Chapter 774: Meticulous Plan, Absolutely Foolproof

"How do we move the Taixu Immortal Grass?" Venerable Liuhe continued, his brows slightly furrowed, worried that their preparations weren't thorough enough.

"If we don't set up a restriction around the Taixu Immortal Grass, it will release poison gas throughout the journey, and all living beings in its path will be poisoned. That would be too obvious."

"But if we set up a restriction, I'm afraid a small box won't be able to contain it, will it?"

Mr. Tinghai was confident. He took out a small wooden box and asked, "Can you detect even a trace of poison gas from this?"

Venerable Liuhe was startled. "This contains the Taixu Immortal Grass?"

"Indeed," Mr. Tinghai replied.

Mr. Tinghai opened the wooden box. Inside, a graceful immortal grass appeared before the three.

Venerable Liuhe instinctively activated his cultivation technique to resist the poison gas, but found that even though the immortal grass was close at hand, it emitted no poison.

"What kind of formation is this?"

Venerable Liuhe noticed that, besides the Taixu Immortal Grass, the wooden box also had formations carved on it. Mr. Tinghai closed the wooden box and smiled faintly. "All things have a counter-balance. If there's Taixu Immortal Grass, there's something to counteract it. This is an antidote formation my Yingzhou Island ancestors found in an ancient secret realm. It can neutralize all poisons and perfectly counters the Taixu Immortal Grass."

"Regrettably, our research indicates that this antidote formation should have a core, but it has never been found."

Venerable Liuhe was surprised, not expecting such a valuable item to exist.

Venerable Liuhe wanted to open the box to examine the rare item again, but Mr. Tinghai stopped him. "You mustn't open it again. Another formation has been set up inside the wooden box. The next time the box is opened, that formation will crush the Taixu Immortal Grass, completely releasing its poison. Even this antidote formation won't be able to suppress it."

Venerable Liuhe suddenly understood. "So, it must be opened at the Old Dragon Emperor's birthday banquet!"

"Exactly."

Venerable Liuhe thought about it. Everything seemed to have been accounted for from beginning to end; there really were no omissions.

"The only flaw, if any, is that the Four Thieves of Juxuan Island didn't handle things properly," Daoist Sanshan sighed softly. "There's a dragon pearl in the Dragon Palace, said to be an ancient artifact with a deep connection to the Dragon Clan's ancient ancestor. The Old Dragon Emperor cherishes it deeply, and that pearl also has detoxifying properties, which might affect the Taixu Immortal Grass."

"Fortunately, although the Four Thieves of Juxuan Island didn't succeed in stealing the dragon pearl, according to information from the Dragon Palace market, the dragon pearl was seized by a Wen Dao Sect disciple, and the Dragon Palace doesn't know its whereabouts."

"It's good that it's lost. As long as the Dragon Palace can't find it, that's all that matters."

Mr. Tinghai handed the box to Daoist Sanshan, who carefully put it away. The three exchanged smiles and went their separate ways. Unbeknownst to anyone, a bead the size of a pill flew at an incredible speed towards Penglai Island, passing through layers of restrictions and through the wooden box, landing precisely in the center of the antidote formation.

It looked exactly like the core of the formation.

The Taixu Immortal Grass withered at an extremely rapid pace.

"Lu Yang, come!"

Monarch Hanhai used his nascent Spatial Dao Fruit, gently tugging at the void.

He found nothing.

"This shouldn't be happening. Where did that boy Lu Yang go?"

Monarch Hanhai was perplexed. He possessed a nascent Spatial Dao Fruit, allowing him to travel anywhere in the cultivation world, and locating a Nascent Soul cultivator through its power should have been effortless.

"Lu Yang, come!"

Monarch Hanhai repeated his technique, reaching out and scratching at the space, but still couldn't find any trace of Lu Yang. Meng Jingzhou watched Monarch Hanhai silently, as if possessed by a malevolent ghost, his body uncontrollably scratching at empty space.

