Xuān Pǔ Palace.
Outside the barrier.
"I, Cangwu, pay my respects to Elders Xuanbei and Fengzhu."
Facing the terrifying pressure emanating from Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu, Heavenly Lord Cangwu remained composed despite the fine beads of cold sweat covering his forehead, as though he had anticipated this.
"Our respects to Elders Xuanbei and Fengzhu."
The three beside him, including Heavenly Lord Qingmu, also offered their greetings calmly.
Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu remained impassive.
Daoist Fengzhu swept a particularly disgusted glance over the four and said icily:
"I'll warn you two one last time."
Heavenly Lord Xuanbei continued:
"If you don't get lost, don't expect to leave here alive."
The four remained unafraid at those words.
Heavenly Lord Cangwu even looked at Heavenly Lord Xuanbei and Daoist Fengzhu with an expression of anguish:
"As elders revered by everyone in the Upper Realm, why would you two protect someone from the Lower Realm who is ruining our Upper Realm's cultivation fortune?"
He stepped forward and said earnestly:
"If this person successfully breaks through to the Dao Integration Realm, our Upper Realm's cultivation fortune will surely be set back thousands of years. When the Cultivation World's old crop is gone and the new has yet to ripen, how will we resist the demonic beasts of the Nine Abysses?"
Heavenly Lord Cangwu was clearly trying to coerce them on moral grounds.
But why would Xuanbei and Fengzhu care about any of that?
Daoist Fengzhu drew his hands out of his sleeves, a faint glow like flowing flame suddenly curling around them as his lean figure slowly straightened.
Boom!!
The already terrifying aura fluctuations around him instantly surged more than tenfold, slamming into Heavenly Lord Cangwu and the other three like a succession of heavy palm strikes.
At the same time,