"Understood, understood!" The Ghost Elder's face turned pale. He turned around, looked at the unconscious Jialan Lou, and with a heavy heart, struck directly at the latter's chest.
*Pfft!*
Jialan Lou's eyes snapped open. In his final moments, all he saw was the Ghost Elder's ashen face.
"I, Jialan Chigui, swear to the Heavenly Dao today that all that has happened is entirely due to my Jialan clan. The reason lies with me, and I will never involve this divine beast or that young friend in any future repercussions. Should I break this oath, may my soul be scattered to the void!"
Between heaven and earth, the laws of the Great Dao converged, signifying the oath's effectiveness.
The Wine Immortal exchanged a glance with Xu Mu, then nodded. He retracted his Dharma image and spoke, "You may leave."
"Do not blame me for what happened today, and indeed, your Jialan clan should be grateful to me. For if I had arrived a moment later, your entire clan would have been annihilated because of this matter!"
The Ghost Elder's heart jolted upon hearing this. His curiosity about Xu Mu's identity intensified, but he dared not ask further. He could only quickly flee the area with Jialan Lou's corpse.
"Third brother, what has happened?"
At this moment, a powerful aura descended from the sky. It was a tall, middle-aged man, similarly clad in golden armor, exuding a valiant presence.
"Big brother... This is what happened..." The first protector who had arrived looked at the Wine Immortal and then recounted everything he knew.
The protector, who was only a step away from breaking through to the half-step Human King realm, fell into an unusual silence for two seconds after hearing that the Wine Immortal had forced Jialan Lou to his death. Then, he sighed.
"Senior Wine Immortal, why must you do this? Since they were willing to compensate, why did you have to take a life?"
The Wine Immortal's expression was calm. He looked at the man and said, "My White Cloud Daoist Temple lacks nothing in terms of wealth. But he wanted this young man's life, so I had to take theirs!"
The leader of the Xuanyuan clan protectors was momentarily speechless. He then frowned and asked, "May I ask, Senior Wine Immortal, what is the relationship between that young man and your White Cloud Daoist Temple...?"
"If he were to die, my senior brother would come," the Wine Immortal replied without answering directly.
The protector was silent for a long while again. Then, he looked up and said earnestly, "You did well to kill him."
The protectors beside him were filled with questions but said nothing more, merely standing awkwardly and occasionally stealing glances at Xu Mu.
He was curious. What kind of young man could make the entire White Cloud Daoist Temple disregard the rules to protect him?
"If there's nothing else, you two may leave. We have some private matters," the Wine Immortal said.
The two protectors exchanged glances and then offered wry smiles. The Holy City was their territory, but when the Wine Immortal spoke those words, they could not refute him. In fact, they felt it was only right.
"Then we shall not disturb you, seniors," the later-arriving protector said, cupping his fists and bowing slightly. Simultaneously, he produced a dragon-shaped jade token and handed it to the Wine Immortal.
"This is a communication artifact of my Xuanyuan clan. If you crush this item, all protectors in the Holy City will arrive immediately."
"Please give this to that junior. Absolutely do not let him encounter such a situation again, and please... do not let your senior brother become enraged and descend upon the Holy City."
As the man spoke, his expression was somewhat embarrassed.
As one of the strongest at the peak of the Domain Lord realm, below the World Rankings, he was well aware of the caliber of the Wine Immortal's senior brother. It was said that even their Xuanyuan clan's most powerful figure might not be able to stop him.
If such a person were to act, the entire Hundred Clans Land might fall into chaos. Therefore, for the sake of peace, he could only hope that Xu Mu would remain unharmed.
He must be protected!
The Wine Immortal accepted the jade token and watched them leave. After a long while, he shook his head and chuckled.
He had merely said it casually, never expecting these two to take it so seriously.
"Kid, you've tricked us into this. You'll be fortunate from now on; no one in the Holy City will dare touch you."
Xu Mu took the dragon-token jade pendant and clicked his tongue. He had naturally heard the protector's words earlier. If this item were crushed, all the Holy City's protectors would come to his aid. This was equivalent to having an extra life.
"Alas, it is thanks to your swift arrival. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
Xu Mu put away the jade pendant, his heart still pounding. He had almost been forced to beg Gui Bai Tong for help, and he had almost never been released from the Heavenly Palace again.
The Wine Immortal sighed and then stepped forward, positioning himself between Xu Mu and Qiong Qi. His expression was filled with complexity.
"Actually, after the two of you fell into the spatial turbulence, I thought I would never see you again."
Xu Mu nodded and sighed, "I thought so too."
"That time was truly perilous. We were almost killed by the spatial currents. Fortunately, we survived in the end."
The Wine Immortal nodded. "Spatial turbulence is indeed terrifying. Even I couldn't last long."
"But after you left the Ghost Night Domain, what happened? Tell me everything."
