Inside the mysterious ring, the altar was calmly glowing. Yet the spatial energy was swirling in chaos.
It was swirling around Xukong who was floating a long distance away from the ethereal alter. He was currently using the spatial energy he had to accumulate to strengthen the link between his main body and the avatar.
"Bah! Seems like summoning more of my cultivation base is impossible, it is too far away." Xukong said in frustration.
"Looks like I'll have to use my own store of it… it doesn't matter, I'll be able to recover it back in a few months," Xukong spoke after thinking a bit.
'Hopefully, the drain on the ward will be lessened as well… he will need it a lot more in the future.' Xukong thought, before his eyes glowed with a deadly gleam.
***
"You threatened my disciple, didn't you?" A voice spoke.
Gu Yao couldn't bring himself to speak anymore and could only stare at the ten golden yellow eyes.
"You dared for me to show up, didn't you? Here I am…" The voice spoke again.
Gu Yao bit his tongue and stimulated himself through the pain, making himself snap out of the state he was in.
"You are not a being of this world are you?" Gu Yao questioned.
He was still trembling, but he still held on somehow.
"Oh? This is interesting, you can still talk in my presence." The voice replied.
"You really are then. You are the same as the being that the merchant brought… you are an invader as well." Gu Yao said.
An eerie silence spread after Gu Yao spoke and the deadly aura that was coming from the ten golden yellow eyes got stronger as well.
"It does not matter if I am an invader or not. What matters is that if you dare come after my disciple, I will hunt you down! It doesn't matter if I have to shatter this world to do so." The voice replied.
"HAAHAH!" Gu Yao suddenly laughed.
"You do know that if you dare to do that, the immortals will descend. Besides, you are not the only one who is above the immortal Ascension realm, I have allies that will not stand in silence if you try this." Gu Yao threatened this time.
The space started trembling as Gu Yao felt cuts appearing in his body. His spirit qi became disarrayed, and his nascent soul felt like it would be snuffed out like the flame of a candle.
Cracks started to appear around the ten golden yellow eyes as massive white pillars manifested. The ends of the pillars ended in a sharp point, and they were tens of kilometers long. Gu Yao counted them and found there to be eight of them.
Finally, the golden yellow eyes moved and a body appeared behind them.
Gu Yao got the full glimpse of the being that he was in the presence of.
"If it were not for the innocent people in this world, I would have not hesitated. My disciple calls this world his home too, and I do not want to destroy it for so little. But I swear… If any harm comes to my disciple, even if you call the immortals to try to stop me, I WILL DESCEND MYSELF!" The Voice declared, dripping with a murderous aura.
Gu Yao felt terrified again and finally realized that the being in front of him was much more worse than he had thought.
"WHAT BEAST ARE YOU?!!" He shouted.
"I AM XUKONG!!!"
And with that Gu Yao lost consciousness.
***
Lin Mu was still flying towards the Northern town and had covered about one fourth of the distance by now. He was rapidly using his spirit qi but did not dare to save it, he knew that if he hesitated now, he may get in fatal danger.
Lin Mu had tried to speak to Senior Xukong a few times but received no response. He gave up for a while and just reckoned that he was probably trying to hold back Gu Yao.
"No one has come after me yet, so it should be fine…" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
~Zoom~
About ten more minutes passed, and by now Lin Mu was running low on spirit qi. He had less than ten percent of his spirit qi left in the dantian, and this was the lowest he had ever fallen.
Lin Mu gritted his teeth and made a decision.
"Dammit! No time to be indecisive." Lin Mu said to himself before talking out two pale white stones along with a pill bottle.
Lin Mu opened the cork of the pill bottle and poured some pills into his mouth before clenching the stones in his hand.
Waves of spirit qi came from his body as he released more and more of it.
What Lin Mu had eaten were none other than the Mid Grade Basic qi pills, and the stones he was holding were also mid grade spirit stones. He knew that this was the fastest way to replenish his spirit qi and also to continue flying.
The mid grade spirit stones replaced the spirit qi he was using for flying and reduced the drain on his dantian, while the mid grade basic qi pills were replenishing the spirit qi in his dantian. He was chanting the severing heart sutra as well, so as to rapidly assimilate the spirit qi.
Just like this Lin Mu's attention was split into multiple tasks and he pushed himself to his full potential.
Unknown to him, his body's conversion from normal physique to the Xiantian physique had started again. He was already at ninety nine percent completion, but it was those fractions of the last percent that were the hardest for him to progress in.
But Lin Mu kept on soldering on and flew at his max speed. Replacing the spirit stones that crumbled into dust while using them. By now twenty minutes had passed and he was almost at the Northern Town.
"LITTLE SHRUBBY COME OUT!" Lin Mu commanded.