In front of Shiyue's house, an old man appeared in a flash. It seemed as if he had employed a movement skill to move this fast.
This old man was adorned in the Phoenix Feather Sect's Elder's uniform and had a powerful aura.
His elongated beard emerging from his chin gave him a wise appearance.
He had a skinny physique, however, that couldn't hide the fact that he was a powerful core-formation realm cultivator. His powerful presence gave him away.
He was the Phoenix Feather Sect's third elder.
In front of Shiyue's gate, he looked around, examining the surroundings for anything that seemed suspicious.
He was cultivating on his peak as usual, however, suddenly he sensed the pressurizing aura of an origin realm cultivator coming from this location.
Since his peak was the nearest one to Shiyue's house, therefore, he was the only one to sense this aura.
To his surprise, the aura was controlled by the cultivator to a single target as if pressuring someone of lower cultivation and somehow he could sense this aura from that far.
He gave the credit to his high cultivation and how focused he was while cultivating for being able to sense that minuscule amount of leaked aura.
Almost every origin realm cultivator in the Phoenix Feather Sect would stay on their assigned peak under a master to cultivate and try to accumulate enough qi to form a core, therefore, he found it odd to see an origin realm cultivator on the ground instead of their assigned peak.
Also, this cultivator was using his power against a disciple on the ground which was forbidden and had to be punished.
So as soon as he sensed that aura, he rushed here in search of what had happened and to see who was the culprit.
He had to make sure to discipline this disciple who was misusing his strength.
He looked at the house which looked normal before knocking on the door to ask the residents about the incident, however, no one opened the door even after some time.
"Strange... Why is there no one in the house? Is it that the residents of this house were the targets of that aura?"
The Elder's eyes widened as soon as he realized this, however, he had no idea about who was the residents of this house.
"Sigh... looks like I'll have to commit a small crime to catch a bigger one!"
The elder said before breaking down the door of the house, entering it forcefully. He would just apologize afterwards if need be.
Right now, catching this unknown origin realm cultivator took precedence.
Entering the house, the elder looked around and found some paintings of three beautiful women, all having blue eyes.
However, he had no idea about who these women were.
He was not someone who would come down from his peak often, hence, he was unaware about the disciples of the sect.
Therefore, he took the painting and stormed out of the house.
Outside, he caught the first disciple he laid his eyes on, stopping him: "You! Do you know who these people in the photo are?"
He forced the painting in the disciple's face, forcing him to take a look.
The disciple was taken aback by his sudden appearance and forceful question.
Veli, however, shook her head as she answered: "No Elder. I don't think any origin realm cultivator had any animosity with my sister. Ah, Mo Chen from the Mo family would always show animosity towards us, so if he had advanced to the origin realm somehow, then he could be the suspect!"
"Mo Chen..." The Elder muttered under his breath before shaking his head in rejection: "No, he can't be the culprit. That aura clearly belonged to someone who was atleast at 3rd stage of the origin realm. It couldn't belong to someone who had just advanced!"
And it was at this moment that a conversation reached their ears: "Did you see Young Master Ashen? How can someone be so handsome?"
"Right? When I saw him today, I thought he was an immortal traveling a mortal world. Truly breathtaking"
"But why was he going towards sister Shiyue's house? Are they friends?"
"No idea, Well they look good together"
"Yeah right, Who else but the sect's flower can be worthy for someone with an 8-star spirit? Not to mention how handsome he is."
These were the words of two female disciples who were conversing while passing by the Elder and Veli.
Hearing their conversation, the elder's eyes widened.
He approached the two disciples with Veli before shouting: "You two, stop!"
The disciples greeted the two with a bow, recognizing the elder and Veli.
The elder accepted their greetings before asking: "This Ashen... Did you see him going to Bi Shiyue's house?"
"Yes Elder, It's been less than thirty minutes since we saw him going towards sister Shiyue's house!" One of them answered in a polite tone.
"The time matches with the incident, which means that he was present when this incident occurred. So that means either he is the culprit or a victim. If he is a victim, then he also must be missing from his home"
The elder deduced after getting all the clues that were in front of him. Also, he was sure that Ashen had gone to Shiyue's house because only that house was in that direction.
It was an isolated house due to the influence of the Bi family, also, girls were given houses in separate places.
"Alright, you two can go!" The elder instructed before turning to Veli and asking: "What is Ashen's cultivation level?"
Though the elder was sure that Ashen wasn't the culprit, he had to ask just to make sure.
He had heard the disciples talking about him having an 8-star spirit and though the elder wasn't outgoing, however, he knew about the once-in-a-lifetime genius who was accepted by his sect.
It hadn't been a month since he joined so how could he be an origin realm cultivator already?
"The last time I saw him, he was at body transformation. I don't know about now, maybe have advanced to the nascent soul realm" Veli answered.
She remembered Ashen asking her to hide his true cultivation so she just told the elder half-lie and half-truth.
"Alright then, let's go and see if Ashen is safe. We can get more clues from him" The elder said before looking at Veli.
He didn't know in which direction Ashen's house was, so he expected Veli to point the direction for him.
Veli also understood this as she took the lead to guide the elder to Ashen's house.
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(A/N - Thanks for reading. ^..^)