Chapter 2412: The Trade Guild's Peril
"Go ahead, Master; I'll keep a lookout," Yang Deer immediately offered.
"Alright, then I'll find a place somewhere up ahead to perform the secret technique," Ma Liang said.
Thus, the two of them flew on directly toward the giant mountain range up ahead.
Several hours later, Ma Liang was seated with his eyes closed on the peak of a massive mountain, while a black and white crystal ball was hovering before him. revolving incessantly in mid-air with a crimson ghostly face within it.
Ma Liang pointed a finger at the crystal ball, and the ghostly face immediately turned toward a certain direction before opening its mouth to release a ball of crimson light, which vanished into Ma Liang's glabella in a flash.
"Hmph, so those two really did escape to this continent. That direction seems to be where the He Lian Trade Guild is situated; could it be that they've sought refuge there?" Ma Liang opened his eyes as a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
"The trade guild is plotting against you, so there's a chance that it could be providing protection to those two," Yang Deer speculated.
"That's good news; I'll be able to take care of all of them at once now," Ma Liang chuckled coldly before opening his mouth to swallow the crystal ball as a stream of black and white Qi.
Immediately thereafter, he laid a hand onto the top of his own head, and a five-colored Nascent Soul emerged amid a flash of golden light.
The Nascent Soul was completely identical to Ma Liang, except its body had a translucent and glazed appearance.
The Nascent Soul reached out with one hand, and a golden talisman immediately flew out of its body.
The Nascent Soul then made a hand seal before flicking a string of incantation seals toward the talisman, following which a grey projection emerged from it.
The projection depicted a handsome young man, but his eyes were completely vacant, and he was hovering still in mid-air with a black and white band of light and a talisman binding his body.
The Nascent Soul switched to a different hand seal, and the five-colored light glowing from its body surged violently.
At the same time, the projection of the handsome young man blurred slightly, and it suddenly flew toward a certain direction, but it only managed to travel just over 1,000 feet before it was viciously wrenched back by the black and white band of light.
An ecstatic look appeared on the Nascent Soul's face upon seeing this. "Haha, I've finally found my target; it looks like I'll be able to return to the True Immortal Realm soon."
Immediately thereafter, the Nascent Soul vanished on the spot alongside the golden talisman and the projection of the young man, following which Ma Liang opened his eyes with a hint of excitement on his face.
He hadn't been expecting to track down his target so easily.
Yang Deer hurriedly put on a fawning smile, and said, "Congratulations on finding your target, Master. Are we still going to the He Lian Trade Guild first?"
After a brief moment of contemplation, Ma Liang replied, "I already know the rough location of my target, so I won't have to worry about him getting away. As such, we'll take care of the He Lian Trade Guild first; it won't take long anyway, and my Myriad Spirit Blood Seal requires a few more grand blood sacrifices for its refinement to be complete."
Yang Deer naturally didn't raise any objections, and thus, the two of them set off toward a certain direction.
Right as Ma Liang was using the golden talisman to detect his target, the golden spirit rune on an unconscious young man's face suddenly flashed once. The young man was bound by a series of runed chains and was trapped beneath a massive ice mountain within a restricted area of the Spirit Race's territory.
Along with the flash of the spirit rune came a flutter of his eyelids, and a white-robed Nascent Soul immediately appeared before the young man within the ice mountain. The Nascent Soul inspected its surroundings with a tense expression, then directed its gaze toward the young man's face.
A long while later, the Nascent Soul still hadn't discovered anything amiss, but instead of relieved, it only became more anxious as it made a hand seal before issuing a voice transmission.
Shortly thereafter, a streak of white light shot forth from the distance, and the Spirit Monarch arrived in front of the ice mountain.
"What's going on? Why did you summon me?" the Spirit Monarch asked with a serious expression.
"Something seems to have happened just now, but I didn't discover anything after examining the restrictions in here; have you noticed anything on your end?" the Nascent Soul asked.
"Not at all. I've been standing on guard at the entrance this entire time, so I would've definitely noticed if something were amiss," the Spirit Monarch replied in a surprised manner.
