Yu Chao'an and Tong Xinchuan both kept their eyes fixed on that figure in ink-black robes.

In the very instant the man had thrown his punch just now—

Both their pupils had narrowed slightly, at the same moment.

That resplendent spirit-bird's phantom had looked like some manner of technique — but both men were late-stage Spirit-Transformation cultivators; how could they fail to sense that there'd been no stirring of heaven-and-earth qi behind it at all?

Wutong Mountain's disciples weren't afraid of strong cultivators from outside.

However strong anyone got, they'd never be stronger than their own master, after all.

And besides, the young man's actual strength still lay well beneath their own.

They simply couldn't make sense of what they'd seen.

The world's deepest, most profound techniques mostly originated from the Thousand Demon Den. As the strongest human power in existence, Wutong Mountain gathered every manner of method — weapon-forging, alchemy, formations, and more besides. There might be things they didn't personally know how to perform, but they could always at least tell what school of technique it belonged to.

Unless it was something the man had invented himself...

"How could he see us?"

Yu Chao'an turned to his senior brother, puzzled.

"He guessed."

Tong Xinchuan had absolute confidence in his own mastery of formations.

His soft-featured face now showed nothing but cold indifference.

The ink-robed young man's gesture just now could be read a number of ways — but not one of them was the manner one showed toward a senior.

"What's he playing at?"

Yu Chao'an couldn't quite make sense of it. As far as he could tell, the two of them hadn't lifted a finger in this whole affair.

"Tch."

Tong Xinchuan slowly drew his gaze away. "What he means is: that rogue cultivator you two found — she belongs to his Great Qian. She's not someone anyone can push around... and she doesn't need the two of you to survive, either."

"So we..." Yu Chao'an scratched the back of his head.

"We leave."

Tong Xinchuan shot the idiot a withering look.

Eldest Senior Sister's assessment was…