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Following Xiao Da, Li Hong and Heavenly Torch turned around the Lingxiao Treasure Hall and walked towards a flower path on one side.
Both sides were filled with infinite beauty, but Li Hong had no mind to appreciate it. His thoughts raced, and after a while, his gaze fell on the obviously scheming Xiao Da beside him.
Li Hong pretended to be casual and smiled, "Brother Xiao, there seem to be few immortals here? Especially, I haven't seen any beautiful Fairies who ascended from the lower realms. What a pity! The scenery is so beautiful, yet it lacks the most important sight. By the way, I heard that the Immortal Emperor has a Fairy Consort, renowned for her beauty. Even her maidens are all stunning. Where are they? Brother Xiao, could you quietly point them out to me? I would be immensely grateful!"
Xiao Da was taken aback and stammered, "Those are just legends from your lower realm; we Immortal Emperors do not have Fairy Consorts."
"No Fairy Consort?!" Li Hong feigned shock and then chuckled mysteriously, whispering, "Brother Xiao, don't joke with me. I merely wish to admire her demeanor. If it's inconvenient, we can at least take a look at the Fairy Consort's maidens. Just one glance, that's all."
"Really none! Stop talking nonsense! The Immortal Emperor will change clothes and head to Yingzhou soon; shouldn't you hurry up?!" Xiao Da grew impatient, his expression turning unfriendly, almost pushing Li Hong forward.
At this moment, they had already walked deep into the flowers and trees. Li Hong had long released his Divine Consciousness; within a hundred-zhang radius, there was no one around—an excellent opportunity. Without hesitation, he summoned the Yin Yang Platform.
Xiao Da only saw an azure light flickering in front of him when suddenly he felt as if he had sunk into a quagmire—lost in a void of chaos. He panicked and frantically summoned his Flying Sword to attack in all directions, but even the Flying Sword vanished without a trace. Soon he became exhausted, panting heavily and could only float motionless in this void.
Taking advantage of Xiao Da's unpreparedness to capture him, Li Hong immediately affixed two Invisibility Talismans onto his Heavenly Torch and transmitted his voice: "Centering on Lingxiao Treasure Hall, let's search half each; be thorough. We will meet behind the Lingxiao Treasure Hall in the mountain shade. Keep in touch mentally if anything happens."
Heavenly Torch gave a thumbs up and flew off to the right without another word. Li Hong quickly retraced his steps back and then passed through the back garden of Lingxiao Treasure Hall to search the left side of this vast celestial palace.
The Celestial Palace of Leisure was essentially this long mountain resembling a dragon, lined with hundreds of peaks. Starting from the central main peak, each peak had large magnificent palaces, with Lingxiao Treasure Hall on the central peak being the most spectacular. Now searching on the left side, Li Hong had already roughly scanned it with his Divine Consciousness while walking up the White Jade Platform stairs leading directly to Lingxiao Treasure Hall; now he focused on detailed searching.
After exploring five hundred miles of mountains and dozens of gorges along with palaces atop high peaks for two full hours, Li Hong was disappointed to find nothing. At least Chu Xi and Ling Yanzi were not on this sunny side of the mountain.
Crossing over the great mountain, he continued searching on the shady side.
Suddenly, a powerful aura of anger surged from the right side of the mountain. That was precisely where Yingzhou's banquet was held. It must be that Immortal Emperor Xiao Yaozi had finished changing clothes and personally attended the banquet only to discover that both of them had vanished without a trace. Sure enough, in the next moment, countless black dots shot up into the sky and began searching wildly across the mountains—just like what happened earlier in Xiaoyao City.
Li Hong ignored it completely and flew low to the ground until he reached the shady side of the mountain.
Upon closer inspection, Li Hong exclaimed in surprise. The shady side was completely barren; there were no grand beautiful celestial palace buildings or Jade Flower exotic grasses—only ugly bare rocks. At the foot of the mountain flowed a wide river with turbulent waves; even along its banks were bare stones devoid of any vegetation.
The river outside Xiaoyao City actually forms a circular flow around the massive Celestial Palace of Leisure and the outer city. From the front, the palace appears magnificent and splendid, but it is merely a facade, with no substance behind it.
Li Hong was puzzled, so he descended into a deeper gorge to investigate.
There were no fluctuations of Celestial Essence on the mountain's shadow side, just like the lifeless expanse of the Desert outside, devoid of any vitality. All the life energy was situated on the sunlit side of the mountain. Li Hong ran back and forth along the riverbank for two hours, carefully examining everything, but ultimately shook his head in disappointment.
Now he could only wait for news from Heavenly Torch, wondering what discoveries he had made on the sunlit side of the right mountain.
Li Hong began to connect his mind with Heavenly Torch but received no response for a long time. He was startled, then quickly patted his own head. He had forgotten that this shadowed side of the mountain could block Divine Consciousness; thus, their mental connection could also be obstructed.
Li Hong immediately rushed toward the mountain peak, preparing to meet up with Heavenly Torch.
At that moment, Li Hong suddenly felt a chill and abruptly halted his swift steps halfway up the mountain. In his mind, he received a faint and indistinct voice: “Who... who is calling out there…”
This voice carried an ancient aura. Upon closer inspection, Li Hong looked down at his feet and realized it was coming from deep within the mountain underground.
This entity had been sleeping beneath the mountain for an unknown length of time and was now awakened by Li Hong, still in a dazed state. It continued to say: “Strange... it feels like a human's breath…”
Afterward, silence fell below, and the presence vanished.
Li Hong paused, carefully contemplating the sensation he had just experienced. Suddenly, he felt a jolt in his heart—it was the aura of a dragon! There was no doubt! He could sense it clearly because he possessed Divine Dragon Essence Blood within him.
