Chapter 359 - Elder Qiren

In the rock cave, the situation had finally stabilised somewhat.

Even though Lu Tianzi was still holding onto the Torrential Sabre, he had at least stopped waving it around, allowing some peace and quiet to return to the cave.

However, they were now faced with a new issue.

Behind them, five figures had appeared at the entrance of the cave.

An elder was hanging back while the remaining four youngsters looked around curiously, as though they were searching for a way in.

"Did they manage to find this place as well?" Ruan Ling asked with a frown.

"There's no harm even if they did. There is enough space here for all of us," Young Master Xuan Hao answered.

Beside them, Nanlan Qianxue had ended her meditation as well.

All three of them looked on as the four youngsters outside continued to search around, only to have their efforts prove futile.

As though he had expected this from the start, the elder merely let out a faint smile before stepping forward.

With a wave of his hands, a mass of profound energy started to gather upon the entrance.

"An Overlord powerhouse!" Ruan Ling exclaimed in shock.

While she was unable to detect the other party's cultivation level, that in itself was enough proof that the elder had surpassed the Origin Core realm.

Young Master Xuan Hao could not help but frown as well.

It would be good if the Overlord powerhouse was friendly in nature, but the situation would get tricky otherwise.

With the elder personally taking action, a gap quickly opened in the illusion that hid the entrance of the cave.

But the moment this gap appeared, the elder's smile instantly faded away, replaced by a deep frown.

That was because the opening of the gap had unexpectedly also revealed the presence of four strangers within the cave.

"Who are you people?" the elder questioned authoritatively.

As he did, the elder stepped into the cave with the four youngsters, the gap in the illusion closing behind them to once again block them off from the outside world.

The elder was completely fine, but the four youngsters immediately revealed a look of agony.

Their expressions only returned to normal after they circulated their Origin Force to resist the pressure within the cave.

"Senior, we chanced upon this place a while ago and did not know it has an owner. My apologies if we have offended you in any way," Young Master Xuan Hao immediately stepped forward and clasped his fists towards the elder.

From the elder's questioning tone, Young Master Xuan Hao believed that the elder already treated this place as theirs.

"You chanced upon this place?" the elder raised an eyebrow in half doubt.

"What lies! How is it possible for the likes of you to discover this place?" one of the four youngsters, a young man dressed in a noble green robe, scoffed at Young Master Xuan Hao's words.

Despite knowing of the exact location, he and his four companions were still unable to find a way in, requiring their elder to open a way for them.

Yet these riff-raffs actually claim to have chanced upon this place?

There was no way he would believe it!

Young Master Xuan Hao ignored the youngster's snide comments, choosing to focus on the elder instead.

All four of the youngsters were at the Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm. Even before breaking through to the Seventh Origin Cycle, Young Master Xuan Hao would not have feared them one bit.

The only person here whom Young Master Xuan Hao was wary of was the elder.

The green-robed youngster was not pleased to be ignored, but with a lower cultivation level, he knew better than to use force against Young Master Xuan Hao.

Therefore, he could only turn his attention to the others in the group.

"Hey, you! Are you blind or deaf? Do you not hear Elder Qiren speaking to you? Why are you not coming over?" the green-robed youngster shouted at the meditating Lu Tianzi.

At the same time, he sent a wave of Origin Force towards Lu Tianzi.

Young Master Xuan Hao's expression turned dark, but he did nothing to stop it.

If he acted against the green-robed youngster, it could be regarded as abusing his higher cultivation level, and he did not want to give the elder any reason to pick on them.

Moreover, he had absolute confidence in Lu Tianzi.

Just as the Origin Force from the green-robed man was about to crash into Lu Tianzi, the latter's eyes shot open.

Even in his state of concentration, Lu Tianzi was able to sense the oncoming danger and break out of his state of deep meditation.

Faced with the wave of Origin Force that was about to his him, the first thing that came to Lu Tianzi's mind was to slash out with the Torrential Sabre.

This was inevitable considering that he had been practising with the sabre all this while.

"Shit!" Young Master Xuan Hao cursed in alarm.

Young Master Xuan Hao, Nanlan Qianxue, and Ruan Ling took a step back simultaneously, none of them willing to remain in the path of Lu Tianzi's sabre light.

As for the green-robed young man, he merely sneered in response.

He might not have put his all into the wave of Origin Force that he had sent towards Lu Tianzi, but he was still a Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist!

In his eyes, there was no way that the sabre strike of a mere Third Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist would ever be able to resist.

He could not be more wrong.

The Torrential Sabre produced a sharp sabre light that cut straight through the wave of Origin Force, heading directly for the green-robed young man.

"What?" the green-robed young man froze, dumbfounded by what was happening.

The entire world dimmed, and he could see nothing but the domineering sabre light.

His body seemed to have turned as heavy as lead. All he could do was watch on helplessly as the sabre light rapidly approached.

A terrifying thought ran through his mind – he was going to die!

Swish-!

An even more domineering power descended upon him, shrouding him in a protective bubble.

