A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm

Chapter 916: False Alarm

Close to half a day passed by in a flash, and it was starting to get dark.

The puppet army continued to refrain from advancing, but nor did it retreat, and it remained in the distance like a permanent fixture on the horizon.

On the city wall, the black-robed man asked in a disgruntled voice, "What the hell are these bastards up to? Are they plotting something?"

The other people gathered around E Kuai were just as perplexed, and all of them were speculating about Puppet City's intentions.

As for E Kuai himself, he remained standing in silence with a contemplative look in his eyes.

Even after much speculation, no consensus was reached, and the black-robed man turned to E Kuai with a hesitant expression as he began, "City Lord E, should we..."

"So long as the enemy doesn't move, we won't do anything, either. There's no need to make any rash moves. Keep a lookout for any sneak attacks and send out some scouts to find out exactly how many people Puppet City have sent on this occasion," E Kuai instructed.

The people around E Kuai promptly departed to carry out his orders, and soon, only the black-robed man was left.

"City Lord E, why haven't we called upon the people from the four cities to face the enemy together? There may not be many of them, but all of them are the cream of the crop from their respective cities, so they're still a force to be reckoned with," the black-robed man said.

A perplexed look flashed through the black-robed man's eyes upon hearing this, but he didn't say anything further.

"I have to go take care of something, so I'll leave things here to you, Shao Ying. If the Puppet City army makes any hostile moves, then do as you see fit, and there's no need to consult me," E Kuai said.

Shao Ying faltered slightly upon hearing this, but before he had a chance to ask any questions, E Kuai had already vanished from the spot.

As night fell, the standoff between the two cities continued, with neither side initiating an attack.

The gentle moonlight basked the entire landscape in a cold, white glow, and at this moment, there was a woman in a white dress standing on a short hill hundreds of kilometers away from Profound City, looking up at the sky while humming a tune to herself.

The woman's features were concealed behind a black veil, but she had an extremely seductive figure that also somehow gave off an air of childlike purity and innocence.

It was a very strange combination of qualities to possess, presenting a unique sense of allure to the beholder.

Right at this moment, E Kuai suddenly appeared around a hundred feet away from the woman, and he said in a cold voice, "I can see that you've made some great progress in your Profound Maiden Seduction, Fellow Daoist Sha Xin. Having said that, it's quite courageous of you to have ventured away from your army to come here on your own so close to my Profound City."

"If you wish to attack me, then go right ahead, Fellow Daoist E," Sha Xin said in a lazy voice as she slowly turned to face E Kuai.

At the same time, the air of purity and innocence about her abruptly faded, and a wave of boundless seduction surged out of her body, causing even the surrounding landscape to appear more gentle and alluring.

E Kuai gave a cold harrumph upon seeing this, but didn't attack.

"I knew you wouldn't attack a frail woman like myself unprovoked, Fellow Daoist E," Sha Xin giggled.

"Cut the chit-chat. Why did you invite me to meet you here through voice transmission? If you wish to spark another war between our two cities, then I'll gladly oblige," E Kuai declared in a cold voice, seemingly completely unaffected by Sha Xin's seduction.

"I have no intention of instigating a war between our two cities, Fellow Daoist E. Instead, I've come here because I have some important matters to discuss with you," Sha Xin said with a faint smile.

Her aura changed drastically once again as she spoke, and all of her seductive qualities faded, while her exquisite body also instantly lost all of its allure. It was as if she had suddenly become a completely ordinary and unremarkable woman.

"What do you want to discuss with me?" E Kuai asked.

"I would like to propose a joint venture between the two of us," Sha Xin replied with a smile.

"If you have something to say, then spit it out," E Kuai harrumphed coldly.

"There's no need to play dumb, Fellow Daoist E. Even after all these years, that place has still constantly been on our minds, and my Puppet City has already found the entrance to. I hope you didn't intend to keep that place entirely to yourself," Sha Xin said in a cold manner.

E Kuai's expression stiffened slightly upon hearing this, and he began to glower intently at Sha Xin with a hostile look in his eyes.

