.
At the exit of the immortal mansion, the “knocking” continued. If one person could not knock it open, two tried. If two could not open it, several attacked together, until finally a large group joined hands, shouting “one, two, three” to bombard it simultaneously.
However, it was completely useless. Besides creating ripples with each strike, there was not even a slightly larger commotion. They could not even produce a loud noise, no matter how many people attacked or how powerful their strikes were.
“Everyone stop!” Le Shu suddenly shouted loudly to halt them. His face had turned gloomy as he turned his head to stare at Yu Qing and the others.
Yu Qing’s face also darkened. He had no idea what the vine demon outside was playing at. Either he had been played for a fool, or the entry of these people had prevented the agreement from being fulfilled normally.
Regardless of the exact reason, it was obvious that they could not get out right now.
Le Shu had already strode over, grabbing Yu Qing by the collar and demanding fiercely, “What exactly is going on?”
It was not just him. All the personnel from the Daye Division glared at Yu Qing with ill intent. After all, they might end up dying here.
Yu Qing waved his arm to block Mu Aotie, who was about to rush forward impulsively, and patted Le Shu’s hand to signal him to let go. “How would I know what is going on?” Le Shu shouted angrily. “Didn’t you say the exit would only close in two hours? It only took us about an hour to rush here at full speed.”
Yu Qing replied, “Think clearly before you question me. I said there were at most two hours left, not that it would close within two hours.”
Le Shu retorted, “Stop giving me crap. You must be the one who opened the entrance to this cave mansion. Figure out a way to open it right now, or do not blame me for being ruthless.” With that, he shoved Yu Qing away.
Yu Qing staggered a couple of steps before steadying himself and reacted, “No one can get out without figuring out the situation. Let me ask again, did Kunling Mountain know when you came in?” Le Shu narrowed his eyes and stared at him, pondering what he meant by this.
Gan Li grabbed his arm to signal him to calm down and stepped forward to say, “Of course they knew. With so many people breaking into the Spirit Valley, Kunling Mountain naturally already knows.” Yu Qing asked again, “So that means Kunling Mountain already knows about the existence of this immortal mansion?”
Gan Li replied, “Of course.”
Yu Qing asked, “Does Kunling Mountain also know that I came in?”
Gan Li thought for a moment and shook her head, saying, “That is not clear. Why are you asking this?”
Yu Qing did not rush to answer. After pondering in silence for a while, he felt slightly relieved in his heart. Regardless of whether Kunling Mountain knew he had entered right now, they would surely guess something when they found out he had disappeared from the garden where he was staying. With so many people in Kunling Mountain, it was highly unlikely that the Daye Division could silence everyone.
Of course, this did not mean they were already safe. The Daye Division still had the possibility of killing them.
The problem was that things had already reached this point. #26356 It was a bit ridiculous to worry about being discovered if they could not get out before daybreak, since they had already been caught.
Since that was the case, he turned to look at this unknown world and said slowly, “I do not know how to get out right now either. We should find the Grand Envoy first.” He even somewhat suspected that Xiang Lanxuan had already gotten out.
Le Shu said coldly, “You opened the entrance to the cave mansion, and now you say you do not know how to get out. Do you think we believe you? Speak.” Yu Qing said, “I really do not know. No matter what happens, let us find the Grand Envoy first.”
Le Shu grabbed his collar again. “Stop playing tricks with me. If you cannot open the door, I will cripple you first and then let you think of a solution slowly!” As soon as these words were spoken, Nanzhu, Mu Aotie, and Baili Xin all became nervous and were about to step forward.
Yu Qing noticed this and urgently waved his arms to block his companions on both sides. He was not afraid at all. Instead, he asked Le Shu meaningfully, “Could it be that you do not want the Grand Envoy to get out?” Le Shu was stunned for a moment, then became angered by his own embarrassment, and actually lifted Yu Qing up, saying, “Try spouting nonsense one more time!”
Yu Qing’s hands were still gesturing backwards to stop Nanzhu and the others from acting impulsively. He looked fearlessly into Le Shu’s eyes and said calmly, “Keep our useful bodies alive to help find the Grand Envoy first. Once we find the Grand Envoy, it will not be too late to cripple us. We cannot just leave the Grand Envoy alone.”
