"Something's wrong! We have trouble!"
"Quick! Activate the entire formation at once!"
Hundreds of streaks of escape light filled the night sky. Such a tremendous display immediately alerted the visible and hidden sentries of Mang Mountain Market Ward.
Sensing ten powerful waves of Foundation Establishment-level spirit pressure and hundreds at the Qi Refining level, they paled in shock and began to fumble.
Still, the guards reacted fairly quickly. They activated the formation immediately and used emergency communication talismans to notify the market ward's master-the Many-Eyed Daoist.
Had they been rogue cultivators, they might already have scattered like birds and beasts in the face of such an overwhelming disparity in strength.
But most of the market ward's guards were the Many-Eyed Daoist's "registered disciples." They were treated reasonably well, so none immediately entertained thoughts of betrayal.
Before the ten imposing streaks of escape light arrived, the formation barely activated under the guards' terrified gazes.
Wisps of yellow mist rose, swiftly enveloping the market ward's roughly one-li expanse and forming a vast shroud of fog, like a yellow "sea of mist."
With the yellow mist blocking their view, the market ward vanished before their eyes. Though it stood only a few dozen paces away, they could no longer clearly see what lay within.
Liu Yu landed a few dozen paces from the market ward's entrance and ordered Yan Kai, Cui Liang, Meng Wenxing, and the others to surround it from different directions, allowing no cultivator to leave.
"Seniors, what is the meaning of this? What brings you to Mang Mountain?"
"There must be some misunderstanding!"
At that moment, a guard inside the market ward mustered his courage and called out, choosing his words carefully to avoid inviting disaster.
Through his spiritual perception, Liu Yu sensed that the speaker was at the eighth