1020 Secret Outpost
Placing his hand on top of the strange artifact, Xuan Hao felt part of his qi being drawn out-
Sizzle~
However, after part of his qi had been drawn, the artifact started making a weird sizzling sound similar to that of boiling water before part of the artifact lit up for a brief moment. After which the middle-aged woman extracted a small note from the side of the artifact that she began to read through in silence.
"…"
Not knowing anything about how this artifact worked nor what was written on the small note that the artifact had just spit out for the woman in front of him to read, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit uneasy. Wondering if there had been any problem with his registration just now.
"Hm… From the looks of it, everything is in order, and this is the first time you have been inside the blue Sea Empire. Unless you snuck inside at some other point in time. Oh well, everything seems to be fine, so I will be on my way. Have a good time hunting down that little fellow. Given that he is only someone in the Domain Lord Realm, he shouldn't have managed to escape too far away over our short conversation.
Ah! A slight warning for you, the Blue Sea Empire is not only a place for the different powers that exist under the Blue Sea Empire but is also a major trading spot for a lot of other powerful forces. Make sure that the little one you are chasing is not from one of these forces… And if he is, I would recommend not leaving any traces behind. At the very least, I can confirm that he does not belong to anyone from the Blue Sea Empire."
"Thank you for the reminder, I will keep it in mind."
"Good, I will take my leave then."
Swish~
Jumping into the air after she had made sure everything was in order, the middle-aged woman at the pinnacle of the Soul Ascension Realm disappeared into the distance. Although someone like Xuan Hao was rare to encounter, he was far from the only person who ended up crossing the border without first registering at the border guard.
Boom~!
Hearing the audible explosion that echoed out not too far away in the direction that the border guard had just disappeared in, it was quite obvious that one of these people trying to sneak inside had met a rather quick demise. Different from the preferential treatment he had ended up receiving, a clear benefit of having a high enough cultivation that the border guard wouldn't just kill him without asking any questions…
If I entered some of the more guarded areas deeper inside the territory of the Blue Sea Empire where Earth Immortal Realm Experts are present, I would most likely have ended up being attacked first as well…
Shaking his head as he thought about this while looking in the direction where the explosion had occurred just a few seconds earlier, Xuan Hao jumped into the air before moving the direction that the Domain Lord Realm Expert had escaped in.
Although he had managed to run out of the range covered by his divine sense, it was not too hard to chase after him, as he had still left quite a few traces behind during his escape. Not to mention, he thought that he was safe now and didn't know that anyone was chasing after him. Meaning that he left behind even more traces than he would have done if he knew someone was right behind him.
Whoosh~
"Hm? What is he doing?"
Catching up with the Domain Lord Realm Expert in less than five seconds, Xuan Hao could not help showing a somewhat confused expression on his face as he watched how the Domain Lord Realm Expert in question had come to a stop at the edge of a small ravine cutting through a small forest.
Did he discover me?
Only able to think about this as he watched how the Domain Lord Realm Expert didn't do anything and had seemingly given up, Xuan Hao could not help wondering if one of the many artifacts that he carried might have detected him. Resulting in the Domain Lord Realm Expert giving up on escaping.
After all, he should know very well that he stood no chance of escaping from someone with Soul Ascension level strength without any teleportation talisman with his current cultivation realm.
"Haha! Found it!" However, not even a few seconds later, the Domain Lord Realm Expert proved his worries wrong as he jumped in joy over something before jumping into the small ravine filled with excitement. Making Xuan Hao momentarily question if something was wrong with him, as he had not noticed anything out of the ordinary about the small ravine.
The only thing out of the ordinary about the ravine was the fact that it was not a natural ravine and should instead have been created as a result of a battle between powerful cultivators in the past. Likely someone who had tried to cross the borders of the Blue Sea Empire without registering and had promptly been dealt with…
"Huh?"
However, as he watched the Domain Lord Realm Expert pass through the solid ground at the bottom of the small ravine, Xuan Hao could not help showing a dumfounded expression on his face.
Whoosh~
Calming down as he realized that he might be stepping into a rather dangerous situation, Xuan Hao used his divine sense to thoroughly analyze the bottom of the ravine in detail. Making sure to also use his dao domain to further enhance his divine sense.
"A concealment formation? And one powerful enough to even fool someone at the like me…" Only after doing all of this, did he realize that the bottom of the ravine was covered in an extremely powerful concealment formation. Even after knowing that it was there, he could still not look through it and could only barely analyze the surface of the formation. Making him once again realize the importance of improving his understanding of formations.
Swish~
Hesitating for a short moment above the concealment formation that the Domain Lord Realm Expert had disappeared inside, Xuan Hao stopped hovering above the ravine and focused all of his strength on creating a protective shield around his body. Allowing gravity to take hold of him as he plunged into the ravine-
Swoosh~
Soon passing through the concealment formation. Finding himself inside a large underground space that was lit up by countless small crystals covering the sides of the underground space. Allowing him to see the dozen or so buildings below him filled with people moving around in a panic as they carried some kind of special crystal towards a large formation located at the center of the buildings.
"Hm? A teleportation formation?" Looking closer at the formation located at the center of the buildings at the bottom of the ravine, it did not take more than a single glance for him to realize that it was a teleportation formation.
Not only that, but the teleportation formation was by far the most complicated one he had seen. Even the teleportation gate that he had found inside the small territory of the Half Spirit Race was at most comparable to this teleportation formation in terms of complexity. Meaning that the distance covered by the teleportation formation in front of him should be leading to somewhere outside the Blue Sea Empire. Maybe even leading directly to the core territory of another major power of the central region of the Ewaria Continent!
From the looks of things, it was obvious that this was a secret outpost that had been created inside the Blue Sea Empire by the power behind the Domain Lord Realm expert… And now, this secret outpost had switched their full attention towards gathering the required materials to activate the teleportation formation and send the Domain Lord Realm Expert away from the Blue Sea Empire.
"At least the strongest person here is only at the First Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm and has not yet noticed me…" Muttering this to himself as he observed the people below running all over the place, Xuan Hao could not help narrowing his eyes.
No matter what, he could not allow the Domain Lord Realm Expert to escape again. After all, if he followed after him like he did before, he might very well end up facing someone in the Earth Immortal Realm!
RUMBLE~!
As he thought about this, he no longer bothered hiding himself any longer as his aura violently exploded out in all directions.
"Wha-!? What is that!?"
"Who!?"
"Don't tell me… The Blue Sea Empire found us!?"
At the same time his aura spread out, all sorts of panicked screams could be heard from below as the people running all over the place began panicking. All of them thinking that they had been discovered by the Blue Sea Empire, as they started rushing towards the teleportation formation in an attempt to activate it before it was ready and get away from the outpost before it was too late.
None of them were thinking that the person who had shown up was not someone from the Blue Sea Empire...
