A flash of light.
Gu Qingshan appeared before a vast cluster of towering palaces.
He didn't hurry to look at the rows upon rows of immortal palaces. Instead, he asked, "Mountain Girl, are you all right?"
Mountain Girl's voice came from the long sword. "I don't feel anything. Young master, have you forgotten? The Six Realms God Mountain Sword possesses the might of immortality."
Gu Qingshan breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as Mountain Girl was all right, that was what mattered.
When that monk had struck, Gu Qingshan could have dodged. But at the last moment, he realized the attack carried no killing intent, and the way the monk had applied his force was skillful.
Trusting the Lady of Time, Gu Qingshan decided to take the blow and see what happened.
And it had really sent him ascending!
Gu Qingshan put away his sword and looked around.
The entire Celestial Palace was utterly silent, with not a soul in sight.
From the ground, he had clearly seen countless immortals coming and going. Yet now that he had arrived, there was nothing.
What was going on?
Gu Qingshan sent out his divine sense, sweeping in every direction.
No one.
No one.
No one.
Still no one.
The palaces were empty, too. There was nothing inside them.
But in the void beneath the immortal palaces, countless illusory images played out, depicting immortals bustling back and forth in a scene of great prosperity.
"So it was all an illusion."
Gu Qingshan murmured.
Suddenly, a ring of teleportation runes appeared in the void.
The runes faded, revealing a figure standing directly opposite Gu Qingshan, not far away.
—The monk had made it up here, too.
"You were clearly confined in the temple. How did you get here?" Gu Qingshan asked.
The monk