Right when she was about to give up on expecting the talisman to do anything at all, one of her teammates yelped.
"There's an invisible person around us! Careful!"
The one who had shouted was well-known for his ability to perceive the auras of any living organism around him, making him one of the hardest disciples in their sect to sneak up on. Since he had said so-
All thirteen of them immediately leaped closer to each other, forming a tight circle as they faced outward.
"Jingchun, can you sense his approximate position?" Shen Mi said.
"No. This person was very fast. I only sensed his presence for half a second when he passed by my perception field. But I'm pretty sure..."
"Yes?"
"I'm pretty sure he was heading towards the cabin," Jingchun whispered, finding his own conclusion difficult to swallow.
For a moment, all thirteen of them exchanged tense looks among themselves.
"Your shout had to have alerted him. Will he enter the cabin now?" Ning Xueshi whispered.
"I'm not sure. But he definitely isn't near us at the moment. If he has some urgent business in Leng Qing's cabin, then I doubt he'll waste his time when he has already been discovered."
"Could it be that Xuhan?" Shen Mi wondered. "He left under the guise of returning to his sect and came back here with some sort of invisibility formation?"
"Why would he leave that signaling talisman here in that case?" Jingchun retorted.
"It's definitely somebody else. The aura I felt wasn't inferior to any of us here. This invisible opponent is definitely at the peak of the Physique Transformation realm!"
All of them fell silent as they contemplated whether to rush into the hut to search for this invisible enemy or be passively defensive. None of them had ever encountered someone who could fully turn invisible, at least not in a situation where one wrong move could lead to fatal injuries.
Right then, one of them said, "Sister Mi, do you remember...that Han Xuhan asked you to gather enough manpower to suppress someone at the peak of the Physique Transformation Realm?"
"...."
The implication wasn't lost on any of them. Shen Mi became pale as she recalled the contents of the letter she had received from Xuhan last night. At that time, she had assumed that he wanted some backup to deal with some hidden enemies of their faction whom he had discovered, for example- Leng Qing.
But Leng Qing had been dealt with unceremoniously by Xuhan himself under some very suspicious circumstances that had led her to hold an unfriendly attitude towards Han Xuhan.
Yet now, Leng Qing's cabin had received an invisible guest. Han Xuhan had left a signal-type formation. Leng Qing himself was knocked out-
Shen Mi's pupils shrank.
Could the truth be that Han Xuhan was using Leng Qing as a bait to draw out the real mastermind planning the downfall of their Phoenix Faction?
As soon as the idea took birth in her mind, it took root, spreading its branches in many directions.
Shen Mi felt like she had reached the closest conclusion to truth. Although there were some vague aspects, what else could be a more likely face of this disjointed mess of incidents?
"Whoever it is, we can't let them harm Leng Qing! Move!"
Her steps as powerful as a stomping dragon, Shen Mi sprang towards the cabin, disregarding her personal safety, not caring if this invisible opponent had laid a trap for them upon learning that he had been discovered.
Behind her, most of her teammates followed...all except one, in fact. In their rush to save Leng Qing, none of them noticed one of their fellow disciples hanging back, face uncertain.
"None of these are parts of the plan. Who the hell might this be? Are they trying to frame us? How?"
This disciple seemed to have reached a decision after a moment.
"We need to unmask this fellow, whoever he is."
As the disciple followed the rest of the team to enter the cabin, a fast silhouette swooped down from above, landing gracefully in front of the cabin.
This was a red skeleton of an owl. It held in its beak a pouch.
In the backyard of the cabin, a human skeleton crouched behind a shrub. In front of him, precious items used in fueling high-level formations were laid out.
If one were to look outside through the only window of the bedroom of the cabin, they'd see a human standing not too far away, beneath the canopy of a large tree. He was holding a skeleton of a snake in his arms, his eyes trained on the cabin intently.
"The second layer of the game is afoot, Yinzhe," he said in a low voice. "Do you think Papa will win this time?"
The red snake skeleton in his arms squirmed. "A foot? Why do I not have a foot, Papa? Why? Can I have a foot like you? You have not one, but two feet! Give me one, Papa! Pwease!"
"It's nature, Yinzhe. Some things in nature cannot be forced. Just like how some people can't be forced to go against their nature."
The first concern Shen Mi and her team needed to address was to ensure Leng Qing's safety. Leng Qing's cabin was not large, at least not enough to let thirteen people move around comfortably. One after one, they rushed into the bedroom where they had left him seated on his recliner.
Whoever this invisible person they were facing was, he couldn't have done anything so fast. Surrounding Leng Qing's recliner from all four directions, Shen Mi began to give out orders.
"Brother Cui, Sister Zhen, you two check the last room. Brother Shan and Hui, you two take the front room. Don't leave a single inch of area unchecked."
The four disciples nodded and moved out methodically, their limbs taut and ready to explode into motion at the shortest possible notice of any anomaly.
