Outside the forbidden grounds of the Hehuan Sect, five elders tasked with guarding the site formed a Spirit-Channeling Array.
A ceaseless flood of immense spiritual power poured into the formation. After expending great effort, they finally linked the guiding array to the grand formation protecting the forbidden grounds.
Brilliant azure light burst from Si Lingce at the center of the array, and a teleportation passage abruptly opened.
In the next instant, Si Lingce vanished without a trace.
The formation's transfer brought waves of weightlessness. Si Lingce remained expressionless as he waited in silence.
He felt the forbidden-ground formation pass through his body. Then, the familiar power of Hehuan rushed toward him!
Si Lingce's brows relaxed. This was... he had entered the formation.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the shifting scenery before his eyes came to a halt.
Before him stood a rather spacious palace hall. Its surroundings were built of blue-gray stone bricks and tiles, each glimmering faintly with the light of formation patterns.
Just as he was wondering where he was, a wary demand sounded from behind him.
“Who are you?”
Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming stepped forward and stopped behind Si Lingce. Seeing the unfamiliar man who had appeared out of nowhere, their eyes filled with vigilance.
Within this underground palace, there were people from the Luoxian Sect and the Myriad Sword Sect, as well as members of the demon race and the Earthfiend race.
They did not recognize the man before them.
Of course, that was not the main issue.
What truly made their hearts tighten was that they could not sense even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual power from him.
There were only two possibilities. Either he possessed no spiritual power at all and was an ordinary person...
Or his cultivation was simply too high, far beyond theirs, to the point that they could not perceive his spiritual fluctuations at all.
Since he dared to appear alone in the underground palace, he could not possibly be without spiritual power. That left only the second possibility.
This man's strength surpassed theirs!
When the disciples of the Luoxian Sect and the Myriad Sword Sect saw the newcomer, then noticed the grave expressions of their own peak master and exalted immortal, their hearts, too, grew tense.
They quickly moved behind the two men, staring warily at Si Lingce across from them.
Si Lingce frowned slightly. His expression darkened as he swept his gaze over the gathered crowd. A faint clear light glimmered in his pale, snow-colored eyes, and his voice was calm.
“You are the intruders in this underground palace?”
A small party of three at the peak of the Nascent Transformation Realm, without even a single Void Refinement cultivator among them, dared to trespass into the forbidden grounds of his Hehuan Sect?
Shen Jingyuan was particularly skilled at reading expressions. Though Si Lingce's face was cool and largely unreadable, Shen Jingyuan could clearly see the disdain and displeasure in his brows and eyes.
This man truly had capabilities.
“May I ask who you are, sir...?”
“The guardian of the underground palace.”
Si Lingce lifted his chin slightly. As his words fell, the corner of his eye caught sight of several disciples embracing one another in the corner. His brow furrowed.
One hand emerged partway from beneath his snow-white sleeve. Forming a seal with a single hand, he sent out a pale handprint.
The Hehuan power throughout the entire underground palace suddenly shuddered, then surged toward the pale handprint in its entirety.
In no more than a few breaths, the Hehuan power that had filled the great hall was completely absorbed.
In the corner, the eyes of the disciples who had involuntarily embraced one another abruptly cleared.
Once they recognized the person in front of them, they immediately released each other, drew their robes tightly around themselves, and retreated in haste.
That casual yet formidable display caused Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming to catch their breath.
The Hehuan power within this underground palace was so violent and immense that even if the Supreme Elder of the Fallen Immortal Sect or the Guardian Elder of the Myriad Swords Sect came here, they might not be able to shake it.
Yet who could have imagined that the person before them had absorbed all the Hehuan power in the hall with nothing more than a casual hand seal?
What… what level of strength was this?
“This is a forbidden ground of the Hehuan Sect in the Outer Domain. You trespassed without permission. Would it really be excessive for me to kill you?”
Si Lingce’s voice was cold and detached. The instant he raised his hand, surging spiritual power gathered in full force, and an overwhelming pressure filled the air…
His strength was indeed far beyond anything they could oppose!
