Though he lamented his bitter fate, the Guiding Emissary did not dare delay. With a reach of his hand, he took out a Crystal Talisman. As he urged it with Immortal Power, the talisman flew into midair and emitted black-and-white radiance. Where the radiance fell, six azure stones rose from the ground. The stones tumbled through the air, the runes on their surfaces rippling with strange fluctuations. They began to tremble violently along with the talisman's glow. Only when all the fluctuations formed a rhythm did the stones stabilize again, revealing grooves upon their surfaces. The talisman's radiance vanished, and it fell back into the Guiding Emissary's hand.
Without carefully checking whether the teleportation array formed by the six azure stones could be used, the Guiding Emissary took six fist-sized, crystal-like stones from his Hundred-Gathering Bag and placed them into the grooves of the six azure stones. As he formed Immortal Arts, threadlike rays of light emerged from the cores of the six Space Origin Crystals. These rays shot out from the origin crystals and perfectly matched the runes touching the azure stones. "Boom..." The six azure stones roared simultaneously and rose from the ground. After the Guiding Emissary sent out several more Immortal Arts, the six stones spun rapidly, producing a hexagonal spatial vortex. The Guiding Emissary took out an Ink Immortal Pupil from his robes, raised his hand and wrote a line of words, then grabbed it and sent it inside. With a "crack," the Guiding Emissary casually tossed the Ink Immortal Pupil into the vortex. Yet just before it fell in, his brows rose. He hurriedly reached out and caught it, took the Crystal Talisman from his Hundred-Gathering Bag again, stamped a mark onto the Ink Immortal Pupil, and only then placed it inside with relief.
Seeing the vortex vanish, the Guiding Emissary pointed with his hand, and the azure stones slowly came to a stop. By the time they landed on the ground, the Space Origin Crystals in their grooves had already turned to powder. The Guiding Emissary looked at the powder with some heartache and snarled viciously, "Damn it! I'll definitely get those hundred-odd Immortal Infants from that bastard! A hundred Immortal Infants mean a hundred Calamity Transcending Immortal Artifacts! Only then can I dispel the hatred in my heart!"
The Guiding Emissary left the palace, took a few steps, then turned around to look at the still-unsealed palace. He sneered, "A damn Reception Spirit Pool? It's been robbed clean, not even a single crystal left, and it still has the nerve to call itself a Spirit Cleansing Pool?" With that, he swept his sleeve. A streak of brilliant light shot forth and struck the bronze-cast palace. "Rumble..." The bronze palace shook once, and countless crimson runes lit up within, forcibly blocking the Guiding Emissary's radiance.
The Guiding Emissary's expression turned ugly. He spat, then turned and left this place that would be enough to shame him for a lifetime.
The Guiding Emissary moved like the wind and arrived before the Reception Hall in mere moments. He raised his head to look at the dark green Autumn Hair Moon, which illuminated the surroundings in every minute detail, and gave a cold laugh. "With such an Autumn Hair Moon, it is precisely the time when immortal beasts roam about. If that bastard dies in the mouth of some beast, it will be troublesome for me too! I'll first see whether he's still alive!"
As he spoke, the Guiding Emissary took an immortal artifact from his Hundred-Gathering Bag and breathed out a mouthful of immortal qi. The artifact emitted a misty radiance and slowly expanded, revealing itself to be a square ritual disk.
The Guiding Emissary formed Immortal Arts again and pointed at the earth. "Whoosh!" Countless dark green threads of light flew out from the ground, swiftly condensing into a sphere of light. "Go..." He pointed again at the ritual disk, and the sphere rushed into it. Phantoms of mountain ranges and forests appeared upon the disk.
"Eh? Why can't I find that bastard's trace?" The Guiding Emissary stared for a while, astonishment appearing on his face. "That's not right. Even if he died, the Dust Qi on his body shouldn't vanish. Ah, no, that bastard has a Scattered Infant Body. Once he dies, wouldn't the Dust Qi scatter into the air? I... how did I forget that? Damn it!!"
