1006 Hidden Cave



Not long after the older disciple at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm joined in on the battle, did it come to an end. Only the smarter demon beasts who decided to escape after seeing the death of the spider demon beasts managing to run away in time before they got surrounded and killed, something that ended happening to the demon beasts who were still blindly attacking the caravan.

"Looks like everything is over…" Feeling a wave of exhaustion washing over him following the Second Stage Core Formation Realm demon beast in front of him getting killed by one of the more powerful older disciples, Bai Ning used the last bit of strength left in his body to drag himself back inside the carriage.

Although the battle itself shouldn't have been anything too difficult given the fact that the demon beast he faced was only a single minor realm above him, he ended up wasting a lot of his qi during the fight as he wasn't used to fighting at the Core Formation Realm. Having prioritized his blacksmithing and cultivating over combat training.

After returning to the sect, I should properly use a bit more time on combat training…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Bai Ning glanced around the carriage and saw that Hui Ying was already sitting down cross legged. Busy recovering from the battle.

Whoosh~

Following her example and feeling the exhaustion that came from overexerting himself by fighting a more powerful opponent, Bai Ning similarly sat down and began to recover the qi he had used during the fight.

As for the rest of the disciples and people from the Explorer Union, they did the same as it was unanimously decided that they would recover before moving any deeper into the mountainous terrain. Understanding very well that they wouldn't be able to escape unscratched if they ended up encountering a similar ambush without having recovered.

Like this, the next few hours passed by without anything happening before the first few people got up and began to clear out a path through the dead demon beasts now stacked up around the caravan, while also protecting the rest of the caravan from any of the nearby demon beasts who had been attracted by the smell of blood.

Luckily, the strongest among these demon beasts had barely reached the Foundation Establishment, while most of the remaining demon beasts approaching the caravan were only in the Qi Condensation Realm. Not proving to be any problem for the few people who had gotten up to clear the path through the dead bodies of the demon beasts blocking their path deeper into the mountainous terrain.

In the end, by the time Bai Ning and Hui Ying opened their eyes again, having fully recovered from the earlier battle, the caravan had already begun heading deeper inside the mountains… And after asking around a bit with the disciples from the sect, they both found out that they would be reaching the hidden cave that the person from the Explorer Union had told everyone about beforehand.

Apparently, from the information that the rest of the disciples told them, the cave was located at the base of one of the mountains and was guarded by a powerful Core Formation Realm demon beast. 

The main reason why this person from the Explorer Union had asked for help was because the Core Formation Realm demon beast was far stronger than he first expected. Not even with the help of everyone he knew in the Explorer Union could he defeat it.

All things considered; this was what ultimately ended up causing him to go to the Star Shattering Sect's disciples for help.

However, even if the Star Shattering Sect had a good reputation, he had still been cautious and didn't dare to get any elders of the sect involved, as he feared that they might take advantage of him given the fact that he was not a core member of the Explorer Unions and could only be considered someone random who had joined the Explorer Union as an adventurer to make a living… And more importantly than all of this, he had only reached the Core Formation Realm, a cultivation realm that could be considered insignificant in the eyes of a powerful sect like the Star Shattering Sect.

As for how he knew about the precious things hidden away inside the cave that the demon beast guarded, that was because he had managed to enter the cave on his own when he had found it.

Back then, the demon beast was nowhere near the entrance of the cave, and he entered it without a problem and found all of the precious metals, spiritual herbs, and other things inside, but… Just as he was overwhelmed with joy at the discovery, a loud roar had sounded from deeper inside the cave before the demon beast appeared and chased him out of the cave before he could take any of the precious things covering the ground inside the cave.

"Indeed, unfortunate, but this also gives us a chance to get our hands on some of the precious things inside the cave. Especially those high-quality spirit stones, with something like that to help out during cultivation, it won't take long for me to break through to the Core Formation Realm!" Muttering this to herself as they had just heard the entire story about how the person from the Explorer Union ended up asking the disciples of the Star Shattering Sect for help, Hui Ying could not stop herself from growing excited after mentioning the spirit stones.

Although the spirit stones would not be able to directly help someone increase their cultivation realm, they would undoubtably help increase one's cultivation speed. Especially so when one was below the Nascent Soul Realm.

In simple reductive terms, the main limiting factor for increasing one's cultivation base in the Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment and Core Formation Realm was how fast one could absorb qi and secondly stabilize the new qi inside the dantian into either a qi vortex, pillars, or a core.

With the help of spirit stones, the time needed to be used on absorbing qi would be reduced depending on the quality of the spirit stone, leaving most of the time for stabilizing the new qi to break through a higher realm.

All I really care about are the spiritual metal and the blacksmithing notes that he mentioned seeing inside the cave, as long as I can get my hands on them, I won't care about the spirit stones. If I really need any spirit stones for my cultivation, I can always ask master for some…

Shaking his head as he thought about this after hearing what Hui Ying said, Bai Ning didn't realize just how lucky he was to be in such a position as he was looking forward to getting his hand on the spiritual metal and the blacksmithing notes.

Although, when all was said and done, the thing he was the most interested in by far, was the blacksmithing notes. After all, he had no idea how far this blacksmith had gone and what the notes contained. For all he knew, it might be notes belonging to an extremely powerful blacksmith that had far surpassed any blacksmith he had heard of or seen before.

Of course, this was just what Bai Ning hoped for deep down. In reality, he understood very well that the chances of this being the case was unlikely. Especially considering that it was inside the Azure Sky Kingdom, a place where the best blacksmith he knew about had at most reached the Expert Realm in blacksmithing, a realm that he himself was currently in.

Even if it isn't some precious blueprint by a powerful blacksmith far above the Expert Realm, I at the very least hope that it's something unique that will help me better master the Expert Realm of blacksmithing and help me more easily advance in the-

"Everyone! We are here! Those in the Core Formation Realm, come out and prepare, the demon beast in question is just up ahead!"

Just as Bai Ning was lost in his own thoughts about the blacksmithing notes and what might be contained inside of them, a loud roar outside interrupted his train of thought-

Rustle~

However, upon realizing what was said, Bai Ning quickly got up and left the carriage together with Hui Ying.

Even if he had only reached the First Stage of the Core Formation Realm and wouldn't be of that much help, he still understand that it would be better than nothing to have more Core Formation Realm Experts around to attack the powerful demon beast, something that the older disciple in the lead had also thought about when calling for all Core Formation Realm Experts earlier.

I wonder what kind of demon beast it is and how strong it is, it should at least have reached the Peak of the Core Formation Realm.

Thinking this to himself as he made his way towards the spot where everyone was gathering together with Hui Ying, Bai Ning could not stop himself from growing nervous as he thought about this.