“Nico, actually…” After careful consideration, James decided to tell Nico the truth about his strength.
“What is it, James?” Nico looked at James earnestly.
James said sheepishly, “Actually, my cultivation base is very weak. It’s precisely the rank your Divine Sense is detecting. I’m only at the Divine Rank.”
“Huh?” Nico was startled by the revelation.
James explained. “My body was destroyed once in the past, and my current body was reformed using a Grand Emperor’s Natal Demonic Lotus. As such, my physical body possesses great strength… There’s also a Ninth Heaven Grand Emperor living within my Celestial Abode. By borrowing some of his strength, I can call forth the power hidden within my physical body.”
After hearing the explanation, Nico immediately understood James’ circumstances.
Nico grinned and said, “That’s alright. I’m sure you’ll become the universe’s strongest cultivator with your potential and treasures. Although you’re weak right now, I’ve given my word to follow you for a hundred thousand years. I’m not going to break my promise.”
James felt relieved by Nico’s reassurance.
Meanwhile, Nico grew interested in the powerhouse that lived within James’ Celestial Abode.
“Where did the powerhouse living in your Celestial Abode come from?”
James smiled knowingly. “You’ll find out very soon. Right now, I need to collect materials to rebuild his body so favonovel.com can be resurrected.”
“I see…” Nico did not pry any further.
He then shielded James protectively and advanced cautiously. James followed behind favonovel.com and inspected their surroundings.
Everything around them was well preserved. The buildings within the city were extravagant. However, there was not a single living being within the huge city. Everything was covered by darkness, and it looked like a ghost town.
The two walked around for a while but found no promising leads. However, they encountered many evil spirits along the way. Some of them were strong, but they also faced some weaker ones.
The strong evil spirits were at the Grand Emperor Rank, while the weaker ones were at the Divine Rank. Occasionally, they encountered a few evil spirits at the Sage Rank.
The city teemed with evil spirits. After walking for a while, they encountered about a dozen of them.
James was taken aback by the situation.
“Under normal circumstances, the souls of the living would disperse after death. Very few evolve into evil spirits, but strangely, this city is full of evil spirits.”
Hearing this, Nico suddenly thought of a possibility and gasped aloud. “Could it be that the Azure Realm’s living beings were wiped out? Is that why they disappeared so suddenly?”
James was taken aback by the possibility. “That’s impossible. I heard that the Azure Realm was formidable. It used to be one of the central planets in the Boundless Realm and was as strong as the current Elixir Pavillion back them. Who could’ve wiped them out at once?”
Nico waved his hand exasperatedly and said, “I don’t know. It was just a wild guess.”
James said, “Don’t jump to conclusions. Let’s continue searching the place.”
“Alright.”
Afterward, the two left the desolate city and began to explore different areas of the Azure Realm. Along the way, they found many other cities infested with evil spirits.
In the blink of an eye, 300 years had passed since James and Nico entered the Azure Realm. During that time, the two had ventured to almost every corner in the Azure Realm.
During this period, Nico fought off several powerful evil spirits and even killed a few. They also encountered some extremely powerful evil spirits that Nico could not fight off and had to flee a number of times.