Nevertheless, with their lives hanging by a thread, now was not the time to worry about such things.

At this crucial moment of life and death, the last thing needed was internal strife or any dragging of feet.

Therefore, Taoist Qingyun still remained very calm, saying softly, "Keep your voices down, let’s not draw outsiders into this."

After speaking, he carefully looked around before leading everyone into the house. Beside a wall, he softly chanted an incantation, and a flash of rune light flickered and then disappeared.

Subsequently, a small tunnel appeared in the corner.

"The entrance will close after fifteen minutes, so let’s hurry!" Taoist Qingyun whispered.

Without concerning himself with the reactions of others, he took the lead and entered the tunnel.

This tunnel was a secret passage stealthily left by his teacher during the construction of Heavenly Court, containing sufficient supplies to hide them for a while.

Several people followed the tunnel onward, soon arriving in a stone chamber of moderate size, filled with supplies.

"This is the hidden chamber left by my teacher. There are runes around to block outside detection. We’ll hide here for a while until the situation outside calms down," Taoist Qingyun quietly arranged.

"Brother Dao truly has many methods at his disposal. With this hidden chamber, I doubt the people from Heavenly Court can find us," said another.

They were all exceptionally delighted, finding hope where there seemed to be none.

Likewise, the crisis of life and death was easily resolved.

Meanwhile, two Heavenly soldiers, accompanying Mr. Mo, arrived outside the Heavenly Forge Bureau and also witnessed the shocking explosion.

"My goodness, what in the world is powerful enough to do this?" one exclaimed.

"I don’t know. It feels more powerful than cannons," remarked the other.

"That’s Peach Garden over there, isn’t it? If so, I’m afraid the Peaches might be destroyed."

"What does that have to do with us? Those Peaches are precious and only Immortals are qualified to eat them. We lowly soldiers couldn’t even get one, so its destruction doesn’t concern us," one of them said indifferently, though his tone couldn’t hide his regret. After all, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root was famous throughout the Three Realms, and countless cultivators and immortals took pride in attending the Peach Banquet. It was indeed a pity to see it destroyed.

Mr. Mo listened silently to their conversation, his face always adorned with a smile, though it was unclear what he found amusing.

"Mr. Mo, who could have done this, holding such a grudge to willingly destroy the Peaches?" one Heavenly soldier curiously asked.

They knew that Mr. Mo was enigmatic and had a very close relationship with the Jade Emperor, probably aware of some secrets unknown to them.

Yet, Mr. Mo remained as before, his smile unchanged, but he did not answer their question.

The two Heavenly soldiers immediately sensed something unusual and anxiously asked, "Mr. Mo, are you alright?"

It was then Mr. Mo appeared to suddenly realize and said, "Nothing is wrong, I’m quite all right."

After all, this was just a puppet, realistic enough to deceive the eye, but lacking a soul since Mr. Mo did not grant it any consciousness. He knew this puppet was a mere discard, and that any Juexing intelligence would be a waste.

From the beginning, it had been Mr. Mo remotely controlling the puppet through the Runes within, but as Lin Fang brought it into the Demon Realm, moving gradually away from the Heavenly Court, their connection became intermittently unstable, inevitably causing some glitches.

Fortunately, the current focus of the Heavenly Court was on capturing the culprits and finding the person who had destroyed the Peach Garden, so no one noticed anything unusual about him.

The chaos did not subside for a long while, yet it seemed Mr. Mo had tired of this farce. He intoned somewhat inscrutably, "The few brothers lurking in the shadows, why don’t you come out?"

Two spies who had been secretly following Mr. Mo were immediately alarmed, yet their professional training was high; they did not show any signs of panic, but instead exchanged looks and remained still, wondering if this was a trap.

But soon, Mr. Mo’s voice came again, "No need to guess, I indeed know where you are, and this is no test."

Hearing this, the two men slowly came forward, sheepishly smiling, "Mr. Mo, please forgive us, we were only acting under orders. With the Heavenly Court being in turmoil recently, our superior is concerned about your safety, hence he dispatched us to secretly protect you."

The two spies spoke very sincerely, but they probably didn’t believe their own words. As for the two Heavenly soldiers present, they pretended not to hear, fearing to offend Black Dog; they did not want to draw his ire, so even though they were reluctant, they showed no dislike.

"Then I must sincerely thank the Divine Exorcist Great Saint," Mr. Mo said with a smile that seemed profoundly suggestive, leaving the two spies uncertain, not knowing what was off about him today.

"How about this, fetch your Great Saint for me, I have important matters to discuss with him," Mr. Mo suddenly said.

At this moment, the two spies were completely baffled, uncertain of what Mr. Mo intended to do.

But they dared not neglect his words; they knew all too well how important Mr. Mo was to the Heavenly Court.

At this time, the Divine Exorcist Great Saint was in the Lingxiao Treasured Palace with the Jade Emperor, both of them wearing somber expressions as if waiting for something.

Several Immortal Officers were kneeling on the ground, trembling as they reported.

"Oh, so you still haven’t found the person?" the Jade Emperor’s cold voice echoed through the great hall.

The kneeling Immortal Officers instantly felt a terrifying pressure descend upon them, as heavy as a mountain, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Sweat unceasingly dripped from their faces, sounding unnervingly loud in the eerily silent hall.

They couldn’t stop shivering, for the majesty of the Jade Emperor weighed unbearably upon them, their lives hanging by the merest of his whims.

They could distinctly feel the fury simmering in the Jade Emperor’s heart at that moment.

"To report to Your Majesty, these criminals have used some means to vanish without a trace," one replied, trembling.

"Vanished without a trace, with so many of you, you can’t even find a few sneaky criminals. What use do I have for you?"

"Your Majesty, forgive us, Your Majesty, forgive us! We had indeed tracked down the criminals, but after they hid in the residences of the eastern Immortal Lords, they disappeared without a trace, and despite searching, we found nothing," they pleaded.

"Useless, worthless, you can’t even handle this small matter; the vast Heavenly Court now seems like a sieve, what are you actually doing on normal days? Guards, take them out and give them thirty strokes of the cane," the Jade Emperor ordered coldly.

Those thirty strokes were no trivial matter; they were with a cane that could reduce one’s mana.