Lin Feng"s worry became reality. Besides the boundary pathway that Zhu Yi and the rest used, another boundary pathway towards the Celestial Wonders World was formed. But this pathway was not connected to the Greater World, but the Void Battleground.
This pathway was unstable and kept on twisting. An elder and a few people in black rushed out from it.
The elder was tall and his hair was messy. He had a long beard, but it did not mask his charming looks.
Right now, he looked fatigued and seemed to be injured. But he was very pa.s.sionate. The essence in his body surged, which seemed capable of driving the Heavens and Earth.
The elder flipped his palm and revealed a jade-white brocade box. He opened the box carefully and there were a few blood-red fruits within it.
He smelt the aura of the fruits with his nose and revealed a smile on his face, "Good, very good, more than half of the spiritual energy is still preserved."
Behind him, three men in black robes surrounded him. Each of their aura were frightening.
The three of them were in the Immortal Soul Stage. As they descended in the Celestial Wonders World, they took up a triangular formation and surrounded the elder, who was in the center of that formation.
"s.h.i.+ Zhongtian, you may have formed the Immortal Soul in the Void Battleground, but you can"t escape today. Be obedient and follow us."
The elder was not fearful and laughed instead, "Nonsense! I almost died in the Void Battleground because I was searching for treasures for my grandson. Now that I have escaped from there, of course I must return to find him. I don"t have time to deal with all of you."
He looked in the sky and sighed, "The time in the Void Battleground is too messy. The speed at which time pa.s.sed in the various places inside there were different. I can"t tell how long has pa.s.sed in the Greater World. Is it 13 or 14 years?"
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian laughed while shaking his head, "Forget it. If I can"t tell, then forget it. The thing is, since so long has pa.s.sed, Tianhao must have grown up. I wonder how he looks like now? Is he as heroic as his father, or is he like a chubby little kid now?"
"Haha, this makes me so excited to see him."
Even if he was surrounded by three Immortal Soul Stage Elders, he still remained cheerful and fearless. He was more concerned about how he was going to reunite with his family.
The three men in black robes were also not furious. One of them stared at s.h.i.+ Zhongtian and said, "Your grandson is called s.h.i.+ Tianhao?"
"Oh?" s.h.i.+ Zhongtian retracted his smile slightly and turned his attention to this man. He became more serious, "You have heard of him?"
The man replied, "He has a Natural Supreme Tao Foundation, how can I not have heard of him?"
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian was shocked for a moment, before he started laughing, "Good! Good! Although I felt that Tianhao had some special qualities in the past, I didn"t expect him to have a Natural Supreme Tao Foundation. Good! Very good!"
The man said, "He is indeed special, but it"s a pity that his Natural Supreme Tao Foundation was robbed from him by s.h.i.+ Tianyi. Eventually, he died and became the stepping stone to the rise of s.h.i.+ Tianyi. What a pity."
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian"s smile vanished and he stared at the man, "Did you just say that Tianhao is dead?"
The man in the black robe laughed, "This happened when he was 6 months old. Think about it. How could he have survived at such a young age as his Natural Supreme Tao Foundation was taken away from him?"
"13 years has pa.s.sed since then. During then, this was a matter that everyone knew in the Divine Lands."
"But today, most people have forgotten about this. On the contrary, they praise s.h.i.+ Tianyi for his talented cultivation. In reality, his talent was extraordinary. As he obtained the Natural Supreme Tao Foundation from your grandson, he became invincible."
"Everyone felt that the s.h.i.+ Family did a fair trade by focusing all their resources on one person. Eventually, a very outstanding talent in the younger generation of the human cultivation race was produced."
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian said, "There are many secrets regarding this matter. It can"t be as well-known as you described. I believe even many of the s.h.i.+ Family members are unaware. How do the few of you know so clearly?"
The man in black robe looked at s.h.i.+ Zhongtian before answering, "Oh, that"s because when your grandson"s Tao Foundation was transferred, we helped s.h.i.+ Tianyi complete the task."
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian stood quietly in void s.p.a.ce expressionlessly. He did not move, just like a statue.
But anyone could feel the surge in mana around his body. He was like a volcano that was about to erupt. Although he had not erupted yet, the burning aura was already present.
The three men in black robes looked at one another and nodded their heads.
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian experienced a miracle in the Void Battleground. Not only did he break through the bottleneck that he always experienced, transiting from the Advanced Stage of the Nascent Soul Stage to the Immortal Soul Stage, he also had other rewards.
His battling skills were extraordinary. When he was still in the Nascent Soul Stage, he looked down on everyone in the s.h.i.+ Family except the clan leader, s.h.i.+ Wu. In the Great Qin Empire, his name was very reputable and there was no one who could match up to him below the Immortal Soul Stge.
Now that he was in the Immortal Soul Stage, he experienced another miracle, allowing his powers to reach a frightening standard.
Inside the Void Battleground, the three Immortal Soul Stage cultivators fought him. If they fought him alone, they were not his match. One of them was even almost killed by s.h.i.+ Zhongtian.
As the three of them banded together, along with the help of two magic treasures, they forced s.h.i.+ Zhongtian to escape and they chased after him.
