In the bustling streets, many cultivators had stopped due to the standoff between the two, but even more chose to walk away, not wishing to invite trouble.
The two stood defiantly, an eerie aura rising around them.
Neither the Lin Family nor the Huang Family spoke a word, nor did they make a move.
Only Huangyun Qi's face turned tomato red, wanting to humiliate Lin Xianzhi but restraining himself due to the presence of the poison-bug-carrying blue-robed cultivator.
The two had not clashed in combat, yet the tension was even more perilous than if they had.
Just then, divine sense suddenly emanated from the sky, and an even greater spiritual pressure descended, pressing down on everyone like the weight of Mount Tai, their legs shaking, as if they would kneel the very next moment.
"Purple Mansion senior!" Lin Shiming instantly realized and, at the same time, his recognition of the Purple Mansion senior rose to a new level in his heart.
Merely the distant spiritual pressure was unbearable to him.
He knew this was the Purple Mansion senior exerting pressure on everyone and not targeting him specifically.
"Settle your grievances outside the city!"
A cold shout echoed in everyone's minds.
The Lin and Huang Families immediately ceased their hostility, apologizing repeatedly. The blue-robed middle-aged man, however, still appeared confident, as if he wasn't the least bit afraid of the Purple Mansion hermit.
"Please forgive us, senior. The Lin Family will leave immediately," Lin Xianzhi said and proceeded to lead Lin Shiming and the others away from the scene.
He never once looked back at Huangyun Qi, nor did he respond to the latter's words from beginning to end.
Leaving only Huangyun Qi to glare venomously at the departing Lin Xianzhi with furious eyes.
"As a cultivator, how are you so easily provoked? You, Huangyun, seem to be regressing with age, no wonder the Huang Family has not flourished under your leadership," Li Chengzhi, the blue-robed middle-aged man, scorned after giving Huangyun Qi a disdainful glance.
Strangely, his voice was extremely hoarse.
"Li Daoist friend, let's not forget who reduced the Lin Family from the status of the Purple Mansion Family, and it certainly wasn't my Huang Family," Huangyun Qi said, evidently feeling discontented.
"Rest easy, Lin Xianzhi's strength has indeed grown considerably, but just now my spirit insect sensed him—merely at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and I have also marked all of the Lin Family!"
"It's laughable that he still tries to conceal his strength, but with my spirit insect present, who can hide their incompetence below the Purple Mansion?"
The blue-robed middle-aged man slightly lifted his hand; if one looked closely at the black robe's sleeve, it wasn't embroidered, but rather a tiny black beetle lay quietly.
...
Once!
Twice!
Thrice!
Lin Shiming scanned three times, and yet, to his alarm, he found no foreign object!
His heart felt incredibly heavy, the unknown panic far more terrifying than any visible danger.
After failing to find anything on the fourth check, Lin Shiming didn't dare to delay any longer and hurried to Lin Xianzhi's room.
After knocking, Lin Shiming saw Lin Xianzhi, who was meditating.
The latter was also bewildered upon seeing Lin Shiming so agitated.
"Shiming, what's the matter?"
"Seventh Great-Uncle, there's something wrong with Shiming's Spirit Beast!" Lin Shiming immediately blamed the anomaly on the Golden Winged Mantis, and released it on the spot.
"This mantis has been sending me signals of danger while I feed it, and all the signs point to me!"
"Come here!" The other also sensed that something was amiss, reminiscent of thirty years ago when he had inexplicably been ambushed by Li Chengzhi.
Lin Xianzhi furrowed his brows, then a powerful Divine Sense gathered and began scanning over Lin Shiming inch by inch.
Finally, on Lin Shiming's Inner Armor, a tiny white spot was detected, so small it was almost invisible to the naked eye.
"This is the cocoon of a Ling Xuan insect!" Lin Xianzhi said with a face full of fear.
He then explained further to Lin Shiming.
"You've been bugged by Li Chengzhi with a bug Gu. This Ling Xuan insect is extremely small and when it cocoons, if one's Divine Sense is not as strong as his, it's impossible to detect the insect. And as long as the Ling Xuan insect is on us, he can track our whereabouts at will!"
Lin Shiming listened with a face full of fear. Li Chengzhi was indeed cunning, placing a bug Gu on him, the one with the weakest Qi Cultivation at the seventh level!
If it weren't for Lin Shiming's prompt, he might have really fallen into Li Chengzhi's trap.
After all, who would have imagined that Li Chengzhi would not target Lin Xianzhi or the other Elders, but him!
"Your Spirit Insect has made a great contribution again!" Lin Xianzhi remarked somewhat emotively, as if he could no longer fathom the limits of the Golden Winged Mantis.
This was another of Lin Shiming's considerations, that even if the Golden Winged Mantis attained the Third Rank as a Demonic Beast upon reaching Foundation Establishment, he wouldn't need to explain too much.