“Clan Leader?” the old man asked baffled.
But his expression suddenly changed, and he swerved his attention back to the fluctuations he felt earlier.
“Cheap tricks!!”
The sagely old man mocked as he swish his sleeves at the void, causing it to collapse completely.
However, his expression changed once again as he saw several humanoid figures spring from out of the collapsed space and filled the entire chamber.
All of them were heading towards the golden pill furnace. The closest of the humanoid figures were already twenty meters away from reaching it.
Seeing these strange puppet-like figures, the sagely old man snorted and willed his Divine Will to exert pressure on the surroundings.
“I don’t know who you are to think sneaking into our Bai Clan was a good idea, but after I destroy this puppet of yours, I’m going to personal scour the entire Maple Continent to find you.”
The sagely old man’s Divine Will trembled and 2/3 of Xi Shen’s clones were destroyed. The sagely old man was still floating in mid-air over the pill furnace not worried in the least.
He watched as Xi Shen’s puppet clones got closer to him but with a thought, he was going to once again exert his Divine Will and completely destroyed them all. However, the clone of Bai Luo the sagely old man completely ignored spoke words that sent him reeling back in shock.
“The negotiations with the Lin Clan have been completed, in addition to our previous request they gifted us this puppet.”
Xi Shen didn’t care how weird or out of place the words Bai Luo spoke were, he just wanted to distract this old man.
And that was exactly what happened, the old paused his actions and while he turn to Bai Luo he said, “T-they have?”
The sudden news of this completely caught the old man off guard, but his expression suddenly turned suspicious and his Divine Will engulfed Bai Luo. The old man’s expression turned grim when he realize Bai Luo was indeed a clone as he thought.
“Bastard!! How do you know about the marriage alliance between our Lin and Bai Clan?!! Who are you?!!”
The sagely old man became extremely worried, no one was supposed to know of this fact until the exchange was complete. But now the unknown person controlling this puppet revealed that he knew!
The old man change from wanting to kill Xi Shen to wanting to capture him.
Xi Shen, who was among the remaining clones thought in his mind, “So that’s what it was, the Lin and Bai Clan are planning to have a marriage alliance? Two of the Seven Major Clans are planning to combine their power and influence. This can only cause chaos among them if this was to be revealed. No way they would allow such a power to exist, especially my Li Clan, this is the last thing father would want to happen.”
As those thoughts passed through Xi Shen’s mind as quick as lightning, he then saw the sagely old man standing up and releasing the full extent of his Divine Will and destroying all of Xi Shen’s clones.
Xi Shen was only a few meters away from the pill furnace but was sent flying back to the wall of the chambers.
The old man's intention was obviously to capture Xi Shen because that attack should have been enough to destroy his puppet.
This was exactly what Xi Shen wanted, now with the fear of destroying his puppet the old man effectively place a restrain on himself.
The old man’s eyes landed on Xi Shen’s real figure and he took a step and appeared in front of Xi Shen.
“I’m going to rip out that consciousness I feel inside this puppet and find out who you are. If I don’t my Bai Clan will likely have to fear being attacked from the shadows by the power behind you.”
The old man then reached for Xi Shen and lifted him off the ground.
“Tell me who sent you here, and how you found out about our marriage alliance with the Lin Clan.”
The old man growled out, but the only response he got from Xi Shen was him saying, “Thanks for leaving the pill furnace unattended,” with a distorted voice.
The old man felt his heart drop when he heard Xi Shen’s words. and his head swerve back to see that the golden pill furnace had vanished.
When he turned back to Xi Shen in his hold he saw that he had escaped into a pocket space. The old man reacted quickly and used his Divine Will to collapse the space, but Xi Shen had already moved and left the chamber.
The old man felt his blood boil from being tricked. Now not only had he let the pill furnace he was tasked to watch disappeared but this person who knew of the marriage alliance between them and the Lin Clan was trying to escape.
