Seeing Yu Zhuwa and Yin Hui at the top of the hill, the ten cultivators Tang Bian brought with him flew up and surrounded them.

"How?! I thought they retracted their spiritual senses!" Yu Zhuwa cried.

"We did, however there was one that wasn't retracted." Tang Bian walked through the encirclement and stood face to face with the two captives.

Tang Bian snapped his fingers and Yin Hui's bag of holding began to shine. A golden coin popped out of the bag and landed onto Tang Bian's hand.

"T-The golden coin you gave me!" Yu Zhuwa was aghast.

"That's right, this coin has my spiritual sense tied to it. So whatever was nearby the coin, I could sense it. That was how I knew Yin Hui was still in the village and how I knew you were hiding right here." Tang Bian twirled the coin in his fingers before putting it into the folds of his robes.

Yu Zhuwa dropped to his knees. He really was clumsy. The coin was probably still in the chest when he gave it to Yin Hui. Now that one mistake has led to the both of them getting caught.

"You may be a capable thief. But sometimes greed can have it's consequences." Tang Bian ruffled Yu Zhuwa's hair like he did before. Only this time, the smile on his face looked much faker then when Yu Zhuwa first met him. He pointed at Yin Hui and signalled to the cultivators around them.

"Take him."

Purple light began to emerge from the hands of one of the Spirit Waking cultivators. The light condensed into a set of purple chains laced with spirit energy. Just as he was about to throw them onto Yin Hui, a powerful oppressive might filled the area.

"Tang Bian! Don't act as if I'm not here! I will not let you capture Yin Hui!" Yu Mingxi's voiced echoed throughout the entire village.

With the exception of Yin Hui and Yu Zhuwa, everyone at the top of the hill was trembling from Yu Mingxi's oppressive might. Even the four peak Spirit Manifestation cultivators were unable to move freely under the suppression.

"That old hag! Were the reports wrong? This power is clearly greater than that of Spirit Manifestation!" A Spirit Manifestation cultivator cursed.

Tang Li, who was still at the bottom of the hill, stared at the enraged Yu Mingxi who was casually walking up towards Tang Bian and the others.

"Lady Yu... I take it that this means you will be declining our offer of protection and luxury for you and the rest of the villagers..." Under Yu Mingxi's oppressive might, Tang Bian found it difficult to even speak.

"That's right! If you come with terms, bring the golden medallion of your Clan Head instead! The silver medallion of an elder is not enough! You and your father are just servants of the Clan Head, unworthy of my attention! They call you young lord, but I laugh because you're not even a member of the Tang Clan's main family! Leave my village, future servant boy of the Clan Head!" Yu Mingxi threw the silver medallion back to Tang Bian.

For the first time ever, Tang Bian's amiable smile disappeared and a trace of anger flashed in his eyes. The 10 cultivators he brought with him were surprised.

"I've never seen young lord Tang Bian get angry before." A Spirit Waking cultivator said.

"That's true, even in the face of Lord Clan Head he never drops his charming smile." Another added.

"Unfortunate. In that case, I take it that the Scattered Leaf Village has declared itself an enemy of the Tang Clan! Everyone attack! Eliminate the village chief and destroy the village!" There was a visible trace of anger in Tang Bian's voice.

"Yes young lord!"

Immediately, all 10 cultivators rushed Yu Mingxi with martial skills and magic spells. One shot a ball of fire, another shot a bolt of lightning, while another just threw out a qi imbued punch.

"Impudent." Yu Mingxi tapped her staff hard on the ground and a powerful repulsive force blew away all the techniques. The six Spirit Waking cultivators were also blown away by the force, crashing into different parts of the village. Along with Tang Bian, only the four Spirit Manifestation cultivators remained, 1 female and 3 male.

"Amazing, she easily knocked away those 6 Spirit Waking cultivators with a single move." Yin Hui was stunned. It was as if the Spirit Waking cultivators were mere ants compared to Yu Mingxi. He now understood just how much she was holding back when they first fought.

"That's right! No one can defeat Grandma Yu! Whether it's Spirit Waking or Spirit Manifestation it's all the same!" Yu Zhuwa looked towards the Spirit Manifestation cultivators with a mocking smile on his face.

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The female Spirit Manifestation cultivator clenched her teeth.

"Summon your ethereal spirits! Use the True Qi Suppression Formation!"

The three other men in the Spirit Manifestation realm nodded. All four of them quickly surrounded Yu Mingxi and summoned their ethereal spirits. Because the four of them were at the peak of the Spirit Manifestation realm, they could detach their spirits from their bodies. Four spirits emerged, their bodies were humanoid, but lacked traditional human features such as a face. The four spirits pointed towards Yu Mingxi and a grey beam of energy shot out of each of their fingers.

"The True Qi Suppression Formation robs the user of all their true qi. Without true qi, a Spirit Manifestation cultivator cannot even summon their ethereal spirit. Even if she is stronger than us, without true qi she's only as strong as a peak Spirit Waking cultivator!" The female cultivator sneered in her heart.

"Interesting. A group formation that siphons true qi from the target. This is a truly frightening skill to all those in the Spirit Manifestation realm." Yu Mingxi said calmly.

