"Could my luck really be this rotten?" The moment this thought arose, Xiao Hua saw more than a hundred azure bee-like immortal creatures, each several yards long, their eyes flashing with green halos as they circled around the giant trees and flew straight at him.
Without a second thought, Xiao Hua hurriedly twisted his body. With a whoosh, he changed direction and shot diagonally toward a giant tree. Then he crawled through the bushes, turning several times before secretly poking his head out from behind another giant tree.
Who would have thought that the instant Xiao Hua poked out his head, the azure bee immortal creatures would spot him and fly directly over?
"How did they find me? Did they use... Mind Reading? Could such low-level immortal creatures possess Mind Reading?" Xiao Hua was astonished. But when he looked down at his body, he saw faint dark-green streaks flickering over the pale-gray painful areas. At once, he understood something.
The azure bee immortal creatures flew faster than Xiao Hua could flee. After cleverly circling around several times, Xiao Hua had instead shortened the distance between himself and them. Seeing their prey, the creatures frantically beat their wings, green light flashing in their eyes as they charged forward.
Hearing the howling of the azure bee immortal creatures and the sound of the spikes before them tearing through the air, Xiao Hua was even more alarmed. He thought to himself, These tiny azure bee immortal creatures actually possess the attacking power of Body Integration Stage cultivators from the mortal realm. No wonder the mayflies of the Divine Realm could destroy the world upon reaching the mortal realm!
Under ordinary circumstances, how could Xiao Hua possibly fear these azure bee immortal creatures? What did a mere hundred matter? Even a thousand would have been nothing. Yet Xiao Hua was now a tiger fallen onto the plains. He had no Immortal Arts, no immortal artifacts, and could not even flee as fast as they could fly. What could he use to battle over a hundred azure bee immortal creatures?
"Since that is so..." Xiao Hua laughed loudly as he rose from behind the giant tree, the Five Elements Ruyi Sky-reaching Staff appearing in his hand. With soaring heroic spirit, he shouted, "I shall fight you to the death! Better to die in your jaws than become another's captive!"
"Woo..." The foremost azure bee immortal creature shot over like lightning. If this had been the Four Great Continents, Xiao Hua had no doubt that this thing would have torn apart the void!
Xiao Hua lacked Mana, but the strength in his arms remained. Although the azure bee immortal creature was incomparably swift, beneath Xiao Hua's Sky-reaching Staff technique, it was still struck on the head with a smack.
Using the Ancient Fierce Weapon, the Five Elements Ruyi Sky-reaching Staff, to kill azure bee immortal creatures—throughout all ages, Xiao Hua was probably the only one to have done it. If Thunder True Person learned of this, he would definitely wave a hand and claim not to know Xiao Hua.
Amid repeated smacks, the azure bee immortal creatures' shells were smashed into pulp, dead beyond doubt! Wielding an Ancient Fierce Weapon like the Five Elements Ruyi Sky-reaching Staff, Xiao Hua killed dozens of azure bee immortal creatures in just a few moments. Seeing how ferocious Xiao Hua was, the swarm actually began to hesitate. Several azure bee immortal creatures circled above his head without daring to descend. Xiao Hua was overjoyed. He was currently in a Nascent Soul Body, and even wielding the Five Elements Ruyi Sky-reaching Staff left his bones weak and sinews numb. He hurriedly put away the Five Elements Ruyi Sky-reaching Staff, flashed his body, and again used the Flowing Cloud Movement Technique to flee elsewhere. Before leaving, he did not forget to release his Heart God, collecting dozens of azure bee immortal creature corpses into his space. Better to waste than to miss an opportunity—Xiao Hua carried this principle out to the fullest!
Immortal Realm creatures truly possessed intelligence. Seeing Xiao Hua leave, those azure bee immortal creatures did not pursue him. After circling around for a while, they headed elsewhere on their own.
