Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

The flying chariot streaked across the sky like a meteor, covering hundreds of miles in a few breaths. After more than ten days of rapid travel, they gradually approached Savage Mountain.

Zhang Yuanjing instructed Luo Yuanhao to land on a mountain ridge. This mountain was Serpent Demon Mountain, where they had harvested Crimson Diamond Fruit in the past.

Knowing that he was going to stir up trouble again, Luo Yuanhao couldn't help but advise, "Fellow Daoist Zhang, the journey to the Nine Cold Valley in the Northern Region is long and arduous. Who knows what we might encounter along the way? I'm afraid we won't reach our destination in forty or fifty years. If it's not necessary, let's not linger."

Zhang Yuanjing said expressionlessly, "Precisely because it takes so much time, there are some things that this Daoist must clarify first. Otherwise, I will be uneasy and it will affect the journey."

Luo Yuanhao had no choice but to comply. Although he was also a Nascent Soul cultivator, he was only possessing a Golden Core cultivator's body at this time and did not have true Nascent Soul strength, so naturally, he had no say in the matter.

Decades had passed, and Serpent Demon Mountain had long returned to tranquility. Horned serpents were everywhere, more numerous than before. In the belly of the mountain, there was a fire abyss, the horned serpents' favorite place to cultivate. A transforming demon serpent lurked within.

When the Wind-Riding Chariot approached, the horned serpent merely flicked its eyelids, ignoring them. In recent years, since the human and demon races jointly entered the Pillar of Heaven, conflicts between Nascent Soul and Transformation stage cultivators had decreased, especially near the Pillar of Heaven, where few Nascent Soul cultivators or transforming demon beasts caused trouble.

However, when the Wind-Riding Chariot descended towards Serpent Demon Mountain, the transforming serpent became vigilant, raising its massive triangular head, its two red eyes widening, appearing extremely ferocious in the firelight.

Zhang Yuanjing jumped out of the Wind-Riding Chariot, cast his divine sense upon the transforming horned serpent, and said, "Serpent demon, this Daoist has a few questions for you!"

The horned serpent was furious, but then it felt that this person's aura was somewhat familiar, and it thought about the old incident from decades ago. That day, it had escaped with a severed tail, its strength greatly damaged, and it had not fully recovered to this day. Every time it thought about it, it felt like its heart was being gouged out, so it had an unforgettable memory of the auras of those cultivators.

"It's you!" The horned serpent roared in anger, spitting out two words fiercely.

Zhang Yuanjing was taken aback. "It's you?"

The horned serpent shot upwards, drilling out of the fire abyss into the cave, then followed the winding cave to the nest where the Crimson Diamond Fruit was grown, exited the cave, and quickly darted to the vicinity of the Wind-Riding Chariot.

"That's right, it is this king! I didn't expect that the Golden Core cultivator from back then is now a Nascent Soul!" The horned serpent raised its massive head, its long tongue flickering in and out. "This king was just worried about where to find you, but I never expected you to come to my door! Good, good, very good!"

Zhang Yuanjing couldn't help but chuckle. He thought that the transforming demon in this place had been replaced, but he didn't expect that the demon serpent would dare to return and continue cultivating here.

"Want revenge? Later!" Zhang Yuanjing didn't take this great demon to heart at all. "This Daoist will ask you first, why are you near the Pillar of Heaven, but you don't go inside to seek opportunities?"

Since this serpent demon had suffered a great injury and its cultivation had stagnated, it should have been more willing to go to the Pillar of Heaven to train, rather than hiding in this extremely ordinary great spiritual cave to live and die.

The horned serpent laughed in extreme anger. "Why should I tell you! After you become food in this king's belly, you will know!"

The air had become scorching hot at some point. The great serpent slowly raised its enormous body, its scales shimmering with golden light under the rising sun, each piece seemingly containing the power of magma. Its eyes were like burning flames, and its body suddenly contracted, followed by a leap, so fast that the eye could barely follow.

However, this leap crashed solidly into a wall of earth.

"Boom!"

The earth wall shattered, and a stone pressed down. The great serpent flipped its body, opened its huge mouth, and spat out a fire dragon, rushing straight at Zhang Yuanjing.