When the technique ended, one of the Spirit Manifestation cultivators ran up and threw a punch towards the weakened Yu Mingxi. This punch was imbued with true qi and sent Yu Mingxi flying into the village leader's residence.

"Hmph, without your true qi your nothing. Your arrogance in not summoning your ethereal spirit right away was your biggest mistake. Forget the four of us, I alone am enough to trample you with minimal effort now." The Spirit Manifestation cultivator said with contempt.

"Grandma Yu!" Yu Zhuwa cried.

Tang Bian who was watching the entire time clapped his hands.

"Well done! The use of the True Qi Suppression Formation was magnificent. I hope that when I reach the peak of the Spirit Manifestation realm you seniors could teach it to me as well."

The four Spirit Manifestation cultivators bowed towards Tang Bian.

"You honor us with your words young lord. We will be happy to instruct you at any time at your convenience." The female Spirit Manifestation cultivator said.

Wuah~

The Spirit Manifestation cultivator who punched Yu Mingxi collapsed on the ground. A sword stuck out of his chest, piercing right through his heart. The attacker was not Yu Mingxi, but one of the other Spirit Manifestation cultivators!

"What are you doing?!" The other male Spirit Manifestation cultivator shouted.

The Tang cultivator holding the sword was silent. His eyes were dim as if he were in a trance. He pulled the sword out of the dead Spirit Manifestation cultivator and lunged towards the other two.

In the blink of an eye, the female cultivator delivered a palm strike straight into the sword-wielding cultivators stomach. His eyes closed and he fell to the ground unconscious.

The female cultivator looked back into the village residence. There was only one person who could have done this.

"You! What did you do?! We robbed you of all your true qi, you shouldn't be able to cast spells of this magnitude! How did you recover your true qi so quickly?!"

"Your right, you did steal my supply of true qi. True qi is very valuable to Spirit Manifestation cultivators during combat. This is because it takes them a while to condense the spiritual qi around them into true qi, which makes it impossible to recover if lost during a fight."

Yu Mingxi's walked out of the village chief's residence in perfect condition. It was as if the punch from earlier had not affected her in the slightest. She raised her hand and strands of spiritual qi began to converge into her body. However, as soon as the qi entered her body, it instantly converted into true qi!

"Yes! Grandma Yu is okay!" Yu Zhuwa's face beamed with joy.

"Impossible! Instantly converting spiritual qi into true qi simply by having it enter your body?! No wonder you didn't release your ethereal spirit! You're actually a..." Fear could be seen in the female cultivators eyes as sweat began to leak from her forehead.

Yu Mingxi let out a thin smile.

"Those in the Virtue Seeking realm have completely fused their ethereal spirit with their very being. At that point you are now the ethereal spirit, and the spirit has a true corporeal body. Therefore, all spiritual qi is instantly turned into true qi simply by entering your body."

The female cultivator staggered backwards. She never expected that they would be dealing with a Virtue Seeking cultivator. Even if she didn't have any virtues manifested, just the ability to accumulate true qi at her convenience was enough to dominate them.

"Virtue Seeking expert..." Her voice trembled.

Suddenly, the remaining Spirit Manifestation cultivator beside her lunged at her with true qi imbued fists. Snapping out of her daze, the female cultivator blocked the attack and jumped back a couple feet away. The man who just attacked her had the same zombified look on his face as the one she knocked unconscious. At the same time, the Spirit Manifestation cultivator holding the sword regained consciousness and got back up. They both stared at the female cultivator with dimmed eyes like they were walking corpses.

"This must be the power of virtue! The first step in breaking the limits of qi. Seeking virtues that compliment your dao and forming a domain!"

The smile on Yu Mingxi's face widened.

"Correct. The dao I pursue is the Dao of Wisdom. I have also condensed one virtue into a domain, the virtue of knowledge! Using this domain, I have suppressed the intelligence of your companions, turning them into mindless servants!"

Yin Hui watched the battle with admiration in his eyes. This was the power of virtue, merely a small step in the grand quest of completing one's dao.

"One day, I will also have command over such power." He swore to himself.

Tang Bian stood on the sidelines with a grim expression on his face.

"Virtue Seeking cultivator... This was unexpected, especially from a weak village such as this one." Tang Bian sighed.

"Is it time to retreat?"

Tang Li slowly walked up towards Tang Bian. He was passively spectating the battle the entire time and was ignored by both parties.

"One Spirit Manifestation cultivator is dead, two have turned against us, and the last is fighting the other two. I have already tended to the six who were knocked away from the initial assault. Three are incapacitated while the other three are injured. The enemy is a Virtue Seeking cultivator, are you sure you want to continue this fight?" Tang Li asked.

Tang Bian let out a short laugh.

"While I did not expect to encounter a Virtue Seeking cultivator today, we have not lost yet. It looks like I might have to get my hands dirty this time."

Tang Li stared at Tang Bian but said nothing. Tang Bian's cultivation was much weaker than the four Spirit Manifestation cultivators that came with him. How was he going to defeat Yu Mingxi?