"Who knows? Perhaps he plotted this in advance and obtained the exact coordinates of one of the lost realms. Alternatively, perhaps he fled into that lost realm due to some type of mishap. In any case, he was able to take the treasure and escape from our Nine Origin Daoist Temple far easier than he should've been able to, so he had to have received instructions from someone. Otherwise, he would've never dared to betray our daoist temple," the daoist priest said with a contemplative expression.
"There's nothing to speculate here; the mastermind behind this is most likely one of the people who stepped in to stop your grandmaster," the woman chuckled coldly.
The daoist priest nodded in response, clearly sharing the same opinion.
"Alright, beings of your grandmaster's caliber are not for us to discuss. I'm more interested in which disciple we'll be sending to the lower realm if we can track down the exact coordinates. Would you be interested, Martial Nephew Li?" the woman asked with a faint smile.
"Surely you jest, Martial Aunt; I'm nowhere near powerful enough to undertake such an important task. That traitor was considered to be one of the most powerful disciples of his rank in our daoist temple, and even though it seems like he's in a very bad position, we can't eliminate the possibility that this could be a trick. Even if he really has been trapped in the lower realm, that's still not necessarily a good thing. It indicates that there's an extremely powerful being in that lower realm, and if we send a disciple that's not powerful or crafty enough, then he could fall into the same position as that traitor," the daoist priest said with a shake of his head.
"In that case, our choices will be limited to the disciples who often through the foreign realms. Martial Nephew Zhu and Martial Nephew Wu both seem to be quite suited for the task," the woman said with a smile.
"Senior Martial Brother Zhu and Junior Martial Brother Wu are indeed great candidates, but they're somewhat lacking compared to someone else," the daoist priest said as a peculiar look appeared in his eyes.
The woman faltered slightly upon hearing this. "You don't mean…"
"You may not be aware of this yet, but Senior Martial Brother Ma's has already come out of his forced seclusion," the daoist priest said.
The woman's smile completely faded upon hearing this. "What? When did Ma Liang's punishment conclude? Why haven't I heard anything about this?"
"I was only made aware of this by a junior martial brother a few days ago, and there aren't that many people who know about this. With Senior Martial Brother Ma's powers and cunning nature, there's a very good chance that he'll be assigned this important task," the daoist priest said with a solemn expression.
"Hmph, I wouldn't be too sure of that. Ma Liang is indeed quite powerful, but he's far too ruthless. In the past, he sacrificed hundreds of millions of living beings in a lower realm just to refine a treasure, causing immense trouble for our daoist temple. If it weren't for his exceptional aptitude and the fact that he had made several major contributions to our daoist temple in the past, his punishment wouldn't have been limited to only 10,000 years of forced seclusion. If we send him to a lost realm where no one can interfere with his actions, he's most likely going to stir up even more trouble," the woman harrumphed coldly.
"That's all true, but don't forget just how important that treasure is to our daoist temple and to my grandmaster. Taking that into consideration, I think there's a very good chance that Senior Martial Brother Ma will be chosen," the daoist priest countered.
"That is indeed quite a strong possibility. If Ma Liang is sent to the lower realm, his powers will be restricted, but he should still be more than capable of recovering that treasure. So be it, it's not like our opinion carries any weight in this matter anyway; you're just an enforcing disciple, while I'm only an in-name palace master. However, regardless of who gets assigned this task, don't forget to inform me if you find any concrete information about the realm that the traitor is currently situated in," the woman said.
"I'll be sure to do so," the daoist priest replied in a respectful manner.
"Is there anything else you'd like to discuss with me? If not, then I'm going back to rest now," the woman said. "That's all for today. I'll be taking my leave now, Martial Aunt," the daoist priest replied as he rose to his feet and extended a parting salute.
The woman merely nodded in response, seemingly having lost interest in further conversation.
Thus, the daoist priest departed, and as soon as he set foot outside the courtyard, he vanished amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
In the next instant, the daoist priest appeared on a meadow that was surrounded by the same floral trees, but the palace and the purple-robed woman were nowhere to be seen.
After taking a quick glance at his surroundings, the daoist priest immediately returned the same way he had come.