Compared with the Guiding Emissary, the azure bee immortal creatures truly amounted to nothing. Thus, Xiao Hua changed direction and continued fleeing with his head down, running for his life. In truth, after changing directions several times, he no longer knew where he was fleeing.
After traveling more than a hundred li, Xiao Hua suddenly stopped. He slapped his forehead and muttered in extreme regret, "What is wrong with me? Back in the lightning tribulation, I already used Light Escape. That means the Light Escape Technique can be used in the Immortal Realm too..."
Xiao Hua could not really be blamed. The Light Escape Technique required methods like the Five Elements Escape Techniques as a primer. After failing to use the Wind Escape Technique, Xiao Hua had abandoned escape techniques altogether. Now that he recalled it, he was still half doubtful. Looking around, Xiao Hua formed a hand seal and used the Wood Escape Technique. Just as he was about to give up after seeing that the Wood Escape Technique had failed, dark-green light and shadows suddenly spread through the surroundings like ink bleeding across water. Xiao Hua was delighted.
However, the moment Xiao Hua entered the light and shadows, he secretly cried out in misery. He could feel his Mana pouring out like water from a broken dam, far more rapidly than before. Xiao Hua did not dare remain within the light and shadows for long. He did not know how to replenish his Mana, nor did he know whether the Thunderous Might Cultivation Method could be used in the Immortal Realm. Even more, he did not know whether losing all his Mana would turn him into a lamb waiting for slaughter.
After leaving the light and shadows, the scenery before him had changed. The boundless forest of giant trees was gone, replaced only by a babbling stream. The stream was equally strange, like an enormous ribbon of water floating in midair. It was called a stream, but in the eyes of a country bumpkin like Xiao Hua, newly arrived in the Immortal Realm, it was like a great river. The surging torrent stretched before him, nearly making him cough blood.
"Damn it, if I had emerged a moment later, wouldn't I have crossed this stream already?" Thinking this, Xiao Hua could only hurriedly head upstream. He had wanted to see whether the Guiding Emissary had caught up, but unfortunately, he did not know from which direction the Guiding Emissary might come.
After racing dozens of li, Xiao Hua saw some luxuriant vegetation in the river ahead. He was overjoyed, knowing it was likely reeds or something similar that could be used to cross the river. He unconsciously put more force into his feet. At that moment, with a splash, water churned in the river to his right, and a sharp whistling wind rushed toward him. Xiao Hua turned his head and saw a huge fish, more than ten yards long, leap from the river and pounce at him with watery blue radiance spraying from its mouth! Before that radiance even approached, Xiao Hua felt the space around his entire body begin to freeze, while his already aching outer layer felt as though it had been lashed by a whip!
Xiao Hua stopped abruptly, flipped over in midair, and used the footwork of Misty Steps to trace a beautiful arc as he flew backward dozens of yards!
Naturally, the fish was not as nimble as Xiao Hua. The blue light from its mouth tore through the air and struck a rock near Xiao Hua with a puff. Seeing a deep hole blasted into the rock, Xiao Hua's heart chilled again. Before he could take out the Ruyi Scepter, a pair of several-foot-long fins suddenly spread from the fish's belly. Those fins resembled wings, shimmering with rippling halos. Thus, the fish also flipped over in midair, opened its ghastly white maw, and pounced at Xiao Hua...
Xiao Hua had truly reached the end of his patience. He immediately took out the Five Elements Ruyi Sky-reaching Staff, and then... there was no then!
Looking at the fish head smashed to pieces by the Ancient Fierce Weapon, Xiao Hua curled his lip. He still urged his body onward, muttering resentfully, "What a waste of such a fine fish head..."
However, Xiao Hua had only drifted a few steps when his body suddenly trembled and stopped. He turned to look at the fish lying on the ground, dead yet not stiff, still twitching. Then he looked at its crystal-clear flesh and murmured, "That's right. Xiao may not know how to absorb Immortal Spiritual Energy now, but... but Xiao has a mouth. I can eat things that contain spiritual energy. Back then..."
