People nearby began to feel it.
"Ahhh! Help! Help!"
"What's happening!"
Some staggered.
Some dropped to their knees.
One man tried to shout, but his voice got cut short as the pressure weighed down on his chest.
As if an invisible hand was choking him.
Hero exhaled slowly, shoulders tensing. "We're not making it out of this one clean."
Lucien's eyes didn't move. "Just be ready."
Then, under their astonished eyes.
Their body lost control, the perspective swung like a rollercoaster, and by the time they knew it, accompanied with a loud rumbling, a huge depression appeared beneath them as the surrounding buildings were flattened.
Creating a circular area with a huge crater in the middle, tearing the beautiful landscape of the city center with an unsightly hole.
The surrounding monk and people were blasted away, some were even crushed to death under the immense weight.
As for Hero and Lucien.
Both of them dropped to the ground miserably. The two couldn't even react in time and realized what was happening.
All it took was a gesture, and the scene changed almost in an instant.
Cowering on the ground as they felt an almost invisible weight pressing on their back.
Face flushed, veins around the neck popping up, 'What the hell, Old man. Won't you do something'
Hero cursed, but the old man didn't respond which only made him felt colder. But since the old man didn't react, it meant that there was still a chance.
'is this the gap between Golden core realm and foundation building realm?' Lucien had other thoughts, his eyes dimming as he struggled to lift his head.
Barely the spiritual pressure, and his body ceased any fighting capability that he could muster.
There...
As he lifted his gaze.
Just to see an expressionless cloaked figure hovering in the air several meters ahead of them.
Looking down without any emotions, as if this matter was a trivial act for him.
"Aren't you afraid of the Ancestor living here?" Lucien asked, his rasped voice reaching into the figure's ears.
To which, the figure simply scoffed and laughed, "You believed in such nonsense. A Nascent Soul Ancestor resides here? How foolish to be deceived by the fake facade they tried to put up."
The figure laughed, the air rioted under his immense spiritual energy.
His voice booming, everyone heard it and with that, a sense of doubt also grew by it.
"And instead of asking me to spare your life... You asked such a ridiculous question instead."
"You wouldn't kill us" Lucien said firmly, his eyes regaining its former composure, "You wanted something from us, no?"
"Clever boy" The figure wasn't surprised that his intentions were discovered, but rather pleased in a strange way, "It seems i made the right decision. Now then, I will be taking you two away"
He waved his hand, his spiritual energy surged like a tide, surrounding Hero and Lucien as the two helplessly could only watch everything happen without being able to do anything.
But before anything landed.
Something shifted in the air.
The figure's pupils dilated. Hero and Lucien even paused in their tracks to use the card.
At this moment, a brief stillness exploded from the center of the city.
Like an invisible cocoon, spreading wildly that caused the already still air to fluctuate.
Then...
Seven immense spiritual pressures came crashing down like an earthquake.
Each equally powerful.
And like a group of blinding suns that suddenly appeared, causing almost everyone beneath the Golden Core realm to feel that air was water, causing difficulty in breathing.
No sound.
No flash.
Then, a voice rang out.
"You dare cause trouble here despite the presence of the Lord?!"
The sound wasn't loud in the usual sense, but it carried weight.
Boom.
The pressure followed right after. Buildings along the street swayed slightly, wooden beams creaked, and the ground beneath people's feet felt heavier. Those already crouching or trying to move found it harder to even take a step.
The cloaked man in the center lifted his head and turned toward the source.
Ahead, above the Pavilion's direction, seven auras rose at the same time.
Clear.
Heavy.
And unmistakably from the Purple Cloud Pavilion.
"…Impossible," he muttered under his breath, words coming out faster than before. "I made sure… there were no Golden Core experts here other than those two old men."
Even so, he didn't panic outright. His senses spread out instinctively, trying to probe, to measure the seven aura's realms.
But it stopped.
Not blocked violently, just… cut off.
Like his perception couldn't reach far enough.
His brows tightened.
