Chapter 43: Lost

“Grand Elder Zhang,” Xia Yushan solemnly bowed to this legendary figure of the Huang Realm. Even though he was the Sect Master’s personal disciple and a candidate for the next Sect Master, Xia Yushan knew that a single word from this woman decided his fate.

Not just him. Even his master, the Sect Master of the Buzhou Immortal Sect, had to refer to Grand Elder Zhang with great respect.

“You haven’t seen Grand Elder Xi’s son either?” Grand Elder Zhang said, there was a trace of irritation in her voice.

“No, I didn’t meet junior brother Xi or Elder Meng in the Trial Land. None of the other disciples who entered the third trial have seen them either.” Xia Yushan said, his reply came swiftly as if he was afraid of offending Grand Elder Zhang.

“I understand you can return.” 

Xia Yushan left the room where Grand Elder Zhang and several other immortal realm elders including Monarch Bloodfiend were conversing. He released the breath that he had been holding ever since entering the room of immortals.

“Junior brother Xia, what did the Elders want?” Ji Shuye who was waiting outside the room immediately asked after Xia Yushan closed the door behind him.

“Let’s move to somewhere else first.” Xia Yushan shook his head as he saw Heng Huesheng and Ji Shuye. 

The trio soon moved to the same room where they had the miniature banquet with Tianyi weeks ago, but there was no festive mood or any relaxation. There wasn’t even any food on the table, only the tea that Ji Shuye had brewed.

“Grand Elder Zhang asked me some questions concerning junior brother Xi. Junior brother Xi and Elder Meng did not return to us after we were forced out of the secret realm.” Xia Yushan said. 

“Junior brother Xi didn’t return?” Ji Shuye said with a frown. “Because of the sudden collapse of the secret realm, we were in a state of chaos. I noticed that not all the disciples returned.”

“From what I gathered, there are many of them who fell in the trials whether by the hands of the other sects or the beasts in the first trial.” Heng Huosheng said. “But no one I’ve talked to has seen junior brother Xi in the Trial Land at all.”

“Could it be that you didn’t talk to anyone who met junior brother Xi?” Ji Shuye asked. 

“I talked to almost all the disciples. The chances of none of them meeting junior brother Xi is extremely low. Unless junior brother Xi was immediately killed when he stepped into the first trial.”

None of the three felt that this was viable. Although they had not witnessed Tianyi’s powers, it should not be lower than Wei Daiying. 

Even if Tianyi’s combat prowess was lacking, as the son of Grand Elder Xi, he should be carrying numerous treasures that would make him even more dangerous than most Nascent Soul Grandmasters. So the chances of Tianyi being immediately eliminated to the point of dying in the first trial before meeting anyone was extremely low.

“There was one more thing, Grand Elder Zhang also asked if I saw Elder Meng in Trial Land.” Xia Yushan added to dispel the silence. 

“Elder Meng?” Ji Shuye asked, she couldn’t recall who that person was.

“The Elder that was always behind junior brother Xi and was easily forgotten?” Heng Huesheng asked. 

Xia Yushan nodded. 

“I don’t know the exact circumstances, but Elder Meng seems to be someone Grand Elder Xi especially prepared to guard junior brother Xi. It isn’t a secret, but a few years ago junior brother Xi’s cultivation ran into some problems and since then Elder Meng has almost always been by his side.” 

Ji Shuye and Heng Huesheng frowned as they tried to recall the illusive elder. From their memories they couldn’t recall such a person being next to Tianyi at all. 

“I…don’t know if anyone else would be able to sense Elder Meng if none of us could detect her. But judging from the Elders’ question, it seemed that she also disappeared with junior brother Xi.” Heng Huesheng said after some deliberation.

“Perhaps it concerns the secrets of the Immortal Court.” Ji Shuye said.

“We can only wait, this matter is out of our hands. However if junior brother Xi truly fell in the secret realm then Grand Elder Xi…” Xia Yushan’s words were left unsaid. 

The chances of Grand Elder Xi being affected should anything happen to Tianyi was extremely large. In the past there were numerous cases of powerful experts going insane and causing massive bloodshed because their family died.

Naturally that was one of the worse case scenarios, there were others who committed suicide in despair or had developeed inner demons.

Back in the meeting room of the leaders of the Three Heavens Connection Meeting. Monarch Bloodfiend frowned.

“I just received word that Disciple Xi’s soul lamp is still lit, so he is alive.” 

A few of the immortals released the breath they had been holding in. At the very least, the worst-case scenario had yet to happen.

“I’m afraid Grand Elder Xi will be displeased with our actions…” The immortal Elder who spoke suddenly stopped as he peaked at Grand Elder Zhang.

If they were to be blamed, would the largest fault not lie with Grand Elder Zhang, who was the most powerful among them? Saying those words out loud, afraid that Grand Elder Zhang would be unhappy.

“I heard that Grand Elder Xi has a method to locate disciple Xi. For those of us in the immortal realm, we all have our methods of locating those with blood relations.” Monarch Bloodfiend spoke, easing the sudden tension in the air.

But at this moment Grand Elder Zhang’s expression became a little sullen.

“Grand Elder Xi, I’m afraid she won’t be able to return for at least a few more months at the quickest and maybe even ten years at the latest.” 

Hearing those words, all the immortals in the room including Monarch Bloodfiend had their expressions darken. The longer it took to find Tianyi, the greater the danger he was in. And they were the ones responsible for the safety of the disciples on this trip.

Although it would highly be unlikely for Grand Elder Xi to kill them for a mere Core Formation realm disciple, it would be very easy for her to make their lives miserable.

Xi Mengfei was someone who did not take part in the power struggles. But if she wanted something, ignoring whether what the factions would do to pull her to their side, just her status as a Grand Elder would be enough to make the ordinary immortals like them suffer tremendously.

