The golden and silver flames within the young man's eyes flickered incessantly, but there was a noticeable glacial aura emanating from his body.
All of a sudden, he made a hand seal, and a layer of golden spiritual flames erupted from his body, which then transformed into a lavish golden robe that covered his entire body.
He then made a grabbing motion toward the crystal ball from afar, and it flew over to him before vanishing into his body in a flash.
The young man raised his head before murmuring to himself, "I almost died for that treasure in the True Immortal Realm; how dare you take it away! I don't care who you are, I'm going to hunt you down to the ends of this realm and erase you from existence! But before that, I have to get out of this place."
Judging from the contents of his words, he should've been extremely angry, but his face remained completely expressionless, which created a very peculiar contrast.
In the next instant, he rubbed his hands together, and golden light flashed before he raised his palms up into the air.
A ball of golden light emerged, and in the beginning, it was only around the size of a human fist, but it then swelled dramatically in size, while a buzzing sound erupted throughout the entire secret chamber.
Within the span of just a few breaths, a few dull thumps rang out within this mysterious palace, following which several golden pillars of light erupted in all directions from it.
A string of loud rumbling booms then erupted as more golden light surged out of the palace in a frenzy, and the entire building completely collapsed and crumbled.
The entire area was inundated by this golden light, and when the light faded, the golden-robed young man was revealed again, standing on the original site of the palace in an expressionless manner.
He withdrew his raised arms, and moments later, a streak of golden light flew out of the ocean. After that, the streak of golden light chose a certain direction to travel toward, and it was heading directly for the Tian Yuan Continent!
…
On the territory of the Tian Yuan Continent's Wood Tribe, there was a barefoot woman in a white dress hovering gracefully over an enormous lush tree that was over 100,000 feet tall. Standing before her was an azure-robed elderly man, and they were engaged in a tense standoff.
Over 1,000 feet below the woman, there was a hideous burly man in a suit of black armor, surrounded by a middle-aged man and woman.
The burly man had his arms crossed, and he was glowering at the middle-aged duo with a ferocious look in his eyes.
In contrast, the middle-aged pair were both quite refined in appearance, and the woman was appraising the burly man with a wary look in her eyes.
"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you infiltrated the holy land of our Wood Tribe and picked over 10 of our Black Spirit Flowers; do you really think our tribe doesn't have any Grand Ascension Stage beings to oppose you?" The azure-robed man said in a cold voice as he glowered at the woman before him.
"I wouldn't infiltrate a place without doing sufficient research beforehand. You're a grand elder of the Wood Tribe, right? Don't be so stingy, Fellow Daoist Wu; there's no need to get so worked up over a few Black Spirit Flowers," the woman said in an unflustered manner, seemingly completely unfazed by the powerful foe standing before her.
"Hmph, you make it sound like no big deal, but Black Spirit Flowers possess extraordinary effects, and our entire tribe can only produce just over 100 such flowers per 10,000 years; you've taken close to half of them at once, and you think you'll simply be allowed to go free?" The elderly man's expression darkened as he spoke.
This grand elder of the Wood Tribe had been cultivating within a certain secret area nearby, and if it weren't for the fact that he had to come out of seclusion to attend to some matters, he wouldn't even have noticed that someone had infiltrated their tribe's holy land before taking so many Black Spirit Flowers.
As soon as he discovered this, he immediately confronted the perpetrators, but the woman standing before him possessed unfathomable powers, even to a Grand Ascension Stage being like him, which was why he hadn't attacked her right away.
"I've already done your tribe a favor by not taking all of your Black Spirit Flowers. You're quite powerful, but you're still no match for me, so what are you going to do?" the woman scoffed, and the azure-robed elderly man was greatly enraged by her words.
At the height of his fury, the elderly man burst into incredulous laughter. "Ha, seeing as you have no respect or regard for our Wood Tribe, I'll have to test out your abilities to see if you can truly back up your words. If you really are more powerful than me, then I'll command the entire Wood Tribe to stand down and allow you to leave."
"If you're no match for me, then other beings of your Wood Tribe would simply be asking for death if they were to challenge me. However, do you really want to fight here?" the woman asked with a smile as she glanced at the giant tree down below.
The woman was already a peerless beauty, and her smile only further accentuated her allure. Even the elderly man couldn't help but be momentarily entranced by her stunning elegance, but he immediately returned to his senses, upon which his expression darkened even further. "The two of us would raze my tribe's holy land to the ground if we were to battle here. Come with me, Fellow Daoist."
