Chapter 662 - 658: Prodigies Gather at Jiuyang

Chapter 662: Chapter 658: Prodigies Gather at Jiuyang

In the vast wilderness, monstrous beasts roared, shaking mountains and rivers. The air was thick, perpetually filled with the stench of blood.

Normally, few would dare set foot in a place like this, but just then, the void distorted. A man and a turtle appeared on a sheer cliff—it was Lin Hao and Turtle Egg.

"I’m beat. Time for a break," Turtle Egg grumbled, flopping onto its back and sprawling on the ground, all four legs in the air.

To get to the Nine Yang Void Realm, Lin Hao had to rely on Turtle Egg’s teleportation arrays. For three full days, Turtle Egg had been tirelessly creating them with its runes.

But even so, he and Lin Hao had yet to reach the Nine Yang Void Realm.

With coordinates, Turtle Egg could teleport from the Heaven-Breaking Pavilion to the Heaven-Stepping Sect in an instant. And yet, they still hadn’t reached their destination.

The world was vast, its territories boundless. The Lower Realm was simply too large.

Turtle Egg might have been relaxing, but Lin Hao didn’t dare let his guard down. Even with his cultivation at the Third Layer of the Spirit Transformation Realm, the great wilderness was teeming with monstrous beasts, and one wrong move could mean a deadly assault.

Extending his Spiritual Sense, Lin Hao asked Turtle Egg, "How much longer until we get there?"

"One more jump should do it," Turtle Egg answered, its voice weak. "But this one will cover tens of thousands of miles, at least. It’s draining. I need a good rest."

Just as Lin Hao was about to nod, his eyes suddenly twitched.

High in the sky, a massive bird over a hundred meters long blotted out the sun as it swooped down, targeting him as its next meal.

In response, Lin Hao merely glanced up at the sky.

He did nothing, yet the great bird suddenly faltered like a spooked fledgling and plummeted from the sky, hurtling toward a mountain peak thousands of miles away.

But before it could hit the mountain, a giant ape tens of meters tall appeared out of nowhere. It leaped into the sky and snatched the great bird from the air.

Just then, with a sound of tearing air, a giant, Scale Armor-covered flood dragon lashed its tail at the ape.

RUMBLE!

The giant ape, still clutching the bird, was sent flying by the blow, crashing into a massive mountain peak and shattering it from the middle.

Deafening booms immediately erupted from the area. The giant ape’s roars shook the very mountains and rivers, while the flood dragon’s sharp XIU XIU screeches were powerful enough to pierce metal and shatter stone.

The giant ape and the massive flood dragon were locked in battle.

’How terrifying,’ Lin Hao thought, standing and gazing into the distance. His eyes pierced through the veil of reality, instantly discerning the two beasts’ true power. ’They’re at the Tier Three Peak, just a hair’s breadth from Tier Four. Eating that bird’s flesh would surely be enough for one of them to break through.’

These two monstrous beasts were on the verge of breaking through to Tier Four, which would make them comparable to Martial Artists of the Spirit Transformation Realm.

Suddenly, Lin Hao’s eyes widened. In the distance, the bodies of the ape and the flood dragon exploded in mid-air.

An even more terrifying beast had appeared.

Without a doubt, it had to be a Tier Four Devil Beast!

"Turtle Egg, get up!" Lin Hao gave the turtle a kick.

Lin Hao wasn’t afraid of a Tier Four Devil Beast, but his main objective was finding his grandfather in the Nine Yang Void Realm. He couldn’t afford to waste too much time on the way.

Runes on Turtle Egg’s shell crackled to life, and he lumbered back to his feet.

"What’s the rush?" Turtle Egg grumbled. "This is the closest teleportation point to the Nine Yang Void Realm. I bet everyone from there is out in this wilderness hunting Devil Beasts right now."

SMACK!

Lin Hao smacked him. "Why didn’t you say so earlier!"

As he spoke, Lin Hao circulated his True Essence, altering his facial features.

