"An immortal?"
Li Tianming took out a Dark Crow and the Spirit-Transmitting Smoke Gourd to relay the intelligence to his clansmen.
However, the final scene of their escape from the Banshu family's secret ground continued to linger in his mind, impossible to shake off.
Riding the clouds together, Banshu Qingping saw the astonishment in Li Tianming's eyes and couldn't help but feel deeply puzzled.
When he had first seen that baby, what he felt was a terror originating from the very depths of his soul.
Even now, nearly twenty thousand years later, he still couldn't suppress that fear.
Especially when Banshu Weide appeared, he had fled without the slightest hesitation.
Yet, Daoist Friend Tianming didn't seem to possess the slightest sense of fear. Instead, there was a kind of... eagerness to try?
"Daoist Friend... did you see through something?" Banshu Qingping inquired.
Li Tianming was young in years, but it seemed the Li Clan had encountered far more horrors than he ever had.
"This kind of thing, our Li family has roughly... probably... perhaps, killed one before."
"What?!!"
Banshu Qingping's pupils continuously dilated in shock.
Li Tianming merely nodded.
He recalled the battle in the Immortal Domain.
Although his soul had been occupied by his other brothers at that time, he couldn't forget that terrifying and disgusting feeling.
Moreover, he clearly felt that the coercive pressure emitted by the Zhao Clan's Old Ancestor, who fed on the karmic luck of heaven and earth, was of a much higher tier than the baby he had just seen.
Even now, he still remembered that massive, pulsating, glowing red heart in the Immortal Domain, from which dense masses of human bodies emerged, rendering the cultivators immortal and imperishable.
Such an existence was absolutely incomparable to the baby of the Banshu family.
Hearing Li Tianming speak of the Zhao Clan's Old Ancestor, Banshu Qingping wore a profoundly shocked expression.
He had originally only heard that the Li Clan wiped out the six Void Refinement experts of the Zhao Clan, but he had never heard of the Li Clan battling the Zhao Clan's Old Ancestor.
The Eternal Immortal Sect, situated at the border of Azure Cloud Prefecture, acted exactly like a wall that firmly isolated all critical intelligence.
After recovering his wits, Banshu Qingping said in a solemn voice:
"We have already alerted the 'immortal' and Banshu Weide. I am now increasingly certain that the people of the Peerless Hall are looking for our Banshu family's immortal."
Li Tianming noticed Banshu Qingping's heavy gaze.
He had seen this exact look in the eyes of many people back home—the look they had when they heard the Blood Moon was coming to Azure Cloud Prefecture but stubbornly refused to leave.
Li Tianming said weakly, "Prefecture Lord Banshu, the mission my family elders gave me is to help you evacuate to Clearpeak Prefecture. Banshu Weide, the baby, the Peerless Hall..."
"I'm scared."
Banshu Qingping's gaze was sincere. "Is there truly no way to help my Grandhaven Prefecture?"
Banshu Qingping had been Prefecture Lord for over a millennium.
Over the millennia, as Prefecture Lord, he actually didn't have much to do.
Among the three major factions of Grandhaven Prefecture, when the Human Emperor was fine, the common people lived and worked in peace.
With the cultivators of the Sage Master Martial Academy supervising the government, everything in the entire prefecture ran smoothly.
As Prefecture Lord, he merely held an empty title.
A few centuries ago, everything changed.
A decree from the Imperial Dynasty came down, and he conscripted troops for the Imperial Dynasty.
He watched as the cultivators of Grandhaven Prefecture headed to the Northern Frontier, Western Frontier, and Eastern Frontier.
Natural disasters and man-made calamities occurred frequently.
From that time on, an idle man finally understood the heavy duty of guarding a piece of land.
And now, with the common people displaced and homeless, he watched helplessly as they frantically evacuated to the Central Plains.
For a Void Refinement realm cultivator, traversing even the largest prefecture only took two or three days.
But for the common people, it was an arduous journey of displacement.
A single journey on the road could take a lifetime.
Without the help of cultivators, ninety-nine percent of the common people would inevitably die on the road.
Void Refinement cultivators like them flew here and there, free and unfettered.
However, even cultivators at the Golden Core realm had to exhaust every means just to survive.
Such days went from bad to worse. In a cultivation world completely lacking supervision, slaughter and scheming were rampant.
Within Grandhaven Prefecture, many once-prosperous places were left with nothing but ruined walls and skeletal remains, crawling with demons and monsters.
Banshu Qingping had not left for a century.
Watching the prosperous Grandhaven Prefecture turn into its current state, he wanted to protect this former pure land.
Yet, the Daoist friend before him, who had reverted to his foolish and simple-minded demeanor, spoke the coldest facts with the most innocent articulation.
"In the entire Southern Frontier, only our Li Clan and the Eternal Immortal Sect of Westfall Prefecture have not been infiltrated by the Peerless Hall.
I told you, the people of your Grandhaven Prefecture were infiltrated by the Peerless Hall, which is why a firm decision was never made.
By the time you realized it, it was already too late."
"My elders said that such a place cannot form a complete defensive force and lacks sufficient preparation to deal with the Western Frontier.
Even if we came to defend it, it would just be throwing our lives away in vain, severing our final hope."
"You should pray. Pray that we can achieve victory in the Southern Frontier. This is also our final two hundred years of peaceful times."
Banshu Qingping lowered his head, looking through the cloud layer below.
It was a tiger demon from the mountains that had stepped into the abandoned city.
It stomped its foot onto the back of an elderly man with mobility issues who couldn't escape, and took a massive bite, covering itself in blood.
"Sigh."
Li Tianming picked up a steamed bun, completely ignoring Banshu Qingping's sigh.
He had grown accustomed to such scenes along the way. He took a fierce bite.
"Let's resolve the trouble with the Peerless Hall along the way. My clansmen are waiting for us."