The Medicine King Sect cultivator was astonished to see Xiao Heng and the others address him respectfully as “senior”.
He waved his hands repeatedly, saying, “Fellow Daoists, why are you saying such things? Are you trying to make fun of me?”
“We are all Nascent Soul cultivators, we can address each other as equals,”
He said to Zhang Haobo and Su Xiaomei.
“Nascent Soul cultivators?”
Upon closer inspection, Xiao Heng and the others realized that the cultivator who had been asleep for thousands of years was indeed only at the Nascent Soul stage.
However, the feeling he gave off was vastly different from present-day Nascent Soul cultivators.
This was why they hadn’t been able to discern it initially.
Regardless, an ancient Nascent Soul cultivator surviving until now was no ordinary being.
Xiao Heng and the others didn’t let down their guard, pondering how to continue the conversation and extract some information.
They heard the other party, like a chatterbox, blurt out a lot of words in one go.
“My name is Linghu Chang, an inner disciple of the Medicine King Sect.”
“When I fell into the Xuanhuang Realm, I remember the Sect Master sealed the entire Medicine King Cauldron and sent out a distress signal to the outside world.”
“Fellow Daoists, you are able to enter the Medicine King Cauldron, so the rescue from the Ten Immortal Sects has arrived?”
“How are the other fellow disciples doing? Has the Sect Master awakened?”
Linghu Chang spoke, excitedly wanting to walk towards the open door.
But when he noticed the strange expressions on Xiao Heng and the others, he was startled.
“Could something have happened?”
After saying that, he rushed out of the room.
Seeing this, Xiao Heng and the others quickly followed.
“Hmm? What’s going on? Why is the ‘Great Dream Spring and Autumn’ Formation still running?”
“It’s just me who has awakened prematurely?”
“Where are the rescue cultivators from the Ten Immortal Sects?”
…
Linghu Chang’s voice, filled with doubt and confusion, echoed through the empty Medicine King Cauldron.
“The Gate of Life and Death has fallen? What happened to the Sect Master?”
“What on earth is going on?”
His voice was tinged with suppressed panic. After scanning the surroundings, he flew back to Xiao Heng and the others.
He stared at them and asked, “Who are you three, and how did you get into my sect’s Medicine King Cauldron?”
Xiao Heng pondered for a moment before saying slowly, “This matter is a bit complicated. Fellow Daoist, you might need to prepare yourself mentally.”
Linghu Chang narrowed his eyes and listened intently.
“Actually, Fellow Daoist, you have been asleep for thousands of years. The Medicine King Cauldron broke through and left this realm, that was an event from the ancient times…”
Before Xiao Heng could finish, Linghu Chang waved his hand to interrupt him.
He burst into laughter, “Nonsense! Do you think my Medicine King Sect’s ‘Great Dream Spring and Autumn Formation’ is just for show? You can’t even tell how long someone has been sleeping?”
“You’re turning twenty-four years into thousands of years, if you want to deceive someone, at least make it sound plausible!”
Linghu Chang’s expression turned unpleasant. With a light clap, a gourd appeared in his hand.
“No wonder I felt something strange about you from the first moment I saw you. You are demonic cultivators, trying to deceive me.”
“Die!”
With Linghu Chang’s words, dozens of green rays instantly shot out from the gourd.
Sharp as blades, swift as lightning.
In an instant, they reached Xiao Heng and the others.
“Xiao Heng, be careful!” Zhang Haobo’s face turned pale, realizing that Linghu Chang was going to kill them without hesitation.
His Blood Sea Cave Heaven suddenly appeared above his head, blood waves rolled, and blood-colored light shot out, colliding head-on with the green rays.
“Boom, boom!”
Amidst the violent explosions, Linghu Chang glanced up at the endless Blood Sea above, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
However, he became even more convinced of his judgment.
He stood tall and righteous, roaring, “You are indeed demonic cultivators, surrender…”
Before he could finish, several voices, speaking in unison, came from all directions.
“You’re really annoying. Since just now, you’ve been saying all sorts of nonsensical things that nobody understands.”
“Are you still not awake from your long sleep?”
Linghu Chang looked up and saw that, unknowingly, many faceless blood figures had already surrounded him.
“It’s okay, we’ll help you wake up.”
