Chapter 1281: Departure

Zhong Ling stopped crying and said, "You first saved our lives. You were the reason we became Perfected Golden Immortals. You gave us shelters so we could live in peace for thousands of years. But after you disappeared, your Immortal Palace was destroyed and most of the millions of attendants were killed. All those loyal to you were either killed or sent to the Black Whale Starfield as slave laborers, to endure brutal treatments every night. The nine of us were severely injured and were forced to hide in the Lotus World for a long time, struggling on while at death's door. After the dust settled, the Immortal Palace had turned into ruins and we used the Forbidden Immortal Seal to enter the six paths of reincarnation. We blazed our way through the Six Paths' official army before we reversed the Mirror of Time and pursued the last wisp of connection with you and finally reincarnated into this world. Fortunately for us, Grandma came to our rescue and hid us in the array to escape the pursuit of the Six Paths' official army."

Tang Xiu gently patted Zhong Ling's shoulder and asked, "Who is this grandma you just mentioned?"

Zhong Ling said, "She's..."

Whoosh...

A figure flickered and cut through the sky lightning-fast and instantly appeared in front of everyone in the blink of an eye. But after seeing the scene in front, the expression of the old lady in linen clothes changed greatly in an instant, especially after her eyes fell on Tang Xiu as she couldn't bear but shiver uncontrollably.

"Crossing Tribulation Stage?" Her voice carried a tone of disbelief.

"Grandma."

Zhong Ling's group of nine females slightly raised their heads. Even though they were at least 10 times older than the old lady in linen clothes, they still called out to her in unison with respect and gratitude.

Tang Xiu's gaze also fell on the old lady. He slightly nodded at her and said, "It's Tang Xiu's pleasure to have met Fellow Daoist. I've long sensed a terrifyingly powerful powerhouse in China, so I feel lucky to be able to meet you. Hence, I'd like to thank you for saving my nine subordinates."

The old lady took a deep breath and tried to stabilize her turbulent emotions. Then, she nodded and said, "It was fate that made me run into them. Saving them was just a matter of coincidence, so there's no need for Fellow Daoist to thank me. However, I really didn't expect that the difference between the current you and the past you three years ago is like day and night. Not to mention that I never expected to see so many cultivators here."

"It's as the adage says that everyone changes and each must be seen differently even though only a short time passed, Fellow Daoist." Tang Xiu slightly smiled and said, "It's been three years already, who can say that one cannot make any progress? As for us here, we won't be part of this world anymore in the future."

"Daoist friend, if I'm not mistaken, you should've mastered some means to go to the Immortal World, shouldn't you?" The old lady smiled and said, "May I ask whether I can go with you there?"

"To tell you honestly, we're indeed going to leave for the Immortal World," Tang Xiu said. "However, I can't take you there since... it's very likely that there's only a slim chance of survival once we get there. But I think it shouldn't be long for the Elderly to ascend to the Immortal World given your cultivation level."

A disappointed look flashed in the old lady's eyes, but she still nodded and said, "Then I won't insist since that's the case."

"Well, Daoist friend has protected my nine subordinates, so it can be said that Tang Xiu owes you a favor." Tang Xiu smiled and said, "Please tell me whether Fellow Daoist has any wish that I can help with."

Upon hearing this, the old lady pondered for a while and then said, "Then, can you help me get rid of two nasty old fogeys! I think they're going to be here soon as well."

"It shall be done!" Tang Xiu agreed.

After one minute, two old men flickered fast from different directions. But their raucous laughter already reached even before they arrived. "The world phenomenon! Someone is crossing a tribulation, huh?! Let's join in the fun on the day of immortal tribulation! Let's go together to the Immortal World and stroll around there, mate! Hahaha..."

"Heh, that Chinese hag! I didn't expect her to be a step faster! She'd better take us to the Immortal World and let us pollute her Immortal Force. That will be a fucking wonderful thing! But if she refuses, let's ruin her ascension and force her to be hacked by the tribulations!"

Just as these voices faded away, the two old men already appeared over the island. However, their smiling faces instantly froze the moment they saw the situation in front. They could sense overwhelming murderous aura directly locked onto their bodies, seemingly ready to strike fearsome blows should they slightly move.

Experts! Everyone here was experts! And there were 200,000 of them.

The two old men exchanged glances and nearly cried. Despite their tremendously powerful strength, they were still shocked by such a scene.

Tang Xiu turned to Gu Yan'er and smilingly said, "Ji Chimei dealt with many things while in passing before she left earlier. Since we're going to leave too, you can butcher these two brats while in passing as well!"

Brats?!

The name-calling made the old fogeys' eyes bulge out.

Suddenly, Zhong Ling paced a few steps forward and said, "Please let us do the honor, Master! We've just regained our memories and we'd like to exercise a bit and do something for you."

Tang Xiu and Gu Yan'er looked at each other. Then, Tang Xiu immediately nodded and smilingly said, "Well, they are yours since you wanna exercise! Give them swords, Yan'er."

Gu Yan'er faintly smiled and threw nine Immortal Swords to them, saying, "Nine Sisters, you all have taken care of me when I was still a child. Yan'er feels really happy since fate brought us together again. These nine immortal swords are all defective, but Yan'er will definitely give you each the best Immortal Sword there is when we arrive at the Immortal World. Please use these defective swords for now!"

