Golden Ao Island was eerily silent.
Several breaths had already passed since Gu Changqing had called out, "Fellow Daoist Luohu."
That patch of void remained empty, without even the slightest fluctuation of aura to be sensed.
Among the Outer Sect disciples, someone quietly withdrew the hand resting on his artifact, the taut string in his heart showing faint signs of slackening.
Could... Senior Brother Changqing really have drunk too much?
The thought spread silently through the crowd.
Golden Spirit Holy Mother stood beside the crowd and returned her flying sword to her waist without a word.
Duobao, too, was filled with bewilderment and doubt.
After a long while, he could only look toward his Master Tongtian.
Tongtian glanced at that patch of void and spoke.
"Disciple Changqing, are you... certain that Luohu really appeared?"
He asked the question with extreme caution.
Yet he still could not conceal the trace of hesitation in his words.
Clearly, Tongtian's heart was likewise full of doubt. He thought that perhaps Gu Changqing's perception had gone astray.
Yet there was something indescribably strange about how gingerly he asked.
Daoist Duobao turned his head aside, desperately holding something back.
...Master, that question spoke the minds of more than a million people here.
And at that very moment, within an unknown fissure in the void outside Golden Ao Island...
Luohu had already turned around and was fleeing at full speed.
He had suppressed every trace of his aura to its utmost limit.
There were no fluctuations, no leakage; even his very existence had dissolved into the backdrop of the void.
From tracking the Heart-Demon Origin here, to discovering that Gu Changqing's strength far exceeded his expectations, to deciding to retreat, he was confident that he had concealed the entire process without letting a single drop leak through.