Above the ninth heaven, within the Xuanxu Temple.
Jin Xu and Yu Yaoer had already been back for quite some time.
As soon as Yaoer returned, she dashed straight for the kitchen.
Jin Xu, on the other hand, leaned against the stone wall next to the temple gate, hands propped on his knees, catching his breath heavily.
His forehead was covered in a dense layer of sweat.
It wasn't exhaustion; Jin Xu was frightened.
"I almost died just now?"
Jin Xu still felt like he was dreaming.
"Has that old man gone mad, to burst my head just because I was impolite?"
Even though a good while had passed, Jin Xu could still vividly recall the scene.
He had been so frightened at the moment that he instinctively closed his eyes and concentrated Hand Palm Thunder in his right hand to shield himself.
It seemed to have blocked it, and then, relying on his memory, he slammed heavily against the position of the wall. Following that, there was the sound of the wall breaking and a huge boom.
Without looking back, he grabbed Yaoer and they ran back here.
...
Inside the kitchen
Yu Yaoer was preparing to cook a soup for her master to calm his nerves.
She had seen that terrifying Golden Thunderbolt firsthand and felt its aura was even more frightening than the Hand Palm Thunder that had caught her the day her master fished her out!
She took the gentle bamboo from the red jade bracelet and started chopping it into pieces with the kitchen's cleaver.
After hesitating for a moment, this time she didn't jump into the pot.
Instead, she sneakily took a small cloth bundle from the stack of firewood.
When her master had ordered her to throw away all the barbecue last time, she had secretly saved it—grilled Earthworm Dried (earthworms).
This time, she planned to give her master a change of taste, making an "Earth Dragon Bamboo Soup."
...
After the time it took to brew a pot of tea.
"Master, master, I've stewed a new 'soup' for you, drink some and calm your nerves."
Yu Yaoer, holding a white porcelain bowl, quickened her pace with little steps, and walked up to Jin Xu. She then handed him the bowl filled with green soup.
The clear yet silly-looking big eyes brimming with anticipation
Jin Xu, still lost in thought, instinctively took the bowl and downed it in one gulp.
"Puh!"
A mouthful of "soup" sprayed onto Yu Yaoer's face.
"What on earth is this?" Jin Xu asked holding the bowl.
"Earth Dragon Bamboo Soup."
Yu Yaoer blinked her clear yet seemingly foolish big eyes.
While raising her hand to pick out pieces of dried Earth Dragon and bamboo shards from her hair, she naturally replied to her master.
"emmmmm...."
Yaoer's antics indeed helped dilute some of Jin Xu's fear.
After helping her remove the debris from her hair, Jin Xu remarked,
"You chopped it very finely."
Once he had completely calmed down, Jin Xu pondered carefully and realized he must bring his master back.
A world without his master was simply too dangerous.
This brush with death only strengthened his resolve to find his master!
No sooner said than done.
Jin Xu immediately took control of the Xuanxu Temple and set off for the White Emperor Pavilion.
He remembered that the elder from the White Emperor Pavilion, a kindly old woman dressed in water-blue attire, was the one pretending to faint on the ground,
smiling, Jin Xu thought the old lady should be easier to deal with than the old man; when his master had visited her previously, the two of them seemed rather close before any physical confrontation, perhaps she was an old flame of his master's.
He didn't consider the other two old men; one seemed to have a bad temper, and the other seemed not too bright.
...
Noon, Yu State,
residence of the Elder Pavilion Master at the White Emperor Pavilion.
The Elder Pavilion Master of the White Emperor Pavilion, that woman in the water-blue attire, seemed perfectly normal.
Certainly much better than the old man from the academy who started off by wanting to kill him.
After identifying himself, not only did she not hurt them, but she also warmly welcomed both, planning to let them stay at the pavilion for a while.
However, the kindly old woman indicated that she also didn't know where the Tianxing Taoist had gone.
Besides the last time they met, she and Jin Xu's master hadn't seen each other for thirty years.
When saying this, Jin Xu, the young Taoist, caught a trace of resentment on the old woman's face.
"It seems the two have a history," Jin Xu thought to himself.
Though the old lady repeatedly asked them to stay longer, young Taoist Jin Xu still declined.
"Senior, since there's no clue about my master here, we dare not delay and must search elsewhere. Thank you for your hospitality, and when I find my master, we will come to visit you together," he said with great politeness as he bid farewell.
Fearing another ordeal from being impolite.
"Well, if you're so determined, then I can't well insist. Go on, go ahead," she said.
The old lady shook her head, sighed, and slowly disappeared behind the screen, leaning on a Phoenix Head Cane.
She seemed somewhat displeased.
Young Taoist Jin Xu didn't take it to heart; elders always hope that the younger generation will stay with them a bit longer.
He and Yu Yaoer left the grand doorway of the pavilion and stepped onto the long corridor outside.
Once they crossed this water corridor, they would reach where the Xuanxu Temple was docked.
Suddenly, two streams of water rose from the ponds on either side of the corridor!
