Wait a minute, where is my master?

Several bizarre fluctuations emanated from the pale golden orb.

This time, Chi Dao was not excluded.

The two people in the small courtyard both successfully received the message.

The intention conveyed by the rules of the Heavenly Dao in the Nine Provinces Realm was this.

After the group of cultivators from Nan Wubo left, the Origin of the Spirit Realm had already fallen into slumber, since there were no living creatures left within the realm; there was nothing for It to do but sleep.

However, the grand commotion caused by this old Taoist directly awakened the slumbering Origin of the Spirit Realm. That's why you were detected by the Origin of the Spirit Realm within merely an hour of your arrival.

Indeed.

After Jin Xu had received all the information emitted by the pale golden orb.

On the misty screen.

Behind Tianxing Taoist, a clump of blue-brown substance appeared silently and then wrapped the recently weakened old Tianxing Taoist completely within its 'body.'

"Hiss..."

Although Jin Xu had learned from the rules of the Heavenly Dao of the Nine Provinces that the Origin of the Spirit Realm had good intentions, all It wanted was to envelop the person and bring him back to Its place of slumber for protection.

Still, the scene reminded him of a horror movie he had seen before.

On the screen.

After the Origin of the Spirit Realm successfully ambushed, It dragged the Tianxing Taoist towards Its resting place. However, this former temple master of Xuanxu Temple also possessed Mahayana Realm cultivation and, despite being caught off guard earlier,

Now that he had come to his senses and realizing that the Origin of the Spirit Realm only intended to protect, not harm,

He quickly employed magical techniques and broke free from the blue-brown substance.

And then...

A scene of entanglement between this realm's Origin and the former temple master of Xuanxu Temple, a chase-and-escape, mutual combat, began to unfold on the pale golden mist.

This intense process is not described in detail here.

You only need to know that the excitement of it was so great that halfway through, the Ancestor of Immortal Palace couldn't help but sneakily take out a Recording Ball from his storage treasure, attempting to permanently preserve this 'precious' and 'beautiful' scene.

Upon noticing Chi Dao's action, the little Taoist did not stop him right away but, after pondering for a moment, also borrowed a Recording Ball and started recording.

That's enough.

The tug of war between Tianxing Taoist and the Origin of the Spirit Realm lasted for over one hundred sixty days and nights; Tianxing was enveloped several times, but he escaped every time.

In the end, the old Taoist, who had run out of Spiritual Power, was finally wrapped up by the blue-brown substance and dragged back to Its usual place of slumber, where he was protected like an infant.

In the midst of this, Jin Xu watched his mentor wake from his slumber; he saw him take out a Sound Transmission Jade Token from his embrace, his lips parted slightly as he struggled to say something.

There was no sound in the picture, but from this angle, one could clearly make out the shape of the other person's lips.

"What Tianxing Taoist said was, 'My disciple, you must be careful in the Nine Provinces, avoid causing trouble, pay attention to safety, and in thirty years, I will surely return,' right?"

The Ancestor of the Immortal Palace also noticed this scene and, being fluent in lip reading, translated the lip movements on the screen after a brief contemplation.

Jin Xu was stunned upon hearing this, his mind instantly recalling the moment he and Little White sat chatting at the doorstep of the Taoist temple on Little Platform Mountain outside Gusu City, when the Sound Transmission Jade Token his mentor left him lit up, containing messages filled with static, some of which seemed to match these words.

Meanwhile, after finishing the lip-reading analysis, Chi Dao continued to speculate.

"Based on the cultivation and talent of the old... of Tianxing Taoist, in thirty years, he could feasibly cultivate to the True World Immortal Realm. It seems he must have also realized that it requires the strength of a True World Immortal Realm to break through the Spirit Realm Space."

"So that was why my master was trapped in the Spirit Realm back then, but now he..."

As Jin Xu pondered, he took out the cherished Sound Transmission Jade Token his master left him from the storage bracelet.

After infusing some golden spiritual power to activate it.

"A year %*注&*&…;*I&p;...￥return"

The familiar yet chaotic voice emerged from the jade token.

The Ancestor of the Immortal Palace looked at the young Taoist and the Sound Transmission Jade Token with some astonishment, and remarked,

"So it turns out that Tianxing Taoist sent this message to you.

"Being able to connect across such a vast distance, this must be the work of Wanbao Temple's rotund monk."

The young Taoist nodded in response.

As the two of them conversed, the pace at which the light golden mist was swirling began to speed up again.

Since the sleeping place of the Spirit Realm's Origin knows no distinction between day and night, Jin Xu had no idea how much time had passed this time.

However, a space rift, which had not appeared in the Spirit Realm for a long time, suddenly emerged right before the Tianxing Taoist.

In the scene, facing such an unexpected chance to escape, Jin Xu saw a moment of hesitation clearly surface on his master's face.

After a glance at the still-slumbering Origin that seemed oblivious to the space rift,

a fierce determination flitted across the amiable face of the Tianxing Taoist, and with the speed of lighting, he half-ran and half-stumbled directly into the space rift.

"My master, like Senior Nan Wubo before him, has entered the space rift."

Even though he had suspected as much, witnessing it with his own eyes, the young Taoist couldn't help but murmur.

Then, Linger Dao spoke.

"Tianxing Taoist is indeed skilled and bold. He could have stayed safely within the Spirit Realm. After all, from the scene we saw, his storage magical treasure seemed to contain enough resources for him to cultivate up to the True World Immortal Realm.

"Ah, but then, every cultivator who has reached our realm naturally possesses an indomitable spirit and does not shy away from hardships and dangers. Besides, thirty years have passed, and who knows, the Spirit Realm's space might strengthen over time, so it's not surprising that Tianxing Taoist took such an action."

Upon hearing this, Jin Xu raised an eyebrow but did not reply.

With both approval and criticism expressed, what else could he say?

The scene within the golden mist continued to change.

As Tianxing Taoist entered the space rift, the rift closed quietly without a sound. The blue-brown matter awakened halfway through, and upon discovering that the realm's rare living creature had disappeared, it had frantically searched throughout the Spirit Realm.

However, it was destined to find nothing, and after spending over a dozen days and nights searching, the blue-brown matter returned once more to its place of slumber.

After that scene, the arrival of the young Taoist and his party within the Spirit Realm and their successful departure with the blue-brown matter was witnessed.

With that, the scene within the light golden mist ended.

The mist, reminiscent of a holographic projection, was reabsorbed by the Heavenly Dao's rules of the Nine Provinces into the pale golden orb.

"In that case, if we find the one who created the space rift within the Spirit Realm, we will have clarified the whereabouts of the master.

"However..."

Although the light golden mist had dissipated, Jin Xu's gaze still unconsciously lingered in that direction as he pondered silently.

During the viewing, he had already confirmed with Linger Dao that, over the course of these past nine hundred years, the cultivators who had followed Nan Wubo into the space rift had not made an appearance in the Nine Provinces Realm.

And by the most optimistic estimates, his master had been inside that space rift for over a month now.

But he too had not returned to the Nine Provinces Realm, not even sending back a single message.

"My master, he couldn't possibly have..."