Chapter 753: Chapter 479: Only for Your Sake, I Hesitate to This Day
"For a hundred miles around, we haven’t seen a single cloud; only here, in a ten-mile radius, dark clouds gather, and wind and rain intermix... this is by no means an ordinary weather phenomenon."
In an unassuming gray Taoist robe, with pure white cuffs and a golden line green jade treasure sword hanging at her waist, the refined "Second Senior Sister" also wore a grave expression.
Her slender jade hands quickly calculated, glimmers of blue light flickering in her eyes, while black and white yin yang aura subtly swirled around her as she murmured:
"This place has excellent geomancy, is rich in primordial qi, and contains great uncertainty. With my cultivation, I can’t calculate the fortune, the hexagrams are extraordinarily magnificent yet empty, strange, strange, could it be a Saint is about to be born here? But why is the yin yang so violent?"
Little Fatty Gongshu Tianyuan unfastened the large bamboo tube from his back and placed it on the ground, slapping it forcefully with his big hand, exclaiming in surprise:
"The Wild God I raise is actually trembling in fear, not daring to come out. Divine beings are much more sensitive to danger and fate than humans, and even the fox fairy dare not appear, indicating that something that even divine beings fear is ahead...
However, divine beings cannot die, not even a strong Heavenly Human would make them cower... unless there’s another divine being ahead!"
Wearing crystal glasses, with a delicate face and petite stature, clutching a one-eyed wizard’s staff as tall as herself, Jin Jian glanced at the cloud cover enveloping the entire flower sea range in the distance.
With a wooden expression, she glanced at the three senior brothers and sisters beside her, who looked as if facing a formidable enemy, and said quietly:
"Can’t you just use your eyes to see, how can you not see the huge dragon in the clouds?"
Following her pointing finger, high in the sky, a phantom dragon appeared and disappeared, coiling and rolling amidst the clouds.
The beasts in the vicinity, for ten miles, were cowering in terror.
The three magicians froze simultaneously, lifted their heads, and directed their gazes upwards to the phantom dragon qi mingling within the gray clouds above the skies, rendered speechless!
They were embarrassed.
They hadn’t looked up and missed noticing that thing high above...
"Such a dragon qi could only belong to the current Empress... but wasn’t she wounded from the failed Sealing and pursued? How does such a phenomenon appear that resembles an unhurt state? It’s about what it looked like during the Sealing, isn’t it?
No... the anomaly here seems sealed off, only those close to Baihua Village in certain proximity, plus being magicians, could open the Heavenly Eye to witness it. From afar, it’s undetectable."
With a fierce and ugly appearance, possessing a crimson greatsword, Zhong Pan was taken aback.
The Taoist attire-wearing Yu Xiu, with a peculiar gaze:
"So, has the Empress recovered from her injuries? Not only that, does she still intend to ascend to Heavenly Human here?"
Gongshu Tianyuan and Jin Jian simultaneously gasped: "The Master’s letter didn’t mention this."
According to their plan, they were to find Zhao Douan early and forcibly take him away, without getting involved in the internal royal family conflict between the Empress and the Eight Princes.
But the current situation rendered them somewhat puzzled.
"Should we still go... somehow I feel Brother Zhao might not need our rescue at all." Gongshu Tianyuan scratched his head.
The three fell into silence.
Suddenly, Zhong Pan shook his head and said:
"It’s not about whether we should go, but if this phenomenon is truly the Empress ascending to Heavenly Human, rashly barging in might sabotage the ceremony."
With the cultivation levels of the four, they feared no enemy below Heavenly Human, not even a half-step Celestial would pose any threat.
However, disrupting the Empress’s ascension ceremony would imply taking the side of the Heavenly Master Mansion in meddling in royal power struggles.
"Perhaps we should wait a bit, wait for it to end before going. The Master only asked us to save Zhao Douan, not to seize him forcefully." Second Senior Sister Yu Xiu calmly suggested.
Yet, as soon as she said this, her expression suddenly changed, fingers swiftly enchanted, the yin yang aura around her rapidly swirling:
"Not good! The ominous qi clashing with the dragon... seems strong forces are converging here! It might not be a coincidence, but rather the abnormal clouds drew the pursuers!"
From the time the message was received until the various experts entered the Huai River, the timing matched closely.
Logically, the pursuers wouldn’t coincidentally converge, but if like the Empress, one unabashedly shook the skies within a ten-mile radius, it’s another matter.
Just like the four of the Heavenly Master Mansion, they followed the celestial phenomenon to arrive swiftly.
"No time for hesitation; if we are to wait, then might as well strive to intercept the pursuers a bit." As the Senior Brother, Zhong Pan decisively made the decision.
They had no desire to intervene in the dynastic struggles, but, unable to avoid it, could only adapt on the fly.
Immediately, the four split into three groups heading towards the three forces sensed by Yu Xiu.
...
...
On the official road.
A group was rapidly heading towards Baihua Village.
Leading them was Long Shu Bodhisattva wielding a Crescent Moon Spade-style Zen Stick, accompanied by the head monk of Precepts Hall and the young Tianhai carrying the Six Paths Stick.
Behind them, there was a team of approximately twenty "monk soldiers," all elite Martial Monks from Divine Dragon Temple.
Initially, they arrived at the nearby county town and learned the situation from the County Magistrate.
Afterward, Long Shu Bodhisattva sensed the abnormal celestial phenomena and, without hesitation, led the team forward.
While still far away, they felt nothing unusual, but as they got closer to Zhao Douan and the Empress’s residence, the monks caught sight of the dragon qi appearing and disappearing in the clouds.
"Not good!"
Long Shu Bodhisattva almost instantly changed color, the burly old monk surprisingly losing composure in front of the crowd, staring intently at the celestial phenomena ahead: "Has she recovered, completely healed?"
The head of Precepts Hall beside him also became emotional:
"Wasn’t the intel saying Zhao Douan might be breaking through? The Empress was heavily wounded? Not a concern?"
Long Shu gritted his teeth, his gaze grim: