“Timothy.” Yusuf’s voice cracked like thunder, cutting him off. “The Hidden Mist Secret Realm’s colpse was an accident. Apologize. Now.”

  “I—” Timothy choked, nearly trembling with frustration.

  “Apologize,” Yusuf barked, his authority crashing down on him.

  Timothy’s face burned red with fury. He hadn’t even gotten the prize, and now he had to bow his head? But he was already injured, and Yusuf’s spiritual pressure was suffocating. He had no choice.

  Grinding his teeth, he muttered a reluctant apology to Jade and Dante.

  This wasn’t the secret realm anymore. No one could get away with killing in broad daylight under the watch of elders.

  Dante snorted and turned his face aside, too disgusted to acknowledge him.

  “Sebastian and the others still haven’t come out?” Jade asked.

  “No,” someone answered. “Junior Master hasn’t either.”

  The words had barely left his mouth before Sebastian was hurled out of the void, followed closely by Indiana of the Moonlit Sect. Then Nash.

  Lauren and the others had been farthest from the exit; they were st.

  Timothy rushed forward to catch Indiana as she half-colpsed into his arms, pale and bloodied. “Junior Sister, thank the heavens. You’re safe. That thing—”

  Indiana’s lips trembled. “It’s… in Lauren’s hands.”

  Then she fainted dead away.

  At that moment, Lauren was spat out of the void as well. She hit the ground hard, not on Indiana as she’d hoped, but armingly close to Elder Yusuf himself.

  The old man’s eyes gleamed coldly at Indiana’s revetion. Without hesitation, he lunged forward and seized Lauren.

  “Shit,” Lauren cursed inwardly. She yanked out the butcher’s knife. No hesitation. No holding back. She detonated it.

  The Spirit Treasure exploded with a deafening bang, shaking the entire clearing.

  Lauren hadn’t been exaggerating. The difference in power between her and Yusuf was a chasm. If she clung to her treasure, she’d lose her life. Better to blow it sky-high.

  The bst rocked the ground. Those too close were flung screaming into the air.

  Even Yusuf, swift as he was, hadn’t expected such ruthlessness from a mere junior. He dissolved most of the bst with raw force, but his hand was still shredded into a bloody ruin.

  Smoke and dust filled the crater at the center of the bst. When it cleared—

  Lauren was gone.

  The crowd gaped in stunned silence.

  What just happened?

  Where did she go?

  The buzzing confusion from being thrown out of the secret realm only worsened.

  “Ms. Jade!” Dante called—but Jade was no longer there.

  In the distance, Yusuf and Jade could be seen streaking through the sky, both flying hard in the same direction.

  All around, wounded cultivators cried out, their companions scrambling to pull them from the rubble. Bewilderment spread like wildfire.

  “What the hell was that?” someone gasped.

  Another disciple stammered, “I—I saw it. Elder Yusuf grabbed a woman, and then… then she exploded something between them.”

  Most eyes had been locked on Dante and Timothy’s shouting match. The argument about the secret realm vomiting people back out was too strange, too important—no one had paid much attention to the brief csh between Elder Yusuf and Lauren.

  “Xavi, did you see that?” asked Quinn, elder of the Divine Sword Sect.

  Xavi, elder of the Calcution Sect, shook his head. “I was busy counting my sect’s disciples. You didn’t notice either?”

  Quinn gave a smile. “Same here. My eyes were on our own.”

  So, no one had seen what really happened.

  Meanwhile, Dante had already sent an urgent message to his master, Gerald. With Elder Jade chasing after Yusuf, Dante had to step up and take responsibility.

  He quickly gathered the shaken disciples. “This isn’t a pce we can linger. Everyone, prepare to return to the mountain.”

  “Yes, Brother Dante!”

  “Stop! None of you are leaving!” Timothy and the Moonlit Sect disciples blocked their path.

  Dante’s gaze flicked to Sebastian. A rge righteous sect always had deeper reserves than small fry. Even the junior disciples carried life-saving treasures.

  Sebastian understood at once. He pulled out a golden talisman and flung it high into the air. The charm unfolded into a towering figure, bzing with golden light, radiating the strength of a mid–Core Formation cultivator.

  It nded with a heavy step, standing squarely between Timothy’s men and the Thunder Sect disciples.

  “Move!” Dante barked, and the Thunder Sect disciples leapt aboard their flying boat. In a fsh, the vessel lifted into the sky, speeding away.

  The sudden reversal left the onlookers gaping.

  “It must be the Thunder Sect who grabbed the treasure,” someone whispered. “And the Moonlit Sect’s trying to snatch it back.”

  Whispers rippled outward. Petty robberies at the entrance to secret realms were nothing new—usually smaller sects preying on wandering cultivators. But this? Elders from two major righteous sects openly cshing over a treasure? That was unheard of.

  Fear spread. No one wanted to be caught between these two giants. Independent cultivators scrambled to pack up and flee.

  The Divine Sword Sect and Calcution Sect lingered, but uneasily.

  “I wonder what treasure could drive both Jade and Yusuf to act personally?” Elder Quinn muttered.

  Beside him, Xavi quietly took out his fortune sticks. He muttered an incantation, drew one, and froze at the omen written there. His face drained of color.

  “Goodbye,” he said simply. With a curt gesture, he summoned his disciples and retreated at speed.

  Even a fool could read that reaction. Quinn wasted no time. “Back to the mountain,” he snapped, and his people fled as well.

  In minutes, the bustling entrance to the Hidden Mist Secret Realm was empty—save for Timothy and his Moonlit Sect disciples.

  The golden talisman figure was gone, destroyed. Timothy’s face was stormy.

  “Chase them,” he growled.

  ......

  It had taken Elder Jade half a month to escort them here on her flying boat. Even pushing themselves to exhaustion, Dante and his group would never match her speed.

  Nash nded beside him, his expression grim. “Dante, this territory is close to the Moonlit Sect. That bastard Timothy must’ve already sent word back to his mountain. Reinforcements will be coming. The journey back will be dangerous.”

  Dante knew it all too well. But he had no choice. He urged the Thunder Sect boat onward at full speed, hoping reinforcements from their own sect would arrive before the Moonlit Sect caught up.

  “Rest while you can,” Dante ordered. “If they catch us, we’ll need our strength.”

  Nash nodded solemnly. “Understood.”

  Far away, Lauren was already on the run.

  The explosion of her butcher’s knife had bought her one desperate chance. She’d activated a Thousand Miles Talisman and vanished.

  A single talisman could carry her a thousand miles in an instant—but it was ruinously expensive, and it came with a cooldown. She wouldn’t be able to use another for at least twelve hours.

  With Yusuf’s cultivation, his spiritual sense would sweep across that distance in an hour at most.

  “Fucking shameless old bastard,” Lauren spat under her breath, her face pale with fury.

  ......

  Back at the ruins of the entrance, a survivor stammered, “I—I saw it. Elder Yusuf of the Moonlit Sect grabbed a woman… and then something exploded between them.”

  Among the righteous sects, there was at least a pretense of dignity. Secret murders and back-alley ambushes weren’t considered crimes—everyone hypocritically addressed each other as “fellow disciples,” ciming they shared the same lofty path.

  But for an elder to publicly go after a Foundation Establishment junior like her? That was rare.

  Yusuf, however, clearly didn’t give a damn about appearances.

  Shameless old bastard.

  Little Four Legs' voice chased her through the air: “It’s a long way back to your Thunder Sect. You can’t outrun him. Why not stop and catch your breath?”