The daoist priest didn't say anything further and headed straight toward the palace gate.

He seemed to be very familiar with everything in the palace, and after passing through a massive hall and several long corridors, he arrived in a peaceful courtyard.

All types of exotic flowers and plants were growing inside the courtyard, and there were two women in palatial dresses standing beside the entrance with silver veils over their faces.

The women had skin as fair as jade, and they were very elegant, but their auras were quite ethereal and unfathomable.

"Greetings, I've come to pay the palace master a visit," the daoist priest said as he extended a polite salute toward the two women.

One of them women stepped gracefully off to the side to avoid his salute, and said, "We wouldn't dare to accept your salute, Master Li. Please go in; our palace master has been waiting for quite some time now."

"Hehe, then I'll be going on ahead," the daoist priest replied with a smile before entering the courtyard.

After passing through a fragrant garden of flowers, a small yet lush meadow appeared up ahead.

There were fragrant floral trees planted all around the meadow, and a purple-robed woman was currently standing in front of one of those trees, inspecting it with an appreciative look in her eyes.

"I pay my respects to the palace master," the daoist priest said as he lowered his head in a respectful manner.

"There's no one else around, so there's no need to be so stiff and formal; just refer to me as martial aunt," the woman said with a faint smile.

"I wouldn't dare! We aren't in the Nine Origin Daoist Temple; if a patrolling envoy were to overhear me calling you that, it would be bad for both of us," the daoist priest replied with a serious expression.

"Aren't you being a little too cautious? Having said that, those patrolling envoys really are spoilsports; I can't do anything with them around. I'm beginning to miss the days when I was free from the responsibilities that come with being the palace master. How about I retire and nominate you as my successor?" the woman asked, and even though she wore an amused expression, she gave off an indescribable sense of authority.

"Ahem, my grandmaster would never agree to something like that, Palace Master. Even though the region that our Golden Han Immortal Palace governs over is inconsequential in the context of the entire immortal region, it is the foundation of our Nine Origin Daoist Temple, and countless immortal citizens reside in this area, so the position of palace master can't just be handed down to anyone," the daoist priest replied as he shook his head vigorously.

"Hmph, you sure know how to flatter me. Your master and all of your martial uncles possess superior powers to mine; why aren't any of them the palace master? I did become a disciple of your grandmaster's later than they did, but I've already stayed in this immortal palace for over 100,000 years; isn't it time someone relieved me of my duties?" the woman harrumphed.

"Hehe, back when you became a disciple of my grandmaster's, you were already the master of a lower realm, so you're the ideal candidate to be the immortal palace master. As for my master and martial uncles, all of them have grown accustomed to having no responsibilities on their shoulders, so there's no way that they would be able to lead the Golden Han Immortal Palace to greater heights like you could," the daoist priest said with a fawning smile.

"I must admit that your flattery is working. Your masters and martial uncles either have zero sense of responsibility and go into seclusion for tens, even hundreds of thousand of years at a time, or have cultivated to the point where they've become as emotionless as rocks. In particular, I try to stay as far away from your master as possible," the woman said through gritted teeth, as if she had just recalled some kind of unpleasant memory.

A wry smile appeared on the daoist priest's face upon hearing this.

Even he was petrified of his own master and didn't dare to utter so much as an extra word in his presence, let alone this martial aunt of his.

"By the way, why have you come to see me? You seemed to be in quite a hurry. I saw through the all-seeing mirror that you were about to barge your way through if the guards refused to let you in," the woman suddenly said with a faint smile.

A serious look immediately appeared on the daoist priest's face upon hearing this, and he lowered his voice slightly as he replied, "I came here to deliver a report on the task that Grandmaster assigned to me last time."

A serious look also appeared on the woman's face, and she replied, "I see. Let's discuss this in my spirit domain."

As soon as her voice trailed off, she swiped a finger through the air, and a white spatial rift emerged, then scattered into bursts of white light.

