Too Late to Escape
"Well."
This was Duan Hanyi's eightieth sigh.
He glanced at Ten Thousand Daos Born and the others who were frantically buying up goods at the market, then squeezed his empty Storage Bag and felt a pang of sadness. He let out a long sigh.
Hearing this, the little white Beast God, like a toy, leaped onto his shoulder and frolicked on his head.
Green Lotus had already bought the gifts to take back, which is why she had the opportunity to leisurely watch the spectacle with Duan Hanyi.
As she looked around, she asked, "Why doesn't Master Duan buy some local specialties to take back? The products from the Endless Sea are completely different from those from other small worlds. Don't you want to bring some back for your friends?"
Duan Hanyi sighed even harder after hearing this. He did have friends to give gifts to, but the problem was that he didn't have Spirit Stone!
He had escaped in the first place and had practically nothing on him. Otherwise, why would he have been so aggrieved, sharing a Wuming house with Wuming and even fighting over a bed with him?
Later, he finally met Sang Ying, who, along with Jiang Zhuoxue, two extremely wealthy women, took care of him. He had no worries about food and drink along the way, and certainly no worries about Spirit Stone.
Unexpectedly, Sang Ying and the others left suddenly. Because they left in Duan Hanyi a hurry, Duan Hanyi forgot to ask Sang Ying to leave him some Spirit Stone.
So right now, everyone else is happily going to buy little gifts to take home, while he's just sitting here watching.
"Speaking of which, wasn't Master Duan supposed to go with Senior Sister Sang and the others? Why did he suddenly change his plans at the last minute?" This was something Green Lotus had wanted to ask for a long time.
When Sang Ying and the others were making their plans, they didn't even consider their junior brothers and sisters like Dong Fuzhu, but instead included Duan Hanyi as one of the people who would go to explore that Teleportation Array.
But just before Sang Ying and the others set off, they suddenly changed their minds and left Duan Hanyi behind.
Sang Ying didn't tell them the reason behind this, and they wisely didn't ask.
However, judging from Duan Hanyi's behavior these days, Green Lotus felt that they were hiding something from her, so she couldn't help but ask.
Upon hearing her question, Duan Hanyi's expression indeed paused. After a moment, he said, "There's no reason. I just accidentally got injured, so I can't go into the sea with Fellow Daoist Sang for the time being. It's that simple. Don't overthink it. They should have already bought the things. Let's go and meet up with them."
Seeing that Green Lotus wanted to continue asking questions, Duan Hanyi changed the subject and drew her attention to Lan Fusheng and the others.
Helpless, Green Lotus had no choice but to swallow back the words she hadn't been able to say.
The two quickly caught up with their companions; Dong Fuzhu and her friends were practically shopping like crazy. If their Storage Bag weren't almost full, they probably would have lingered on this street for even longer.
Bai Kejin, clutching his sword, said helplessly, "These things you bought are clearly available in other small worlds as well; there was no need to buy so many."
"What do you know?" Dong Fuzhu Qi Ingestion, "These things all have special runes from the Cloud Mulberry Realm; they're its symbols. The Cloud Mulberry Realm used to be very xenophobic, and outsiders had to be subservient to the locals if they wanted to buy these things. Now that our relationship with the Cloud Mulberry Realm has finally improved, of course I want to buy more to give as gifts back home."
"Fine, whatever you want. Just don't give me any of these things you bought, I don't want any of them." Bai Kejin snorted and subtly moved away from her.
Dong Fuzhu rolled her eyes, indicating that even if she had extras, she would rather throw them away or leave them to gather dust than give them to him.
Everyone knew that the two disliked each other, so no one stepped forward to speak up for them when they started arguing.
After all, they both knew that these two were all talk and no action; when it came to the crucial moment, they would definitely unite against a common enemy.
Duan Hanyi steadied the Beast God, who was perched on his head, and urged them, "Now that we've bought everything, let's head to the Beast Soul Sect as soon as possible. After handing Bai Ze over to the Beast Soul Sect, we can leave the Cloud Mulberry Realm."
Dong Fuzhu was still a little puzzled. "There are still half a month until the return date specified by the sect leader, why are you in such a hurry? Besides, we want to wait for our senior sister and the others in the Cloud Mulberry Realm a little longer."
The recent maritime anomaly caused quite a stir in the Cloud Mulberry Realm. Many people saw their ship stop not far from the water column at the time, so they all felt that this matter was related to them, and wanted to stop them to ask about the inside story.
Although this matter was indeed related to them, they didn't know much about the details, and even if they did, they couldn't tell anyone. So they could only drift on the sea in their boat to avoid the questions from those with ulterior motives.
It's fortunate that they exposed the conspiracy about the Beast God before, earning them a great reputation in the Cloud Mulberry Realm. Otherwise, these forces would definitely not have been so polite to them and would have already taken drastic measures to interrogate them for the truth.
After another sea voyage, Lan Fusheng found they had gained nothing, so they obediently returned to shore to prepare for their departure from the Cloud Mulberry Realm.
With the return date set by the sect leader fast approaching, although no one dared to disobey the sect leader's wishes, they still wanted to set off before the deadline.
They wanted to stay as long as possible to see if Sang Ying and the others could return in time.
However, Duan Hanyi would not allow them to have their way. After Dong Fuzhu raised a question, he said directly, "This is also your senior sister's idea. Before she left, she specifically came to see me and asked me to urge you to go back in advance."
"Why?" Bai Kejin and the others asked in unison.
Duan Hanyi: "Because I've calculated that the Immortal Spirit Realm is about to descend into chaos. If you don't return soon, you might not be able to help Ten Thousand Daos Born."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the people in front of them all changed, and even Dong Fuzhu, who had been joking with Red Lotus just moments before, instantly turned cold.
"Master Duan, are you telling the truth? Don't try to scare us," Lan Fusheng quickly pressed.
Duan Hanyi naturally lied. The real danger lay in the Cloud Mulberry Realm, while the crisis in the Immortal Spirit Realm was actually easier to resolve. If he hadn't suddenly learned of this, he wouldn't have been detained by Sang Ying.
Sang Ying was worried that if she told her junior brothers and sisters the truth, they would risk staying in the Cloud Mulberry Realm to ensure her safe return to the Lower Realm. That's why Duan Hanyi made up a reasonable explanation to get them to leave ahead of time.
Duan Hanyi suffered a backlash from predicting such an important event and was bedridden for quite some time. Furthermore, he hadn't yet come up with a reasonable explanation, and the numerous forces on the shore wanted to stop them and extract an explanation, which is why it took so long.
Now that they had finally made it ashore, Duan Hanyi certainly wouldn't let this excellent opportunity slip by.
He immediately recounted everything he had seen and urged everyone to leave quickly.
Duan Hanyi's strength was evident to all, so naturally no one questioned his calculations. Although Dong Fuzhu and the others wanted to see Sang Ying return, Ten Thousand Daos Born's safety was clearly more urgent.
After discussing it for a while, the group decided to pack their things and leave as soon as possible.
They set their departure date for the next day, Duan Hanyi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this news. In his calculations, it would still be another ten days or so before the accident in the Cloud Mulberry Realm occurred.
However, Duan Hanyi wisdom, forgot one of the most important things for a fortune teller: even the most accurate calculations can change.
So, just as Lan Fusheng and the others were about to leave after sending Bai Ze to the Beast Soul Sect and heading towards the Teleportation Array, a black vortex suddenly surged up in the sky above the Endless Sea.
Suddenly, a crack appeared in the sky!