The Small World

Inside the Jade Roaming Palace, the young Daoist was startled by the voice coming from outside.

However carefree he had ordinarily been, nearly two months as sect leader had taught him a good deal about the ways of the world.

He knew perfectly well that the Jade Roaming Palace was now being battered by wind and rain, surrounded by villains watching like hungry tigers, all coveting the sect's inheritance and hoping to exploit its vulnerability.

Now that someone had suddenly come calling, it hardly seemed like a coincidence. It looked more like a carefully laid trap.

But upon hearing that the visitor was an old acquaintance, he hesitated for a moment, then decided to welcome He Mu into the palace before deciding what to do next.

After all, in its heyday, the Jade Roaming Palace had enjoyed many friendships and old ties. If an old acquaintance truly had come, he could enlist them as a powerful ally to deter the petty villains lurking outside.

Besides, the tribute was not yet due. He and the Jade Roaming Palace still enjoyed the protection of a Great Sect. Even if this was a trap, surely no one would make a move just yet.

After all, whoever violated the cultivation world's rules would come to no good end. The Great Sect governing Golden Tortoise Island would settle accounts with them.

With these thoughts in mind, the young Daoist finally rose, stepped forward, and opened the gates of the Jade Roaming Palace.

Outside stood a Daoist wearing the Azure Feather Garment, his hair gathered into a Changsheng Dao Bun.

The Daoist wore a warm expression and radiated a comforting aura. Yet when the young Daoist examined his face, he felt that this visitor was excessively young, seemingly no more than a few years older than himself.

Still, the young Daoist knew that a cultivator's age could not be judged by the youth or age of their face alone. Perhaps the Daoist before him was an old monster who had lived for who knew how many years.

Thus, the young Daoist stepped forward. Though he seemed rather inexperienced, he respectfully bowed to He Mu and spoke.

"This junior is Wenxin, the current head of the Jade Roaming Palace. Greetings, Senior. May I ask what old ties you have with our Jade Roaming Palace, and what brings you here?"

The young Daoist before him, wearing the Azure Feather Garment with his hair gathered into a Changsheng Dao Bun, was none other than He Mu, who had concealed his aura.

Hearing the young Daoist claim to be the Jade Roaming Palace's current sect leader, He Mu was rather surprised. Had the Dao Lineage Heavenly Venerable Lingbao left in the outside world truly declined this far?

He reflected that, never mind any cultivators of higher realms, even the sect leader of the Jade Roaming Palace was merely a child who had just opened his Bitter Sea. Could there be no one else left in the palace?

At this thought, He Mu smiled and addressed the young Daoist Wenxin.

"I was a Daoist friend of a former palace master among your sect's forebears. I came to visit today, never imagining that even the illustrious Jade Roaming Palace would have fallen so low. What a lamentable state of affairs. Is there anyone else left in your sect?"

At these words, Wenxin looked somewhat dejected and replied to He Mu.

"My master passed away two months ago. Now, apart from Wenxin, the Jade Roaming Palace has no other disciples or members."

Only after speaking did he seem to realize what he had just revealed to this stranger, and he immediately grew wary again.

His large eyes widened into perfect circles as he hastily added to He Mu,

"However, the cultivation world has its own rules, and our Jade Roaming Palace still has the protection of a superior Great Sect. We aren't a sect anyone can simply bully!"

Seeing the young Daoist Wenxin's rounded eyes, He Mu found him even more amusing and said,

"I see. So you are the last young Daoist left in the Jade Roaming Palace."

Then He Mu gave another mysterious smile and murmured to himself,

"Since I am a friend of Lingbao, you little fellow can count as something of a disciple's descendant of mine. And you are the sole surviving seedling of this lineage. Very well. I came for your lineage in the first place. You shall come with me afterward."

Before Wenxin could understand what He Mu meant, the Daoist before him closed his eyes. In the next instant, a terrifying, immense aura erupted, spreading relentlessly in all directions.

Within that aura, the young Daoist Wenxin felt like a tiny boat tossed upon an endless ocean, about to capsize at any moment.

Fortunately, He Mu had not forgotten the young Daoist before him. A mote of boundless immortal light shielded Wenxin. Then his divine sense surged outward from the Jade Roaming Palace until it enveloped the palace, Golden Tortoise Island, and ultimately the entire Heavenly Passage Ancient Star.

Looking at He Mu before him, the young Daoist was utterly stunned.

This man's aura far surpassed his late master's. It was even countless times more terrifying than that of the great Four Extremes cultivator he had once met while accompanying his master. Could he be some senior of the Dragon Transformation realm who had suddenly emerged from somewhere?

As for He Mu being even stronger than that, Wenxin did not dare imagine it. After all, the young Daoist's experience was limited. In his eyes, even on Heavenly Passage Ancient Star, a Dragon Transformation cultivator was a towering figure at the very summit, someone ordinary people might never see in their entire lives.

His chance to meet this senior was probably only because the man had spent centuries in seclusion and had just emerged. Perhaps he had old ties with one of the sect's ancestors, which was why he had come calling today.

As for whether such an eminent senior harbored ill intentions toward him or the Jade Roaming Palace-what a joke. Why would a powerful senior like this take an interest in his tiny, impoverished sect? Surely their founding patriarch could not have been a legendary King or Saint?

While the young Daoist Wenxin's thoughts raced through a hundred turns, He Mu's divine sense was sweeping over Heavenly Passage Ancient Star inch by inch, searching for the small world where Heavenly Venerable Lingbao had sealed away his disciples long ago.

The purpose of He Mu's journey was precisely to awaken Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's many disciples and secretly impart instructions, making preparations for the future war against the Black Qi.

The terrifying divine sense of a Heavenly Venerable swept across the star, striking fear into every living being upon it. Its vast divine might was like the Heavenly Dao descending into the world, leaving them able only to prostrate themselves on the ground and tremble as though catastrophe were about to engulf them.

At last, at a node within the void, He Mu sensed obscure, inscrutable fluctuations. Traces of Nine Secrets: Zu emanated from within. Presumably, this was the small world housing Heavenly Venerable Lingbao's disciples.

He Mu immediately pinpointed that small world. With a sweep of his broad sleeve, he gathered up the young Daoist Wenxin and took a single step forward.

In the next instant, as He Mu stepped inside, the barrier of the void broke open, and the two appeared within a small world resembling an immortal paradise.

Second update.