Chapter 1017: The Prosperous Implode-Heaven Sect

After escaping from beneath Buried Immortal Valley and descending upon the Southern Continent, Xu Que immediately expanded his Divine Soul Power to its utmost limit, searching for the auras of Liu Jingning, Duan Jiude, and the others, yet he found nothing!

Relying on his current strength at the Sixth Layer of the Mahayana Stage, his Divine Soul Power was far beyond what it used to be, but even released to its extreme, it could only cover most of the Southern Continent!

Within these covered regions naturally included the area of the Southern Continent Secret Realm, but unfortunately, he detected no familiar auras whatsoever.

What made Xu Que curious, however, was that before he initially went to Buried Immortal Valley, he had ordered people to establish a branch of the Implode-Heaven Sect in the Southern Continent Secret Realm area; back then, only a few hundred to over a thousand people had gathered there to merge forces, but now the number of people in that area had clearly increased, numbering at least ten thousand, far incomparable to the past!

"Strange, could the Southern Continent Secret Realm have appeared? No, that area still looks very ordinary; I don't sense any aura of a Secret Realm!" Xu Que couldn't help but feel puzzled as he quickened his pace forward.

After all, he had stayed beneath Buried Immortal Valley for a year, while ten years had passed in the outside world; the Half-Immortal Realm experts from other deadly lands had not yet been completely eradicated back then, so the people of the Implode-Heaven Sect might have been having a very hard time.

Therefore, logically speaking, Xu Que had long mentally prepared himself for the people of the Implode-Heaven Sect, including Liu Jingning and Er Gouzi, to go into hiding again, making them impossible to find so easily; thus, there shouldn't have been so many people at that old site in the Southern Continent Secret Realm.

Yet now, that place was extraordinarily bustling, gathering over ten thousand people, which was truly a bit unbelievable!

"Boom!"

Accompanied by the roaring sound of wind, fire, and thunder storms, Xu Que successfully arrived at the valley of the Southern Continent Secret Realm, standing there dumbfounded like a wooden chicken, his face filled with astonishment.

After the Southern Continent Secret Realm disappeared back then, this place had long turned into desolate mountains and ridges; many peaks were even devastated into a mess due to being caught in battles, and even though Xu Que later had people casually build a structure there to serve as a branch, the whole thing was extremely crude!

Nowadays, this place was thriving with prosperity, spanning tens of thousands of mu, with rows of majestic buildings standing tall, and towering pagodas erected in all directions, heavily guarded!

What surprised Xu Que the most was that these guards, along with everyone in the entire territory, were uniformly dressed in black robes, with the three large characters "Implode-Heaven Sect" written behind them in a style resembling flying dragons and dancing phoenixes, exuding immense freedom and ease!

"Whoa, I thought these guys would be having a miserable time, but it seems they're doing quite well!" Xu Que immediately breathed a huge sigh of relief!

For the Implode-Heaven Sect to develop to this extent, it was obvious they had not suffered any oppression and even possessed powerful strength to reach this stage!

"Who goes there? What is your business!" At this moment, a guard atop the high tower noticed the disturbance, spotted Xu Que, and immediately shouted loudly.

"I, Xu Que, here to collect money!" Xu Que smiled solemnly, clasping his hands behind his back, stepping on his Wind Fire Wheels, and in an instant, he darted directly down to the ground.

His voice was incredibly calm yet clear and resonant, echoing directly throughout the entire branch, heard by everyone within a radius of tens of thousands of mu.

Instantly, the entire Implode-Heaven Sect branch fell abruptly silent, followed immediately by an outbreak of clamor, as if a pot had exploded.

"Sect Master?"

"Oh my god, that's the Sect Master's voice; he has returned!"

"Damn it, screwed Er Gouzi, the Sect Master is actually still alive!"

"Grass, you bastard looking for death, how dare you speak of the Sect Master like that?"

"Cough, cough, sorry, I just got a bit too excited!"

"Stop the nonsense, everyone, let's all go out together to welcome the Sect Master!"

Amidst a wave of noisy chatter, the crowd surged out, filled with immense excitement and joy, but their eyes held even more shock.

They had all heard that back then, Xu Que had slaughtered his way through Buried Immortal Valley, but in the end, he was dragged underground by an unparalleled expert, with little hope of survival and almost no chance of ever coming out again.

