Zhang Dong looked at his spatial ring and the new white robe that he apparently lifted off a dead man's coffin. If he was in a game he would probably have gotten the grave robber achievement.
He expected to be met with strange gazes after he appeared but there were far too many people here. Not only was the whole Thunderball Hall out here but also some other sect.
This other sect was quite evil-looking. He could see many monsters that looked like centipedes and spiders standing along with these cultivators. Their attacking formations were radiating poisonous and demonic energies as well.
It was clear that while he was busy cultivating this righteous sect had been attacked but the other side. He was far too busy with his cultivation to notice anything that was happening outside. The room he was in was also sealed off so no one noticed him either until he blasted off into the sky.
After reaching that sealed-off room he had hoped to silently breakthrough. The plan was quickly discarded after his cultivation effort became a bit chaotic. To not go crazy from the pain he also hastened his ascension by directly jumping into the eye of the storm.
Now the sky above him was devoid of any lightning energies as he had swallowed it up. It would probably take a while till this area recharges itself and years to get back to the previous levels.
"Ancestor? Was there an ancestor like that? How could one still be alive?"
Suddenly the people started talking. With his appearance, the Thunderball Hall members became chatty while the enemies backed away. Zhang Dong was now radiating energies similar to a powerful Supreme Saint. His cultivation was of his own empire so the people were not quite sure where he stood.
"T-there was one… one of the old ones, the long lost ancestor that suffered a curse of petrification…"
The old man that was talking wiped his mouth from the blood that he had vomited out. It was the Hall Patriarch that was affected by the poison. During Zhang Dong's appearance, he had regained some strength as the Poison Cult leader had stopped using his poison treasure.
"There was a legend the previous Patriarch passed on to me, of our ancestor that gave his life to protect the Hall. The legend stated that he was still somewhere on the sect grounds but the knowledge of where exactly was lost to time…"
Zhang Dong listened to this story and was able to come to a conclusion. This ancestor had died a long time ago but the room he was placed in was probably designed to keep him alive.
Through the ages, it was forgotten and probably the formations hiding his chamber were above the current sect's knowledge. Only legends remained that no one really took seriously, even the ancestor's true name was lost.
"So this is their trump card? An ancestor? Do they think that we were born yesterday? He is only a Supreme Saint at the late stage."
"You are right brother Ying, he is trying to mask his cultivation but it's easy to see through it!"
"Their whole tower was now destroyed, Tengfei is in my grasp. Aid me, brothers. Let us kill that fake ancestor and reap the rewards!"
Zhang Dong could clearly hear what the trio of gloomy cultivators was talking about. His presence was not strong enough for them to just back away. It looked like he would be fighting his way out of it.
There was also an option of running away. These three might not be able to chase after him or even try. That was not something that he would do, he still felt bad about absorbing the lightning storm that belonged to this sect. He would also not leave so many people to just be slaughtered.
"Hold your foul tongue you bastard, you dare offend the great ancestor?"
The Thunderball Hall Patriarch got really feisty after hearing the enemies belittle his so-called 'ancestor'. He was quickly put in his place by the cult leader that activated the treasure. It made the old man vomit up more blood and poison, which was quite a sight.
"Be quiet old man, your deaths are already assured, now my brothers and sisters att…"
"You sure have been talking a lot of shit for someone in slapping distance."
Before the cult leader could finish his speech a booming voice spread out through the whole sect grounds. Zhang Dong finally spoke out which caused all of the demonic and poisonous beasts that this sect brought over to cower in fear.
"What?"
Zhang Dong quickly vanished from his spot in the clouds and appeared before the old man. Tengfei looked like he was close to withering away. His face was purple and he looked very skinny, it was a miracle that he was able to hold on for so long.
"A-ancestor?"
The Hall Patriarch was surrounded by other elders from his sect that were unsure what to do. But they were not even able to react as with one step he appeared right before the dying man.
"Don't talk and let me heal you."
He touched the old man's forehead with his finger that gave out a golden glow. He activated his healing energies that caused his golden core to churn with energy.
The old man's body began glowing in a radiant golden light. This light uncovered many purple-colored spots in his body and forced them outside. He could see this purple miasma being quickly expelled in the form of smoke out of the man's body as he was nourished back to health almost instantly.
