Seeing Xiao Heng and the other two respectfully addressing him as "Senior," the Medicine King Sect cultivator looked thoroughly surprised.
Waving his hands repeatedly, he said, "Fellow Daoists, why speak such words? Surely you aren't making fun of me?
"We are all Nascent Soul cultivators. We can simply address each other as peers," he said to Zhang Haobo and Su Xiaomei.
"Nascent Soul cultivators?"
Upon closer inspection, Xiao Heng and the others realized that the cultivator before them, who had slept for thousands of years, indeed seemed to possess only Nascent Soul cultivation.
Yet the impression he gave was markedly different from the Nascent Soul cultivators of the present day.
That was why they hadn't recognized it just now.
Regardless, an ancient Nascent Soul cultivator surviving to this day was by no means simple.
Xiao Heng and his companions did not lower their guard; they were pondering how to keep the conversation going and coax out some information.
Yet the man proved quite the chatterbox, pouring out a barrage of words all at once.
"I am Linghu Chang, an inner disciple of the Medicine King Sect.
"When we crashed back toward the Xuanhuang Realm, I recall the Sect Master had already sealed the entire Medicine King Cauldron and sent out a distress call to the outside world.
"Since you were able to enter the Medicine King Cauldron, the rescue forces from the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao must have arrived.
"How are my other martial brothers faring now? Has the Sect Master awakened?"
As Linghu Chang spoke, he enthusiastically started toward the open doorway.
Catching sight of the peculiar looks on the faces of Xiao Heng and the others, however, he was taken aback.
"Could something have gone wrong?"
With that, he hurried outside the room.
Seeing this, Xiao Heng and his companions quickly followed him out.
"Huh? What is going on? Why is the Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation still running?
"Am I truly the only one who awakened early?
"Where are the rescue cultivators from the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao?"
...
Linghu Chang's bewildered, uncertain voice echoed through the empty Medicine King Cauldron.
"The Gate of Life and Death has descended? What happened on the Sect Master's end?
"Just what is going on here?"
Panic seeped into his voice, unable to be suppressed. After looking around, he flew back in front of Xiao Heng and the other two.
Staring intently at them, he demanded, "Who on earth are you, and how did you get into our sect's Medicine King Cauldron?"
Xiao Heng hesitated for a moment, then said slowly, "It is somewhat complicated to explain. Fellow Daoist, you may need to prepare yourself mentally."
Linghu Chang narrowed his eyes, waiting to hear the rest.
"In truth, you have slept for several thousand years. The Medicine King Cauldron's departure beyond the realm took place back in ancient times..."
Before Xiao Heng could finish, Linghu Chang cut him off with a wave of his hand.
Laughing out of sheer fury, he sneered, "What utter nonsense! Do you take our Medicine King Sect's Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation for a mere ornament? That it could get the number of years we slept wrong?
"You call twenty-four years several thousand years? If you want to fool someone, at least come up with a halfway convincing lie!"
With a hostile expression, Linghu Chang gave a light pat, and a gourd appeared in his hand.
"No wonder you felt so strange the moment I laid eyes on you. So you are demonic heretics trying to deceive me!
"Die!"
With Linghu Chang's shout, dozens of thin cyan rays erupted from the gourd in an instant.
Sharp as sword blades, swift as lightning.
In the blink of an eye, they were upon Xiao Heng and the others.
"Xiao Heng, watch out!" Never expecting Linghu Chang to strike with lethal force without another word, Zhang Haobo's expression changed drastically.
Above his head, the Sea of Blood Grotto-Heaven abruptly manifested. Amid churning waves of blood, crimson radiance surged forth, colliding head-on with the thin cyan blades.
*Boom! Boom!*
Amid the violent explosions, Linghu Chang glanced up at the boundless sea of blood, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
Yet this only deepened his conviction.
Radiating righteous indignation, he roared, "Evil demonic fiends after all! Submit to your—"
Before his words could finish, several voices echoed in unison from every direction.
"You are truly annoying. Ever since earlier, you've been babbling baffling nonsense that no one can understand.
"Did you sleep so long that you haven't woken up yet?"
Linghu Chang looked around and discovered that, without him noticing, numerous figures with faceless blood masks had already encircled him.
"No matter. We can help you sober up."