The Guiding Emissary was frantic. Just as he was about to hastily put away the ritual disk, he thought of something else. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth. "Pfft!" A mouthful of blood mixed with silvery-white strands of light fell onto the ritual disk. The disk buzzed as it rapidly expanded several times over. Looking at an earthen-yellow speck flickering in and out of sight at the disk's edge, the Guiding Emissary could not help but exclaim in wild delight, "Heavens! This... this bastard runs even faster than a lightning rabbit! How long has it been? He's actually fled tens of thousands of miles away? Is he... is he really a Mortal Immortal who just ascended? Good thing inspiration struck me and I expanded the search range. Otherwise, that bastard really would have fooled me!"
While praising himself, the Guiding Emissary hurriedly put away the ritual disk. Reaching into his Hundred-Gathering Bag, he took out another long shuttle, over thirty zhang in length. He breathed out, and the shuttle grew to several hundred zhang in size. "Little brat, wash your neck clean and wait for me to take it!" The Guiding Emissary leaped onto the Flying Shuttle, formed Immortal Arts, and the shuttle shot away like a meteor.
Just after Xiao Hua escaped the bronze-cast palace, a crushing pressure surged in from all directions. Caught unprepared, he swayed and nearly fell. At the same time, a series of "pop-pop" squeezing sounds came from within his body, and his entire body rapidly compressed, only stopping once it had shrunk to just over thirty zhang.
I understand now. This... this Immortal Realm is filled with Immortal Spiritual Energy. Immortal Spiritual Energy is of a higher grade than the heaven-and-earth spiritual energy of the Four Great Continents, so naturally it is heavier. No wonder Xu Zhi and Star Moon Fairy could so easily transform their Immortal Bodies into thousands or tens of thousands of zhang upon reaching the Four Great Continents! As Xiao Hua's thoughts raced, he had no time to think further. He used the Flowing Cloud Movement Technique beneath his feet and rushed toward the outside of the Reception Hall.
Having only dashed a little over a thousand zhang, Xiao Hua sensed that he had left the range of the Azure Stone Array. The halls around him were damaged as well. He hurriedly formed a hand seal, intending to use the Wind Escape Technique. Unfortunately, when he formed the seal, only a faint shimmer appeared. His body remained where it was and did not fly away like the wind!
"Alas..." Xiao Hua sighed. He knew that without Immortal Arts, he could not possibly use escape techniques in the Immortal Realm. He turned his head and saw that the Guiding Emissary had not pursued him. Casting aside his luck, he honestly used the Flowing Cloud Movement Technique to flee.
Without escape techniques, Xiao Hua spent quite some effort fleeing from the Spirit Cleansing Pool to the gates of the Reception Hall. Yet what puzzled him was that the Guiding Emissary had not chased after him.
"Strange..." Xiao Hua looked at the dilapidated hall gates ahead and thought, Could that bastard be too seriously injured to use the Immortal Evasion Technique? Or is he healing first and planning to pursue me afterward? If so, he must possess some immortal technique or method to find me. I must be extra careful.
As he thought, Xiao Hua rushed out through the hall gates. He naturally wanted to release his divine sense and inspect the distance, but his divine sense was empty. There was simply no divine sense for him to use.
"This..." Xiao Hua was dumbfounded. He stopped mid-charge and stared helplessly at the night shrouded in dark green moonlight, not knowing which direction to go.
Just then, an inexplicable needle-pricking pain suddenly emerged from his skin. The stinging cold was extreme, and the pain pierced deep into his soul. "Ah..." Xiao Hua cried out miserably and hurriedly flashed to the side, his gaze vigilantly sweeping the surroundings.
Yet there was no one and nothing around him. The plaque of the Reception Hall behind him remained as it was, and the Guiding Emissary had not pursued him either!
