The Nine-Aperture Palace was one of the Teleportation Array sites connecting the Lower Realm to the Divine Court, and the one closest to Taicang.
The deadline for inspecting the Lower Realm had arrived. The various Realm Patrol Bureau teams were gathering there, preparing to return to the Heaven Realm and report to the bureau.
They sped along, seas of clouds drifting past as streaks of light crisscrossed their path.
Many Divine Envoys who had likewise gone to inspect the Lower Realm were hurrying toward Nine Aperture Mountain, their teams meeting by chance along the way.
High in the air, the Divine Envoys of the Realm Patrol Bureau exchanged greetings. Their voices held none of the solemnity of a mission drawing to a close, only languor and teasing.
"Did any of you reap anything from this inspection of the Lower Realm?" a fair-faced cultivator asked with a smile, sweeping his gaze over the others.
His words instantly drew a chorus of derisive laughter.
"Reap anything? What was there to reap?"
A cultivator in silver-patterned robes rolled his eyes, his voice thick with impatience. "To put it bluntly, we were just indulging the Fire God Hall's pointless fuss. Instead of cultivating peacefully in the Heaven Realm, we came down to wander aimlessly through the Lower Realm's wild mountains. Nothing but making trouble for ourselves."
Another chimed in, his tone dripping with scorn. "Exactly. The Lower Realm is vast, with countless mountains and rivers, and they expected the likes of us to search it without any direction? Did they really think we could dig up some hidden secret? Only those people from the Fire God Hall took it seriously. A whole month of wasted effort, and they still ended up empty-handed."
"Ultimately, we were just showing the Fire God Hall some courtesy."
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