Chapter 1193: Signs of Turmoil

However, he then thought about how those traitors were currently serving as the lapdogs of the Immortal Palace, and that was quite a pleasing thought for him as he burst into hearty laughter.

Two of his direct disciples had also been banished to this place with him, and they exchanged a glance with one another as one of them mused through voice transmission, "Looks like Master's having one of his episodes again..."

"Indeed. It was only through an ancestral connection that I was able to become his direct disciple, yet now, I'm trapped in this place with him. When will we ever be able to make anything of ourselves like this?" the other disciple sighed.

The two of them then cast their eyes downward in a dejected manner to look into the abyss below.

The scenery here was certainly quite exquisite, but it inevitably became a boring sight over time.

Right at this moment, the sound of a blowing horn suddenly rang out from deep within the abyss.

The two disciples' brows furrowed slightly as they hurriedly turned to the gray-robed man, only to discover that the latter was paying ho heed to the sound of the horn as he continued downing wine.

The two disciples could only exchange a wry smile upon seeing this, following which they leaped down into the abyss below.

However, they weren't able to get very far before they spotted a series of figures rising up from the mist below as quickly as they could. As it turned out, it was thousands of outer sect disciples responsible for collecting spirit medicines in the valley, and a chorus of panicked cries could be heard ringing out amid agonized howls.

"The white ghosts are coming!"

The two disciples' expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, and one of them yelled, "What's there to be afraid of? Just use the array to hold them back!"

"It's not working! The white ghosts have gone crazy!" someone yelled.

One of the disciples grabbed onto a panicked disciple as he snapped, "Tell me what happened!"

"The white ghosts have gone crazy! Not only have they rushed out of the mist, they don't even fear the array anymore! Too many of them to count came rushing upward from the abyss, destroying the array with their sheer numbers!" the disciple explained in a panicked manner.

Before the two disciples could ask any more questions, bursts of rumbling suddenly began to ring out from down below as a massive horde of shadowy figures rose up from the abyss.

An uneasy look appeared in the eyes of one of the two disciples upon seeing this, and he hurriedly yelled, "Get into formation!"

However, everyone was too panicked to heed his call.

Right at this moment, a thunderous voice rang out from up above.

"Anyone who retreats even a step further will be executed where they stand!"

The gray-robed man then descended from the sky, and it was as if he had reclaimed his former majesty and glory.

His mid-Golden Immortal Stage aura instantly spread over the entire secret area as he harrumphed coldly, "It's just an uprising of white ghosts. A similar thing happened many years ago, and at the time, there was only an ordinary elder stationed here, yet even he was able to weather the storm, so what's there to be afraid of? Hurry up and get into formation!"

His words had a remarkable calming effect, and the thousands of fleeing disciples instantly composed themselves before arranging themselves into a series of different arrays.

As soon as the arrays took shape, countless ghosts came bursting out of the mist, then began climbing up the floating mountains.

"Kill them!" the gray-robed man ordered in a cold voice, and a string of resounding booms instantly rang out across the entire secret area.

One of the arrays was releasing volleys of fiery meteors that plunged into the abyss, while giant ice spikes were raining down from another.

All types of immortal treasures and abilities were also unleashed upon the ascending white ghosts, and the entire secret area was plunged into complete chaos.

Countless white ghosts were struck down before falling into the abyss, but more white ghosts took their place as they continued to swarm upward with no regard for their own lives.

Something's not right...

The gray-robed man's brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this, and he immediately released his spiritual sense to examine what was happening deep in the abyss.

However, his spiritual sense was only able to descend for several tens of thousands of feet before it was seemingly obstructed by something, preventing it from descending any further.

More and more white ghosts continued to rush up from below, and right as they were about to reach the disciples above, the gray-robed man swept a sleeve through the air, upon which a massive, azure ring appeared behind him.

A storm of sword projections then came hurtling out of the azure ring at his behest, felling hordes of white ghosts by the second.

However, even as more and more white ghosts perished, the gray-robed man only felt more and more uneasy.

