"Um..." Xiao Hua looked at Immortal Chu and hesitated before saying, "Brother Chu, since you have been so frank with me, I cannot conceal too much from you either. I did not reach the Immortal Realm through a Side Gate like you did. I truly..."
"Haha, that is even better!" Immortal Chu laughed loudly and clapped his hands. "Since Fellow Immortal Zhang is an Ascended Immortal, I am all the more delighted. In the future, I will have to rely greatly on you. The next time I go to the Immortal Market, I will not have to fear others keeping their eyes on me. Oh, right—in tomorrow's time, I have arranged to explore a dangerous place with several fellow immortals. With you joining us, our confidence will increase by several degrees."
"Naturally!" Xiao Hua smiled faintly and pointed at the Crystallized Earth Jade Bear on the ground. "Brother Chu is the first immortal I met after entering the Immortal Realm. From now on, we should naturally support one another. Consider this Crystallized Earth Jade Bear a small gift I brought when calling upon Brother Chu."
"Haha, good, good!" Immortal Chu was even more delighted. He put away the Crystallized Earth Jade Bear, then raised a hand. "Fellow Immortal Zhang, please."
The cave was not actually very deep. After walking some three to five thousand zhang, they had reached its end. Xiao Hua stepped aside slightly, and Immortal Chu took out an object shaped like a thorn from his bag. With a lift of his hand, Immortal Chu pointed at it. The object released a pale white glow and floated in midair. Immortal Chu formed hand seals with both hands, and faint silver-white threads of light emerged from them. As his fingers flicked repeatedly, streams of light fell into the thorn. The thorn gradually emitted emerald-green rays, which lingered among more than ten similar objects for a moment before suddenly shooting out from six of the thorns and striking six places on the stone wall.
As ripples spread across those six places, a doorway appeared in the entire stone wall. Immortal Chu smiled. "This Immortal Artifact is called the Heavenly Mechanism Tiger. Different hours require different arts. If the arts are performed incorrectly, this doorway will never appear. Fellow Immortal Zhang, you are the first fellow immortal to visit my humble dwelling. Please..."
Xiao Hua looked at the pitch-black doorway and smiled. "Brother Chu is the host. How could this humble one enter first? Brother Chu, please..."
"Very well, very well!" Immortal Chu nodded and stepped forward, intending to lead the way.
"Oh, right..." Xiao Hua suddenly asked, "There is no longer any Osmanthus Moonlight here. Does that mean I need not wear the Pearl Shirt anymore?"
Immortal Chu froze, glanced at Xiao Hua, and answered, "After the Osmanthus Moon comes the White Gazing Moon. The moonlight of the White Gazing Moon does you no harm. However, the lingering moonlight of the Autumn Hair Moon and Osmanthus Moon still affects you at night. Naturally, such remnants exist within my humble dwelling as well. Of course, if you think you can endure it, you need not wear it!"
"So that is how it is. I understand!" Xiao Hua took off the Pearl Shirt and smiled. "This item is precious. Zhang should save it for a critical moment in the future. Oh, right—is the sun during the day harmful to Zhang as well?"
"Some are harmful, while some are harmless..." Immortal Chu turned around and entered the doorway. As he flicked his fingers, he replied, "Fellow Immortal Zhang, come in first, and we can talk."
As Immortal Chu flicked his fingers, radiant light lit up the cave walls. On closer inspection, they were several crystals the size of fists.
Xiao Hua smiled. "These crystals must be similar to moonlight stones from the mortal world..."
Before he could finish, several booming explosions erupted above Xiao Hua's head and beneath his feet. On the stone wall overhead, within a triangular area more than ten zhang wide, dark green radiance spilled forth. Within that radiance, fist-sized runes churned wildly and transformed into an enormous net that descended from the air. Beneath his feet, the runes turned into more than a hundred ropes that coiled upward like pythons. Strands of restraining force sealed off the space around Xiao Hua!
Xiao Hua's expression changed drastically, and he retreated in haste. Yet after only several dozen zhang, a clang rang out, and a wall of blades formed from more than a hundred sharp daggers crashed down like a mountain...
"Fellow Immortal Chu..." Xiao Hua cried out. "What are you doing?"
As he spoke, Xiao Hua took out the Ruyi Scepter and swung it desperately, as though trying to shatter the restraining force binding him.
Seeing Xiao Hua's flustered appearance, Immortal Chu burst into laughter. "So-called Fellow Immortal Zhang, you have never been to an Immortal Market, so you do not know what a Scattered Infant Body without a soul means. This old man was just worrying over how to gather enough Immortal Spiritual Crystals to hand over to Feather Immortal, when you delivered yourself right to my door. Is this not an opportunity bestowed upon me by the Heavenly Dao? Do not blame this old man for being ruthless. Rather than letting you fall into someone else's hands, it would be better for this old man to destroy your soul and fulfill this old man's desire for Tai Ming Yu Wan Heaven..."
"Mm..." After hearing this, Xiao Hua put away his panic and nodded. "Since that is the case, Xiao can rest easy! Hand over your life!"
"Oh?" Immortal Chu sneered coldly, contempt showing at the corner of his mouth. "This old man would like to..."
Before his words could fall to the ground, Xiao Hua discarded the Ruyi Scepter and formed hand seals with both hands. Amid a rumble of thunder, Thunderous Might transformed into a huge five-colored hand that grabbed outward. Wherever the hand passed, the dark green net and over a hundred python-like ropes crumbled and shattered as easily as dead branches and rotten wood. Not only that, but the fist-sized runes left behind by their destruction were utterly annihilated with a puff when the great hand clenched!
