This was the telltale sign of a divine champion—only a divine champion or glorious marquis could produce a phenomenon of such scale. And judging from that magnificent scenery, the expert hiding inside the city lord’s manor was in a battle-ready state. He could attack at any moment!

There were no divine champions in Southern Blue. Now that such a character had appeared, it was obvious who they were targeting.

Qianye punched through the roof of the car without the slightest hesitation and shot into the air.

A deep, tyrannical voice echoed in the sky, “Trying to run away? Stay back obediently!”

A dark bluish whirlwind of origin power surged into the skies, and from it emerged a figure which charged toward Qianye like a bolt of lightning.

This silhouette appeared with a might capable of commanding the heaven and earth. It seemed like the entire Southern Blue had fallen submissively at its feet. Everything inside the city—be it the origin power or the buildings, be it living beings or lifeless objects—was full of animosity for Qianye. For a brief moment, Qianye felt as though he had become an enemy of the entire world.

Flying over was a tall, burly man. Surging with killing intent, his eyes were like lightning and his long hair was dancing wildly in the wind. His almost-tangible glare was akin to steel chains binding Qianye in the air.

This was the might of a divine champion. His every movement was aided by the world itself, so much so that he didn’t even need to do anything himself. Just a stare was enough to restrain an ordinary champion.

Time flowed quickly despite their seemingly slow movements. Qianye said to the incoming man, “Wolf King?”

“Indeed! Submit voluntarily and I might spare your life!”

In the span of just a few words, the Wolf King had already arrived in front of Qianye to swipe at his head.

This attack was a sure hit. As he saw it, Qianye would never be able to escape his grasp regardless of the struggle. The power gap between the two was so great that resistance was practically futile.

Even if Qianye could escape the bindings, the entirety of Southern Blue was covered in the Wolf King’s domain. The latter could appear anywhere in a flash and lock onto anyone—how could Qianye escape?

However, Qianye burst out in laughter as he broke the bindings forcibly with a shake of his body!

After regaining his freedom, an indistinct red line shot into the distance, and Qianye’s figure suddenly blurred out of existence.

A clap of thunder exploded in the air as the Wolf King closed his palm with sparks flying out in all directions. This claw was of extraordinary power and could instantly melt down near-indestructible metal alloys, but it only struck empty air. Qianye was nowhere to be seen.

Beams of origin radiance burst out from the furious Wolf King’s eyes as he scanned the sky and the ground. Qianye could forget about escaping as long as he was still within the domain.

The divine champion’s gaze swept over the entire city, leaving no stone unturned, yet he still couldn’t find a single shadow. It was as though the man had vanished completely—no matter how hard the Wolf King searched, he couldn’t find the slightest trace.

Seething with anger, the Wolf King erupted in dark bluish flames, not unlike a G.o.d of murder descending upon the world. A luminous glow danced about in the Wolf King’s eyes as he flew into the air to observe the surroundings, even projecting outward from time to time when he was impatient.

But despite all that, he still couldn’t find Qianye.

In his fury, the divine champion raised his right hand—a ma.s.sive amount of origin power converged from every direction, forming a terrifying storm of origin power above him. If this attack were to land, it would definitely wreck most of Southern Blue.

Ji Rui rushed out from the city lord’s mansion and said in a fl.u.s.ter, “Wolf King! Are you trying to destroy my city?”

The glow in the Wolf King’s eyes gradually receded. He said with a snort, “Of course not. Our cooperation has just begun. It’s just that this Qianye has completely disappeared, do you have any idea where he’s gone?”

Ji Rui laughed wryly. “The entirety of Southern Blue is under your domain. Who here is capable of hiding him? Either this Qianye has a secret art for hiding his aura or he has already escaped from the city.”

The Wolf King’s expression turned dark. “How can he leave the city under my eyes!?”

Ji Rui replied hurriedly, “How should I know? I’m only guessing.”

The Wolf King snorted. He scanned the entire city once more with his perception, and only after finding nothing did he grudgingly retract his domain. Maintaining such a large domain for an extended length of time was a considerable burden even for the Wolf King.

He looked about with narrowed eyes and then gazed suspiciously toward the vast wilderness.

In a single moment, Qianye had vanished from the world without a trace. Even someone of his caliber couldn’t tell how Qianye had fled. The only method with a similar effect would be to tear through the void.

He did feel a bit of spatial fluctuation back then, but he quickly shook his head and ruled out this possibility. Those who could penetrate s.p.a.ce were all top-level characters, either at the heavenly monarch realm or one step away from it. Even the current Wolf King didn’t have this ability, not to mention a mere Qianye.

After a moment of fruitless contemplation, the Wolf King could only give up temporarily and return to the city lord mansion.

