Chapter 390 I Established a Sect in the Cultivation World (19)
At this moment, all reason was thrown to the winds.
The situation is completely out of control!
The cultivators who were closest rushed frantically toward the token that was closest to them.
Sword light, spells, and talismans intertwined in the air, forming a web of death.
Just as a Golden Core cultivator had grasped a token and was about to rejoice, a flying sword pierced his back, sending the token flying out of his hand.
Another cultivator snatched the token and immediately activated the teleportation talisman to try to escape, but was caught in a large net magic treasure and instantly overwhelmed by several attacks.
Screams, roars, and the clash of magical weapons rose and fell in waves.
For that small token, former fellow disciples and friends now turned against each other without hesitation.
Zhou Jue pulled Jing Bai along, hiding on the periphery of the crowd, and did not participate in the initial scramble.
Her gaze calmly swept across the entire battlefield. Several streaks of light flew towards them, immediately attracting the pursuit of several cultivators.
Zhou Jue simply moved his body slightly and easily avoided the vortex of competition.
"Sister, aren't we going to rob it?" Jingbai asked anxiously.
"No rush." Zhou Jue's gaze was fixed on a token that was about to fall into the distant dense forest.
The token was located in a relatively remote area, and only two cultivators at the early stage of the Golden Core realm were chasing after it.
The two were already locked in combat in mid-air, neither able to gain the upper hand, and the token was about to fall into the forest.
"Right now."
With a thought, Zhou Jue sent out a barely perceptible thread of spiritual energy, which wrapped around the bronze token and pulled it back silently just before it fell into the tree canopy.
The whole process was smooth and fast, like lightning.
The two cultivators who were still fighting were stunned when they saw the token disappear. Then they glared at each other, assuming that the other had tampered with it, and fought even more fiercely.
Zhou Jue put the token into the Starry Sky Secret Box and compared it with the one he had obtained before; it was exactly the same.
"We've got it, let's go."
She pulled Jingbai along, quietly retreated, and soon escaped the bloody battlefield, returning to Cloud City.
The city was in chaos as well, with cultivators chasing after the tokens everywhere, and scenes of killing and robbing unfolding in every corner.
The two returned to the inn and immediately activated all the defensive formations.
Zhou Jue took out the extra token and fell into thought.
Each token represents a spot to enter the secret realm, and she now has two.
This thing is definitely a hot potato right now, but at the same time, it's also a priceless treasure.
Night falls.
Zhou Jue changed into a black robe, concealed his appearance and aura with a secret technique, and quietly left the inn.
Instead of going to the chaotic black market, she went directly to the headquarters of a merchant guild called "Purple Cloud Pavilion" in the city.
The business association is backed by a top sect in the Southern Region.
Zhou Jue appeared, immediately revealing a trace of the pressure of the Nascent Soul stage.
The guild's manager, an elderly man in the late Nascent Soul stage, was immediately alarmed and respectfully invited her into the secret room.
"Senior, what brings you here so late at night?" The old man asked humbly.
Without saying a word, Zhou Jue threw the bronze token directly onto the table.
The old man's pupils suddenly contracted, and his breathing became rapid.
"This...this is the token of the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Palace?"
"Name your price," Zhou Jue said in a hoarse, low voice.
The old man looked at the token, then at the unfathomable Zhou Jue, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He understood that the fact that the other party dared to come directly to him meant that they had absolute confidence and strength.
“Senior,” the old man took a deep breath and spoke cautiously, “This item is far too valuable for me to decide. However, our Purple Cloud Pavilion is willing to exchange a high-grade Earth-rank cultivation technique, plus five million high-grade spirit stones, for this token!”
Zhou Jue remained silent; the atmosphere in the secret room was terrifyingly oppressive.
The old man gritted his teeth and added another offer: "Three more bottles of 'Purple Gold Barrier-Breaking Pills'! They can help Nascent Soul cultivators increase their chances of breaking through to the Divine Transformation stage!"
This price was beyond his authority, but he knew that the value of a spot in a secret realm was far more than that.
