Chapter 423

To Ding Huan's surprise, the disciples of these immortal sects, upon seeing the yellow plaque, indeed did not inspect him.

Dozens of divine senses instantly converged on Ding Huan, some belonging to immortals of the Great Luo Immortal realm.

Ding Huan didn't care—he had planned to test whether his Heavenly Gang Dao Art could slip past these inspection treasures, but he hadn't expected the other party to actually dare not inspect him.

A divine sense sweep posed him not the slightest threat.

"They didn't use any treasures to inspect us—must be because we're of the Ancient Dao Immortal fortune," Ding Huan said aloud, deliberately low, after leaving Genggu Immortal Dao City, to Hu Bujiu.

"Heh."

Hu Bujiu chuckled, then said: "Not because of Ancient Dao Immortal fortune—because of the Ancient Dao Guild.

The Ancient Dao Guild is one of the Ten Guilds designated by the Immortal Court; even major immortal sects don't possess the Immortal Court plaque we carry in our hands."

After exiting Beicheng's northern gate, Ding Huan noticed a spaceship already waiting outside.

More accurately, it wasn't a spaceship—it was a warship.

Ding Huan scanned the warship; its immortal array was fifth-grade, its attack and defense array patterns etched densely.

Following Hu Xiangyang onto the warship, Ding Huan felt a bit incredulous—if they had this warship, why recruit guards at all?

The warship was spacious; Ding Huan's divine sense swept through it, and though sealed by restrictions, he faintly sensed its interior was lavishly arranged.

Of course, luxury had nothing to do with Ding Huan and the other temporary escort handlers.

Ding Huan's group of ten, plus the youth Ding Huan suspected carried red cargo, were all assigned to billet along the ship's edges.

Ding Huan was assigned beside Ye Meier; Captain Shi Nuozhou stood at the bow; Hu Bujiu, though mediocre in ability, still managed to squeeze in beside Shi Nuozhou.

Whether by chance, or because he was an immortal array master.

Ye Meier, seemingly aware of Ding Huan's timidity, stopped speaking to him and began setting up her own defensive restrictions.

Even though the ship carried its own defensive array, those stationed on it naturally had to set up personal defensive restrictions.

Ding Huan saw Ye Meier set up a second-grade defensive immortal restriction; he casually set up a first-grade one for himself.

Less than half a stick of incense later, Ding Huan saw five or six people board the warship.

In the center was a figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat; the hat blocked divine senses, and since Ding Huan didn't scan it, he didn't know if it was male or female.

On either side of the hat-wearer stood two women each; Hu Xiangyang waited on the warship's side.

After this group entered the warship's inner hold, the vessel shuddered slightly, then shot skyward.

Ding Huan didn't bother with any of it.

He pulled out the Jade Slip of the Pangu Great World and swept his divine sense into it.

He had previously assumed this was merely a place called the Great Immortal Realm—or Ancient Immortal Realm—a vast region with perfected heavenly laws, forbidding private formation of spirit gathering immortal arrays, nothing more.

Now he realized he'd known only a single hair of nine oxen.

The Ancient Immortal Realm was merely a tiny corner of the Pangu Great World; comparing it to a single drop in the ocean might be exaggerated, yet the analogy wasn't far off.

After hearing Tao Xiaomei mention the Heavenly Court, he had silently assumed the Heavenly Court governed the Ancient Immortal Realm—their superior authority.

Now he learned that the Heavenly Court Tao Xiaomei spoke of wasn't one, but five.

In fact, Hu Xiangyang's phrasing was more accurate: he said "Immortal Court," which was the Immortal Realm Heavenly Court.

The Immortal Realm Heavenly Court was the heavenly court established by human cultivators, one of the Five Heavenly Courts of the Pangu Great World.

Besides the Immortal Court, there were also the Demon Court, the Spirit Court, the Dragon Court, and the Beast Court.

Logically, the Dragon Court should have been subsumed under the Beast Court, but in truth, it wasn't like that at all.

The Dragon Clan was too powerful, long since broken free from the beast tribes, becoming an independent race, and thus established its own Dragon Heavenly Court.

Seeing the Dragon Clan establish its own Heavenly Court, the Phoenix Clan, Qilin Clan, Great Peng Clan, and Xuan Gui Clan all desired to establish their own heavenly courts.

But their power was insufficient; apart from the Phoenix Clan breaking free from the Beast Clan, the rest remained under the Beast Heavenly Court.

Though the Phoenix Clan had broken free, they couldn't match the Dragon Clan's ability to establish their own heavenly court—merely enjoying greater freedom of voice.

This voice had been won through countless years of war.

In the Pangu Great World, beyond these Five Heavenly Courts, there was another vast region: the Chaos Domain.

The Chaos Domain housed all manner of races: Winged Race, Blood Clan, Ghost Clan, Sea Clan, Elf Clan, and more.