The many faceless blood figures tilted their heads, letting out bursts of eerie laughter.
Then they vanished from the spot, lunging at Linghu Chang all at once.
Linghu Chang's heart tightened, but he did not panic.
Opening his mouth, he spat out a Small Medicine King Cauldron, which hovered above his head.
Radiance cascaded like a waterfall, forming a protective barrier.
At the same time, he slapped the gourd.
The cyan gourd spun ceaselessly in midair, and razor-thin willow-leaf rays poured out like a torrential downpour, sweeping toward Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo.
Xiao Heng knew that with his current strength, he could not intervene in a battle at the Nascent Soul level.
Forcing his way in would only make him a burden.
He quietly retreated, intending to put distance between himself and the battlefield.
Just then, he suddenly caught a peculiar fragrance.
Remembering the other party's status as a disciple of the Medicine King Sect, his heart leapt into his throat.
"Careful! There's something strange about this scent!"
He hurriedly warned them via spiritual transmission while holding his breath to resist the aroma.
Yet the scent operated through unknown means; Xiao Heng could not fend it off at all.
The fragrance grew increasingly potent, and Xiao Heng soon felt dizzy and lightheaded, his limbs growing limp and feeble.
In contrast, Zhang Haobo and Su Xiaomei merely paused for a heartbeat before returning to normal.
The willow-leaf cyan rays from the gourd seemed endless, and the protection of the Small Medicine King Cauldron was airtight.
The attacks from Zhang and Su merely caused it to tremble; for the moment, they could not break through the small cauldron's defense.
"Haobo, stop holding back!" Su Xiaomei seemed to have been thoroughly provoked.
A crimson sun rose into the air, leaping above the sea of blood.
The countless blood faces torn to shreds by the cyan gourd's rays reassembled in an instant into a single, fury-filled visage.
Under the illumination of the crimson sun, the hideous giant face suddenly burst into flames.
Emitting an eerie laugh, it slammed into Linghu Chang under the protection of the Small Medicine King Cauldron.
Meanwhile, the boundless sea of blood slowly parted down the middle.
A festering giant hand reached out from the depths of the sea, grasping toward Linghu Chang.
Facing this pincer attack, the Medicine King Sect disciple looked grim, but remained composed.
With a flick of his right hand, a row of twenty-four golden needles fanned out.
Chanting an incantation, he sent the golden needles darting like swords, tracing crisscrossing, glittering threads through the air.
Evading the burning blood face and the festering giant hand, they shot straight toward Zhang Haobo and Su Xiaomei themselves.
The golden needles moved at astonishing speed.
In a flash, before the two could even react, they were pierced through completely, their bodies riddled with holes.
Strangely, not a drop of blood spurted from either of them.
Even their offensive seemed completely unimpeded.
*Boom!*
The Small Medicine King Cauldron shook violently, and Linghu Chang spat out a mouthful of blood.
His face turned pale, but he immediately produced a pill and swallowed it in front of them.
A moment later, his complexion regained its ruddy glow.
"What kind of evil sorcery is this...?"
Watching the two regenerate continuously even as their bodies were repeatedly punctured by the Samsara Golden Needles, he could not help feeling a twinge of dread.
After a moment's hesitation, a look of heartache flashed in his eyes.
Linghu Chang took out a round mirror.
Gripping the mirror, he directed a beam of white light onto Su Xiaomei.
The round mirror slowly crumbled into fine powder, while an illusory figure gradually manifested behind Su Xiaomei.
It bore an eighty percent resemblance to Su Xiaomei.
The illusion let out an angry shout, its hair turning crimson in an instant.
Then, it split into several faceless blood clones and attacked Su Xiaomei.
It was as though it could replicate even Su Xiaomei's innate divine ability and cultivation techniques.
On Zhang Haobo's side, another festering hand reached up from the sea of blood.
Furthermore, from deep beneath the seabed, a gaze seemed to peer outward into the world.
Seeing this, Linghu Chang pondered briefly.
He then produced a wooden talisman sword to meet the threat.
The wooden sword hovered over the sea of blood, summoning a bolt of cyan lightning that crashed down from above.
The two festering giant hands blocked it, crackling under the thunderous barrage.
Wisps of lightning coiled around the wooden talisman sword, and cyan lightning crackled unceasingly.