Above the mountain peak, the space within a hundred yards was instantly distorted by the high temperature, the vegetation quickly withered and burned, and scorching heat waves rolled in.

In an instant, mud and sand rose, covering the fire dragon. The sand took advantage of the wind, sweeping across the sky and earth. The giant serpent was trapped within, its divine sense suppressed into a small ball. But it was naturally sensitive, especially adept at using its tongue to identify auras. Zhang Yuanjing's location was like a candle in the dark to it.

It swung its long tail, striking out with the force of thunder, slamming over. Wherever the tail passed, the mud and sand dispersed, and the space seemed to be torn apart, creating a sharp whistling sound.

Zhang Yuanjing sneered, wielded his bone blade, and launched a series of strikes. The scales that the serpent demon relied on as armor were like paper shells, easily cut open by the bone blade, and its solid body was like soft mud, smoothly sliced open by the bone blade.

"Puff, puff, puff..."

The giant serpent's tail broke off in response, and was chopped into more than a dozen pieces.

"Hiss——"

The giant serpent roared in agony. It darted backwards, trying to escape the encirclement of sand and earth.

However, the bone blade came extremely fast, striking its neck again, then sticking to its triangular head like a maggot on a bone.

The giant serpent was in pain and fear, and dared not move again, crawling on the scorched grass, panting heavily.

On its head, the several-foot-long horn flickered with firelight, sometimes bright, sometimes dim.

"I know you have one last trump card, but in your current state, even if you force it out, it won't hurt me in the slightest. On the contrary, it will exhaust all of your remaining vitality!" Zhang Yuanjing slowly approached, dispelled the mud and sand, and the world returned to clarity.

The top of the mountain was a mess. The powerful pressure during the battle scared the horned serpents all over the mountain, either running away or burrowing deep into the ground to hide. The whole mountain looked much fresher.

"You, what exactly do you want to do?" The horned serpent said with difficulty, each word containing humiliation. In order to survive, it had to yield.

"Answer the previous question!" Zhang Yuanjing said concisely.

"Just for this?" The horned serpent was a little choked, but dared not really question it, and quickly said, "The Pillar... of Heaven connects to the small... world, but only... the outer layer is open. The road to the inner layer is... sealed off, requiring... a key."

"Key? What key? And how do you know this?" Zhang Yuanjing asked in surprise, quickly inquiring.

"At the end of the outer... layer world, there is a... portal, with a powerful... force sealing it. Even... the four human and demon... Transformation stage cultivators working together, could not... break it open," the horned serpent gasped, saying with difficulty. "The outer... layer world has limited... spiritual objects. The two races... poured in, and in just... an instant, it was... scoured clean. If you can't... enter the inner layer, then... many cultivators and demon races... come out."

"Which cultivators or demon beasts didn't come out?"

"Nascent Soul and Transformation... Great Perfection. And some... Nascent Soul or Transformation... unwilling to give up, are inside... surveying, but not many. The rest are... some Golden Core cultivators... and demon core stage demon races... searching for low-level spiritual objects."

"Where are the demon race's two Transformation stage cultivators?" Zhang Yuanjing pondered for a moment and continued to ask.

"Returned... to Demon Saint Mountain."

"This Daoist heard that the human race's Transformation stage cultivators also left. Why aren't the four Transformation stage cultivators of the two races guarding outside the Pillar of Heaven?"

"This... I, don't know," the horned serpent gasped, extremely weak.

Zhang Yuanjing speculated that the Transformation stage cultivators of the two races must have reached an agreement, otherwise they would never dare to leave the Pillar of Heaven unilaterally. But the underlying reason was difficult to ascertain.

After the horned serpent finished speaking, it looked at Zhang Yuanjing pitifully.

Zhang Yuanjing raised his arm expressionlessly and released the bone shard that he had been holding, instantly cutting open its head and killing it.

He left the serpent corpse for Ape Thirteen as food, instructed it to protect Luo Yuanhao on Serpent Demon Mountain, then entered the ground and sped towards the Pillar of Heaven.