After the time it took an incense stick to burn.
Night returned to darkness, all light vanishing in an instant.
Inside the house.
Yang An was currently studying the man and woman before him with a curious expression.
"Are you really cultivators?"
He remained guarded, so he did not approach them too closely.
What he could not quite understand was why neither of them looked anything like cultivators.
"We truly are cultivators, Fellow Daoist. Absolutely, unquestionably!"
Pan Shi wiped the sweat from his brow and looked painedly at the several scorched black patches on his clothes. More importantly, the protective artifact his master had given him could not be used again for some time.
To withstand Yang An's attack and suppress the flames erupting within his body, he had used the protective artifact bestowed by his master. Only then had he avoided injury.
But every time that artifact was used, it had to absorb Moon Essence over several nights to recharge before it could be used again.
That meant that on this trip to the Communal Feast Convention, he had one less means of saving his life. The thought made his heart bleed.
He had never expected Yang An's methods to be so bizarre and so immensely powerful. It had looked as though Yang An had held nothing back at all.
Had he not used the artifact his master had given him, he and his junior sister would certainly have died here.
All he could say was that the direct disciples of these great righteous sects were truly terrifying.
"If we were demons, why would we take the initiative to show ourselves and provoke you, Fellow Daoist? We really are cultivators!" Pan Shi continued.
Pan Yu, standing beside him, looked equally bedraggled. Several holes had been burned through her clothing, and even her hair carried the acrid smell of singeing.
If Senior Brother had not protected her, then with her strength still at the Resonance Stage, she would have been the first to fail to hold on.
Now she looked at Yang An with a deeply aggrieved expression.
"What is wrong with you? The moment we met, you tried to kill us without a word. You clearly heard my Senior Brother's explanation, yet you only got more excited. You... you have a problem, don't you?"
She had wanted to say, "Is there something wrong with your brain?" But remembering what Senior Brother had said about his identity, along with the fact that his strength truly was terrifying, she ultimately softened the words that left her mouth slightly, lest she provoke him into a rage.
After saying that, she pointed at the two of their clothes.
"Our outfits have been ruined, and we even used the artifact our master gave us. You... you have to compensate us!"
Pan Yu spoke indignantly, though with some fear still in her voice.
"No, no. Fellow Daoist only made an unintentional mistake. You had just fought demons and mistook us for them, which is understandable. Fellow Daoist is not at fault here. We were the ones who acted presumptuously. Junior sister, do not act rashly."
Pan Shi immediately wiped away another bead of sweat, stopping his junior sister as he hurriedly spoke.
He truly feared that if his junior sister misspoke and enraged Yang An, Yang An would strike them again. This time, they would have no protective artifact left to use.
Hearing them, Yang An pondered briefly and chose to believe that the two were cultivators rather than demons.
From the demons he had killed earlier, they had mostly lacked any reason, filled instead with madness and killing intent.
If they really were demons, why waste so many words on him? Would it not have been more straightforward to simply attack?
The conduct, mannerisms, and speech of the two before him were all more like those of normal humans. Yang An also found the pair rather interesting.
Yet judging from what they said, they seemed to have mistaken him for a fellow cultivator. Having personally witnessed him destroy those demons, they had revealed themselves to make his acquaintance.
Yang An immediately hesitated. Should he explain to them that he was not actually a cultivator?
"By the way, Fellow Daoist, may we know your esteemed name? And upon which immortal mountain do you cultivate?"
Just as Yang An hesitated, Pan Shi spoke first.
When they had first appeared, they had already revealed their identities, but they still did not know Yang An's origins.
Pan Shi also wanted to know which great righteous sect Yang An belonged to. He looked so young, yet his strength was so formidable.
Upon hearing Pan Shi's question, Yang An ultimately chose not to explain.
For one thing, they did not know each other. If these two had other motives, he still needed to be on guard.
For another, being mistaken for a cultivator was not such a bad identity. At least wearing this skin could intimidate them. Otherwise, if they learned that he was not a cultivator but an ordinary person, and in a fit of shame and anger attacked him, he had no way of enduring further expenditure now.
Yang An only felt his body growing weaker and weaker. If not for the Lighting Method within the Blood Bowl keeping his mind lucid, he likely would no longer have had the strength to remain standing.
After considering it, Yang An decided to put on an act first and answered:
"My surname is Yang, with the given name An, as in the an of the ash tree. As for my sect, forgive me, but I cannot tell you. It is truly inconvenient to disclose."
"So it is Fellow Daoist Yang. Since it is inconvenient for you to reveal it, there is no need to say more. I understand."
Pan Shi smiled as he spoke, though a guess had already formed in his heart.
It seems to be a reclusive great righteous sect. His background truly is no small matter!
No one could say how many hidden sects existed in this world, but without exception, any that could remain hidden had all been renowned great sects thousands, even ten thousand, years ago.
After all, only those with sufficient foundations could remain secluded amid chaotic times and preserve their inheritance for a thousand years, or even ten thousand.
It was not as though any stray cat or dog could hide in some mountain for a few years and call itself a reclusive sect.
Moreover, judging from the methods Yang An had displayed earlier, Pan Shi could not identify the sect or school from which Yang An's arts originated. He only knew that those arts were exceedingly strange, capable of igniting flames directly within another person's body.
More importantly, although the attack method was bizarre, the aura contained within it was upright and majestic, utterly free of even a trace of tainted air.
That alone was enough to show that this art had an extraordinary origin. It was absolutely not something a minor sect could possess.
Beyond that, there was another matter that had aroused Pan Shi's curiosity.
It was the wheel of light that had appeared behind Yang An when he first arrived, radiating White Light.
Merely being illuminated by that White Light had made Pan Shi and his junior sister feel uncomfortable all over, as though needles were pricking them.
Yet within that White Light, Pan Shi had also sensed holiness and solemnity.
If his guess was correct, that aura should have belonged to the Buddhist Principles cultivated by monks of the Buddhist sects. The Buddhist aura it contained was extremely rich.
Yet to completely manifest Buddhist Principles, even condensing them into a solid wheel of light for protection, was a realm that only one profoundly accomplished in Buddhist teachings could attain.
But Yang An's features showed not the slightest aura or bearing of a monk, nor had he shaved his head, and yet he commanded such exquisite and profound Buddhist teachings.
This was what perplexed Pan Shi.
Though every clue led him to speculate, he found Yang An increasingly unfathomable. Instead, the sect Yang An belonged to seemed ever more mysterious and powerful.
Just what kind of colossal existence stood behind Fellow Daoist Yang?
Before you continue