Plucking the Tiger's Whiskers and Still Thinking of Leaving?

As he shouted in fury, the Thin Man skilled in spells changed the hand seals before him, unleashing one exquisite spell after another. The burly man moved like rolling thunder, his bearing awe-inspiring, while the Slender Woman's figure remained faintly visible and indistinct. In the blink of an eye, the three formed an encirclement and pounced toward the Sect Master and Lu Ye.

With a flip of his hand, the Sect Master conjured several small flags out of thin air. He barked, "Go!"

The small flags flew in all directions and vanished into the void.

"Rise!" the Sect Master shouted again. Spiritual Power surged around him, and in an instant, a transparent Light Screen formed a semicircular barrier around the hall. Mysterious Spiritual Patterns flowed and shifted across its surface.

The spells cast by the Thin Man struck the Light Screen, sending ripples spreading across it. When the burly man crashed into it, several of the Spiritual Patterns immediately shattered. The indistinct figure of the woman was revealed as well. Her face and hands were covered in strange markings that obscured her original appearance, making her look like a ghostly specter. She held a serpent-like dagger and slashed down viciously, shattering even more Spiritual Patterns.

"A Formation!" The Thin Man's pupils contracted. The intelligence had never mentioned that Tang Yifeng was proficient in Formations, but judging by the speed at which he had set it up, he had undoubtedly grasped the essence of the Formation Dao.

"Three breaths!" the burly man roared, meaning that he could break the Formation within three breaths.

After all, this Formation had been hastily arranged by the Sect Master. Being able to hold off three cultivators of the same cultivation level for three breaths was already an extraordinary feat.

As the words fell, the burly man sank his qi into his Dantian and slowly threw a punch. It looked exceedingly slow, yet as his fist shot out, his arm continuously swelled and thickened.

Inside the Formation, the Sect Master paid no attention to the three outside. Instead, he seized Lu Ye and brought him to the center of the Ruined Hall, where there stood an object about the height of a man and as thick as a water barrel, seemingly made of crystal.

"Put your hand on it and activate your Spiritual Power!" the Sect Master commanded in a low voice.

Though Lu Ye did not know what this was for, he understood that the Sect Master would not harm him. He hurriedly did as instructed. The moment he placed his palm over the Crystal Pillar and activated his Spiritual Power, the Sect Master's figure before him suddenly began to blur.

He could not help feeling as though he was growing farther and farther away from this world.

"Once you get inside, immediately find a place to hide. You must survive! And also... never tell anyone that you are a disciple of the Crimson Blood Sect!" The Sect Master looked at him, his eyes brimming with guilt.

Lu Ye opened his mouth to speak, but he could not hear his own voice at all. The Sect Master's figure before him became ever blurrier, and even the entire world blurred with it.

When he came back to his senses, the Sect Master was nowhere to be seen, and even his surroundings had changed.

Crack...

The Formation shattered. As the burly man broke the Formation, he charged at the Sect Master with overwhelming momentum and threw a punch, thinking to himself, Got him!

The next instant, violent shockwaves swept out. The already Ruined Hall was reduced to broken walls and rubble, while the Crystal Pillar alone remained completely unharmed.

The burly man's pupils shrank sharply. Before him stood the Sect Master, his upper garments blown to pieces, every muscle on his body sharply defined. He had caught the man's fist with one hand. The burly man's eyelids twitched violently. "How is that possible?"

Everyone knew that Tang Yifeng of the Crimson Blood Sect followed the path of a Spell Cultivator. Yet looking at him now, how was he a Spell Cultivator? He was clearly a Body Cultivator!

Moreover, the cultivation Tang Yifeng displayed at this moment was far from as simple as the intelligence had claimed.

"The mission has failed. The intelligence was wrong. Retreat!" the Thin Man skilled in spells shouted.

The Slender Woman, who had already rushed to the Sect Master's side, did not hesitate in the slightest. Her figure swiftly retreated. Their target was already gone, and fighting Tang Yifeng to the death would clearly not be worth it.

Crack!

Accompanied by a muffled grunt, several bones in the fist caught in the Sect Master's palm were crushed. The burly man was tough enough not to cry out, but the next moment, a fist came from a direction he had never expected and smashed viciously into his jaw.

