Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-454

The banquet on the Golden Wyvern Island had long ended. The lord of the island, Ao Chuang, was sitting at the table, lost in his thoughts.

A burly man with a grotesque face emerged from behind Ao Chuang. He walked up and whispered, "Father, Ao Yu has left the island."

"Hmm, I know," replied Ao Chuang absentmindedly.

"Father, if you know, then why..." The burly man was puzzled.

"Is there anything on this island that I don't know?" Ao Chuang sneered and glanced at the man. "There must be a reason why Ao Yu suspects that the intruder was a human. We just need to be ready to save Ao Yu from Tian-Xue’s murderous hands when she discovers him.”

The burly man had a moment of insight, and asked, "Father, do you suspect there is a secret path connected to the Abyssal Monster Realm that Ao Yu knows about?"

Ao Chuang sneered, "When Yin Chu-Chu and Lee Xuan-Yin got together, how did Yin Chu-Chu enter and exit the Abyssal Monster Realm without being detected by humans or Monsters? There must be a hidden teleportal on Nucleus Island.”

The burly man's heart skipped a beat, "Has this place been exposed to the humans?"

Ao Chuang glanced at his son speechlessly, "No. If the intruder is human, then the secret teleportal must have been accidentally discovered. Otherwise, the Zhen Ling Sect would keep quiet about the discovery of the teleportal. Haha, although Yin Chu-Chu secretly fell in love with Lee Xuan-Yin, she did not betray the Monsters. She told Lee Xuan-Yin about this secret teleportal that she had built in secret to meet him, but she did not foresee the betrayal of her very own brother, who hideously exposed her identity to Dao-Shi. At that time, the Xuan Ling Sect had the upper hand against the Zhen Ling Sect. Factoring in the fact that the old dog Tian Kang was crippled by him, and the ugly relationship between Lee Xuan-Yin and Yin Chu-Chu, of course, Dao-Shi would be very glad to strike them both down and reveal the relationship between the couple to taint the Zhen Ling Sect’s reputation. But, who would have thought that this woman would be so resolute and self-detonate the Ice Wyrm Bead Bead just so her lover could escape?"

In a somewhat admiring manner, the burly man answered, "Lee Xuan-Yin was a coward. He left his wife behind to escape, but he still has the guts to live such a lavish life. But assassinating Dao-Shi? I’d say he’s brave. I’ll give him that. Anyway, why did Ao Yu betray his own sister? Why do they have two different surnames despite being blood-related siblings? Moreover, why did Ao Yu wait for so long just to set Lee Xuan-Yin up? I heard Ao Yu had received something good from the East Ocean. Why didn’t he wait until he infused the goody into his Golden Core? If he took action after that, Dao-Shi probably would be dead by now.”

At that, Ao Chuang smiled, but the generous expression he had just now was no more. “You are still far from qualified to know more about the Ice Wyrm Clan. As for why Ao Yu acted so impatiently, that’s because Lee Xuan-Yin was about to advance into the Law Avatar Realm. If Ao Yu waited any longer, especially after achieving an Eighth Grade Golden Core, and advanced into the Law Avatar Realm, he would still not be as strong as Lee Xuan-Yin, which would prevent him from killing Lee Xuan-Yin.”

Catching sight of the confusion of the burly man, Ao Chuang waved a dismissive hand and said, “That’s enough. You’ll understand once you enter the Law Avatar Realm.”

On the other side, Ao Yu was firm that the person who intruded on his residence and murdered his beloved son was a Human cultivator. He was also affirmed that the intruder snuck into the Abysaal Monster Realm through the hidden teleportal. “If that’s the case, the intruder will show up from this teleportal in no time!” he thought. With that thought in mind, Ao Yu silently arrived at the teleportal and waited patiently to strike the intruder, who almost destroyed the Ice Wyrm Clan’s heritage, down, even at the cost of being discovered by Tian-Xue, for he was firm that the Primordial Crocodilian Clan would save him.

After some time, the teleportal finally lit up, and excitement surged within Ao Yu immediately. It was the same excitement he indulged in when he worked with Lee Xuan-Yin to ambush Dao-Shi and betrayed Lee Xuan-Yin in the crucial moment.

The Ice Wyrm Bead was actually part of a unique great divine ability inherited by the Ice Wyrm Clan, for the power of the great divine ability needed the Ice Wyrm Bead to be fully maximized. Ao Yu was confident that with such a powerful great divine ability, he would be able to cripple any late-Core Forging Realm cultivator with the element of surprise. After all, even Lee Xuan-Yin, a cultivator with a Seventh Grade Golden Core, was heavily injured under this attack and eventually met his end in the hands of Ao Yu.

However, after the light of the teleportal disappeared, no one appeared from the teleportal, which stunned Ao Yu. The light of the teleportal flashed again, and this time, he did not hesitate to charge up his attack and lunge at his target anytime. Though he had the choice of endangering the user by destroying the teleportal, he chose not to do anything and waited. He, for one, preferred crushing and tearing the murderer of his son into pieces.

