It was none other than Austin.
His demonic avatar, as it turned out, was the tall, eerie figure who hauled up Cal Song. With such strong force, it could almost make him float from the ground, Austin leisurely walked up to his avatar.
Everything happened in a blink of an eye, that the other cultivators surrounding the mountain couldn't do anything but freeze on their posts and watch Austin and his demonic avatar from afar.
"Tell me." Austin directed to Cal, his gaze fixed and piercing.
"Are you from the Song Clan?"
With all his might, Cal tried to forcibly pull away from the demonic avatar's grip, yet failed. It was as if absolute weakness took over his entire body that even lifting his finger was impossible.
In the pit of despair and fear, Cal seemed to succumb to defeat.
'I am at the mercy of something so sinister. What could I even do if he kills me?' he thought.
Cal couldn't let out a single word, let alone answer Austin's inquiry, because the demonic avatar was choking him.
One of the cultivators' mouths fell open as he realized what was happening. "Someone attacked Elder Cal!" he exclaimed.
The rest of the cultivators squinted their eyes to try to get a clearer look. They were horrified when they realized that their fellow cultivator's conclusion was right!
"Oh, no! It's a demon!
Elder Cal is in grave danger!"
The cultivators mistook Austin's demonic avatar for a real demon.
"Who the hell are you? How dare you conspire with the demon race to attack Elder Cal?"
A cultivator yelled at Austin, with a rush of anger seething across the entire clan.
"Everyone! Let's go tear this beast to bits!"
Hundreds of people dashed towards Austin and his demonic avatar, forming a circle with their adversary standing calmly in the middle.
This couldn't be too tough for Austin, could it? He merely met them with a defiant sneer.
Then, barely moving an inch, he released the level four sword domain.
Within a hundred meters around Austin, the sword-lights gushed out to form a sphere. Streaks of sword aura gathered in this domain.
None of the cultivators who stepped into this domain could move, for the sword aura impeded all their abilities.
"Go to hell!"
These three words, Austin uttered in such unemotional tone. His hands remained behind his back and he didn't even break a sweat.
The cultivators turned fro
g to worry about," Master Li said.
It seemed that they were even enjoying this.
Those with weaker spiritual sense stared at Master Li and Priest Callum with bewilderment.
'How can they laugh like that when we've been swarmed by enemies?' they mused.
"Hey, you two! What are you laughing at, huh?
Can't you see the danger we're in? Shouldn't you focus on coming up with a solution?"
Herbert lamented to Master Li and Priest Callum.
This man wasn't the type to keep things to himself. He had also grown arrogant due to the kind of treatment he received from others.
Those who got along well with Austin were able to tolerate Herbert, for the former's sake, not his.
Nonetheless, this was why he felt confident talking down the two elders, as if he had nothing to lose.
"It's good news for all of us, Herbert," Master Li assured.
"You'll see, you'll be far happier than I am."
"Did these two codgers get possessed by the enemy? Have they lost their minds?"
Herbert whispered to Evan.
He wasn't the only one confused. The rest could only scratch their heads over Master's Li's words, which sounded more like a riddle than a prophecy.
Suddenly, they heard a voice from out of the blue.
"How are you doing, guys?"
A tall and thin figure slowly took shape in the sky.
"Who is this person? Are we in another trouble?" was the collective apprehension amongst the mountain people.
They held their breaths as the figure was fast approaching them.
Interestingly, Master Li and Priest Callum appeared the least surprised or petrified by this sight.