His first priority was finding his grandfather. And from what Aunt Yun had said, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant reunion. If he entered the Nine Yang Void Realm looking like himself, he’d risk tipping his hand.

"You never asked," Turtle Egg whined, feeling wronged.

Lin Hao wasn’t falling for it and continued to "torment" him.

「A moment later, the teleportation array formed, and Lin Hao and Turtle Egg vanished.」

"So this is the Nine Yang Void Realm?" Lin Hao murmured, standing before a colossal city wall.

The wall before him towered thirty to forty zhang high, built from massive blocks of stone.

Each block was at least seven or eight meters wide. A wall constructed from such gargantuan stones was truly an awe-inspiring sight.

Someone walking past shot him a look, as if he were an idiot.

This was because a massive gate was set into the wall, and directly above it, four large words were inscribed with powerful, elegant strokes: Nine Yang Void Realm.

With his sharp Spiritual Sense, Lin Hao naturally caught the disdainful glance.

Lin Hao simply smiled without a word and strode through the gate.

As for Turtle Egg, he had already vanished without a trace.

Before entering, Lin Hao had assumed the Nine Yang Void Realm would be like Imperial City—just another massive city. But the moment he stepped inside, he realized he had severely underestimated it.

The streets were incredibly wide, several zhang across at the very least. Lin Hao was sure there wasn’t a larger city on the entire continent.

A single glance around made Lin Hao’s eyes widen in shock.

The Martial Artists here were all young, and every single one of them was an expert at the Spirit Transformation Realm!

’The Nine Yang Void Realm is home to all the prodigies of the Lower Realm.’ That was no exaggeration.

In addition to the young powerhouses of the Spirit Transformation Realm, Lin Hao also saw many unusual races.

There were members of the Celestial Fox Race, scantily clad and alluring, with multiple tails swaying behind them. There were also members of the Celestial Feather Race, bearing pure white wings and sacred expressions.

Of course, there were many other races besides these, a great number of which Lin Hao was seeing for the first time.

But they all had one thing in common: not a single one of them was weak!

"Hmm...?"

Lin Hao let out a soft sound of surprise. He had just noticed that the street vendors on both sides of the road were mostly only at the Soul Gathering Realm.

’They must be natives of the Nine Yang Void Realm,’ Lin Hao realized.

With this realization, Lin Hao followed the crowd forward.

The Nine Yang Void Realm was bustling. The streets were an endless river of people, and with so many young prodigies mixed in, Lin Hao didn’t stand out.

Along the streets, he saw a Pill Pavilion, and even a Spiritual Artifact Pavilion.

"Brother Zhou, did you hear? They say Immortal Fairy Huangfu from the Upper Realm has descended," Lin Hao suddenly overheard someone say up ahead.

"Her? She’s not the only one. Many have come from the Upper Realm. Even the God and Demon races sent their people."

"I wonder what’s going on."

"I hear they all came for Lin Hao. After the miracle he performed in the Divinity Realm, the Upper Realm was never going to just sit back and do nothing."

"Those from the Upper Realm are terrifyingly powerful. I heard no one can even begin to fathom the depths of Immortal Fairy Huangfu’s cultivation. The others must be just as strong. If they decide to cause trouble for Lin Hao, I’m afraid he won’t make it out alive."

"Heh, you think people from the Upper Realm would dirty their own hands after descending? They..."

"Brother Zhou, I’m getting thirsty. Let’s go to the Lingxiao Pavilion for some tea."

The two continued walking as they spoke.

After a moment’s hesitation, Lin Hao followed them.

’The Lingxiao Pavilion is probably a teahouse,’ Lin Hao thought. ’A place like that would be perfect for gathering information.’

Lin Hao was prepared for people from the Upper Realm to be looking for him, but the fact that any one of them possessed such astonishing cultivation put him on high alert.

He followed the pair, and after an uncertain amount of time walking and stopping, they arrived at the Lingxiao Pavilion.

The sight of the Lingxiao Pavilion left Lin Hao stunned.

His guess had been correct—the Lingxiao Pavilion was a teahouse. But its grandeur was such that it surpassed even that of many great sects.