Chapter 210: Heavenly Dao's Blood

When Ximo Jianmo and Duan Sheng arrived one after another at the battlefield, aside from scattered dry twigs, broken leaves, and shattered stones covering the ground, there was no other person in sight.

No sign of the Little Palace Master.

"Where is the person?" Ximo Jianmo asked doubtfully.

Although the people have left and the mountain is empty, the lingering traces of true qi in the air do not lie.

"He won't have gone far..." Duan Sheng speculated.

Originally they could have used their divine sense to search for the Little Palace Master's whereabouts, but the just-stopped lightning interfered with everything, disturbing their divine sense and making them no longer keen.

They had arrived here quickly, but this great battle ended even faster!

"Damn it!" Ximo Jianmo clenched his fist, threw a fierce punch at the air, and shouted angrily.

"Wait..." Just as they were about to return empty-handed, Duan Sheng suddenly stopped, walked to the front-left, crouched down, and poked out a clump of earth with his hand.

Ximo Jianmo stared closely and saw that the damp clump of earth was coated with a green, viscous liquid, and asked, "What... what is this...?"

Duan Sheng brought the clump of earth to his nose, took a sniff, and almost collapsed to the ground; his tall stature made his fall especially exaggerated.

"Duan Sheng!"

Duan Sheng slowly raised his hand to signal to Ximo Jianmo that he was fine, but when he stood up he staggered.

"What's going on?" Ximo Jianmo asked Duan Sheng.

Duan Sheng shook his head and showed the clump of earth in his hand to Ximo Jianmo.

Ximo Jianmo observed it up close and from afar, feeling it was earth tainted with poisonous water, but like Duan Sheng, he did not know what it was.

"Don't get too close; take it back for them to see." Duan Sheng drew his great sword, placed the clump of earth on the sword tip, and flew away on his sword.

Soon after, Duan Sheng and Ximo Jianmo returned to the Lean Sword Pavilion.

Along the way, Ximo Jianmo kept asking Duan Sheng, "Is the Little Palace Master alright?" "Should I go look again?" "There probably isn't any serious problem, right?"

Many of those words were Ximo Jianmo's psychological comfort; after such a great battle, with not even a person's shadow left, there's an eighty percent chance they met with disaster or were captured.

Duan Sheng could only comfort Ximo Jianmo, saying, "Rest assured, that lass's strength is not inferior to ours; unless she encounters a person of the Heavenly Dao, who could defeat her?"

Duan Sheng also asked Ximo Jianmo, "You wouldn't have really fallen for that lass, would you?"

Ximo Jianmo lowered his head without answering.

Duan Sheng laid his great sword flat on the table, and the clump of earth stained with green liquid was presented before Shangguan Yunyi and the Sword Master. Outside, there had been no pungent odor, but now, upon bringing it into the Lean Sword Pavilion, the smell became very obvious; even such a small puddle of liquid had this piercing stench, and if there were more, it would be unimaginable.

"You didn't find her, right?" the Sword Master asked.

"Mm. Not a single person remained at the scene." Duan Sheng replied.

"We even used the 'Five Absolutes Enter Thunder' technique; to face such a powerful opponent, victory wasn't even certain." The Sword Master sighed, "Something's fishy!"

"Then is she more likely to meet misfortune than fortune?" Ximo Jianmo asked the Sword Master.

The Sword Master shook his head, "I don't know either."

"Then do you recognize this clump of earth?" Duan Sheng asked Shangguan Yunyi and the Sword Master.

Shangguan Yunyi had been staring at the earth from the start; he wanted to touch the green liquid on it, but Duan Sheng stopped him, saying, "It's highly toxic."

"Sword Master, junior brother, what do you think?" Shangguan Yunyi asked the Sword Master.

The Sword Master replied, "I think this is a puddle of fresh blood stuck to the earth."

"What do you two think?" Shangguan Yunyi asked Duan Sheng and Ximo Jianmo.

They both shook their heads at Shangguan Yunyi.

"Stop beating around the bush, Sword King, hurry up and tell us!" Ximo Jianmo urged.

"This is the blood of a Heavenly Dao person." Shangguan Yunyi said to the other three.

Ximo Jianmo was so startled he almost sat down on the ground, "A Heavenly Dao person!?" He slowly turned his head toward Duan Sheng, seeing that Duan Sheng was also looking at him in astonishment, "You said that lass's strength is not inferior to ours; unless she encounters a Heavenly Dao person, who could defeat her? This time we really have encountered a Heavenly Dao person..."

"Look at my jinxed mouth!" Duan Sheng slapped his own mouth with his hand.

"However, this isn't the purest blood of a Heavenly Dao person; it's mortal blood infused with the blood of a Heavenly Dao person." Shangguan Yunyi said, frowning for the first time; even when he received the news of having to battle a Heavenly Dao person, he had never frowned like this.

"What on earth is going on?" Even the Sword Master began to feel anxious.

"Specifically, I'm not entirely clear either, but it should be like this: those three people likely attacked ordinary mortals, choosing mortals to create chaos for everyone." Shangguan Yunyi replied, "Mortals endowed with the power of the Heavenly Dao become half-Heavenly Dao beings; their strength is not to be underestimated."

"Too terrifying." Duan Sheng lamented.

"In that case, being half a Heavenly Dao, the Little Palace Master's strength should not have been overcome." The Sword Master's worried heart finally eased; unbeknownst when, he, like Ximo Jianmo, had begun to worry about the Little Palace Master.

He had previously risked his life to protect the Little Palace Master; if she died just like that, wouldn't he have wasted all his efforts?

"The Heavenly Dao uses mortals as puppets; if they come to disturb us, it's understandable, but why would they target the Little Palace Master? She has nothing to do with this!" Duan Sheng said.

"The Heavenly Dao is not only immensely powerful, but its perception surpasses all; they can accurately predict every person, foresee potential threats, and then ensure their safety. It seems the Little Palace Master poses a threat to them. People like me, or Dongfang Wuji, might not be enough to threaten them," Shangguan Yunyi said, "Now there's no delay; we must find the Little Palace Master and keep her safe!"

The Sword Master, Duan Sheng, and Ximo Jianmo all did not question Shangguan Yunyi's authority in speaking, nor did they ask him how he knew all this.

Now the most critical thing is the Little Palace Master's safety.

"You can't threaten them, yet the Little Palace Master is a threat to them?"

"Duan Sheng, asking all these questions is useless; we must now find the Little Palace Master back." Ximo Jianmo said to Duan Sheng.

"We need to think of a plan." the Sword Master said, "Looks like I have to make a trip to the Five Absolutes Palace."

"Do you think she'll return to the Five Absolutes Palace?" Ximo Jianmo asked the Sword Master.

"No, she definitely won't go back; believing she'll return is worse than believing she's dead."