Like two giant pythons, they coiled above the heads of Jin Xu and his companion, slamming down in a circular shape and forming a water prison around them.
"Hmph! Refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit."
The old lady, who had just looked so kind, now leaned on her Phoenix Head Cane by the door of the pavilion, her face twisted with bitterness, as if she had become someone else.
This sudden turn of events startled them both.
"Again?"
Jin Xu swore the first thought that came to his mind was just that.
But he still asked respectfully.
"Elder, what does this mean?"
"What does it mean? Ah Pin and I were childhood sweethearts, why should he avoid me, seeing me only once every thirty years!!!"
The old woman's face grew even more bitter.
Jin Xu, the little Taoist, was flabbergasted, thinking to himself, who is Ah Pin, his master?
Then he heard the bitter voice again.
"You are Ah Pin's direct disciple and the sole heir of Xuanxu Temple. Little Taoist, rest assured, I won't harm you. When your master returns, let him exchange himself for you, the heir."
Jin Xu thought to himself, has this old lady lost her mind, wanting my master to exchange me, can she even defeat him?
No wonder he clung to his master's leg last time, not letting him go.
After that, Jin Xu appealed to her emotions and reasoned with her, trying to inform his makeshift Taoist aunt.
But forcing the issue bore no fruit.
"No wonder my master hasn't seen you in thirty years, who could stand this psychological derangement."
As Jin Xu thought this, he glanced sideways at Yaoer beside him. The Little Fish Demon was waving her hands, seemingly casting some spells, blue spiritual power flying erratically, but the water prison remained unmoved.
When she saw Jin Xu looking at her, she turned her head and blinked her clear yet slightly foolish large eyes and said.
"Young Master, I can't open it."
The voice of the Elder Pavilion Master of White Emperor Pavilion came over.
"Tell that little Fish Demon beside you not to waste her spiritual power, my Xuanyuan Heavy Water Prison, below Divinity Transformation, is unbreakable, wait... hmm?"
Her voice abruptly stopped, as if a hen suddenly had its throat clutched.
While the old lady was speaking, Jin Xu looked at the water prison in front of him, and involuntarily, the image of that bamboo building's wall surfaced in his mind.
"The two give me a similar feeling."
He stepped back, took a running start, and rammed into it.
With a splash, the water prison scattered all over the floor....
The old lady was taken aback, her grip tightening on the Phoenix Head Cane.
The skin on her knuckles turned slightly white like dry tree bark.
"This boy clearly has no trace of cultivation aura; how could he break my Xuanyuan Heavy Water Prison with his mere body?"
Immediately, she reconsidered.
"No wonder Ah Pin took a liking to his disciple, he indeed possesses something special, hehehe~"
Love is blind.
The old lady struck again, wielding her cane, consolidating the water prison, this time giving it her all.
Then Jin Xu rammed into it, and it broke again.
"Hmm?"
The old lady, refusing to believe it, consolidated it once more.
It was broken again.
Consolidate again, break again.
After several attempts, Jin Xu also realized something; this old lady talked tough but seemed unable to hold him.
"Is there something wrong with the 'Strengthening Skill' my master taught, or is it me?"
But now was not the time to ponder this. Jin Xu looked at Yaoer beside him, noticing the girl was collecting water with her red jade bracelet, apparently planning to store it for some new recipe research.
emmm...
Seeing that the old lady couldn't trap him, Jin Xu dragged the water-collecting Yaoer, and the two of them sprinted back to Xuanxu Taoist Temple.
"The old lady actually didn't make another move to stop us?"
Back in the temple, Jin Xu pondered as he maneuvered Xuanxu Taoist Temple to take off.
As the spell was cast, a "thud" echoed from outside as if it had hit something.
Jin Xu himself stepped outside to check.
He discovered that the Xuanxu Taoist Temple was, at some unknown time, enclosed within a water-blue pearl.
The pearl was crystal clear, its surface densely marked with inscriptions that Jin Xu couldn't understand, resembling oracle bone script.
Jin Xu frowned, then, as usual, stepped back, took a run-up, and charged.
The inscribed text on the water-blue pearl glowed briefly, but the pearl itself remained motionless.
The old lady appeared outside the pearl, witnessing Jin Xu's failed attempt to break it, a cold smirk appearing on her deeply wrinkled face. She turned, leaning on her Phoenix Head Cane, and walked away.
It seemed she had no intention of dealing with Jin Xu and his companion today.
...
The sun set in the west, casting a red glow across the sky,
Outside the hillside where the Elder Pavilion Master of White Emperor Pavilion lived.
A familiar scene unfolded.
"Boom!"
A golden thunderbolt shot towards the sky, scattering the clouds above into disarray.
Mist rose around Xuanxu Taoist Temple, like a spring onion shooting up towards the heavens.
A moment later.
The Elder Pavilion Master of White Emperor Pavilion arrived on the scene and picked up a water-blue gem with fine cracks over it, her eyebrows tightly furrowed.
The White Emperor Pearl was cracked.