Although the festering giant hands appeared battered and powerless to retaliate, no matter how severe the damage, they swiftly recovered to their original state.
The battle descended into a stalemate.
Relying on numerous wondrous treasures and a seemingly endless supply of pills, Linghu Chang held an invincible position.
Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo, relying on the new method's principle of "as long as the grotto-heaven endures, the cultivator does not die," were somewhat disheveled, yet they were in no real danger.
For a time, neither side could gain the upper hand over the other.
Both sides felt a chill in their hearts.
*Where on earth did these people come from? Their techniques are so bizarre. I have plenty of supplies, but I can probably only hold out for ten days to half a month. If I haven't defeated them by then, I'll have no choice but to flee outside and call for reinforcements,* Linghu Chang thought to himself.
*This is infuriating! Just like Shuo Feng, bullying people just because he has better treasures! Once his treasures are exhausted, I'm going to beat him to a pulp!* Su Xiaomei was furious. She unleashed strike after strike, yet could never break through the endless barrier of magical treasures.
*This Linghu Chang is only an inner disciple. In ancient sects, there were supposedly true disciples and Dao Seeds above that rank. It's hard to imagine how terrifyingly powerful those people must have been,* Zhang Haobo thought.
While the three were locked in battle, Xiao Heng, who had been affected by the stupefying fragrance, gradually recovered.
"Stop fighting!
"Fellow Daoist Linghu, this is all a misunderstanding!
"I swear to Heaven, not a single word is false!
"Thousands of years have truly passed since your era. The world has undergone a great change—even those Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao you spoke of vanished into the dust of history long ago!
"Think about it! If we were truly trying to deceive you, why would we fabricate an excuse that sounds so absurd?"
...
Xiao Heng shouted one sentence after another.
Hearing of the great change to heaven and earth, and that the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao had turned to ash and smoke, Linghu Chang could not help trembling slightly.
"Fellow Daoist Linghu, Sect Master Liu's premonition back then was right! He saved your entire sect!"
At this, Linghu Chang's offensive finally began to slow.
"Xiaomei, Haobo, stop as well!" Xiao Heng called out hurriedly.
Though deeply annoyed, Su Xiaomei ceased her attacks.
However, she and Zhang Haobo did not retract their grotto-heaven domains, keeping a wary eye on Linghu Chang.
"Fellow Daoist Linghu, every word I spoke is the truth," Xiao Heng said earnestly.
"Could it be that because so much time has passed, your sect's Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation malfunctioned?" he ventured.
As he spoke, he took out a Small Medicine King Cauldron from his storage ring.
"This small cauldron was unearthed from your sect's ancient ruins.
"It was only by relying on it that we were able to enter this place.
"With your discernment, I believe you can tell whether it is real or fake,"
Xiao Heng spoke openly and sincerely.
When Linghu Chang saw the small cauldron in Xiao Heng's hands, radiating an aura of ancient desolation, his pupils shrank violently.
He froze in near-stupor.
He could naturally tell that the slightly flawed cauldron was likely a defective product they hadn't had time to deal with during the migration.
But the marks of passing ages upon it could not be faked.
So what on earth had happened?
Could the formation's timekeeping really have gone wrong?
Linghu Chang said nothing, hurrying back into his room.
He checked once more with great care.
There was definitely no mistake.
Since the Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation was activated and the entire sect fell asleep, only twenty-four years had passed.
*Then are those fiends outside lying?*
Linghu Chang's killing intent began to rise again.
Just then, he heard Xiao Heng's voice from outside: "By the way, there is actually a very simple way to verify this.
"Following the Great Cataclysm, immortal arts cannot be cultivated together.
"If you do not believe it, you can try cultivating your own technique.
"You will know the truth at once from the result."
Hearing this, Linghu Chang's first thought was that it was absurd.
It wasn't the legendary Longevity attainment; why on earth would a technique be impossible to cultivate together?
Yet hearing the sincerity in Xiao Heng's voice, Linghu Chang decided to give it a try. He began circulating the Medicine King Sect's true heritage, the *Scripture of Saving the World and Cultivating Longevity*.
In the very next instant, he was struck dumb.
He circulated his spiritual energy for several heavenly cycles, but it was an exercise in futility.