Xu Mu surveyed his surroundings and clicked his tongue. "Let's talk as we go. This place isn't very safe."
The Wine Immortal nodded, suddenly remembering their current predicament. He quickly took Xu Mu and Qiong Qi and fled into the distance, disappearing from that place.
Thus, the thousand or so divine senses that had been probing the area slowly receded.
...
"That's how it happened. After arriving at Black Horn City, I made an enemy of the Ye family, then traveled to Tu City, entered Alfheim, and finally arrived at Peach Blossom Domain."
"Through the Jiang family, I participated in the preliminaries of the Ten Thousand Races Assembly and then arrived here."
In a secluded tea house booth in the Holy City, the Wine Immortal was transferring his cultivation to heal Xu Mu and Qiong Qi while listening to his narration. The more he listened, the more shocked he became.
He had wanted to interrupt several times but ultimately refrained, believing that if Xu Mu continued, there would be even more explosive revelations.
Yet, he had not anticipated that this story would be so sensational, to the point of making him feel somewhat incredulous.
The Wine Immortal stopped what he was doing, suppressing his inner shock, and asked with a trembling voice,
"So, it was you who broke into Alfheim, discovered the Dwarf Kingdom, and rescued thousands of enslaved people?"
"Mm." Xu Mu nodded, his expression calm.
He trusted the Wine Immortal completely and had no reason to hide such matters.
Seeing Xu Mu admit it so readily, the Wine Immortal felt his head spin. He took a deep breath and asked again, "And you were indeed taken away by a group of elves?"
Xu Mu nodded. "Yes."
"You entered the legendary Elf Kingdom?"
"Mm."
"Did you find the holy artifact?"
"I did."
"And you obtained it?"
"I obtained it."
Gazing at the Elven Bow in Xu Mu's hand and sensing the aura it emitted, the Wine Immortal fell silent once more.
After a long while, his scorching gaze gradually calmed. He shifted his attention away from the bow and arrow and asked with a complex sigh, "It must have been very dangerous."
Xu Mu nodded. "Actually, it was alright."
"It's all thanks to the incomplete map I obtained from the Dark Palace in West Mountain earlier. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to seize the holy artifact amidst the infighting of the various Elven Kings."
"By the way, there have always been factions within the elven race that wish to re-emerge. There might be a war with the human race. You should be careful. If necessary, you can reveal some inside information to those important figures to prepare for defense in advance."
The Wine Immortal chuckled upon hearing this. "I understand."
"My senior brother mentioned before that you are a person blessed with great fortune and will not be in danger, which is why he didn't let me search for you. I didn't believe him then, but now I do."
"The things you've done, every fortunate encounter you've had, is something an ordinary person might never experience in a lifetime. Even if they did, they would have died long ago and wouldn't be here now."
Xu Mu smiled upon hearing this. "It seems my luck is quite good."
"It's fortune," the Wine Immortal said with complex eyes. "Only those blessed with great fortune can reach this point."
"I'll take that as you praising me," Xu Mu said, taking a sip of tea. He leaned back in his chair wearily and suddenly remembered something. "What about Yan Yu? How is that fellow doing?"
"He is cultivating at the Star Plucking Sacred Court. It's been over two months, and he should be emerging from seclusion soon."
Xu Mu's eyes widened. "Star Plucking Sacred Court? Isn't he your senior brother's disciple?"
"It seems you don't know what the Star Plucking Sacred Court is," the Wine Immortal said, looking at Xu Mu and explaining, "It's a force established by the Xuanyuan clan in the Holy City, recruiting visitors from all over. They claim to possess opportunities and historical records from the previous epoch."
"Through the trial-takers, one can acquire its profound mysteries and opportunities. Yan Yu, that little fellow, seems very interested in it, so he came to the Holy City early to undergo trials at the Star Plucking Sacred Court."
"He is my senior brother's disciple, and he passed the trial, so he is cultivating there."
Upon hearing this, Xu Mu's spirits immediately lifted. He stood up from his chair, his eyes bright, and exclaimed, "Then let's go there too!"
The Wine Immortal looked at him in confusion. "Aren't you healing?"
"No, no, no. Compared to that, I'm more curious about the secrets of the previous epoch that the Xuanyuan clan speaks of," Xu Mu said, clenching his fists excitedly.
He had long heard that the Xuanyuan clan, claiming to be descendants of the Sacred Emperor from the previous epoch, possessed heaven-defying secrets. He never expected these secrets to be publicly displayed, accessible simply by passing a trial.
This was an immense temptation for him.
"Are you sure you want to go now?" the Wine Immortal asked hesitantly, looking at Xu Mu. "That trial is very difficult, and in your current state..."
"Let's go!" Xu Mu smiled slightly and immediately moved to the stairwell. "How will we know if we don't try!"
...