The burly man shot into the sky, stars exploding before his eyes.

"After plucking the tiger's whiskers, you still think you can leave?" The Sect Master lowered his eyes. As his words fell, he was already in midair, kicking out with a side kick.

With a bang, the Slender Woman, who had concealed herself and was fleeing into the distance, was kicked out of hiding and sent screaming toward the mountain below.

The Sect Master raised his hand again, and a rope-like treasure flew out, coiling toward the Thin Man.

A short while earlier.

Inside a cabin aboard the Flying Dragon Ship, Pang Zhen sat upright. Before him knelt a plump figure—none other than Pang Dahai. The fellow clutched his own ears in both hands, wearing a pitiful expression.

Pang Zhen slammed the table and roared, "You bastard, do you know what you've done?"

Pang Dahai said aggrievedly, "Didn't I just give that Lu Yiye a little guidance and have him choose Old Man Tang's Crimson Blood Sect?"

"Do you know that violates the alliance rules?" Pang Zhen grew even angrier.

When Pang Dahai had guided Lu Yiye and Yu Xiaodie, he had not avoided others. Although no one knew what they had been discussing, many had seen them.

Afterward, it had been easy enough to investigate and trace it back to Pang Dahai.

Over the years, Old Man Tang had accompanied the Vast Sky Alliance on many missions and rescued many people who had been enslaved. Yet among those rescued, those with cultivation aptitude and talent rarely chose the Crimson Blood Sect when selecting a sect in the end, much less chose it alone.

This time, however, there had been an exception.

Pang Zhen had found the matter suspicious. Could someone have secretly guided him? Once he investigated, he found that it led right back to his own family.

"So what now? How about you deal with me according to the alliance rules, Uncle?" Pang Dahai looked at Pang Zhen, his little eyes blinking.

"You little bastard, if not for your mother's sake, I'd slap you to death!" Pang Zhen raised his hand as he spoke, as though about to strike. Pang Dahai instinctively shrank his neck, but seeing that Pang Zhen's hand did not truly come down, he began to grin again.

Seeing his frivolous, grinning face only made Pang Zhen angrier. After fuming for a while, he said, "At least you still know your limits. That boy only has one leaf of talent, so he will not achieve much in the future. By Old Man Tang's intentions, he will find an opportunity to send him to another sect for cultivation later. Hopefully, this will not stir up any trouble."

Pang Dahai frowned. "Uncle, the Crimson Blood Sect hasn't taken in a disciple for thirty years. If it still does not accept anyone, then under the alliance rules, the entire sect will be stripped of its status. Old Man Tang and Senior Sister Shui Yuan are both good people. I simply could not bear to watch, so I guided that Lu Yiye. But Uncle, what exactly happened back then? Why did those people suppress the Crimson Blood Sect to this extent?"

"Do not ask about things you should not know. Remember this: these waters run deep. They are not something a Cloud River Realm cultivator like you can meddle in. Stop making decisions on your own in the future."

"Yes!" Pang Dahai hurriedly answered, knowing that this ordeal had passed. He leisurely rose from the floor.

"Who told you to stand up?" Pang Zhen raised his eyes.

Thud...

Pang Dahai dropped to his knees with crisp efficiency.

Pang Zhen shot him an irritated glance and was about to scold him further when his brows suddenly furrowed. He lowered his head to look at the thumb ring on his hand. The next instant, his expression changed drastically. He sprang to his feet and hurriedly rushed out!

Several dozen breaths later, a streak of light descended into the wilderness, revealing Pang Zhen, who had rushed over at top speed. Upon receiving Old Man Tang's message, he had not delayed in the slightest.

Looking around, he saw utter devastation throughout the wilderness, traces of a fierce battle everywhere.

The corpse of a burly man lay sprawled to one side, a great hole punched through his chest as though he had been killed by a single punch. Elsewhere, a woman whose face was covered in Ghost Patterns had her body twisted and folded unnaturally, embedded in a mountain wall. One more person was pinned beneath Old Man Tang's foot, his skull shattered and brains strewn across the ground.

Old Man Tang stood bare-chested, shockwaves rolling around him as Spiritual Power billowed from his body.

Pang Zhen's eyelid could not help twitching.