Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

Chapter 123: Chapter 58: Su Jian Did It, Confirmed
True Person Jinghua sped out of the injury sector with Sword Light, charging back into the hall.

His expression was extremely pale with cold severity, as if he were suppressing an immense shock and fury, such that the Shushan disciples present, under his chilling gaze, all involuntarily shifted their own eyes away.

“Ling Yunpo, where is An Zhisu?” True Person Jinghua said in a frosty voice, which was completely devoid of any warmth.

“They have not returned yet,” Lin Duanshan stepped forward with a clasped hand salute and said, “True Person, the disciples from Wutong Peak who went to the injury sector for their trial, have they found any clues?”

“The disciples from Wutong Peak have all perished,” True Person Jinghua coldly stated, “The murderer is none other than Qi Sha True Person Su Jian from Qingluo Peak.”

A tide of noise surged among the Shushan disciples, a mixture of shock and anger, interrupted by Lin Duanshan’s incredulous question:

“Is True Person certain? Please be aware that this hall is the only passage connecting the upper and lower levels, guarded at all times by Shushan disciples. We can guarantee that no one else has passed through here!”

“If the murderer on the upper level is indeed Su Jian, how did he evade the eyes of all of us and quietly descend to this level?”

True Person Jinghua, in extreme anger, laughed derisively:

“I went to the injury sector in search of the missing disciples from Wutong Peak, and saw with my own eyes Su Jian standing amidst the corpses, and he even exchanged several blows with me… Lin Duanshan, are you doubting my words?”

Lin Duanshan was lost for words, and the Shushan disciples around him fell silent as well.

No one had anticipated that Su Jian would indeed be the one who had acted, let alone confirmed personally by True Person Jinghua!

“Listen well, all of you!” True Person Jinghua shouted, “The trial in the Demon Locking Tower is hereby canceled on short notice, and I will take full responsibility!”

“Everyone is to leave the tower with me immediately! If there is any lead on Ling Yunpo or An Zhisu, report at once!”

As he spoke, he seemed to recall something else and angrily demanded:

“Has anyone seen Zhang Tian, the Chief Disciple from Kunlun?”

Before his words could fade, as if timing his entrance, Zhang Tian appeared from the doorway behind and gave True Person Jinghua a bow.

Following that, all of the Shushan disciples, including True Person Jinghua, displayed expressions of shock.

Elsewhere, Ling Yunpo activated the Godspeed Talisman of the vast water veins and was transported with An Zhisu to another water source.

The moment they opened their eyes, they were met with immense water pressure.

It was unknown how many thousands of meters beneath the sea this environment was, where the light was faint, visibility extremely low and the water temperature exceedingly cold, a frigid pain as if diseased bone marrow was being pressed upon from all directions.

Before they could stabilize themselves, a pair of huge golden vertical pupils suddenly emerged from the darkness ahead.

Then another pair of golden pupils appeared, followed by the ferocious head of a Jiaolong covered in scales and tentacles.

Two enormous Jiaolongs from the depths of the sea.

Ling Yunpo held his breath, aware that these aquatic dragon species were different from human cultivators, naturally possessing extremely formidable strength.

Their initial form is the “Water Viper,” roughly equivalent in power to a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Refining Mansion stage; their evolved form is the “Jiaolong,” which possesses the strength of the Golden Core Realm Soul Storing Rank.

Had it been any other Refining Mansion stage cultivator without the Golden Core Realm, they probably couldn’t even penetrate a Jiaolong’s scales.

But Ling Yunpo, after all, had practiced the North Pole Thunder as Zhang Tian, a thunder specifically effective against the Dragon Clan, thus against the Golden Core Realm Jiaolong, he wasn’t completely without the power to fight back.

However…

His hands concealed within his sleeves clenched the Godspeed Talisman in silence.

It would not activate.

This damned Talisman Script, after multiple teleportation jumps, had already exhausted its Water System Spiritual Power! It needed to be charged with Ren Gui Water Essence.

This charging process would consume who knows how much time…

As they braced themselves for battle, they heard the Jiaolong on the right suddenly opening its mouth, astonishingly speaking in human language, threateningly saying:

“Human cultivators, how did you come to this place? Confess honestly, and you may be spared…”

The Jiaolong on the left, unwilling to show weakness, growled:

“Let me eat them first!”

