The hand was pale, slender, and utterly bloodless.
It seemed to reach out of the void, silently settling on the back of Wei Xinyuan's neck.
On this snowy night, Wei Xinyuan's body had remained unaffected by the cold, yet now a terrifying chill swept through him. The blood throughout his body seemed to freeze instantly, as though blasted by the bitter winds of deepest winter.
He watched helplessly as the wild joy on his father Wei Qingfeng's face turned into sheer terror. That terrified gaze passed over his shoulder, fixing on something behind him.
He wanted to move, to turn his head, to draw his sword.
His cultivation at True Astral Realm Completion and the sword intent he took such pride in had become useless ornaments.
He could not move-not even a single finger.
In the shadows of the crowd, Yi Yang's back tensed like a fully drawn bow.
One breath before that hand appeared, his Illusion-Breaking divine sense had detected a disturbance rising from the Blood Pool.
That presence had drifted silently behind Wei Xinyuan, impossibly fast and perfectly concealed. Even his divine sense had caught only a blurred trace of its passing.
Someone with strength like that was certainly no True Astral Realm cultivator.
This was a Profound Connection Realm expert.
And certainly not someone who had only just crossed its threshold.
To control a warrior at True Astral Realm Completion so effortlessly required abilities at least at Manifestation, the Profound Connection Second Realm.
The three portraits Jiang Zhongtian had given him flashed through Yi Yang's mind.
The first: a square face, high cheekbones, thin lips-Zhongli Qing, Profound Connection Second Realm.
The second: tall and thin, deep-set eyes, a pointed chin-Zhao Fengxian, Profound Connection Second Realm.
The third: a long-haired woman with delicate features and a sinister look