Green Lotus Palace.
Luo Xiu and Master Ping walked shoulder to shoulder, stepping onto the palace path from the other end of the Green Lotus Dojo as they made their way toward the Holy Lotus Hall.
The palace paths were a dark, quiet, crisscrossing labyrinth. As they walked, both n couldn't shake the feeling that a pair of eyes was watching them from behind, making their hearts pound with unease.
Master Ping rubbed his arms and asked, "This place really freaks the fuck out. Was it like this the last ti you were here?"
"Master Ping, I'm genuinely curious, which architect did you hire in your past life? Who builds a perfectly good palace only to turn it into a maze?"
"It wasn't like this the last ti I ca," Luo Xiu replied, shaking his head slightly. He remained alert, spreading his Divine Sense to observe his surroundings.
Eerily, while his Divine Sense detected nothing, Luo Xiu could feel the presence of so mysterious entity nearby, sothing that was following them. It was invisible and untouchable, yet undeniably real.
"Master Ping, be careful... That thing has been following us."
At his words, a shiver went down Master Ping's spine. "Even your left eye can't see it?"
Luo Xiu shook his head. He was about to speak when his brow suddenly furrowed as if he had discovered sothing. He imdiately quickened his pace toward the fork in the road ahead.
"Holy shit, wait up for your grandpa!" Master Ping yelped, scrambling to keep up, terrified of being left behind.
Not long after, the two of them stopped before a corpse.
Master Ping gave it a once-over before remarking, "According to my analysis, if this isn't a woman's body, then it must be a man's."
Luo Xiu rolled his eyes at him.
Master Ping chuckled sheepishly. "Hey, this place is creepy. I was just trying to lighten the mood."
Luo Xiu didn't bother to argue. He crouched down and carefully examined the body. "This woman was a Profound Emperor. She's only been dead for a day or two. It looks like her soul was drained from her body in an instant."
Frowning, Master Ping asked, "What kind of thing can rip the soul out of a Profound Emperor in an instant?"
Luo Xiu pushed himself up to his feet and tossed a ball of Indestructible Divine Fla to incinerate the body. "Most likely," he said, "it's the thing that's been watching us."
Master Ping glanced around, and his scalp began to tingle. The most terrifying things in the world were often the unseen and untouchable unknowns.
Luo Xiu turned. "We should go."
Master Ping watched the corpse being consud by the Divine Fire and sighed. "What a sha, a real sha!"
"What's a sha?" Luo Xiu asked.
"She's been dead too long. Can't hit it while it's hot. Sha, she was a looker, too."
Luo Xiu took a deep breath. "I really want to burn you alive."
Master Ping added, "Speaking of which, the corpse of an Emperor Realm Cultivator is a rare treasure. Isn't it a waste to just burn it like this?"
Luo Xiu started walking again. "I'm not interested. Besides, burning it with the Divine Fire is also good for the fire."
"..."
Following the route from his mory, Luo Xiu led Master Ping forward. Along the way, Master Ping clung tightly to Luo Xiu's arm, refusing to let go no matter how much Luo Xiu cursed at him, their closeness rivaling that of lovers in the heat of passion.
Luo Xiu still rembered his first ti here. He had wandered the palace paths for seven or eight hours, completely trapped, and had only found the correct route by following the patterns on the Holy Lotus Jade Pendant.
Proceeding in fits and starts, it didn't take long for the pair to reach the Holy Lotus Hall.
Master Ping looked around vigilantly before saying to Luo Xiu, "Be careful. There's a terrifying presence in this hall."
Luo Xiu narrowed his eyes and slowly approached the hall entrance. On their way, they had encountered dozens of bodies, all of them Emperor Realm Cultivators. Without exception, the cause of death was having their souls drained in an instant. The closer they got to the Holy Lotus Hall, the more distinct that strange, terrifying aura beca.
Suddenly, Luo Xiu stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes locked on what lay ahead. Master Ping nearly crashed into his back and was about to ask what was wrong when he, too, froze.
Only then did they realize that the dim, spacious hall was filled with people. At a rough count, there were at least fifty of them, each standing motionless as if they had been turned to stone. They were all cultivators at the Red Emperor Realm, and there were even a few White Emperors among them.
Master Ping's squinted eyes flew wide open. He looked at Luo Xiu and said, "Motherfucker, why are these people just standing here like brain-dead idiots without making a peep? What the hell is their deal?"
Luo Xiu's gaze suddenly sharpened, and he strode forward. He had spotted a familiar face.
Wei Qingkuang!
"Qing Kuang!"
"Are you all right?"
"Wake up!"
"..."
But no matter how loudly Luo Xiu shouted, Wei Qingkuang didn't awaken. Like everyone else in the hall, he was still alive, but his soul was gone, leaving him standing there like a puppet.
"Luo Xiu, co here!" Master Ping's shout suddenly ca from the other side of the hall.
Luo Xiu hurried over and found Master Ping standing beside the Lotus Pond in the hall's deepest recesses. The pond was lush with greenery, its surface dotted with lotus leaves of various sizes. A single Green Lotus, no bigger than an adult's palm, blood in their midst.
As he drew closer, Luo Xiu noticed that the Green Lotus was enveloped in a bizarre, grey Spiritual Power. From that mass of energy, he sensed a dreadful, mysterious aura that even exerted a faint sense of pressure on him.
Gazing at the lotus, Master Ping said slowly, "Looks like this thing wants to devour the Companion Green Lotus and use it as a foundation to create a Taoist Body."
Luo Xiu suddenly recalled that on his last visit, although Xia Chan had stolen the Companion Green Lotus, its roots had remained in the pond. Now, after several decades, it wasn't surprising that a new one had grown.
"This is bad. We have to stop it!" Master Ping suddenly looked at Luo Xiu, his expression grave. "Once this thing finishes devouring the Companion Green Lotus, it will manifest its Taoist Body. It'll be a real pain to deal with then!" He glanced back at the puppet-like cultivators. "And these morons' souls are the nutrients it's absorbing!"
"Luo Xiu... if I'm not mistaken, this must be so kind of Void Creature."
"A Void Creature?" Luo Xiu frowned. "Then that thing that was following us all this ti must be related to it."
Master Ping nodded. "Fucking terrifying. Even your left eye can't see it."
"Then why didn't it attack us on the way here?" Luo Xiu asked.
"If I were it, I wouldn't dare attack you either," Master Ping said. "As if your Divine Soul isn't intimidating! Without absolute confidence, it wouldn't make a reckless move."
Luo Xiu asked, "How do we deal with it?"
Master Ping thought for a mont. "We enter The Void ourselves and take it out directly. But we can't stay for long."
As he spoke, he held out his right hand. A Dao Law God Chain materialized in his palm as he declared proudly, "In this day and age, I'm probably the only one who can enter The Void!"
"..."
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