1023 "Punishment" From the Blue Sea Empire



Letting out a somewhat frustrated sigh as he realized that he would still have to deal with the Heavenly Dragon Temple, Xuan Hao could not help silently hoping that the master of this little core disciple in front of him ended up getting held up by the other elders of the Heavenly Dragon Temple. 

After all, from the information he had managed to gather so far, it seemed like this little core disciple's master was up to something that didn't align with the overall interests of the Heavenly Dragon Temple. Even going so far as to nurture a force of his own outside the Heavenly Dragon Temple…

"Hopefully the Heavenly Dragon Temple will continue to be chaotic for a few more years until I become strong enough to face off against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself, Xuan Hao turned his attention back towards the fearful core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple.

Even if he had given him his word that he would not kill him, it was rather obvious that this core disciple didn't trust his words and had partly come to terms with the fact that he might not be able to return to the Heavenly Dragon Temple alive.

"No need to look at me like that. If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead." Rolling his eyes as he said this in response to the terrified core disciple already prepared for death, Xuan Hao didn't wait for him to say anything, as he made his way over and placed his hand on top of the core disciple's head before he had a chance to say anything.

Whoosh~

Following this, he forcibly infused his qi into his body and effortlessly broke through any defense around his dantian.

"Here it is…" Finding what he was looking for after his qi flooded the dantian of the core disciple, Xuan Hao didn't hesitate as his qi entangled itself with the panicked nascent soul inside the dantian-

Crack~

And before the core disciple had any time to realize what was happening, he applied pressure on the nascent soul and the dantian, causing the dantian to show signs of fracturing while the nascent soul was completely destroyed in the process. Only leaving behind a small bit of the core disciple's soul. Rendering the Domain Lord Realm cultivation base of the core disciple completely useless, as his strength fell all the way to the Core Formation Realm.

Although this did not end up killing the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, it essentially crippled his cultivation together with the memories he had accumulated ever since forming his nascent soul. Only leaving behind incomprehensible fragments of his life after having reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

In a sense, he was left in the same state as he had been when he had been at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm. The only clear difference was the fact that his physical body was far stronger than someone in the Core Formation Realm and made him close to invincible against anyone below the Domain Lord Realm.

In the future, he would also be able to reach the Domain Lord Realm again more easily, as it was only a matter of recovering his lost cultivation base. 

The only real permanent damage that he sustained from this, was the damage caused to his soul after his nascent soul had been destroyed… And the fact that a large chunk of his memories had been destroyed.

"Huh? W-where am I- Who are you!?" Seeing the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple slowly recover as he looked around himself filled with confusion as he called out to him, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit bad about what he had done, but… Considering the strength of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, this was the only way he could ensure that his identity didn't leak out if he decided to keep the core disciple alive!

"I'm a border guard from the Blue Sea Empire, you are a core disciple from the Heavenly Dragon Temple and was found to have created a secret outpost inside the borders of the Blue Sea Empire. In return, you were interrogated, and your life was sparred, but… Offending the Blue Sea Empire does not come without punishment! 

You are free to leave and return to the Heavenly Dragon Temple, but! Make sure to inform them that there won't be a next time!" Putting on a stern expression filled with killing intent as he said this to the terrified core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple, Xuan Hao didn't bother staying around for any longer, as he left the small cave after saying this.

As for what happened to the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple who was now missing a large chunk of his memories… That had nothing to do with him, he had already upheld his part of the promise to let him leave alive, whether or not he made it back to the Heavenly Dragon Temple again had nothing to do with him.

…

"Huh!? I actually managed to become a core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple!? But… Blue Sea Empire? Punishment? Just what happened and where am I…"

Only waking up from his dazed and terrified state half an hour after Xuan Hao left, the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple felt an overwhelming sense of shock at what he had just learnt. After all, from what he could remember, he had just set out to prepare for the deadly entrance tests of the Heavenly Dragon Temple and was nowhere near being one of the legendary core disciples he had only ever heard of before.

As for the Blue Sea Empire that the terrifying person just now had mentioned… He had absolutely no idea about it.

"For now, I should get out of this place. Maybe if I go to the Heavenly Dragon Temple, I will be able to find out what happened and how I ended up in this place…" Muttering this to himself as he looked out the small cave towards the forest located at the base of the mountain, the core disciple of the Heavenly Dragon Temple felt that this was the only reasonable course of action, as he took a step forward and began his journey down the mountain.

Picking a random direction to walk in, as he had no idea where the Heavenly Dragon Temple was located or where to find it. Not to mention, he was clearly inside some sort of powerful empire that didn't seem to fear the all-encompassing Heavenly Dragon Temple he had grown up learning about as the strongest power in the world.

…

"Wait! Isn't that the core disciple that the senior from the Blue Sea Empire took away earlier!? What happened to him? Why is his aura so weird…?"

"Huh? Ah! You are correct! But… What will happen to us now that the core disciple is still safe and sound!? Won't he tell on us to the higher ups!?"

"AH! You are right! But we can't do anything about this by ourselves, let's inform the captain first and have him deal with the situation…" 

Not too long after the confused core disciple had made his way down the mountain, he was accidentally spotted by a few of the people from the secret outpost, who were making last minute preparations before leaving the Blue Sea Empire.

Luckily for the confused core disciple, the two of them didn't dare to attack a core disciple by themselves, so they rushed back to get the Soul Ascension Realm captain in charge of the secret outpost and have him deal with the situation.

"What!? That core disciple is still alive!?" 

In the end, when they arrived back at the secret outpost and informed their captain, he didn't wait a second before rushing out to confirm things for himself. After all, if the core disciple really did survive and made it back to the Heavenly Dragon Temple and informed the elders about what happened, he and the rest of the people in the outpost would be as good as dead!

"Huh?"

However, after seeing the core disciple in person, he quickly realized something was wrong… And after a thorough examination, he realized that the core disciple had his nascent soul destroyed. Erasing most of his memories in the process.

Although this could be considered as mercy from the side of the Blue Sea Empire, it was still an incredibly cruel punishment.

"But… This way, I don't have to worry about explaining the death of a core disciple to the elders. Not to mention, he won't ever be able to recover the memories of what happened! Hah… I don't know whether or not to thank the person from the Blue Sea Empire for this…" Muttering this to himself after realizing the situation, the captain went forward and picked up the confused core disciple before he had any time to react and brought him back to secret outpost in the process of being dismantled.

At least, he now had a way to defend himself from any severe punishment from the elders…