When the sabre light crashed into the protective bubble, it created a deep dent in the protective bubble. But at the same time, the sabre light slowed down significantly, the power behind it draining rapidly until the sabre light finally disappeared just inches away from the green-robed young man's forehead.

Plop-!

The protective bubble popped, and the green-robed young man collapsed to the ground, his knees buckling from fear.

He was free of any physical injuries, but the same could not be said of his mind.

Everyone present swallowed their saliva in nervousness.

The sabre light had been aimed straight at the green-robed young man's forehead. If not for Elder Qiren's last minute intervention, surely the green-robed young man would have died!

"How ruthless!" one of the other youngsters thought out loud.

His comment immediately earned him a glance from the awakened Lu Tianzi, causing him to flinch in alarm.

Watching from the side, Young Master Xuan Hao and Ruan Ling could not help but feel anxious about Lu Tianzi's actions.

It might feel good to act as domineeringly as Lu Tianzi did, but the other party had an Overlord in their midst!

By aiming to kill, Lu Tianzi had essentially given the other party the perfect excuse to take action against them!

At this point, Lu Tianzi finally got a good look at who they were facing.

Earlier, he had reacted out of pure reflex. If he had noticed the Nascent Core realm Elder Qiren, he never would have done such a thing.

"Who are they?" Lu Tianzi quickly asked Nanlan Qianxue through voice conveyance.

"Not sure, but it sounds like they are the ones who found this place first," Nanlan Qianxue answered.

"So that's the case..." Lu Tianzi's frown deepened.

If the other party had really discovered this place first, they would probably consider Lu Tianzi and company to be trespassing on their territory.

On top of that, Lu Tianzi had even attacked one of their members, aiming to take his life.

This made the situation rather tricky.

All four of them turned their attention to the Overlord realm Elder Qiren, waiting to see his reaction.

But contrary to their expectations, Elder Qiren actually did not show any signs of anger.

"Are the four of you from any of the ancient sects?" Elder Qiren asked, his tone much calmer than before as his gaze remained fixated upon Lu Tianzi.

It was obvious that he had been impressed by what Lu Tianzi did earlier.

Lu Tianzi looked towards Young Master Xuan Hao. When he saw the look of dilemma on Young Master Xuan Hao's face, Lu Tianzi understood that the latter was still unwilling to reveal his identity.

"No, we are not," Lu Tianzi replied on everyone's behalf.

Even though there was a chance that the other party would give Young Master Xuan Hao some face if they learnt of his status, things could easily go the other way as well.

The assassination attempt at the Canal of Misery was the best example.

Since that was the case, they might as well go along with whatever Young Master Xuan Hao was most comfortable with.

"You are not?" Elder Qiren was genuinely surprised.

In his eyes, someone of Lu Tianzi's calibre would surely be a member of the ancient sects.

"If they aren't even from the other three ancient sects, then there is no need for us to talk to them at all!" another of the youngsters suddenly felt a lot more confident. "Elder Qiren, they must have found this place by tailing one of our members. On top of that, they even tried to harm Liuhao! Please make an example out of them!"

"That's right! We can't let such criminals live!"

"Enough," Elder Qiren's words silenced the youngsters.

"Senior, we really chanced upon this place. My apologies for my companion's earlier actions. He was deep in meditation and had reacted out of reflex. Please forgive us. If you wish, we can even leave here right now!" Young Master Xuan Hao hurriedly spoke.

"It might be true that you chanced upon this place, but I cannot just let you go after what your companion did," Elder Qiren shook his head. "Otherwise, others might start thinking that we of the White Tiger Immortal Sect are a bunch of pushovers!"

White Tiger Immortal Sect?

The four of them widened their eyes in shock.

The White Tiger Immortal Sect was the undisputed leader of the four ancient sects, the hegemon of the continent!

To think that these people actually had such an ill.u.s.trious background!

But this might not be a bad thing either.

Powerful influences generally placed a huge emphasis on their reputation. For that reason, it was unlikely that the Overlord realm Elder Qiren would act against them... not too harshly, at least.

"What does Senior suggest we do then?" Young Master Xuan Hao asked.

"Simple. If any of you are able to leave this place by the end of the day, I will not pursue this matter any longer," Elder Qiren smirked.

Hmm?

Lu Tianzi took a quick look around to confirm his thoughts.

The entrance was right there.

It would not even take them one minute to leave, so why would they need untill the end of the day?

If this Elder Qiren was not intentionally letting them go, then there had to be a catch to it!

As though reading his mind, Elder Qiren immediately revealed what this catch was.

An immense pressure suddenly slammed down upon them, adding to the original pressure that had already been in the cave.

"Argh!"

Ruan Ling fell to her knees, followed by Nanlan Qianxue.

"Tch!" Lu Tianzi cursed as he felt his knees tremble as well.

The original pressure in the cave might be strong, but it was still just a side effect of the lingering Battle Intent. Furthermore, it had already waned over time, making it easier to handle it.

However, this new layer of pressure was different.

This was the mental pressure being actively exerted by a true blue Overlord realm powerhouse, one that was specifically meant to suppress them!

To ask them to leave this cave under the combination of the original and new layers of pressure, this in itself could already be considered a punishment!