"The people from the major sects have all started moving... Could it be that they found out about the fact that senior is missing!?"
"This- This should not be the case... If they found out senior is missing, they should have already launched an attack at this point in time!"
"Indeed... From the looks of it, they only want to test the water and don't truly want to start a fight..."
"What should we do!? If Senior does not return in time and they realize he is not here..."
Observing the movements of the people from the major sects from inside the rundown inn, the group of close to 10 Domain Lord Realm Experts among the independent sects could not help getting nervous as they realized what these major sects were up to.
Even if the major sects were only going to test the waters, as long as Xuan Hao didn't return in time, they all understood that these major sects were going to launch an all-out attack. Even if they could not kill them inside the capital city, they would still be able to cripple a large part of their cultivation base and leave them in a half-dead state. Recovering from such a state might be possible, but it would take hundreds- If not thousands of years! Essentially leaving them with no chance of improving their cultivation base in the future...
No matter what, there was no way that they would want something like that to happen! Especially considering that they had just managed to secure a leader position for Xu Bao and were about to receive a lot of new resources from the imperial family that would be able to not only help in increasing their own strength, but also the overall strength of their sects!
"Let's try to drag things out as much as possible for now. Even if senior is not around, we cannot show any weakness when confronted by these shameless puppet sects that wants nothing more than to erase us and take all our resources for themselves!" Stepping forward with a confident expression on his face as he said this, Elder Scarlet Flame calmed down the group of increasingly panicked elders and ancestors of the different independent sects.
Given that both Xuan Hao and Xu Bao were absent, he was more than strong enough to take the lead with his cultivation in the Fourth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.
"""..."""
Hearing what Elder Scarlet Flame said, everyone inside the small inn quieted down. Understanding that for them to appear like nothing was wrong, they would have to go out and face off against the people from the major sects in case they got too close to the inn.
Although doing this might work at the start, when one of the more powerful experts among the major sects approached, they would inevitably realize that the senior they relied on was gone. At that point in time, it was easy to imagine what would happen...
In the first place, it was not like they had the choice of escaping, as doing so would instantly confirm that they no longer had a powerful expert watching over them.
...
Glancing back towards the two elders from the Sparrow Sect chasing after him, Xuan Hao could not help letting out a sigh of relief to himself as he blocked another attack that had been sent flying towards one of the disciples he was carrying with his domain.
From the short exchange he had with the two elders from the Sparrow Sect just now, he realized that the most powerful and older one among the two elders had should have only just recently reached the Sixth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm and could only be considered to be in the early stage of the Sixth Stage of the Domain Lord Realm. Making it far more reasonable that he was able to easily escape them as someone who had reached the Peak of the Seventh Stage of the Domain Lord Realm.
Whoosh~!
As a few minutes passed like this, two chasing and one escaping, Xuan Hao could not help feeling surprised that no guards had showed up to stop them. On the contrary, the guards he spotted did not seem to care about him or his pursuers and instead just observed the situation from the side without doing anything.
From the looks of it, the guards would truly not do anything unless it caused damage to the capital city or involved a life and death situation.
Although Xuan Hao felt happy about this as he did not have to worry about a Soul Ascension Realm Expert showing up, he could not help feeling that the attitude of the guards was rather weird. Maybe the attitude of the imperial family was to just let the Domain Lord Realm Experts settle the matter between themselves. Only when it was a matter of life and death that could result in the weakening of the Sky Empire would they start to involve themselves.
"Hm? The people from the major sects lurking around the in actually didn't attack...?"
Seeing the rundown inn appearing in the distance together with the different people from the major sects who looked like they were cautiously moving closer and closer to the inn, Xuan Hao could not help secretly laughing to himself. From the looks of things, the elder from the Sparrow Sect had a rather bad reputation among the other major sects. Not one of them trusted him enough to launch an attack on the inn...
"That is- The Seventh Stage Domain Lord Realm Expert, he really was gone..."
"Looks like that old man from the Sparrow Sect was telling the truth..."
As Xuan Hao got closer to the rundown inn, it did not take long before the people from the major sects who were slowly approaching the inn discovered him. Allowing the to understand that the Sparrow Sect had indeed told them the truth when they informed them that the powerful expert watching over the independent sects was gone.
But at this point in time, there was nothing they could do about it. The time that the Sparrow Sect had bought for them to attack the independent sects had already passed and now they would not be able to do anything without having to first go through the terrifying Peak Seventh Stage Domain Lord Realm Expert.
"That idiot, if he wanted to buy time for us to attack the independent sects by drawing away that person, why did he not inform us about it first!?"
"Indeed, he should have known how little we trust him and his Sparrow Sect... Did he perhaps suffer some kind of mental problem recently...?"
Showing up just in time to hear the people from the other major sects scolding him loudly with angry expressions on their faces, the old elder from the Sparrow Sect felt like throwing up a mouthful of blood in anger.
He had indeed planned to inform all of them about his plan to bait out and split up the people from the independent sects, the only problem was that the person he wanted to draw away the most had suddenly shown up before he had a chance to carry out his plan.
Not only that, but the disciples from the Tree Flower Sect and the Stone Horn Sect that he had planned to use for this had all been taken away before he had a chance to react. Taking him by surprise with just how close Xuan Hao had managed to get without him finding out about it... But then again, he also remembered a few things he had heard about concealment talisman during a conversation with his lord a few years earlier.
Back then, he had learnt that not only did there exist concealment talismans that would be able to allow someone with only a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation base to hide from someone in the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm, but there were even more powerful concealment talisman out there that would allow one to hide from someone who had reached the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm!
Of course, he did not fully believe something like this. After all, just how powerful was someone in the Soul Ascension Realm... Let alone someone who had actually managed to reach the Peak of the Soul Ascension Realm. How could a simple talisman allow some weak ant in the Foundation Establishment Realm to hide from someone like that!?
The only reason why he even believed the existence of concealment talismans that could hide from the domain of a Peak Domain Lord Realm existence, was due to the fact that his lord had personally shown him one of these talismans in person during the visit back then!
Swish-!
At the same time that the elder from the Sparrow Sect was momentarily lost in thought upon hearing the scolding voice of the other major sects, Xuan Hao passed through the experts from the major sects blocking his path and entered the rundown inn. None of the people present daring to stop him!