1025 Leaving for the Sky Empire

Arriving in front of the gate leading into the massive city, it did not take long before one of the guards stationed at the gate recognized the border guard and came running over.

"Senior! Why are you here!? Did something happen at the border?"

"Yes, an ancient demon beast began to awaken below the surface of the main river that runs through parts of the Sky Empire."

Listening in on the conversation between the two as they began to discuss what had happened and how long it would take to resolve now that this Senior Peng had taken action to deal with the ancient demon beast, Xuan Hao realized that he would at least have to stay in the Blue Sea Empire for a few days. Unless he decided to risk trying to pass through the place where the battle between the ancient demon beast and the expert from the Blue Sea Empire was likely about to start.

Or I could go through one of the adjacent empires…

Shaking his head as he thought about this, Xuan Hao decided to leave the border guard to do her own thing and made his way inside the massive city.

Even if he didn't intend to stay in the Blue Sea Empire, he was still curious about the difference between a large empire like the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire.

In the end, he ended up spending the next half hour wandering around the entrance of the city browsing the different shops filled with all sorts of artifacts, spiritual herbs and other rare materials that would normally be hard to find inside the Sky Empire. Not only that, but he also ended up stumbling on a branch from the Explorer Union located close to the entrance of the city.

However, different from any of the other branches of the Explorer Union that he had seen inside the Sky Empire, this branch only specialized in selling different potions and pills made by alchemists.

After chatting with one of the store clerks, he also managed to learn that it was not the main branch inside the city but was just one of countless smaller branches of the Explorer Union Branch inside the city and was only in charge of selling different items and products related to alchemy.

Other than that, he also found out that the main branch of the Explorer Union inside of the city was guarded by someone in the Earth Immortal Realm. Making him once again realize just how big the difference between a place like the Blue Sea Empire and the Sky Empire was.

Although he was only at the borders of the Blue Sea Empire, he had somehow already managed to encounter a place with two people in the Earth Immortal Realm… And that was not mentioning the fact that one of these two people had apparently surpassed the level of an ordinary Earth Immortal. Not that he had any idea what that even meant in the first place, as he was still rather unfamiliar with the Earth Immortal Realm…

"It really is no wonder that the Blue Sea Empire is considered one of the strongest on the entire continent…" Muttering this to himself as he left the small branch of the Explorer Union, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a profound sense of fear after realizing just how strong the Blue Sea Empire was. 

Not because he felt fearful that the Blue Sea Empire would do something to him, but because he realized that the Heavenly Dragon Temple should be around the same level as the Blue Sea Empire in terms of strength.

Even after reaching the Earth Immortal Realm, he doubted that he would be able to do anything to such a terrifying existence. Meaning that he needed to find some way to protect himself and the Star Shattering Sect in case the Heavenly Dragon Temple decided to attack before he had a chance to become strong enough to resist them.

At least, for now, he wouldn't have to deal with the entire Heavenly Dragon Temple and just had to worry about the possible Earth Immortal Realm elder who clearly had some kind of plans for the ancient ruins at the Fifth Star Peak. Not that it was that much better considering that he was still nowhere near strong enough to fend off against someone in the Earth Immortal Realm…

"Haaa… I should really leave this place before I end up accidently offending someone from the Blue Sea Empire as well…" Shaking his head as he muttered this to himself while looking in the direction of the center of the city where the main branch of the Explorer Union in this city was located, Xuan Hao began making his way back in the direction of the gate leading out of the massive city.

Although it was still dangerous for him to return to the Sky Empire given that he would have to pass through the place where the powerful ancient demon beast and the senior from the Blue Sea Empire was fighting, he thought things through and realized that he should be capable of avoiding the two with his movement technique.

Even if the ancient demon beast ended up trying to attack him, he had realized that there was no way that the senior from the Blue Sea Empire would allow something like that to happen. Not because he would care about a complete stranger like himself, but because it would present a perfect opportunity to launch an attack.

Other than that, a part of him was also curious about how a battle between Earth Immortals would be like. After all, outside of the short glimpse of the cloud demon beasts struggle with the guardian formation of the mystic realm, he had never seen someone in the Earth Immortal Realm fighting in person. The glimpse of the past he had seen back during his visit to the Thousand Wind Mountains didn't really count, as he was only strong enough to observe the battles taking place between those in the Domain Lord and Soul Ascension Realm.

The battles between those above the Soul Ascension Realm had not even entered his eyes back then, likely due to them happening away from the ancient battlefield he had ended up on or that they were just taking place somewhere far above him.

Whoosh~!

With this in mind, Xuan Hao soon left the large city at the banks of the river. Making his way back in the direction he had come from.

…

"Hmph! To think one of those old, fossilized creatures actually managed to wake up after going to sleep… Haaa… And I was just about to return to the capital for the upcoming auction hosted by the Explorer Union…"

Further down the river that Xuan Hao was following back in the direction of the Sky Empire, the Senior Peng that the border guard had gone full fan girl mode over, was complaining with a visible frown on his face, while looking down at an enormous snake head below him that had just popped up from the river below.

Even from a glance, it was obvious that the size of the demon beast below him was far too large for the river below, the head alone almost taking up the entire width of the more than a hundred-kilometer-wide river.

"How on earth did you even manage to drift all the way here in the first place? Or are you perhaps trying to swim inland and come from the ocean? If you only accidentally ended up here from the ocean, I have to ask you to leave!" Not showing any signs of fear or panic when faced with the absurdly large snake beneath him, Senior Peng just casually asked this as he seemingly waited for the large creature to respond.

"Sssss~ Human, I come from the ocean and have seen far more powerful creatures than you, little creatures, do you really think I would leave just because you tell me? Not to mention, the inland sea is said to be filled with all sorts of precious things that will make my evolution smoother!" Unexpectedly, the large snake responded to Senior Peng floating in the air above it. Different from other mindless demon beasts, it could fully communicate and was no different from a human in terms of intelligence.

Unfortunately for Senior Peng, the response he got from the large snake was not the response he wanted…

"Haaa… I see, looks like there is no way out of a fight then… And here I hoped I would be able to end things early…"

RUMBLE-!

Not wasting any time after having confirmed that the large snake demon beast had no intention of leaving, Senior Peng unleashed all of his power as he attacked the large snake demon beast without a second thought-

BOOOOOM-!

Giving it close to no time to react, as it was suddenly hit directly on the head. Sending it back down beneath the water.