CHAPTER 1239 FINDING THE SIGNS

　　The information was surprising to the Saintess.

　　"They circumvented the celestial and immortal laws?" The Saintess asked doubtfully.

　　"It seems so. From the documents we learned that they did so by sending weakened members among them. They seem to have crippled the cultivation base of a few lower ranked members and let them raise it back to below the Immortal Ascension realm.

　　That is how they smuggled the goods into a mortal world." The Matriarch explained.

　　"And what was it that they smuggled?" The Saintess asked, her face showing dislike for the information.

　　"They smuggled quite a few things, including cultivation techniques, Qi skills, resources and different formation manuals. But the most illegal thing they have smuggled in an Immortal tool!" The Matriarch revealed.

　　"An immortal tool!? That's not something that should have been done. Does that world even have any immortals?" The Saintess inquired.

　　"There were a few that once came from that world. We checked the Ascension platform records in the Immortal courts and there are records of four immortals ascending from that world.

　　They apparently returned to the world too, evidently to solve a problem that was beyond the abilities of the Xiaofan world's residents." The Matriarch spoke.

　　Hearing this, the Saintess furrowed her brows.

　　"A problem caused by the smugglers?" The Saintess guessed.

　　"That's what it seems like. They provided illegal resources which a mortal world should not have and raised a local power in exchange for harvesting rights." The Matriarch confirmed. "But what's strange is that out of the four immortals, only three returned." She added.

　　"Hmm… one of them might have been a casualty. If the local powers were provided and immortal tool, it isn't surprising that one of them died." The Saintess nodded her head.

　　"The documents of the Indigo World Hegemony also showed that their 'trade' didn't stop just after that. They continued it even after the immortals returned. Though it seemed to have slowed down considerably. 

　　There was apparently a restriction on the Xiaofan world that prevented them. A barrier of some sorts. I don't know how they got past it, though. If they forcefully broke it, the resulting backlash from the world would be far too great.

　　At least the immortal courts and even the celestial court would notice it at that point." The Matriarch said, confusion visible on her face as well.

　　The two of them sat in silence while the Saintess thought to herself. After fifteen minutes though, the Saintess seemed to have thought to something.

　　"Where exactly is this Xiaofan world located?" The Saintess questioned.

　　"According to the navigation maps we confiscated from the world pirates, it's located under the western Immortal court's mortal realm division. And within the mortal realm, it's located in the Farlands, among the newborn worlds." The Matriarch accurately recalled.

　　"Wait… In the Farlands…" The Saintess seemed to have grasped something.

　　"What's the matter Saintess?" The Matriarch questioned.

　　But instead of responding, the Saintess waved her hand, summoning another mirror from the temple. This mirror was a lot bigger and spanned an entire three meters in size.

　　"Return." The Saintess chanted.

　　~shua~

　　The mirror glowed with the light of the runes as the scene within it changed. Soon galaxies swept past and stars twinkled. World upon world passed before a very specific set of planets could be seen on it.

　　"It really is that… it's the same world…" The Saintess muttered.

　　"What's this place Saintess?" The Matriarch asked and tried to see if she could match any of the features of the planets to those that she knew of.

　　"That is the galaxy where the Xiaofan world is… and that's the Xiaofan world." The Saintess pointed to a specific blue planet that had a clustered land mass on one side.

　　Hearing this, the Matriarch was surprised. "How did you find it this quickly?" she asked.

　　"Because this isn't the first time I'm seeing it. The last time I saw it was with your Ancestor… and it was in regards to the Shadow Gloom Bone lord too." The Saintess replied, her tone serious.

　　The Matriarch linked the situations and figured out the issue.

　　"Is this… the world ancestor talked about then? The place where the signs of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord were detected?" The Matriarch inquired.

　　"Yes… and I think the Shadow Gloom Bone lord is also how the world pirates gained into the Xiaofan world again. That fiend is a well known invader and has many tricks up his sleeve to get into world barriers." The Saintess replied.

　　"What? If it was that serious, then why didn't the ancestor tell us to act?" the Matriarch was lost. "For a problem this big, we could have very well gotten permission from the Immortal court." 

　　"I left it and only told her to track it because there was another being in that world that would have taken care of the Shadow Gloom Bone lord's avatar." The Saintess stated.

　　"Another being?" The Matriarch wondered. "Who?"

