Wait a minute, where is my master?

As spatial fluctuations occurred,

a mass of substance containing shades of water blue and soil brown materialized out of thin air.

Then, the golden spiritual power shield was wholly enveloped by this sudden material, like stuffing being wrapped in a dumpling.

"Mr. Jin!"

"Taoist!"

"Ahh~"

Cries for help from two women and an elephant arose simultaneously within the light shield.

Actually, protected by the golden spiritual power, besides Little Purple Spirit Elephant, Yu Yaoer and Xia Yunzhao were not too panicked. It's just that one was used to relying on Jin Xu in combat,

while the other was just beginning to become accustomed to this idea.

After the blue-brown substance covered the spiritual power light shield, a pitch-black narrow crack silently opened up in the space in front of them.

It seemed that this thing intended to take the light shield and the three ladies to some other place.

However...

After exerting force twice quite noticeably, it was extremely surprised to find that it couldn't move the object at all.

The young Taoist, standing about three zhang away, noticed this sudden change and saw the futile efforts of the blue-brown substance, his lips curving into a slight smile.

Following that, he lifted his right hand and gently hooked his two fingers towards the palm of his hand.

The golden spiritual power light ball, that had been wrapped by the blue-brown substance and hadn't budged an inch despite all its effort, flew straight towards him.

The spiritual power light ball flew halfway.

The material wrapped around it seemed to finally realize it was up against a tough opponent. It immediately peeled off the surface of the light ball and darted towards the pitch-black narrow gap it had opened earlier.

But the young Taoist would not let it escape so easily.

With a light tap of his foot on the ground, he launched himself like a rocket, transforming into a streak of golden light shooting forth. As he brushed past the golden spiritual power light ball,

Jin Xu still found time to say to the three women,

"Don't be afraid, if I'm not mistaken, we'll be able to return to the Nine Provinces Realm soon."

Before his words ended,

the young Taoist had already appeared in front of the spatial crack, firmly blocking the pathway of the blue-brown substance.

At the same time, to prevent it from escaping through another spatial crack elsewhere,

Jin Xu spread his golden spiritual power around.

However, he had not expected that the blue-brown substance would not think of escaping. Upon seeing someone blocking the spatial crack, it hesitated for less than a tenth of a moment,

and pounced towards the young Taoist!

It seemed determined to envelop Jin Xu just as it had the golden spiritual power light ball.

"Interesting, but seems a bit foolish..."

Noticing this move from the opponent, the young Taoist's eyes flashed with amusement.

He casually erected a golden spiritual power shield in front of him and then took out the Origin Box from his storage treasure, which could verify the world essence.

The blue-brown substance that came flying was blocked by the shield and, not being picky, immediately engulfed it, then made a move to flee.

Apparently... its appearance this time was solely to abduct some material, regardless of whether that material was a person, spiritual power, or something else—the blue-brown substance didn't seem to care at all.

Of course, the actions of the blue-brown substance were futile just like before.

And the Origin Box that Jin Xu had taken out shone brightly with jade light as the material approached, confirming his suspicion that it was indeed the world essence of the Spirit Realm.

"Compared to the world essence of the Demon Realm, this one seems to have a much stronger aggressive nature. Could it be that this world essence has also been contaminated by something?"

The young Taoist looked at the Spirit Realm's essence wrapped around the spiritual power shield and muttered to himself.

Then, he condensed his golden spiritual power into a mass and completely enveloped the 'blue-brown wall' in front of him before finally activating his Spiritual Eyes.

He carefully conducted a health check on the Origin of the Spirit Realm.

A moment later,

with eyes faintly glowing silver, he watched the brown-blue Origin, which had just disengaged from the spiritual power barrier and was now bouncing off the walls within the protective shield, and couldn't help but speak to himself in confusion,

"Brimming with vitality, no trace of any filth, in fact, in some ways, more active than the Origin of the Demon Realm. But what's going on with this aggressive behavior, attacking and dragging away anything it sees?"

It's important to realize that the world's Origin is not a domestic pet; it doesn't have personality traits.

The Origin of the Demon Realm became slightly abnormal because it developed some self-awareness and, after being eroded by the Demon Lord, got hit by a 'Body Purification Skill.'

But this Origin of the Spirit Realm...

Jin Xu had many questions in his heart, but he also knew his main purpose was to recover this realm's Origin, not to conduct investigations.

As long as he could take the world's Origin back to the Nine Provinces and resist the calamity caused by the tidal forces of heaven and earth, why it was so lively was a secondary concern.

That could be put aside for now.

Once the Origin was taken back to the Nine Provinces and integrated with the Heavenly Dao's rules, then it could be discussed.

Realizing this, the Taoist, manipulating the golden spiritual power, carefully compressed the blue-brown substance into the size of a palm and then opened the Origin case to throw it in.

Having done all this,

he walked back into the golden Spiritual Power Light Shield not far away.

"I didn't expect the Origin of the Spirit Realm to come looking for us on its own; this trip has saved us quite a bit of effort,"

Jin Xu said in a relaxed tone to the two women and the elephant within the shield.

While he felt the mission was easy and he could return to the Nine Provinces early,

Xia Yunzhao had a completely different mindset!

What happened to the plan of spending a full day?!

What happened to advancing their relationship further?!

What happened to the extreme danger of this realm?!

This was her hard-won chance to travel to a small world with Jin Xu, the Taoist. Was this even half an hour's work?

Why had it ended abruptly?!

Just when the blue-brown substance had engulfed the Spiritual Power Light Ball, her heart was secretly excited, thinking it looked like danger was coming!

"Mr. Jin, are you sure that the thing that attacked us just now is indeed the Origin of the Spirit Realm?"

Xia Yunzhao asked, not giving up, hoping in her heart that the Taoist would say no.

"Senior Chi once said that the Origin case would light up when nearing the world's Origin, so it should be correct,"

Jin Xu said, dashing the Empress of Great Xia's hopes and giving her a somewhat surprised look, thinking to himself,

"Strange, why does Miss Yunzhao seem as though she doesn't wish for me to find the world's Origin?"

...

...

In Shangjing City of Great Xia,

inside the mansion's training ground,

Kui Lei was standing idly by, silently waiting for the day to end, so she could monitor her 'hopeless' sovereign's return to political duties and focusing on cultivation.

Lest the sovereign get too wild at play and sneakily follow the Taoist to another small world again.

"One day's time, I wonder if Yunzhao will be able to... Eh, how come they're back so soon?"

As Commander Kui was pondering whether her sovereign could take a step further, she saw the portal corresponding to the Spirit Realm suddenly flash with golden light.

And then the sprightly Taoist and her sovereign, with a look of ashen disappointment, walked out of the Golden Spiritual Power Shield.