"There's no need to look at me like that, Fellow Daoist E. I didn't find the location of that entrance through any snide or underhanded tactics. Instead, our Puppet City found the entrance fair and square through extensive exploration," Sha Xin declared in a righteous manner.

"I'm sure that's true," E Kuai harrumphed in an unconvinced fashion. "How could I possibly be planning to keep that place to myself? If you've discovered the entrance, then I'm sure you're already aware of the situation inside. Given how perilous it is in there, I have no intention of venturing inside anytime soon."

"Do you take me for a fool, Fellow Daoist E? I may have only recently discovered the entrance, but even I could sense that the many natural hazards inside were gradually becoming less and less potent over time. I presume the potency of those natural hazards fluctuate on a cyclical basis, and this is when they're at their weakest.

“On top of that, I heard that you're offering some very extravagant rewards for this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering. Aren't you doing this so that you can select people to venture into that place?" Sha Xin asked with a seductive smile.

E Kuai offered no response, but his expression had darkened even further.

"Even though the natural hazards inside are waning in power, they're still far too powerful for our two cities to contend with individually. The only chance we have of entering that place is for our two cities to join forces, and that's why I've come all this way to discuss this matter with you. I hope you can make the right decision, Fellow Daoist E," Sha Xin continued.

"And what if I disagree?" E Kuai asked.

"In that case, I'll have no choice but to begin attacking Profound City, and I'll continue attacking until the natural hazards regain their potency, so none of us will be able to go in," Sha Xin replied with a faint smile.

A cold look flashed through E Kuai's eyes upon hearing this, and a terrifying aura erupted out of his body, causing the entire space within a radius of dozens of kilometers to tremble violently.

However, Sha Xin remained standing on the spot in a calm and composed fashion, while E Kuai's aura automatically parted around her, leaving her completely unaffected.

E Kuai took a deep breath, and his aura receded like the tide.

After a brief silence, he asked, "What type of collaboration do you propose, Fellow Daoist Sha?"

A pleased smile appeared on Sha Xin's face upon hearing this.

……

The night quickly passed by, and to everyone's surprise, the Puppet City army began to retreat the next morning.

Before long, the Puppet City army had vanished without a trace, and Profound City was lifted from its state of lockdown.

With that, a major crisis was averted, leaving all of the citizens of Profound City feeling a combination of befuddlement and relief.

After all, everyone wanted to avoid a war between the two cities if possible.

Several days later.

Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in his room, channeling the Heavenly Baleful Purgatory Arts to refine the A tier beast core.

The A tier beast core contained an enormous amount of starpower, and even though he had already been refining it for many days with the assistance of the Heaven Controlling Vial, he was still yet to fully absorb it.

A new profound acupoint had appeared on his body, and it was displaying signs of opening, but was ultimately still yet to be fully opened.

Han Li opened his eyes, then strode over to the window to cast his gaze toward the city lord's manor outside.

At this point, several days had already passed since the Puppet City crisis, and the Puppet City army hadn't been sighted since its retreat.

Even so, E Kuai displayed no intention of continuing the Five City Martial Gathering, and the cultivators from the four subsidiary cities continued to remain in their respective courtyards.

However, early this morning, E Kuai had summoned the four city lords for a meeting.

Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps suddenly rang out from outside, and Han Li opened his door to discover a servant from Green Goat City.

The servant was quite startled to see the door suddenly open in front of him, and he extended a respectful bow as he said, "Senior Li, City Lord Chen would like to see you."

Han Li nodded in response, then took another glance in the direction of the city lord's manor before making his way to Chen Yang's residence.

Shortly thereafter, he arrived at Chen Yang's residence, only to find the doors tightly shut.

Han Li was just about to knock on the door when they swung open on their own, and Chen Yang's voice rang out from inside.

"Come in, Fellow Daoist Li."

Han Li stepped into the room, and the door swung shut behind him, following which a layer of white light appeared over its surface, completely isolating the room from the outside world.

At this moment, Gu Qianxun and Xuanyuan Xing were also in the room with Chen Yang, while Daoist Xie was standing silently behind him in his usual expressionless manner.

Han Li was rather surprised to see this. He had thought that Chen Yang would've summoned everyone for a debriefing about the current situation in Profound City, but that was clearly not the case.