Everyone aboard the vessel had vanished without warning, yet Guo Zhen did not panic. He calmly examined the flying vessel inside and out, and seeing nothing amiss, found it no different from before.
He then discovered that although Sun Chi himself had disappeared, the Clear Vault Aura he had been controlling remained behind and had not vanished with him. This showed that the Clear Vault Aura was not useless; rather, Sun Chi must have neglected something.
With this judgment, he understood what had happened.
With a wave of his hand, he unhurriedly gathered up the Clear Vault Aura Sun Chi had left behind, then guided the flying vessel slowly backward.
Since the Profound Court had instructed them to prioritize their own preservation, he naturally chose safety above all else and would not risk doing anything further. Especially now that Sun Chi's whereabouts were unknown, what he needed to do was bring this news back, lest other Celestial Xia Profound Venerables arriving here suffer the same fate.
The flying vessel retreated with perfect steadiness. In the void, its course was like a perfectly straight line, its speed of escape neither increasing nor decreasing in the slightest.
Ying Chong sat in the hall at that moment. Through the collisions of those golden grains of sand, he could see Guo Zhen slowly withdrawing. He had originally intended to banish this man beyond the world as well, and so continuously drove more golden sand forward to encircle and obstruct him.
Yet this man was far too steady, leaving not the slightest opening to exploit. Even when Ying Chong deliberately feigned weakness, the other party turned a blind eye. Faced with this, he had no choice but to watch Guo Zhen retreat.
He then turned to look at the void star map upon the hall