Inside the stone house, silence hung as heavy as death.
Only the howling wind outside swayed through the air.
Ye Xingchen kept his hands tucked into his sleeves, cold sweat already streaming down the groove of his spine to his waistband.
He looked as steady as an old dog on the surface, but inside, he was panicking like crazy.
This dried-corpse-like old man had casually waved a hand through the air just moments ago and sent two Nascent Soul Late Stage experts of the First Saint Sect flying. Even Qin Feng, the Spirit Transformation Realm sect master, could only stand by and watch.
That level of combat power was absolutely ceiling-tier.
Running was definitely not an option.
"Um... sir."
Ye Xingchen cleared his throat and broke the deadlock first. "Let's talk this out properly. If you need someone to serve tea and run errands, the outer sect has plenty of strong young men. I'm lazy, my back is bad, and I have rheumatism. I'm really not suited to caring for you in your old age."
The old man did not respond.
Those ghostly green eyes rolled twice in their sockets like two balls of will-o'-the-wisp, seeming ready to shine straight through Ye Xingchen's marrow.
That shameful feeling of being stripped bare inside and out made Ye Xingchen instinctively clamp his legs together.
"Ke ke ke."
The old man squeezed out a strange laugh like a night owl from his throat. "Chaos Dao Body... no wonder you rang the Dao Bell nine times. A fine seedling, truly a fine seedling."
Ye Xingchen gave a dry laugh. "You flatter me, Senior. The bell was broken. I'm innocent."
"However..."
Before the old man finished speaking, his twig-thin finger pointed out without warning.
There was no sound of air being torn.
Ye Xingchen did