Chapter 503: Too Late
Enveloped within Gongshu Jiu's spirit domain, everyone hurriedly began to inspect the changes that had taken place in themselves and the environment around them.
Han Li was holding tightly onto his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, and thin arcs of lightning were dancing over its surface. He discovered that the semi-transparent spirit domain wasn't giving off any energy fluctuations, as if it almost didn't exist, and that only made him feel even more uneasy.
Xue Ying took a step forward, then looked down at everyone in the palace with a haughty expression as she declared, "Esteemed Immortal Envoy Gongshu of the Heavenly Court is here, come and pay your respects!"
Everyone's expressions changed slightly upon hearing this.
The title of "immortal envoy" meant that not only was this person an important figure in the Heavenly Court, it also indicated that he had to be at least an early-High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal.
Daoist Hu Yan and Yun Ni exchanged a wary glance upon hearing this, while the pair of Southern Dawn Race Golden Immortals were also looking on with tightly furrowed brows.
As for Han Li, he immediately recalled the True Immortal by the name of He Kang that he had encountered while opposing the Stemborer Queen back in the Spirit Realm. He Kang had proclaimed himself to be an immortal emissary, and that he was under the direct command of an immortal envoy.
It was also from He Kang that Han Li found out for the first time that the Spirit Refinement Technique was a forbidden technique in the Immortal Realm, and that anyone who cultivated it would be hunted down by immortal envoys and emissaries.
After some hesitation, Luo Qinghai slowly strode over to Gongshu Jiu, then extended a respectful bow as he greeted, "Luo Qinghai of the Vast Flow Palace pays his respects to the esteemed immortal envoy."
"Grand Palace Master Luo, your Vast Flow Palace has been causing quite a bit of trouble for our Northern Glacial Immortal Palace over the years," Gongshu Jiu remarked with a smile.
Luo Qinghai was completely unfazed as he continued in a respectful manner, "Our Vast Flow Palace has always followed the rules stipulated by the Heavenly Court, and we've never gotten ourselves involved with evil forces like the Reincarnation Palace. Seeing as you've come here to eradicate these Reincarnation Palace cultivators, all of us will leave now so we won't get in your way."
He gave Nan Kemeng and the others a nod as he spoke, gesturing for them to leave.
However, right at this moment, a glimmer of golden light suddenly flashed over the semi-transparent light barrier, and the entire spirit domain began to give off bursts of formidable law power fluctuations.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly, and it felt to him as if all of the world's origin qi had been completely frozen and immobilized.
"What is the meaning of this, esteemed immortal envoy?" Luo Qinghai asked.
"No one is allowed to leave until I've made sense of the situation here," Gongshu Jiu replied.
"Luo Qinghai! You deceived us and trapped us in that lake, and now, you've collaborated with these Reincarnation Disciple scoundrels to kill Palace Master Xiao! I bet you're already a member of the Reincarnation Palace yourself!" Xue Ying accused.
A wry smile appeared on Luo Qinghai's face as he argued, "That's not the case, Deputy Palace Master Xue. Back at the lake, I could tell that the restriction you were trapped in was quite formidable, so I decided to turn back to find Palace Master Xiao so that we could save you together.
“Unfortunately, I was delayed by the events here, and that's why I wasn't able to make it back to you. As for Palace Master Xiao, I swear on my life that I harbored no animosity toward him,and I certainly had no intention of harming him. Speaking of which, did something happen to him? I didn't see him at all on the way here."
He swept his gaze subtly over a few of the other figures in the palace as he spoke, clearly trying to shift the blame onto others.
A furious look appeared on Xue Ying's face, and she was just about to say something else, only to be stopped by Gongshu Jiu.
"Over the years, Xiao Jinhan has always been plotting to unite the entire Northern Glacial Immortal Region, while our Heavenly Court has always been against the idea. However, he refused to listen to orders, and now that he's perished, I suppose I can only say that he's fallen onto his own sword," Gongshu Jiu said.
Luo Qinghai feigned a shocked expression as he exclaimed, "What? Palace Master Xiao has passed away?"
Gongshu Jiu paid no heed to him as he continued, "Having said that, it seems like his actions have inadvertently led to a good outcome for me."
At the same time, a burst of tremendous, invisible force suddenly descended upon everyone in the hall from all directions, and they hurriedly released their own spirit domains to protect themselves.
Han Li and the others were all gathered together, and their spirit domains were stacked on top of one another in an attempt to ward off this immense pressure, but the effects were virtually negligible.
"What kind of law power is this?" Ouyang Kuishan asked as a faint sheen of sweat began to appear on his forehead.
"It seems to be some type of qi laws, and this man's mastery over law powers is superior even to Feng Tiandu," Daoist Hu Yan mused with a grim expression.
Meanwhile, Han Li remained silent, but his mind was racing, and he was already contemplating how to make an escape. However, he had to wait for the right opportunity to present itself.
