Ning Fa's eyes widened slightly as he took a closer look.
He saw a total of five cultivators attacking another person.
Among these five Nascent Soul cultivators, three were old acquaintances of his.
There was a handsome man in black armor, Sikong Yuanlie.
Although he still had several wrinkles on his face, he looked much better compared to when they were at Sun Peak.
It was clear that the life force he had expended by activating that Mysterious Light Magic Gourd had recovered somewhat.
Another was a pale young man in scholarly robes, Sikong Zhibo, who was at the early Nascent Soul stage.
The third was a middle-aged man in a dark green robe, enveloped by swirling green winds, exuding an imposing aura. He was none other than True Lord Fenglong, the leader of the Ascension Alliance.
Besides these three, there was also a white-haired, yet beautiful woman in a white dress, at the early Nascent Soul stage.
And finally, a stout man with a ruddy complexion, dressed in fine clothes, was at the mid Nascent Soul stage.
These five Nascent Soul cultivators—three mid-stage and two early-stage—and considering that Sikong Yuanlie and True Lord Fenglong were not ordinary mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, their lineup was exceptionally strong.
Yet, even with their combined might, they couldn't defeat their opponent.
The one being attacked was a handsome and dashing young man in a black long shirt.
He was protected by a peculiar black ring of light, which seemed to possess immense power.
The various Magic Treasures and Divine Abilities hurled by the other five could not break through this black ring. Instead, they were repeatedly repelled as if struck by a powerful force, their spiritual light flashing wildly as they flew back.
Ning Fa, watching from a distance, felt a chill run down his spine. This young man in the black shirt was actually a late Nascent Soul Great Cultivator!
And judging by his ability to withstand the attacks of these five Nascent Soul cultivators, even suppressing several of them, he was likely no ordinary Great Cultivator.
What Ning Fa found strange, however, was that although he had never met this young man in the black shirt before, he felt a sense of familiarity from him.
Ning Fa soon noticed that the young man's condition seemed unstable.
Approximately every hundred breaths or so, the spiritual pressure emanating from him would drop drastically, reducing him to the level of a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.
At such times, he would quickly descend into the Array Formation below.
It was then that Sikong Yuanlie and the others seemed to seize the opportunity, unleashing a barrage of Magic Treasures and Divine Abilities onto the five-colored light barrier above the Array Formation.
After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the young man in the black shirt would fly out of the Array Formation again.
His spiritual pressure would then recover to the powerful late Nascent Soul level, allowing him to suppress Sikong Yuanlie and the other four once more.
At this point, Sikong Yuanlie and the others would not rush to attack, but instead, they would engage him defensively, seemingly focused on wearing him down.
After this back-and-forth occurred twice, Ning Fa finally understood.
It was evident that the young man's condition was unstable, requiring him to replenish his spiritual power from the Array Formation from time to time.
But what was strange was that this Array Formation was clearly a protective Barrier of the Great Cultivator's Cave Mansion. Why could this young man in the black shirt use it to recover his strength?
Was he the master of this place?
Or perhaps that Great Cultivator was still alive?
This thought surprised Ning Fa greatly.
After all, according to Shang Yang's Soul Searching, that Great Cultivator had arrived at the Nine Dragons Sea over three thousand years ago. Even if he had advanced to Spirit Transformation, he should have perished by now.
Just then, Ning Fa's expression suddenly changed.
He noticed a stir from Hei Yu in his Storage Ring. Through their mental connection, a voice, filled with excitement, fear, and hesitation, reached him:
"Young Master, I feel a very familiar aura from that person. He... he should also be a Heavenly Puppet."
"What! This person is also a Heavenly Puppet!" Upon hearing Hei Yu's words, Ning Fa could no longer hide his shock.
No wonder he felt a sense of familiarity the moment he saw the young man in the black shirt. So, the other party was also a Heavenly Puppet!
Furthermore, his cultivation had reached the late Nascent Soul stage. Such a high-grade Heavenly Puppet was truly incredible.
After all, Ning Fa knew firsthand how difficult it was for a Heavenly Puppet to reach such a level, no less challenging than for a normal human cultivator to advance to Great Cultivator.
Ning Fa immediately surmised that this late Fourth-grade Heavenly Puppet was likely left behind by that Great Cultivator to guard the Cave Mansion, which was why he could replenish his spiritual power through the Array Formation.
If that were the case, then that Great Cultivator had clearly also cultivated the Heavenly Puppet Treasure Scripture.
This made Ning Fa even more curious, as he already knew that the Heavenly Puppet Treasure Scripture was passed down by the Blood Heaven Sect.
And that Great Cultivator came from the Tianwu Continent. So how did he learn the Heavenly Puppet Treasure Scripture?
With this thought, Ning Fa became even more intrigued by the Great Cultivator's Cave Mansion.
For now, he didn't intend to act rashly. It was the perfect opportunity to sit back and watch the fight, letting both sides weaken each other first.
At that moment, Ning Fa's expression shifted again, and he turned to look at a seemingly inconspicuous corner of the Underground Hall.
The area appeared empty. As Ning Fa activated the Moon God Heart, a faint white light flashed in his eyes, and he immediately detected something unusual.
There, he could faintly discern a figure lurking.
To avoid alerting the person, Ning Fa didn't probe too deeply, so he was unaware of their specific cultivation level.
However, it was clear that this person had the same intention as him: to wait and see what happened.
From this perspective, this person's cultivation is definitely not weak.
Ning Fa's eyes flickered slightly, and he had some guesses about this person's identity.
This person was very likely from the Cangliu Sect.