"Mid stage…? Late stage…?"
A thin layer of sweat formed along his temple.
He shifted his gaze toward Hero and Lucien for a brief moment, that earlier killing intent still there, but now mixed with something else.
Calculation.
Seven unknown opponents.
Same level or higher.
That wasn't a fight, it was a dead end if he continued to pursue this.
From the side, on a rooftop not too far away, Li Hongyu narrowed his eyes as he watched.
"Feel that?" he asked quietly.
Beside him, Cao Ren nodded, his gaze fixed ahead.
"It's strange," Cao Ren said, voice low. "It doesn't feel like seven individuals… more like one mass pressed together."
Li Hongyu rubbed his beard slowly, thinking.
"That kind of concealment… usually comes from someone stronger than us."
Cao Ren gave a small glance toward him.
"Late stage?"
Li Hongyu didn't answer immediately.
"…Or even higher."
The two exchanged a look.
Cao Ren let out a faint breath. "Seems the rumor about a Nascent Soul presence here… isn't just talk."
"The Ancestor probably made the shot to cover their auras, as not to reveal too much information to the outside world"
Li Hongyu chuckled lightly, though there wasn't much amusement in it.
"Our sect sent us here to test things. Looks like the real problem isn't for us to handle anymore."
"Mm," Cao Ren nodded. "This place… isn't bluffing."
"And those seven…" Li Hongyu added, eyes narrowing slightly. "When we visited before, we didn't feel anything like this."
Cao Ren gave a quiet response, "Either they hid it well… or we simply couldn't detect them."
"Exactly."
The two fell silent again, watching.
Back in the air, the cloaked man didn't hesitate any longer.
He waved his hand sharply.
Hero and Lucien were instantly wrapped in his spiritual energy, lifted off the ground before they could react.
Hero cursed under his breath as his feet left the ground. "Not again"
Lucien's expression turned colder, but he didn't struggle blindly, conserving what little room he had to move.
The man didn't stay.
He turned and shot forward, trying to leave the area entirely, dragging the two along with him as he moved toward the inner city walls.
No intention of staying any longer.
But.
Before he could get far.
Something formed behind him.
A hand.
Not physical.
A phantom, large enough to cover his entire figure, emerging silently from behind.
His body stiffened for a split second.
He reacted immediately, turning his body midair, palm slamming backward as his own attack formed.
The two forces collided.
A heavy impact spread through the air, shaking the surroundings.
But.
He misread it.
"Die!"
A voice came from his side.
Too close.
A tall cloaked figure stepped out from the void beside him, appearing without warning.
His eyes widened.
His hand moved instantly, pinching a spell, trying to form a defensive layer in front of him.
Too late.
The sword came down faster.
"No—!"
Boom.
The clash sent Hero and Lucien flying out of his control like loose stones, their bodies thrown away and crashing down toward the ground below.
At the same time, the blade struck.
It pierced through his shoulder, tearing through his defense and lodging deep.
His body jerked, balance breaking as pain shot through him.
"Tch—!"
He didn't hesitate.
His free hand moved quickly, pulling out a talisman from his storage ring.
He activated it immediately.
Light flashed.
And in the next instant.
He vanished from the spot, leaving nothing behind but a fading trace of spiritual energy.
Teleportation talismans weren't anything unusual once one reached a certain level, and while weaker monks would treat them as rare life-saving treasures, for a Golden Core cultivator, they were simply expensive tools that could be used without much hesitation when the situation demanded it.
The man disappeared in a flash of light, and in the next instant his figure had already reappeared far beyond the city, cutting cleanly through the air and bypassing the formation wall as if it had no effect on him at all.
He didn't slow down.
While flying, he turned his head slightly, glancing back toward the city with a faint, mocking grin before accelerating further into the distance, clearly confident that he had escaped.
Back in the courtyard, Liam watched the entire sequence without missing a single detail, his gaze steady as he followed the man's trajectory until it vanished from sight.
"…So it slipped."