Not even Monarch Bloodfiend would not be safe if Xi Mengfei wanted to seek revenge. 

“This… dare I ask where Grand Elder Xi went to?” The speaker was a longtime immortal Elder with speckled hair and a worn aura.

Grand Elder Zhang glanced at the immortal Elder, and he instantly shrank his neck back.

“Send word back to the sect, use any means possible to search for Xi Tianyi. The sooner the better. Do not let outsiders know.” Grand Elder Zhang commanded.

Although it might be easier if they openly searched Tianyi but his status was delicate. Who knows how many people would have designs on him and not just because of his status as Sword Empress Xi’s only child.

Tianyi who had been traveling on his immortal boat for months was playing with the fake pill on the table. The skin on the tip of his pointer finger was broken and a blood drop could be seen forming.

Like this, Tianyi led the dumb pill to roll around the table, following the drop of blood on his finger. 

After waking up after his first night upon reentering the Huang Realm, Tianyi had attained an epiphany. 

Space was ever expanding according to his knowledge back on Earth, and the Void in this universe also seemed endless. An ever expanding space and within it contained all matter in the universe.

Why not liken his body to the endless void and his nine Spiritual Cores and the true qi of chaos as the matter and antimatter inside the universe?

Of course, this was easier said than done. 

Most martial cultivation followed the concept of strengthening the body based on existing creatures. Take the Dragon Emperor Fist as an example, although Tianyi had been cultivating to attain the same martial body as the Dragon Emperor the result would still be him copying the constitution of a true dragon. 

Spirit Rhino Fist

Arctic Bear Body

Qilin Pure Body

Nirvana Phoenix Flame

Demonic Snake Fist

All those were human cultivators creating a martial body that could imitate the abilities and body of a demon or divine beasts. Martial cultivation techniques based on a concept such as the vast void were comparatively rarer, and they were harder to cultivate. 

The most famous two were the Nine Yang Manual that allowed one to form a Pure Yang Martial Body and the Nine Yin Manual that formed the Pure Yin Martial Body. Luckily for Tianyi, his mother had cultivated the Nine Yin Manual and thus he was privy to the manual and he even memorized a portion of it.

There was a reason those two manuals were famous and as such he could not carry out a physical copy of it. Aside from the Eight Pillars Sect, which had both copies, most sects didn’t have the complete manual for both.

Even the Buzhou Immortal Sect only had a near complete version of the Nine Yin Manual and even a less complete version of the Nine Yang Manual. Well, that was the surface information. Who knew if any of these sects had the complete version and only said they had incomplete versions in order to not attract the ire of the Eight Pillars Sect.

Unfortunately Tianyi was grasping in the dark, although he had some idea for what direction to take with the guidance of the Nine Yin Manual and his understanding of space. 

Space Suppressing Palm

Realm Invading Sword

Those were the two arts that gave Tianyi the most help in understanding the concepts of space. Not to mention with his precarious experience with nearly having been lost in the Void, he deeply engraved the experience into his bones.

But even having deduced a framework for his new martial cultivation technique, although it was all logical and stable Tianyi couldn’t help but feel that something crucial was missing. It wasn’t just once or twice that Tianyi had pondered over the problem. 

With him spending months out on sea, time was the most abundant resource he had.

Tianyi had tried fishing the first few days, but he attracted the ire of the magic beasts. Although he wasn’t afraid of them, it was far more trouble than it was worth to catch a fish for barbecue. Besides, to the current Tianyi, food was just a pleasure of life he could abstain from if necessary.

Also who knew whether he would have the misfortune of encountering an immortal realm magic beast known as demons. Although they were only heard of in legends and few encountered them, demons still existed in the Huang Realm. Who knows whether Tianyi might accidentally fish up the great, great, great something grandchild of one.

That’s why Tianyi had decided to fly high in the sky, far away from the sea. With no lands in for miles upon miles, there shouldn’t be any bird magic beasts or demons right?

Tianyi stopped moving his finger, the fake pill successfully rolled up to Tianyi’s hand and absorbed the blood and even sucked some blood from the wound on his finger. After a while, Tianyi moved his finger away and healed the wound on his finger.

He held the fake pill in the palm of his hand and walked towards the front of the ship and looked down. Tianyi could see the first landmass he had seen in the months he had been traveling. It was an oval shaped island that should be over a million miles. 

Tianyi controlled the ship to make way towards the island. Hopefully, there would be a branch of the Loose Cultivator’s Alliance. If there was then he could make use of their teleportation formations. Although it might be expensive for others, it was well within Tianyi’s price range. 

He looked down on his clothes. Tianyi had long forgone the gold coronet on his head and instead allowed his hair to flow freely down without tying it at all. He no longer wore his purple robes and instead wore a black brocade robe with silver vines on it. 

Right now he was alone, and he could not communicate with any members of the Buzhou Immortal Sect. It was better to keep a low profile, and wearing a coronet that imperial royalty usually wore would be extremely eye catching.

Not that wearing a brocade robe was any better, but it was still less eye-catching than a coronet. 

Tianyi landed the immortal boat to land on the shore. After storing the immortal boat in his spatial ring, Tianyi flew in towards the center of the island. 

After three hours he was soon blocked by two middle-aged men in the Core Formation realm, both wearing similar clothing with a black circular symbol on them.

Oh look, I just arrived, yet I’m already being greeted by the locals. How lucky I am… not!

“Fellow daoists, can I help you?” Tianyi asked.

But the two of them said nothing and continued to observe Tianyi. Finally one of them, the taller and more robust one, chuckled.

“Heretic Zhan, just because you hid your aura, don’t think you will be able to fool these old eyes!” Saying so, a gauntlet appeared on his fist and he charged towards Tianyi.