1121 Reunion with Rabbit Demon Beast

Wasting no time lingering around after having escaped from the illusory beasts, Xuan Hao made use of the momentary confusion of the illusory beasts to slip back into the cave where the entrance to the Sea of Mist was located before rushing straight into the Sea of Mist. Not even noticing the formation that was hiding the presence of the entrance.

Hm? Someone is here?

Only realizing something was wrong after entering the Sea of Mist, Xuan Hao could not help glancing towards the old man looking like a shriveled-up corpse sitting not too far away from the entrance to the Sea of Mist.

Someone similar to Chu Li? Whatever it is, I don't have time to waste…

Swish-!

Not caring too much about the appearance of the old man due to his current state looking like he would collapse if a gentle breeze passed through the Sea of Mist, Xuan Hao rushed past the old man and made his way through the wooden gate connecting the Sea of Mist and the Ephemeral Forest.

"Huh!?"

At the same time Xuan Hao disappeared, the old man opened both of his eyes in surprise as he looked in the direction Xuan Hao had disappeared in.

"My formations were broken… An, that person just now, his strength should be above mine…" Muttering this to himself as he understood he would no longer be able to hide himself with his formations being broken, the old man forced himself to stand up as he began preparing himself for another daring escape.

Although his strength had not yet recovered, he had at least managed to recover a small part of it over the past two years. Enough to possibly make another escape from the Soul Ascension Realm Experts who were bound to come rushing into the Sea of Mist at any moment.

At least, that was what the old man thought as he prepared himself to use all of the strength, he had managed to recover to escape once again-

"Where are they…?"

However, even after a few minutes passed, no one appeared, and he was left nervously staring at the wooden gate connecting the Sea of Mist to the small cave in the Blue Sea Empire. Only able to wonder what had happened to the Soul Ascension Realm Experts that had been chasing after him.

After all, given that he had stayed in the Blue Sea Empire for quite some time, he understood very well that there was no chance of them just giving up after two short years. For them to not appear, something should have happened to them that forced them away.

But… What could cause all of those Soul Ascension Realm Experts to run away? The Earth Immortal from earlier?

Thinking this to himself, the old man could not help frowning, as he turned to look towards the wooden gate Xuan Hao had disappeared into a few minutes earlier. Not knowing whether it was safe to leave the Sea of Mist and find somewhere more secluded to recover or if there were still some of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts roaming around the area outside the Sea of Mist, waiting for him to appear.

…

Unaware of the worry and fear his appearance had caused the old man trying his best to recover his strength back in the Sea of Mist, Xuan Hao passed through the wooden gate leading to the Ephemeral Forest and soon found himself in front of the all too familiar forest constantly flickering in and out of existence.

"I wonder how much the squirrel managed to progress over the past year. Given its rapid progress under the rabbit demon beast, it might be close to reaching the Peak of the Core Formation Realm…" Muttering this to himself as he looked over the forest, Xuan Hao wasted no time in spreading out his divine sense to find the two demon beasts and Chu Li. 

Desiring nothing more than to leave as fast as possible and avoid potentially clashing with the Earth Immortals or more powerful experts from the Blue Sea Empire, who should be showing up to deal with the large number of illusory beasts that had appeared inside their borders.

Whoosh~

As his divine sense entered the Ephemeral Forest, Xuan Hao soon spotted the rabbit demon beast, squirrel, and Chu Li at the other end of the forest where another set of wooden gates connecting to the Sea of Mist and Valley of Illusory Beasts were located.

"So, there are more wooden gates inside the Ephemeral Forest…" Not having expected there to be more wooden gates inside the Ephemeral Forest as he had always thought there was only one pair of wooden gates in each of the three different spaces, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit curious about the reason behind this and if the wooden gates they connected to were different.

Swish~!

However, he didn't bother thinking about this for too long before jumping into the air in the direction of the three. Understanding very well that he had to leave the place as fast as possible to avoid the experts from the Blue Sea Empire.

Not only that, but a part of him also worried that the illusory beasts escape from the Valley of Illusory Beasts might end up waking up whatever terrifying creature had caused the Blue Sea Empire to give up on controlling the Valley of Illusory Beasts back when it had been discovered.

…

Squeak~

At the same time Xuan Hao entered the Ephemeral Forest and began making his way through the Ephemeral Forest, the rabbit demon beast let out a satisfied squeaking sound as it looked at the squirrel in front of it. Even if it had been fed with all kinds of precious spiritual herbs during the last year, the rabbit demon beast felt happy that it finally had a subordinate at the Nascent Soul Realm.

After returning to the Star Shattering Sect, the rabbit demon beast would be able to start implementing its own plans of recruiting more talented demon beasts and have the squirrel train them. Allowing it to start the process of building up its own power inside the Star Shattering Sect.

"Looks like someone is quite excited, I wonder if it's because you want a few more spiritual herbs from me?"

Unfortunately, the rabbit demon beast's happy dreams of the future were shattered, as the voice of a certain person echoed out behind it.

Squeak!

Turning around to see Chu Li happily smiling at it, the rabbit demon beast could not help feeling a shiver run down its spine as it remembered how it had spent the last year being tortured by the man. 

No matter how many spiritual herbs he had given and the fact that it had managed to break through to the Fourth Tribulation of the Soul Ascension Realm, the rabbit demon beast had no intention of getting along with him after the humiliation had caused it to experience during the last year.

Not only did it damage the rabbit demon beast mentally, but it also affected its image in the eyes of the squirrel, as there was no way the squirrel would ever look at it filled with awe after seeing it being treated like a stuffed animal by Chu Li…

"Hm?"

Just at this moment, Chu Li froze on the spot a few centimeters away from the rabbit demon beast before turning to look into the depths of the Ephemeral Forest- or to be more specific, a person who emerged from the depths of the Ephemeral Forest.

"This is… Senior!?"

Recognizing the person who had emerged from the depths of the Ephemeral Forest, Chu Li could not help tilting his head in confusion. Not understanding where Xuan Hao had come from, as the two wooden gates connecting the Ephemeral Forest and the Valley of Illusory Beasts were just a few hundred meters behind him.

"Senior!"

However, this confusion only lasted for a short instance before it was overcome by the sheer happiness of seeing Xuan Hao again.

Given that it had already been a year since their last encounter and the fact that the Valley of Illusory Beasts still showed no signs of calming down from what he could sense when peeking through the wooden gate, Chu Li did start to worry about whether or not something had ended up happening to Xuan Hao, but now that he had appeared, all of these worries disappeared.

SQUEAK-!

Swish-!

Reacting to the sudden shift in Chu Li, the rabbit demon beast also spotted Xuan Hao and wasted no time in rushing towards at a speed comparable to someone at the Peak of the Soul Ascension Relam. Possibly even surpassing that of the average Peak Soul Ascension Realm Expert-

"Huh?"

And before Xuan Hao had time to say anything to the rabbit demon beast, it crawled up his robe and entered his sleeve where the small pocket space was located. Not even bothering to care about its subordinate, who had been left behind and was still training without knowing that its master had already run away.