Chapter 208: Chapter 205: Struck with Horror
"Is there truly no room for negotiation?"
"We have no desire to be your enemies. Our quarry has simply entered the Qi Family Mansion. Please, grant us passage."
Nangong City frowned and asked in a low voice.
He sounded a little weak.
It couldn’t be helped.
He was truly not good at this kind of thing.
It was perfectly normal during major operations—like besieging and destroying an enemy faction—to bar strangers from the vicinity to avoid complications.
If he put himself in their shoes for a moment...
If one day...
he, Nangong City, was out for revenge...
he also wouldn’t want strangers nearby while he was fighting!
Because when you were locked in a life-or-death struggle, having unaffiliated parties nearby—with no way of knowing if they might interfere...
That kind of feeling...
was like having a blade hanging over you, never knowing when it might fall. The psychological impact was immense!
In this current matter,
Nangong City couldn’t, with a clear conscience, say he was in the right.
"I’m sorry, but our three families expended immense effort to conquer Qi Family Town. The Qi Family’s Treasury here therefore belongs to us, and us alone."
"If you two are looking to make a fortune, please try your luck elsewhere."
"Qi Family Town is in chaos right now. There are plenty of other places to find riches."
Clear displeasure surfaced on the face of the middle-aged man, surnamed Zhao. His voice grew cold, as if he was deeply annoyed by Nangong City and Shen Changchuan’s inability to take a hint.
"If you two really have an enemy here, why not seek your revenge earlier? Or later? Why choose this exact moment, when our three families are attacking Qi Family Town?"
"If you’re going to make up an excuse, at least make it a good one."
Confident with the backing of three major families, he even added a sarcastic jab.
In his eyes,
there was a ninety-percent chance that Shen Changchuan and his companion were just looters, here to take advantage of the chaos and raid the Qi Family’s Treasury!
He was sure of it.
After all, the Qi Family had once produced a Soul Emergence Realm expert.
Even if the Qi Family had since declined,
the legacy of that Soul Emergence Realm cultivation, for many Loose Cultivators at the Ninth Layer Realm, was still a fatal temptation.
Having figured this out, the middle-aged man’s expression grew even more menacing.
Seeing this,
Nangong City sensed that the man had gotten the wrong idea.
He sighed and was about to explain.
But at that moment, Shen Changchuan, who was at his side, had no intention of wasting any more time.
He stretched out a hand, stopping Nangong City.
"Enough talk. I’ll handle this."
As he spoke,
Shen Changchuan took a step forward.
The middle-aged man, Zhao, was still frowning slightly, wondering what Shen Changchuan was playing at.
However, at the exact moment Shen Changchuan’s foot landed...
BOOM!!!
In that instant,
the man felt an immense weight, as if a mountain had crashed down on his shoulders!
He felt as though he’d been plunged into an icy cavern in the dead of winter, a bucket of freezing water dumped over his head. A chill pierced him to the bone, and he couldn’t even move a finger!
"S... Soul Emergence?!"
The middle-aged man surnamed Zhao was scared witless, his face ashen.
The hairs on his body stood on end. In an instant, a flood of cold sweat drenched his clothes.
A Divine Sense, powerful enough for Soul Emergence and Body Separation, spread out and blanketed the entire area.
Accompanied by an irresistible aura, it stunned everyone present into terrified stillness.
The air...
...was dead silent.
Even the sound of breathing seemed to have vanished.
You could hear a pin drop!
"Would you mind stepping aside?"
Shen Changchuan looked down at the middle-aged man surnamed Zhao.
He spoke calmly, his voice devoid of any emotion.
The middle-aged man swallowed with difficulty, his forehead beaded with sweat.
"O-Of course..."
"S-Senior, please, come in. This humble one was blind and failed to recognize a master. I have offended you, Senior. Please, I beg for your forgiveness..."
The middle-aged man, drenched in sweat, immediately lowered his head and stuttered.
Then, realizing his mistake, he scrambled to the side, no longer daring to block the path.
Seeing this, the crowd of Cultivators behind him also quickly parted to make way.
In the space of a breath,
the crowd scattered to both sides,
opening up a wide path.
The way into the Qi Family Mansion was now completely unobstructed!
Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Changchuan stepped inside.
Behind him, Nangong City, who had been frozen in place, blinked. It took him a long moment to snap out of his shock and hurry after Shen Changchuan into the Qi Family Mansion.
"Brother Shen, you... could it be? Have you already advanced to the Soul Emergence Realm?"
Once they had stepped into a courtyard,
far from the crowd behind them, Nangong City finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and asked, his gaze filled with unconcealable shock.
That feeling just now...
it had almost made Nangong City recall what it felt like to face that Soul Emergence Realm Demon Cultivator!
"Brother Nangong, do you think it’s possible for me to easily advance from the Ninth Layer Early Stage to the Soul Emergence Realm in just one or two short months?"
Shen Changchuan was rendered a little speechless by Nangong City’s shock.
That aura of his...
was just a bluff, a simulated presence created by using his Divine Sense—which could leave his body—in combination with his own aura.
Simply put, it was all for show.
It was nowhere near the level of a true Soul Emergence Realm expert.
Others might find it hard to tell the difference because of the suppression from his powerful Divine Sense.
But he had only revealed his Ninth Layer Early Stage cultivation a month ago.
How could he possibly advance to Soul Emergence in such a short time?!
"That’s not necessarily true. It might be impossible for others, but for you, it’s not entirely out of the question..."
Nangong City replied instinctively.
"..."
"You’re exaggerating, Brother Nangong. Even the impossible has to follow some logic... If I were that powerful, I wouldn’t have needed to make this trip myself..."
As they spoke,
the two had already entered the Qi Family’s grand residence.
Though it was called a grand residence,
as the home of an Immortal Cultivation Clan, it was naturally on a different scale than the estates of minor families.
Its grounds were immense, sprawling for at least ten li.
With its various rockeries, trees, walls, hills, and magical Arrays and Restrictions... finding the two members of the Shen Family quickly would not be easy.
Evidently,
both of them had realized this,
and their advancing footsteps came to a halt.
"Brother Nangong, do you have any idea which direction those two might be in?"
"...I don’t know either. But perhaps we can find someone to ask."
Inside the Qi Family’s grand residence, corpses were scattered everywhere,
and traces of various battles crisscrossed the area.
But surely they could find one or two people still alive.
And so, before long, the two began to search the surroundings. Soon, they found a man who looked like a servant, hiding in the corner of a secluded courtyard.
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