The faceless blood figures tilted their heads, emitting strange laughter.
Then they vanished from their positions, simultaneously rushing towards Linghu Chang.
Linghu Chang’s heart tightened, but he didn’t panic.
He spat out a small Medicine King Cauldron, which hovered above his head.
Then, light poured down like a waterfall, forming a protective shield.
At the same time, he patted the gourd.
The green gourd revolved rapidly in the air, and willow leaf-like rays, sharp as knives, instantly poured out like a torrential rain.
They attacked Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo.
Xiao Heng knew that with his current strength, he couldn’t interfere in a battle between Nascent Soul cultivators.
If he forced himself into the fight, he would only be a burden.
So, he quietly retreated, wanting to stay away from the battlefield.
At that moment, he suddenly smelled an unusual fragrance.
Thinking of the other party’s title as a disciple of the Medicine King Sect, he couldn’t help but be startled.
“Be careful, this fragrance seems strange.”
He hurriedly sent a voice transmission to warn them, and at the same time, held his breath to resist the fragrance.
But this fragrance worked through some unknown means, and Xiao Heng couldn’t resist it at all.
The fragrance grew stronger and stronger, and Xiao Heng felt a wave of dizziness, even his body became weak.
In contrast, Zhang Haobo and Su Xiaomei only paused for a moment before returning to normal.
The willow leaf-like green rays from the gourd seemed endless, and the small Medicine King Cauldron’s protection was impenetrable.
Zhang and Su’s attacks only caused the cauldron to shake slightly, and they couldn’t break through its defense for the time being.
“Haobo, don’t hold back!” Su Xiaomei seemed to be enraged.
A blazing sun rose, leaping above the Blood Sea.
Countless blood faces, torn to shreds by the green rays from the gourd, instantly recombined into an angry face.
The grotesque giant face, illuminated by the blazing sun, suddenly ignited.
Emitting strange laughter, it crashed towards Linghu Chang, protected by the small Medicine King Cauldron.
And the boundless Blood Sea slowly parted from the center.
A rotten giant hand extended from the depths of the sea.
It grabbed towards Linghu Chang.
Faced with the two-pronged attack, the Medicine King Sect disciple’s expression turned serious, but he didn’t panic.
He waved his right hand, and twenty-four golden needles unfolded one after another.
He muttered words under his breath, and the golden needles instantly turned into swords, drawing shining, intersecting lines in the air.
Dodging the burning blood face and the rotten giant hand, they headed straight for Zhang Haobo and Su Xiaomei’s main bodies.
The speed of these golden needles was extremely fast.
In the blink of an eye, before the two could react, they were pierced through and through.
Their bodies were riddled with holes.
Strangely, they didn’t bleed profusely.
Even their attacks didn’t seem to be affected.
“Boom!”
The small Medicine King Cauldron shook violently, and Linghu Chang spat out a mouthful of blood.
His face turned pale, but he immediately took out a pill and swallowed it in front of everyone.
After a while, Linghu Chang’s complexion became rosy again.
“What kind of evil sorcery…”
He looked at the two, who could still continuously recover even though their bodies were pierced by the ‘Revolving Golden Needles’, and couldn’t help but feel a little fear.
After hesitating for a moment, a glimmer of pain flashed in his eyes.
Linghu Chang took out another round mirror.
Holding the mirror in his hand, he shot out a white light, illuminating Su Xiaomei.
The round mirror slowly turned into dust, and behind Su Xiaomei, a faint figure slowly emerged.
It looked eight points similar to Su Xiaomei.
The illusion let out an angry roar, its hair turning crimson in an instant.
Then, it split into several faceless blood figures and attacked Su Xiaomei.
It seemed to be able to replicate even Su Xiaomei’s innate abilities and cultivation techniques.
On Zhang Haobo’s side, another rotten hand extended from the Blood Sea.
And from the depths of the sea, a gaze seemed to be peering out at the world.
Seeing this, Linghu Chang thought for a moment.
He took out a wooden talisman sword to deal with it.
The wooden sword flew above the Blood Sea, summoning a blue thunderbolt from the sky, striking down.
The two rotten giant hands blocked it, crackling under the thunder.
On the wooden talisman sword, streaks of lightning wrapped around it.
The blue lightning was relentless.