As soon as his voice trailed off, the elderly man abruptly swept a sleeve upward, and a pillar of azure light erupted forth.
The pillar of azure light then transformed into a gargantuan sword that was over 1,000 feet in length before slashing through the air.
A resounding boom rang out as the giant sword struck the empty air amid a flash of white light. A burst of powerful spatial fluctuations erupted forth, and a spatial rift that was over 100 feet in length appeared. This grand elder of the Wood Tribe had smashed open a spatial rift with just a single attack!
He stepped into the spatial rift without any hesitation, completely disregarding the hazards within the rift. A faint smile that was tinged with a hint of derision and disdain appeared on the woman's face, and she turned to the burly man down below before issuing an instruction. "You stay here for now; I'll be back soon."
"Yes, Sacred Ancestor!" The burly man was very ferocious in appearance, but he was acting extremely respectfully toward the woman.
The woman gently tapped a foot into the air, and a pink flower emerged beneath her feet before slowly carrying her into the spatial rift as well.
Moments later, a string of rumbling booms and astonishing explosions erupted within the spatial rift, accompanied by flashes of dazzling light. It was as if doomsday had befallen the space within the rift.
The two middle-aged Wood Tribe cultivators both exchanged a shocked glance upon seeing this.
As for the burly man, he turned back to the middle-aged duo as the vicious look reappeared on his face, seemingly completely unconcerned about the woman in white.
The commotion taking place within the rift didn't last too long. Around 10 minutes later, all of the light faded, and nothing more than complete silence could be heard within the spatial rift.
The middle-aged duo turned toward the rift with nervous looks on their faces, while the burly man merely appraised them with a cold sneer on his face.
Moments later, azure light flashed from within the spatial rift, and a humanoid figure emerged from within; it was none other than the azure-robed elderly man.
He appeared to be completely physically unscathed, but his face was clearly paler than before. As soon as he emerged from the spatial rift, he turned back toward it with a hint of fear in his eyes.
Only then did the woman in white also exit the spatial rift, and her expression was just as calm and collected as when she had first strode into the rift.
The concern on the faces of the middle-aged duo from the Wood Tribe was only exacerbated upon seeing this.
As soon as the woman in white emerged, she asked, "Can I leave now, Fellow Daoist?"
The Wood Tribe grand elder wore an extremely strained expression as instructed through gritted teeth. "Mu Jun, Mu Jiao, issue this order of mine: no one from the Wood Tribe is permitted to attack these two, and they are to be allowed to leave our territory as they please."
The middle-aged man immediately tried to dispute the order. "But Grand Elder, those Black Spirit Flowers are…"
"Shut up! Are you doubting my words?" the elderly man yelled as a cold look appeared on his face.
"I wouldn't dare, Senior! I'll pass on your orders right away!" the middle-aged man hurriedly replied with a respectful bow.
"Hmph, go on, then," the elderly man harrumphed coldly.
On this occasion, the middle-aged man didn't dare to hesitate. He flipped a hand over to produce a stack of shimmering azure talismans, and he swept a hand toward the talismans a few times before releasing them as streaks of azure light with a flick of his wrist.
The talismans immediately vanished into thin air nearby, and the woman in the white dress merely smiled upon seeing this as she tucked a few strands of stray hair behind her ear. She then waved a hand toward the black-armored burly man down below, then flew away without uttering a single word.
The burly man cackled triumphantly before immediately setting off in pursuit of the woman as a gust of fierce black wind.
The Wood Tribe grand elder was extremely enraged that the Body Integration Stage burly man was acting so rudely in his presence, but he didn't dare to do anything aside from look on with a frosty expression as the duo flew away.
"Mu Jiao, your Azure Spirit Wisdom Eyes are extremely profound; could you identify anything about those two?" the elderly man suddenly asked.
"I'm afraid I'll have to let you down, Grand Elder. I activated my wisdom eyes to their very maximal extent just then, but was still unable to see much. That Grand Ascension Stage woman is enshrouded within countless flower projections, making it impossible for me to see her true form; could it be that she's also a Wood Spirit or has some kind of connection to our Wood Tribe?" the middle-aged Wood Tribe woman replied in a hesitant manner.
"Hmph, she's definitely not from our Wood Tribe; it's most likely the case that the cultivation art she's using is somehow connected to ours. She's unfathomably powerful, and I can't help but worry now that she's appeared near our Wood Tribe territory so close to the commencement of the devilish tribulation," the elderly man sighed.
