Before Lord Liao and the rest could even observe all the treasures placed in the room, their eyes were already glimmering. Although the one most excited was Lu Shuren, after all, his participation in all this was bought with a share of whatever they could find. Plus, if there were crystal shard deposits to be mined, they will be also fully left to him. So how could he not be happy?
But they had not even started to act when two figures entered the room. They were concealing their cultivation and also had some kind of treasure to conceal their presence, so albeit they were noticed, this happened only when they stepped into the light.
Both of them were dressed in black robes and hoods covered their faces. They did not carry any weapon either, but even so, nobody could doubt that they were dangerous.
"Heh, I really should thank you all for leading us here" With a vile chuckle the one that had walked in the first spoke up first.
"Who are you? You dare steal from the Coastal Hill City?!" Lu Shuren was the first one to react. He also brought up the city name from the start, intending to scare off or dissuade these new visitors.
"You sure like to bark! This territory is by far not a part of your city, so shut up and let the masters speak" But in place of dissuasion, Lu Shuren's words actually enraged the other cloaked man and he loudly berated in response.
"Don't worry about that, second. They just don't know who we are. And it will be best if it remains like this, deal with them!" The first man spoke up right away, without allowing the frowning Lord Liao to speak.
"Courting death!" Such disregard enraged Lord Liao, and he directly unleashed his 6th Level aura.
"Hahahaha" In response to the aura that moved towards them, the person who was referred to as second step up forward. He had not used any special means, he was simply unaffected!
"You!" Seeing this, Lord Laio grew pale, after all, in his mind he was the strongest one in their group. If he was unable to even solicit a reaction from the opponent, that meant a difference of at least a level! He did have a few special means to deal with someone surpassing him a level, but it was clear that the man that had given the order was stronger.
*Boom*
With a loud explosion-like sound the cloaked man that had steeped forward released his aura as well, instantly suppressing everyone in the room. And his aura was indeed that of a 7th level of the Soul realm cultivator. What was worse, this aura was at the peak of strength, which meant that the owner was very close to entering the 8th level.
"We don't know you, why are you acting against us?" Facing such a situation, Lord Liao decided to try and find out more.
"Heh, this world is where the strong is right and right now, we and you are here for the same thing, aren't we?"
"You don't mean?!" Lord Liao was very surprised, and it clearly showed up when he shouted his words.
Such reaction made Wu Guang very curious as to what was the real objective of this two. He had already guessed that the resources and treasures in here were by far not an objective for Lord Liao. Granted, the riches here were attractive to most cultivators, but if Lord Liao was from the Eagle Kingdom, he would have access to such and better.
Wu Guang's thoughts were interrupted by the cloaked man that had been giving commands
"Second, kill them all except the boy"
"Yes, brother" Saying this the man started exerting his aura pressure more and more. Granted, Lord Liao would not be killed by something like this as his cultivation was only a level below, but for Lu Shuren and Double Shadow? They first fell on the floor, and then began being crushed more and more.
'Double Shadow Assasin' suffered in silence, but as for Lu Shuren, the latter shouted at the pair. At first, it was threats like
"My City will surely investigate my disappearance! You will meet a gruesome death!" But as these did not work, he started pleading for mercy, even offering them his own life in servitude. Still, nothing changed and in a few moments, both he and the assassin were crushed to death.
Lord Liao was also being pressured more and more, but except for getting a bit pale and being unable to move, even the maximum strength aura did not affect him physically.
Shen Yimu was also suffering a similar attack, but he had not shown any reaction at all!
"Sure enough, it seems there is someone stronger than you" The cloaked man referred as second said towards Lord Liao while turning towards Shen Yimu.
*Boom*
In a similar situation as before, this time Shen Yimu's aura was fully unleashed. And as expected, he easily dispelled the opponent's aura and suppressed him. Still, one could see that Shen Yimu was not part of the Black Eagles or Underhill organizations. After all, if it was so, how could Lord Liao be also targetted by the aura?
Something noteworthy was that Wu Guang has been spared of all these aura exchanges, and so, he was the only one unaffected by all the happenings. But only after a breath, Wu Guang noticed that this was a mistaken assumption, the other cloaked man has also ignored Shen Yimu's aura!
The commanding cloaked man indeed had not shown any reaction. Still, he had not released any aura either. He stood on the spot and if not for the fact that he had spoken before, anyone would think of him like a statue.
"Shen Yimu! Who are you? Why do you have such cultivation?!" The one that questioned was no one other than Lord Liao.
Shen Yimu was supposedly one of the unaffiliated experts the Underhill group contracted, and so after his commander had taken over, they had run a lot of checks and confirmed that the information was true. Still, they would not share much with outsiders, and so he was assigned to help Lord Liao's operation while taking the identity of Chun Zemin's servant's relative.
