A tense feeling pervades the surroundings of the two people who are scrutinizing each other. s.h.i.+n Jiao was suddenly frozen in shock and fear as he immediately realized that the man in front of him is a very powerful existence. To say that this man can pinch him like an ant is an overpraising is utterly untrue. s.h.i.+n Jiao is already familiar with the aura of a nascent realm cultivator, and this man has a far more imposing aura. So it's either he is in the world nascent or heavenly nascent realm, but either of this is a piece of bad news for him.

The man too was shocked upon seeing s.h.i.+n Jiao. Although right now, he still could not use his full cultivation because of the aura suppression that still lingers. Still, he is able to perceive the aura surrounding s.h.i.+n Jiao. And because of this, he was shocked, as he could not believe that s.h.i.+n Jiao's body contains the natural energy and spiritual Qi at the same time. He actually only noticed it because he looks closely at the young man's aura. But if he just took a glance at him he actually could not perceive any aura at all, which means he is a mortal in a sense.

"Who are you? What are you doing in this place?" the blue robe man suddenly asked s.h.i.+n Jiao with an angry tone.

Right now the blue-robed man is feeling irritated as he could not understand what had happened at the pure essence. But looking at s.h.i.+n Jiao he is sure that the young man in front of him is unable to contain that essence as he could not feel it from within the young man's dantian.

With the blue robe man's tone, s.h.i.+n Jiao also felt a little irritated, although the man has a very high cultivation level however if s.h.i.+n Jiao would give it his all there is no telling who would win. With s.h.i.+n Jiao's rich experience in battle, he is confident of his own martial arts skills. Although in this world not only martial arts exist but most cultivators would focus themselves in cultivation arts, which is more powerful as many would consider martial arts techniques as superficial and only practiced by mortals.

"Who I am is of no concern to you. You are the one who intrudes this place and I was here first." s.h.i.+n Jiao said in annoyance and in a sarcastic tone as s.h.i.+n Jiao is confident because he knows that the man's cultivation is suppressed.

He didn't mind showing some of his skills in this place, and no one except the two of them is in this room. If worst comes to worst he could just fight it out and see the limit of his improved physique. That way he could gauge himself against a real power foe.

"You little... Who do you think you are? To speak with disrespect to this senior... are you courting death? You are just an ant in my eyes." The blue-robed man shouted in anger but since he is still unsure of what the situation is he would not act against the young man.

"Haha, senior from where I came from, respect is earned and not demanded." s.h.i.+n Jiao laughed at the man's arrogance and demand for respect.

"You… you arrogant puny ant, I Shanguan Lao will now teach you some lesson in manners on behalf of your parents!" The blue-robed man shouted, he is already agitated by the loss of the pure essence aura and from the exchange of words they had a while ago, and now he is faced with arrogant answers of the mortal freak, so it's not that hard to understand his reaction.

So with his temper erupting, the robed man could not control himself anymore and madly rushed at s.h.i.+n Jiao wanting to punch him into a pulp. Seeing this, s.h.i.+n Jiao was truly dumbfounded; he didn't think that a senior like this would stoop down and fight with him and would quickly lose his temper with just a couple of exchange in words.

"This world is really without a sense. Even people with high cultivation like this guy are like uncouth monkeys." s.h.i.+n Jiao thought to himself as he looks at the fast-approaching man in disdain.

Because of the suppression, Shanguan Lao is unable to use his cultivation arts so he decided to just rely on his brute force and body which is in the nascent realm. Although world nascent cultivators are more powerful than those in the nascent realms, nonetheless with regards to their physique they are still equal. The only difference between them is that those in the world nascent realms have some grasped on enlightenment with regards to the Dao laws of the world. With these attainments in the Dao laws, nascent world cultivators are far more powerful and superior beings than that of a regular nascent cultivator.

Also, one thing that sets them apart other realms is that world nascent realms cultivators can perceive and manipulate the natural element beside the spiritual Qi they have in their bodies. But they cannot cultivate the natural energies as they are unable to hold natural energies in their dantian.

Bang!

Shanguan Lao struck the wall which immediately caved in and shattered with his power. But to his utter surprise, s.h.i.+n Jiao was not hurt and had just tilted his head sideways evading that strong punch. s.h.i.+n Jiao suddenly moved and delivered a counter with a hand chop towards Shanguan Lao's hip.

