Chapter 255: Dividing the Spoils, Being Tracked!
Lin Fan smiled and said, "I've already successfully condensed my Nascent Spirit. Give this guy's Nascent Spirit to Lin Dong—together with the Divine Marrow Nectar from the Earth's Core, it should be enough for him to condense one as well."
"As for the Golden Ghost Owl's demon spirit—Xiao Yan, you go ahead and refine it."
With that, Lin Fan handed the sealed demon spirit of the Golden Ghost Owl over to Xiao Yan.
"Thanks, big brother!" Xiao Yan took the demon spirit with a silly grin and thanked him.
Beside them, Xiao Diao also handed Elder Jiang's Nascent Spirit to Lin Dong.
"Yuan Gate really took a huge loss this time..." Lin Dong said with a smile as he stored the glowing orb.
"Let's go find the Divine Marrow Nectar. Once we get it, we leave immediately. Xiao Yan, lead the way."
Lin Fan casually gathered the spatial pouches of the three Yuan Gate members, then summoned a flame in his palm and burned the remains to ash before speaking again.
"Mm." Xiao Yan nodded, then shot off toward the depths of Devil Sound Mountain.
The other four followed closely behind.
At this point, Devil Sound Mountain was utterly lifeless. The thick stench of blood hung in the air, making the mountain's eerie tone even more sinister than usual.
Led by Xiao Yan, the group arrived before long at a concealed rock wall.
There, a massive pitch-black cave opened into the mountain. A glowing formation pulsed faintly at the entrance—it was clearly the seal the Golden Ghost Owl had set.
"This is it," Xiao Yan said. Xiao Diao clenched his hand, and a violent violet-black energy blast shot forth, instantly shattering the light formation.
With the seal gone, Lin Fan and the others quickly entered the depths of the cave.
The interior was a massive karst cavern, filled with strange rock formations and flooded with an astonishing flow of energy.
Their eyes swept the surroundings until they landed at the center of the cave.
There, a stone pool several meters wide was filled with golden liquid.
Without hesitation, the group walked over.
"This is the Divine Marrow Nectar from the Earth's Core?" Lin Dong asked, his eyes gleaming as he stared at the golden pool.
"This right now is just Divine Marrow Water—it still needs to be condensed and compressed into nectar. But that step can be done manually," Lin Fan explained with a smile.
Xiao Diao nodded and said, "I'll handle the final step."
As he spoke, he twirled his palm, forming a violet-black vortex above the golden pool.
A surge of force erupted from it, causing the pool to churn violently as streams of golden liquid shot upward into the vortex.
Within the swirling vortex, the golden liquid condensed at a visible rate, growing increasingly thick and viscous.
"Let's split it four ways," Lin Fan suddenly said as the final stage neared completion.
The Divine Marrow Nectar was used to condense Nascent Spirits, and since Lin Fan already had one, it wouldn't benefit him much. He had no intention of fighting the others for it.
Xiao Diao paused briefly but nodded, then proceeded to divide the condensed nectar into three portions.
Finally, three globs of thick, golden, baby-shaped liquid floated before them.
"Divine Marrow Nectar manifests in the shape of an infant—symbolizing the rebirth of the Nascent Spirit. Even in the grand auctions of the Eastern Xuan Region, this stuff is nearly impossible to find," Ying Huanhuan remarked, her gaze locked on the golden infant-shaped droplets.
Xiao Diao dismissed the vortex with a flick of his hand, sending the three glowing golden orbs toward Ying Huanhuan, Lin Dong, and Xiao Yan.
"One for each of you."
Lin Dong hesitated. "What about you and Brother Lin Fan?"
"I've already formed my Nascent Spirit—I don't need it," Lin Fan replied with a smile.
"Besides, I kept the spatial pouches from those three Yuan Gate guys. I've got tens of millions of Nirvana Pills and even a Star Soul Fruit. My haul's not small at all."
Xiao Diao shrugged and said, "This nectar's no use to me either."
Hearing that, Lin Dong and Xiao Yan didn't press the issue and each stored one of the golden orbs.
Ying Huanhuan hesitated. "I get one too?"
"If you hadn't brought the Phoenix Zither, we probably wouldn't have even made it into Devil Sound Mountain—let alone gotten the nectar. Take it," Lin Fan said with a soft smile.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Ying Huanhuan's bright eyes curved like crescent moons as she gave a gentle nod, then reached out with her jade-like hand and accepted the glowing golden infant.
The reflected golden light glimmered on her exquisite features, making her look impossibly beautiful.
"Let's go. Time to leave this place," Lin Fan said after sweeping the cavern with his spiritual sense and finding nothing else of value.
Naturally, no one objected.
Without delay, the group shot out of Devil Sound Mountain.
Once they were gone, the area returned to silence. Only the thick smell of blood lingered in the air.
That silence lasted for a long time—about half a day—before space suddenly rippled.
A golden figure stepped out of a spatial rift—it was Ren Yuanzi, one of Yuan Gate's three Head Teachers.
He had been cultivating in seclusion when he sensed the deaths of two Spirit Generals and an elder, prompting him to trace their deaths to this place.
"You think you'll get away...?"
Ren Yuanzi murmured as he looked in the direction Lin Fan's group had fled.
...
Far from Devil Sound Mountain, five figures streaked across the sky, leaving sonic booms in their wake.
Shhk!
Suddenly, one of them came to a stop. The other four quickly halted as well and turned back.
"What's wrong?" Lin Dong asked Xiao Diao, puzzled.
Lin Fan's brow twitched slightly—he couldn't help but think of Ren Yuanzi tracking them.
"We're being followed," Xiao Diao said grimly.
"Someone's chasing us through space. Whoever it is, they're strong. Might be one of Yuan Gate's three Head Teachers."
At his words, Ying Huanhuan, Lin Dong, and Xiao Yan all grew serious.
Lin Fan also frowned slightly. He didn't know whether Ren Yuanzi would be intercepted again by Ying Xuanzhi like last time.
"What do we do?" Xiao Yan asked in a low voice.
"I can't beat him right now," Xiao Diao sneered, "but if I want to run, he can't stop me."
As he spoke, he quickly formed a seal with both hands. Violet-black light surged from his body and condensed into a rotating array in front of him.
Even the space around it began to tremble, on the verge of collapse.
"Let's go."
With a flick of his sleeve, a gust of wind swept up Lin Fan and the others and pulled them into the array.
The array spun rapidly—space shattered around it—and with a sharp crack, both the formation and the five of them vanished at once.
...
In a remote mountain range in the northwestern region of the Eastern Xuan Domain, where no one ever tread, the air was silent and still.
Suddenly, a violet-black array flashed into existence. In the next moment, five figures shot out from within—it was Lin Fan and his group.
"Well? Did we lose him?" Lin Dong asked as he looked toward Xiao Diao.
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