While the rotten giant hands seemed extremely miserable and defenseless.
No matter how badly they were injured, they would quickly recover.
The battle reached a stalemate.
Linghu Chang, relying on his numerous magical treasures and seemingly endless supply of pills, remained undefeated.
Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo, relying on the characteristics of their new technique, ‘Cave Heaven Indestructible, Cultivator Immortal’, were somewhat flustered.
But they weren’t in any real danger.
For a time, neither side could do anything to the other.
Both sides were filled with a sense of awe.
“What kind of background do these people have, their cultivation techniques are so bizarre. Although I have a lot of supplies, I can only hold on for ten days or half a month. If I can’t defeat them by then, I’ll have to escape to the outside world and ask for reinforcements,” Linghu Chang thought to himself.
“It’s so infuriating, they’re like Shuofeng, relying on their good treasures to bully others. When his treasures are exhausted, I’m going to give him a good beating,” Su Xiaomei was furious, her attacks continued, but she couldn’t break through the endless barrage of treasures.
“This Linghu Chang is only an inner disciple. I heard that in ancient sects, above that, there are True Disciples and Dao Heirs. It’s unimaginable how strong they would be,” Zhang Haobo thought to himself.
While the three were fighting, Xiao Heng, who had been affected by the intoxicating fragrance, gradually recovered.
“Stop fighting!”
“Linghu Daoist, it’s all a misunderstanding!”
“I can swear to heaven, not a single word is false!”
“It has indeed been thousands of years since your time. The world has changed greatly, even the so-called Ten Immortal Sects you mentioned have long since disappeared into the dust of history!”
“Think about it, if we really wanted to deceive you, why would we choose such a seemingly absurd excuse?”
…
Xiao Heng shouted, one sentence after another.
Upon hearing that the world had changed greatly and the Ten Immortal Sects had vanished into nothingness, Linghu Chang’s body trembled slightly.
“Linghu Daoist, Liu Sect Master’s premonition was right! He saved your entire sect!”
Hearing this, Linghu Chang’s offensive finally slowed down.
“Xiaomei, Haobo, stop as well!” Xiao Heng quickly called out.
Although she was extremely unhappy, Su Xiaomei still stopped her attack.
However, Su and Zhang’s Cave Heaven realms were still not retracted, they remained vigilant, staring at Linghu Chang.
“Linghu Daoist, what I said is true.” Xiao Heng said sincerely.
“Could it be that the ‘Great Dream Spring and Autumn’ Formation in your sect has malfunctioned due to the passage of time?” He asked tentatively.
As he spoke, he took out a small Medicine King Cauldron from his storage ring.
“This small cauldron was dug up from your sect’s former ruins.”
“It’s with this that we were able to enter here.”
“With your discerning eye, you should be able to tell the truth from falsehood.”
Xiao Heng spoke frankly.
When Linghu Chang saw the small cauldron in Xiao Heng’s hand, which exuded an ancient aura, his pupils constricted.
He was almost stunned.
He could naturally discern that the Medicine King Cauldron, with its slight imperfections, was a defective product that they hadn’t had time to deal with during the migration.
But the traces of time on it were undeniable.
So, what was going on?
Could it be that the formation’s record of time was wrong?
Linghu Chang didn’t answer, he hurriedly returned to his room.
He checked again carefully.
There was absolutely no mistake.
Since the ‘Great Dream Spring and Autumn’ Formation was activated and the entire sect fell into slumber.
It had indeed only been twenty-four years.
“Then, are those demonic cultivators outside lying?”
Linghu Chang’s killing intent gradually rose again.
At that moment, he suddenly heard the other party say, “Oh, there’s a very simple way to verify it.”
“After the Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth, Immortal Arts cannot be cultivated together.”
“If Fellow Daoist doesn’t believe me, you can try to cultivate your own techniques.”
“The result will be obvious.”
Linghu Chang felt absurd when he heard this.
It wasn’t like the legendary Longevity Fruit, where there was no reason why techniques couldn’t be cultivated together.
But hearing Xiao Heng’s sincerity, Linghu Chang, with a try-it-and-see attitude, started to circulate the Medicine King Sect’s true inheritance, the ‘Saving the World and Achieving Longevity Sutra’.
The next moment, he was completely dumbfounded.
