Chapter 543: Disappearance of Archbishop Soft Breeze and the Holy Artifact!

Around the same time that Xuan Hao set off from the Flying Sword Sect towards the Frozen Wasteland, space distorted visibly above the now destroyed mountain range where Archbishop Soft Breeze and the people from the church of the plague god had fought with each other .

Stepping out from the space that had suddenly twisted and distorted above the mountain range, the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God frowned as his vast divine sense instantly engulfed what was left of the mountain range that had been turned into rubble during the fight that took place a few days earlier.

"Looks like I'm too late…" Shaking his head as he found no traces of the holy artifact or Archbishop Soft Breeze inside the destroyed mountain range, the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God did not stay around for long, as space soon began distorting around his body once again before he disappeared from the destroyed mountain range.

Given that the Cardinal from the church of the plague god had already arrived before him and taken away the holy artifact that most likely contained the soul of Archbishop Soft Breeze, the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God understood that there was not much he could do about it.

As for the Azure Sky Kingdom that was about to fall under the church of the plague god, he did not really care too much, as it was not for him to deal with. The people under him were much more suited to deal with a small kingdom like the Azure Sky Kingdom. Wasting his time to do it himself was not really something he wanted to do.

Even if his Order of the Sky God could not do it, the Followers of the Fire God, or the Cult of the Scarlet Moon, would most likely send someone over to do it…

Swish~

Arriving shortly after the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God had left, an old man dressed like what could only be described as some sort of necromancer appeared in the sky above the destroyed mountain range.

"Hm?! That brat actually arrived before me!? Looks like his spatial manipulation has taken another step forward… The Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God should not be too far off from his next tribulation!"

Scanning through the mountain range similar to how the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God had done it, the person could not help cursing to himself as he discovered the remnant aura left behind by the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God.

This person was none other than the Cardinal from the church of the plague god that the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God had believed to have already arrived before him!

"Hah… Even with all those preparations in place…" Whispering this to himself as he understood just how much his church had lost, the necromancer like Cardinal could not help letting a regretful sigh escape from his lips.

Everything would have been fine if they had successfully managed to kill off Archbishop Soft Breeze and gotten their hands on the Transcendent Grade Artifact, he was carrying on him… But now, they had only managed to deal with a single Archbishop and had not gotten his hands on the Transcendent Grade Artifact!

<br/>Not to mention, the Archbishop had not truly died, and his soul should still be alive according to what his subordinates had told him…'

"If I'm fast enough, I might still have time to stabilize the situation in the Sky Empire before the Followers of the Fire God and the Cult of the Scarlet Moon moves…" Muttering this to himself as he thought about his church current position at the border to the core region of the Sky Empire without his presence, the Cardinal from the church of the plague god did not bother wasting any more time in the Azure Sky Kingdom, as he directly used his spatial manipulation to leave in a similar way the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God had done.

Like this, both the Cardinal from the Order of the Sky God and the church of the plague god left the Azure Sky Kingdom after not finding any signs of Archbishop Soft Breeze or the Transcendent Grade Holy Artifact that his soul had sought refuge inside of.

In the end, none of them cared too much about a small kingdom like the Azure Sky Kingdom and didn't waste too much time there.

In their eyes, even if the Azure Sky Kingdom fell to the church of the plague god, it would not influence the situation in the core region of the Sky Empire!

…

"So, this is the Azure Sky Kingdom?" Not taking more than a few hours to pass through the territory that had belonged to the Raging Flame Sect in the past, Xuan Hao arrived at the old border that had existed between the Heavenly Sky Kingdom and the Azure Sky Kingdom before the latter collapsed.

The border was not much different from what Xuan Hao had expected, as soldiers belonging to the Azure Sky Kingdom could still be seen cleaning up the border area that had been plagued by decades of war before the Azure Sky Kingdom had finally managed to push through this barrier and invade the Heavenly Sky Kingdom.

Even after the battle had come to an end, there was still countless different traps and killing formations hidden across the now abandoned battlefield that needed to be cleaned up before it would be safe for ordinary mortals and weaker cultivators to pass through without fear of getting caught up in a random killing formation set up by one of the two sides in the past.

"Hm?" Noticing something odd about the soldiers that were walking around the border busy cleaning the area up, Xuan Hao directly used his domain to isolate one of the soldiers before knocking him out.

Searching through the body of the unconscious soldier with his divine sense, Xuan Hao quickly discovered the reason why he had felt something odd when observing the soldiers cleaning up the abandoned border.

"Divine energy from the church of the plague god…" Indeed, inside the dantian of the soldier who had just barely reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, Xuan Hao could clearly feel the same divine energy he had seen back when the plague invented by the church of the plague god first appeared inside the Heavenly Sky Kingdom!

The difference between the divine energy he had seen back then and the divine energy currently inside the dantian of the soldier, was the fact that the green divine energy seemed to be aiding the solder's cultivation. Helping him improve faster!

Letting go of the soldier after having finished investigating the oddity he had felt, Xuan Hao soon came upon a small camp from the Azure Sky Kingdom where the soldiers cleaning up the abandoned border resided.

Outside the soldiers from the Azure Sky Kingdom, Xuan Hao also very clearly saw a priest belonging to the church of the plague god present inside the camp. Investigating for a few minutes longer, he quickly realized that the priest was the one who injected the green divine energy into the soldiers to help their cultivation improve!

"I did hear that the church of the plague god made a move to take control over the Azure Sky Kingdom, but… I didn't expect it to be like this. Did they perhaps already successfully take control of it?" Muttering this to himself as he thought about this, Xuan Hao could not help feeling a bit worried about the church of the plague god deciding to expand in the direction of his Flying Sword Sect. Hoping sincerely that one of the three big religious organisations of the Sky Empire would show up to stop this from happening.

Whoosh~

Not staying around the border area for too long after having investigated this, Xuan Hao resumed his journey towards the Frozen Wasteland. Even if he was worried about the church of the plague god might be up to after taking control of the Azure Sky Kingdom, he did not really have the time to look into it, as he still had to save Zhu Lian within three days' time.

…

Finding himself at the border between the Azure Sky Kingdom and the Frozen Wasteland after flying through the Azure Sky Kingdom for half a day without stop, Xuan Hao could not help stopping to take in the scenery of the Frozen Wasteland.

Completely different from any place he had seen before, a magnificent frozen tundra spread out before him.

If not for the fact that he only had a little over two days' time left to find Zhu Lian inside the Frozen Wasteland, Xuan Hao felt like it would not be a bad idea to spend some time taking in the magnificent and beautiful scenery of the Frozen Wasteland.

Especially given the fact that he had a feeling that his Ice Domain would improve way faster cultivating in an environment like the Frozen Wasteland!