"Wha-what!? Who!?"
Seeing someone appear directly in front of him before casual stopping him from grabbing hold of Li Yao, the leader among the attackers could not help exclaiming in a both fearful and surprised voice.
He had just been about to grab hold of Li Yao before someone had suddenly appeared in front of him without any prior warning, it had to be known that he had not even seen the other party move before he was already in front of him!
Not to mention the fact that he had very clearly felt his pseudo domain being rendered completely? useless by the other party before he even had a chance to truly use it…
From this alone, the leader of the attacks quickly realized that the other part was someone far stronger than him and for someone to be stronger than him… Meant that the other party should be someone who had reached the Domain Lord Realm!
This thought alone was more than enough to terrify the leader of the attackers, to the point that he still hadn't noticed Fang Shi standing just a few meters away from him also about to try and stop him…
"Oh? You were here as well Fang Shi? I wonder if you remember our bet from yesterday?"
It was only when he heard the person who had stopped him talk that he discovered Fang Shi was also there.
Someone who was very likely to have reached the Domain Lord Realm and a famous Artisan Alchemist only a single step away from the Domain Lord Realm!
No, I have to get out of here!
Understanding that he would not be able to complete his mission of kidnapping Li Yao, the leader of the attack brought out a small talisman and before Xuan Hao could react in time, managed to activate it.
Whoosh!
Followed by the talisman being activated, both Xuan Hao and Fang Shi showed a surprised expression, as the leader of the group of attackers suddenly disappeared into thin air. Not leaving behind any traces of him having even been present in the first place.
Even Xuan Hao didn't have any time to react, as it was a first for him to suddenly see someone just disappear in front of him all of a sudden…
…
"What was that…?"
Unknowingly muttering this to himself, as he just watched the leader of the group of attackers disappear in front of him, Xuan Hao looked over towards the other attackers who had already stopped their attack also looking over with a similarly shocked expression.
Looks like they have no idea about what happened either…
Thinking this to himself, Xuan Hao used his ice domain to freeze up the group of attackers before they even had any time to react and began observing his surroundings. Trying to find out just what had happened to the leader of the attackers.
However, his search came to nothing, as he still had no clue what had happened to the leader of the attackers.
Well… Not completely useless as he had still managed to discover some changes to the space around the place the leader of the attackers had been standing just a few seconds ago, it was just that his comprehension regarding spatial manipulation was way too shallow to understand just what had happened.
All he could see with his current level, was that some changes had taken place in the surrounding space.
Maybe if he was stronger or had dedicated some more time to understand spatial manipulation, outside of making interspatial rings to throw around wherever he went, he might have an idea as to what had caused the leader of the attackers suddenly disappear in front of him.
"A thousand-mile talisman!? Impossible!"
As the fight had stopped before it even managed to start, Fang Shi's voice could? clearly be heard by everyone standing around, as the old man himself looked over towards the location where the leader of the attackers had been standing just a few seconds ago with a look of disbelief.
"You know what the talisman that he used?"
Hearing Fang Shi's exclamation of surprise after having remained silent for a short moment, Xuan Hao asked the old alchemist.
"Yes, a thousand-mile talisman is a teleportation talisman that can be used once to randomly teleport the user somewhere a thousand miles away… But a thousand-mile talisman is not something easy to acquire.
Even a Domain Lord will have a hard time acquiring a thousand-mile talisman due to the expensive materials involved in making one. Not to mention the fact that it also requires a Peak Domain Lord skilled in the art of talismans!"
Listening to Fang Shi explanation of a thousand-mile talisman, Xuan Hao understood why he was so surprised after he recognized the talisman used by the leader of the attackers.
The fact that it required someone at the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm to make, was more than enough for Xuan Hao to understand just how precious a thousand-mile talisman was.
Not to mention the fact that the talisman could be considered lifesaving. Allowing one to escape in case one encountered a dangerous situation.
Like the leader of the group of attackers who had escaped after realizing that he had no way to fight back against Xuan Hao…
"Hah… If only I knew about it beforehand…"
Only able to shake his head with regret over the fact that he had not killed the enemy before he escaped, Xuan Hao resolved himself to not make such a mistake in the future. At the very least he now knew about the existence of things like the thousand-mile talisman!
At the same time that Xuan Hao was thinking about the thousand-mile talisman, the first of the Nascent Soul Realm Experts from the Iron Sky Kingdom's side arrived.
"Senior, do you have any plan on how to deal with those people? If not, we can take care of them!"
"Sure, I don't have any use for them, and it seems like you already have something planned…"
Already having realized that the remaining Nascent Soul Realm Experts were likely just someone who had been hired by the person who had run away, Xuan Hao allowed for the Nascent Soul Realm Expert from the Iron Sky Kingdom to take away the frozen Nascent Soul Realm Experts…
Even though they were still alive, they could not move a single muscle, as even their Nascent Soul had been frozen in place inside their bodies.
"What happened to them…?"
"They turned into ice sculptures… Is this perhaps a special defensive technique?"
It was also at this moment that Li Yao and her group of elders realized that the people who had just been rushing over towards them filled with killing intent a moment ago, had been turned into human popsicles.
"E-elder Grandpa, what happened…?"
Li Yao, who was just about to get snatched away by the unknown man a few seconds ago, looked up towards the elderly man standing beside her.
"We were attacked by some bad guys, and it looks like Elder Xuan, Qing Yi's master, saved us…"
"Wow! Qing Yi's master is really strong!"
Listening in from the side, Fang Shi could not help feeling a wave of sadness wash over him as he watched how his future second disciple was looking towards Xuan Hao filled with admiration.
Not only did he end up revealing himself to Xuan Hao, but he also didn't even manage to anything other than provide a bit of information regarding how the enemy leader had escaped…
"Thank you… For protecting the young lady, the Sunfire Sect will make sure to repay the favour in the future!"
"No problem, Li Yao is still a friend of Qing Yi, so it's only a given that I help out."
"…"
Remaining silent on the side as this short conversation between Xuan Hao and the elder at Li Yao's side, Fang Shi decided to escape while he still had time.
There was no way he was going to stay around and wait for Xuan Hao to come and ask him to uphold his bet from yesterday!
Whoosh!
Just before Fang Shi managed to leave the area, he suddenly realized that he could not move his body any longer.
"W-what is this!?"
Feeling something bad was about to happen, Fang Shi was just about to use his pseudo domain to run away, when the familiar voice of Xuan Hao echoed out from behind him.
"Oh… Leaving already, Fang Shi…?"
"Hehe, of course not! I just wanted to check up on the other elders over here. After all, I'm an alchemist and have quite a few healing potions and pills on hand."
Not knowing what to say as he had been caught trying to run away this time around, Fang Shi decided to play ignorant as he said this before showing off a few different Qi Recovery Pills he was carrying with him.
"They didn't even fight yet, so I don't think there is a need for that… More importantly, how about we discuss the bet from yesterday? I wanted to talk about this yesterday, but you suddenly disappeared after we left the cauldron…"
Smiling happily while saying this, Xuan Hao arrived beside Fang Shi.
This time around, he was not going to let him run away…