“But Grand Priest, didn’t we capture one of Su Mo’s friends? Why don’t we use her to lure Su Mo to us?” Su Mo calmed himself down before questioning the Grant Priest again.
“This is not possible. Furthermore, the girl isn’t with our tribe anymore!” the Grand Priest shook his head and didn’t allow Su Mo to question him further. Swishing aside his robe, he exclaimed, “Alright, you can go back!”
With that, he called on a man to bring Su Mo to his new living quarters. Su Mo sighed to himself. Since the Grand Priest was not willing to divulge any more information, he could do nothing else except retreat to his new home. However, the Grand Priest had said that Qing Xuan was no longer with the tribe. What did that mean? Where could Qing Xuan be?
Su Mo was slightly confused but he did not show it. After bowing to the Grand Priest, he followed the underling out of the hall. Staring at Su Mo’s retreating back, the Grand Priest wore an unreadable expression on his face.
…
The one who brought Su Mo to his living quarters was a thin Sorcerer Tribe man. His cultivation was only in the Level 2 Martial Imperial Realm. Soon, the young man and Su Mo arrived at his new living quarters. There was a courtyard with a modest, though still quite large, mansion.
“Young Priest, this will be your residence. I will also be staying here and will be at your service!” the young man bowed towards Su Mo.
Su Mo lightly nodded his head. Then, he began to walk around his courtyard. There wasn’t a single other person within his residence, but there was a main hall, a balcony, a pavilion, water fountains, and many other pleasant features both within and without. Finally, Su Mo found a large and spacious room and settled down.
“Su Mo, they are suspicious of your identity!” the Flaming Ghost Sage’s voice rang through his head.
“Really?” Su Mo was slightly shocked. Did his previous conversation with the Grand Priest reveal his identity?”
“There is something fishy about the Young Priest badge that the Grand Priest gave you. There is a trace of the Grand Priest’s energy!” the Flaming Ghost Sage informed him.
“What?” upon hearing this, Su Mo’s heart jumped. Was he exposed? He did not doubt the Flaming Ghost Sage’s words. He was old, but very wise. And although he was now only a Ghost Soul, he was nonetheless very capable.
Why did the Grand Priest do this? Where did Su Mo make a mistake? Furrowing his brows, Su Mo silently pondered.
No! he thought to himself, He did not go wrong anywhere! Before he had even asked about Su Mo’s whereabouts, the Grand Priest had already given him the Young Priest badge. If the elder grew suspicious after Su Mo’s questions, then why did the Grand Priest leave a trace of his energy within the badge beforehand?
It was certain that the Grand Priest did not fully trust him. After all, the talents he had displayed were far too extraordinary and he had suddenly risen to prominence. The Grand Priest only needed to check his background slightly to find many loopholes in his story.
For this reason, the Grand Priest left a trace of his energy probably to keep a watch on Su Mo and find out his secrets. The Grand Priest likely does not know Su Mo’s real identity, but is suspicious of his story. That was why he did this.
“Senior Ghost Sage, I have already placed the Young Priest badge inside the storage ring. The Grand Priest shouldn’t be able to find out anything, right?” Su Mo asked the Flaming Ghost Sage.
The space in the storage ring and the outside world were completely independent from each other. He should be able to prevent the Grand Priest from finding out anything by keeping the badge within his storage ring.
At this moment, Su Mo couldn’t help feeling scared. It was a lucky decision that he did not store the Young Priest badge into the jade bracelet. Otherwise, the Grand Priest would have immediately discovered the three Sorcerer Tribe members, including Wu Xian, within it. If that happened, he would certainly be dead!
“Foolish!” the Flaming Ghost Sage laughed mockingly. “A puny storage ring will not be able to stop his energy from searching through you!”
The Flaming Ghost Sage was previously a Martial Sage. Of course he would understand the capabilities of a Martial Sage Realm artist. His knowledge and foresight was far more advanced than Su Mo’s.
“Then what should I do?” Su Mo anxiously asked.
“Leave the Sorcerer Tribe immediately and throw the Young Priest badge away!” warned the Flaming Ghost Sage.
Su Mo was at a loss for words. Leave? Leave now? He hadn’t attained his goal yet! He had finally entered the Clan Prefecture and had come so close to the Grand Priest. Without investigating Qing Xuan’s situation, how could he willingly leave! Furthermore, once he threw the Young Priest badge away, the Grand Priest might immediately realize that something was amiss. By then, he wouldn’t even be able to leave the Heavenly Underworld Star.
Su Mo suppressed the anxiety within his heart. He couldn’t be careless now. If something went wrong, he would easily lose his life at the hands of the Sorcerer Tribe.
“Su Mo, don’t think any further on this. Leave quickly!” the Flaming Ghost Sage’s voice rang in his head again. He had to convince Su Mo to leave. If Su Mo died here, he would also die.
“Leave and do what? The Young Priest badge is with me, how can I abandon it?” Su Mo asked. He could easily leave the Sorcerer Tribe, but once he discarded the Young Priest badge, the Grand Priest would find out immediately. And with the Grand Priest’s speed, Su Mo would never able to escape.
The Flaming Ghost Sage was silent for a moment, then he solemnly said, “I have a method to prevent him from finding out. But that can only give you 2-3 breaths of time to escape!”
“2-3 breaths?” Su Mo eyes sparkled for a moment, but then quickly darkened. That amount of time was way too short!
Unless… He could use the time to allow his true body to leave. This way his avatar would stay within the Sorcerer Tribe and continue looking for Qing Xuan.
“2-3 breaths, that is enough to let your real body escape!” the Flaming Ghost Sage was on the same page as Su Mo. He had no intention of letting Su Mo’s avatar leave with his real body.
“Mmph!” Su Mo nodded his head. For his own safety, he had to leave in his real body. As long as his avatar stayed and his real body left, even if his identity was exposed, he would be unharmed.
Ahh! Su Mo couldn’t help but sigh. He didn’t plan properly beforehand and now he was met with this unfavorable outcome. He then carefully thought and came up with a detailed plan to escape. His real body had to escape, but he wanted to earn a sufficient level of cultivation resources before then. At the very least, he had to obtain enough to not have to worry about the Firmament Palace for the next 10 years.
However, Heavenly Underworld Star was so big and had a population of over 10 billion. How could he recklessly rob, or even massacre, an entire city?
He had two ideas about how to let his real body leave the Heavenly Underworld City. The first was easier: leave immediately. Once he was outside of Heavenly Underworld City, he would let the Flaming Ghost Sage hinder the trace of energy from the Grand Priest within the young priest badge. Then his avatar would return to the city.
The second idea was more discrete. His avatar would not leave his residence, but his real body would possess someone new and leave.
There were pros and cons for both of these methods. After considering for a while, Su Mo decided to use the second method to escape.
This was because the second method was undeniably safer. If he left the Heavenly Underworld Star as per the first method, he would definitely attract the Grand Priest’s attention. Then, even his true body would not be able to escape.