As the blade wall attacked from behind, Xiao Hua activated Misty Steps and lunged at Immortal Chu. The Ruyi Scepter in his hand came smashing down with a howl!
Immortal Chu was truly startled, but he was not overly flustered. With a wave of his hands, he sent forth the scythe-like Immortal Artifact he had long been holding.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... Once the Immortal Artifact emerged, its might was indeed extraordinary. Mountain-like shadows of light instantly blocked Xiao Hua's path. Seeing illusions of freezing cold, blazing heat, and black flames within every shadow, Xiao Hua did not dare be careless. He swung the Five Elements Ruyi Sky-reaching Staff at them with all his strength.
Breaking ten thousand arts with a single force was indeed true. With a tremendous boom, the myriad blade shadows were annihilated. What especially shocked Immortal Chu was that the Five Elements Ruyi Sky-reaching Staff seemed as light as a feather in Xiao Hua's hands despite its immense weight. After shattering the blade shadows, it lightly tapped the Scythe Immortal Artifact. The staff shadow flashed and struck straight at his forehead.
"Spare my life, Fellow Immortal..." As Immortal Chu cried for mercy, he swept his sleeve. Silver light like a blazing sun burst from his body, and his figure melted into the ground as though his bones had been pulled out!
Hearing Immortal Chu beg for mercy, Xiao Hua hesitated somewhat. After all, Immortal Chu's circumstances were pitiable, and Xiao Hua had no wish to take his life. But before Xiao Hua could withdraw the force of his Ruyi Scepter, golden chains as thick as fists shot out from beneath his feet like venomous snakes and instantly bound his lower body.
"So be it!" Xiao Hua sighed softly, and the Ruyi Scepter crashed down with a roar!
Runes mottled with countless black specks were mixed within the silver light. At the slightest touch, those runes exploded with thunderous blasts, their power immense. They must have been Immortal Chu's life-saving means. Unfortunately, those explosions did not affect the Ruyi Scepter's descent in the slightest. Like a mountain crashing down, the Ruyi Scepter struck the light shadow where Immortal Chu had nearly melted into the earth!
"Ah!" A miserable scream rang out. The light shadow shattered, and countless clouds of dark green mist immediately surged forth. Within that mist, a Nascent Soul had only just poked its head out when it too was smashed into nothingness. A moment later, bloodlight splattered with a puff! Once the chaos had dispersed, Immortal Chu's corpse lay exposed on the ground!
Xiao Hua looked at Immortal Chu's corpse and sighed. "Sigh, you stood outside the door, rambling on and on, only inviting me into the cave at the very end. How could I not know you harbored ulterior motives? I even gave you a verbal warning. Why did you insist on making a move? Immortal Spiritual Crystals are important, but life is more important!"
With a puff, Xiao Hua spat out Five-Colored Divine Fire. In the Four Great Continents, this fire had been incomparably overbearing, but here it was as feeble as a tiny flame, looking as though it could not adapt to the local conditions. After using the Five-Colored Divine Fire to burn the corpse, Xiao Hua inspected the items Immortal Chu had left behind.
First was a Black Robe. Xiao Hua did not know what material it was made from, but it fit him well when he put it on. There was also a chain engraved with a dragon design, which should have been what Immortal Chu had deployed at the end. Xiao Hua fastened it around his waist. He also put away the Scythe Immortal Artifact. Then his gaze fell upon a Crystal Talisman. It bore patterns somewhat resembling plum blossoms, with cloud-like radiance flowing within it. Xiao Hua did not know its purpose. He took out the Heavenly Plum Token he had obtained on the Yilin Continent and compared them. Their plum blossom patterns were utterly different, and they did not seem to have any connection.
Xiao Hua was accustomed to collecting things, so he casually sent them into a corner of his space for storage.
Finally, Xiao Hua picked up the bag Immortal Chu had previously tied at his waist. After opening it and taking a look, Xiao Hua smiled. "This is a Storage Bag. I just do not know what it is called in the Immortal Realm."
Given Immortal Chu's character and conduct, there were naturally many items in his Hundred-Gathering Bag. Xiao Hua inspected them one by one, then took out several Ink Immortal Pupils from within and examined them closely. After several hours, he opened his eyes and took out a ball-like object the size of a dou, seemingly made of black iron, from the Hundred-Gathering Bag. Frowning, he said, "According to what Chu Yu said, this spherical object and that Crystal Talisman were picked up in Yunmeng Marsh. Their origins are unknown. It seems these two items may prove useful in the future."
Carefully putting the spherical object and the Crystal Talisman back into the Hundred-Gathering Bag and tossing it into his space, Xiao Hua inspected the cave again. Chu Yu had been very cautious. There was almost nothing in the cave; everything had been stored in his Hundred-Gathering Bag. Then Xiao Hua thought, Chu Yu had quite a few things, but most were low-grade items. Not only was there no Nascent Soul cultivation technique that Xiao needed most urgently, there was not even an ordinary cultivation technique for Mortal Immortals. It seems Xiao can only use Immortal Spiritual Crystals to buy them at the Immortal Market. Still, there are some Residue Cleansing Pills here. I wonder whether taking them can replenish Immortal Spiritual Energy. I should also familiarize myself with this simple Flight Technique and the basic Immortal Arts first.
The Residue Cleansing Pills were thumb-sized, blackish pellets that smelled somewhat fishy and foul. Had the Ink Immortal Pupils left behind by Chu Yu not mentioned them, Xiao Hua would certainly have taken them for poison. When the Residue Cleansing Pill entered his mouth, an unpleasant fishy stench filled Xiao Hua's nose and mouth. Then the pill transformed into Immortal Spiritual Energy and seeped into Xiao Hua's body.
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