The Jiaolong on the right, with wide-open eyes, turned to its companion and said:

“You mustn’t act on a whim just for the sake of your appetite! Blood-food can be found elsewhere, but we must find out why human cultivators are here! There’s only one entrance to this sea area, they couldn’t have slipped past the guard undetected, so they must have come from where that one is imprisoned. We need to find out how they got there…”

The Jiaolong on the left feigned an epiphany and howled:

“Then I’ll eat them first!”

It opened its bloody maw wide, unable to restrain itself, and charged straight at them!

Ling Yunpo and An Zhisu had been on high alert, and they immediately aimed at the head of this Jiaolong, firing Thunderbane and Frostfall Swords.

To make sure, Ling Yunpo, while shooting the Thunder Punishment Sword, pretended to invoke Sword Dao Techniques, but in fact, he flung the Polar Thunder along with it.

Two sword lights, one gold and one white, dazzlingly bright, shot straight into the Jiaolong’s mouth.

The Jiaolong, unafraid, relying on its sufficiently sharp teeth, aimed to snap these low-realm human cultivators’ Flying Swords in one bite.

But before it could close its mouth, it experienced an exceedingly harsh cold aura from the Polar Thunder, and an innate sense of dire crisis emerged, startling it into retracting its head. It was too late to dodge, and its dragon head was struck by the Polar Thunder, exploding into a bloody mess.

Not only that, the frosty and harsh thunder continued to pour into its wound madly, causing the Jiaolong to thrash in pain, nearly losing the ability to maintain its sanity, as it went berserk.

An Zhisu moved her fingers through the Sword technique, piercing the Frostfall Sword into the wound. While infusing Sword Qi, she cleanly withdrew it.

In the moment of withdrawal, it got hit by a breath of cold air from the Jiaolong beside it, freezing over half the body of the sword.

An Zhisu’s body trembled slightly, clearly because the Frostfall Sword had been invaded by a higher grade cold air and was damaged. The connection through her Life-bound Sword Artifact caused her to suffer considerable injuries as well.

However, her combat experience was indeed extensive; behind her risky behavior was a well-calculated plan.

Using the Frostfall Sword as bait to lure the Jiaolong to turn its head, she shot another ray of cold light from her sleeve lightning-fast, as swift as electricity, as bright as frost and snow, ruthlessly stabbing into the golden vertical pupils of the Jiaolong!

This Jiaolong, living in the Demon Locking Tower for years, was experienced in dealing with its similar-sized kind but had no experience whatsoever in fighting human cultivators. Instantly hit hard, the entire dragon went berserk, ready to unleash all sorts of divine skills in a furious assault. However, it heard An Zhisu chanting swiftly:

“Ice depths three feet, snow covers ten thousand miles!”

In a blink, a multitude of frost blossoms sprang out of nowhere on the Jiaolong’s body, spreading rapidly over its scales.

Taking advantage of one Jiaolong’s rampage from the Polar Thunder and the other being stabbed in the golden eye and temporarily restrained by the frost Daoist magic, An Zhisu quickly pulled Ling Yunpo away. Both of them sped up, riding the sword light to flee frantically.

After a short while, distant, intense dragon roars resonated. Its volume was so thunderous that it could pierce metal and split stones, causing the surrounding seawater to tremble.

If the two were a bit slower, they would have been caught in the Jiaolong’s divine skills and demon arts.

“Senior sister,” Ling Yunpo hurriedly checked An Zhisu’s condition.

Fortunately, though she was pale, she hadn’t lost color entirely; presumably, a slight chill had entered her body, which should not impede their further actions.

Thus, Ling Yunpo continued to stimulate True Yuan, secretly coordinating with the Water System Divine Light in his Qi Sea, fueling the talisman at full speed.

This Godspeed Talisman, fortunately, could leap as long as there was water, unfettered by any spatial obstacles.

The drawback was that the landing point couldn’t be chosen at will… Of course, at that moment, they didn’t really have other options.

If they didn’t use the talisman, the two of them wouldn’t get far before being caught and killed by the two Jiaolong.

They had to finish charging quickly and then escape with the talisman!

However, senior sister had seemingly used another Immortal Sword besides the Frostfall Sword just now.

It seemed to be… Master’s Harsh Cold Sword?