"Thanks, Little Yan'er."

The nine women smiled faintly. After each of them received an immortal sword, they quickly forced out their blood essence to refine the nine immortal swords and immediately unleashed them to form a sword formation.

Back in the past, they were maids, but they also had their share of battling others.

The sword formation was taught to them by Tang Xiu when he had nothing to do during his spare time. After thousands of years of training and coupled with their teamwork and battle coordination, they could still easily kill a Profound Immortal powerhouse even though their power had been sharply reduced at present.

"P-please don't attack us. W-we have no evil intention."

The two old men's faces drastically changed, and one of them hurriedly shouted.

The nine women seemed to not hear it. The killing blow was unleashed and covered the two old men in an instant, destroying their flesh and scattering their souls in the blink of an eye.

"Please leave now, Daoist friend," Tang Xiu looked at the old lady and said.

The old lady sighed inwardly. The two enemies she had fought against for centuries now had been slaughtered. She glanced over at Zhong Ling's group of nine, nodded slightly, then flew back to the direction of mainland China.

Little did she expect that those nine children she had raised up turned out to be Immortals whose memories were sealed. The fact that they were also Tang Xiu's maids was truly unexpected, let alone having such a very powerful strength.

It's all fine... now I can let them go without worries.

With a relieved feeling in her heart, the old lady finally disappeared from the sky over the South China Sea in a few breaths.

In the sky.

The tribulation clouds kept rumbling and the lightning bolts seemed as though they were about to break loose from the shackle of the dark clouds and blitz down to strike everyone underneath the sky. Gu Yan'er's aura kept soaring as she undid the seal on her body. Her divine sense instantly covered the entire earth and easily found the rest of the zodiac jade carvings and gathered them in a flash.

At the same time, many evil and wicked people doing despicable things around the globe were instantly killed as her divine sense wiped them out. This moment became the most peaceful time for the entire human race on Earth.

"Master!" Gu Yan'er handed the zodiac jade carvings to Tang Xiu.

Tang Xiu slightly smiled in response. Along with a long and loud cry, he took out the rest of the zodiac jade carvings stored in his interspatial ring. The 12 zodiac jade carvings instantly flew in all directions. Dazzling scarlet lights erupted above each zodiac jade carving, followed by a tremendously powerful aura that descended from the vault of heaven.

"Who dares destroy my Heavenly Dao Prison?!"

An angry roar came from the distant horizon as a palm with a size of several thousands of kilometers came crashing down from the dome of heaven.

A cold light flickered in Gu Yan'er's eyes as she powerfully slashed her immortal sword right at that gigantic palm directly. A huge, over 1,000-kilometer bleeding wound, appeared on that gigantic golden palm. Blood quickly rained down before being collected into several thousands of jade bottles Tang Xiu just threw out in a flash.

"A Golden Immortal? DAMN..."

The mysterious powerhouse above the vault of heaven hurriedly retracted his hand, leaving flustered and exasperated curses behind before his aura finally vanished without a trace.

At this moment, a 10-kilometer-wide and over 1,000-kilometer-long hole appeared in the sky above and countless immortal spirits rushed forth through it. Tang Xiu and Gu Yan'er exchanged glances, then Gu Yan'er immediately waved her hand. A shuttle-shaped immortal artifact suddenly appeared out of thin air and the entire 200,000-plus experts of the Great Tang Empire were taken into it.

"Let's go now, Master!" Gu Yan'er softly spoke.

Tang Xiu slightly smiled and motioned her to go ahead, then he looked northward. With his eyesight, he could clearly see tens of experts from China's Special Abilities Bureaus using telescopes to look at his direction. At the same time, he also saw Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen holding binoculars with somewhat complicated expressions.

"Brother Miao, Brother Shao. You two take care. Find the linen-clothed Daoist friend if you have any problems. She's the true Patron Deity of China, and you can still see her for at least a few centuries more."

"Senior Duanmu, don't mix the past and present and let bygones be bygones. I hope I can see you later in the Immortal World. At that time, the flags of my Great Tang Empire will be waving throughout the plane."

After Tang Xiu saying that he observed the changed expressions of the onlookers before he looked up at the shuttle immortal artifact above him. Afterward, he smiled and shouted aloud in a clear voice, "What are you waiting for, Fire Qilin? Don't tell me you want to rely on your power to return to the Immortal World?"

ROAR...

A thunderous roar responded from a distant place. In just a few breaths, the flame-shrouded Fire Qilin appeared in front of Tang Xiu.

"Retract and contain your flame. We're leaving."

Having said that, Tang Xiu's figure suddenly sucked into the shuttle-shaped immortal artifact. The dreadful flame shrouding Fire Qilin's body also dissipated in a flash and it quickly entered the shuttle-shaped immortal artifact.

Buzz...

An enormous aura suddenly radiated from the shuttle-shaped immortal artifact before it quickly flashed into the hole in the sky.

A few minutes after, the rift above the sky slowly closed. The clouds cleared up, lightning vanished, and the roaring thunder disappeared. The whole world was back to what it was before.