What did he mean by not leaving the Grand Envoy alone? Hearing this, Le Shu nearly exploded with rage. He was burning with anger and had the urge to strangle him right then and there. Earlier, this guy was the one who said they should leave first regardless of the Grand Envoy, and now he was the one saying they should not rush out and must find the Grand Envoy first.
Yet he was truly trapped by the other party’s words and did not dare to act against him easily. Otherwise, he would genuinely be suspected of not wanting the Grand Envoy to leave.
Gan Li glanced at the reactions of her companions. They clearly all shared a common enemy and were displeased with this Tanhua Scholar. Yet surprisingly, no one dared to make a sound to express support for Le Shu. She could not help but look at Yu Qing a bit more, thinking to herself what a formidable Tanhua Scholar he was. No wonder he was called the number one genius in the world; a single sentence had managed to checkmate all the Daye Division personnel who had entered.
She reached out and patted Le Shu’s raised arm, giving him a look to signal him to let the man go.
Le Shu followed her gaze and looked at the Daye Division personnel who had entered together. He understood her meaning. Even though everyone wanted to open the door and leave first right now and shared his resentment, if they actually got out and saw the Grand Envoy again later, no one knew what kind of thoughts they might harbour.
Le Shu let go and gave a push. The staggering Yu Qing was supported by Nanzhu and Mu Aotie.
Gan Li stared at Yu Qing and warned, “If you cannot help find the Grand Envoy, we will kill you first!” Seeing this, Nanzhu and the other two breathed a sigh of relief. Their hearts had truly been in their throats just a moment ago.
Yu Qing turned and walked away, leading the way in front as the group followed.
After following him for a while, Nanzhu and the other two noticed something was wrong. They realised that Old Fifteen was leading everyone towards the direction of the immortal palace mentioned by the vine demon this time.
As the Daye Division group walked, they also felt something was off. Weren’t they quite happy when they first entered the immortal cave mansion? They had not even started exploring this world yet, so why was everyone suddenly anxious to escape?
Le Shu frowned deeply, faintly feeling that their group seemed to have been led by the nose by someone. Yet they were truly trapped by his words and could not openly oppose him. Under the night sky, on a small mound, the figures of a man and a woman stood on flower branches taller than a person.
The man had completely white hair and beard, dressed in snow white clothes with the demeanour of an immortal. He was precisely Grand Elder Huan.
The woman had long hair draped over her shoulders, wearing light and casual clothes, without any makeup and with a bare face, exuding a lazy charm. She was precisely Xiang Lanxuan, who had departed in a hurry and had no time to dress up. Behind the two figures with fluttering sleeves, another figure was rushing hurriedly, flying over the grass all the way. It was precisely Qin Fujun, dressed in male attire.
She had chased them so bitterly along the way. She had finally caught up with them with great difficulty, only for the two to leave again. She found them, and they left again. This had happened several times already.
After landing beside the two, she also looked up in admiration. Ahead was an incomparably gigantic tree. Its sprawling roots covered an area of perhaps hundreds of acres, towering into the clouds. The leaves on the canopy emitted a faint green radiance, looking like a nebula high in the sky, or a divine tree from a dream.
They had seen it from afar earlier and thought it was a nebula. Later, as they moved, they noticed the stars remained unchanged while the corresponding green nebula shifted its position. Only then did they realise something was wrong and rushed over.
Looking at it from a closer distance now, they realised the trunk was also emitting a hazy glow, which seemed to be some kind of luminescent moss. The visual shock brought by such a gigantic tree was indescribable.
After catching her breath, the newly arrived Qin Fujun exclaimed in amazement, “There is actually such a large tree in the world. Could this be the legendary Heaven Reaching Tree?” Xiang Lanxuan and Huan Yushan did not pay attention to her. The two were staring intently at a certain spot on the tree.
Qin Fujun observed for a moment and looked along the line of sight. She soon said in surprise, “There seem to be lights on the branches above. Could there be people up there?” Xiang Lanxuan said slowly, “There are indeed people. Grand Elder, did you hear that? It seems someone is singing and dancing up there.”
Huan Yushan nodded slightly.
Qin Fujun listened attentively but could not hear anything. Knowing it was because the gap in cultivation was too large, she asked in shock and doubt, “What kind of people would be singing and dancing here?”
Huan Yushan said with a solemn expression, “Naturally, they are people from this immortal mansion. Legend has it that every immortal mansion has a mountain guarding beast. Grand Envoy, you are someone who entered the Small Cloud Realm and fought the mountain guarding beast. Do you have any profound insights?”