"Ah... ah..." As Xiao Hua moved, even more stabbing pain arose. There were even "sizzle-sizzle" sounds coming from the surface of his body.
Xiao Hua was greatly alarmed. Looking down, he saw that wherever his body was pale gray and covered by the dark green moonlight, layer upon layer of tiny blisters emerged as if rain were striking them, then burst like firecrackers! Even on the silvery-white outer layer, finer bubbles surfaced. The pain stabbed deeply into his body from these places!
"Ah..." Unable to endure the pain, Xiao Hua curled into a ball and rolled madly in the moonlight. By sheer accident, he rolled beneath the dilapidated gates of the Reception Hall.
"Whew..." Only after the pain greatly lessened did Xiao Hua let out a long breath and struggle weakly to his feet.
He looked at the dark green moonlight beyond the hall gates and came to some realization. He cautiously stretched out a hand. Sure enough, where the moonlight shone, bone-piercing icy pain welled up deep within him. Looking at the profound, boundless night, Xiao Hua finally understood why the Guiding Emissary had not chased closely after him.
There was no need for the Guiding Emissary to pursue him. Such a night was precisely a great bronze cauldron frying Xiao Hua in oil. If Xiao Hua did not want to die, he could only obediently remain inside the Reception Hall!
What... what should I do? As Xiao Hua's thoughts raced, he looked uneasily in the direction of the Spirit Cleansing Pool. It truly was a dilemma with wolves ahead and tigers behind.
Thinking of the Spirit Cleansing Pool, Xiao Hua suddenly remembered the several Green Fruits he had casually taken from it. An idea flashed through his mind, and he took out one Green Fruit. With a squeeze of both hands, juice splashed out from the fruit. Xiao Hua carefully smeared the scant juice over the pale gray parts of his body. When he cautiously stepped out of the hall gates again, the dark green moonlight still caused stabbing pain when it shone on him, but that pain could no longer be mentioned in the same breath as before.
"Excellent!" Without another thought, Xiao Hua rushed out of the hall gates, picked a direction at random, and fled, secretly crying, I knew it—if you don't take advantage of a bargain, heaven and earth will destroy you! If I hadn't impulsively taken these Green Fruits just now, how could I possibly escape the Reception Hall?
Xiao Hua did not know when the Green Fruit juice would lose its effect, so he did not dare pause in the slightest. He pushed the Flowing Cloud Movement Technique to its limit as he fled. Though he knew that the Guiding Emissary only needed to use the Immortal Evasion Technique to catch him in a single breath, he still had to flee! For he knew that as long as he fled, there was still a sliver of life before him. If he did not flee, there would not even be that sliver!
Of course, Xiao Hua also knew that he was riding a paper boat pasted together with flimsy paper, one that could sink and take his life at any moment in this vast sea of night.
"Why am I so unlucky?" Xiao Hua could not help but pity himself. "Others ascend to the Immortal Realm in splendor and glory. Not only did I have my Nascent Soul cross the heavenly tribulation, I also ran into a dried-up Spirit Cleansing Pool and a Guiding Emissary harboring sinister intentions. I... I..."
Xiao Hua was on the verge of tears, yet had no tears to shed!
As Xiao Hua fled in haste, he felt boundless dangers lurking all around. In the dark green night, giant trees more than ten zhang thick and several hundred zhang tall made his heart pound. Even the shrubs growing casually beneath his feet were dozens of zhang high, nearly concealing his body.
"Everything in this Immortal Realm looks even more enormous than in the Myriad Monster Realm..." Listening to the wind whistling past his ears, Xiao Hua thought to himself, It seems the nourishment of Immortal Spiritual Energy is truly extraordinary. Oh no—if that is so, then the immortal beasts of this Immortal Realm...
Xiao Hua could not help but think of the Kite-Griffin Immortal Beast he had encountered in the Immortal Realm fragment within Star Moon Palace.
Just then, a burst of "buzz-buzz-buzz" sounded from the distant forest, coming in his direction...
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