Lady Qinghua saw Crown Prince Ziyang out of the hall and closed the doors again.

Shen Yi sat cross-legged, his eyes deep and dark.

To be honest, neither road sounded very reliable to him.

Reporting to the Immortal Court was out of the question. Setting aside the matter of the immortal seal, Shen Yi really wasn't used to letting others decide whether he lived or died.

Besides, he was completely in the dark about how things stood in the Immortal Court.

How much power did those uncles of Shi Ren's actually have, and what kind of people were they? And that purple-whiskered white dragon who had latched onto a great immortal—would she have a say in a matter like this too?

Knowing nothing at all—how was that any different from courting death?

As for fleeing and becoming an exalted immortal of the Three Teachings—

Shen Yi thought maybe it was a flaw in his own character, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Ziyang and the East Dragon King thought about these things far too simply.

Of course, in terms of aptitude, his foundation of five opened immortal cities really did rank at the very top in Hongze. Like scorpion shit, it was one of a kind, and poison to boot.

But beyond foundation, didn't cultivators value comprehension too?

When the time came and those immortals casually asked him a question or two, he'd most likely give himself away.

He could hardly have them bring out a cultivation method, and then, though he couldn't answer a single question about it, take the formula home and master it on the first try… Now wouldn't that be just wonderful. Instead of enshrining him as a once-in-an-age genius, those immortals would more likely flay him, pull out his soul, and interrogate him at their leisure.

“It's hard.”

Shen Yi sighed softly. Under Shi Ren's blockade, Hongze knew next to nothing about the world outside.

And the well-traveled East Dragon King had been beheaded, his very dragon soul imprisoned in a spirit-treasure and sent straight up to heaven.

Thinking of that old man in…