Because Shang Yang had also informed the Cangliu Sect spy he was in contact with about this matter, it was highly probable that the Cangliu Sect had also sent someone to interfere.
Ning Fa thought to himself, it seemed that obtaining the treasures hidden within this Great Cultivator's cave mansion would not be so easy.
His thoughts raced as he devised a plan to make the two factions fight more fiercely, so he could make a move amidst the chaos.
But just then, the black halo around the young man in black suddenly vibrated, repelling several magic treasures that were attacking him.
At this moment, he raised his right hand, and a sharp, circular black energy blade rapidly formed.
Upon seeing this, Sikong Yuanlie and the others were instantly startled and quickly retreated far away, clearly having suffered from this move by the young man in black before.
With a loud hum, the black blade energy shot out violently.
However, to everyone's great surprise, the black blade energy actually drew an arc, bizarrely changing direction and flying towards a certain spot.
With a sound of wind and thunder, a giant palm formed from silver lightning fiercely struck towards the black blade energy.
The black and silver spiritual lights flashed brightly, and then both vanished.
Immediately after, a figure appeared with a flash of light nearby.
It was Ning Fa.
At this moment, he was looking at the black-clothed youth, who was suspected to be a Heavenly Puppet, with a look of surprise, not expecting his Moon Concealment Technique to be seen through.
At this time, Sikong Yuanlie and the other four no longer cared about attacking; they were all stunned.
Especially when they clearly saw that the person who suddenly appeared was Ning Fa, the expressions on the faces of Sikong Yuanlie, Sikong Zhibo, and True Lord Fenglong became even more complex.
Sikong Yuanlie's eyes were filled with shock, hatred, and fear.
True Lord Fenglong, on the other hand, was furious.
After all, the treasure vault of the Ascension Alliance, Hidden Dragon Island, had been largely plundered by Ning Fa before.
And many of those treasures were collected by True Lord Fenglong with great effort, which caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood in anger when he learned the news.
Even though the chances were slim and his injuries had not recovered after escaping from Zi Xu Palace, he still ventured deep into the Arid Sea to find Ning Fa based on Sikong Jing's clues.
It could be said that his hatred for Ning Fa was no less than Sikong Yuanlie's.
He stared intently at Ning Fa, with fierce green wind blades swirling around him, and said with a sinister grin, "Brat, you actually dare to come back! Feng will definitely tear your soul and refine your spirit today, otherwise, I cannot quell the hatred in my heart!"
Although True Lord Fenglong had noticed that Ning Fa had already advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, in his opinion, this new Nascent Soul cultivator Ning Fa was definitely no match for him.
But Sikong Yuanlie, who was beside him, pulled him back.
Although his expression was still relatively calm, the deep-seated hatred for Ning Fa in his eyes could not be concealed.
After all, during the battle at Sun Peak, Sikong Hao, a promising Fourth-grade Body Cultivator from the family, had died tragically at Ning Fa's hands.
Sikong Jing, who also had the potential to advance to Great Cultivator, had her physical body destroyed by Ning Fa, forcing her Nascent Soul to flee.
Although she had re-possessed a new body, it was almost impossible for her to break through to the late stage in the future.
He himself had also consumed a large amount of his vitality by forcibly activating the Spiritual Treasure Mysterious Light Magic Gourd, and his hope of advancing to the late stage in the future was also slim.
It could be said that Ning Fa alone had brought an immeasurable and enormous loss to the Sikong family.
Therefore, when they returned, the Sikong family was furious and intended to gather their experts to go to the Five Spirits Sea to capture Ning Fa.
But at this time, the Heavenly Evolution Sect had already come to demand an explanation first.
Because Sikong Yuanlie had instigated Sun Xiong to betray them and collude with the demon cultivators, although the purpose was to deal with Ning Fa, in fact, it was tantamount to treason against humanity, and it had almost caused the Heavenly Evolution Sect to be unable to defend the Sky Furnace Fire Marsh.
Although Sun Xiong was dead and irrefutable evidence could not be obtained, the Heavenly Evolution Sect still sent an envoy to the Sikong family, demanding an explanation in strong terms.
It should be known that the Heavenly Evolution Sect was undoubtedly the third largest sect among the nine major sects of the Tianshu Alliance, with its strength second only to Taichu Gate and Pure Sword Monastery.
The sect had four Great Cultivators and twenty to thirty Nascent Soul elders, making its strength far greater than the Sikong family.
Only the Xiao family, the foremost aristocratic family in the entire Yuanshou Ancestral Court, could be compared to it.
Furthermore, the Heavenly Evolution Sect had always been very overbearing and domineering in its conduct, often disregarding even Taichu Gate and Pure Sword Monastery.
And they acted unpredictably, truly capable of launching an attack on the Sikong family's territory.
Therefore, the Heavenly Evolution Sect's demand for an explanation was very oppressive. In the end, the Sikong family refused to admit anything, and with the intervention of the Xiao family, the Sikong family compensated a batch of spiritual materials and resources, which finally settled the matter.
However, before the envoy from the Heavenly Evolution Sect left, they warned the Sikong family.
Ning Fa was an elder of a force under the Heavenly Evolution Sect and had made great contributions in the battle of Sky Furnace Fire Marsh. If the Sikong family dared to harm Ning Fa, the Heavenly Evolution Sect would definitely not stand by and do nothing.
Since the Heavenly Evolution Sect had said so, although the Sikong family hated them to the bone, they could only abandon the plan to gather their forces and go to the Five Spirits Sea to cause trouble for Ning Fa.