"Outer sea cultivators rarely possess such treasures."

Xu Ping’s eyes turned completely cold, "So it really is someone from the Star Palace!"

This conclusion made his mood instantly become extremely gloomy.

Being watched by a behemoth like the Star Palace is definitely not a good thing.

Even if the Divinity Transformation Cultivators of Star Palace should not act easily, being monitored by them at all times is still an endless trouble.

"Should I run away immediately?"

A thought flashed through Xu Ping’s mind instantly.

Leave the outer sea, seek a place to hide, avoid this vortex of trouble.

But in just a moment, he suppressed this impulse.

"The current me is no longer the ignorant fool of the past. At the Nascent Soul Level, those who can threaten my life are few and far between, let alone..."

He thought of the imminent arrival of Hongyi, "Hongyi is still inside the Star Palace, maybe he can know some inside information. Let’s wait for him to arrive, then determine the specific situation before making a decision."

Having made his decision, Xu Ping no longer lingered. His figure flickered, returning to Blood Bone Island like a ghost, as if he had never left.

...

In the following two years, the feeling of being spied upon did not appear again.

Xu Ping had repeatedly scanned the surrounding sea area with his powerful Divine Sense, all to no avail.

There are two possibilities: one is that the other party temporarily abandoned monitoring him after witnessing his alertness and strength.

The second is that the other party’s spying methods are more advanced, even he cannot detect them.

Xu Ping is more inclined to the former.

He has absolute confidence in the strength of his Divine Sense, if there really is someone who can completely evade his detection, then the other party’s means are probably beyond the Nascent Soul Cultivator.

He suppressed his thoughts, while continuing to cultivate and waiting quietly for Hongyi’s arrival.

This day, Hongyi and Nine Nether Elder arrived as promised.

Both had used clever concealment techniques, entering Blood Bone Island silently.

Just as they met, after only a few words of greeting, Hongyi apologized and said, "Fellow Daoist Xu, I came this time, first to deliver materials."

"And second, to inform you that the previously agreed upon hunt for Late-Stage Demon Beasts may be temporarily shelved."

Xu Ping heard this, his heart stirred, but he did not say more.

Seeing this, Hongyi sighed and explained, "It’s not that I don’t wish to, but the Star Palace has had significant changes recently, too many people have been drawn out, and the atmosphere is tight. It’s really not suitable to go out and conduct such an action that may cause a major conflict."

"Internal changes in Star Palace?"

Xu Ping’s heart moved, immediately associating it with the spying incident two years ago, and he asked smoothly, "What kind of changes?"

Hongyi pondered for a moment and then said slowly, "As far as I know, several core Late-Stage Cultivators have been secretly dispatched, ordered to monitor all powers or individuals in the outer sea with Nascent Soul Late-Stage combat power or above."

He paused, and added with some confusion, "However, before I came, I specifically circled Blood Bone Island several times to investigate carefully, and found no traces of surveillance."

"Yes."

Xu Ping’s tone was calm but carried a hint of coldness, "Years ago there was someone with a strange treasure mirror, spying from a hundred miles away, but I startled him away."

Turns out it was not only monitoring him.

However, Star Palace’s large-scale monitoring of the outer sea is not good news either.

Perhaps Star Palace is preparing to conquer the outer sea.

By then, I’m afraid they will have to clash with the Demon Race.

If the Divinity Transformation Power goes to war, the scale will probably be even more tragic than the previous ancient demon invasion.

"The Star Palace’s large-scale monitoring operation covering the entire outer sea, could it be coming to conquer the outer sea?" Xu Ping immediately asked his suspicion.

Hongyi shook his head, "At first, I also thought Star Palace was to conquer the outer sea and even go to war with Demon Race, but observing the recent material allocation and personnel movements in the palace, there are no signs of a major pre-war preparation."

"Not conquering the outer sea? Then why such a large-scale operation?" Xu Ping pursued.

Hongyi shook his head, showing confusion, "The specific reason, I’m afraid only the Dual Saints know."

"All that is known is this order was directly given by the Dual Saints, and according to some vague info spread from the core circle, the Dual Saints seem to be extremely enraged recently, the atmosphere in the palace is very oppressive."

"The Star Palace Saints enraged?" Xu Ping was slightly taken aback.

What kind of matter could provoke such figures as Divinity Transformation Celestial Monarchs to great anger?

And what is the connection between this anger and sending people to monitor outer sea cultivators?

He couldn’t immediately link these two matters.

Just as Xu Ping was pondering, Nine Nether Elder, who had been resting with eyes closed like a withered tree, suddenly emitted a hoarse, low voice, like the cry of a night owl:

"Xu boy...."

Xu Ping and Hongyi both turned their heads to look.

Nine Nether Elder slowly opened his eyes, deep like ghost fire, fixing his gaze on Xu Ping, his tone dispassionate:

"Do you know, in this endless lower realm, for those cultivators aspiring to reach the Divinity Transformation Realm, or for those already at the Divinity Transformation Realm, what is the most important?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ping’s mind couldn’t help but tense, collecting his thoughts, he sincerely cupped his hands and said, "I do not know, I implore Nine Nether Elder for guidance."

Any information concerning the Divinity Transformation Realm can be considered the highest secret of this world, he indeed desires to know.

Nine Nether Elder let out a dry laugh, like bones rubbing together, then he slowly said, "It’s Qi luck!"

The two words rang like a thunderclap, causing Xu Ping’s mind to tremble.

Even Hongyi beside him showed an extremely attentive expression.

"An area, a realm, a world, the number of Divinity Transformation Cultivators it can support, as well as the cultivation limit those Divinity Transformation Cultivators can achieve in this realm, in a mysterious sense, has its destined number."