"In that case, what was that slight disturbance just now? He's clearly been completely sealed by me, and even his spiritual sense is completely immobilized," the Nascent Soul said with tightly furrowed brows.
"That is indeed quite strange," the Spirit Monarch mused.
"Have any major events taken place in the outside world recently?" the Nascent Soul suddenly asked.
"Not that I can think of. Ever since the devilish beings retreated, everything has been normal aside from the fact that the human race is experiencing a resurgence," the Spirit Monarch replied with a stroke of his beard.
The Spirit Monarch was quite powerful, but he kept an extremely low profile in the Spirit Realm, so the He Lian Trade Guild hadn't invited him to join their alliance. As such, he was naturally completely oblivious to the presence of the true immortal in the Spirit Realm.
"I may have been overly sensitive then. I'll examine the restrictions again, and if I still don't find anything, then it should just be a coincidence," the Nascent Soul said as its expression eased slightly.
"Alright, but as a safety precaution, I'll double the number of guards," the Spirit Monarch said.
The Nascent Soul nodded in response before making a hand seal, upon which its body disintegrated into specks of white light within the ice mountain.
As for the Spirit Monarch, he remained on the spot for a while longer with a contemplative expression, but in the end, he could only shake his head and depart as a streak of white light.
"What? That true immortal is suspected to have arrived on the Tian Yuan Continent and is only half a month away from reaching our trade guild?" Ming Zun's expression changed drastically upon hearing the report delivered by an ordinary-looking middle-aged man.
"Not only that, but the number one grand elder of the Armored Boar Race was also killed by him. After verifying this piece of news and the culprit's appearance, we were able to ascertain that it was the true immortal," the middle-aged man replied.
Ming Zun sprang out of his chair, and interrogated, "The territory of the Armored Boar Race is quite far away from our trade guild; why is it that you only received this news now?"
"This true immortal is traveling extremely quickly. If it weren't for the fact that he was identified by a member of our trade guild as he was using a certain teleportation formation, we'd most likely still be oblivious to the fact that he's on the Tian Yuan Continent," the man replied with a wry smile.
"Has it already been verified that he's heading for our trade guild?" Ming Zun asked.
"There are no other major powers aside from our guild along the path that he's traveling, so there shouldn't be any mistake. Could it be that he's already learned about our plan to forge an alliance to target him?" the man speculated.
"That does appear to be the case, and this information was most likely leaked by that grand elder of the Armored Boar Race. I once extended an invitation to him, and seeing as he was killed by that true immortal, his soul must've been searched. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain this," Ming Zun said with tightly furrowed brows.
"What do we do now? Half a month definitely isn't enough to gather all of the powerful beings we recruited. Who would've thought that he would come straight for our trade guild?" the man said in a panicked manner.
"Calm down. The only thing we can do now is split up our trade guild for now in order to buy some time for the powerful beings we've recruited," Ming Zun said.
The middle-aged man faltered slightly upon hearing this, while Ming Zun continued, "In contrast with other major sects or races, our trade guild doesn't have a massive population, nor a set territory. All we have to do is scatter our members for now, and that true immortal won't be able to do anything," Ming Zun said in a calm manner.
"That's a great idea! I'll begin preparing for mass evacuation right away," the man said as an elated look appeared on his face.
"Hold on, aside from preparing for evacuation, contact the powerful beings we've recruited and gather them to Sky's Beyond at Baleful Cry Point. The baleful Qi there is extremely abundant, so it's perfect for summoning the ancient true spirits worshiped by our trade guild," Ming Zun said in a confident manner.
"That would naturally be the best place to battle the true immortal, but will he be willing to go there?" the middle-aged man asked in a hesitant voice.
"That's where the Six-winged Frost Centipede and the Ice Phoenix come in," Ming Zun said with a cold smile.
"I see." An enlightened look appeared on the middle-aged man's face upon hearing this, and he extended a respectful bow before departing from the hall.
Following the man's departure, Ming Zun sat back down on his chair as a contemplative look appeared on his face.
In the Azure Origin Palace, Han Li was seated on a futon with a ball of purplish-golden lightning hovering above his hand.
The ball of lightning was only around the size of a human fist, but it was completely silent, presenting a very peculiar scene to behold.