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Chun Zemin was also part of the Black Eagles. Initially, he was one of the weaker members, but he was also one of the first ones to infiltrate one of Half-Island's important locations. And although he was initially of the lowest standing, he has been promoted various times while working for the Black Eagles over the last two years. Currently, Chun Zemin occupied a position only a step lower from Lord Liao. And this step was only because of their respective ages and strength.
As for Shen Yimu, he had been shuttling between the two, but always under the identity of a simple mortal caretaker for the Wu family manor on Chun Zemin's orders.
"Lord Liao, albeit I feel bad for deceiving even someone like you, you are an enemy to my manor. So don't resist, or I will kill you right away" Shen Yimu said before activating all of his aura strength and crushing Lord Liao towards the ground. Lord Liao was still alive, but he had no manner of moving or even speaking.
"Now you..." Shen Yimu turned his eyes towards the two cloaked figures. He had suppressed the one that was referred to as second, but the first cloaked man was still unaffected. Even after Shen Yimu brought his full aura strength and everyone except Wu Guang was under the pressure of his 9th level of the Soul realm cultivation, the first cloaked man showed no reaction.
"Shen Yimu, huh? You said that this Lord Liao is an enemy towards your manor, so why not simply reveal your identity?" Unexpectedly the unaffected cloaked man questioned.
"Why would I need to reveal myself to the eldest demon brothers of the Ghostfire Sect?" As Shen Yimu spoke, both of the cloaked men showed some reaction.
Wu Guang also threw a look at them while inwardly being surprised. The 'Ghostfire Sect' was a strong Sect located on Fiery Island. They were indeed a bit weaker than the 'Three Hills Sect' he was part of, but that was only if all their resources were taken into account. Bluntly speaking, it was a power equivalent to any of the weaker islands powers.
"Hahahaha, so you know who we are! In that case, it's fairly easy to deduce who are you. A 9th level of the Soul realm cultivator that claims to be from a manor... hoh... How unexcepted to meet the 'Fiery monk' Yi Ma from the 'Fiery Valley Manor' here" The supposed eldest of the 'Ghostfire Sect' demon brothers quickly exposed Shen Yimu's identity. But now, after speaking, he also exploded with his aura. He was also a 9th level of the Soul realm cultivator, but his aura was bizarre. It felt like being weaker than Yi Ma's one, but it still easily fend the latter's aura off and freed his supposed brother.
Afterward, the both of them shed the black cloaks and hoods that covered their bodies and faces, revealing themselves. Wu Guang did not know how the first and second demon brothers looked, but he knew that the Ghostflame sect robes were blood red and had black flames embroidered. And such robes were the ones that the two were dressed in! Still, the most eye-catching detail would not be their robes, but their bodies. Both of them had their revealed parts, in this case, the hands and faces covered in burns. And these burns made it impossible to discern their original appearances. This made them look extremely repulsive, as not only the burns were severe but also appeared to be very fresh. As if they had been burned just now.
"I never really hid my identity anyway, but now that you know, you two will die here as well. The Wu family secret will be passed to the 'Fiery Valley Manor', or it will be not passed to anyone!" Yi Ma or Shen Yimu did not make any attempt to hide his now revealed identity, and after saying such words rushed towards the Eldest Demon brother.
Yi Ma used a simple punching technique when attacking, but the eldest demon met him with the same. Two fists collided, creating a thundering boom, but unexpectedly it turned out that both of the combatants were evenly matched. In just some moments the pair of men exchanged several hundreds of punches, palms, and claws. Seeing that there was no progress, both of them started using spirit techniques. Seeing that neither could overpower the other, the two Soul level cultivators started using martial skills.
Martial skills were normally used either at the start or at the end of combat. As they used both qi and soul power, they would severely impact a cultivator's qi reserves. After all, Soul power required a steady supply of qi to the Soul to be generated. So in place of using skills for the fight itself, most cultivators of the Yellow realm preferred to fight their opponents with less costly means.
Thanks to such a preference, one that grew into almost a rule, a belief was born - Whoever changes to more costly and powerful means, it's the one losing the battle.
Both of them came from the Fiery island and so they had a similar relation to the Fire element, and in truth, they were equally matched. Their methods grew stronger and stronger equally, but during the skills match it was revealed that Yi Ma was a little bit stronger. His last martial skill, 'Flame Torrent from the Valley' was not one of low quality, but actually could be said to be of medium one and easily destroyed the 'Burning Ghost' summoned by his opponent and the flame torrent rushed towards his body.
But then, a surprising scene happened, as the flaming torrent reached the eldest demon brother's body, it did not do him any harm!
The flames indeed covered his body, but after a brief while, they simply went off.
Anyone seeing this would be shocked, and Yi Ma who was currently fighting him should be no exception, but his expression was not of surprise or shock, it turned out into one of deep fear!
"You! What did you do to yourself?!" Still, these words exclaimed by Yi Ma, as well his fear showed Wu Guang that the former knew something about such an ability to disregard flames.