654 Caught!
Reaching the ancient teleportation formation less than a second after Chun Hua disappeared from his sight, Xuan Hao first encased the ancient teleportation formation in a layer of ice before his domain spread towards the location where Chun Hua had been standing before she disappeared.
Fwoosh!
Knowing that she was only hiding with the help of a talisman, Xuan Hao decided to use the simplest way possible to find her-
RUMBLE-!
And that was forcefully using his domain to destroy the surrounding area!
Boom!
Not able to escape from the attack of his domain in time due to the sheer speed at which Xuan Hao had managed to seal up the ancient teleportation formation in a layer of ice before launching an attack with his domain, Chun Hua bore the aftermath of the attack-
"Ah!"
Letting out a scream of pain as the talisman hiding her was directly shattered. Forcing her to appear only a second after she had first used the talisman in a vain attempt to hide herself from Xuan Hao.
Given the difference in cultivation between herself and Xuan Hao, she had already expected that she would not have a chance to escape after she had been discovered by the other party… But she didn't expect for things to end so quickly!
Not to mention her hiding herself before trying to escape through the ancient teleportation formation, she had barely even been able to take a few steps before she had been injured and the talisman hiding her was forcefully shattered!
Even if she had been able to avoid the attack, Xuan Hao had already sealed up the ancient teleportation formation in a thick layer of ice to prevent her from escaping if this really happened!
What should I do now… Do I just have to wait for the other party to kill me…?
Thinking this to herself as she felt how helpless her current situation was, Chun Hua could not help feeling regretful about trying to sneak into the Shattered Star Peaks through becoming a disciple of the Star Shattering Sect.
Maybe if she had cultivated diligently for a few hundred years and got lucky, she might be able to reach the Soul Ascension Realm with her talent. Even if she couldn't reach the Soul Ascension Realm. Reaching the Domain Lord Realm should have been good enough!
At that point in time, she would have been able to return to the core region by herself in time…
But in the end, all of this didn't matter, it was far too late for her to regret it at this point in time. Now she could only pray silently that the expert from the Star Shattering Sect would not kill her without even talking to her.
Feeling pain all over her body after the attack earlier, Chun Hua turned towards the person that had seemingly appeared out of thin air a few meters away from her before asking this.
In her eyes, the person was definitely the Grand Elder called Xuan Hao, as the other Grand Elder was a woman and not a man like the one that was currently standing in front of her.
"Y-Your excellency… Are you perhaps Grand Elder Xuan…?" Knowing that the other party should be an expert above the Domain Lord Realm, Chun Hua could not stop her voice from shivering when asking this. Knowing very well that her life and death was in the hands of the one standing in front of her.
…
Thump~
Watching as Chun Hua landed weakly on the ground after being hit by the aftermath of his domain attack, Xuan Hao could not help feeling happy that he hadn't accidently ended up killing Chun Hua before he could talk to her.
If he really ended up killing a potential disciple by mistake, he had no idea what to say, it was extremely difficult to find anyone talented enough to become his disciple and given that the system had not said anything about Chun Hua already having a master, Xuan Hao really wanted to accept her as his fourth disciple…
"Y-Your excellency… Are you perhaps Grand Elder Xuan…?"
"Hm? Indeed, I'm Grand Elder Xuan!" Hearing the injured girl barely muster up her courage to ask him this, Xuan Hao didn't bother hiding his identity.
"So… Might I ask who you are and for what reason you entered my sect…?"
"Y-your excellency, I beg of you to s-spare me! I didn't mean to enter your sect without permission! My name is Chun Hua and I'm from the Central Region's Chun Family. My family is about to encounter a dangerous situation and I wanted to return as quickly as possible to warn them!
The only reason I snuck inside, is because of the ancient teleportation formation here being the only one I know of nearby that would allow me to return to the central region with my current strength. "
Seeing that Xuan Hao didn't kill her outright and instead just asked her a few questions, Chun Hua showed a happy expression on her face for a short moment before quickly explaining her situation.
Not daring to hide anything from Xuan Hao, as she understood very well that those experts above the Domain Lord Realm would easily be able to tell if a small Nascent Soul Realm Expert like her was lying.
From a family in the Central Region…?
Hearing the Chun Hua was actually from a family in the Central Region of the Continent, Xuan Hao could not help feeling curious about the strength of the experts located in the Central Region of the Ewaria Continent.
The only thing he knew about the place so far, was that there were several different empires located in the central region. Among these different empires, the Sky Empire with two Soul Ascension Realm Experts was considered on the weaker side among the powers of the Central Region.
After all, even the Sky Empire's core of power was located in the Central Region of the Continent, Xuan Hao had never been there before and had no idea what the situation at the Central Region of the continent looked like.
If Chun Hua was from the Central Region, she should at least have some understanding about the different powers there and might even be able to help him gain some more understanding about the Soul Ascension and the realms beyond it.
"The Chun Family from the Central Region? Do you perhaps have any information about the strength of the different powers in the Central Region?" Putting aside the matter of taking her in as a disciple for now, Xuan Hao decided to first ask her about the Central Region to satiate his curiosity.
"Ahm… I… I didn't really get much time to learn a lot about the different powers and experts of the Central Regio, as my family happened to encounter a disaster shortly after I started cultivating. Forcing me to leave… B-but I know that the most powerful experts around are at a realm above the Soul Ascension Realm!
Outside of this, I don't really know much about the strength of the different powers in the Central Regions… To be honest, I never even knew about the Sky Empire before accidently ending up here…"
"…"
Listening to what Chun Hua said, Xuan Hao had no idea what to say. Other than the fact that he now knew that there were experts above the Soul Ascension Realm present in the Central Region of the Continent, he gained close to nothing from what Chun Hua told him.
"Haa… By the way, I forgot to ask about this earlier, but what kind of race do you belong to…?"
Given that her cover had already been blown, Chun Hua no longer looked like a normal human girl like she had done earlier.
Instead, she had several vines attached to her body, some of them snaked around her arms and legs, while her hair had changed from a normal plain black to long brightly coloured flowy hair reaching down to her hip.
A few flowers could even be seen growing from the top of her head. Making her look rather interesting in Xuan Hao's opinion…
"Ha? AH!"
Just now realizing that the talisman she had been using to hide her real appearance was also destroyed earlier, Chun Hua showed a panicked expression on her face before looking towards Xuan Hao to see his reaction.
Only after realizing that he was only looking towards her with a curious expression did she manage to relax slightly before building up enough courage to answer Xuan Hao's question.
"My race is… My race… Hm… Ehm… I… I don't know…?"
"… "
Does this girl know anything? Did she perhaps just wander around aimlessly until she reached the Nascent Soul Realm and happened to end up here while escaping the Primeval Fire Ants and Emerald Demon spiders?
Not knowing what to say after seeing the awkward expression on Chun Hua's face after admitting that she had no idea what race she belonged to, Xuan Hao could not help feeling like this future disciple of his might be an airhead…