Not only did his cultivation not increase in the slightest, a voice rang out in his sea of consciousness:
"Scripture of Saving the World and Cultivating Longevity: Dao Integration technique.
"Current practitioners: 462."
"What is this?"
His face turned ashen, and beads of cold sweat began to drip from his forehead.
"No, that's impossible. I must be under an illusion."
He could not bring himself to believe it.
Retrieving several medicinal pills, Linghu Chang swallowed them whole.
As if possessed, he circulated the technique once again.
Again and again, through a hundred heavenly cycles.
Not only did his cultivation remain completely unchanged, an intense agitation welled up in his heart.
He even felt an inexplicable sensation in his mind: he could clearly sense the locations of the other 461 martial brothers and sisters who also cultivated the Scripture of Saving the World and Cultivating Longevity.
*Kill them! Kill them all!*
The thought abruptly surged into his mind.
But he caught himself immediately, shuddering from head to toe.
"How could this be? How could this happen...?"
What he was experiencing completely defied his past understanding of the world.
Though he did not want to admit it, Linghu Chang already knew in his heart.
What the three outside had said was most likely true.
They had merely slept for a brief while, shorter than a single closed-door seclusion.
Yet several millennia had already passed in the Xuanhuang Realm.
"But..."
"How could this be?"
In his terror, Linghu Chang sank into endless bewilderment.
Hearing that the room had gone quiet, Xiao Heng and the others finally walked in.
"Fellow Daoist, did we speak the truth?" Xiao Heng asked softly.
Linghu Chang gave no reply.
"Actually, we are also very curious about what happened to the Medicine King Sect back then," Xiao Heng continued to persuade him. "Why not tell us in detail what happened after Sect Master Liu used the cauldron as a vessel and shattered the boundary to leave?
"Perhaps if we pool our thoughts, we can get to the bottom of why all this happened."
After a long silence, Linghu Chang spoke dazedly, "In truth, I don't really know what happened either.
"It was truly like a dream.
"Back then, Sect Master Liu used great divine abilities to break the shackles of the Xuanhuang Realm, piloting the Medicine King Cauldron into the depths of the void.
"The original plan was to search for the rumored other cultivation worlds, but..."
Linghu Chang paused, seemingly recalling the events of that time.
"Not long after, alarms sounded throughout the cauldron.
"They said we were drawn by some inexplicable force, and our heading fell out of control.
"We were told to return to our rooms and prepare to enter slumber via the Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation.
"Later, the Medicine King Cauldron shook more and more violently. Even the activation of the Spring and Autumn Great Dream Formation was disrupted and failed.
"After that..."
Linghu Chang's eyes narrowed slightly.
"The Sect Master sent a transmission saying that the plan to leave the realm had failed, and we were forced to return to the Xuanhuang Realm.
"The Medicine King Cauldron was heavily damaged and uncontrollable.
"To preserve us, all remaining power was diverted to defenses, leaving the Medicine King Cauldron to freefall toward the Xuanhuang Realm.
"After that, the cauldron's vital functions shut down one after another, and the disciples were forced into slumber in succession.
"I was refining pills in the alchemy chamber at the time. By the time I rushed back to my quarters, I didn't even have time to close the door completely.
"The cauldron shuddered even more violently.
"In that ferocious jolt, I lost consciousness.
"When I woke up...
"...it was you whom I saw,"
Linghu Chang recounted slowly.
Xiao Heng and Zhang Haobo exchanged a glance, bewildered by the bizarre tale.
Yet Su Xiaomei spoke up, "Wait, that doesn't add up. According to you, you basically just took a loop outside the Xuanhuang Realm and were immediately forced to return?"
Linghu Chang nodded. "Indeed."
"And you only fell into slumber right as you were about to crash into the Xuanhuang Realm?" Su Xiaomei asked again.
"Yes," Linghu Chang confirmed.
"What do you mean, 'yes'?!" Su Xiaomei's voice suddenly rose several notches.
"From our perspective, the Medicine King Cauldron left the Xuanhuang Realm thousands of years ago. It only returned here recently!
"Back then, every cultivator in the world saw the Medicine King Cauldron streak across the sky as a blazing meteor.
"In fact, that was precisely twenty-four years ago!"
Having said that, Su Xiaomei froze.
Chapter 401