It seemed that the sense of foreboding that he had felt earlier was warranted. In hindsight, with so many important figures of the Northern Glacial Immortal Region clashing in one place, it was almost inevitable that a transcendent figure would arrive to oversee proceedings.
Given his current mid-Golden Immortal Stage cultivation base and his mastery over the laws of time, he was virtually invincible among Golden Immortals, but he still couldn't oppose a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal.
Ultimately, he could only blame himself for staying too long.
As a True Immortal, Nan Kemeng was naturally faring even worse than all of the Golden Immortals in the palace.
Even though she was situated in Luo Qinghai's spirit domain, he was still struck by a sense of asphyxiation and excruciating pain all over his entire body. His ears were also buzzing so loudly that he was barely even able to hear anything else.
Luo Qinghai could see the terrible condition that his beloved disciple was in, and he was finally unable to suppress his temper any longer as he made a grabbing motion with both hands, instantly conjuring up a massive vortex of blue light that devoured Gongshu Jiu in the blink of an eye.
A series of indistinct water dragons were surging through the vortex, which was constantly shrinking in size, compressing toward the center with tremendous force as if it were attempting to pulverize whoever was trapped inside.
However, there seemed to be an invisible wall of qi between Gongshu Jiu and the wavy vortex, and no matter how much pressure the vortex exerted upon the wall of qi, it was unable to break through.
Luo Qinghai wasn't surprised to see this, and he continued to constrict the vortex even further while giving a nod to the other Vast Flow Palace cultivators.
Having just forcibly elevated himself to the High Zenith Stage, he was currently severely taxed, so even just trapping Gongshu Jiu on a temporary basis was proving to be a struggle for him.
The four Vast Flow Palace Golden Immortals immediately sprang into action, positioning themselves around Luo Qinghai and Nan Kemeng before each of them summoned a jade badge.
A collective incantation rang out as the images of the ancient sea beasts on the badges began to glow radiantly, with each of them releasing a burst of blue light that connected together to form a square array.
Before long, the complexions of the four Golden Immortals had turned very pale, clearly indicating that they were under immense strain, and a series of extremely complex patterns began to appear on the ground, giving off formidable spatial fluctuations.
"I heard that in the past, four separate arrays had to be set up in order to unleash the Four Seas Roaming Array, yet to think that you're able to accomplish the same thing with just a set of four jade badges. How impressive, Grand Palace Master Luo," Gongshu Jiu remarked from within the wavy vortex with a hint of approval in his voice.
Luo Qinghai offered no response as he began to make a rapid string of hand seals.
The four Golden Immortals had indeed just unleashed the Four Seas Roaming Array, but it was only a simplified version, so it naturally couldn't compare with the original, but it would still be enough to help them escape from this place.
The patterns on the ground at the center of the array were becoming brighter and brighter, while the spatial fluctuations emanating from within were also becoming more and more formidable.
However, right as the array was about to be activated, the wavy vortex suddenly exploded.
A layer of chaotic white qi had appeared around Gongshu Jiu, and it was only about three inches away from his body, but it was raging like a ferocious storm and seemed to contain tremendous power.
"Didn't I just say that no one is allowed to leave until I've had a chance to make sense of the situation here?" Gongshu Jiu asked, and even though the smile on his face remained unchanged, all of the Vast Flow Palace cultivators felt chills run down their spines at the sight of it.
Immediately thereafter, Gongshu Jiu reached out with one hand before clenching it into a tight fist, and four loud thumps rang out in succession as the badges in the hands of the four Golden Immortals exploded on after the other.
As a result, the array also exploded before scattering in all directions as countless specks of blue light.
The four Golden Immortals threw up a mouthful of blood in unison, and two of them collapsed to the ground.
The fair-skinned scholar hurriedly flipped a hand over to produce a pair of pills, which he fed to the collapsed Golden Immortals.
Inside Gongshu Jiu's spirit domain, the world's origin qi had completely ceased flowing, and no one was able to draw upon the world's origin qi outside the spirit domain to replenish their immortal spiritual power reserves, so they could only do so by using pills and Immortal Origin Stones.
Gongshu Jiu took a glance at Luo Qinghai, and a hint of derision flashed through his eyes as he began to make his way toward Han Li.
While passing by the Vast Flow Palace cultivators, everyone saw a patch of space suddenly warp and twist, following which the two collapsed Vast Flow Palace Golden Immortals were crushed into the ground, instantly reduced to two piles of mangled flesh and bones.
Two blue nascent souls flew out of their remains, then rushed toward Luo Qinghai in a blind panic, but they weren't able to get very far before they were caught by a burst of qi and dragged up Gongshu Jiu's sleeve.
Luo Qinghai became even more furious upon seeing this, but in the end, he could only look on with tightly clenched fists.
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