Riiip~!
Thump!
At the same time Xuan Hao began to make his way back to the Star Shattering Sect together with Pei Yang and Yu Min after failing to kill the lord from the Heavenly Dragon Temple, the person in question came tumbling out of a spatial passage far away from the empire that he had been ambushed in. Covered from head to toe in bloody wounds that made it obvious just how bad his current state was. "Haaa... I finally managed to escape!"
Even in this kind of condition, he didn't show the slightest sign of displeasure, as he instead let out a relieved sigh. No matter how bad his current situation was, he was alive.
"But… If that old man is really behind the ambush, I can't return to the Heavenly Dragon Temple as he might take advantage of my weakness to get rid of me. Especially now that I managed to condense a ninth layer around my dao lotus. Obtaining the minimum qualification to become an elder myself…" Muttering this to himself as he went over his current situation, the lord of the Heavenly Dragon Temple could not help frowning to himself.
Although he had indeed managed to escape alive, he understood that he wouldn't be able to return to the Heavenly Dragon Temple in his current state. Not only because the main culprit behind his ambush was there, but also because his other enemies might jump at the opportunity to deal with him in his current weakened state.
"Looks like my only option is to keep a low profile for a few years until I recover… Hmph! After I recover, I will make sure to take revenge on that old man!" Narrowing both of his eyes as he came to a decision, the lord of the Heavenly Dragon Temple stood up before dragging his injured body away from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.
Even though he had managed to reach the territory of the Heavenly Dragon Temple with the help of the teleportation talisman that he had shattered and used to escape, he had only arrived at the edge of the Heavenly Dragon Temple's territory and hadn't managed to alert any of the elders patrolling the borders of the Heavenly Dragon Temple's territory.
For now, he decided to hide away in a neutral region not controlled by any major power and consolidate his cultivation base before recovering from the injuries he had received during the ambush.
"Give me 100- no, 50 years and I will return to have my revenge!" Looking back in the direction where the Heavenly Dragon Temple was located, the lord of the Heavenly Dragon Temple smiled confidently as he said this before officially leaving the territory of the Heavenly Dragon Temple in search of a place where he could peacefully recover his strength and consolidate his cultivation base. Unaware of the fact that the elders from the Heavenly Dragon Temple had nothing to do with the ambush he had just barely survived through.
In the end, it would only be when he returned to the Heavenly Dragon Temple in the future, that he would become aware of how wrong his thoughts were. Unfortunately, for now, he had no way to know that the elder he was dead set on killing at the moment was innocent.
…
Returning back to the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao could not help feeling an unknown sense of unease after parting ways with Pei Yang and Yi Min.
The reason for this had nothing to do with the fact that the lord from the Heavenly Dragon Temple had escaped but was instead due to the presence of the outpost that he had come through.
Although there wasn't anything special about it when compared to the other outpost from the Heavenly Dragon Temple that he had encountered inside the Blue Sea Empire, it caused him to recall the weird observers he had discovered secretly keeping an eye on the Flying Sword Sect all the way back when he had just finished crafting his first interspatial ring and taken on the interspatial ring quest that had yet to come to an end.
Back then, he didn't investigate too much about these secret observers as they left shortly after he had discovered them, but upon closer thought, he realized how weird it was for a group of people who by all accounts should be strong enough to destroy the Flying Sword Sect back then to secretly observe it from a distance without doing anything.
Although he managed to figure out that they seemed to be looking for the founder of the Flying Sword Sect and had been doing so for at least 800 years and also seemed to be afraid of being noticed by the Sky Empire, it made little sense to him just where these people had come from. After all, if they were enemies of the Sky Empire, they should have appeared during the past few years when the Sky Empire entered a state of decline and was attacked from all sides.
The other reason why they might be afraid of the Sky Empire was a bit more nerve-wracking, as it could be because of the fact that the Sky Empire was to some extent aligned with the Blue Sea Empire and might inform them about their presence if they were found, but… For that to be the case meant that the power that had been secretly keeping an eye on the Flying Sword Sect for at least the past 800 years had to be a power on par with the Blue Sea Empire!
"Just who is the founder of the Flying Sword Sect…?" Not able to stop himself from muttering this to himself, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the background of the founder was more mysterious than he had first expected. Possibly even belonging to a powerful force at the core region on the continent before having left for some unknown reason to establish the Flying Sword Sect in a rather remote empire like the Sky Empire…
"Haaa… Even if I want to know more about the founder, I have no clues to follow…" Shaking his head as he realized this, Xuan Hao understood that he couldn't do anything to try and find out more about the founder of the Flying Sword Sect on his own.
The best thing he could do was look out for anyone who seemed to be looking for the founder of the Flying Sword Sect. Although it was doubtful that the people, he had encountered back then would return to take a look at the Flying Sword Sect from what he had heard on the day that they had left, as it seemed like the power behind them had given up on continuing their search for the founder of the Flying Sword Sect.
Maybe when they found out about the establishment of the Star Shattering Sect and its rapid increase in strength would they send someone new to investigate the situation, but before that, Xuan Hao was rather helpless when it came to finding out more about the founder of the Flying Sword Sect and the people who seemed to be searching for him.
The only real clue he had about the founder of the Flying Sword Sect at this point in time was that he seemed to be related to the different seals he had encountered in the areas close to the Flying Sword Sect.
Maybe if he tried to investigate those seals again now that his strength had increased, he might be able to find some clues as to what kind of being had been sealed and possibly also how the founder of the Flying Sword Sect was related to these seals.
Although it would be hard to find the seal that was located in the Frozen Wasteland due to it constantly shifting its position and the current unstable situation with powerful demonic cultivators all over the place, it shouldn't be a problem to take a look at the seal that was located below the ruins of the Raging Flame Sect…
With this in mind, Xuan Hao didn't waste any time as he directly left the Star Shattering Sect and made his way towards the ruins of the Raging Flame Sect.
Whoosh~
Considering the fact that his current strength had reached a realm far beyond what it had been the last time he had visited the place, all it took was a single step before he arrived in front of the entrance to the underground area where the seal was located-
"Hm?" However, upon arriving at the entrance leading down into the place where the seal of the unknown being was located, Xuan Hao was shocked to discover that he wasn't the only one planning to make a trip to the seal.
Who is that…?
Not too far away from the entrance, a hunched back old man solemnly glanced down into the dark abyss where the seal was located. Not only was he someone Xuan Hao was unfamiliar with, but his strength had also reached the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm.
Although this strength was not worth mentioning to someone like him, it was considered extraordinary in the Sky Empire and the surrounding empires. Meaning that if he was from one of these empires, he should have been well known enough for Xuan Hao to have heard about him before when he investigated the different experts present among the invading empires.
With this in mind, Xuan Hao decided to not reveal himself immediately and instead decided to quietly observe the situation.
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