A day ago.
Cao Shen bowed respectfully and revealed a token before the door parted open. He walked through the open passage into a dimly lit room, bowing again.
"You did a great job finding the girl" A hoarse voice sounded in the dark. Cao Shen remained bowed and said nothing. A faintly discernible silhouette appeared in front of him.
"Master" Cao Shen greeted. He continued immediately, "It was Junior Apprentice Sister who discovered her somewhere in the Eastern Continent."
"I'm aware of her role in finding my lost descendant. I have already rewarded her. I'm also aware you were the one that narrowed down her birth place and gave the coordinates to Ling'er, so your role is definitely not any less.
Cao Shen, do you remember Chen Xiaowen?
Cao Shen replied, "The devil man?"
"A dozen years ago, he disappeared. Rumours say that he died trying to ascend to the Soul Embryo realm.
Through devil cultivation, he was able to navigate rapidly through the processes of qi Formation, Refinement and Condensation. Unfortunately, his natural talent won in the end, as even devilish methods couldn't help him break past the Soul Barrier. Breaking past that barrier requires one's pure soul force, so he couldn't apply any means to circumvent this restriction.
He is still alive?" Cao Shen's eyes widened at these words. The silhouette continued, "Thanks to a secret art, he avoided death and merged with a subspace, spending years planning his resurrection.
In the Eastern Continent, the major sects stupidly sent in their core disciples, not knowing it's a plot to send in their best talent to reforge his body.
That is where you come in. Li Luo is also in that secret realm." His face was visible now to Cao Shen. It was confounded with worry. He handed him a talisman. "This will allow you to break into the secret realm unaffected. Bring her back!"
Cao Shen stored the talisman in his space ring and bowed. He left immediately, vanishing into the horizon quickly.
**************************
The Leaders and other representatives of the sects were all laughing and joking around. They were all familiar with each other, having fought and competed against each other in their younger years. Given their positions now, they had a lot of commitment and consequently didn't have as much time to meet up as they did in their youth.
Cao Shen appeared quietly in front of the secret realm. His realm was higher than the crowd, so he remained undetected. With the talisman, he entered the passage directly.
"Well, that was easy." He brought out a bloodline sensing tool, and read it. It worked like a compass, and the needle pointed north. His figure flashed away in that direction. As for those restrictive mazes and barriers, what a joke, they shattered into bits when they came in contact with his shield. In fact, even if Chen Xiaowen was in peak form, Cao Shen had the confident to defeat him with his trump cards. His cultivation base at the early Soul Embryo Realm was not for joke, even if the other party was a devil cultivator that possessed devilish methods that could restrict his strength.
To be honest, the only advantage Chen Xiaowen had was the fact that he had merged his soul with this secret realm, so he was instantly aware when someone broke into it. His thoughts stirred, and he felt a crack in his previously perfect plan.
Although the rumours were true, and Chen Xiaowen failed to transcend his tribulation, with his body getting destroyed, he still successfully entered the Soul Embryo realm. True, his combat prowess was affected without his body or Cyclic Core, but his control of this subspace made it so that he could control anything and everything here.
His soul sense quickly reached out to communicate with the other party.