They never expected that after ten years, this lad would appear alive and well before them all.

"Respectfully welcoming the Sect Master!"

"Sect Master, you are so handsome!"

The formation of over ten thousand people appeared before Xu Que, their neat shouts rising like thunder!

Xu Que's heart immediately surged with emotion, filled with a great sense of accomplishment; he smiled and waved his hand: "Very good, excellently done; the Implode-Heaven Sect has prestige!"

"Sect Master Xu, you have finally returned!"

At this moment, an old man with white hair, his face full of excitement, darted out from the crowd and landed before Xu Que.

Xu Que paused for a moment: "Excuse me, may I ask who this elderly gentleman is..."

"Uh, Sect Master Xu, I am Chen Zhen, the Great Elder of the Extreme Joy Sect; don't you remember me?" The old man's face instantly became extremely awkward.

"Chen Zhen?" Xu Que immediately gasped in shock!

"It's Zhen, Chen Zhen! Back when you went to the Extreme Joy Sect, I was the one who welcomed you!" Chen Zhen said, lines of black appearing on his face, feeling as though he was about to lose all dignity.

"Oh, right, right, right, right, Elder Chen, I remember now! Ahahaha, sorry, staying underground for too long has made my memory worse!" Xu Que immediately burst into laughter; he indeed remembered this old man's identity—he was precisely the Great Elder of the Extreme Joy Sect from back then.

Hearing this, Chen Zhen finally restored his beaming smile, saying with immense joy: "Sect Master Xu, your Heavenly Talent is indeed outstanding and your strength extraordinary; in merely ten years, you have returned from that place and even stepped into the Mahayana Stage; truly congratulatory!"

"Keep it low-key, keep it low-key; by the way, where are the others? Why don't I see them?" Xu Que waved his hand, asking with a smiling expression.

"Uh..." Chen Zhen's smile instantly froze on his face, and he said bitterly: "Sect Master Xu, the others are all gone; you have returned too late!"

"What?"

Instantly, Xu Que's eyes widened, and his entire aura suddenly surged outward.

The others are all gone?

What does that mean? Could it be that they all met with accidents?

"Sect Master, please do not worry yet; listen to this old one explain!" Chen Zhen hurriedly spoke: "The others have all left with your wife, Jiang Hongyan, heading to the Lin Xian Realm! If you had returned just one year earlier, you might have been able to reunite with them, but now they have already departed, and we can no longer contact them!"

"Ah? They went to the Lin Xian Realm? Damn it, Great Elder, can't you speak without scaring people like that!" Xu Que paused for a moment before saying with a darkened face; he had nearly been scared out of his wits!

"Yes, yes, yes, the Sect Master is right; this old one spoke wrongly in a moment of urgency; however... Sect Master, please call me Old Chen from now on; I am no longer an Elder of the Extreme Joy Sect, as nowadays, even our Sect Master of the Extreme Joy Sect is a member of the Implode-Heaven Sect!" Chen Zhen said with a bitter smile.

"Oh? Your awareness is quite high then, actually joining the Implode-Heaven Sect too! No, no, first tell me what happened; how did they all run off to the Lin Xian Realm? Wasn't the plan to save me?"

Xu Que only now reacted; back when Er Gouzi and the others left, they had sworn confidently that they would return to save him, yet he never expected that in just these few years, they would all have fled to the Lin Xian Realm!

The key point was, it was actually Jiang Hongyan who led the way?

"Sect Master Xu, this is a long story; why not enter the Council Hall to sit down first, and this subordinate will explain to you in detail everything that happened back then!" Chen Zhen said, cupping his hands.

"Good, since the people are already gone, there's no rush; let's go in first and see how beautiful this place is!" Xu Que was quite open-minded about it; knowing that Jiang Hongyan and the others were safe, he completely put his mind at ease, so he immediately nodded and let Chen Zhen lead the way!

Escorted by the crowd, Xu Que was welcomed into the Implode-Heaven Sect branch and arrived at the Council Hall.

After tea and snacks were all served, Chen Zhen began recounting everything that had occurred after the incident at Buried Immortal Valley!

Listening with a face full of shock, Xu Que nearly fell off his chair, and in the end, he could only let out a deep sigh: "Impressive, my little Hongyan!"

【Third Update!】