Beneath this mountain lay a suppressed Divine Dragon! This Divine Dragon had likely been locked away here for ages; its aura was extremely ancient, seemingly sealed since primordial times.
Li Hong wanted to summon Yue Que to excavate the Divine Dragon from underground but hesitated as he realized it was more urgent to contact Heavenly Torch and find Chu Xi and Ling Yanzi. He dismissed this thought and hurriedly soared toward the mountain peak.
As expected, upon reaching the summit, he sensed Heavenly Torch continuously sending a message: “Brother, where are you? These brats are about to turn over the ground! Hurry up!”
Li Hong detected his location and quickly rushed over.
On the right side of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall, there is a mountain peak known as the Summit, which features a lake as clear and pristine as a mirror. The lake's gentle waves ripple, and a tall, magnificent white jade Pavilion is built in the middle of the water, facing the refreshing mountain breeze and the serene Deep Valley, creating a picturesque scene.
Before the Heavenly Torch began searching under the orders of the Immortal Emperor, he had already scoured the sunny side of the mountain. Just as he was about to descend to the shady side, the Immortal Emperor realized that both individuals along with Xiao Da had vanished. In a fit of rage, he ordered a search throughout the palace. With nowhere left to hide, the Heavenly Torch decided to take refuge inside Yingzhou Pavilion. When Li Hong arrived, everyone was out searching, leaving Yingzhou Pavilion completely empty. The Heavenly Torch was hiding inside, drooling over the vibrant and fragrant Celestial Fruits and Dishes laid out for the banquet.
Upon seeing Li Hong appear, the Heavenly Torch's eyes lit up, but then he shook his head. "I couldn't find Xia Girl or Ling Yanzi. What about you?"
Li Hong also shook his head heavily.
"What should we do now? Think carefully—where else have we not searched?"
"Only Lingxiao Treasure Hall remains. It's heavily guarded, with the Immortal Emperor himself stationed there; it won't be easy to get in." Li Hong rubbed his furrowed brow, feeling troubled.
"What's so difficult about that? I'll draw them all away; you take this opportunity to sneak in and search. I'll give you half an hour—how does that sound? Is it enough?"
"Alright, just be careful yourself. By the way, don't eat anything here until I return."
Li Hong patted the Heavenly Torch on the shoulder and darted out of the Pavilion.
Meanwhile, the Heavenly Torch ripped off the Invisibility Talisman attached to him and boldly flew into mid-air above the Pavilion, shouting, "Isn't this a banquet? I'm already here! Why is there not a single soul around? Come out! I'm here for the feast!"
In mid-air, the Heavenly Torch stood out like a large signboard, instantly attracting all the celestial beings rushing toward him. The fastest were Xiao Er and several other celestial leaders. Upon seeing that only the Heavenly Torch was present, they immediately became alert and shouted, "Where are your companions?"
"Huh? Why are you asking me? Didn't that Xiao Da lead them off to see some fairies in the garden? I was going along too but suddenly thought it wasn't right since the Immortal Emperor has a banquet to host. So I hurried here instead. Now you're asking me about my brothers; I want to ask you where that Xiao Da took my brother! Why hasn't he returned yet?!"
The Heavenly Torch countered their inquiry with one of his own, adopting an aggressive tone as his eyes narrowed dangerously.
Xiao Er furrowed his brows in confusion. Initially suspicious of these two, he now wondered if it was indeed Xiao Da who had taken Chu Hongzi elsewhere. Tentatively believing the Heavenly Torch's words, he waved his hand and said, "Everyone stop standing around; let's search everywhere for Xiao Da! If anyone sees him, tell him to bring Chu Hongzi back for the banquet."
He himself then sent someone to inform the Immortal Emperor while remaining close by to keep an eye on the Heavenly Torch.
Heavenly Torch rolled his eyes and casually sat down behind a White Jade Table, staring blankly ahead, lost in thought, and fell silent.
At this moment, Li Hong had arrived at the side door of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall. The door was open, and outside the small side entrance, which was only wide enough for one person to pass through, stood four immortals whose cultivation level was roughly equivalent to the Late Stage of Nascent Soul in the lower realm.
Li Hong boldly rushed inside.
The four immortals felt a sudden breeze pass by them and were startled. They looked around but saw nothing unusual, so they assumed it was just the wind and did not realize that Li Hong had already entered.
Feeling relieved, Li Hong carefully maneuvered around the outer court area and slowly made his way toward the Inner Chamber where the Immortal Emperor resided.
With each step, Li Hong was extremely cautious, using his Divine Consciousness like delicate antennae to probe ahead. Indeed, in just a thousand steps down the corridor, he discovered twenty-nine instances of Restrictions. Each time, Li Hong meticulously identified the trigger points to avoid them and quietly slipped through at the weakest points of the Restrictions.
Finally reaching the end of the long corridor, he found a door on each side: to the left was the audience hall, and to the right was the entrance to the rear wing and upper levels of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.
Though the aura of the Immortal Emperor was significantly weakened by the Restrictions, Li Hong knew he was just behind this door in the first layer of the rear wing.
Approaching the door quietly, Li Hong noticed that it did not have a solid door but rather a transparent curtain made of crystal beads. However, thinking that this curtain could be easily passed through would be a grave mistake. The curtain was clear and sparkling but completely obscured what lay behind it; it was covered with Restrictions, infused with the aura of the Immortal Emperor. This indicated that only the Immortal Emperor himself could enter or exit through this door; even touching this curtain would trigger the Restrictions for any stranger.
Standing outside the crystal curtain, Li Hong began to contemplate how to get inside.
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