Sage of Humanity

Amidst the angry shouts, the skinny man skilled in magic and spells changed the signs with his hands, casting a series of intricate spells. The burly man moved like thunder, with an imposing aura, while the slender woman's figure remained elusive. In an instant, the three of them formed an encirclement and lunged towards the sect master and Lu Ye.

The sect master flipped his palm, and several small flags appeared out of nowhere. He uttered in a low voice, "Go."

The small flags flew in all directions, disappearing into the Void.

"Rise!" the sect master shouted again, and spirit force surged around his body. In an instant, a transparent, semi-circular light barrier enveloped the hall, with mysterious spirit runes flowing across it.

The skinny man's spells bombarded the light barrier, causing ripples to form on it. The burly man's figure slammed into it, causing several spirit runes on the barrier to shatter. The elusive woman revealed her form; her face and hands were covered in strange patterns, masking her original appearance and giving her an eerie, ghostly look.

She held a dagger shaped like a spirit snake in her hand and slashed fiercely, causing even more runes to fragment.

"Formation!" the skinny man's eyes narrowed. The information had not mentioned that Thang Yifeng was skilled in Formation, but seeing the speed of his array setup, it was clear he had mastered the essence of Array Path.

"Three breaths!" the burly man roared, indicating that the formation could be broken within three breaths.

After all, this was a formation hastily set up by the sect master. Holding off three cultivators of equal cultivation for three breaths was an extraordinary achievement.

As he spoke, the burly man dug deep into his Dantian and slowly unleashed a punch. It seemed extremely slow, but as he threw the punch, his arm kept swelling and thickening.

Inside the formation, the sect master paid no heed to the three people outside but grabbed Lu Ye and brought him to the center of the dilapidated hall, where there stood a person-high, bucket-thick item that resembled a crystal pillar.

"Place your hand on it and channel your spirit force!" the sect master ordered in a low voice.

Lu Ye didn't know the purpose of doing so, but he understood the sect master wouldn't harm him. He hastily complied, and as he placed his palm on the crystal pillar and channeled his spirit force, the figure of the sect master standing before him suddenly began to blur.

He couldn't help feeling as if he was drifting farther and farther away from this world.

"Once you're inside, immediately find a place to hide and make sure you survive! Also… never tell anyone that you are a disciple of the Righteous Blood Sect!" the sect master looked at him, his eyes brimming with a guilt-laden expression.

Lu Ye tried to speak but could not hear his own voice. The figure of the sect master in front of him grew more and more blurred, along with the entire world around him.

By the time he regained his senses, the figure of the sect master had vanished, and even his surroundings had changed.

Crack...

The formation shattered, and as the burly man broke through the formation, he charged with full momentum towards the sect master and threw a punch, thinking to himself, "Success!"

In the next instant, a violent blast swept through, turning the already dilapidated hall into ruins, except for the crystal pillar, which remained intact.

The eyes of the beefy guy suddenly narrowed as he looked at the figure in front of him, whose upper body clothes had burst open, revealing well-defined muscles, and who caught his punch single-handedly, causing his eyelid to twitch violently, "How is this possible?"

It was widely known that Thang Yifeng from the Righteous Blood Sect was a magic cultivator, yet at this moment, what kind of magic cultivator was this? Clearly, he was a physique cultivator!

Moreover, the cultivation shown by Thang Yifeng at this moment was certainly not as simple as the information had stated.

"Mission failed, the intelligence was incorrect, retreat!" the skinny man skilled in magic and spells shouted loudly.

The slender woman, who had already pounced nearby the sect master, didn't hesitate and quickly retreated. With the original target lost, it was clearly not worth fighting to the death against Thang Yifeng.

Crack!

Accompanied by a muffled grunt, several bones in the fist captured in the sect master's palm were crushed. The beefy man, tough as he was, didn't make a sound. However, in the next moment, a fist struck his chin from an unexpected direction, smashing down hard.

The beefy man was launched skyward, seeing stars.