"Brother Jingchun, begin meditating. Try your best to cover the entire cabin with your consciousness."
The disciple whose specialization was to perceive all types of life around him was their biggest asset in this confrontation. But that didn't mean he was the only card they had to rely on.
Shen Mi glanced casually at one of the remaining disciples in the room as she began checking Leng Qing's body for any abnormalities. Imperceptibly, a thread of invisible qi slithered out of the body of the disciple, heading towards the ceiling. This qi seeped into the roof, stimulating the construct that had been placed above, a feature common to every cabin on the outer-ring island. Unseen to all the occupants of the cabin, the large metal ball at the center of the roof began to heat up, emitting a lava-like red sheen. Crimson cracks began to appear across its smooth exterior, forming complex patterns that covered the entire metal sphere.
This was Shen Mi's biggest trump card. Their current situation could no longer be categorized as a simple tournament scuffle. Although she did not know what game Han Xuhan was playing here, it was apparent enough that the invisible enemy around them had no good intentions. This could escalate to the level of inter-sect conflict. Involving their elders from the get-go would be the best route to take, she believed. And that was what the Data Container on the roof would accomplish!
Of course, it would be the best outcome if they could apprehend this infiltrator by the time the elders were alerted and came to intervene. So Shen Mi did not slack off in her attempts to trace this fellow. After checking Leng Qing's vitals, she switched her focus back to the room.
Qi Jingchun was fully absorbed in meditation. If the invisible opponent understood the situation here, the first person he would target would undoubtedly be Jingchun. Shen Mi understood this, as did Jingchun himself. But he trusted her though to surrender his safety in her hands.
Where could this enemy be...? And what was their motive?
At that very moment, Shen Mi felt an alien sensation wash over her. It felt as if every bit of qi inside her body had gone out of control, falling into a chaotic outward flux.
And it wasn't just her. Qi Jingchun yelped as he was wrenched out of his meditation by dint of the failure of his qi cycle. The fellow disciple who had been sneakily sending his qi to the Data Container on the roof went pale as his mental connection to the qi outside his body received a massive backlash. All of their qi, it seemed, were being sucked out by some type of formation around them.
However, none of these phenomena were as important as the discovery they made at that moment.
An unfamiliar man was standing right behind Leng Qing's recliner, unbeknownst to all of them until now. He looked as dumbfounded as the rest of them upon discovering that his invisibility had worn off somehow.
Right when she was about to give up on expecting the talisman to do anything at all, one of her teammates yelped.
"There's an invisible person around us! Careful!"
The one who had shouted was well-known for his ability to perceive the auras of any living organism around him, making him one of the hardest disciples in their sect to sneak up on. Since he had said so-
All thirteen of them immediately leaped closer to each other, forming a tight circle as they faced outward.
"Jingchun, can you sense his approximate position?" Shen Mi said.
"No. This person was very fast. I only sensed his presence for half a second when he passed by my perception field. But I'm pretty sure..."
"Yes?"
"I'm pretty sure he was heading towards the cabin," Jingchun whispered, finding his own conclusion difficult to swallow.
For a moment, all thirteen of them exchanged tense looks among themselves.
"Your shout had to have alerted him. Will he enter the cabin now?" Ning Xueshi whispered.
"I'm not sure. But he definitely isn't near us at the moment. If he has some urgent business in Leng Qing's cabin, then I doubt he'll waste his time when he has already been discovered."
"Could it be that Xuhan?" Shen Mi wondered. "He left under the guise of returning to his sect and came back here with some sort of invisibility formation?"
"Why would he leave that signaling talisman here in that case?" Jingchun retorted.
"It's definitely somebody else. The aura I felt wasn't inferior to any of us here. This invisible opponent is definitely at the peak of the Physique Transformation realm!"
All of them fell silent as they contemplated whether to rush into the hut to search for this invisible enemy or be passively defensive. None of them had ever encountered someone who could fully turn invisible, at least not in a situation where one wrong move could lead to fatal injuries.
Right then, one of them said, "Sister Mi, do you remember...that Han Xuhan asked you to gather enough manpower to suppress someone at the peak of the Physique Transformation Realm?"
"...."
The implication wasn't lost on any of them. Shen Mi became pale as she recalled the contents of the letter she had received from Xuhan last night. At that time, she had assumed that he wanted some backup to deal with some hidden enemies of their faction whom he had discovered, for example- Leng Qing.
But Leng Qing had been dealt with unceremoniously by Xuhan himself under some very suspicious circumstances that had led her to hold an unfriendly attitude towards Han Xuhan.
Yet now, Leng Qing's cabin had received an invisible guest. Han Xuhan had left a signal-type formation. Leng Qing himself was knocked out-
Shen Mi's pupils shrank.
Could the truth be that Han Xuhan was using Leng Qing as a bait to draw out the real mastermind planning the downfall of their Phoenix Faction?