After circulating the spiritual energy for several cycles, it was like doing useless work.
Not only was there no increase in cultivation, but a voice sounded in his mind.
“Saving the World and Achieving Longevity Sutra: Dao Integration Technique.”
“Current number of cultivators: 462.”
“What is this?”
His face turned pale, and beads of sweat began to drip from Linghu Chang’s forehead.
“No, no. I must be under some kind of illusion.”
He couldn’t believe it at all.
Taking several pills, Linghu Chang swallowed them whole.
Like he was possessed, he once again began to circulate his techniques.
Over and over again, after a hundred cycles.
Not only did his cultivation not change, but he felt a bit more uneasy in his heart.
He even had a strange sensation in his mind.
He could clearly sense the locations of the other 461 fellow disciples who were also cultivating the ‘Saving the World and Achieving Longevity Sutra’.
“Kill them! Kill them all!”
A thought suddenly arose in his mind.
But he immediately reacted and shivered.
“How could this be, how could this be…”
His current experience was beyond his previous understanding.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, Linghu Chang knew in his heart.
What those three people outside said was very likely true.
They had merely slept for a while, not even as long as a retreat.
But thousands of years had passed in the Xuanhuang Realm.
“But…”
“How could this be?”
In his fear, Linghu Chang fell into endless confusion.
Hearing that there was no sound from the room, Xiao Heng and the others walked in.
“Fellow Daoist, what we said, is it not true?” Xiao Heng asked softly.
Linghu Chang didn’t respond.
“Actually, we are also very curious about what happened to the Medicine King Sect back then.”
“Why don’t you tell us in detail, what happened after Liu Sect Master used the cauldron as a vessel and broke through to the void?”
“Perhaps by pooling our knowledge, we can figure out the reason for all this.”
Xiao Heng continued to persuade.
After a long silence.
Linghu Chang said in a confused voice, “Actually, I’m not quite sure what happened either.”
“It’s like I had a dream.”
“At that time, Liu Sect Master, with his great divine powers, broke through the shackles of the Xuanhuang Realm, controlling the Medicine King Cauldron and sailing towards the depths of the void.”
“The original plan was to find the rumored other cultivation realms, but…”
Linghu Chang paused, as if recalling the scene from back then.
“Not long after, alarms sounded from various parts of the cauldron.”
“It said that we were being drawn by an unknown force, and the direction of travel was out of control.”
“We were told to return to our respective rooms, prepare to enter the ‘Great Dream Spring and Autumn’ Formation and fall asleep.”
“Later, the Medicine King Cauldron shook more and more violently. Even the activation of the ‘Great Dream Spring and Autumn’ Formation was affected and failed.”
“Then…”
Linghu Chang narrowed his eyes.
“The Sect Master sent a voice transmission, saying that the plan to break through the realm had failed and we had to return to the Xuanhuang Realm.”
“The Medicine King Cauldron was severely damaged and could no longer be controlled.”
“In order to preserve ourselves, we used all the remaining power to protect ourselves.”
“We let the Medicine King Cauldron fall freely back to the Xuanhuang Realm.”
“After that, the important functions of the cauldron were shut down one after another, and the fellow disciples were forced to fall into slumber.”
“I was in the alchemy room refining pills at the time. When I got back to my room, the door hadn’t been fully closed yet.”
“The Medicine King Cauldron was shaking even more violently.”
“Amidst the intense tremors, I lost consciousness.”
“When I woke up…”
“I saw you.”
Linghu Chang said slowly.
Xiao Heng and Zhang Haobo exchanged glances, bewildered by this strange situation.
Su Xiaomei, however, spoke up, “No, according to your story, you were just outside the Xuanhuang Realm for a short time and were forced to return?”
Linghu Chang nodded, “That’s right.”
“You entered slumber after you were about to fall back into the Xuanhuang Realm?”
Su Xiaomei asked again.
“Yes.” Linghu Chang confirmed.
“Yes, yes!” Su Xiaomei’s voice suddenly grew louder.
“In our view, the Medicine King Cauldron has been outside the Xuanhuang Realm for thousands of years. It only returned here recently.”
“At that time, all the cultivators in the world could see the Medicine King Cauldron falling from the sky as a fireball.”
“That should have been twenty-four years ago.”
Having said that, Su Xiaomei froze.