Qin Yuan’s eyes focused.
Only 6th layer?
He could tell now.
With the concealment mostly broken, their true realms leaked out.
Both were 6th layer Spirit Opening.
Yet their foundations were firm.
Far beyond average.
The Spirit Master leader could not bother with the wounded. Endless confusion flooded his expression.
His concealment setup should have been powerful enough that Spirit, Arcane, and Body Master experts would need to be within at least seventy meters to detect something was off. Anything farther should have been impossible to sense.
He had calculated the distance.
They were nowhere near the Spirit Master beasts at the cave entrance.
They had sensed no beasts when arriving at this point.
So how were they discovered?
But he had no time to think.
The monstrous beast that struck let out a vicious snarl.
Spirit Qi wildly spiraled everywhere, creating another whirlwind. Sharp winds slashed apart trees and cracked stones. Its pressure was truly that of a Spirit Master-level threat.
The beast emerged fully from the torn forest.
It was shaped vaguely like a tiger, but uglier and far more savage. Its body was covered in dark green hide, with jagged white bone spikes along its shoulders. Its front claws were long enough to carve through stone, and its eyes burned with the cruel intelligence of a predator that enjoyed panic.
It was not one of the beasts at the entrance.
It had been hiding outside the scout group’s detection range.
Or perhaps above them.
Qin Yuan’s Spirit Sense swept over the broken treetops.
No.
Not above.
Underground.
The beast had buried its aura beneath the soil.
That’s troublesome.
With unfathomable momentum, the beast slashed out with its claw, appearing directly inches from the Spirit Master leader.
The leader roared to the heavens.
“Flame Severing Line!”
Flames surged out of his sword, forming a searing blade that stretched several meters long. He slashed down at great speed, just barely smashing into the claw.
A thunderous bang erupted.
The Spirit Master leader was sent flying.
His body shot directly toward the cave entrance.
For a terrifying moment, it looked like he would crash straight into the group of Master-level beasts guarding the cave.
But the leader was experienced.
He twisted midair, flipped his body, and smashed his feet into the ground. Dirt exploded beneath him. He slid back another few meters before finally stopping.
Blood leaked down his chin.
His breathing was rough.
In that moment, despair filled his face.
The beast that attacked him had barely taken any damage.
Worse, he could sense another Master-level beast locking onto him from the cave entrance.
One in front.
One behind.
His situation had turned from dangerous to nearly hopeless.
At this moment, Qin Yuan narrowed his eyes.
The monstrous beast that sent the leader away did not charge toward him.
Instead, it slowly turned its body around.
As if it had sensed more amusing prey.
As if it wanted to play a little.
Its gaze moved.
Not toward the wounded 9th layer experts.
Not toward the corpses.
Directly toward the mysterious 6th layer Spirit Opening pair.
Tang Jue and Xu Yiran did not know Qin Yuan had already named them in his mind.
But they clearly understood the beast was coming for them.
“Oh, that is so unbelievably not good,” the young man said, his voice strained but still strangely alive. “Yiran, tell me your compass has a ‘make tiger stupid’ setting.”
The young woman’s face was pale, but her eyes stayed focused.
“It has a ‘stop talking or die faster’ setting.”
“Rude.”
“Accurate.”
They did not wait.
Their auras fully erupted.
Spirit Qi burst out wildly.
Lightning crackled across Tang Jue’s body and spear. His messy black hair lifted slightly from the static, and his eyes sharpened with battle-ready pressure.
Beside him, gleaming Spirit Qi swirled around Xu Yiran. Her compass opened into three rotating formation rings, each ring marked with tiny silver characters that shifted constantly.
Their concealment was completely let go now.
Their 6th layer auras were fully exposed.
Their appearances were revealed clearly.
Tang Jue looked around Qin Yuan’s age, maybe a little older. He had sharp brows, bright eyes, and the kind of expression that made him seem like he was either about to start a fight or make a joke at the worst possible time.
Xu Yiran was calmer. Her hair was tied neatly, and even in danger, her posture remained measured. Her eyes moved quickly, constantly calculating the terrain, beast movement, Qi flow, and escape routes.
Qin Yuan used his system to identify them.
Tang Jue.