Shanguan Lao is a veteran like s.h.i.+n Jiao when it comes to battles. Although he spends his time cultivating but with his hundreds of years of experience, he can be considered as a master. At this time he already perceived what s.h.i.+n Jiao's aim is. Upon knowing this he sneered in his heart as a disdain expression appears in his face. He suddenly sidestepped and lowered one of his hands to block the incoming chop.

Thump!

Suddenly he felt a throbbing pain in his arm, and it seems that one of his arm bone is cracked. Now, this situation quickly made Shanguan Lao realized something and felt a little scared. Since becoming a world nascent realm cultivator, he can only count in his hands those people who can injure him. And right now, this young man is actually one of them.

But before he could regain his breathing and fighting stance, s.h.i.+n Jiao suddenly made his move. He quickly clenched his fist and instantly throws out a couple of succeeding blows towards Shanguan Lao's body. Each of these strikes is with precision towards many of his target's vital spots making Shanguan Lao frantically defends his body as every fist from s.h.i.+n Jiao carries an imposing aura of a nascent realm expert.

"This man is really tough, he can even defend his body with my combo moves. But I guess his left shoulder and right rib would be in pain right now. Hehe…" s.h.i.+n Jiao was astonished and thought, but then suddenly he smiled.

Taking a few steps back, Shanguan Lao suddenly groans in pain as he realized that his left shoulder and the right side of his body began to throb in pain. This made him really shocked at the damage he has taken, and also at the skill that s.h.i.+n Jiao showed. In just a couple of blows, he suddenly was in a disadvantage.

But he didn't give up and reign on the pain he is feeling and quickly composed himself. As an expert, he can rapidly heal those wounds. But he didn't wait for them to heal completely as he rushed back and attacked s.h.i.+n Jiao. And this time he uses the basic foot technique. Shanguan Lao delivers a powerful sidekick towards s.h.i.+n Jiao, who stepped back evading that attack. s.h.i.+n Jiao immediately wanted to counter by lowering his elbow to hit the leg rus.h.i.+ng past his side. But all of a sudden he noticed Shanguan Lao twisting his body to make his other leg do a dropkick towards his head. Upon seeing this and with a quick-thinking, s.h.i.+n Jiao immediately raises his arm to defend against this powerful move. As Shanguan Lao's foot and s.h.i.+n Jiao's arms made contact, s.h.i.+n Jiao immediately diverted the energy from the impact to his other arm which quickly shots out towards Shanguan Lao's chest.

Seeing this quick counter-attack, if Shanguan Lao didn't cross his hands this blow would surely break his chest bone. So he gritted his teeth and crossed his arms in front of his body to defend. The force from that blow made some cracking sound coming from both of Shanguan Lao's arms. Although it was not a fatal hit, yet the impact forces him to move back a couple of steps.

With those powerful quick moves, he can't imagine the prospect of the young man in front of him. He suddenly thought that what if the young man in front of him reaches his realm? To say that he would become unstoppable would be an understatement.

Although Shanguan Lao received some damages, to say that he didn't learn something from the exchange would be a lie. As of right now, his mind is still churning as the picture of those moves replays in his head.

The two had already exchanged a couple of moves but they didn't notice that their surroundings are already full of shattered ice and broken walls. Though those are just simple moves, yet the power they contain is enough to blow a gold core realm expert into a pulp.

This is what amazed Shanguan Lao, but he would not show this in front of the young man as his pride won't let him in stooping down.

"Enough! I agree that you are physically stronger than me. But once this restriction will be lifted, do you think you can best me? Even if you go all out I can still defend from your attacks, and once I use my weapons then you are finished. I actually admire young people like you who are strong and courageous. So, I advise you to give up and take out the things that you got in this place." Shanguan Lao shamelessly advised s.h.i.+n Jiao with an added threat.

This time s.h.i.+n Jiao actually heave a sigh of relief as he knows that the man is telling the truth. If he drags the fight further, he would surely lose. If he decides to run outside, it would be more advantageous for the man. If he stays then surely they would battle for some time and life and death can be decided but s.h.i.+n Jiao would rather compromise. As he knows that this time his strength is truly not enough to contend with such a powerful enemy.

"Senior, look at me... Do I look like someone who is carrying some important things that this senior would be interested in?" s.h.i.+n Jiao replied as he waves his hands and turns around, showing that he doesn't carry anything and that the man could check him out.

