Walking up to inspect the dead body of the guard laying only a few dozen meters away from him, Xuan Hao could not help but feel a bit cautious.
The Guard had been at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm and from the looks of the small wound across his neck, he had been killed within a single strike!
Doing something like this and without causing any disturbance, was not possible if the opponent had been someone in the Core Formation Realm. Meaning, the person who had killed the guard should at the very least have reached the Nascent Soul Realm!𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
"If just there wasn't any formation covering up the capital, I would have easily been able to sense anyone nearby with my divine sense…" Muttering this to himself as he realized just how blind he felt without being capable of using his divine sense freely, Xuan Hao moved towards the direction that the perpetrator had gone.
No matter what, he at least wanted to find out what was happening and make sure that it would not end up affecting his disciple or the alchemy competition.
Hopefully, the Domain Lord from the Iron Sky Kingdom was not sleeping and at the very least had their divine sense activated. This way, he might not even need to deal with the perpetrator himself…
But given the fact that nothing had happened, Xuan Hao realized that even if the Domain Lord had their divine sense activated, they clearly did not cover a large area. This was also normal, as constantly monitoring everything within several thousand meters of oneself, was quite an exhausting endeavour in the long run.
Even he himself would normally not have his divine sense cover an area more than a hundred or so meters around himself normally. Unless he was searching for someone or something…
Whoosh!
Moving through the long corridors going around the large competition space, Xuan Hao came across several similarly dead bodies before he manged to catch up with the perpetrator just as he slashed through the neck of yet another poor Core Formation Realm guard who had just been slacking off. Happily enjoying a few snacks, he had just taken from a nearby empty spectator room.
"That should be the last guard on the northern section… Moving any closer, I will risk being spotted…"
Listening to the perpetrator as he muttered this quietly to himself after killing the Core Formation Realm guard before taking out a communication talisman to contact someone, Xuan Hao felt a bit surprised.
He… Looks like one of the two guards from the underground base… Did my attack on their base perhaps cause them to launch an attack towards the Iron Sky Kingdom now? But this doesn't make sense, I clearly looked through some of their internal documents and they should still be quite far away from being capable of launching an attack…
Thinking all of this to himself as he quietly kept an eye on the Nascent Soul Realm Expert from the side, Xuan Hao could not help but feel that whatever was currently happening was his fault to some degree…
"Yes… I know… I will head towards the agreed location!"
The Nascent Soul Realm Expert did not discover the fact that he was currently being observed by someone standing just a few meters away from him, as he quickly put away his communication talisman before rushing towards a nearby exit leading out towards the city.
"Hm?"
Stopping himself just as he was about to follow after the Nascent Soul Realm Expert, Xuan Hao felt a shiver run down his spine as he very clearly felt a terrifying divine sense lock on to him all of a sudden.
"Meet me at the spectator room located at the centre of the southern section!"
Hearing the powerful and authoritarian female voice echoing out inside his head, along with the powerful the divine sense, Xuan Hao instantly realized that the person who had stopped him from following the Nascent Soul Realm Expert, was none other than the Domain Lord of the Iron Sky Kingdom!
It looked like the Domain Lord from the Iron Sky Kingdom had already discovered the Nascent Soul Realm Expert long ago, but if that was the case, why had she not acted when he began killing the guards located in the corridors and instead opted to let him go?
Thinking this, Xuan Hao watched with a shocked expression on his face as the guards who had very clearly been lying dead on the ground just a moment ago turned into metal puppets that soon stood up before they merged into the ground below them. Completely disappearing…
If not for the fact he had seen it himself, Xuan Hao doubted that he would have believed what he had just witnessed...
Not to mention the fact that he had not even noticed the fact that the guards were normal humans just a few moments ago!
"No need to act so shocked, you would have realized what they were if you used your divine sense to examine them!"