Unlike the previous false alarm, a couple of shadowy figures could be seen emerging from the blinding light of the teleportal.

“Now!” Ao Yu moved. The great divine ability he channeled was hurled toward the figures, and it turned into an ice storm filled with icicles with an unstoppable momentum!

“Oh, no! Have you no shame? The b*stard’s a late-Core Forging Realm cultivator!”

“D*mn! It’s Ao Yu! Stop! We’re on the same side!”

“Argh!”

At the moment when the great supernatural power was hurled at them, Ao Yu noticed something was off. He realized that the three figures were all late-Core Forging Realm cultivators, and even if he could cripple one of them, the other two would be impossible for him to handle in a short period of time. When that happened, he would end up alerting Tian-Xue about his presence, and that would ultimately put him in grave danger.

At that thought, Ao Yu turned around decisively, and just as he was about to leave, the shoutings and cursings he heard stopped his tracks. He thought, “Monster cultivators? Are the Monsters finally going to lay their hands on their own kin?”

A wave of sorrow swallowed Ao Yu, but he quickly discarded his sorrow. He came to realize that if the Monsters wanted to harm them, these three Monsters were not supposed to appear at this place.

At this moment, Ao Yu stopped his escape. The great divine ability’s power had already faded by this point, leaving behind a crippled Monster cultivator, another injured Monster cultivator, and an unscathed Monster cultivator. They were all average late-Core Forging Realm Monster cultivators. None of them had expected an ambush at the teleportal, and they were too focused on tracking down the Human cultivator, which resulted in such an awkward situation.

The only one who was not injured was the Primordial Crocodilian Clan’s cultivator, who yielded the massive hammer.

“Ao Yu, I demand an explanation, and you’d better give me one, or you’ll face the consequences – the wrath of the Primordial Crocodilian Clan!” shouted the hammer-yielding Monster cultivator with cannibalistic intent flashing across his eyes.

Ao Yu's brows furrowed, and a cold light flashed in his eyes as he asked in surprise, "Ao Li, why are you here? How did you get here?"

Ao Li, the Primordial Crocodilian Clan’s cultivator, sneered, "Why wouldn't we be here? Your territory has been raided, and we were chasing after human cultivators when we were attacked by you. I want to know why you're here and how you know about this teleportal that leads to the Abyssal Monsters Realm."

It was at this moment Ao Yu recalled the first ray of light shimmering from the teleportal earlier, which no one had walked out from. A moment of realization struck him, and he said, "I've been waiting here all day long. You’re the only ones that appeared."

Another injured cultivator pointed at Ao Yu and cursed, "Nonsense! We've been tracking that human cultivator all along, and our divine revelation never lost him. He definitely used the teleportal, and he’s only a few seconds ahead of us! It all happened in a short period of time! If you’re here all along, there’s no way you wouldn't see him.”

Ao Yu said coldly, "Do you think I would let my son's killer escape?"

The Monsters cultivator hesitated for a moment before snorting, "That's hard to say. Didn't you sell out your own sister back then and change your last name to 'Ao'? You deserve nothing but despise me. You have no honor!”

Ao Li frowned and shouted, "Watch your mouth, Brother Zhang!"

The Monster cultivator who had spoken earlier, too, didn't believe Ao Yu would actually let the murderer of his son walk away just like that. He was merely angry that he was struck by Ao Yu’s attack for no reason, and his words rolled out of his tongue out of pure anger. After coming back to his senses, he, too, realized that his words were inappropriate.

Ao Yu's mind was filled with anger after hearing the words of the Monsters cultivator surnamed Zhang. A burning sense of humiliation surged within him, but he suppressed it forcefully. Then he seemed to realize something, and his face changed, "This is bad. We can't stay here for long. Get out of here if you still treasure your life!”

The Monsters cultivator remained confused, but Ao Li was quick to recall something, leading him to inquire, "Where are we exactly?"

Ao Yu had no time to respond. All he did was place several spirit stones around the teleportal, but nothing happened. The teleportal flickered, and it’s light quickly went out.

Expressionless, Ao Yu stood up. At this point, the Monsters cultivator surnamed Zhang seemed to have already grasped something and said coldly, "That guy hasn't left the Abyssal Monsters Realm, and the teleportal on that end has been destroyed?"

Ao Yu sneered, "That's not a big deal. What worries me is that the four of us may not be able to escape now."

"Hehehe, I didn't expect to have such good fortune today. Who's this? Isn't this the nephew of Xuan-Yin? You betrayed your sister and brother-in-law, and now you're going to sell yourself out too? Well, I'm happy to take everything today."

As the voice faded, a middle-aged woman appeared behind them. None of the present Monster cultivators had noticed her appearance at all.

"Tian-Xue!”

The Monsters cultivator surnamed Zhang cried out in despair, his eyes already filled with hopelessness.

Ao Li had not anticipated ending up in this situation either, but he knew it was a matter of life and death. He held his hammer in his hand and prepared to fight to the death.

Standing on the side, Ao Yu maintained a calm demeanor, but an indescribable light flickered in his eyes as if he was trying to plot something.