“Bastard!!”
The sagely old man bellowed out and his aura erupted from the chamber and destroyed the mountain.
The power of a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator could not be underestimated. The entire Bai Clan tremble when his aura erupted.
Strange phenomenons suddenly appeared in the sky as if the Laws of heaven and earth were as equally as furious as him.
The old man floated out of the broken mountain and sent his Divine Will spreading out unrestrained. He found a trail of faint fluctuations of space leading to the forest, and his expression darkened at the fact that this puppet or the person in control was extremely good at manipulating Spatial Laws. Even the old man had to concede that it would be difficult to catch him now, but he had to.
As the old man’s aura erupted from his being, he made a split-second decision and then bellowed out in a booming voice, “There is an intruder in the Bai Clan!! Seal off all the exits and entrances of the Clan immediately!!”
The old man could not let this mysterious person escape, or else not only would disaster befall their Clan in the future, but the marriage alliance would also be called off if they were to lose the pill furnace.
Xi Shen who was running away frantically in the void cursed out loud when he heard the old man’s words.
“Fuck! Escaping just got ten times worst!”
Xi Shen was holding the golden pill furnace that Tai had snatched when the old man was distracted. He glanced down towards it and feeling the familiar Chaos Qi coursing through it, his figurative heart began to beat excitedly.
Maybe this could be his chance to continue his research about this mysterious energy he had discovered so long ago.
However, that was if he could escape the cage that he was suddenly trapped in.
Xi Shen then formed several hand seals while his eyes glowed with red runes.
Back at the mountain, the old man was about to follow the trail of fluctuating space, but all of a sudden, the formations around the mountain lit up and activated at once.
The old man became stunned at what was going on, he formed several hand seals to deactivate his runes but he realize they were no longer under his control.
The old man frowned and went flying after Xi Shen, but beneath him, a formation suddenly began sucking in a massive amount of Fire Qi from the surroundings and then released a forty-meter fireball towards the old man in the sky.
The old man become dumbfounded when he felt the power of his formation.
“Wh-what is this?! How did they become so powerful?!”
The old man quickly sent out a palm attack and easily destroyed the fireball, but four more of a bigger size came flying towards him.
The old man was becoming more and more stupefied, as even after destroying those four fireballs he saw a red bolt of lightning heading towards him.
The old man swerved to the side dodging it, but he felt all the hair’s on his body stand on end.
The lightning was previously blue, but this one was blood red and gave off the aura of slaughter.
Now not only were fireballs coming in waves but there were also red lightning bolts.
The old man became slightly flustered and not wanting to get caught up in the barrage of this many formations, he chose to barge his way out.
No matter how many fireballs came at him or how many Sword Qi and lightning bolts flash towards him, he forcefully destroyed them all.
However, just when he was about to leave entirely, his expression changed when he was suddenly caught in his own Heavenly Entrapment Illusion Formation.
He had tried several times to regain control over his formations, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t, these were no longer his formations but someone else’s.
“Goddammit!! Which bastard did this to my formations?!!”
The sagely old man bellowed out before he made a decision and sent out a palm attack that flatten the mountain and the space around it.
A loud explosion echoed out and Xi Shen could even hear it from a mile away, causing him to snicker in amusement.
The old man came out of the dust and rubble with a haggard appearance.
Looking down at the destroyed formations he had worked so hard to create, the grudge he held towards Xi Shen increased tenfold!
But when the old man went to follow Xi Shen completely enraged beyond belief, he realize the trail of fluctuations had long faded away.
The old man’s eyes spit fire and he almost coughed up a mouth full of blood from the overwhelming frustration he was feeling.
After the old man’s shout and his burst of aura, the entire Bai Clan became alert of an intruder, and immediately locked down the Clan and started searching for Xi Shen.
Xi Shen's situation was now extremely precarious, as he was now surrounded by all sides. How would he escape now?
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Word Count: 1675
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