Chapter 543 - Force (1/2)

The masked man slightly raised his head, just enough to meet Hao Xuan's glaring gaze.

A bout of silence followed after that lasted no more than 10 seconds. Silently, he lowered his bow and gestured towards the center of the crater where most of the Hall's cultivators were gathered.

He didn't say anything after that and neither did Hao Xuan.

Hao Xuan who was still riding Grey with the glaive in hand and urged him forward.

As Grey approached the roaring crowd of cultivators, several of them at the back stood up and turned around to face Hao Xuan.

Hao Xuan's eyes quickly darted back and forth between the faces of these ten or so individuals but he couldn't recognize any of them.

Behind them, most of the other cultivators were still engaged with the insect creatures in one way or another.

”Where is your protector?” Hao Xuan asked, prompting one of the cultivators to step forward.

It was a man in his early twenties. Bald, scars covering a majority of his head and face.

”And would you be?” he asked with a genial smile while nudging closer to Grey with an extended hand, trying to pet him.

But when he was a meter away, Grey neighed and stomped on the ground with his front legs. A gust of air akin to a raging tempest appeared for just a second before disappearing like it was never there.

It sent the cultivator straight up into the air and when he landed, his body was covered in small cuts from head to toe. It looked like he had been tortured for days.

His eyes had rolled back into their sockets. His breath tethered on the edge, threatening to disappear at any moment.

Everyone watching including Hao Xuan was stunned into silence. Their eyes widened with disbelief.

The only noise was coming from the crowd engaged with the insect creatures still unaware of what had happened behind them.

Hao Xuan's gaze met with several of the cultivators facing him.

There was a strange type of stillness in the air that was louder than any action, almost deafeningly. None of them made a move, continuing to exchange glances with one another.

Hao Xuan breathed in slowly through his nose before tightening the grip around the glaive.

Nidhora's dark energy that surrounded Hao Xuan almost completely silently surged towards his arms and legs, in preparation for what was to come.

Who was going to make the first move? They didn't have to wait long to get that answer.

*Cough*Cough*

The scarred man gained consciousness, coughing up several mouthfuls of blood on his clothes.

All of their eyes shifted towards him. He was alive.

He groaned and tried to get up but soon as he tried to do so, blood poured out of the many hundreds of small cuts like water through a cracked dam.

With a dull thud, he fell limp. Alive or dead, that was unknown.