“I did fight it, but no comparison can be made. A monster that has existed for thousands of years could have any kind of possibility. Its strength is not something we can casually speculate about,” Xiang Lanxuan said as she looked around. “I also do not know where that Tanhua Scholar slipped off to. Since he could find this place, he probably knows more than we do.”
Huan Yushan nodded and tried asking, “How did he find this place?” Xiang Lanxuan replied, “We will only know that if we catch him.” Qin Fujun, who was staring at the giant tree, suddenly blurted out, “Could he have already gone up that tree?”
As soon as these words were spoken, Xiang Lanxuan and Huan Yushan exchanged a glance. To be honest, this possibility could not be ruled out.
Just then, the two suddenly turned their heads one after another to look at the wilderness beside them. They saw two more figures appearing. After getting closer, they seemed to have discovered them as well and hurriedly ran over. Just by looking at their attire, one could tell they were disciples of Kunling Mountain.
The two disciples stepped forward, confirmed they had found the person they were looking for, and quickly cupped their hands in greeting, “Greetings, Grand Elder.”
Huan Yushan did not know the two of them at all. There were simply too many disciples in Kunling Mountain, and he rarely showed his face to interact with these disciples. Thus, he looked at Qin Fujun. Seeing the latter nod to confirm they were indeed disciples of their sect, he then asked, “Why did you run over here?”
One disciple said, “Reporting to the Grand Elder, Uncle Yan Yao brought us in. Uncle Yan Yao dispersed the fellow disciples who entered in all directions and is looking for you everywhere, saying there is an important matter to discuss.” Yan Yao had no other choice. The place was so vast, and after running around for a long time without seeing anyone, he had to scatter the people at his disposal to search everywhere in pairs.
Huan Yushan frowned slightly, knowing it must be a very important matter. Otherwise, they would not have searched for him all the way in here. He immediately asked, “What matter requires finding me?” The disciple replied, “This disciple does not know. We were only told to invite the Grand Elder to hurry to the meeting upon seeing you.”
They truly did not know what the matter was either. Genuine confidential affairs would not be told to them.
Make his own master go see him? Huan Yushan realised even more that the matter was of great importance and immediately asked, “Where is he?”
The two disciples turned back to discern the direction and raised their hands to point to the same location. The answering disciple said, “Over there, on a white stone mountain about fifty miles away. It is very obvious and can be seen just by passing by.” Huan Yushan immediately said to Xiang Lanxuan, “Grand Envoy, please allow this old man to take my leave temporarily. I will be back soon.”
Xiang Lanxuan glanced at the two disciples. She also felt something was wrong. It was not very normal for a master to go meet his disciple, so she immediately said, “It is fine. I will accompany you on this trip to see what the important matter is.”
Huan Yushan was silent for a moment and could only nod and say, “Very well.”
Xiang Lanxuan then said to Qin Fujun, “Take these two with you and go out first. Tell Le Shu to bring a group of people over, and have Gan Li secretly transmit the discovery here to the Daye Division. Also, tell Sect Master Zhao to block the news of the discovery of the Hundred Flowers Fairy cave mansion. Everything will wait for the Earth Master to arrive and make the final decision.”
Hearing these words, Huan Yushan felt exceptionally heavy in his heart. He did not know what kind of fate awaited Kunling Mountain, nor did he know if the Sect Master had made preparations to deal with it. Qin Fujun and the other two first looked at his reaction. Seeing the Grand Elder nod silently, they had no choice but to cup their hands, accept the order, and leave.
Afterwards, Xiang Lanxuan and Huan Yushan also flew away from their original spot, still not daring to easily approach that towering giant tree.
Meanwhile, Yu Qing and the others, who were being held hostage by the Daye Division crowd, also stopped. There was no other way. They also encountered the personnel Yan Yao had dispatched everywhere, so they naturally had to stop and ask about the situation. As soon as Yu Qing heard this, he secretly thought it was terrible.
As it turned out, what one fears is often what happens.
Le Shu was heard saying, “Perfect. They are searching everywhere, which is better than us blindly looking around without a purpose. Let us go meet Yan Yao first. When his people return, we can ask about the whereabouts of the Grand Envoy. Perhaps the Grand Envoy is together with that Grand Elder.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. In such an unknown place, one did not know what hidden risks lurked, and subconsciously everyone felt it was safer to have more people around.