In their panic, the Ultimate Dao Elder and Blood Sea High Person had failed to notice that one member of the Outer Dao was already missing.
Only when they focused and looked now did they realize, with a start, that Chen Xuanzi was nowhere to be seen.
The gold-robed youth spread his divine sense like a tide and slowly turned his head.
At the center of the mountaintop plaza, a white-robed Daoist stood quietly beside the golden basin.
The gold-robed youth raised an eyebrow, then gave him a faint, ambiguous smile. "A slippery one, aren't you?"
His aura erupted. The pressure of a Supreme Grandmaster loomed like a mountain over an abyss, enveloping the entire plaza.
Ant True Person, who stood closest, was already injured; now his aura weakened until it threatened to dissipate. Beside him, the Treasure-Filled True Person swayed and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
For a moment, every gaze converged on the white-robed Daoist—the only person present whose cultivation remained intact.
The Beast Emperor and Xingyao exchanged glances. Both remembered how, when the Devil Dao seized the Devil Ancestor's Sarira earlier, you had quietly slipped into the passage. Who could have imagined that he had not left?
Ignoring everyone else, the gold-robed youth fixed a gaze almost tangible upon the white-robed Daoist's face and spoke slowly.
"How did you notice?"
That question was also on the minds of every sect leader present. Each led a sect and considered himself sufficiently cautious, yet none had recognized the trap into which they had fallen.
Yet now, beneath the pressure of a Supreme Grandmaster, the white-robed Daoist's expression remained calm.
You raised your eyes to the gold-robed youth and said evenly, "Perhaps simply because—everything was too convenient."
"From entering Many-Treasure Mountain to everything that happened afterward, there were too