There was no possible way that Bai Xiaochun could have been prepared for the sudden and unexpected severing of his connection to his apprentice.

“Hao’er!!” he shouted, leaping to his feet, mind reeling with a sense of deep foreboding.

There was clearly no time to ponder the situation. All of the joy about becoming an earthly necromancer was cast deep into the back of his mind, which was now filled with only one subject: Bai Hao!

Without pausing for even a moment, he walked out of his secluded meditation chamber, flew up into the air above the Inspections Manor, and then shot with lightning-like speed in the direction he knew Bai Hao to have been in moments ago.

He even resorted to teleportations, moving with dramatic speed that caused whistling sounds to echo about. He vanished in the blink of an eye, and when he reappeared,...