The Fake Guiding Emissary?

"Oh?" The silver figure froze, then asked curiously, "How did you know?"

"Because Xu Zhi would never sacrifice public duty for private gain!" Xiao Hua gritted his teeth, resisting the wave-like dizziness crashing over him, and shouted, "He would rather watch me be struck into dust by tribulation lightning than lend me a hand!"

Seeing that Xiao Hua had recognized him, the humanoid figure wreathed in flashing silver light gave a cold smile. The silver glow on his face peeled away like a sheet of silk, revealing another face beneath. But Xiao Hua's consciousness was already blurred—how could he possibly see the man's face clearly?

The man looked at Xiao Hua without the slightest concern and said, "You are quite meticulous. Unfortunately, now that you have arrived here, the Immortal Realm Gate has already closed. Do you have any other choice?"

"Damn it!" Xiao Hua endured another wave of darkness and forced out, "You... Xu Zhi... what exactly happened to him?"

The man did not answer, apparently understanding that Xiao Hua was trying to draw information from him. He merely flew closer and said, "Mind your own business. Tell me everything you know, and perhaps..."

As he spoke, the man waved his hand, producing a bright silver immortal artifact. It was shaped like a rope, and as it flew forth, its blazing radiance soared into the heavens. Restrictions Xiao Hua could not possibly contend with sprang up throughout the surrounding space!

Yet before the man could activate his Immortal Arts, Xiao Hua suddenly roared, "You dare set your sights on me? Go die!"

As he spoke, the more than one hundred Scattered Infants Xiao Hua had previously stored in his space suddenly flew out! The instant they emerged, they formed the Golden Crow Immortal Slaying Demonic Array in midair!

"Ah?!" At the sight of so many Scattered Infants, the man was greatly shocked and cried out, "You... when did you undergo tribulation? How did I not know?!"

There was no need for the man to know anything. The moment the Scattered Infants flew out, the Immortal Realm Gate, which had not yet vanished, trembled again. "Boom, boom, boom..." More than nine hundred bolts of Nine-Colored True Thunder surged out madly, striking toward the hundred-plus Scattered Infants!

"Roar, roar, roar..." The hundred-plus Scattered Infants roared in fury just like Xiao Hua. As silver radiance rapidly poured from their Spirit Bodies, all of them showed signs of collapsing. Yet their faces were frosted with coldness, and their lightning-like gazes were fixed upon the man!

Faced with more than a hundred pairs of wrath-filled eyes, the man's scalp also prickled. Still, he sneered and pointed at the rope-like immortal artifact. The artifact transformed into more than a hundred phantoms as he said coldly, "So what if there are more Scattered Infants? They are merely additional artifact spirits for refining an immortal artifact..."

Before he could finish speaking, the hundred-plus Scattered Infants simultaneously formed Immortal Arts seals. The same Thunderous Might erupted, and more than one hundred Immortal Slaying Platforms flew forth. Borrowing the power of the Golden Crow Immortal Slaying Demonic Array, they condensed into an Immortal Slaying Platform resembling a nine-colored Golden Crow and lunged furiously at the man!

"Ah?!" Seeing Thunderous Might beyond anything he had expected, the man turned pale with shock. Silver light blazed across his body as layer after layer of phantoms emerged, and he tried to flee. Unfortunately, he was too late. Xiao Hua had held on for so long precisely to lure him over!

"Boom..." The Immortal Slaying Platform descended, striking squarely and without deviation upon the man's Immortal Spirit Body. "Ah..." His miserable scream rang out as silver radiance burst apart into fist-sized runes scattering in every direction. Layer upon layer of gray-black shadows poured out from the depths of that radiance, churning like boiling water...

As the immortal artifact that had previously moved like a spirit serpent fell from midair, Xiao Hua's vision went dark. At last, beneath the vast and unmatched power of the Immortal Realm's plane, he fainted.

Poor Xiao Hua. Before even entering the Immortal Realm, his physical body and bones had all been taken away by his clone. He had set foot in the Immortal Realm relying only on the Nine Tribulation Scattered Infant. The Immortal Realm Gate had only just closed when he encountered what appeared to be a fake Guiding Emissary! Xiao Hua did not know what future awaited others who entered the Immortal Realm, but he knew that his own journey through the Immortal Realm was destined to be fraught with misfortune!

Although the Immortal Realm's Reception Hall was damaged, its core remained intact. That intact portion was a palace cast as though from bronze. At this moment, eighty-one small flags had been planted around it, each bearing an engraved star with lightning still gleaming upon it. Above the palace floated a Xingtian Immortal Artifact several acres in size, its surface shining with dazzling silver filaments. These filaments condensed into tadpole-shaped runes of varying sizes, while lightning water rolled between the runes like surging waves. Countless celestial phenomena and the profound mysteries of heaven and earth were revealed within. Sadly, after the miserable cries from within the bronze palace had ceased, all was deathly still. No one came to comprehend the secrets of the Heavenly Dao.

Beneath the Xingtian Immortal Artifact lay an Azure Stone Array spanning more than ten acres, with lightning still winding through it. At the center of the lightning was an oval pool that had long since dried up, exposing several zhang of azure stone at its bottom. Much of the stone was shattered and uneven, while even the stones along the four walls were pitted and scarred, as though the pool had been smashed repeatedly. In one corner of the pool, however, several thumb-sized Green Fruits flickered amid the lightning upon an outstretched dead branch, adding a touch of green to the abandoned pool.

The lightning was densest directly north of the pool. A doorway covered in mottled lightning patterns had already vanished, leaving only its outline in the void. Before it lay an exceptionally eye-catching bright silver rope-like immortal artifact! Beside it, a silver humanoid more than one hundred zhang tall lay sprawled on the ground. Immortal Spiritual Energy fell from above him like flowing water, gurgling as it poured into the surface of his body. An immortal mark was visible between his brows. It was badly shattered, with many cracks nearly splitting it apart. Strands of black-gray aura seeped from those fissures. As Immortal Spiritual Energy poured in, a pillar of light gradually emerged from the immortal mark. The pillar shone like the moon, and wherever its radiance fell, the black-gray color gradually faded while the cracks slowly healed...

Around the pool lay more than one hundred Scattered Infants, each more than ten zhang tall, strewn about crookedly. The silver glow on their bodies expanded and contracted like breathing. Dark patches resembling rust stains still lingered around the silver, difficult to dispel. More notably, whenever the silver light flashed, the shells of the Scattered Infants alternated between condensing and collapsing, while strands of nearly invisible purple wandered through the silver.

Beside the Scattered Infants, a silver-gray humanoid radiance flickered rapidly. Countless streams of Immortal Spiritual Energy rushed into it like a hurricane. The radiance flowed like a cascading waterfall, washing wildly over the silver-gray humanoid's surface. With each wash, the gray faded somewhat. But in the end, the gray no longer changed, and the radiance began to condense. A strange character, "Dao," finally formed. The instant it appeared, countless ripples burst from it and scattered throughout the Azure Stone Array, but beneath the lightning of the Xingtian Immortal Artifact, those ripples could not spread beyond it. The character "Dao" lingered on the body's surface for only several breaths before transforming into a raging torrent that surged madly toward the humanoid's head. When the radiance subsided, was that not Xiao Hua, who had just ascended into the Immortal Realm?

At this moment, Xiao Hua lay on his back with his eyes tightly shut. Silver radiance shot straight into the space between his brows, where a finger-width bright silver immortal mark appeared indistinctly. Each impact of silver radiance deepened the immortal mark slightly. After eighty-one impacts, the immortal mark had fully formed. Yet just as the final bright silver radiance condensed into it, the gray on Xiao Hua's body trembled. The bright silver radiance scattered from the immortal mark and ultimately turned into spots that disappeared into Xiao Hua's body.

"Oh..." Just as the silver glow on Xiao Hua's body receded, a sound came from the distant bright silver humanoid. Then the man stirred, the silver light around him drawing in slightly to reveal a humanoid figure dressed in russet clothing.

The man climbed up from the ground. He had a long face and thick brows, with an indescribable handsomeness between his brows and eyes. He looked at the silver-tinged bloodstains on the ground, then at the unconscious Xiao Hua. Anger appeared on his face, and a bleak, icy chill instantly sealed off the Azure Stone Array!

"Damn it!" the man muttered. "Ascended Immortals truly are extraordinary. An Ascended Immortal who has never entered the Spirit Cleansing Pool actually managed to injure me. If I let him forge an Immortal Body and engrave an immortal mark, how would I still have any way to survive?"

As he spoke, a nearly tangible killing intent rose from his body, instantly sealing off Xiao Hua's surroundings. Then he strode swiftly to Xiao Hua's side and reached for Xiao Hua's head like lightning...

However, just as the silver light from the man's hand touched Xiao Hua's body through the air, a low hum sounded. The vanished immortal mark between Xiao Hua's brows suddenly flared brightly, and the silver hidden throughout Xiao Hua's body also lit up!

"Ah?!" The man stared in utter shock at the faint outline of the immortal mark. "He... he has an immortal mark? How... how is that possible?"

As he spoke, strange radiance flickered in the man's eyes, and skull-shaped shadows appeared within his pupils. In his vision, the outline of the immortal mark between Xiao Hua's brows rapidly magnified until it became a microscopic view. Under this microscopic view, the immortal mark's outline had become sparse. Yet those scattered specks of light looked like a starry sky no matter how he viewed them, every point resembling a star deeply engraved there!

The man watched for a moment before the light and shadows in his eyes slowly faded. Dense confusion piled up like clouds. "No, no, this is not a Virtual Immortal Mark, nor is it any of the Illusory, Shadow, Bright, or Solid varieties! How strange!!"

As he spoke, the man's gaze shifted to Xiao Hua's body, and he let out another low cry. "Eh? He... he is actually in a Scattered Infant Body? How... how is that possible? I clearly remember that the tribulation lightning triggered by the Xingtian Immortal Artifact was for a Mahayana Cultivator. How did it become a Scattered Infant now?"

"Still, if he has a Scattered Infant Body, this immortal mark can be explained. There must have been some mutation..."

"But that is not right either! Even a Nine Tribulation Scattered Infant, with strength far beyond a Mahayana Cultivator, could not possibly possess an immortal mark!"

"Enough, enough..." At this point, the man sneered coldly. "I do not care what Scattered Infant Body or mutated immortal mark he has. Once I bring him to the Palace of Law Enforcement and deal with him exactly as I did Xu Zhi, everything will come to light!"

Having said that, the man no longer reached out. Instead, he rubbed his hands together and formed Immortal Arts seals. Several streaks of silver light flashed, and walnut-sized runes rolled out. Waves of imprisoning power spilled from the runes and rushed toward Xiao Hua.

Just as the man's Immortal Arts had yet to be completed, Xiao Hua, whose eyes had been tightly closed, suddenly opened them and smiled faintly at the man...

P.S. This new book by Tan Hua has finally been uploaded. Fellow Daoists who enjoy this book, please support it by subscribing on Qidian, casting monthly and recommendation votes, adding it to your favorites, or sending rewards. Thank you for every form of support!