A short while later, the blue ice wyrm rose up into the air in front of the giant palace gate again, then quickly disappeared into the distance.
Meanwhile, the purple-robed woman was still seated on her chair in the mysterious hall with a contemplative look on her face, and only after a long while did she murmur to herself with a cold smile, "Ma Liang, eh? Hehe, that's not a bad arrangement…"
Her voice then gradually became inaudible, and she abruptly vanished amid a flash of spiritual light.
……
In a restricted area on Concealed Spirit Mountain, Han Li, Mo Jianli, the Spirit Monarch, Xue Ran, and Hei Lin were standing in front of a massive formation.
The formation was around an acre in size, and not only was it riddled with golden and silver spirit patterns, there were hundreds of top-grade spirit stones embedded into the corners of the formation.
The eight Body Integration Stage Spirit beings were standing some distance behind them in a respectful manner, while Han Li and the others were silently inspecting the giant formation.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Monarch was looking up into the sky while holding a formation plate, seemingly calculating something.
"The time has come; this is the best time to set off," the Spirit Monarch suddenly said.
"Alright, we'll be going on ahead then," Mo Jianli said as he strode toward the formation, followed closely by Han Li.
However, the Spirit Monarch suddenly cautioned, "You've already decided your return coordinates, and you can return to the Spirit Realm by crushing your Asura Hearts. However, take care not to completely exhaust the energy within your Asura Hearts. Otherwise, you could be trapped in the Small Asura Realm forever."
"Thank you for the words of caution; I'll be sure to remember that," Mo Jianli replied with a smile as he entered the formation.
Han Li also cupped his fist in a salute toward the Spirit Monarch to express his gratitude.
Xue Ran and Hei Lin also strode into the formation, following which the former suddenly turned to the Spirit Monarch, and asked, "Brother Spirit, you're not going to suddenly change your mind if we manage to return with Threads of Time, are you?"
Rather than being enraged by Xue Ran's suspicions, the Spirit Monarch calmly replied, "Rest assured, Brother Xue; those Threads of Time are extremely important to me, so there's no way I'll go back on my word."
"That's all I needed to hear," Xue Ran said as he nodded with a pleased expression.
The Spirit Monarch didn't hesitate any longer as he raised the formation plate in his hand, which released a beam of white light that vanished into the formation in a flash.
The giant formation immediately began to emit a loud buzzing sound, and bursts of golden and silver light erupted forth while countless runes surged out of the top-grade spirit stones in a frenzy.
All of a sudden, Han Li and the others vanished from within the formation.
The Spirit Monarch had been appraising the formation with an unblinking gaze this entire time, and only after everyone had disappeared did he heave a sigh of relief.
He then turned to the eight Holy Spirits behind him, and instructed, "Listen up! From now on, keep a constant eye on this formation in shifts, and make sure to inform me right away if any abnormalities arise."
"Yes, Spirit Monarch!" the eight Body Integration Stage Spirit beings answered in unison.
The Spirit Monarch nodded, then flew away as a streak of white light.
After a brief discussion, eight of the six Holy Spirits departed, leaving only the bald man and another Body Integration Stage Spirit being behind.
The two of them immediately sat down on the spot and closed their eyes, then released their enormous spiritual sense to encompass the entire formation.
Under these circumstances, they would instantly be alerted if anything were to go wrong with the giant formation.
After a short while, the two Holy Spirits entered a state of meditation.
……
Han Li shook his head to rid himself of the onset of dizziness that he had just been struck by.
It had been a very long time since he had experienced this type of teleportation discomfort. However, due to the fact that this was teleportation between realms, discomfort was unavoidable even with his immense powers.
After recovering from the rush of dizziness, Han Li immediately inspected his surroundings to find that the entire area was filled with thick white trees, short shrubs, and wild grass.
However, all of the branches and leaves of the trees were looking rather withered.
Mo Jianli, Xue Ran, and Hei Lin were nowhere to be seen, but Han Li wasn't surprised at all to see this.
He and Mo Jianli had already anticipated this and made some arrangements.
As such, he immediately cast his gaze upward, and his expression quickly changed in response to what he saw.
