Somewhere in the Riversky Outer Domain in the Immortal World.
In the midst of the dark world, lightning flashed and thunder roared. The planet slightly tremored, waves formed twisters and swept across the planet along with the bombardment of thousands of crushing meteorites. A blob of light suddenly appeared and a shuttle immortal artifact emerged out of nowhere.
The kilometers-long shuttle immortal artifact quietly suspended near the planet as the Heaven and Earth phenomenon gradually dissipated. As the shuttle's hatch opened, two figures quickly appeared outside.
"Where's this place?"
Gu Yan'er slightly creased her brows and looked confused as she glanced around. She had been to countless places in the Immortal World during her thousands of years fighting and surviving here, but she was certain that she had never been here before.
Tang Xiu's expression was calm, but his eyes couldn't hide his slightly moved and complicated feelings. He could see that the surroundings had a rich immortal force, then he slowly said, "This place is the Riversky Outer Domain."
Riversky Outer Domain?
Gu Yan'er was surprised. "How did we come to the Riversky Outer Domain? I know the Immortal World is vast and feels endless, but the Riversky Outer Domain is very far away from our former residence. I've never been to this remote place. If we can't find any Celestial Teleportation Array, it will take us thousands of years to reach the Immortal Lyceum territory just by flying using the Immortal Shuttle."
Tang Xiu looked around and replied, "We can't go straight to the Immortal Lyceum territory for the time being, indeed. Besides, it's very likely that we'd face many crises along the way to get there. Just a slight carelessness is enough to send all of our people to their deaths on the way there."
"Then what shall we do, Master?" Gu Yan'er forced a bitter smile.
"Nothing we can do but to forge our way out by exercising some radical gambits," Tang Xiu said. "Let's find someplace to stop over and settle all of our people, while the two of us need to leave for a while.
"Where are we going to, exactly?" Gu Yan'er asked curiously.
"I have been to the Riversky Outer Domain before, I know where we can find a Celestial Teleportation Array here. However, we're going to need to pay a lot of Immortal Stones if we want to use it. Hence, we need to resort to robbing. Well, kind of looting some people nearby of their Immortal Stones. But if we can snatch some Immortal Crystals, that will certainly be wonderful, of course."
Resorting to… robbery?
Gu Yan'er forced a wry smile yet again. Given her Master's status, it was really unexpected that he'd to fall so low to the point of robbing others. Should anyone who knew her Master's identity hear about this, they would very likely be shocked with disbelief.
After several days, the flying shuttle artifact landed on a planet. The planet was so desolate that there was no creature living on it.
As over 200,000 people flew out of the flying shuttle, everyone began to set up camps to settle here.
Buzz…
Buzz…
Buzz…
Regardless of whether they were the high-ranking members of the Great Tang Empire, the legionnaires of the four major armies, or the family members who followed them, many people began to have a breakthrough in their cultivation after constantly inhaling the Immortal Force energy.
Almost everyone had a breakthrough after settling for half a month on this planet. Some people, who were extremely talented for cultivation, kept breaking through one after another. It could be said that the overall strength of the Great Tang Empire force had risen by at least one level in just half a month.
During this half month, Gu Yan'er had arranged four arrays on the planet with her Golden Immortal power. Each layer was closely connected and nobody could harm anyone from the Great Tang Empire unless the person was at the Golden Immortal Stage.
"Let us set off!"
After arranging everything, Tang Xiu and Gu Yan'er flashed into the distance.
Just as the immensely vast Immortal World, the Riversky Outer Domain also had a vast territory. Even Golden Immortal Stage immortals would need at least a century to fly from the end of the territory to another border. The huge area itself birthed countless forces, innumerable immortals, and the number of mortals was in the tens of billions of souls.
Two days later, the pair met the first immortal in the Immortal World. This human immortal was dressed in a white robe and looked like a fragile scholar as he fled in distress. His cultivation was not high, only at the Celestial Immortal Stage. But most of several immortals pursuing him on the two chariots were in the same realm as him, even the white-bearded old man among them radiated an aura of an early stage Profound Immortal.
"Hold on!"
Tang Xiu and Gu Yan'er blocked the path of the white-robed immortal.
You Zhong, the name of this immortal, was a native of the Snailboard Immortal region in the Riversky Outer Domain. His clan boasted a big influence in the region and he was the clan deacon's illegitimate son. But after his father was assigned to manage another immortal domain, his father's primary wife kept making things difficult for him and even sent some people to get rid of him.
However, just as he was desperately running away, some powerhouses blocked his escaping path. It was like adding oil to the fire, and his heart crashed into the bottom of a valley at this moment.
"Please spare my life, Seniors."
Sensing the powerful aura radiating from Gu Yan'er, You Zhong immediately kneeled and begged for mercy.
Tang Xiu slightly glanced at him before his gaze shifted to the two chariots that were getting closer. Several people on board quickly floated up and approached as they arrived.
"Well, well. The Immortal World is really as brutal as ever, huh." A bright smile painted Tang Xiu's handsome face.