Zhou Jue finally nodded: "Okay."
The transaction was completed quickly.
Zhou Jue got the item, and in a flash, he disappeared from the secret room as if he had never been there.
The old man wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looked at the token on the table, a glint of wild joy flashed in his eyes, and he immediately crushed a communication jade slip.
After leaving Ziyun Pavilion, Zhou Jue's figure moved through the shadows, changing direction several times. Only after confirming that no one was following him did he quietly return to the inn and reinforce the restrictions on the doors and windows.
In the following days, Cloud City was completely transformed into a bloody arena.
Inside and outside the city, scenes of murder and robbery unfold constantly. Fellow Daoists who were drinking together yesterday might stab you in the back today for a token.
On the streets, the aftershocks of cultivators' battles could be seen from time to time, and the destroyed buildings were quickly repaired by array formations.
A faint smell of blood and a tense atmosphere filled the air.
Zhou Jue and Jing Bai stayed inside the inn, avoiding any probing or trouble.
Jing Bai held the local-level cultivation technique with great interest, occasionally asking some very tricky and strange questions in Zhou Jue's eyes.
Zhou Jue was studying the three "Purple Gold Barrier-Breaking Pills." The pills were of extremely high quality and contained pure medicinal power. Although they were useless to her, they were coveted treasures for cultivators like Zhao Sizhe and Cheng Gan who were at the Golden Core stage.
As the opening of the secret realm drew near, the fighting within the city gradually subsided, and most of the cultivators holding tokens had settled down.
Some major sects, relying on their formidable strength, blatantly occupied several spots.
Those rogue cultivators who were lucky enough to obtain tokens began to form cliques and temporary groups, trying to stick together for warmth in the perilous secret realm.
Finally, the day arrived for the opening of the Myriad Heavenly Palace. An ancient and melodious bell rang throughout the entire Cloud City.
Zhou Jue pushed open the window and saw that a huge bronze gate had appeared in the sky outside the West Gate.
The gate, towering a thousand feet high, floats above the sea of clouds. Its surface is covered with reliefs of the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, and vegetation, exuding an aura of ancient vastness.
"Sister, let's go!" Jingbai was already quite impatient.
"Okay, you go into my space first, and I'll release you once we're inside the secret realm."
Zhou Jue put Jing Bai into the Starry Sky Secret Box and then flew towards the West Gate with the flow of people.
At this moment, the area outside the West Gate was already packed with people.
Above the sky, countless cultivators floated, accompanied by various magnificent flying boats and unique flying magical artifacts, blotting out the sun.
Zhou Jue glanced around and estimated that there were probably hundreds of thousands of cultivators present.
The vast majority of people were just there to watch the spectacle.
Those cultivators who actually possessed the tokens and were preparing to enter the secret realm gathered in an open area directly below the bronze portal, clearly divided into dozens of groups.
The most conspicuous were several disciples from major sects dressed in uniform. Each of them exuded a powerful aura and had an arrogant expression, causing the surrounding rogue cultivators to intentionally or unintentionally keep their distance from them.
What remained were the small groups of independent cultivators, who maintained a wary distance from one another.
Zhou Jue's gaze swept across the crowd and he quickly noticed a problem.
"More than a hundred people."
She silently counted in her mind that there were already more than two hundred cultivators gathered on this open space, preparing to enter the secret realm.
It seems that besides the hundred tokens that the stone tablet revealed, and the tokens obtained from ancient relics, there must be other unknown channels.
"Sister, they seem to be watching us." Jingbai's voice echoed in my mind.
Following his senses, Zhou Jue looked around and noticed that the gazes of several independent cultivators were subtly falling on him.
A lone female cultivator at the "Great Perfection of the Golden Core" would indeed be too conspicuous in such a place.
Zhou Jue ignored the probing gazes and found a less conspicuous spot to wait quietly.
Time passed little by little.
As the sun rose to its zenith, the massive bronze gate suddenly emitted a dull creaking sound.
The door slowly opened a crack, and a dazzling beam of light shone down from the crack, illuminating the open space below.
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