They plan to capture a group of disciples and use them to split us up? Good idea, but ultimately useless considering that they don't know about my true cultivation realm...
Standing inside the rundown inn, Xuan Hao could not help shaking his head as he thought about this while looking in the direction that the two elders from the Sparrow Sect had disappeared in.
Outside the two elders from the Sparrow Sect that had just left to catch the disciples from the Tree Flower Sect and the Stone Horn Sect, there was also a large number of Domain Lord Realm Experts belonging to the other major sects watching over the rundown inn.
Given that he could already be considered to be infinitely close to someone in the Soul Ascension Realm, there was no way that he wouldn't be able to notice the elders from the Sparrow Sect and the rest of the experts from the other major sects lurking around the rundown inn waiting for an opportunity to strike... But then again, there was no way that these people would expect something like this in the first place.
"I will be going out for a short moment, make sure that you don't leave the inn during this period of time!"
"Huh? Senior, what do you mean that you will be leaving-"
Swish-!
"Senior!?"
Knowing that he would be able to hide himself from the divine sense of the different experts belonging to the major sects outside, Xuan Hao left behind a group of confused representatives from the different independent sects, as he chased after the two elders from the Sparrow Sect. Not intending to let them take advantage of the disciples from the Tree Flower Sect and Stone Horn Sect.
...
Having already parted ways with the old elder from the Sparrow Sect, the younger elder stopped in front of a small inn located close to the Explorer Union Branch inside the capital city.
"This should be the place where the disciples from the Tree Flower Sect are staying. Hehe, these disciples have no idea what is about to happen to them!" Chuckling to himself as he said this while gazing towards the small inn, the younger elder had once again returned to his former arrogant state now that his senior was no longer around. Not caring the slightest bit about the group of disciples from the Tree Flower Sect.
After all, what could a group of young disciples who would at most have reached the Core Formation Realm do against a Domain Lord Realm Expert like himself? Even if they had some protective measures left behind by a senior from their sect, they would at most allow them to hold out for a few seconds!
Another reason why the young elder was so confident in himself, was also because the strongest elder from the Tree Flower Sect had only barely reached the First Stage of the Domain Lord Realm, while he himself had reached the Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.
Even if the ancestor of the Tree Flower Sect was present, there was no way that he would be able to resist him for long, let alone give away defensive artifacts or talismans that could deal with someone in the Second Stage of the Domain Lord Realm like himself!
"There they are!" Using his divine sense to locate the group of disciples from the Tree Flower Sect inside the inn, the young elder didn't bother wasting any time searching the inn any further. Directly using a movement technique to dash inside before arriving inside the room where the disciples from the Tree Flower Sect were staying-
"Wha- W-who are you!?"
Catching the five disciples from the Tree Flower Sect present inside the room by surprise. Clearly not having expected for someone to suddenly show up inside of their room all of a sudden without any of them noticing.
"Hehe, you can ask your elders about that later!"
Swish-!
Not bothering to explain anything to this group of young disciples who were mostly in the Core Formation Realm, the young elder from the Sparrow Sect waved his sleeve and knocked all five disciples out before taking them away from the inn.
"So powerful... Who was it that visited the inn just now...?"
"I don't know, but the other party should at least be someone in the Domain Lord Realm!"
"Domain Lord Realm... No wonder I didn't manage to pick up on the other party before he had already left..."
Everything happened far too fast for anyone inside the inn to realize what had happened before the young elder from the Sparrow Sect had disappeared.
If not for the fact that the young elder from the Sparrow Sect had not bothered to hide his aura during the kidnapping of the five young Tree Flower Sect disciples, it would have been impossible for them to even notice anything in the first place. After all, the strongest person inside the inn had only reached the Nascent Soul Realm. Far from enough to notice someone in the Domain Lord Realm if the other party wanted to stay hidden.
However, unknown to the young elder from the Sparrow Sect who had just left the inn with the five disciples from the Tree Flower Sect before making his way towards a prearranged location to meet up with the older elder from the Sparrow Sect before beginning the next part of their plan to split up the cultivators from the independent sects, Xuan Hao had already managed to catch up and was silently following him.
In Xuan Hao's eyes, it was far easier to wait until all the disciples from the independent sects had been gathered in one location before striking to take them away and safely retreat without having to fight with the two Domain Lord Realm Experts from the Sparrow Sect.
Although fighting them before they had a chance to get their hands on the disciples from the independent sects was tempting, Xuan Hao also understood that doing so came with the risk of the other Domain Lord Realm Experts jumping in to join the fight.
At that point in time, he would only barely be able to hold them back with the strength of an average Peak Seventh Stage Domain Lord Realm Expert. Not only that, but he would also risk the fight catching the attention of one of the Soul Ascension Realm Experts inside the capital city.
No matter how confident he was in the ability of the necklace to hide his cultivation base from someone in the Domain Lord Realm, he had no confidence in it being able to hide his cultivation base from someone in the Soul Ascension Realm. Especially not if the person who ended up paying attention to the fight was the terrifying ancestor of the imperial family...
"Senior!" A few minutes after moving through the capital, the young elder suddenly came to a stop before calling out to the old elder from the Sparrow Sect who was waiting for him in an empty alleyway located at the edge of the capital on the opposite of the city to the rundown inn. Over twenty unconscious people on the ground next to him.
Thump!
"Senior, are we-"
"Only five? I thought the Tree Flower Sect would have more disciples inside the capital city. The Stone Horn Sect had more than twenty disciples, one of them was even a genius that managed to reach the Nascent Soul Realm!"
Putting the five disciples from the Tree Flower Sect that he had carried with him on the ground, the young elder didn't even get a chance to say anything before the old elder interrupted him.
"I didn't expect for there to be so few disciples either... At the very least, these disciples should still be more than enough to force those independent sects to come out to rescue them. Especially that disciple in the Nascent Soul Realm, I'm sure that the Stone Horn Sect will do everything to get him back!" Not knowing what to say in response, the young elder could only say this before pointing towards a brawny looking young man among the over twenty Stone Horn Sect disciples' unconscious on the ground.
"Hm... Indeed, that disciple in the Nascent Soul Realm does represents a future Domain Lord Realm Expert for their sect, there is no way that the Stone Horn Sect will give up on getting him back!" Nodding his head as he said this after hearing what the young elder said, an evil smile appeared in the eyes of the old elder while looking towards the brawny young man in the Nascent Soul Realm.
If not for the fact that killing the young man from the Stone Horn Sect would ruin their chances of splitting up the people from the independent sects, he would have already done so to ensure that the stone Horn sect didn't gain another Domain Lord Realm Expert in the future.
Oh well... He would always be able to kill the young genius from the Stone Horn Sect after the experts from the independent sects had split up...!