　　In response, the Saintess simply waved her hand, and the scene in the mirror changed. This time, an image appeared in it. The image was that of a being so large that was hard to clearly see what its body was like.

　　But what could be clearly seen were its ten golden yellow eyes that shone like great lanterns in the night sky.

　　"That… isn't this…" The Matriarch gasped, covering her mouth.

　　"The Pillars of the Void, The Holder of Space, The Void Weaver Spider… Xukong." The Saintess uttered with a mix of reverence and fear.

　　The Matriarch trembled in her place as she heard the name. 

　　"Why… why would… why would someone like him be there… in a mortal world like that?" The Matriarch questioned in utter confusion. "C-can a mortal world like that even withstand his presence? He alone would cover the entire world." 

　　"I do not know why or how he could stay there. But with him there, the Shadow Gloom Bone Lord is but a mere pest." The Saintess replied.

　　~HONG~

　　At this moment though, the smaller hexagonal mirror suddenly let out a sound.

　　~HONG~

　　Just as the Matriarch was trying to wrap her mind around the information that had been revealed to her, the mirror in front of her trembled.

　　"It stopped spinning?" the Matriarch saw the spherical moon socketed into the mirror freeze.

　　The Saintess turned around in surprised and glanced at the hexagonal mirror.

　　"That… was unexpectedly fast." She muttered before waving her hand, bringing the mirror closer.

　　"Did you find something, Saintess?" the Matriarch asked excitedly.

　　"Seems like we have luck on our side. The Yin-Yang Twin Serpents have appeared in a high ranked immortal world." The Saintess spoke, allowing the Matriarch to take a look as well.

　　In the mirrors, they could see a large plant that was surrendered by several rings of asteroids. The planet looked rusty brown in color and had countless smaller asteroids covering its upper atmosphere.

　　Behind it, several more planets could be seen and at the very back, a yellow sun was also burning.

　　"I know this world!" The Matriarch said out loud. "It's the Rust Sky world. They've been put under the monitoring of Northern Immortal court because the world is close to ascension." She stated.

　　Hearing this, the Saintess was intrigued. But just as she was about to say something, she noticed something.

　　~tremble~

　　The small moon socketed into the mirror started to tremble and black marks appeared on it. 

　　"What's happening to the Prophetic Moon Mirror?" The Matriarch asked anxiously/

　　~Crackle~

　　Suddenly sparks appeared in the mirror and the scene in the mirror flickered non-stop. 

　　~BUZZ~

　　Then, a beam of energy shot out from the hexagonal mirror and struck the other large mirror that was floating in the air.

　　~HONG~

　　Both the mirrors started resonating and the scenes on both of them flickered non stop. 

　　"This can't be… why are they linked?" The Saintess said in shock.

　　"Why? What happened Saintess?" the Matriarch asked, feeling even more nervous now.

　　"The Yin-yang twin serpents… they seem to have traces in the Rust Sky World as well as the Xiaofan world. Or rather, they have old traces in the Xiaofan world." The Saintess replied while her flame red hair swayed in the wind.

　　"I-I'll send our disciples to the Rust Sky world right away, Saintess!" The Matriarch stated.

　　"No!" The Saintess ordered.

　　"Wh-what? Why?" The Matriarch asked.

　　"If the Xiaofan world has old traces of the Yin-Yang Twin serpents and the Rust Sky world has the current presence of them, then… this matter is too sensitive. Don't forget that being was supposedly on the Xiaofan world." The Saintess replied.

　　The Matriarch's eyes shone in realization and a cold sweat appeared on her back. 

　　"If there is any… ANY link with Xukong then we need to approach this very carefully. While we need to look for him too, there is no saying how he'll take this. I cannot leave this to mere disciples." The Saintess stated.

　　"Then… I'll go there myself Saintess." The Matriarch volunteered.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

　　"No… you need to be at the Sect. It cannot be left without leadership." The Saintess rejected.

　　"Should I ask the Ancestor then? She'll rush there right away on your orders." The Matriarch suggested.

　　"No… if there is Xukong involved, then I need to do this myself. No one else is qualified to meet with someone like him." The Saintess said, much to the shock of the Matriarch. 

　　"Why would you go so far, Saintess?" The Matriarch couldn't believe this.

　　"If we are to request something of a great being such as Xukong then… It should come from myself… Under my authority as the Saintess… And The Serpent Empress Akide!"