the ground and the fallen large net to show he was telling the truth.

Gao De's Divine Thought swept over the two Magical Artifacts; their quality was decent, and they had a strong restraining effect on metal-attribute monsters.

He was more concerned about the information revealed in the other's words—the Heavenly Sword Alliance was indeed systematically searching for special resource points and rare Bloodline Yao Beasts in the Yunmeng Marsh and surrounding areas; their reach extended further than imagined.

"Gengjin Earth Vein nodes... where are they?" Gao De asked, his dragon pressure increasing slightly.

"In... in a hidden cave in the back mountain! The Gold-Seeking Compass can guide you!" The Cultivator felt as if his bones were about to be crushed and hurriedly pointed to a section of the mountain wall behind the stone platform covered by vines.

"Do you have any other records regarding resource points, Yao Beast distributions, or even ancient ruins in the Yunmeng Marsh and surrounding areas?" Gao De asked again; this was what he truly cared about.

As a powerful outsider, the Heavenly Sword Alliance must have collected a lot of precious intelligence over these years.

"Yes! Yes!" The third Disciple had an extremely strong will to survive and immediately pulled out a green Jade Slip from his robes, holding it high. "This... this is part of the regional map and some annotations attached when we received this mission. It contains information on some known and suspected locations... more detailed ones are with the Deacons and Elders!"

Gao De made a grasping motion with his dragon claw, and the Jade Slip flew into his hand.

With a rough sweep of his Divine Sense, it indeed marked some resource points and Yao Beast dens in the western edge of the Yunmeng Marsh, parts of the wild mountain ranges, and several tributaries of the Qian River. There were even two locations marked with "Suspected Ancient Cultivator Immortal Cave" and "Remnant Array Fluctuations."

Although not detailed enough, the value was already considerable.

"An unexpected harvest," Gao De felt slightly pleased.

His gaze once again swept over the three trembling people below and the Golden Ni, which had eyes full of despair and ferocity.

"Since you have confessed truthfully, I shall leave your corpses intact." Gao De's voice suddenly turned cold.

He was not a bloodthirsty person, but the Heavenly Sword Alliance was already a potential enemy; letting these few people go would only expose his tracks and bring trouble.

Before his voice had even faded, three streaks of violet-gold thunder flames, refined to the extreme and as thin as hair, shot out silently from the mist. Their speed was so fast that the three Foundation Establishment Cultivators had no time to react before they accurately sank into their foreheads!

"Puchi."

The three bodies stiffened, the light in their eyes quickly dimmed, and they slumped to the ground. There were no obvious wounds on their bodies, but their Divine Souls had been instantly incinerated by the thunder flames.

The Purple Heaven Thunder Flame not only incinerated the Physical Body but also had miraculous effects on the Divine Soul, which was precisely the microscopic application of the Violet Extreme Thunder Strike.

Solved the three, Gao De looked at the Golden Ni.

The Golden Ni seemed to understand that it too could not escape its fate; it let out an unwilling low growl, struggling to stand up.

"You have some backbone," Gao De nodded slightly and flicked his claw tip; a slightly thicker streak of thunder flame sank into the Golden Ni's skull, ending its pain.

Toward Yao Beasts, he always directly devoured them without pity; such was the Law of the Yao Race world.

He descended, first collecting the corpses of the three Heavenly Sword Alliance Disciples and the Golden Ni, then erasing the traces of battle and his own aura.

After doing all this, he took out the green Jade Slip and began to examine it carefully.

The map indeed covered a vast area, and one of the markings caught his attention.

It was on the edge of a vast marshland wetland known as the "Sunken Gold Marsh" to the southwest of the Yunmeng Great Marsh. It was specially marked with a striking golden rune, with a small annotation next to it: "Suspected ancient 'sharp gold' remnant stele, accompanied by 'earth vein gold essence', strong fluctuations, guarded by a Vicious Beast, high risk, recommended for exploration by teams at the Golden Core Stage or above."

"Ancient 'sharp gold' remnant stele? earth vein gold essence?" Gao De's dragon eyes lit up.

earth vein gold essence was a top-tier material for refining gold-attribute Magic Treasures, which would be of great benefit in tempering his "thunder fang formation-breaking halberd."

And that "sharp gold" remnant stele, judging by its name, was related to the sharp gold Law; perhaps it could help him comprehend the way of gold and thunder generating each other, or even further purify and complete the gold-attribute aspect of his own Bloodline.

More importantly, the location of this "Sunken Gold Marsh" didn't seem too far from the banquet route he had originally planned. If he took a detour, he might be able to investigate it on the way to the Dragon Palace.

In any case, there was still plenty of time, and with his current strength, as long as he didn't go deep into the core, there was a good chance of gaining something on the periphery.

"As expected, when one moves about, opportunities present themselves." Gao De put away the Jade Slip, in a good mood.

Not only had he resolved a potential crisis, obtained the Golden Ni Bloodline and some intelligence on the Heavenly Sword Alliance, but he had also unexpectedly gained a "treasure map" that might lead to precious resources.

He no longer stayed, and following the orientation recorded in the Jade Slip, he first found the Gengjin Earth Vein node in the back mountain.

It was a small cave filled with pure Gengjin Qi, and some "Gengjin Essence" had condensed on the rock walls. Although not as good as earth vein gold essence, it was also a decent Artifact Refining material.

Gao De unceremoniously swept up all the Gengjin Essence accumulated in the cave.

Afterward, he set out again, but slightly adjusted his direction, heading toward the general vicinity of the "Sunken Gold Marsh" in a roundabout way.