Cultivation Starting from Choosing Augments

Chapter 310 - 175: Crown Feather and Purple Scale, Breakthrough to the Ninth Level of Foundation Establishment

With the Mutated Spirit Turtle out of the way, obtaining the Turtle Eggs was no longer difficult.

Xiao Chen easily took care of the female turtle left behind to guard the nest and found the hidden Turtle Eggs in the valley.

But not all the Turtle Eggs were worth taking back; most of them were dead and had lost their vitality.

This would normally have been a problem. Anyone wanting to just sneak in and steal the eggs would need the ability to tell the good from the bad.

However, with Qi Xingwen there, he quickly identified five genuine Spirit Turtle Eggs among them.

This was a full three more than the two the Qiu Family had initially expected.

They placed the Turtle Eggs into two specially made Spirit Beast Bags, which both protected them and concealed their aura.

The three of them immediately began their journey back.

However, they hadn’t gone far. As they passed the edge of a dense forest, they suddenly saw a thick fog spreading out from within the trees, spanning an area over a thousand feet in diameter.

It was currently 1:45 PM, and the scorching sun was high in the sky.

Yet, not only did the fog refuse to disperse, it grew even thicker. It soon enveloped a large section of the forest and even showed signs of spreading further.

The surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi also began to flow rapidly into the forest, as if something was devouring it.

"Hiss... Don’t tell me that Purple Crystal Python is about to shed its skin!"

Qi Xingwen said, looking on with a mix of shock and uncertainty.

’In the territory of a Golden Core Demon Beast, only the beast itself could cause such a huge commotion.’

Song Jingyi’s face was also tense. "This is bad. We need to leave the Ten Thousand Demons Mountain Range at once."

"If it finishes its breakthrough, we won’t be able to use our current route anymore."

Fortunately, while shedding its skin, the Purple Crystal Python would be unable to leave its lair to hunt.

Thus, the trio no longer had to travel only around noon. Instead, they flew nonstop for twenty-two straight hours, day and night, to finally break free of its original territory.

Afterward, they returned to their previous schedule: traveling by day and hiding by night to bypass the Black-eyed Bears.

This was followed by hiding by day and traveling by night to avoid the Golden Eagles.

However, just as they were about to leave the deeper parts of the mountain range, the sound of explosive thunder suddenly echoed from outside at dusk.

Violent fluctuations of Spiritual Power followed, causing the auras of the three inside the cave to become unstable.

Xiao Chen crept out of the cave entrance and hid on a mountain peak to get a look.

About fifty li away, he saw a furious gale raging and purple lightning striking like a dragon. Sparks flew where they collided. Swaths of forest were utterly destroyed, and several nearby peaks had been blasted half-apart.

"SKREEE!"

A piercing shriek rang out as a Golden Eagle, its wingspan a full thirty feet, circled a mountain peak.

It was surrounded by a mass of azure astral wind, and even from dozens of li away, he could feel waves of intense Spiritual Pressure.

Xiao Chen had no doubt that a single gust of that astral wind could slice a small hill in two.

And on that mountain peak, coiled around the Golden Eagle’s nest, was a colossal python stretching over two hundred feet long.

Arcs of lightning crackled around its body, making it impossible to tell if its scales were naturally purple or if the brilliant electricity was obscuring their true color.

It held its head high, flicking its tongue at the sky as if in provocation.

"SKREEE!"

The Golden Eagle shrieked again. With a flap of its wings, more astral wind gathered, descending like a volley of blades from the heavens.

BOOM!

A clap of thunder cracked through the clear sky.

A bolt of azure lightning as thick as a water bucket shot down, aimed straight for the Golden Eagle’s head.

The lightning, though unleashed second, struck first, blasting away countless feathers before the astral wind could fully descend.

SQUELCH!

The sound of flesh being torn open rang out.

Hidden among the many gusts of astral wind was a crescent of wind that looked identical but was several times more powerful.

In an instant, it carved a huge chunk of flesh from the Purple Crystal Python’s body, sending a shower of new scales flying.

At the same time, the surviving flowers and grasses in the area were once again scoured clean by the scattered whirlwinds.

To the two great Demon Beasts, those swirling tornadoes were merely the aftershocks of their battle.

But to all other life in the vicinity, they were a devastating blow.

In a ten-li radius around the Purple Crystal Python, forget Demon Beasts—not even a single weed could survive.

A full-powered attack from a Golden Core expert was enough to cause irreversible damage to the environment within a certain range.

It was only because the Golden Core True Men of the Southern Domain were relatively restrained and rarely fought that the large mortal population had a comparatively better environment to live in.

Blindsided by the Wind Blade and struck by sudden, intense pain, the Purple Crystal Python instantly went berserk.

Its long body twisted into a bizarre, indescribable shape before it opened its massive maw and violently spewed out a thick fog.

In an instant, the world turned into a gray haze, obscuring all sight and even blocking Divine Sense.

The only sound was the SIZZLE of the earth and rocks on the ground being corroded by the fog.

This fog was clearly imbued with an exceptionally potent poison.

Soon, however, a faint golden light began to shine through, revealing that the Golden Eagle was not afraid of this poison.

It continued to circle, attempting to press its attack and reclaim its nest.

Xiao Chen ignored the surging Spiritual Qi around him and activated his Eye of Truth, wanting to see more clearly.

Having just witnessed the convergence of wind and thunder firsthand, he immediately thought of the Wind and Thunder Dual Swords. This gave him a vague but deeper understanding of the paths of both wind and thunder.

Unfortunately, the distance was too great. Even with his Spiritual Eye, he couldn’t see clearly.

"Xiao, we have to go now."

Song Jingyi gathered his courage and came to find him. "We’re far too close! They could charge over here at any moment."

But Xiao Chen was reluctant to leave.

’It’s almost impossible to see a battle between Golden Core experts in the Southern Domain,’ he thought, ’let alone one involving the Wind-Thunder Attribute.’

He had been studying the methods of the *Yin-Yang Unity Contract* and felt he was just one catalytic moment away from a new level of comprehension.