Having left the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple to fend for himself after having made sure that he would not be able to pose any threat to the Star Shattering Sect, Xuan Hao made his way back in the direction of the Sky Empire.
Although he had entered the Blue Sea Empire by mistake and was curious about it, he did not plan to stay around and explore it. After all, who knew when he would end up running into someone in the Earth Immortal Realm.
Not to mention, the Blue Sea Empire was also a gathering place for other powerful forces according to the border guard he had encountered. Meaning that he would most likely not only have to worry about encountering the Earth Immortals from the Blue Sea Empire, but also the Earth Immortals from these different powers.
Whoosh~!
However, just after leaving the mountain with the core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple still in a state of confusion, Xuan Hao froze on the spot as someone was rapidly approaching his current location. Not only that, but from the speed alone, it was obvious that this person was someone in the later stages of the Soul Ascension Realm!
"Wait... Isn't that the border guard from earlier?" As the person entered the range of his divine sense, Xuan Hao could not help showing a surprised expression on his face as he recognized the person as none other than the woman who had stopped him just a short time earlier. Not only that, but from the panicked look on her face, it was clear that something unexpected had happened.
Noticing Xuan Hao at the same time that he saw her, the border guard's eyes shone briefly as she said this before making her way over towards him.
"Is there anything I can help with...?" Not knowing why, she had suddenly decided to approach him, Xuan Hao could not help asking this in a somewhat cautious manner. Not wanting to end up getting involved in anything troublesome, just as he was about to leave the Blue Sea Empire and make his way back into the Sky Empire.
"No, but I recommend that you leave this place as fast as possible. If I can, I would recommend you follow me to the nearest city, we will be far safer moving together compared to alone." Shaking her head before saying this, the border guard was just about to grab him to drag him along with her to escape in the opposite direction of the Blue Sea Empire's border with the Sky Empire-
Whish~
"First of all, what happened to cause even a border guard from the Blue Sea Empire to run away like this?" However, Xuan Hao easily dodged her before asking the question that had appeared the moment, he saw her rushing in his direction.
Even if she was just a border guard of the Blue Sea Empire, she was still someone at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm. For her to run away like this... it was obvious that something serious had happened.
"I don't have enough time to explain, but to make a long story short, one of those damnable ancient demon beasts sleeping all across the waters of the Blue Sea Empire seems to be awakening, I have already informed my superiors about this, and someone will be here to deal with this in at most a few minutes.
If you are not aware of what I'm talking about, just know that the weakest of these demons are in the Earth Immortal Realm! Now, let's get out of here before it's too late!"
Whoosh~!
Not wasting any time after finishing her rapid explanation of what was happening, the border guard used all of her strength to escape in the opposite direction of the border. Although she would be safer if she was together with Xuan Hao due to them possibly being able to resist the awakening demon beast in question for a few seconds, she didn't want to waste too much time explaining things to him.
"This..." Realizing the seriousness of the situation that he suddenly found himself inside of, Xuan Hao could not help feeling even more certain about his earlier decision of leaving the Blue Sea Empire as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, for now, it looked like he wouldn't be able to leave the Blue Sea Empire for the time being...
As for trying to teleport past the ancient demon beast in the process of waking up... He didn't really want to risk his life on whether or not the demon beast in question had the ability to catch up with him.
In the end, he decided to go with the far safer option, that was, following after the border guard and hiding in the city that she mentioned until her superiors showed up to deal with the ancient demon beast. In any case, she had said that they would be there in at most a few minutes, so he didn't really worry too much about being stuck inside the Blue Sea Empire for a long period of time due to this.
Not to mention, if the fight ended up dragging on, he could always try and return to the Sky Empire through some of the other empires connected to the Blue Sea Empire who also happened to share a border with the Sky Empire.
"Hm? Decided to escape as well. Good decision!" Seeing Xuan Hao catch up to her, the border guard nodded her head happily as she said this through her divine sense while they continued rapidly moving deeper and deeper in the Blue Sea Empire.
Soon enough, a massive city many times larger than the capital city of the Sky Empire came into view.
The city was located at the banks of a massive river that seemed to go on forever, while a wall more than a dozen meters tall surrounded it. On closer inspection, these walls were covered in all sorts of ancient symbols that seemed to make up some kind of massive formation covering the entire city. Not only that, but Xuan Hao also felt a terrifying aura erupt from the center of the city the moment they saw it.
RUMBLE-!
Not a second later, the origin of this terrifying aura shot up from the city before rushing past both of them in the direction of the borders. Only allowing him to catch a glimpse of the person who the aura belonged to.
Just who was that? Someone in the Earth Immortal Realm? But that person was clearly far stronger than the cloud demon beast...
Feeling an intense shock at the display of power, Xuan Hao could not help turning around to look in the direction that the mysterious person had disappeared in. n--0velB1n
Deep down, he was wondering if he would have been able to escape alive if that person had targeted him just now... And in the end, he could only helplessly shake his head in defeat. Even with the help of his Dao of Space comprehension, he had yet to master long distance teleportation and would undoubtedly be caught before he had a chance to escape from the other party.
In a sense, this was the first time that Xuan Hao had encountered someone who was far stronger than himself and also had the ability to catch up to him, something that only made him want to leave the Blue Sea Empire even more than before...
"Looks like Senior Peng decided to make a move himself. Looks like the awakened demon beast is stronger than expected..." Different from Xuan Hao who was thinking about how to leave the Blue Sea Empire as fast as possible, the border guard was looking in the direction of the mysterious person filled with a sense of both awe and respect.
"Senior Peng?" Catching on to the fact that she knew the other party, Xuan Hao curiously turned to ask the border guard looking like a young maiden in love as she stared fixedly in the direction that the mysterious person had left in.
"Ha!? You... You don't know Senior Peng!? Senior Peng is one of the Blue Sea Empire's Eight Immortals! An exalted existence that even Earth Immortals have to look up to! Not only that, but Senior Peng also-"
Seeing that Xuan Hao had no idea about the identity of the person who had just flown past them just now, the border guard proudly introduced him. Unaware of the fact that Xuan Hao had no idea what the Eight Immortals of the Blue Sea Empire was.
"..."
In the end, the only thing he managed to gather from the fan girl like behavior that the border guard suddenly decided to engage in during the last bit of their journey to the city, was the fact that Senior Peng was someone who had surpassed the level of ordinary Earth Immortals.
Other than that, he also learnt a lot more useless information about this Senior Peng, like the type of food he enjoyed and where he liked to cultivate...