Hearing the female voice echo out inside his head through voice transmission once again, Xuan Hao could not help but smile a bit awkwardly upon hearing the impatience in the voice before he quickly moved towards the southern section of the competition ground. The opposite location compared to where he and the elders from the Flying Sword Sect had been placed.
Whoosh!
Along the way towards the southern section, Xuan Hao could not help but feel shocked inwardly as he began using his divine sense to examine all the guards on his way and to his shock, he noticed that every single one of them was a metal puppet disguised as a real human!
Not a single one of the guards in the corridors were normal humans!
Is this perhaps the ability of a Master Blacksmith? All of these metal puppets have strength similar to someone at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm… Are there perhaps even stronger metal puppets? Nascent Soul Realm Metal Puppets? Or… Perhaps Domain Lord Realm Metal Puppets?
Thinking this to himself as he arrived in front of a large and extravagant door with two guards at the Nascent Soul Realm standing solemnly in front of it.
"Come in…"
Just as Xuan Hao was just about to examine the two guards to check if they were also metal puppets, the voice he had heard reach out to him just a few moments ago echoed out from inside the room beyond the large doors.
"…"
Not saying anything as he slowly entered the room, Xuan Hao suddenly felt himself grow a bit nervous.
After all, the ruler of the Iron Sky Kingdom was someone at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm! Even he had no idea if he would be able to fight against someone like in a normal fight. Let alone when the other party had the home ground advantage in the shape of a giant formation constructed through the use of several Transcendent Grade Natural Treasures…
…
At the same time, Qing Yi was currently trying her best to successfully make the Dragon Force Potion that she and the rest of the participants had been tasked with. Unaware of what had just happened inside the corridors for the spectator rooms. Located below the normal spectator seats where the normal people without special invitations were located.
"I was quite lucky getting the spiritual herbs so quickly…" Gazing over towards the large tables filled with spiritual herbs just as she finished preparing her herbs, Qing Yi could not help but let out a sigh of relief as she watched how the remaining participants had begun snatching the spiritual herbs from each other.
If not for the fact that they were not allowed to fight, Qing Yi did not doubt that a few of the participants would have already begun fighting.
After all, who could endure having the last spiritual herb they needed, get snatched just in front of their faces by one of the participants…?
"Not again! How dare you steal from me twice in a row?!"
Just as Qing Yi was about to begin the brewing process for the Dragon Force Potion, a loud roar filled with anger could be heard before one of the participants directly launched an attack towards another participant, who had just snatched away a spiritual herb from him.
Bang!
Under the shocked eyes of both Qing Yi and the rest of the participants who had just been disturbed by the sudden outburst. None of the guards from the Iron Sky Kingdom, nor the Artisan Alchemist himself did anything to stop the attack, as the disciple who had just stolen away the spiritual herb was suddenly sent flying through the air before crashing into the ground a few meters away.
""…""
Fighting for the spiritual herbs… Was, okay?
"Yes, I never said anything about not being able to fight for the spiritual herbs… As long as someone steals a spiritual herb from you, you are free to try and steal it back before they finish collecting all the required spiritual herbs!"
Hearing this, all the participants felt shocked. After all, they did not expect that they would have to fight during an alchemy competition…
At the very least, it has nothing to do with me…
Thinking this, Qing Yi and the rest of the participants who had already managed to gather the spiritual herbs they needed all breathed a sigh of relief upon realizing that the fighting would not affect them.
"You! You stole my herb just a moment ago! It's time for you to return it!"
Following this one shout from one of the participants who also had their spiritual herbs stolen, the entire space around the platform at the centre suddenly turned chaotic.
The disciples who had their spiritual herbs taken away in front of them launched an attack to regain their spiritual herbs, while the thieves in question fought back to keep their stolen spiritual herbs.
All of a sudden, the relatively calm alchemy competition had ended up turning into a brawl between the last remaining participants still searching for the spiritual herbs they needed to refine the Dragon Force Pill or Potion…