Back in the manor, the Wolf King and Ji Rui sat down across one another. The Wolf King said, “Letting Qianye escape is a disaster.”

“Yes!” Ji Rui sighed.

The Wolf King laughed. “It’s only your disaster, though. He won’t escape so easily the next time he runs into me. But if he can escape once from me, he can easily escape a hundred times from you, you had better arrange your guards well.”

Ji Rui looked bitter. He merely sighed and couldn’t say anything for quite a while.

With how mysterious Qianye was, what guard could even stop him? The man had escaped despite the Wolf King attacking in person. What good would it do even if Ji Rui were to patrol the city every night? The city lord did have some hidden aces, but even if he did use all of them, they weren’t any better than the Wolf King’s power.

The two continued to sit silently. The Wolf King was in a fairly bad mood since he still couldn’t figure out how Qianye had escaped. Perhaps Zhang Buzhou would have some answers, but that was the last person on earth he wanted to meet.

In the end, the Wolf King broke the silence and said, “Don’t worry too much. I’ll go and hunt him down myself once things here have been settled. He’ll surely die in my hands unless he never makes an appearance.”

“He probably won’t remain in the Eastern Sea,” Ji Rui said bitterly.

The Eastern Sea was Zhang Buzhou’s territory, and even the Spider Emperor and Moonlight Demons would be affected here. If Qianye was smart enough, he naturally wouldn’t remain here. If he were to escape to another place, like the Throne of Blood’s domain, the Wolf King wouldn’t dare act atrociously there no matter how ferocious he was.

The Wolf King snorted coldly. “I hope he’s smart enough not to appear in front of me.”

With that, the Wolf King retired with a wave of his sleeve, leaving Ji Rui in the quiet room to drown in his own worries.

Just like that, the sky turned dark in a flash. Ji Rui stood up with a long sigh and muttered, “Let’s enjoy some peaceful days first. I’ll just have to think of a way when the time comes.”

He had spent the night in contemplation, yet he couldn’t think of any good solution to this problem. Qianye escaping from the Wolf King’s hands was something he had never expected. Now that he thought about it, Qianye was probably unafraid of him because he had a way to escape.

Just like the Wolf King, Ji Rui had no clue as to how Qianye had vanished. At this moment, Ji Rui was infinitely regretful. Had he known earlier, he wouldn’t have agreed to the Wolf King’s terms. Standing out of this feud would let the Wolf King earn a bit more, at most.

Ji Rui had thought it through. Money was a lovely thing, but there were other ways to earn it.

After making an enemy like Qianye, there was no telling when he would be able to sleep peacefully again.

Ji Rui got up and paced about the study, sighing with a gloomy expression. Since he had already offended Qianye, the only way forward was to offend him to the end. The latter was destined to be unstoppable once he had matured.

A knock came from the door at this point. In his bad mood, Ji Rui scolded the visitor, “What’s so important? Can’t this wait?”

Guan Zhongliu’s voice echoed from the other side of the door. “City Lord, we’ve almost flipped through the entire city, but we couldn’t find any trace of him. Now, our brothers are all exhausted, do you think…”

“... Call it off.” Ji Rui had no real hope of the city guard finding Qianye and only sent them out to appease his emotions. Nonetheless, he still felt some disappointment when he heard that there was no news.

Ji Rui sighed deeply after Guan Zhongliu left. “I can live in peace for at least two years, right?”

Whether it was the Wolf King or Ji Rui, none of them had imagined that Qianye would be standing outside Southern Blue.

Like a wisp of smoke, the latter leapt up and appeared on the city wall and then pa.s.sed through two patrol squads to enter the city. These movements looked easy, but they weren’t that simple in execution. Throughout the entire process, Qianye only used a little bit of origin power, making his aura seem no stronger than rank four.

People at this level were a dime a dozen in Southern Blue, and innumerable people were going over the walls day and night. After all, every family in the neutral lands had things that couldn’t be brought into the light. The City Guard also understood this situation and would usually turn a blind eye.

So, even if the Wolf King’s perception had scanned Qianye, he would only overlook him as one of the riff-raff.

After entering Southern Blue, Qianye’s faintly discernible silhouette entered an alleyway and arrived outside of the city lord’s manor. There, he looked up at the mansion with a blue shade in his eyes.

There was still a great amount of void origin power swirling in the skies above, but it was nowhere near as violent as in the beginning. This meant that the Wolf King hadn’t activated his origin power, nor was he in a battle-ready state.

Qianye moved near the wall and lithely clawed his way up to the top, his fingers piercing into the structure with each step. He was relying only on his physical strength and not a wisp of origin power. So much so that one would be inclined to think he was an ordinary person without any cultivation.