Thinking of this, Xiao Hua hurriedly returned and grabbed a huge chunk of fish flesh from its body. The flesh did not have the fishy smell Xiao Hua expected. Instead, it carried a faint fragrance. If this were sold on the Hidden Immortal Continent, it would probably fetch quite a few spirit stones, wouldn't it? This thought inexplicably arose in Xiao Hua's mind.
"Let me first see what it tastes like!" Xiao Hua thought as he brought it to his mouth. But once it reached his lips, he froze again. "No, wait. I... I am a Nascent Soul, not a physical body. There are no internal organs in my belly. How am I supposed to eat fish??"
Poor Xiao Hua. His mind had only just caught up, but the identity of being a Nascent Soul was simply too unfamiliar to him.
"Can a Nascent Soul not eat things?"
"Can a Nascent Soul not take medicinal pills?"
A host of questions came flooding in, and he was only one step away from pondering how a Nascent Soul reproduced descendants!
"Is there any use in thinking so much???" Xiao Hua stuffed the fish flesh into his mouth and began devouring it in huge bites. As he ate, he inwardly grumbled, Why am I acting just like that fellow Wen Qu?
The fish flesh was as fragrant as it smelled, with a faint salty flavor lingering between his teeth. If it were on the Hidden Immortal Continent, it would surely sell for many spirit stones. Of course, to Xiao Hua, the taste was secondary. As he chewed lightly, faint Immortal Spiritual Energy seeped from within and flowed into his body. Though the amount of Immortal Spiritual Energy was small, there was indeed some, and it thrilled Xiao Hua greatly.
After spitting out the scraps with a pfft, Xiao Hua grabbed several more large chunks of fish flesh and ravenously "ate" them.
Just as Xiao Hua was still savoring the meal, a croak rang out from the river. The croak itself was ordinary. Even if it possessed the strength of a human realm Mahayana cultivator, Xiao Hua might not have cared. But today was different. To Xiao Hua's ears, the croak sounded like thunder. Darkness fell before his eyes, his body swayed twice, and he nearly collapsed.
Xiao Hua was scared out of his wits. Almost without thinking, he did not even dare look back as he fled desperately into the distance! Only after escaping more than a hundred li did Xiao Hua dare turn around. Seeing that no immortal beast was chasing him and no danger followed, he finally stopped. Hiding behind a large rock, he patted the nonexistent little heart in his chest and thought, My heavens, what... what was that? A single frog croak nearly killed me? Could that immortal frog be even stronger than the Guiding Emissary?
After carefully sensing the danger from moments ago, Xiao Hua came to some understanding. "No, it was not that this immortal frog was powerful, but the sound of its croak! That sound attacks the soul. If it were an ordinary mortal, a single croak could send their soul flying and scatter their spirit! But... but that is not right either! I previously had a soul cultivation avatar. There were Heavenly Patterns and Earthly Deeds within my soul. How could I be left in such a sorry state by the attack of a mere immortal frog?"
Recalling the circumstances of his recent tribulation crossing, Xiao Hua suddenly came to a realization. "Ah! Xiao understands now! During the tribulation, all my fellow Daoists separated from me. I gave up my physical body, bones, and so on so that they could become complete. That was only the surface! They also split apart my soul! In other words, my current soul is exceedingly thin, only a tenth of what it once was. No wonder, no wonder!"
"So creating avatars into people is far from something that can be solved with essence alone. A soul is needed as well!"
"Then... then why am I myself within this Nascent Soul? Am I still Xiao Hua? Or am I only a part of Xiao Hua?"
"Damn it, this is far too profound."
"Other than my soul, what else have I failed to consider?"
While rejoicing that his strength had not diminished, Xiao Hua concealed his body and quietly returned. He wanted to see just what kind of immortal beast was so formidable.
Before you continue