Su Mo left the lake and flew straight to the south after determining the direction.
Emperor Xuan Palace was in that direction.
Su Mo was in deep thoughts throughout the journey, so he flew unhurriedly.
It was an extremely uncertain challenge in Emperor Xuan Palace and Su Mo could not help but have a heavy heart.
He did not know if he could defeat Shangguan Hao. Even if he could, what would happen next? Could he leave with Xi'er?
Su Mo thought for a long time. The more he thought, the more difficult he felt it was. The only key to overcoming all the challenges was having a strong enough strength.
If he was strong enough, all of that would not be a problem.
Su Mo sighed and hope that things will sort themselves out.
His abilities should be improved as much as possible.
Unfortunately, as his time was limited, it was impossible to upgrade his cultivation for now.
Suddenly, the thought of his Dark Force of the Five Elements hit him.
If he could integrate the property Dark Force once more, his abilities would increase sharply again. However, the third integration was extremely difficult.
His fire and wood properties or gold and earth properties could be merged briefly. If he wanted to make another integration, his water property would be the best bet.
After thinking for a long time, Su Mo thought it would be possible to integrate water property into gold and fire property.
The first group of the fire and the wood property was not an ideal choice.
Firstly, water and fire would overcome each other, and even if he added the wood property, it would be difficult to balance the property power of the three.
Therefore, the integration of water, earth, and gold would be the best choice.
Now that he had nothing else to do, he tried to integrate water property into gold and earth while flying.
Doubtlessly, every attempt at integration ended in failure.
…
A few days later, Su Mo was already close to Emperor Xuan Palace. From a distance, he could already see the outline of Emperor Spiritual City at the foot of Emperor Xuan Palace.
Su Mo thought for a while and began to wriggle the muscles and the skeletons on his face and finally, his appearance changed.
His changed appearance was exactly the one he had when he first entered Emperor Xuan Palace.
These were dangerous times and he had to be cautious.
Moreover, maybe that identity of a disciple of Emperor Xuan Palace would be useful.
Su Mo then took out a large black robe from his storage ring and covered most of his face.
He had to do that as his white hair was too conspicuous.
Su Mo still had white-haired even though more than two months had passed since the last Punishment.
Since he had lost too much essence, qi and spirit last time, his energy had not fully recovered.
Fortunately, his abilities were hardly affected although his essence, qi, and spirit was just 80 % of his full power.
As Su Mo entered Emperor Spiritual City, he found it was very bustling and the streets were teeming with martial artists.
Because of the upcoming wedding of its Holy Son and its Holy Maiden, it seemed as if Emperor Xuan Palace had become the center of the whole continent.
"The wedding of Shangguan Hao and Di Lanxi will be held in six days. I wonder which experts will come to watch the ceremony."
"There's no doubt about that! They must come from the other eight Human Sects, the Demon Clans, and some other Sects from all over the continent."
"I bet the Supreme Talents on the List of 10,000 Talents will come too!"
"What a grand gathering! Emperor Xuan Palace will definitely go in for ostentation and extravagance!"
Walking on the street and hearing all the voices around, Su Mo found that all everyone talked about was the wedding.
He also noticed that someone would occasionally mention his name. That was because he was the man who had challenged Shangguan Hao.
However, they all laughed him out of court.
Su Mo strolling along the streets. There were still a few days left anyway, so he did not go to Emperor Xuan Palace.
Furthermore, while he was a disciple of Emperor Xuan Palace, he had not come back for too long.
He was afraid that his fake identity would be discovered if he entered the Emperor Xuan Palace now.
Later, Su Mo stayed in a plush inn, in which he could ask for some news and improve his strength as well.
Everybody in the city was talking about the wedding. So did the people in that inn.
In the inn, Su Mo did get some useful information.
For example, it was in the Outer Palace of the Emperor Xuan Palace that the marriage ceremony would be held.
Why was not it in the Inner Palace? In Su Mo's opinion, the Inner Palace was the core place of Emperor Xuan Palace, so it would certainly not be available to the public.
That, however, was good for Su Mo.
If something went wrong, there would be a good chance for him to escape from the Outer Palace. However, it would be very difficult to escape from the Inner Palace.
Another news was that only those having invitations could enter the Emperor Xuan Palace to watch the ceremony.
Those who did not have invitations were not allowed to enter.
Su Mo sat in the lobby of the inn for several hours, he had gotten a general understanding of the wedding.
Later, he returned to his room.
"I hope the water property can be integrated successfully!"
Sitting cross-legged in the bed, Su Mo tried to merge his property Dark Force while practicing.
Su Mo did not hold out much hope that the integration would be successful. If he could succeed, he would have a greater chance of winning. If not, that did not matter.
Su Mo raised his hand and the three properties of earth, gold, and water condensed respectively on his three fingertips.
As he moved his two fingers, the fire and earth properties easily merged and a new yellow-colored Dark Force appeared.
However, when Su Mo tried to integrate the light blue water Dark Force with the yellow one, the water Dark Force simply collapsed.
The yellow Dark Force formed by the gold property and the earth property was so powerful that it easily destroyed the water Dark Force.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Su Mo kept trying. He tried for millions of times, but he could not merge the Dark Force of the three properties.
Su Mo kept trying for three days, but he could not make them merge for even just a moment.
He had to give up trying. It was impossible to make another integration in a short period of time. He had to put it aside.
Next, Su Mo closed his eyes and checked the Natal Spiritual Sword in his consciousness ocean while practicing.
More than a month's maintenance had made the sword more glittery and translucent. It emanated a strong and bright aura.
The Spiritual Sword was called the Natal Spiritual Sword because of its connection with its master's mind and spirit. Therefore, the power of his Natal Spiritual Sword greatly increased with the recovery of Su Mo's essence, qi, and spirit.
Time passed quietly while Su Mo cultivated.
Three days passed quickly and it was finally the eighth day of the 10th lunar month.
Su Mo left the inn at dawn and strode resolutely to the Emperor Xuan Palace.