Hearing the old man’s signature phrase, Huang Xiaolong couldn’t resist grinning, “I say, old man, it looks like your days were very nourishing, there’s even good wine accompanying you.”
The Ascending Moon Old Man refuted, “Nourishing my ass, I’m being reared like a pig here every day! That wine is part of my collection from before, and it’s about to finish too. If you still hadn’t shown up, I really don’t know where I was supposed to go looking for wine to pass my days!”
Huang Xiaolong was rendered speechless.
In fact, there was also a restriction on the old man’s body, binding his godforce, but this wasn’t a problem in Huang Xiaolong’s eyes. In just a few minutes, he had undone the restriction on the old man.
The moment the restriction on his body disappeared, the Ascending Moon Old Man did several chest pumping actions, grinning sheepishly, “That thing nearly suffocated this old man to death.”
“Old man, come on, let’s leave this place.” Huang Xiaolong said.
The Ascending Moon Old Man hesitated, saying, “On this prison’s second and third floors, there are quite a few masters from the Wangu Clan, Giant Tribe, and other forces being detained, should we...?”
Huang Xiaolong shook his head, “We’ll discuss this later.”
Huang Xiaolong didn’t plan to leave the Ghost Refining Sect at this point in time. If he rescued too many people at once, it would only increase the risk of exposing himself, therefore, the others would have to wait for their chance when he wanted to leave.
The Ascending Moon Old Man pondered Huang Xiaolong words and did not say anything further.
Thus, bringing the old man with him, Huang Xiaolong executed a Greater Space Teleportation to leave the ghost prison. When they appeared again, they were in the courtyard arranged for the Spiriting Demon Gates’ Ancestor.
Although he had rescued the Ascending Moon Old Man from the ghost prison, Huang Xiaolong couldn’t afford to relax his vigilance. The Ghost Refining Sect would very soon discover the absence of a prisoner.
At that time, they would surely conduct a thorough search of the city. Huang Xiaolong was certain that the group of Patriarchs and Ancestors would also be suspected.
Which was why he had to find out the method of leaving the Nightmare Forest before the Ghost Refining Sect discovered that the Ascending Moon Old Man had been rescued. The Nightmare Forest was precisely the dangerous old-growth forest they had to cross to arrive at the giant meteorite.
Without the accurate path of leaving the Nightmare Forest, Huang Xiaolong himself could only be trapped within the Ghost Refining Sect’s territory.
From the several Enforcement Hall’s Elders and Grand Elders’ memories, he similarly found out that only the same three people knew the way of leaving the Nightmare Forest; the Sect Master, the young lord, and that Infernal Ghost Messenger.
Still, Huang Xiaolong decided to wait.
Wait for a chance; wait for either the young lord or the Infernal Ghost Messenger to leave the Ghost Refining Sect headquarters.
Huang Xiaolong’s divine sense followed their movements at all times.
Soon, nightfall arrived.
Huang Xiaolong’s anticipation ended with disappointment, both of his targets remained inside the headquarters, barely taking a step outside.
The same thing happened on the second day.
At this point, there were only eleven days until the Ghost Refining Sect Master succession ceremony.
‘Eleven days!’
The Ghost Refining Sect Master could be returning at any moment. Huang Xiaolong grew more anxious as time passed.
By the third day, just as Huang Xiaolong decided to risk it and take action, the young lord who had been inside the palace complex all this time finally went out!
Stepping out from the headquarters, the Ghost Refining Sect young lord directly headed out from the city, away from the meteorite land and toward the edge of the ice-field.
Huang Xiaolong inwardly heaved in great relief as he secretly followed behind. As they got closer to the edge of the ice-field, it dawned on Huang Xiaolong what the young lord wanted to do here.
At the edge of this ice-field was a naturally formed spiritual energy pond.
Although the frigid qi from the pond could be harmful, for those cultivating in yin and cold element techniques, practicing inside this pond would enhance their strengths by leaps and bounds.
This was precisely what the young lord came here to do.
The Ghost Refining Sect had constructed a small palace building around the spiritual pond, entirely fencing it, named Spiritual Pond Palace. The entrance was guarded by two Tenth Order Highgod Realm masters.
“Young lord.” When the Ghost Refining Sect young lord appeared at the entrance, the guardians took a step forward and saluted on a single knee.
