Escape from the Reception Hall

Xiao Hua's smile was no small matter. The immortal's expression changed abruptly; the taste of being attacked by over a hundred Scattered Infants was something he would never forget for all eternity. Almost without thinking, silver light flickered around him, and his figure vanished in an instant. When he reappeared, he was already at another corner of the dried-up Spirit Cleansing Pool.

Yet when the immortal's figure emerged, his hands, which were forming an immortal art, stopped awkwardly in midair. With an embarrassed look on his handsome face, he stared at the Spirit Cleansing Pool. Xiao Hua had already turned into a streak of light and silently rushed into the air above it. As for the more than one hundred Scattered Infants he feared, not a single one was in sight. Who knew where Xiao Hua had put them in that brief instant?

"Damn it, damn it!" The immortal was enraged, not only because Xiao Hua had toyed with him, but also because he ached over those hundred-odd Scattered Infants. He cast an immortal art from his hands. "Wuuu..." Walnut-sized runes rolled down from the air and immediately transformed into several giant pythons over thirty feet thick, lunging at Xiao Hua. Before the pythons arrived, the force of confinement had already descended. Xiao Hua immediately felt the surrounding space solidify, and a suffocating sensation arose within him!

"Is this a genuine immortal art?" Xiao Hua was horrified. He hurriedly activated Thunderous Might to resist, but before his Mana could even be stirred, a blade-cutting pain suddenly erupted all over his body. He hurriedly lowered his head and saw hundreds of gray strands, like spider silk, spread across his entire body. The agony came from the gaps between that gray and silver!

In that moment of hesitation, the pythons had already pounced upon him, pinning Xiao Hua down from several directions. As the pythons coiled and moved, Xiao Hua's entire body seemed nailed in place, unable to move a fraction.

"Hehe..." The immortal laughed, clapping his hands. "You're nothing more than a lowly Mortal Immortal, yet you dare show off before this emissary? Speak! Where did you put those Scattered Infants?"

"Roar..." Just as the immortal was preparing to fly over, a beast's roar sounded above their heads. Along with it, an earthy yellow phantom and a surging wave of might descended from the sky!

"Who is it?" The immortal was greatly startled. He slapped the crown of his head, and spiritual pressure instantly burst forth. Amid several layers of crashing airwaves, the Kirin Spirit descended!

The immortal looked at the Kirin Spirit, then at the Xingtian Immortal Artifact atop the Azure Stone Array, and asked in gloomy bewilderment, "Ah? Why is it you, you vile beast?"

"Roar..." The Kirin Spirit gave a low growl and smashed the several pythons binding Xiao Hua into fragments with one claw. Then it struck the air with all four paws, and the earthy yellow phantom pounced toward the immortal!

"Hmph..." The immortal snorted coldly and opened his mouth. A diamond-shaped Crystal Talisman flew out. The talisman looked ordinary, and even its glow was hazy and dim, yet when it landed in midair, it actually forced the Kirin Spirit to halt.

How could Xiao Hua concern himself with all that now? The moment he could move, he immediately propelled himself toward the entrance beyond the Azure Stone Array. As he skimmed over the edge of the Spirit Cleansing Pool, his gaze happened to fall upon a Green Fruit growing within a crack. Xiao Hua had never read the ascension records of the Heavenly Alliance or Dao Alliance, but he had heard Xu Zhi speak of the circumstances after ascension. He knew that the place where he had ascended was one of the Three Great Continents. The corresponding Ascension Point of the Three Great Continents had not seen anyone ascend for ages and might have long since fallen into ruin. Wasn't the current situation exactly as expected?

This pool had been dug up three feet deep. If nothing unexpected had happened, it was the Spirit Cleansing Pool. Since the Green Fruit grew within the Spirit Cleansing Pool, it had to be a spiritual treasure. Without even a second thought, almost by instinct, he beckoned and plucked the Green Fruit from the crack. Even at such a critical moment, he still managed to snatch away the last bit of spiritual treasure from the Spirit Cleansing Pool. Perhaps only Xiao Hua could accomplish such a thing!

Boom boom... Just as Xiao Hua fled to the edge of the Azure Stone Array, the Xingtian Immortal Artifact above it let out a thunderous roar. Massive lightning crashed down with a howl. Turning his head, Xiao Hua saw the lightning pour down like a waterfall. Amid miserable cries of "Aoo, aoo...," the Kirin Spirit was blasted apart.

Fortunately, Xiao Hua knew that the Kirin Spirit could not be destroyed, so he felt somewhat better.

"Where do you think you're going!" the Guiding Emissary shouted, crossing through the lightning as he pursued Xiao Hua closely, like a shadow following its body!

But when the Guiding Emissary rushed out of the Azure Stone Array and flew beyond the bronze-cast palace, watching Xiao Hua's back vanish from sight, he hesitated again. He stopped and looked at the flags planted all over the palace, the Xingtian Immortal Artifact above it, and the lightning within the Azure Stone Array. Troubled, he said, "This Xingtian Immortal Artifact was borrowed from the Palace of Punishment. Though I once served there, that was a hundred lifetimes ago. I have long grown rusty in the methods of activating it. When I triggered the Lightning Punishment just now, I actually set off the Black Qi Kill and White Light Kill. Luckily, this fellow is no ordinary cultivator. Otherwise, he would have died beneath the black-and-white double kill long ago. How could he have reached the Immortal Realm? If I leave now and another immortal casually takes away the Xingtian Immortal Artifact, how can I explain myself to the Hall Master?"

