Wait a minute, where is my master?

"Little Jin, do you have a result?"

For convenience of address, Jin Xu had given Him a nickname based on the color of His manifestation according to the Heavenly Dao rules.

And the light golden light sphere seemed to have no objection to this hastily given name.

"Yes..."

As soon as the words of the Heavenly Dao rules were spoken, a glint of light instantly flashed in the eyes of the little Taoist.

At the side, the incarnation of the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow perched on the threshold of Xuanxu Temple also leaped up from the ledge.

Then...

He fell towards the ground with a speed even faster than he had stood up, looking quite weak.

"So, Little Jin, you—hisss, Senior Guan Ling!"

Jin Xu, who was originally eager to inquire of the light golden light sphere, was startled by the sudden behavior of the Big Willow Tree's incarnation, causing him to quickly take a large stride forward and grab the other's collar.

"Senior Guan Ling, please calm down, quickly take this pill."

The little Taoist spoke as he flipped his wrist, and a jade bottle filled with pills for restoring vitality appeared in his hand. Then, with practiced ease, Jin Xu uncorked the bottle single-handedly and poured all the pills into the personified Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow's mouth. After that, he gently placed him back on the threshold of Xuanxu Temple.

After completing all this, he turned back towards the embodiment of Heavenly Dao rules and said.

"Little Jin, where exactly is my master now?"

"Unknown..."

As the light golden light sphere emitted strange fluctuations, it began to blink rapidly.

Afterward, it took about dozen-plus breaths' time to explain the situation to Jin Xu.

According to the other's description, the space fissure that Tianxing Taoist had crossed into was linked to a small world tightly adjacent to the Nine Provinces Realm.

However, this small world was completely unknown to the Nine Provinces' Heavenly Dao rules.

Because this realm was neither formed from a piece shattered off the Nine Provinces a thousand years ago nor was it embedded within the inner parts of the Nine Provinces Realm from ancient times.

As for when it appeared, how it appeared, and how long it had been attached to the Nine Provinces Realm, the light golden light sphere had no idea.

Even, if it had not been for Its tracking of the whereabouts of Tianxing Taoist this time and discovering the coordinates of this realm, who knows how much longer this small world would have continued to remain hidden.

"A completely unknown small world, yet tightly connected to the Nine Provinces Realm? But you had not sensed it at all before?"

Upon hearing the description of the light golden light sphere, the little Taoist developed a visible hint of confusion in his eyes.

You should know that while "Little Jin" may sound like a pet's name, He is in fact the very embodiment of the Nine Provinces Realm's Heavenly Dao rules. If He wishes, His control and observation over the Nine Provinces Realm can be precise down to a grain of sand on a Gobi desert.

Yet now an unfamiliar small world had suddenly emerged, and He had no inkling of it beforehand while retracing.

This level of strangeness...

...is akin to lying alone in bed all night reading a novel, and then waking up the next day only to discover that someone else is suddenly beside you, without having any awareness of when they had come!

"This small world seems to be quite mysterious."

As Jin Xu furrowed his brows in thought, he murmured softly to himself.

"Indeed, this realm is peculiar,"

Just as the little Taoist's words fell, Mr. Chi's voice came from outside the training grounds.

Immediately after, Jin Xu felt the space before him tremble, and the figure of the Ancestor from the Immortal Palace appeared before his eyes.

"Jin Taoist,"

After Mr. Chi appeared, he first bowed to the little Taoist, then turned to the incarnation of the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow sitting with its head bowed on the threshold and said,

"Willow Taoist, a millennium has passed... Holy shit, Willow Taoist, how did you end up like this?"

The Ancestor from the Immortal Palace was startled midway through his sentence when he saw the Big Willow Tree's incarnation lift its head, shocked by the appearance of overindulgence on the other's face.

"Ahem, to recover from my injuries, I just paid a small price. Mr. Chi, you all should discuss the important matters first,"

the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow evasively responded before dropping its head heavily again.

Seeing that the other party clearly did not want to discuss this topic, Mr. Chi did not linger on it and instead turned to Jin Xu saying,

"Young Taoist, regarding the strange small world that appeared out of nowhere, there is another matter I must explain to you. The moment the Heavenly Dao rules traced back to Tianxing Taoist's location, I was immediately notified of the coordinates."

"And I tried to send the marker that you entrusted to me long ago through the Formation I had constructed before. However, just as I activated the Formation, something went wrong."

The Ancestor from the Immortal Palace said, somewhat uneasily stroking his long beard.

"May I ask, Elder, what went wrong?"

The little Taoist asked.

"The Formation I constructed cannot penetrate the space barriers surrounding the strange small world."

"Can't penetrate?"

Jin Xu's tone revealed a hint of astonishment.

For over half a month, the Ancestor from the Immortal Palace had used his cultivation from the True World Immortal Realm as a foundation to construct a small-scale world-breaking Formation, which had never encountered any problems before.

Every time the young Taoist poured golden spiritual power into the marked object, it could always be sent over easily, helping Jin Xu to lock down the positions of various small worlds.

"Indeed, according to common sense, aside from the main world of the Nine Provinces Realm in the Lower Realm, there shouldn't be space barriers of such intensity.

"Moreover, I wasn't attempting to physically cross worlds but merely to create a momentary rift in space just wide enough for a high-grade Spirit Stone to pass through. Normally, the power of the Formation I constructed should be more than sufficient.

"But for some reason, the space barriers on the outer side of that strange small world turned out to be even thicker and more robust than those of the Spirit Realm,"

Mr. Chi added somewhat hesitantly after saying these words.

"In fact, I estimate that the strength of the space barriers surrounding that mystery world is to the extent that they could safely withstand the fluxes of heaven and earth."

Upon hearing Mr. Chi's words, Jin Xu's attractive eyebrows involuntarily twitched.

Based on the clues he had so far, he was increasingly convinced that this suddenly surfaced strange world was riddled with contradictions.

Firstly, if the space barriers of the strange world are so sturdy, how did the forces within their world so easily break through their own space, creating so many space fractures in the Spirit Realm?

Could it be that the cultivators from that realm are all more powerful than the Ancestor from the Immortal Palace?

Yet, if every cultivator there could match, or even surpass, Mr. Chi's cultivation,

why then, when they tore open the space fractures in the Spirit Realm, did they only resort to some lowly sneak attack tactics?

Secondly, those cultivators who were swept away with the collapse of the Spirit Realm were not fools; if they had truly discovered that they had absolutely no way to counter the forces within that mystery world,

they definitely would not have collectively followed Nan Wubo's lead, charging boldly into the space fractures.

"Interesting..."

After quickly mulling it over in his mind, Jin Xu's eyes flashed with a sharp light.

At this moment, he had some guesses in his heart, but these guesses would ultimately need to be confirmed once he reached the strange small world himself.