These white ghosts didn't look as if they were launching a voluntary attack. Instead, it looked much more like they were fleeing from something, but what was there in the abyss aside from them?

Right at this moment, a peculiar aura rose up from the abyss below, and a cloud of gray mist began spreading upward at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.

Numerous muscular, azure apes could be seen jumping out of the gray mist in pursuit of the white ghosts, and they were far more powerful than the white ghosts, leading to a completely one-sided slaughter.

They quickly took over the floating mountains down below, then began glowering up at the humans above with fierce animosity in their eyes.

The two disciples hurriedly fled back to the gray-robed man's side, then asked in a fearful manner, "What are those things, Master?"

The gray-robed man didn't know what they were, either, so he didn't say anything.

Right at this moment, an enormous tornado of black mist rose up from down below, carrying three imposing figures to the fore.

Just a single glance at the three figures was enough to shake the gray-robed man to the core. Their auras were so immense that he was almost unable to work up the courage to look directly at them, and he could only roughly approximate that their cultivation bases were above the late-High Zenith Stage.

One of the three figures was a deathly pale man who resembled a drowned corpse that had just been fished out of the water, and he was holding a white feline creature with a pair of enormous eyes.

This man was none other than Gui Mu, one of the Great Encompassment cultivators that Han Li had encountered in the Gray Realm.

"It looks like we're in a secret area, but judging from the abundance of the world's origin qi in the air, this is definitely the Immortal Realm," Gui Mu mused as he took a glance at his surroundings, paying no heed to the thousands of Blaze Dragon Dao and Immortal Palace cultivators present.

The gray-robed man mustered up some courage, then asked, "Who are you people?"

Gui Mu took a glance at him, then turned to the two figures beside him as he instructed, "Kill them all and eradicate their souls. We need to empty out this place so that more of our brethren can come through."

As soon as his voice trailed off, the two figures beside him vanished into thin air, and the azure apes down below also sprang up toward the human cultivators above amid a chorus of ferocious snarls.

With that, a horrific slaughter ensued.

......

In the Origin Encirclement Immortal Region.

Recently, a piece of astonishing news had made its rounds throughout the immortal region's eight continents.

The palace master of the immortal region, a Great Encompassment cultivator by the title of Daoist Master Tihu, had suddenly gone insane one day for seemingly no cause, slaughtering all of the over one hundred and thirty immortal officials of the entire immortal palace.

An unfathomably powerful immortal envoy stationed in the immortal region had arrived on the scene to try and stop him, but they were also killed.

The entire immortal region fell into complete chaos thereafter, while Daoist Master Tihu vanished without a trace.

A mere seven days later, his name appeared very high up on the Immortal Slaying List, with a very handsome reward offered for his capture or demise.

Following the event, some rumors began to spread, proclaiming that Daoist Master Tihu hadn't suddenly gone insane. Instead, he had been a spy lurking in the Origin Encirclement Immortal Palace all along, and that he was actually a deputy palace master of the Reincarnation Palace.

It was said that following the completion of his, he fled back to the Reincarnation Palace, and that was why it had been so difficult for the Heavenly Court to track him down.

......

In the Southern Jin Immortal Region.

A secret area that had been lost for countless years suddenly emerged without any warning, sparking fierce competition between the Immortal Palace and the immortal region's four most powerful sects.

Originally, they had already agreed upon a scheme for how the spoils reaped in the secret area were to be distributed among them, but after they entered the secret area, two of the sects' leading elders and core disciples were killed, with all of the evidence pointing to the other two sects as the perpetrators.

Hence, a fierce battle ensued between the four sects.

The battle was deemed to have severely affected the stability of the immortal region, but right as the Immortal Palace was about to intervene, the four sects suddenly collectively turned on the Immortal Palace.

As it turned out, during their battle, they had discovered some hidden signs, leading to the realization that this had been a ruse from the Immortal Palace all along to spark infighting among the four sects.

Under the collective might of the four sects, the Southern Jin Immortal Palace was toppled, and the palace master was forced to flee.