Shi Hao soared into the heavens, with Yue Chan following closely, their robes fluttering like divine consorts as they vanished beyond the horizon.
In the peach blossom grove, everyone stood dumbfounded, only breaking into a clamor after a long silence.
“Heavens! He’s going to slay the heir of the Immortal Palace! This will be an earth-shattering event, with far-reaching consequences!”
“The Desolate One has taken action personally, striking first—this will surely shake the heavens and earth!”
The elegant peach grove was awash with falling petals, pink blossoms drifting like snow, radiant and fragrant. Yet, the excitement in the air was undeniable.
The Desolate One was about to make a grand move—a major event was imminent!
For a long time afterward, the place remained restless. Creatures of all kinds spread the news, eager to witness the coming battle, though none knew where the heir of the Immortal Palace truly was.
“Selling his own whereabouts for sacred herbs—the Desolate One is truly…” People struggled to describe him, but upon reflection, they all laughed.
“The Immortal Palace is surely going to vomit blood. Aiding the enemy like this—who knows how they’ll feel when they find out?”
The elite warriors of the Immortal Palace in the peach grove had been slain, but a few minor figures remained. Shi Hao ignored them, leaving them pale-faced and seething with frustration.
Likewise, the few surviving members of the Netherworld Clan felt equally humiliated, wishing they could howl in rage.
This demon king… was utterly shameless! With such immense power, he still resorted to deceit, swindling a pile of sacred herbs—truly infuriating!
For those of lesser strength, it was bearable. But if word got back, how would the prodigies stationed at their bases react? They’d surely explode with fury.
In the Green Spirit Realm, a stretch of fetid marshland lay shrouded in heavy yin energy, devoid of sunlight and unwelcoming to most life.
The Divine Striking Stone led the way, guiding Shi Hao and Qing Yi to this desolate place. It signaled for silence—they were nearing their destination. Deep within the swamp, faint life fluctuations hinted at guardians lying in wait.
“A formation disk!”
A small altar, built from dark-red divine materials, stood in the marsh. A powerful figure sat cross-legged upon it, eyes closed in meditation.
White energy surged from his nostrils, coiling around his body like a dragon—clearly a formidable expert!
But to Shi Hao, this was no obstacle. In his eyes, only the heir of the Immortal Palace was a worthy opponent.
Shi Hao steadied his breath, then struck without warning. Combining the Kun Peng Art with the Shrinking Earth technique, he shot forward like a wisp of smoke.
Simultaneously, he expanded his sole divine aperture, enveloping the guardian before he could react.
The man’s eyes snapped open as he struggled desperately, trying to send a message through the altar—but it was too late. The divine aperture sealed everything.
No matter what treasures or techniques he unleashed, it was futile. His strength waned until he could no longer move.
“Who… are you?” he rasped, disbelieving. As the third-ranked warrior under the heir of the Immortal Palace, he had never imagined being captured so easily.
Even an ancient freak might not have done better.
Shi Hao chuckled.
“The Desolate One… it’s you!” The man paled, a mix of shock, rage, and fear twisting his expression. This was the worst possible scenario—the Desolate One had come knocking.
With the heir in seclusion, the consequences of this intrusion were unpredictable.
“You’re not even from the Immortal Palace. Why die for him?” Shi Hao said coolly.
Qing Yi approached, ethereal as a celestial being, her slender form bathed in a soft glow, untouched by the filth of the marsh.
The Divine Striking Stone hovered nearby. “Ask for the coordinates. Calculating them myself would drain me.”
“You heard him. Where does this altar lead? Give us the spatial coordinates,” Shi Hao demanded.
“I don’t know. This is a mysterious formation. My duty is only to guard it. Messages are sent by placing bone scripts here,” the third warrior admitted.
The Divine Striking Stone groaned. “This must be an exotic formation—tricky to crack. It likely only transmits specific objects, like bone scripts. Living beings probably can’t use it.”
Shi Hao pressed further, but the warrior knew little.
“You dare—!” The moment Shi Hao loosened the aperture slightly, the man lunged to destroy the altar.
Thunder Emperor Technique!
Lightning surged, charring the man black. At such close range, evasion was impossible. He crashed into the swamp, bones shattered.
“Why such loyalty if you’re not even a disciple?” Shi Hao asked.
“I’m cursed with verdant bronze rot. Without the heir’s intervention, I die.” His voice was bitter. The lightning had pierced him, leaving his body charred and broken.