High Common Seventh-Grade Spiritual Root.
On the verge of Perfect Common quality.
Xu Yiran.
High Common Seventh-Grade Spiritual Root.
Also on the verge of Perfect Common quality.
Qin Yuan’s mind focused.
His perception accelerated to the point his thoughts processed at lightning speed.
Those two looked good on the surface.
But against a Spirit Master beast, even a casual one, they would be slaughtered in mere seconds.
Perhaps he should simply ignore them.
That was the safest option.
He had not come here to save strangers.
He had not come here to reveal himself.
He had come for opportunity.
And yet, these two were too strange to ignore.
They had blended in among Master-level and Origin experts. They had fended off the aftershock from a Spirit Master beast despite being only 6th layer. Their current calm disposition was not ordinary.
Their foundations were not ordinary either.
And more importantly, they were young.
Young meant potential.
Potential meant possible value.
Possible value meant possible investment.
Qin Yuan’s eyes shifted toward the cave entrance.
Only one other Spirit Master beast had appeared outside the cave’s guarding range. Presumably, the aura of this beast scared off any beast below the Master-level threshold in this area.
That meant if he drew it away, Tang Jue and Xu Yiran might survive.
And if they survived, he could see whether they were worth knowing.
Qin Yuan surged all of his Spirit Qi.
The Windless Sky Veil Art mystified his body with wind.
His presence thinned.
His breathing blended with the airflow.
His figure became almost unstable, like a person reflected on moving water.
Then he stepped out silently.
He moved like wind.
Far beyond the perception of any 9th layer Opening expert.
The beast stalking toward Tang Jue and Xu Yiran paused.
It sensed something.
Not clearly.
Only a faint wrongness beside it.
Before it could fully turn, Qin Yuan’s body purposely struck its side.
Not with full force.
Not enough to injure it.
Just enough to bump it off balance.
The massive beast staggered.
For one ridiculous instant, the Spirit Master-level monstrous beast nearly fell on its ass.
Tang Jue blinked.
Xu Yiran blinked.
Even the wounded 9th layer experts stared blankly.
The beast was instantly enraged.
Its head snapped toward Qin Yuan’s faint presence.
Because it had been distracted, it did not fully see him. It only detected something weak nearby.
A weak prey.
A bug.
With a snarl, the beast struck out, hoping to instantly capture and crush the strange presence.
Its claw tore through the air.
But the presence was already gone.
Qin Yuan moved several meters away before the claw arrived.
The beast’s attack carved a trench into the ground.
It roared, now fully wanting to kill this insulting presence.
Qin Yuan did not look back.
He soared straight toward the struggling Spirit Master leader.
To the leader’s credit, he had managed to barely survive against the beast he was up against. But he was clearly losing. His flames had become unstable, his breathing uneven, and the beast in front of him had already adapted to his rhythm.
The leader could only be grateful he had sent a message back.
A full squad of Master-level experts should be on the way.
If they arrived in time.
If.
At that moment, a gush of wind swept past him.
Distracted by the beast in front of him, the leader only thought the other beast had finally decided to attack him.
His heart nearly stopped.
“You ugly bastard!”
He hurriedly slashed out with a martial skill.
Flames bloomed across the entire area, forming a violent crescent that lit up the forest red.
The enraged beast chasing Qin Yuan rushed straight into it.
BOOOOM!
The martial skill struck the beast head-on, causing blood to spray from its shoulder and sending it skidding back.
The beast’s attention instantly forgot all about the weak presence.
Its furious eyes locked entirely onto the Spirit Master leader.
The leader’s expression froze.
Then he viciously cursed.
“Why is my luck so dogshit today?!”
The two Master-level beasts now faced him from different angles.
One wounded.
One angry.
Both murderous.
Qin Yuan had already vanished from their perception.
At the same time, Tang Jue and Xu Yiran were utterly bewildered by the change of events.
From their perspective, the beast had seemingly struck at empty wind, gotten offended by existence itself, then randomly charged at the leader.
Tang Jue stared.
“Did that thing just fight the air?”
Xu Yiran’s fingers tightened around her compass.
“No. Something moved.”
“Something invisible?”
“Not invisible. Concealed.”
“That is not better.”