Shen Jingyuan’s expression changed. He exchanged a glance with Jian Ming, then hurried forward and bowed respectfully.
“Please wait, Senior.”
“We are disciples of the Fallen Immortal Sect and the Myriad Swords Sect of the Inner Domain. We accidentally saw the Heaven-Opening Gate and mistakenly entered this place. We had no intention of offending you. We humbly ask that you spare us!”
“As soon as the teleportation passage out of this place appears, we will leave at once!”
“The Inner Domain? The Fallen Immortal Sect? The Myriad Swords Sect?” Si Lingce’s brows shifted slightly as he recalled that the books had once recorded the existence of the Heaven-Opening Gate and the connection between the two realms.
He had even joked with Yuan Shu before that such things were nothing but false legends, fantasies dreamed up by mortals.
There was only the Outer Domain in this world.
He had never expected that an Inner Domain truly existed.
Still, he had never heard of either of these sects.
But did they really expect an expert from the Outer Domain to care about two weak sects from the Inner Domain?
They were overthinking things!
Si Lingce said nothing. He merely continued gathering spiritual power in his raised hand, accelerating the process.
Beautiful, snow-white spiritual power condensed into a sphere, resembling a dazzling lunar disc.
Everyone present paled at the sight. One after another, they stepped forward and stood behind Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming, releasing their spiritual power to form a defensive formation.
But Si Lingce’s strength was simply too terrifying. The bright, dazzling snow-white disc looked ordinary enough, yet the power contained within it made even Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming feel a chill of fear.
Was he in the Void Refinement Realm? Or the Body Integration Realm?
No. Even when the Supreme Elders of their sects had acted, their spiritual fluctuations had never been so powerful.
Could it be… the legendary Mahayana Realm?
Could this person truly be a Mahayana cultivator?
But the cultivation world had never seen a Mahayana cultivator before!
Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming wore remarkably complicated expressions.
What kind of rotten luck had they stumbled upon? They had barely entered the underground palace when the inexplicable Hehuan power had affected them and disrupted their progress.
And now, by some cruel twist of fate, they had encountered an enemy of such terrifying strength.
Would they even be able to keep their lives today?
Their expressions darkened. After exchanging a glance, the two took out every magical treasure they had that could possibly be of use.
Even if they ultimately could not defeat their opponent, they had to struggle for a chance. Otherwise, they would not be willing to die!
Si Lingce remained indifferent. His expression did not change in the slightest.
In his eyes, opponents at the Nascent Divinity Realm were no different from ants.
Even with a pile of miscellaneous magical treasures, they could do nothing more than hold out for a few extra breaths. He did not consider them worth his attention.
The people present exchanged glances. None dared to speak, but they all understood that the situation was dire. They followed Shen Jingyuan and Jian Ming in preparing to fight to the death.
Even Yao Qianci and Mu Fengyun, who had been enduring the Hehuan power all this time, raised their heads and looked coldly at Si Lingce. Yet beneath their gazes lay a trace of regret.
It seemed this pure yang essence would never remain until they could see Shushu again.
Just then, amid the myriad scents in the air, a faintly familiar trace of Hehuan energy drifted into his nose.
Si Lingce’s expression froze. He abruptly turned his head, his sharp gaze sweeping over Yao Qianci and Mu Fengyun in the crowd.
Seeing that they were two unfamiliar men he had never met before, he frowned, thinking he must have sensed it wrongly.
But upon closer inspection, his brows twitched. “Using their own spiritual power and vital energy to forcibly resist Hehuan energy? They’ve resisted to the point of nearly dying.”
That familiar wisp of Hehuan energy made Si Lingce think of Yuan Shu.
Yuan Shu also liked to leave a tiny trace of her own Hehuan energy on the men she fancied, marking them through intimate contact.
Had these two been marked by someone as well?
The method was remarkably similar to Yuan Shu’s!