"Impossible… my poison…"
The cult leader was taken aback after seeing Zhang Dong cure the old man of his affliction. The whole process of healing was far too fast for a high grade poison.
"What?"
There was also more, the pendant that he used to activate the poison started glowing as well. Soon he found himself throwing it into the air before it burst into tiny fragments, destroyed before his eyes.
"My nine hydra poison pendant, how could it be affected from this far away!"
While the cult leader was shouting out from behind, Zhang Dong inspected the old man in front of him.
"You should be fine now, how do you feel?"
"I feel… I feel great, my hip pain has also gone away…"
The old man stood up on his own two feet and his face looked quite rosy. Zhang Dong was a bit surprised at the potency of his own healing arts. Previously he needed to use needles to insert his holy energies into the correct acupuncture spots but now it seemed that he wouldn't need to do that anymore.
The golden core that he made had all of his healing Dao inside of it. Thanks to it being a whole separate core it wasn't as limited. Then there was his lightning core which looked more similar to the one that he had before he ascended to the nascent soul realm.
It could be just regular lightning as well as golden. There was no drop in power whatsoever and using both at once was also not a problem. Then there was the translucent soul core which was the biggest mystery.
From what he could tell, he could also add it to his lightning attacks. He needed to test it first but he was sure that when he added the soul core he would be able to damage the soul directly.
This would prove quite good against any nascent soul cultivator. They would probably not be able to use their nascent divinity to escape any fights as his attacks would damage it directly. Then there were the phantom and ghost-type enemies that would also not pose a threat.
"Great, then stay here."
Zhang Dong nodded as he could see the patient had recovered. He turned around and looked to the three Supreme Saints in the distance.
"Great Ancestor, let this Tengfei help you!"
With his health being recovered the old man was now also at the level of these three. From what Zhang Dong could tell the was a little bit stronger.
"No need, just protect your sect members, leave the punching bags to me."
"Punching bags, great ancestor?"
Zhang Dong nodded while strutting forward. His body flew forward at a great spread which caused the three cultivators to take out defensive positions.
"Hey you three stooges, let's take this somewhere less populated."
He shouted out while charging forward, the three cultivators reacted by putting up a barrier which was quickly broken by Zhang Dong's charge.
The closest old man was promptly kicked in the stomach and sent flying into the distance. The other two were grasped by the necks and yanked. Soon the three vanished from the area in a matter of seconds leaving both sides stunned. The leftover silence was then broken by the Hall Patriarch.
"What are you doing? Don't you see that we have the Great Ancestor on our side! Defend the sect, their beasts are weakened, their formations are nothing, defend the Hall!"
The old man's shout invigorated the large gathering of lightning cultivators. They just witnessed a powerful ally easily removing the three strongest combatants from the board. This was the best moment for a counterattack.
Everyone nodded and soon they also charged into battle. The charge was led by the Hall Patriarch that now with the disappearance of the sect leaders was the strongest person here. He quickly picked up the trident that he had dropped, even if it was unable to use the tower's might it was still a powerful weapon.
Zhang Dong could hear the shouts behind him and wanted to give out a sigh. He wished to minimize the bloodshed but it seemed that his new friends were still battle-happy cultivators. Even though he would be fine if they just turtled up until he returned they were going on the offensive.
"This should be far enough."
With another kick the middle stooge found himself forming a crater in the ground. The two men that he was holding up by the neck were also thrown to the ground and bounced around it like stringless puppets.
"Hm, maybe I expected a bit more from you three…"
At first, he thought that he was just a little bit stronger than these three but this didn't seem like it was the case. He was still only an early stage core formation cultivator but his might was approaching the nascent soul level.
"You cur, how dare you do this to me… I will eat your soul."
The man that he had kicked repeatedly while flying here finally floated back up into the sky. Previously he was wearing some kind of mask but now it had fallen off and was showing his ghoulish features.
"You sure you don't mean sole? You were eating it quite a bit back there."
"Ying never told me anything about this, if we survive you better pay up."
"I apologize brothers, I did not expect someone like that to be in that sect but together we can kill him!"
The three finally recovered enough to float up around him. They surrounded him in a triangle formation. The ugly demonic cultivators burst forth with evil energies while chanting, it was finally time