The surrounding environment completely transformed in the wake of the white light, and an intricately crafted hall was manifested, complete with tables and chairs, as well as a group of beautiful female servants in palatial dresses standing on either side of the hall.

The daoist priest's expression changed slightly at the sight of the female servants.

"I see that you've cultivated your spirit domain to the third Spiritform Stage, Martial Aunt. These domain spirits aren't very intelligent right now, but once developed further, they'll definitely become powerful allies."

"I only recently progressed from the Creation Stage to the Spiritform Stage, so I was in seclusion to consolidate my spirit domain. Of course, if your grandmaster were willing to come out of seclusion to provide me with some guidance, then that would be even better. Take a seat, Martial Nephew; even the immortal tools of the patrolling envoys won't be able to encroach upon my spirit domain without my detection. Go ahead and deliver your report," the woman said with a faint smile before taking a seat on the chair at the center of the hall.

"Please excuse me," the daoist priest said as he also took a seat.

"If I recall correctly, you were assigned the task several centuries ago, right? Has an outcome been reached?" the woman asked with a serious expression.

"During these past few centuries, I've tried all types of methods, and only after expending a heavy price was I able to borrow a good friend's treasure to track down that person," the daoist priest replied.

"As long as we can track that person down, any price is worth paying. That person betrayed our Nine Origin Daoist Temple and disappeared with that item. Even though we possess a soul badge of his, he was somehow able to sever that connection. Even your grandmaster made an exception to try and investigate this matter, only to be stopped by several powerful seniors, thereby rendering his efforts fruitless. His soul badge only registered a response again several centuries ago, and he seems to be in a very bad condition, which is why your grandmaster assigned this task to you.

"If that traitor were to perish, then he would naturally deserve that fate, but the item that he stole concerns the future welfare of our Nine Origin Daoist Temple, so we have to recover it," the woman said as a hint of rage appeared in her eyes.

The daoist priest's heart stirred slightly upon seeing this, and he hurriedly rose to his feet as he extended a respectful bow. "Rest assured, Martial Aunt; cracks have appeared on that traitor's soul badge, but he most likely won't perish anytime soon. I'm guessing he's been trapped somewhere, but the biggest issue now is that he's not in True Immortal Realm. Instead, he's in a lower realm."

"A lower realm? What's so difficult about that? Just find his exact location, then expend some immortal spirit stones and teleport to him through a Descending Immortal Platform. Could it be that the lower realm he fled to is one that we've lost contact with?" the woman asked.

"Indeed, Martial Aunt. That traitor fled to a lower realm that we've lost contact with in the southern realm cluster, and we haven't been able to track down exactly which lower realm he's in, but we should be able to arrive at a verdict given some time. However, there are hundreds of lower realms in the southern realm cluster, and ever since that spatial storm, our True Immortal Realm has lost control over those realms. To this day, we still haven't been able to recover their exact coordinates, so the Descending Immortal Platforms can't teleport me there," the daoist priest sighed with furrowed brows.

"That is indeed quite troublesome. Ever since the coordinates of the southern cluster changed, not only have people from the True Immortal Realm been unable to access those realms, it's also become extremely difficult for beings from those realms to ascend to our True Immortal Realm. All those who have been able to ascend to our True Immortal Realm from those realms in recent times have possessed extraordinary aptitude and potential," the woman said as her eyes narrowed slightly.

"I'm well aware of that. The vastly renowned Immortal Lord Tian Shu ascended from one of those lost realms, and in the span of no more than 1,000,000 years, he forged a resounding reputation for himself and became a subordinate of Imperial Lord Guang Fa," the daoist priest replied with a hint of envy in his eyes.

"Alright, setting that aside for now, without the exact coordinates, it'll be impossible to travel to those lower realms through conventional means. Perhaps I'll have to go to your grandmaster and see if he has some ideas. With the situation that traitor is currently in, we should be able to capture him with minimal effort. Having said that, I'm rather curious about how he managed to flee into those lost realms," the woman said as a cold look flashed through her eyes.