’A-An Elite Rank Demon?!!!’ He thought as he looked at the massive creature walking toward their area. Its shape was humanoid, but its red skin clearly identified it as a Demon, while the massive horns growing from its head were releasing such a strong amount of Demonic Energy that even from nearly a hundred feet below, Qing Lan could feel chills running through his body.
Shen quickly followed his gaze and also noticed the sudden shadow covering the entire area. The moment he saw what was above them, he froze completely. His body didn’t tremble like it had when he saw Qing Lan suddenly wake up from the corpse pit, instead, it came to a complete stop while his pupils shook in horror.
"D-D-!" Before he could even finish the word, Qing Lan immediately moved and covered his mouth with his palm before leaning closer and whispering into his ear in such a low voice that even Shen had difficulty hearing him from this distance, "Shh!" Shen could only gulp while his entire body remained stiff, wondering if he could even survive this situation.
’It’s looking in a completely different direction, it’s looking ahead as if it can’t see us...’ The moment that thought formed in his mind, something clicked, and without wasting any time, Qing Lan focused his senses and extended them throughout the entire corpse pit area. Even at the lowest stage of Cultivation, he still had enough Spiritual Energy to sense his surroundings, and most importantly, his experience as Neolan was still there.
That experience immediately gave him the ability to carefully sense the surrounding area without allowing the Demon to notice the slightest change. A second later, Qing Lan opened his eyes again as he understood the reason behind the Demon’s lack of reaction. ’There is a seven-star concealing formation here, that must be why...Phew, I am so weak right now that this Demon could kill me a thousand times over.’
He remembered the ranking system used by the Federation to classify Demons back on Earth: Lesser, Common, Rare, Elite, Royals, Monarchs and finally the Demon King. That was how the Demons had been classified, and even a single Elite Rank Demon possessed enough strength to turn an entire city into ashes without breaking much of a sweat.
Qing Lan turned his head toward the Demon above them as its massive leg completely covered the area in another shadow before landing slightly ahead of the corpse pit. Seeing and feeling the massive foot landing so close to them, Shen felt as if death was no longer far away. His entire body had already become numb, first Qing Lan had made him lose consciousness, and now an Elite Rank Demon was passing directly above them. He could only wonder if this was really going to be the last day of his life.
On the other hand, Qing Lan watched as the Demon stepped directly over the entire area without noticing or detecting anything, and the moment its foot landed on the ground ahead of the corpse pit, the entire area shook violently. Qing Lan narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he thought, ’This must be the first time a Demon has gotten away from me. Tch, if not for this weak body, damn it!’
He remembered how things had been back on Earth. The moment a Demon appeared within his sight, he would kill it without even bothering to measure its rank, because the rank of a Demon had never mattered to him until he faced the Demon King himself. But now, he was in a completely weak body that shouldn’t even think about moving from this place, let alone trying to kill an Elite Rank Demon.
The Demon continued walking step by step, and Qing Lan didn’t release his hand from Shen’s mouth until the creature was completely out of sight, making sure that not even the slightest sound escaped from them. When he had sensed the formation earlier, he had already noticed that it didn’t conceal sounds and was only meant to hide the people and everything within its barrier from outside detection.
That was the exact reason he had continued keeping his hand over Shen’s mouth, but the moment the Demon disappeared from sight, he finally removed it. Shen immediately started panting heavily, "Huff...Huff...T-That Demon is going in the exact direction of our Stoneheart Sect! We need to inform those Cultivators about this, b-but...how?! If it notices us, we will die even before we reach the Sect!"
Qing Lan finally stood up after hearing Shen’s worry, because this was indeed a problem. There was no way they could reach the Sect before the Demon arrived there, and even leaving the protection of this formation meant that they could be detected and killed before they could get anywhere near the Sect.
Qing Lan turned toward Shen, who was now clutching his head while tears started falling down his cheeks, and asked, "Do you know the highest Cultivation Realm of those Cultivators who stated that they came from the Nine Lotus Sect?" Shen slowly lifted his head before replying in a weak voice, "The highest Cultivation Realm they mentioned was the Peak Golden Core Realm."
The moment Shen said that, Qing Lan’s eyes widened as some relief immediately passed through his mind and body. He exhaled lightly before speaking, "Then you shouldn’t worry about them or the Sect. If that’s really the truth, which it most likely is, then that person can easily kill that Demon. After all, a Peak Golden Core Realm Cultivator can easily raze an entire mountain with a flick of his finger."
Shen’s eyes widened as he immediately asked to confirm what he had just heard, "I-Is that really true? They are that powerful?" Qing Lan nodded calmly, and his previous worry about not being able to meet these Cultivators, who seemingly had some connection to the Sect his Master belonged to in his previous life, was completely gone.
Shen remained in shock as he thought back to everything that had happened before, finally realizing that he had actually been living alongside Cultivators of such a powerful level without even understanding just how strong they were.
With that, Qing Lan finally opened the System window again as he thought, ’Most likely, only I can see it, the same as in those cliché novels...Now, let’s see what this Sign-In is about.’ The next moment, the System screen flared up.
[Would you like to Sign-In?]
[Yes / No]
For a second, Qing paused before he thought, ’It said that the rewards are completely random...so it is not even depending on luck?’ with a sigh he shook his head as he thought dwelling in this matter would just be making himself have more questions without a single answer, so he went ahead and spoke internally, ’Yes, Sign-In.’