Thousands upon thousands of races lived here, with nowhere else to go, forced into the Chaos Domain.

Those who survived here all had their skills; those without sufficient ability vanished long ago into the Chaos Domain's historical river.

In the Chaos Domain, one extremely famous race was the Witch Clan.

In Pangu Great World legends, even this world was opened by the Witch Clan's ancestor Pangu, yet the Witch Clan had declined day by day.

Originally, the Witch Clan should have lived within the Immortal Court, but they refused to live under others' roofs.

They also believed themselves far nobler than human cultivators—why should the Immortal Court be controlled by humans? So they demanded humans relinquish control of the Immortal Court and hand it to the Witch Clan.

For this, the Witch Clan and humans fought for hundreds of thousands of years, until finally, defeated, they retreated into the Chaos Domain.

Fortunately, while the Witch Clan and humans waged war, other races weren't idle.

Races like the Phoenix Clan and Qilin Clan fought the Beast Clan, seeking independence.

Constant, prolonged warfare left all sides too occupied to pay attention to one another.

The Pangu Great World grew increasingly ruined amid endless war, yet maintained a balance of power.

Now, this world still waged war, but comparatively far better than before.

Current wars mostly involved lower-level cultivators fighting each other.

For example, the Immortal-Beast Battlefield between humans and beasts, the Spirit-Demon Battlefield between demons and spirits, and so on.

These wars hadn't yet reached the level of Heavenly Courts clashing—mere skirmishes.

Ding Huan put away the Jade Slip and fell silent.

He wondered whether this Immortal Court had any connection to the immortals and gods vanished from Earth—could this delivery mission let him enter the Immortal Court?

The warship's defensive array was fifth-grade,

Ding Huan's array art level was at the peak of fourth-rank, ready to break through to fifth-rank at any moment.

Since he couldn't cultivate aboard this warship anyway, Ding Huan decided to study array art instead.

Using array flags to study was inconvenient, since Night Mei'er was right beside him.

So Ding Huan repeatedly laid out void array patterns, using this fifth-rank protective array as a base, again and again searching for its breakthrough point.

Ding Huan couldn't sense the warship's speed, since outside the vessel, apart from Shi Nuozhou, he and the others had no right to observe.

Ding Huan could only feel that the warship's speed was extremely fast.

Days passed, and Ding Huan's array art improved day by day.

On this day, Ding Huan continued as usual, laying out void array patterns.

When he first located the core of this fifth-rank protective array, he knew clearly: this meant he could break through to fifth-rank Great Array Master at any moment.

As layer upon layer of void array patterns settled, the vast, clear sky outside appeared beneath Ding Huan's divine sense.

Ding Huan exhaled slowly—his array art had finally broken through to the fifth-rank Great Array Master realm.

Time had flown so quickly; since leaving Gu Gu Xian City, at least five months had passed.

He hadn't noticed how fast time passed while constantly studying array art, but now that he had free time, he felt it had rushed by.

The warship he rode, though not as fast as his iron pot, was at least at the top speed of a high-grade mid-tier flying immortal artifact.

Even at this speed, five months hadn't brought them to their destination—the Heavenly Court was far from Gu Gu Xian City in the Gu Xian Realm.

When Ding Huan extended his divine sense beyond the warship, he quickly sensed something strange.

Why was the immortal qi here so much weaker than in Gu Gu Xian City? And the scenery outside looked desolate.

To Ding Huan, this didn't feel like the path to the Heavenly Court—it felt more like the route to the Myriad Void Swamps.

Maybe he just didn't understand; perhaps the path to the Heavenly Court really was like this. Otherwise, wouldn't everyone long to go there?

Ding Huan explained this to himself while beginning to calculate what lay ahead.

His cultivation had advanced, but so had the celestial rules of this place.

Even when he calculated events over a month ahead, he still remained aboard this warship.

If he forced his calculations further, everything turned hazy.

It seemed the journey was still long; Ding Huan gave up calculating and instead continued observing the changing landscape along the warship's route.

Several more days passed, and Ding Huan grew increasingly uneasy.

The immortal qi grew ever weaker; moreover, the gloomy, decaying aura of space intensified—the warship felt as if it were heading toward hell.

Ding Huan opened his barrier and looked toward Night Mei'er's barrier.

Night Mei'er made no movement; she appeared to be cultivating.

Ding Huan stared at Night Mei'er's barrier, wondering how he might speak to her, when suddenly her barrier opened:

"Gek gek, little brother, feeling lonely on the journey?"

Ding Huan smiled warmly and said, "Sister Mei'er, you say our warship is heading to the Heavenly Court—aren't the views outside wonderful?"

Night Mei'er was somewhat surprised by Ding Huan's sudden change.

In her eyes, Ding Huan had always been shy and introverted; now he not only boldly approached her, but even chatted with her about irrelevant topics.