Days later, the space above Si Xue warped out and two men came out of the distortion.
Looking at the sight of the entire planet covered a blood-red formation was enough to elicit a few not-so-kind words from Master Rain's mouth.
"Damn despicable Fire King. Using such uncouth means to enslave mortals and weak cultivators…" Master Rain said.
"Well, I'm still surprised why he would mobilize all this force for just one person, the cost of deploying such a formation isn't worth it. For the few weak souls he'll get… this looks nothing but a show of force for such a trivial matter," the attendant said.
"Kings and their ambitions…" Master Rain approached the formation, but soon a couple of cultivators came his way, but the moment they realized who he was, they bowed.
"We greet Master Rain, your presence is a blessing on this day."
"Screw off," Master Rain said, and immediately all the cultivators dispersed from in front of him.
The two approached the formation and walked right into it, many cultivators holding the incense burners could only watch as Master Rain pushed through the now complete formation and tore it open from one side then came down to the planet.
The whole world looked dead now. The grass had shriveled up, the waters evaporated, the land crusted and cracked and not a single sign of life remained.
Bodies of weak men laid on the ground motionless, while many else who had a bit of power in them, struggled flutily so to keep their lives.
"Billions of lives wasted for the greed and pettiness of one man. Such a waste," Master Rain spoke and spat on the ground.
He then sighed and closed his eyes, then the moment he opened them back, a massive divine sense wave shot through every direction and immediately covered the entirety of the planet.
Not a single creature, dead, alive or in between was able to escape the gaze of Master Rain, they were all accounted for calculated and displayed in between his eyes.
"Strange…" Master Rain spoke, "He's not here…" Master Rain said.
Then, he spoke a couple of words, "Shen Bao," he said, and the words were heard to everyone who was capable of thoughts in this dying world.
Not many thought that these words meant anything, but one man, who apparently was still alive even under such dire and devastating conditions.
"Follow me," Master Rain said and moved a step forward, only to have countries and continents flash under his own foot. While his retainer followed suit, not missing a beat, and taking the same steps that Master Rain did.
Suddenly, the two of them stopped at the entrance of a city.
Children were laying dead on the floor, old people, men, and women, cultivators and mortals alike, all dead. All but one man who was desperately meditating hoping to save his soul from being wrenched out of his body.
The two cultivators stood in front of the man, "You," Master Rain spoke.
The old man in front of him looked up, desperately so, "You're the one…who spoke…his name." said the old man.
"Do you know Shen Bao?" Master Rain asked.
"Yes…he… was a disciple…of my sect…" the old man said.
"Hmm… do you know where he is?"
"I wouldn't know…nor would I tell." The old man said.
"You seem rather strong-headed. I can rid you of this pain you know."
"I was in worse pain, this is nothing," the old man said.
He was clearly lying, because no matter what, soul-wrenching, is deemed the cruelest way to torment a person, and it was the Fire King's favorite means of extracting souls for his own cultivation.
"Should I Soul Search him?" the attendant said.
"No, he'll die." Master Rain said, "I mean Shen Bao no harm, I only need to speak to him," Master Rain said.
"I have told you, I know not where he is…, and if you, someone who is strong enough to use such a divine sense cannot find him… then he is either dead… which is something that is very improbable… or he is no longer here." The old man said.
The conversation right now almost caused him to lose his meditative state and his soul was about to be ripped out of his body, however, he managed to cling back to it, and regain his composure.
"How long can you remain like this? Days, months? A year? Then what, you'll die… why struggle? Why not let go?" Master Rain asked.
"I was in a similar situation earlier… I held on, for as long as I could… and it was Shen Bao who came for us, I have no reason to give up… giving up is no solution." The man said.
"What is your name?" asked Master Rain.
"Lao…Lao Bofan." The man said.
Master Rain nodded.
"Take him, he's our only clue on Shen Bao. I'll have to look again and see if I can get some other clues…"Master rain said.
Before Lao Bofan could speak, the retainer waved a hand and Lao Bofan disappeared from where he sat.
"What are we going to do now, Master Rain?" asked the attendant.
"I'm working on it," Master Rain said and then closed his eyes.
He then began moving his hands in a strange rhythmical manner… then spoke.
"World's Origin, Reveal Your Secret!"
The whole planet seemed to shudder from Master Rain's words, and suddenly scenes from days past appeared in front of Master Rain, and in them, he traced, tracked, and followed until he found scenes of Shen Bao's last battle.