Since even his patriarch couldn't locate that brat Lu Yang, he feared the brat had gone to some secret realm set up by immortals.

Five days earlier, Monarch Hanhai used his nascent Spatial Dao Fruit to open a spatial channel, stepping directly into the East Sea to inquire about the situation from Meng Jingzhou and the others.

Meng Jingzhou and the other two had no idea where Lu Yang had flown off to, shaking their heads in uncertainty. Monarch Hanhai had no choice but to continuously use his nascent Spatial Dao Fruit, summoning Lu Yang as if performing a soul-calling ritual.

He never succeeded.

Later, Monarch Hanhai returned to the Kunpeng Clan with Meng Jingzhou, the two others, and the Dragon Clan hero Xiao Xinghai. Venerable Blackwing personally came out to greet them.

Even the mighty Venerable Blackwing was merely a junior in front of Monarch Hanhai.

If records were accurate, Monarch Hanhai had ties with the Kunpeng Clan in his early years, a connection dating back fifty thousand years.

Whether judging by cultivation level or seniority, Venerable Blackwing dared not act presumptuously.

"Rest assured, Meng and the rest of you, with me here, there's no one in the entire East Sea who can rival me," Monarch Hanhai said lightly, his tone brimming with unshakeable confidence.

His words were true. For the East Sea, which had no Half-Immortals, he was an invincible presence.

Five days later, the after-effects of Tao Tianye using his Immortal Ascension Physique disappeared. The Old Dragon Emperor's birthday banquet was imminent, and Monarch Hanhai led everyone to attend.

The Old Dragon Emperor's nine-thousandth birthday banquet was a paramount event in the East Sea. All sea creatures and humans above the Void Refinement stage received invitations.

Monarch Hanhai stood with his hands behind his back, treading on auspicious clouds. The sea surface was filled with human cultivators displaying their various divine abilities, crossing the East Sea to attend the banquet.

Countless patriarchs of various races in the sea also came, transforming into their original forms—be it fish, crab, or clam—at the invitation.

"It's been a long time since I came to the East Sea; I didn't expect it to still be so lively," Monarch Hanhai commented casually, fully embodying the demeanor of a Dao Monarch. In terms of population numbers, the East Sea surpassed the Demon Realm.

"Grand Ancestor, you've even traveled through the East Sea?" Meng Jingzhou asked curiously.

Monarch Hanhai chuckled, his spirits soaring. "Of course! Back then, I carved out a formidable reputation in the East Sea. It's a pity you young cultivators only know me as the progenitor who revitalized the Wen Dao Sect, but are unaware of my experiences here."

Monarch Hanhai's active years in the East Sea were so ancient that even Patriarch Xiao and Xiao Xinghai had never heard of his exploits there.

"The two characters 'Hanhai' in my Daoist title are precisely to commemorate the years I was active in the East Sea."

"Back then, when I was still in the Fusion stage, I was researching the Dao of Space, which led to spatial turbulence that transported me from the Wen Dao Sect to the East Sea."

"I was severely wounded by the spatial turbulence, my power dropping to even below the Golden Core stage. Fortunately, the fishermen of that time saved me."

"In a small fishing village, I met a young princess who had secretly run away from the Dragon Palace. We became friends at first sight."

Under the princess's care, my injuries gradually recovered. We became even closer, becoming Dao companions, and together we roamed the East Sea, searching for immortal herbs, encountering rogue cultivators, and venturing into secret realms.

Monarch Hanhai sighed deeply, gazing skyward, his voice filled with melancholy. "Alas, differing paths lead to separate ways. We two ultimately belonged to different races and could not be together."

Meng Jingzhou and the others were engrossed by Monarch Hanhai's sigh, as if they could feel his emotions at that moment.

Venerable Blackwing muttered to himself from behind, "That's not right. How did I hear that the Dragon Clan said it was because dragons are inherently promiscuous, and Senior Hanhai couldn't withstand the pressure, so he secretly ran away?"

Monarch Hanhai abruptly turned his head, staring intensely at Venerable Blackwing.