They were about to reorder themselves when a gust of wind blasted in front of them.
Neither reacted in time.
Qin Yuan appeared before them.
His expression was calm, his eyes clear, his aura suppressed so tightly that he looked nothing like someone who had just tricked a Spirit Master beast.
He grabbed their hands.
Tang Jue’s lightning immediately crackled.
Xu Yiran’s compass flashed.
Qin Yuan spoke before either could act.
“Don’t resist, or all of us die.”
His voice was calm.
Not loud.
Not emotional.
But it carried a suppressive weight that made both of them freeze.
Tang Jue’s mouth opened.
“Who the hell are—”
Qin Yuan pulled.
Superior strength and speed forced them along before Tang Jue could finish. The Windless Sky Veil Art wrapped around his body again, and the airflow dragged over the two of them as Qin Yuan led them away from the battlefield.
Tang Jue nearly stumbled.
Xu Yiran adjusted faster, using a small footwork art to match his pace.
In a few breaths, Qin Yuan brought them behind a half-collapsed stone ridge covered in moss, roots, and spiritual mist. It was not far from the cave, but the angle blocked direct sight from the battlefield.
He released their hands and took out a powerful concealment talisman.
His own power could not cover all three of them.
Not yet.
The talisman was dark blue and thin as paper, with silver lines that shifted like moving wind. Qin Yuan pressed it against the stone. Spirit Qi flowed into it.
A faint veil expanded around them.
The sounds of battle outside became slightly muffled.
The air inside the veil turned still.
Tang Jue and Xu Yiran stared at him.
Bewildered.
Confused.
On edge.
Tang Jue raised his spear slightly. “Alright, I’m not saying thanks yet because I still don’t know if we got kidnapped or rescued.”
Xu Yiran narrowed her eyes. “You moved us out of a Spirit Master beast’s attack path. That counts as rescue.”
“Could be premium kidnapping.”
Qin Yuan looked at him.
Tang Jue coughed.
“Okay, maybe not the time.”
Xu Yiran took one step forward, voice low. “Who are you?”
Qin Yuan lifted a finger slightly.
“Mask your voice with Spirit Qi. Wait to talk for a moment.”
Tang Jue frowned. “Why?”
Qin Yuan’s gaze shifted toward the battlefield beyond the ridge.
“Because those beasts are still listening.”
Tang Jue’s expression changed.
Xu Yiran immediately circulated Spirit Qi around her throat, forming a thin layer of sound isolation. Tang Jue followed half a breath later, muttering, “This day is getting worse in creative ways.”
Qin Yuan did not answer him.
His Spirit Sense had already spread out again.
Layer after layer of perception slipped past the stone ridge, through the twisted roots, around the half-collapsed cliffside, and back toward the battlefield near the cave entrance.
The Spirit Master leader was still alive.
Barely.
His aura flared again and again like a dying signal tower during a storm. Every burst of Spirit Qi pushed away one Master-level monstrous beast, only for another to slam into his defenses from the side. His robes were torn. Blood streaked down one arm. A communication crystal floated beside his head, flickering with urgent red light.
“Move faster!” the Spirit Master shouted into it. “I said the threshold is real! Master-level beasts are everywhere! If you people keep debating jurisdiction, you can come pick up my corpse!”
A beast with stone-gray scales smashed into him.
The Spirit Master cursed, slapped out a palm, and sent a wave of Spirit Qi crashing against its skull. The beast staggered, but did not fall.
Qin Yuan watched calmly.
From the fragments he could sense, reinforcements were truly rushing over.
Several groups.
Families.
Sects.
Academy people.
Rogue experts.
The disturbance was becoming too large for anyone nearby to ignore.
Whether the leader survived until then was questionable.
Qin Yuan did not care.
He withdrew most of his attention from the battlefield and turned toward Tang Jue and Xu Yiran.
Now that the immediate danger had passed, the two of them finally had time to properly observe him.
Tang Jue’s eyes moved over Qin Yuan’s body.
Then his expression froze.
“Wait.” Tang Jue blinked twice. “You’re…”
Xu Yiran’s gaze sharpened.
“4th layer Spirit Opening.”
The air inside the concealment veil went quiet.