Regarding the abilities of the person in front of them, the three men in black robes were clear of them. They also knew that s.h.i.+ Zhongtian was furious, driving his powers to the extreme.
But they still wanted to infuriate him, as they did not want him to escape.
Although s.h.i.+ Zhongtian was powerful, they had a method of stopping him.
After all, their target was to capture s.h.i.+ Zhongtian alive and not to kill him. This was much more difficult, especially if s.h.i.+ Zhongtian wanted to escape.
"When we attack, one of us will engage him. After that, another person will ring the Soul-Shaking Bell, disrupting the connection between his soul and the Immortal Soul Avatar. The last person will then use the Soul-Repressing Clock to repress him." The three of them exchanged opinions with one another and they soon had a plan in action.
There were a few others who came along with them who were in the Nascent Soul Stage. They could not directly intervene and surround s.h.i.+ Zhongtian, thus they stayed far away, forming a formation shape, further trapping s.h.i.+ Zhongtian. They acted like the second line of defense.
Just as they were prepared to attack, s.h.i.+ Zhongtian laughed.
"You are lying to me."
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian said calmly.
The man in black robes raised their brows. They saw that s.h.i.+ Zhongtian was calm, even as the mana around him surged. "Tianhao may have met with a disaster, but he is definitely fine. Not only is he not dead, he is even stronger than before. Or should I say, there is someone powerful protecting him. So powerful until all of you don"t dare to deal with him. That is why all of you are targeting me."
The elder"s long hair swayed in the wind, "I don"t know who all of you are, but from your abhijnas, all of you seem to come from the Hall of the Dead. I have been in the Void Battleground for years and have met people like you all. Regardless of your cultivations, all of you do the same thing, that is collecting the powerful souls of people who are extraordinary."
"Although I have formed the Immortal Soul, my soul is not special among those in the same realm. You don"t have to catch me. If you are killing me for s.h.i.+ Tianyi, I can still understand. But if you want to capture me alive, it can only be used for coercing others!"
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian"s gaze alternated between the three of them and his voice was as calm as ever, "You are using me as a hostage to blackmail which person?"
The three of them remained silent. s.h.i.+ Zhongtian was powerful, direct, and hot-tempered, but he was very quick-thinking too.
"It seems like Tianhao is doing well!" s.h.i.+ Zhongtian laughed again. "I have already formed the Immortal Soul, but I am still targeted as a hostage to threaten someone else. The target all of you plan to threaten must be extremely powerful?"
"The Great Thunderclap Temple has long perished. Don"t tell me it is Mount Shu? Or is it the Great Qin Emperor? Or the Great Void Sect? Surely not the Great Zhou Empire?" s.h.i.+ Zhongtian looked at them, "From your expressions, it seems like it"s neither of them. Don"t tell me there"s someone powerful who has risen in the Greater World in recent times?"
The leader of the men in black robes opened his mouth, "No point saying so much. Follow us and you will know."
As he spoke, the three men in black robes conjured spells. Three huge whirlpools appeared in the sky and connected with one another, covering thousands of square radiuses in area. They engulfed the s.p.a.ce above s.h.i.+ Zhongtian.
"You want to capture me, but now I feel like doing it to all of you and interrogate all of you for news of Tianhao!"
s.h.i.+ Zhongtian shouted and stripped himself off his human form. He unleashed his Immortal Soul Avatar and converted into white light dragon that was surrounded by black gas.
The core mantra of the s.h.i.+ Family, the Supreme White Dragon Mantra, produced a white light dragon when cultivated into an Immortal Soul Avatar.
But as s.h.i.+ Zhongtian revealed his Immortal Soul Stage Avatar, it seemed different. Streaks of black gases surrounded the dragon and blood-red radiances shout out from the gases, unveiling a mighty stature.
The three of the men in black robes unleashed the Soul-Sucking Whirlpool, but they could not do anything to s.h.i.+ Zhongtian. On the other hand, they were placed on the back foot as s.h.i.+ Zhongtian converted into a streak of flowing light and leaped in front of one of the man in black robe.
The surface area of the Celestial Wonders World was huge, but the vibration of mana as the Immortal Soul Stage cultivators fought alarmed s.h.i.+ Tianhao, Zhu Yi and the rest who were on the other side of the world.
s.h.i.+ Tianhao was a little fearful as he looked in the direction of the vibration of mana. He was a little stunned.
"According to the vibration of s.p.a.ce, there must be another boundary pathway that has opened. Master"s premonition has come true." Zhu Yi turned his head to look at s.h.i.+ Tianhao, asking, "You know them?"
s.h.i.+ Tianhao shook his head and seemed a little confused, "I don"t know them, but I have a weird feeling."
"One party is from the Hall of the Dead." w.a.n.g Lin"s said in a deep voice.
Zhu Yi said, "Let"s go and check it out. Although they may be in the Immortal Soul Stage, we have Master"s magic treasure with us. We will be protected.
Everyone nodded their heads in unison and s.h.i.+ Tianhao was quiet. They rushed towards the area where the fight ensued.