As the Guiding Emissary hesitated, he suddenly saw the dark green moonlight at the collapsed section of the palace. He slapped his forehead and burst out laughing. "Hahaha! I had forgotten. This fellow has a Scattered Infant Body. He has not undergone the Spirit Cleansing Liquid to recast a Spirit Body, nor has he taken a Spirit Changing Pill to suppress the Dust Qi. How could he withstand the Autumn Hair Moon Essence? If he doesn't flee back here to hide, where else can he go?"

"Besides, even if he does not return, as long as there is Dust Qi within his body, I can still find him. In this desolate Yunmeng Marsh, where can he go without a Teleportation Immortal Array?"

With that, the Guiding Emissary leisurely returned. He had plotted against Xiao Hua, only to be caught off guard by the combined strike of Xiao Hua's hundred-odd Scattered Infants. Though those Scattered Infants had only just entered the Immortal Realm, what they had drawn upon was punitive lightning power, and the blow had injured his immortal scar. Healing an immortal scar was not the work of a single day, nor could it be done within this ruined Reception Hall. He could only suppress it for now. Yet he could not ignore the injuries to his Immortal Body. The Guiding Emissary's Immortal Body was also severely wounded; otherwise, he would never have allowed Xiao Hua to escape so easily before his eyes. Thinking of how Xiao Hua had actually passed through the black-and-white double kill, the Guiding Emissary could not help taking him seriously once more.

It was precisely because Xiao Hua had passed through the black-and-white double kill that the Guiding Emissary had suddenly decided to transform into Xu Zhi's appearance and ambush him. Yet even so, Xiao Hua had seen through him and injured him. The Thunderous Might of those hundred-odd Scattered Infants had truly taught the Guiding Emissary a lesson. Even now, lingering fear remained in his heart. He felt that unless he had absolute certainty, he would never dare take such a risk again.

After returning to the Azure Stone Array, the Guiding Emissary first beckoned, and the rope-like immortal artifact, lying like a dead snake, slowly fell into his hand. He then sat cross-legged and took a fist-sized crystal box from his Hundred-Gathering Bag. The surface of the crystal box was carved hollow with patterns of plants and trees. Pale wisps of cloud drifted through the hollow spaces, and as the clouds flowed, ant-sized runes rolled within them. Raising his hand, the Guiding Emissary opened the box. A glimmer of blue-green light shone out, revealing a fist-sized medicinal pill within.

The Guiding Emissary did not reach out. Instead, he opened his mouth and inhaled, and the pill's radiance fell into his mouth like fireworks. "Wuuu..." The pill trembled, and a silvery-white streak of light appeared upon its surface. Then, with a loud boom, true flames erupted from the streak of light. After circling the pill once, layers of blue and red radiance began dancing within the flames, and the pill flew into the air as though it possessed sentience.

"Alas, a Fifth-grade Immortal Pill that I obtained with such difficulty is actually going to be wasted here!" The Guiding Emissary looked at the pill close at hand and sighed. "I thought this would be an easy and pleasant assignment, one that would allow me to win the Hall Master's favor without effort. Who would have thought..."

At this point, the Guiding Emissary raised his eyes and looked in a direction beyond the Azure Stone Array. After hesitating briefly, he still opened his mouth, and the pill flew straight into it.

The instant the pill entered his mouth, the Guiding Emissary formed immortal arts with both hands. With a loud boom, a wisp of blue-red flame emerged from within his body. At first, the flame resembled a flower bud, blooming layer by layer. As it spread, strange silver runes surged forth one after another. Sizzling sounds continued without end, and from time to time, burnt-smelling fumes wrapped in stench rushed out. The silver light around the Guiding Emissary gradually began to radiate. At the base of that silver light was a grayish-black shade. Looking around, wisps of Immortal Spiritual Energy formed tiny vortices and madly rushed into the silver glow, seeming to scour away that gray-black color.

After roughly half an hour, the immortal arts in the Guiding Emissary's hands suddenly stopped, and the silver light on his body ceased flickering as well. Within the silver light, he muttered in a puzzled tone, "Why hasn't this fellow returned yet? Could he have died outside? No, I must go take a look. I cannot let him fall into someone else's hands!"

"Wuuu..." The howl of wind rose once more. The silver light withdrew into his body, and the Guiding Emissary rose to his full height. He looked up at the Xingtian Immortal Artifact, several acres in size, above the Azure Stone Array. With a raise of his hand, he took out the Crystal Talisman. After lowering his head in thought for a moment, the Guiding Emissary helplessly formed a somewhat clumsy immortal art. His body trembled several times, and the shadow-like immortal scar between his brows appeared. The immortal scar vanished in a flash, while silver light blazed brilliantly from his hand.

"Collect!" As the Guiding Emissary uttered the true words, the immortal art in his hand transformed into silver light and shot into the sky, striking the Xingtian Immortal Artifact directly.

Boom boom boom! Massive roars rang out from the Xingtian Immortal Artifact. Silver light then spread over every part of it like flowing water. Within only a few breaths, the Xingtian Immortal Artifact began to shrink, and the Guiding Emissary let out a long breath. He was injured internally, and collecting the Xingtian Immortal Artifact also consumed Immortal Power. He truly felt unable to endure much more.

With his thoughts fixed on Xiao Hua's whereabouts, the Guiding Emissary did not dare delay. Watching the Xingtian Immortal Artifact shrink, he hurriedly flew atop the palace and raised his hand to collect the small flags around it. As the flags flew into his hand like butterflies, boom, boom, boom... the floating azure stones crashed down one by one!

The Azure Stone Array closed. The ripples produced earlier when Xiao Hua's immortal scar had first formed and condensed into the mark of "Dao" now burst forth soundlessly like birds escaping their cage, vanishing into the void in an instant.

Who knew how long later, in another mysterious place within the Immortal Realm, those ripples appeared without cause. The moment they emerged, they transformed into a bolt of lightning and fell toward a mountain-like phantom of light...

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