He fought against a half-step ascendant, even without the Demon Slaying Puppet, and still managed to survive, not only that, he dealt a heavy blow to him.
A man at the Nascent Soul, able to contend with someone three stages above him, just one stage is already absurd, but three, that is close to insanity to think about it even.
However, Shen Bao fought, won, and escaped.
With grievous wounds, he still managed to run away and take a few friends with him.
Hmm, he seems rather ethical and has some morals, unlike the twelve acolytes of the Poison God.
Though Shen Bao is hosting one of the Acolyte's souls, even unaware of it himself, he hasn't been fully tarnished by it.
Then, he seemed to have moved… up? For what reason?
Master Rain followed the world's memories and tracked Shen Bao as he flew up to space.
Without the Suttles from the Black Tower, he cannot navigate the deep space…
Not to mention, the massive formation that is blocking the path.
Did he die attempting to escape? Perhaps he perished as he tried to run away, no wonder Master Rain couldn't find his body.
However, tempted, Master Rain continued following the world's memories and saw what happened.
Desperation caused Shen Bao to use poison and further exhaust his body, using a massive amount of Qi, rupturing he barely healed up spiritual veins.
However, it was enough to give him a moment of respite, which he took advantage of.
"How are you going to handle the formation?" Master Rain mumbled.
Then he saw it, an ingenious, desperate, yet incredibly impressive method.
A formation, such as this can only be broken through with destructive power. However, in Shen Bao's hand, was a sacred treasure… The Divine Lord's Quill and Brush. Something that has been lost from the world a long, long time ago.
It was an item, even Master Rain in his younger days wanted to obtain, yet failed to have a clue on its whereabouts.
Though it is no longer of any value to Master Rain, seeing that item again meant one thing.
Shen Bao… had destiny by his side. Something that not many could claim to have.
And Destiny is a great ally, but one cannot rely on it. It shall only aid you if you help yourself. Rely on it, and you'll be doomed.
And from Shen Bao's action, he wasn't relying on it whatsoever.
With the quill, he managed to overwrite a few symbols, not to break the formation, but to create a small, insignificant gap, barely enough for an ant to pass through, yet that is all one would need if they are smart enough, and Shen Bao, proved to be a genius.
In his action, he managed to re-link space, and he was able to teleport outside the enclosed zone. This was impressive…however, with all his energy exhausted and the so many cultivators coming his way…
Yet Master Rain couldn't suppress his shocked expression from what he just saw happen.
Shen Bao pulled an object from his inventory, it looked like a strange board of steel yet, the energy from within it, it was something that shouldn't be too readily available in this world.
It was coming from a Saint Qi crystal, and that crystal once belonged to Master Rain himself.
The world's memories allowed master rain to inspect the object and he was once again staggered as he realized a great truth.
Shen Bao had managed to repair the Reactor, the very reactor that caused Master Rain so many headaches with the Sub Spatial Qi conversion. Though the current Master Rain can remake the same reactor without that issue anymore, he was unable to believe how can a man, from such a backwater country, with extremely limited resources was able to repair that reactor.
"BLASTED IDIOT!" Master rain shouted, at both the genius of Shen Bao and his incredible stupidity at what he had just done.
A none Saint Qi user, dared and used a Saint Qi reactor. The mere kickback, if that board were to move, would be enough to eradicate Shen Bao's flesh and bones.
Shen Bao then pressed a pedal and the board bore through space.
Master Rain followed the board from the world's memories as much as he could and noticed Shen Bao's flesh and skin tearing.
"Shit… he's going to die… perhaps he did die…"
Yet suddenly, a dome manifested on the board and that was the last thing Master Rain could see as the dome was manifesting, the spatial pressure seemed to lessen, but the world's memories couldn't see beyond where Shen Bao had left.
"Damn, this is going to be a pain in the ass…" Master Rian said.
"What happened?" The retainer said.
"He left the planet… but I don't know where he could be now, I can't track him, he is flying blind in space, without a map, or direction, and with the constant spatial currents… he could be anywhere from the depth of a burning star to the deepest darkest parts of space… foolish man." Master Rain said.
"Why do you sound impressed though?" the retainer said.
Master Rain looked at the retainer and said, "I do?"
"Yes, you're smiling, and rubbing your beard as something really good happened. It's been a long time since I've seen you do that." The retainer Pointed.
Master rain grinned, "Perhaps I am… let's go, perhaps, if we're lucky we can find him." Master Rain said.
"As you command!" the retainer nodded and the two disappeared from where they stood.