"You dare to provoke the tiger and think you can walk away?" the sect master's eyelids drooped, and as he spoke, he was already in mid-air, kicking out with his foot to the side.

With a thud, the slender woman who had concealed her figure and was fleeing into the distance was kicked, revealing her whereabouts. She screamed as she plummeted toward the mountain peak below.

The sect master raised his hand again, and an object resembling a rope flew out, winding toward the emaciated man.

...

A moment earlier.

Inside the cabin of the Flying Dragon Ship, Pang Zhen sat upright while in front of him knelt a chubby figure—Pang Dahai, this fellow was pinching his own ears with a pitiful look on his face.

Pang Zhen slammed the table and said angrily, "You scatterbrain, do you know what you've done!"

Pang Dahai responded with a grievance, "Isn't it just that I guided Lu Yiye and let him choose Veteran Thang's Righteous Blood Sect?"

"Do you realize that this is against the Alliance's rules?" Pang Zhen grew even angrier.

At that time, when Pang Dahai was guiding Lu Ye and Yu Xiaodie, he didn't avoid others. Although others didn't know what they were talking about, many people saw it.

Afterward, upon investigation, it was easily traced back to Pang Dahai.

Over the years, Veteran Thang had gone on many missions with the Haotian Alliance, rescuing many enslaved individuals. Yet, among those with cultivation aptitudes and talents, few had chosen the Righteous Blood Sect during their final selection of a sect, let alone choosing it exclusively.

This time, however, an exception had occurred.

Pang Zhen felt there was something fishy about the situation: was someone secretly guiding? Upon checking, it turned out it was an inside job.

"What should we do then? Uncle, should you handle this according to the Alliance's rules?" Pang Dahai looked at Pang Zhen, his eyes blinking mischievously.

"You fool, if not for your mother's sake, I would have slapped you by now!" Pang Zhen said, raising his hand as if to hit him. Pang Dahai involuntarily shrank his neck. Seeing that Pang Zhen didn't actually slap him, he laughed again.

Seeing his playful and smiling demeanor, Pang Zhen became even more annoyed, fumed silently for a while, and then said, "Fortunately, you knew your limits. That young lad only has the aptitude of a Yiye, and he won't achieve much in the future. According to Veteran Thang's plan, we will find a chance to send him to another sect for cultivation, hopefully without causing any issues."

Pang Dahai frowned and said, "Uncle, the Righteous Blood Sect hasn't accepted disciples in thirty years. If we don't start admitting, according to the rules of the Alliance, our entire sect will be abolished. Veteran Thang and Sister Shui Yuan are good people. I really couldn't bear to see it, so I ended up guiding Lu Yiye. But Uncle, what exactly happened back then?

Why do those people want to suppress the Righteous Blood Sect to this extent?"

"Don't ask about things you shouldn't know. Remember, these waters are deep, and you, being only at the Cloud River Realm, shouldn't meddle. Less initiative from now on."

"Yes!" Pang Dahai hurriedly responded, knowing that he had narrowly escaped this predicament. He then casually stood up from the ground.

"Who told you to stand up?" Pang Zhen raised his eyes.

Plop...

Pang Dahai knelt down promptly and neatly.

Pang Zhen gave him a stern look. Just as he was about to scold him more, he suddenly furrowed his brows, looked down at the ring on his thumb, and in the next instant, his facial expression drastically changed. He then rose abruptly and rushed out!

Dozens of breaths later, a streak of Liu Guang fell into the wilderness, revealing his figure; it was Pang Zhen, who had hurriedly come after receiving Veteran Thang's message, without any delay.

Looking around, the wilderness was a mess, everywhere retaining traces of a great battle.

The body of a burly man lay nearby with a large hole in his chest as if he had been killed by a punch, while on the other side, a woman covered in Spectral Runes was twisted and folded into the side of a mountain wall. Another person was under Veteran Thang's foot with a shattered head and brain matter scattered all around.

Veteran Thang stood bare-chested, his body enveloped in swirling aura, with spirit force steaming around him.

Pang Zhen's eyelids involuntarily twitched.