Shi Hao recalled his own ordeal in the lower realm—a year-long struggle against a similar curse, clawing his way out of a grave.
“Consider this liberation,” Shi Hao said as the warrior coughed black-green blood and collapsed, his forehead split by the lightning.
“I will end him,” Shi Hao vowed. The heir of the Immortal Palace would die.
The Divine Striking Stone pondered, painstakingly deciphering the altar’s secrets to trace the heir’s location.
“Luckily, I’ve seen this formation before on a bone script. I can deduce the coordinates.” Progress came faster than expected. Soon, the altar flared to life, opening a silver path into the unknown.
“Let’s go!” Shi Hao charged in.
“Aren’t you afraid he’s cultivated an immortal aura? This could go badly,” the Divine Striking Stone warned.
Qing Yi smiled faintly. “Even if he succeeded, someone like him would have already emerged to conquer the land.”
“Exactly!” Shi Hao agreed.
The silver path flickered, soon reaching its end.
Shi Hao, wielding his halberd and brimming with power, burst forth, ready to strike—only to freeze in shock.
A vast yellow desert stretched before them, devoid of life.
“Where have you brought us?”
This was clearly not the Green Spirit Realm. No heir, no sanctuary—just barren wasteland.
They had arrived in a new world, lost in an unknown minor realm.
“Strange.” The Divine Striking Stone recalculated. “A slight deviation, but he should be within a hundred miles.”
“Better than a hundred thousand,” Qing Yi quipped.
A hundred miles was nothing. Shi Hao’s divine sense soon detected something.
“That way!”
Amid the desert, a patch of green light revealed a small island, lush and glowing. The vegetation shimmered like jade, veiled in mist resembling immortal qi and wisps of chaos.
“This place is extraordinary,” the Divine Striking Stone murmured.
“I’m going in. Be ready.” Shi Hao advanced cautiously, his focus absolute. For this enemy, there would be no mercy—only death.
The island was tiny, less than a thousand yards across. At its heart stood a stone mountain, its base housing an ancient cave pulsing with radiant energy and chaos mist.
A figure sat within, obscured by the haze.
The Divine Striking Stone deployed formation flags to dismantle hidden arrays, guiding Shi Hao’s path.
Like a flash, Shi Hao lunged into the cave, lightning crackling, Kun Peng wings unfurled, halberd raised for a killing blow.
“Whoosh!”
Within the chaos, a pair of crimson eyes snapped open—huge as lanterns. The creature reacted instantly, countering with full force.
“Roar—!”
The cave quaked with clashing power.
“Wait—that’s not the heir!” Qing Yi gasped, guarding the entrance.
“How did you find this place?” The voice boomed, shaking the void. Lesser beings would have their souls torn apart.
“Who are you? How do you know the Human Immortal Seal?” Shi Hao demanded. This wasn’t the heir, yet it wielded the forbidden technique.
“What is that thing? So massive!” The Divine Striking Stone gaped at the shadowy behemoth wreathed in chaos, its power overwhelming.
The creature traded dozens of blows with Shi Hao without crumbling.
Soon, they burst out of the cave. Qing Yi saw it clearly—a dragon-headed, crocodile-bodied monstrosity, towering and armored in dark-red scales, eyes blazing like bloody lanterns.
“Dragon-Blooded Ancestral Crocodile!”
A rare and fearsome breed. Qing Yi knew only the Immortal Palace possessed two, ancient guardians since the primordial era. This was likely their offspring.
With dragon blood, it was a progenitor of its kind, capable of ascending to true dragonhood, shattering the heavens.
This one surpassed most prodigies Shi Hao had faced. Its claws could pulverize mountains and collapse space.
And it knew the Immortal Palace’s secrets.
Even a true deity would fall to its might.
“Where is the heir? Are you his slave?”
“I am the First War General—no slave!” it roared, enraged.
But it was outmatched. Shi Hao’s body, tempered by divine tribulation, was peerless. The crocodile’s arm shattered under his strike.
With unmatched techniques, Shi Hao pressed the advantage.
“Boom!”
A hundred exchanges later, a palm infused with Kun Peng force sent the beast crumbling, its body fracturing before exploding.
“Come out, you defeated coward of the Immortal Palace! Or have you lost your mind in seclusion?” Shi Hao bellowed into the cave.
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