Shanguan Lao suddenly frowns as he scrutinized s.h.i.+n Jiao's body. Then his gaze went to the ring on his thumb, when s.h.i.+n Jiao saw this he sneered in his heart. He already put an advance rune in the ring which would make it into just an ordinary metal ring, and only his unique spiritual code can open and access it. And truly according to his prediction, Shanguan Lao really didn't look further.

"Plus as what you've said earlier, I am just a mortal freak. I have a very strong physique but I am not a cultivator." s.h.i.+n Jiao explained further.

"Oh, really?" Shanguan Lao suddenly had a shocked expression on his face.

He didn't expect to discover a strange mortal in this place. But then knowing that s.h.i.+n Jiao is just a unique mortal, his interest in him dwindled, as mortals held a lower status in many cultivator's eyes. So he didn't push further questioning and just inquire about the place.

"Then do you know what happened here?" Shanguan Lao asked still doubtful of s.h.i.+n Jiao.

"Well, the truth is I actually saw an object a while ago, but suddenly it vanished into thin air after its aura struck me flying into that wall. I didn't notice anything after that as I actually pa.s.sed out because of that hit." s.h.i.+n Jiao said calmly as if the whole thing he just said is what really happened while pointing at a hole in the dirt wall.

As a spy and a researcher he already mastered the skill to control his facial muscles and emotion when talking about something, especially when it involves his safety.

"Hmm… is this another event where an essence didn't choose its master." Shanguan Lao muttered.

"What do you mean senior?" s.h.i.+n Jiao asked in confusion.

"Nothing, it's just your bad luck to have not attained that thing. By the way, what's the color of the thing that you saw?" Shanguan Lao asked casually.

"Well… I think it was glowing green. I'm not too sure though." s.h.i.+n Jiao said as if having a hard time recalling something.

"WHAT! Is it a bead? A green bead?" Shanguan Lao said seemingly in panic.

"Umm… kind of, I'm not really sure as everything happened too quickly." s.h.i.+n Jiao answered as if really confused.

"s.h.i.+t! s.h.i.+t! I was too late. That is a pure plant essence, one of the rarest pure essences. If what you're saying is true then that bead is still here and is in hiding. A few thousand years ago this same thing happened… What should I do? What should I do?" Shanguan Lao is in panic as he paces back and forth.

Then suddenly he stopped as if coming to a decision in his mind.

"You! Do not speak of this matter outside if you want to keep your puny life." Shanguan Lao said as he suddenly turns around and jumps up at the hole where he fell.

After a while, as s.h.i.+n Jiao is sure that he is unable to sense the presence of Shanguan Lao anymore, he suddenly sat on the ground and heave a sigh of relief. His hands and body are still shaking and throbbing pain can still be felt from all over his body.

"World nascent cultivators are really scary. Although it looks like I was at the advantage in that fight, if it drags on for a while I would surely lose." s.h.i.+n Jiao thought of his little luck as the man in a blue robe is not a bloodthirsty person.

Then he scans his body if ever he received some damage and calm down when he found that he is fine. But before he could retract his spiritual sense, s.h.i.+n Jiao noticed a faint trace of spiritual mark on him. The mark is in his left arm hiding just between the skin and his tissue muscles. If his spiritual sense is not that strong then he would never have found that mark, and would surely fall in the hands of the blue-robed man.

"That is one crafty old fellow. But he still underestimated me… I think it's time to get out of here." s.h.i.+n Jiao said to himself.

He is not worried about the mark as he can just remove it any time he wanted.

...

Meanwhile, in the outskirts of the swamp, a figure of a beautiful woman slowly drags herself out of the ground. This is the area where Qin Lou and the group met and boarded the huge flying sword.

"d.a.m.n this… I never would have thought that this cave would also collapse. Luckily I was able to change myself into my complete human form or else that powerful human cultivator would have killed me." The woman said while patting herself to remove the dirt on her robe.

This woman is Ebeth who was able to escape from her fight with s.h.i.+n Jiao. Although she is successful in escaping yet the range of that low-level teleportation crystal is just enough to take her into the cave which is few kilometers away from the underground room.

"d.a.m.n that human! I swear to find him next time and turn him into shreds!" Ebeth shouted as she slowly walks away from that place.