Secretary Zhou entered quietly on tip-toes then.
He was bringing a huge pile of spirit items.
“Minister Wang, these are some floral spirits we had in store as well as some spirit pellets I’d requested from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, both which would help revitalize your spirit.” Secretary Zhou then placed the many spirit items in front of Wang Hou.
Wang Hou ate three of the spirit pellets but leave the floral spirits untouched. Then, with a pained smile, he said a little frailly, “I know about my own condition. These floral spirits are useless to me.”
He cultivated his Yuan Spirit through martial arts, and invoking the Star Map by force had caused severe damage to his mind and Yuan Spirit. Even though his essence was unaffected, the damage was still considerable.
Nonetheless, Wang Hou’s frail complexion improved a little after he ate one spirit pellet. Directing his Yuan Spirit to examine his own body, he said, “No worries. I’m just a little wounded in my Yuan Spirit, but I could recover in a month if I took it easy and recuperated. Still, I would have to count on you for the miscellaneous matters in the Martial Arts Department (MAD).”
As he spoke, he looked up outside the window.
An ocean of stars was reflected in his eyes.
Unlike how it usually was, however, the ocean of stars quickly faded right after it appeared, while Wang Hou’s body flinched and his complexion paled once again.
“Minister Wang!”
Secretary Zhou quickly went up to help him up, but Wang Hou flashed another bitter smile. “I’m fine.”
He sighed then, and said, “I was just feeling vaguely unsettled, but now that my spirit is worn out and my Yuan Spirit wounded, I could hardly watch the stars. I wonder if there are champions spying on Earth…”
***
Neither Wang Hou nor Jiang He sensed the arrival of the immortals.
After all, they did not journey physically across the stars, and had instead warped into Earth through the portal on a dried-up planet.
The portal on the planet had been set up by a True Immortal over two thousand years ago, but it turns out that it was still there and undamaged.
Meanwhile, on Mount Kunlun on Earth, atop a valley, over four hundred kilometers away from the mountain archways of the Taixu Sect…
Oom!
A dazzling radiance ignited, and many figures shone, appearing inside the valley.
A True Immortal could be heard exclaiming in delight, “The cave dwelling I’d kept all those years ago is actually still here…Eh?”
Delight soon turned into surprise and he could not help exclaiming, “Wait… someone has entered my cave dwelling and took away a cauldron of spirit pellets I left here… but why is the array outside untouched?”
The True Immortal was wearing Daoist Robes and sported a goatee, and he looked just like a middle-aged Daoist.
He had wanted to go on a trip around old places for nostalgia’s sake after being away for over two thousand years, but all the furniture at the cave dwelling were already gone.
Shaking with rage, the middle-aged Daoist pointed at a corner of his cave dwelling while muttering in rage, “There should be a Thousand Year Frost Jade bed over there carved out of the Frost Jade that a late fellow Daoist and myself had dug out from the bottom of the Eastern Sea, which we both designed and forged…”
“Where is my Thousand Year Frost Jade bed?!”
The middle-aged Daoist’s frame was shaking, but he suddenly realized…
The many Night Pearls embedded on the cavern ceiling were gone too, and there was a line of text written on it:
“Wang Hou was here.”
“Damn it!”
The middle-aged Daoist roared in rage through clenched teeth. “Wang Hou… Wang Hou… Who is he? It may be your luck to enter my cave dwelling and take away the spirit pellets I left, but why would you take away the Thousand Year Frost Jade bed, the rest of my furniture, and the Night Pearl that my late Daoist friend and I had designed and made together?”
Beside him, many immortals were holding back their laughter.
Still, after thinking about it…
It was really too much!
You’ve already got the good stuff from the other person, so why would you dismantle their house as well?
The middle-aged Daoist waved his hand and activated the array outside the cave dwelling.
The valley that was hidden in the array hence materialized, and the immortals all flew out.
Iron Crutch Li, leader of the Eight Immortals, then loudly said, “Do not release your auras lightly, Brothers. There are too many commoners on the homeworld right now, and the shockwave of our auras could wound them.”
His immortal will then swept out, and he found the Taixu Sect over four hundred kilometers away.
And at the Taixu Sect, the Golden Immortal who had just returned promptly opened his eyes.
He had sensed the vague scan of an immortal will and spread his divine mind in his surprise, hence instantly noticing the many Golden Immortals, True Immortals, and Heavenly Immortals who had returned.