The young lord nodded and strode into the Spiritual Pond Palace in large strides.
The smile on Huang Xiaolong’s face deepened watching the young lord’s figure disappearing into the palace. He then took out and released the God Restricting Golden Silkthread Rope, letting it integrate with the surrounding space. With the Spiritual Pond Palace as the center, the surrounding ten thousand li were completely separated from the outside world, unknown to the people inside.
Only then did Huang Xiaolong emerge into the open, slowly walking toward the two guardians.
The two Tenth Order Highgod Realm guardians were stunned when a black-haired young man suddenly appeared in their line of sight. They had been guarding the Spiritual Pond Palace for hundreds of millennia and this was the first time they saw someone other than their young lord approaching this place.
The Spiritual Pond Palace was one of the forbidden lands of the Ghost Refining Sect, and disciples were not allowed to approach more than ten thousand li. This was the reason why no disciples dared to ignore this rule and trespass.
What baffled the two guardians even more was that Huang Xiaolong’s figure disappeared in a flicker. In the next second, the black-haired young man reappeared right in front of them.
As fast as lightning, Huang Xiaolong’s hands were already gripping both guardians’ throats as his Archdevil Supreme Godhead’s devouring power came to life.
Inside the Spiritual Pond Palace, the Ghost Refining Sect young lord sat cross-legged in the hall. He hadn’t even begun to cultivate when the energy fluctuations outside alerted him.
“There is actually someone who dares to trespass into the Spiritual Pond Palace?” A brief moment of surprise later, a smile spread over his face, “It’s been a long time since something intriguing happened.” However, his confidence in his own strength prompted him to continue meditating cross-legged at the center of the hall, waiting for that person to come in.
He looked forward to seeing who it was.
Just a bit over a minute later, he saw a figure walk into the palace from outside.
When the young lord saw the face of the person walking in, he exclaimed in astonishment, “Huang Xiaolong!”
Walking into the Spiritual Pond Palace, Huang Xiaolong saw the central part of the main hall, which was a black-purplish pond. Above it was faint roiling spiritual energy so dense that it became fog. An overwhelming frigid qi was radiating from the pond water.
This was the spiritual energy pond!
The Ghost Refining Sect young lord was currently sitting cross-legged in the air above it.
Huang Xiaolong’s gaze fell onto the young lord, greeting with an aloof tone, “Ghost Refining Sect young lord, we meet again. I’m not late for our five-year covenant, right?”
The Ghost Refining Sect young lord got up on his feet, laughing heartily at Huang Xiaolong’s words, “Huang Xiaolong, you really have guts to come!” Hi paused briefly then surmised, “You probably snuck in through that group of Ancestors. My Ghost God is coincidentally lacking the blood essence of someone with a powerful physique, you came at the right time.” Saying this, a black light glimmered behind him as a giant ghost shadow appeared.
The shadow was ten zhang tall and bore a close resemblance to the young lord, exuding an overpowering ghost qi.
Every core disciple of the Ghost Refining Sect practiced a secret art that enabled them to rear a Ghost God!
Naturally, each Ghost God had a different level of innate talent and abilities, thus there would be also be differences in strength between one Ghost God to another. The Ghost God reared by the Ghost Refining Sect young lord had a similar aura to the young lord; in fact, it could be said that the Ghost God’s strength was slightly above his.
Even so, Huang Xiaolong could see that the Ghost God’s soul was injured, which reduced its true battle strength.
“Go.” The Ghost Refining Sect young lord said to the Ghost God behind him.
Receiving his order, the Ghost God lunged at Huang Xiaolong with its mouth opened wide as if wanting to take a bite out of him. Before it arrived, waves of ghost qi washed over Huang Xiaolong, threatening to drown him within.
Instead of dodging, Huang Xiaolong rushed forward, his Infinite Buddha Supreme Godhead rotating at rapid speed as he sent out an Earthen Buddha Palm attack.
Just as he and the Ghost Refining Sect young lord’s battle began, above the Ghost Refining City, a figure exuding a majestic aura appeared out of nowhere.
Sensing this aura, the Infernal Ghost Messenger flew into the air in an instant.
“Sect Master, you’ve returned!” Arriving before that figure, the Infernal Ghost Messenger bowed respectfully in salute.