As soon as the idea took birth in her mind, it took root, spreading its branches in many directions.
Shen Mi felt like she had reached the closest conclusion to truth. Although there were some vague aspects, what else could be a more likely face of this disjointed mess of incidents?
"Whoever it is, we can't let them harm Leng Qing! Move!"
Her steps as powerful as a stomping dragon, Shen Mi sprang towards the cabin, disregarding her personal safety, not caring if this invisible opponent had laid a trap for them upon learning that he had been discovered.
Behind her, most of her teammates followed...all except one, in fact. In their rush to save Leng Qing, none of them noticed one of their fellow disciples hanging back, face uncertain.
"None of these are parts of the plan. Who the hell might this be? Are they trying to frame us? How?"
This disciple seemed to have reached a decision after a moment.
"We need to unmask this fellow, whoever he is."
As the disciple followed the rest of the team to enter the cabin, a fast silhouette swooped down from above, landing gracefully in front of the cabin.
This was a red skeleton of an owl. It held in its beak a pouch.
In the backyard of the cabin, a human skeleton crouched behind a shrub. In front of him, precious items used in fueling high-level formations were laid out.
If one were to look outside through the only window of the bedroom of the cabin, they'd see a human standing not too far away, beneath the canopy of a large tree. He was holding a skeleton of a snake in his arms, his eyes trained on the cabin intently.
"The second layer of the game is afoot, Yinzhe," he said in a low voice. "Do you think Papa will win this time?"
The red snake skeleton in his arms squirmed. "A foot? Why do I not have a foot, Papa? Why? Can I have a foot like you? You have not one, but two feet! Give me one, Papa! Pwease!"
"It's nature, Yinzhe. Some things in nature cannot be forced. Just like how some people can't be forced to go against their nature."
The first concern Shen Mi and her team needed to address was to ensure Leng Qing's safety. Leng Qing's cabin was not large, at least not enough to let thirteen people move around comfortably. One after one, they rushed into the bedroom where they had left him seated on his recliner.
Whoever this invisible person they were facing was, he couldn't have done anything so fast. Surrounding Leng Qing's recliner from all four directions, Shen Mi began to give out orders.
"Brother Cui, Sister Zhen, you two check the last room. Brother Shan and Hui, you two take the front room. Don't leave a single inch of area unchecked."
The four disciples nodded and moved out methodically, their limbs taut and ready to explode into motion at the shortest possible notice of any anomaly.
"Brother Jingchun, begin meditating. Try your best to cover the entire cabin with your consciousness."
The disciple whose specialization was to perceive all types of life around him was their biggest asset in this confrontation. But that didn't mean he was the only card they had to rely on.
Shen Mi glanced casually at one of the remaining disciples in the room as she began checking Leng Qing's body for any abnormalities. Imperceptibly, a thread of invisible qi slithered out of the body of the disciple, heading towards the ceiling. This qi seeped into the roof, stimulating the construct that had been placed above, a feature common to every cabin on the outer-ring island. Unseen to all the occupants of the cabin, the large metal ball at the center of the roof began to heat up, emitting a lava-like red sheen. Crimson cracks began to appear across its smooth exterior, forming complex patterns that covered the entire metal sphere.
This was Shen Mi's biggest trump card. Their current situation could no longer be categorized as a simple tournament scuffle. Although she did not know what game Han Xuhan was playing here, it was apparent enough that the invisible enemy around them had no good intentions. This could escalate to the level of inter-sect conflict. Involving their elders from the get-go would be the best route to take, she believed. And that was what the Data Container on the roof would accomplish!
Of course, it would be the best outcome if they could apprehend this infiltrator by the time the elders were alerted and came to intervene. So Shen Mi did not slack off in her attempts to trace this fellow. After checking Leng Qing's vitals, she switched her focus back to the room.
Qi Jingchun was fully absorbed in meditation. If the invisible opponent understood the situation here, the first person he would target would undoubtedly be Jingchun. Shen Mi understood this, as did Jingchun himself. But he trusted her though to surrender his safety in her hands.
Where could this enemy be...? And what was their motive?
At that very moment, Shen Mi felt an alien sensation wash over her. It felt as if every bit of qi inside her body had gone out of control, falling into a chaotic outward flux.
And it wasn't just her. Qi Jingchun yelped as he was wrenched out of his meditation by dint of the failure of his qi cycle. The fellow disciple who had been sneakily sending his qi to the Data Container on the roof went pale as his mental connection to the qi outside his body received a massive backlash. All of their qi, it seemed, were being sucked out by some type of formation around them.
However, none of these phenomena were as important as the discovery they made at that moment.
An unfamiliar man was standing right behind Leng Qing's recliner, unbeknownst to all of them until now. He looked as dumbfounded as the rest of them upon discovering that his invisibility had worn off somehow.
