It was a little past midnight when a booming sound was heard. It was as if thunder had torn through the clouds to strike the ground.
The people in the hall became alert and knew that something had happened. Peak Master Yi Deng who had been sitting in mediation all this time opened his eyes as they flickered under the light of the lamps.
"He's here…" He uttered.
All of the disciples of the Tri Cauldron peony sect stood up and walked out of the manor. Even Yi ZI Jin was rather tense and kept her demeanor.
"Looks like the supreme elder has arrived." Wu Hei stated.
Lin Mu raised his brows as he felt the spatial qi fluctuations in the air. They were abnormally disturbed and it was as if someone had dropped a large stone in a pool of water. Waves and ripples were created as Lin Mu sensed them.
'An Adult stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator is indeed powerful…' Lin Mu thought to himself as he also stood up along with Wu Hei.
Zhen Sui was already prodding Wu Teng to wake up as he had fallen asleep after having a few pots of wine. Thankfully, the man woke up after getting a few slaps from his mother and didn't even flinch. Rather it was Zhen Sui who had to nurse her hand after that.
Lin Mu looked up at the sky and saw the clouds that were being split apart. Once the clouds were gone, he could see an old man floating up in the air. The man was dressed in white and blue robes with the motif of the Tri cauldron peony sect on his chest. On his back, one could see an embroidered peony flower that was placed over the pattern of a mountain.
The old man exuded a sense of dignity from him, and just from looking at him one would feel pressure.
While others were having a hard time looking at the old man, Lin Mu had already adapted to it. He looked closely at the supreme elder of the Tri cauldron peony sect who seemed to be in his ninties. This man looked even older than Jing Wei, which told Lin Mu that he was probably much less talented than him.
"No, that's not it." Xukong suddenly spoke.
"Oh? What's the problem senior?" Lin Mu questioned.
"That man isn't old because he reached the Nascent soul realm late, but rather because he has lost a significant portion of his longevity," Xukong answered.
"What? Why would he lose his longevity?" Lin Mu questioned.
"There can be many reasons for it. But the most common one seems to be due to battles and fights. He burned his longevity to increase his strength exponentially during battles to defeat his enemies. Another thing can be that he used his longevity as fuel to create a special type of alchemical fire and used it to refine pills, seeing as he is from a sect that specializes in alchemical pills." Xukong explained.
Lin Mu nodded his head in understanding as he suddenly remembered a thing, that he had discussed with senior Xukong a while ago.
"Wait, Senior now that I'm in the peak stage of the Qi refining realm, can't I ignite a qi flame now?" Lin Mu asked.
"Yes, you can attempt that now. Though for your first attempt you would need special conditions as there can be a backlash if you make a mistake." Xukong replied.
"Ah, I understand senior." Lin Mu replied and focused back on the Supreme elder who was gazing down at everyone.
"Greetings Supreme elder!" Yi Deng greeted while cupping his hands.
Even if he and the supreme elder were both at the Nascent soul realm, the difference between them was vast. He was merely at the Child stage of the Nascent soul realm, while the Supreme elder was two stages above at the adult stage.
But that wasn't the only reason behind his respect, no rather it was because of their age difference too. From what Yi Deng knew, the supreme elder has been holding his position since before he was a peak master. In fact, the supreme elder had been in the Nascent soul stage even before he was a cultivator himself.
One could compare from this, how difficult cultivation was. Even he who had lived for over three hundred years was at the nascent soul realm, and the supreme elder who was over six hundred years old was also at the Nascent Soul realm.
The higher one climbed, the more difficult and slow the cultivation got. One could even say that they progressed at a snail's pace.
"THESE DISCIPLES PAY RESPECTS TO THE VENERABLE SUPREME ELDER!" All of the disciples greeted out loud.
Lin Mu broke out of his thoughts due to their shouts and saw the supreme elder descending on to the ground. This was another one of the basic abilities of the Nascent soul realm cultivators. They could fly without the use of a spirit weapon.
Still, the ones that were in the infant and child stage of the nascent soul realm couldn't fly for long. Only after reaching the very peak of the nascent soul realm could one do what the supreme elder was doing. He had flown to the Wu Lim city all the way from the Tri cauldron peony sect, which was more than a thousand kilometers away.
All this distance had only taken him six hours to complete by flying.
"Take me to the site of the incident," The supreme elder spoke directly.
"Please follow me, supreme elder," The peak master replied and took him to the tournament area.
"We had just arrived here when a minute later, the junior elder Fa Shiu disappeared. No one saw what happened, and we couldn't find any suspects either. But we do have a good idea of where they are hiding and need your help for that." The peak master explained.
The supreme elder's brows furrowed when he saw the area though and then a frown appeared on his face.
"I sense traces of spatial disturbance here…"