Guo Xingyue made a concerted effort to control his body as he passed through the thick clouds above the planet, descending toward a continuous mountain range. Enduring the intense pain from his wounds, he expanded his spiritual awareness and found the nearest cave to burrow into. With the last remnants of his true essence, he barely set up a two-layered maze formation and then sat cross-legged, took a Returning Essence Pill, and began to meditate and heal.
After Guo Xingyue left, the members of the Yixin Sect were all filled with anxiety. The demon cultivators were too powerful; although Guo Xingyue had eliminated a group, who could guarantee that there wouldn't be another wave of demon cultivators arriving? With Guo Xingyue absent for several days without a return, everyone lost their leader and was left in a state of constant fear. In desperation, Gao Tianhe hastened to set up formations. Although their formations were far inferior to Guo Xingyue's, they were better than nothing. The sect members waited anxiously for several months without encountering any demon cultivators, but instead, a coalition of cultivators from the Seven Sects of Ju Shou arrived.
While there were significant conflicts among the Seven Sects of Ju Shou, they united in the face of the demon cultivators. Upon receiving the notification from the Spirit Void Master, they immediately launched a total mobilization. Experts at the God Transformation stage and above from each sect rushed to Ju Shou Star, electing the most powerful, Lingyun, the leader of the Chongzhen Sect, to take command (the Spirit Void Master was at the Great Ascension stage, which, according to the Four Realms Agreement, meant he could not participate in the conflicts of the cultivation world). Nearly a thousand experts at the God Transformation stage and above surged toward the star domain where Ju Yuan Star was located. The nearby cultivation sects around Ju Yuan Star had been decimated by the demon cultivators, and the cultivators searched through dozens of planets, only finding a few low-level demon cultivators. After using the Shadow Printing Technique, they learned that all the powerful demon cultivators had gone to Ju Yuan Star. Upon reaching Ju Yuan Star and finding the Yixin Sect, they discovered that nearly all the attacking demon cultivators had been killed by Guo Xingyue alone. The cultivators gasped in shock, each feeling differently. Upon hearing that Guo Xingyue had pursued two escaping demon cultivators at the Integration stage alone and had been absent for several months, their feelings wavered—some were saddened, some delighted, and some worried.
The Dongxu Master and Cheng Qian Master, who had the best relationship with Guo Xingyue, immediately advocated searching in the direction the demon cultivators had fled until they reached the star domain where the demon cultivators were located. However, Jianxin Sect and Kunyu Sect opposed this, arguing that since the demon cultivators had retreated, there was no need for the cultivation world to reignite the conflict. After a heated argument between the two factions, Lingyun from the Chongzhen Sect stepped in to mediate, announcing that this operation would come to an end and that each sect could act as they saw fit. Dongxu Master and Cheng Qian Master each led their disciples to search the nearby star domains for a while but found no clues related to Guo Xingyue, forcing them to give up. Each quietly prayed for Guo Xingyue's safe return.
At this moment, Guo Xingyue was in danger. Although he had taken the Returning Essence Pill in time to suppress his injuries, after meditating to heal, he discovered that the magical essence attached to Roland's magical weapon was overwhelmingly tyrannical. This domineering magical essence coiled around his nascent soul, continuously eroding it. Guo Xingyue's true essence fought fiercely against the invasion of the magical essence. With the help of the Returning Essence Pill, his true essence was able to withstand the magical essence's attack but couldn't expel it from his body. As his true essence gradually recovered and began to counterattack, the magical essence was pushed to one side, but he could do no more than that. Upon inspecting his nascent soul, Guo Xingyue found that one half was black while the other half was a faint golden color, clearly demarcated. The two forces were at a stalemate at their junction, and no matter how Guo Xingyue attempted to mobilize his true essence, he couldn't push back the black magical essence even a fraction. Moreover, he awkwardly realized that the true essence he could currently call upon was only at the early nascent soul level, leading him to bitterly smile: this was a significant loss! He had gone from being an advanced expert to a mere newcomer.
Guo Xingyue had always been open-minded. Though his current situation was dire, he merely mocked himself for a moment before starting to contemplate how to deal with the demon cultivators' pursuit: in his current state, he was incapable of engaging in a confrontation with a strong opponent; even an early nascent soul demon cultivator would be enough to deal with him. Setting up a formation required true essence coordination, and with his current level of true essence, he could at most set up some simple formations, which wouldn't stop an expert's assault—these formations were not reliable. It seemed his only hope lay in his spiritual awareness capabilities. This planet was likely a demon cultivator's stronghold; in his current condition, he could not expose his identity as a cultivator. He could no longer wear his robe.
Thinking about the robe, Guo Xingyue carefully inspected it: it had been pierced by Roland's flying sword, and the defensive array on the robe had been completely destroyed. Roland's strength was terrifying—likely far above that of Ke Yeluo. If it hadn't been for the fact that this treasure-grade robe absorbed the initial blow and gave him time to sidestep, allowing his nascent soul to avoid the direct hit from the magical weapon, he would have long been lost.
Though Guo Xingyue's external injuries had healed, allowing him to move without issue, neither his storage bracelet nor his storage ring contained any ordinary clothing. He did have several high-grade and treasure-grade robes, but all of these were for cultivators, equipped with formations that would be easily seen through by demon cultivators. Guo Xingyue pondered that to avoid detection by the demon cultivators, he would need to find a way to blend in with the local ordinary people; however, he was unsure if any ordinary people existed on this planet. He approached the cave entrance to assess the sky, planning to wait until nightfall to venture out and test his luck, as his powerful spiritual awareness would allow him to evade detection by demon cultivators in the darkness.
As the sky gradually darkened, Guo Xingyue waited until it was completely dark before retracting the maze formation he had set at the cave entrance. He first scanned the surroundings within a radius of several hundred meters with his spiritual awareness, confirming the absence of any demon cultivators before stepping out of the cave. Guo Xingyue was unaware of the name or size of this planet, nor did he know where the nearest city of ordinary people was located, or if any demon cultivators were tracking his whereabouts nearby. Relying on his instincts, he chose a direction at random and used the Earth-Reducing Technique to quickly navigate through the mountain vegetation. (Flying in the air was indeed faster, but it was too dangerous and could easily expose him to demon cultivators.)
The vegetation in the mountains was lush, occasionally inhabited by nocturnal animals wandering through the forests. However, these posed no challenge for Guo Xingyue. Relying on his powerful spiritual awareness and instincts, he finally managed to emerge from the mountains before dawn. Outside the mountains lay a gently sloping plain, illuminated by moonlight, revealing a sizable city in the distance.