Jiangnan, Gantang Circuit.
Outside the Coastal Li Clan's territory, Qi Refining disciples gathered in groups, working overtime to set up formations and refine ritual altars.
Before long, one restrictive formation after another rose from the ground, encircling a ritual altar. Centered on it, they spread like a spiderweb and tightly enclosed the entire Gantang Circuit. Upon the altar, a young cultivator wreathed in the radiance of divine abilities stood with his hands behind his back, his expression cold and grim as he watched ahead.
After a moment, he suddenly sent out a strand of Divine Thought.
"Two Martial Uncles, do you think the Coastal Li Clan will come out?"
Before his words had faded, a transmission of Divine Thought arrived. "Of course. They are loose cultivators in the end. Seeing us set up formations here, they will surely be afraid."
It was an exceedingly bizarre scene.
In fact, even someone proficient in heavenly eye arts, with keen Divine Thought and the ability to calculate the workings of Heaven, would have been utterly unable to see where the speakers were.
Only Great True Persons at Foundation Establishment Late Stage could vaguely make out a thin veil of smoke beside the young cultivator, cutting off all Divine Thought perception. Behind that smoky veil stood two cultivators with surging auras and higher status, each wreathed in the radiance of an Innate Divine Ability.
"Dao Brother, this magic treasure of yours is quite extraordinary."
One of them wore black robes. Looking at the smoky veil, he sighed softly.
"With the cultivation you and I possess, descending here should have made us stand out like cranes among chickens, enough to make Jiangnan's loose cultivators shrink back in fear. Yet no one has noticed anything amiss."
The other shook his head and said in a deep