Chapter 104: Chapter 99: You I re Strong, But 1 1 m Stronger
Translator: 549690339
“How could this be?” Li Fan stood in surprise and asked incredulously.
“Wasn’t it said to be a cave mansion of a Golden Core Cultivator? How come even a Nascent Soul expert perished?”
Yu Wenxing shook his head: “No one is clear about the exact situation for now. But the entrance to the cave mansion has been temporarily sealed off, for fear that uninformed individuals might rush in and meet their ends.”
With that, Yu Wenxing gave a sigh: “On Ten Thousand Immortals Island, there are only more than a dozen Nascent Soul cultivators. Now that one suddenly died, the loss is not small.”
“And nevermind the four Golden Core cultivators and thirteen Foundation Establishment cultivators who died in the two exploration sessions.”
“The situation on the island is unstable. With so many cultivators dead, their positions on the island have all been vacated. To seize these advantageous positions, all factions have started to struggle in secret.”
“The Alliance of Thousands of Immortals has also resumed its investigation into Zheng Xiaoyun, It’s Elder Gongsun from Tiantong Hall who personally undertook this time. We do not know whether we can find out the truth this time.”
“A lot of things are happening…”
Seeing Yu Wenxing’s worry seemed to have other reasons, but since he didn’t say it, it was inappropriate for Li Fan to probe.
After exchanging a few words, he returned to Ten Thousand Immortals Island through the Teleportation Array.
The atmosphere on the island had become much more solemn, and the faces of the passing cultivators weren’t as relaxed as before.
After Li Fan enquired, he learnt about the cause of Yu Wenxing’s worry.
Turns out, Yu Wenxing’s backer was the fallen Master Guoxuan.
With this connection, he had defeated many competitors and became the guardian of Liuli Island.
The seat was just getting warm when his support fell.
No wonder he looked so worried.
“If a Nascent Soul expert has perished, the mansion must be incredibly dangerous.”
“Seems like the bones of Daoist He cannot be retrieved anytime soon.”
Originally, Li Fan thought so.
However, a few days later, things seemed to have taken a turn.
The investigation results of the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals were out.
The Golden Core Cultivator named Zheng Xiaoyun was not problematic.
As for why he, with only the Golden Core cultivation level, was able to survive the first exploration,
While a Nascent Soul cultivator died during the second exploration,
The fact was due to a peculiar characteristic of the Mechanism Puppet in the cave mansion of Tianyang:
It grows stronger when facing a stronger opponent and weaker when facing a weaker one.
When Zheng Xiaoyun led the first exploration, the Mechanism Puppets only exhibited the power of the Golden Core Stage.
With Zheng Xiaoyun’s strength and the five other Foundation Establishment cultivators attracting attention, they were barely able to save their lives.
But when Master Guoxuan led the exploration, the Puppets’ power incredibly swelled to match the level of the Nascent Soul Stage.
Over a dozen of Mechanism Puppets at the Nascent Soul Stage unleashed their
strength in an instant, catching them Ott guard.
The second exploration team was wiped out in an instant.
Of course, the Mechanism Puppet’s ability to match the strength of its opponents surely had a limit.
But where exactly is the current limit of the Mechanism Puppet’s power?
That’s hard to say.
Although Tianyang was only of the Golden Core cultivation level before his death, he had set up his cave mansion inside a Seabed Volcano.
For thousands of years, these Mechanism Puppets have been continuously absorbing the energy of the Terrestrial Flame.
This had turned the live underwater volcano into a dormant one.
And now the Terrestrial Flame is active again, which possibly means that after so many years, the Mechanism Puppets have grown to their limit.
The ancient puppetry has been lost for a long time, and it’s unknown how strong a fully grown Mechanism Puppet really is.
But considering that before the Great Calamity, during the era when Nascent Soul Cultivators were worthless, puppetry could hold its place,
The Puppet definitely cannot be too weak.
At the very least, it will be at the Nascent Soul Stage, but reaching the God Transformation Stage is also possible.
Therefore….
Master Guoxuan, did not die unjustly.
After all, who would have thought that such terrifying combat prowess would be lying in ambush within the small cave mansion of a Golden Core cultivator?
With the official announcement from the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals, the dark clouds hovering over Ten Thousand Immortals Island instantly dispersed.
Everyone was fairly convinced by the results of the investigation.
After all, Elder Gongsun of Tiantong Hall had always been well-known for his proficiency in predicting destiny and discerning cause and effect. The conclusions he drew from his investigations were generally not far from the truth.
Therefore, the numerous Energy Refining Cultivators of Misthaven Ocean were all thrilled at once.
Ten or so puppets at the Nascent Soul Stage were indeed extremely horrifying.
But ten or so puppets at the Energy Refining Stage…
They could virtually offer no deterrent force.
If even one puppet could be taken back…
Countless Energy Refining Cultivators were suddenly engrossed in their imagination, their hearts filled with excitement.
They started clamoring to form teams to explore Tianyang’s cave mansion for the third time.
Even Li Fan couldn’t help but feel interested when he heard this news.
Within the Energy Refining Stage, wasn’t he practically invincible?
Those cultivators with lower realm could be directly captured by his Binding Worm Divine Technique.
And for those in the final stage of energy refining like him, he had Formless Killing Machine, Mistwater Mirage, Blue Flame Spirit, and many other techniques at his disposal.
Li Fan did not believe that there were stronger cultivators in Misthaven Ocean than him.
What about exploring this cave mansion?
Li Fan was tempted for a moment, but then he realized something was not right.
If these mechanical puppets were indeed weaker when facing weaker opponents and stronger when facing stronger ones…
Then the officials of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance could secretly gather a group of cultivators in the late stage of energy refining to break into the Cave Mansion and bring all these puppets back.
Adding ten or so puppets that possessed at least Nascent Soul Stage battle prowess all at once, how could the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance abandon such a great opportunity and instead stupidly publicize this information?
The only explanation was that there was something else peculiar about the puppets in the cave mansion.
Even the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance wasn’t sure.
So they chose to let these numerous Energy Refining Cultivators, who were willing to risk their lives, go explore the path.
Li Fan had heard about Elder Gongsun.
When he completed the exotic Dragon whale’s reward task, Elder Gongsun had investigated it thoroughly.
However, he only found out the immediate cause of death of the dragon whale: it was besieged by several deep-sea giant beasts and exhausted its life.
But he couldn’t find the real cause of death: the Formless Killing Machine activated by Li Fan.
Therefore, Li Fan believed that Elder Gongsun did have the ability to discern destiny.
However, he could only grasp a part of it but never the whole picture, like a blind man touching an elephant.
Not only Li Fan understood this logic.
Everyone soon cooled down after the initial excitement.
However, there were still some cultivators who held onto a glimmer of hope, believing they were chosen by destiny.
They joined forces and there were about thirty people in total.
They ventured to explore Tianyang’s Cave Mansion again.
All Li Fan did was to repost the reward task for He Zhenghao’s remains, and then he sat back and watched the show.
Ten days later, the exploration team returned in disgrace.
More than half of the thirty or so people managed to escape and return.
From their tearful complaints, the spectators also learned what had happened in the Cave Mansion.
These seventeen puppets were just too strong!
Their bodies were made of unknown materials, but they were incredibly durable.
Regardless of what type of spell hit them, it seemed to have no effect at all.
They didn’t even leave a trace or mark..