The old man who led these people narrowed his eyes and stared at Tang Xiu. His eyes then landed on Gu Yan'er and indifferently said, "Thank you for the two friends' help in stopping this damned fellow."
"It's not like I'm interested in meddling in your business. But if you do have a bit of self-knowledge, hand me your Immortal Stones or Crystals. I just want money and I don't want to see blood."
"Does it mean you blocked our way just to rob us, Mister?" The old man yelled angrily, "Don't tell me you haven't seen the crest we're wearing?"
"What's up with your crest? Do you have some great background or something?" Tang Xiu replied smilingly.
"Heh, this immortal region is under the control of my You Clan." The old man sneered. "Anyone who dares to provoke You Clan has met their makers already. Given how outstanding you two are, you both shouldn't be from this place, so I advise you not to poke your nose in our business. You had best not have any ulterior motives, else you must be careful to lose your poor lives."
Tang Xiu secretly shook his head. Although he had yet to break through to the Immortal Stage, let alone being able to fight these people in front, he still had a Golden Immortal Stage expert next to him.
As for the You Clan? He truly had never heard of this Clan, which meant that they were just a small clan in this immortal region.
Tang Xiu shifted to You Zhong and asked with curiosity, "They're from the You Clan, so what about you? Who are you and how did you provoke them?"
Due to fearing Gu Yan'er's strength, You Zhong honestly told his life story, and finally said with a bit of hatred, "I neither knew nor had the ability to control over which family I was going to be reincarnated. For the past thousand years, I've always been very low-key and I've never wanted to use the resources my father gave me. It's all because I never wanted to take advantage of the You Clan. But after my father left, the You Clan is still unwilling to let me go. Two Seniors, I beg you to save my life. I'll give you my fortune and even a secret that will bring huge fortune to those who seek it."
Tang Xiu's eyes lit up and he immediately smiled. "Well, I think we can have this deal, Yan'er."
Whoosh!
Gu Yan'er bolted forward lightning-fast and appeared in front of the dozen-plus immortals of You Clan in a flash. Then, she swiftly sent a powerful strike from her immortal sword, cutting through the sky and instantly sweeping over these several immortals in an instant.
"H-How… is this… possible?"
The old man's pupils violently contracted and disbelief filled his eyes. He was a Profound Immortal Stage expert and had a famous reputation in this immortal region. Of the entire You Clan, only the Patriarch and the six Elders were more powerful than him.
Yet, it took only one move for his opponent to kill him and all the men he brought with him. Such power… was the strength of an expert at least at the Golden Immortal Stage.
Gu Yan'er sneered. She seemed to have returned to the days when she bathed in blood through slaughters. There was neither compassion nor pity in her eyes. She quickly took out the interspatial rings of the You Clan's people, checked through them and found a large number of items inside.
"Haih… these guys are dirt poor, Master."
Gu Yan'er shook her head and eventually transferred all of the items into her own interspatial ring, saying, "We only got less than 2,000 Immortal Stones and 4 Immortal Crystals. The rest is trash. I'm afraid we can only get a little over 100,000 Immortal Stones selling them."
On the side, a strange expression painted You Zhong's face. So many Immortal Stones, including some Immortal Crystals, yet this woman said that the You Clan was so dirt poor? Was she kidding?
Tang Xiu's following response, however, made him nearly collapse.
"Such a few Immortal Stones and Crystals… they're indeed dirt poor," Tang Xiu said with a smile. "I just thought that we can rob this You clan, but now I think we can just skip and forget them. This Clan doesn't have that much wealth for us to bother robbing them."
"Hehe, that makes sense to me too, Master." Gu Yan'er chuckled and said, "But for us now, mosquitos' meat is still meat no matter how small they are, no? How about taking a chance to visit them? The You Clan is guaranteed to be ransacked by us."
Tang Xiu turned to You Zhong and asked, "Hey, Is the You Clan far from here?"
You Zhong's lips squirmed for a while. He then forced a smile and said, "It's not very far, only half a month trip to the planet the You Clan occupies. Given… well, it should only take several days to get there given this Senior's cultivation level."
Tang Xiu and Gu Yan'er exchanged glances. Tang Xiu then immediately asked with a smile, "Alright, then. Let's visit the You Clan since they're quite near. That's right. Do you hate the You Clan?"
You Zhong firmly nodded and said, "My hate for them runs deep. I hate every one of them aside from my father. The rest can go die for all I care."
Haih, they are likely not a good bunch, then. Tang Xiu sighed inwardly.
"That reminds me of something. You just said that you'll tell me a secret if we help you kill these guys. Tell me about this secret. I wanna hear it from you now. But beware, Brat. If this so-called secret of yours doesn't interest me, you can expect to pay me at a terrible price. I'm telling you in advance that I'm very proficient in a mysterious secret art that can extract immortals' souls and torture them for eternity. You can say that even demons will pee their pants if I use this immortal soul's extraction technique on them." Tang Xiu took out a cigarette, lit up and then said while smoking.