“Nian Qi did not manage to last three moves against that person. At that time, I was scared out of my wits and my mind was filled with nothing but Nian Qi’s voice asking me to escape.”

Little crane’s eyes were filled with guilt and self-blame as she said with a slumped head, “I know that I’m very weak for not choosing to fight alongside Nian Qi. However, I truly could not muster any courage in the face of those people.”

“The only thought on my mind as I escaped frantically was to look for you and inform you about this! However, I did not escape far before I landed in the hands of the Rainbow Wolf Spiders.”

The spirit tiger consoled hurriedly, “It’s not your fault. You can’t defeat them either. I would have escaped too if I was in your shoes.”

Su Zimo patted little crane on the back of her palm. “You did the right thing. If you fought those people recklessly, you would have only lost your life for nothing.”

“Furthermore, it’s lucky that you escaped. Otherwise, I would not have found out what happened to you guys either.”

Little crane’s expression was slightly relieved.

After a moment of silence, Su Zimo asked, “Did they hurt Nian Qi?”

“No.”

Little crane shook her head. “Their leader merely wanted to capture Nian Qi alive. He mentioned something about returning to the elders for punishment but I didn’t hear anything more,”

At that point, little crane sighed again. “The reason why I escaped wasn’t because they couldn’t catch up to me. It was because they could not be bothered with me at all. I’ll never forget the way they looked at me, it was as though I was an ant.”

Who would care about letting an ant go?

Su Zimo pondered for a moment before suddenly asking, “What did they look like?”

Little crane replied, “The seven of them wore extremely ancient costumes. All of them had golden hair, blue eyes, straight, high noses and were extremely good-looking. It’s easy to recognize them.”

The mention of that had Su Zimo’s heart skipping a beat.

Nian Qi’s appearance did resemble them somewhat.

In the battle at Ethereal Peak, Nian Qi once released her potential in a moment of desperation and her strength exploded.

Her initially withered yellow hair turned straight and danced with a golden shade as well. Her eyes were blue and her aura was peerless, resembling a dignified divine being!

Nian Qi’s background definitely had something to do with these guys!

However, Su Zimo could not identify where they were from exactly.

He had a vague guess in his heart.

“Judging from their behavior, I don’t think Nian Qi’s life is in danger for the time being,”

Su Zimo looked at the worried little crane and said gently, “Don’t worry, leave this to me.”

“Yes,”

Little crane nodded.

If there was anybody in the ancient battlefield who could save Nian Qi, it would have to be Su Zimo.

“Let’s leave this place first and look elsewhere to rest,”

Monkey, the spirit tiger and Golden Lion were injured. Although they consumed quite a bit of elixirs, it would take them a few days to recover completely.

For the next few days, Su Zimo and the others did not rush to travel and rested in a cave.

They were already in the ancient battlefield for more than a month.

The rich spirit qi coupled with the massive battle and fights they encountered trigged Su Zimo’s Golden Core realm – he finally sensed the opportunity for a breakthrough!

In his dantian, a golden dazzling core revolved slowly above the Saraca Flower.

The Golden Core’s aura was slightly complicated.

It had the aura of immortals as well as fiends.

The two auras were supposed to oppose one another. However, there was an aura of the Buddhist sects in the Golden Core that created a harmony to combine the immortal and fiend auras completely.

Su Zimo assumed a lotus position with his eyes closed and his black hair danced on its own.

On the left, water mists rose and the phantom of a Divine Turtle appeared.

On the right, flames blazed and the phantom of a Soaring Serpent descended.

Gradually, as time passed, the aura within Su Zimo’s body intensified.

It continued until… fire and water fused and the turtle and serpent intertwined!

The entire void quaked for a moment!

A shuddering aura emanated from Su Zimo’s body, spreading through the hole like a ripple.

Monkey and the others were alarmed and ran outside, watching from the entrance of the cave.

Everywhere the ripple extended, rocks and sand disintegrated into emptiness!

It was as though the entire cave was sliced by a sharp knife!

Bang! Boom! Boom!

The mountain itself trembled.

The mountains were tumbling and the ground was disintegrating!

Boom!

There seemed to be a loud explosion within Su Zimo’s body.

Two divine lights appeared in the cave.

Su Zimo opened his eyes and jolted upright, roaring into the skies!

His roar was resounding and penetrated metal and rock!

Right in front of monkey and the others, an air current exited from Su Zimo’s mouth like a flying sword, bursting the ceiling above!

His breath was like a sword!

That level was beyond the limits of a Golden Core!

Success!

At this point, Su Zimo was at perfected Golden Core!

A step further and he would advance into Nascent Soul realm, cultivating the legendary Essence Spirit and gaining control of Dharmic powers!

His cultivation speed was not considered as the best.

However, given the fact that he could reach this stage with his immortality and demonic cultivation, it was quite a rare feat.

Su Zimo’s Golden Core faded gradually. He reined in his aura and tranquility returned to the cave.

Monkey and the others had also attained breakthroughs in their cultivation realms in the past few days and were almost all at perfected Inner Core realm.

The flesh they consumed by being with Su Zimo was filled with the richest lifeforce essences. Coupled with the countless elixirs, it was only logical that they would reach this stage of cultivation.

Little crane was still slightly dejected for the past few days.

It wasn’t merely out of concern for Nian Qi. More than that, it was also the news of her kin’s demise.

Su Zimo could empathize with her emotions.

The spirit tiger accompanied little crane day and night, trying his best to come up with ways to cheer her up but to no avail.

This day, the spirit tiger seemed to have thought of something and rushed in front of everyone excitedly, yelling, “Hey, hey! I’ve got a suggestion…”

After a brief pause, the spirit tiger took a deep breath and said solemnly, “Let’s become sworn siblings.”

“Sworn siblings?”

Monkey’s eyes lit up.

The group of them had an extremely deep relationship to begin with.

Although the Golden Lion and little fox joined later on, they had already integrated themselves into the group with their recent interactions.

Furthermore, be it little fox or the Golden Lion, both of them had gained everyone’s acknowledgment after the battle at the ancient city.

The Golden Lion was naturally delighted.

Little fox was not going to decline.

She had even more reason to follow along Su Zimo after being sworn siblings.

When she heard that, little crane perked up and there was a little more life in the way she looked at monkey, the spirit tiger and everyone else.

Su Zimo nodded silently.

Although the spirit tiger seemed crude and brutish, this was a decent suggestion.

The reason why little crane was upset was because she had lost a kin. But after they become sworn siblings, she would gain a few more kin!

After pondering for a moment, monkey looked at Su Zimo and said with slight hesitance, “Don’t join in. You’re a human after all. If you become sworn siblings with us, you’ll definitely get into trouble in the future.”

“Hahahaha!”

Su Zimo roared into laughter. “Monkey, do I look like someone so cowardly? It’s true that I’m a human, but I insist on being sworn siblings with you guys. No matter the amount of trouble, I’ll take it all on!”

“Alright, let’s do it then!”

Monkey was invigorated as well.

“Sure!”

The spirit tiger cheered.

At that moment, no one realized that this seemingly casual ceremony of being sworn siblings in a corner of the ancient battlefield would end up dictating the state of Tianhuang Mainland’s future to a certain degree!