With the ambushes along the route destroyed, their return path was now completely clear.
After several hours, the flying vessel arrived at the core island of the Huichun Island Domain — the seat of the imperial family. The imperial family of the Huichun Island Domain was in no way comparable to the Eternal Sacred Land, and was even considerably inferior to the Lanyan Island Domain.
Still, it possessed a certain local charm of its own.
That said, in all honesty, Jiang Chen wasn't particularly fond of the atmosphere in the Huichun Island Domain. He felt that the Huichun Island Domain ultimately lacked a certain depth of heritage.
Of course, Jiang Chen hadn't come here to admire the Huichun Island Domain. His purpose was simple — to obtain the Ling Shi resources from that island cluster.
If he could secure those resources, it would be an enormous boost to his plans.
Meanwhile, the Huichun Island Domain was already like ants on a hot pan.
The imperial family had received secret intelligence as well — that several experts from the Sancai Island Domain had gathered a band of desperadoes and were planning to ambush Prince Huo and his party along the way.
This news had already reached the imperial court.
But the court was already stretched thin, with no way to dispatch reinforcements. Last time, several great families from the Duowen Divine Kingdom had taken their anger out on the Huichun Island Domain, slaughtering quite a number of its people and extorting a tremendous amount of wealth.
This had been a devastating blow to the Huichun Island Domain.
As a result, the domain was now in an extremely weakened state. Even knowing that someone intended to ambush Prince Huo, the imperial family debated and deliberated, yet could never produce a rescue plan.
Some supported sending aid; others opposed it.
Those in favor naturally included His Majesty the Emperor. These people understood full well how important Prince Huo was to the imperial family, how important he was to the Huichun Island Domain.
If Prince Huo were also to fall, the Huichun Island Domain would truly have no one left worth the name.
But those who opposed had equally compelling reasons. They argued that the Huichun Island Domain was already short on strength — if their experts were split up further, it would only make it easier for the enemy to pick them off one by one.
What if the enemy took the opportunity to launch a full assault? The current Huichun Island Domain could hardly be said to withstand a direct attack even without dividing its forces.
If they split up, they would certainly be unable to hold.
So the opposition firmly maintained that if Prince Huo was truly the Huichun Island Domain's key figure, he would surely have the fortune of heaven, would surely overcome adversity, and would surely find a way back on his own.
Conversely, if Prince Huo couldn't manage that, then he wasn't the savior the Huichun Island Domain needed.
These two voices clashed within the Huichun Island Domain, leaving the situation at a stalemate.
But before the stalemate could be broken, Prince Huo had actually returned! Yes, Prince Huo was back in the flesh!
This sent the Huichun Island Domain into jubilation.
The dissenters weren't the slightest bit embarrassed. They felt they had been right all along — since Prince Huo was the savior of the Huichun Island Domain, it was only natural that he return safely, wasn't it?
However, the news Prince Huo brought back was even more stunning.
Everyone had assumed that Prince Huo's safe return meant he either hadn't encountered any ambush, or that the ambushers had set up in the wrong place.
But Prince Huo told them that the Sancai Island Domain had indeed launched an ambush, and had dispatched twelve Heavenly realm high-stage cultivators — a lineup of staggering proportions.