“Is that… the Pure Yang Immortal Swordsman?”
He did not recognize the other seven of the Eight Immortals or the other Golden Immortals. Still, he was acquainted with Lü Dongbin, and so he promptly took to the skies, communicating through his immortal will to the disciples of the Taixu Sect while he flew over four hundred kilometers away.
Whoosh!
An immortal light descended.
The Taixu Sect’s Golden Immortal offered a fist-palm salute and said, “Greetings, Pure Yang Immortal Swordsman, fellow brothers.”
There was a relaxed smile on his face as he said, “We have received word that the Hundred Races Alliance have begun to gather their legion and we were just worried that we might fail to stop them. We did not imagine that everyone would be here so soon… with this, the homeworld would be safe.”
As a matter of fact, the Taixu Sect’s Golden Immortal was aware that Jiang He had gone to the Black Demon Star to ambush the Alliance.
However, he did not know if Jiang He had succeeded.
After all, there was no way Jiang He would offer the information on his own. As for the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, he had promptly gathered all the disciples of his sect once he returned and sealed their mountain gates…
They had quite the loot after all, and had to split the booty.
Moreover, they must improve the strength of their disciples to avoid losing out to other sects once competition between different sect teachings caught fire in the homeworld.
Yes.
Based on how the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist had put it…
If the Ten Thousand Swords Sect could develop strongly by riding this wave and he utilized the treasures he looted, as well as Wang Hou’s unconditional support, not even several sects combined could beat him.
Of course…
The Ten Thousand Swords Daoist would not spread the word that Jiang He had succeeded in his ambush of the Alliance’s legion.
In fact, he had returned to his sect all hushed and quiet without anyone else knowing.
Therefore, the Golden Immortals of the various factions on Earth only knew that Jiang He had charged to outer space, and his fate was unknown just like Wang Hou and the Ten Thousand Swords Daoist’s, who had both gone to rescue him.
“If it isn’t the True Habitant of Taixu!”
Lü Dongbin quickly remembered the True Habitant of Taixu’s title once he saw the Golden Immortal and promptly smiled. “Since you have returned to the homeworld for a while, you must somewhat understand the situation on the planet. Could you brief us about it?”
The True Habitant of Taixu mused to himself for a while, and soon flashed a pained smile, “You may not know this, Brothers… but a devil has been born upon the homeworld!”
“No, not one… it’s two!”
The True Habitant of Taixu then spoke about how Jiang He ambushed and killed the Golden Immortals and True Immortals of various sects in outer space, and then about Wang Hou’s creation of the Martial Dao that invoked a resonance from Earth’s Dao, and was hence buffed by Fortune Qi.
The immortals were stunned.
Then, a Golden Immortal barked furiously, “The insolence of that brat! Those immortals had returned to the homeworld in order to protect it. Who would stop the Hundred Races Alliance when they come after he killed those Golden Immortals and True Immortals!?”
Other Golden Immortals appeared nonchalant about.
The personal grudge was there, and that one over there would still protest against fighting to the death?
“Wang Hou?”
Amidst the crowd, the look on that middle-aged Daoist’s face alternated before he clenched his teeth… and held back the rage inside him. Laughing out loud, he said, “Wang Hou is tied to me by fate, and had even obtained the spirit pellets I left in my cave dwelling.”
Another immortal could not help laughing at that.
That was not what you were saying just now…
“Oh, right!”
The True Habitant of Taixu then added, “Wang Hou had gathered everyone just days ago, saying that he intends to rescue Jiang He…”
He then told the other Golden Immortals about how Jiang He gone to outer space and ambushed the legion of the Hundred Races Alliance, as well as how Wang Hou and Ten Thousand Swords Daoist had gone to mount a rescue effort.
Lü Dongbin’s expression changed at that and he muttered somberly, “Reckless—how reckless! How powerful is the legion of the Alliance?! Is that Jiang He trying to die?”
Despite his rant, however, Lü Dongbin was now even more curious toward Jiang He.
In fact, it was not just him—there were none among the immortals present who were not curious about Jiang He.
That was when a Golden Immortal frowned and said, “Brother Taixu, where have the many champions of the Green Hill Foxes gone to? Logically speaking, they should have returned here to the homeworld three days ago since they left ahead of us.”
