"[You never saw my face, understand?]"
"[Ye…Yes, lord,]" the natives bowed and backed up a few steps to distance themselves from Hao Xuan while he himself moved towards the lake in large strides.
The sudden appearance of another individual attracted the attention of the two groups of cultivators bickering with one another.
As Hao Xuan neared the lake, several of these men put aside their differences and stepped forward, blocking Hao Xuan's path.
"STOP! Who are you? Which side are you on?!" asked one of them.
This man had a rather scrawny build with two axes attached to his back that seemed to a little too big for him. He had a shaved head with a patch over his left eye. From a first glance he seemed rather comical.
Hao Xuan observed him and the others that were blocking him. They appeared to be from both powers but he did not recognize any of them.
Using the deepest voice he could muster, Hao Xuan spoke up.
"Why are you people here?" he asked in a somewhat irritated tone of voice.
The man started howling with laughter.
"Why? Do we need your permission? Who the hell are you to ask us anything?!"
His expression suddenly became serious and a tinge of bloodlust mixed with killing intent leaked out.
Hao Xuan's brow shot up in surprise.
From his perspective, a slightly red hue had surrounded the man completely. The hair on Hao Xuan's arms fluttered in caution, quite a normal reaction when faced with strong killing intent.
He must have killed dozens of men if not more to be able to exert such a well-pronounced bloodlust.
Hao Xuan also became serious. He looked the man up and down once again, as well as his companions.
Most of them were Ninth stage Spirit Realm cultivators. They were not the same spoiled and overindulged individuals Hao Xuan had been interacting with before.
All of them were seasoned warriors that had probably joined the tournament on the request of their respective powers to carry out various duties while on the planet. That would also explain why they looked so much older than the rest.
Hao Xuan also became serious and answered with the most realistic lie he could come up with at the time.
"I'm the Second Protector of the Academy, that's who I am. Despite what you might think, there is no treasure here nor anything that would interest you. The 'disturbance' was caused by me and has nothing to do with anything your little brains came up with. Gather your people and leave this place, do not disturb me while I'm training."
Almost all of them had gathered around and blocked Hao Xuan's path by now. Hearing him say that he was the Second protector caused many of them to falter and take a step back, but a lot of them just smiled dismissively in return with the same thought.
"Well, Mr. Protector," the same man stepped forward again, "If that really was you, you wouldn't mind giving us a little demonstration right? I mean how can we just believe that you caused such a massive explosion? Consider it for educating purposes so let's have a little spar, hehehe."
Hao Xuan was genuinely taken aback by their reaction. Normally just hearing that he was a protector would have been enough to make them go running the other way with their tails between their legs but these guys, they were actually looking for a fight.
The man reached back pulled out both the axes. Following his actions, more than ten other individuals did the same.
The ones that didn't want to fight cautiously moved back several meters but it was evident from their body language that they were more than willing to jump back in if the situation took an unexpected turn, i.e if Hao Xuan really couldn't hold his ground.
None of them believed Hao Xuan was the one who had caused it. They just thought he came here to take whatever treasure appeared for himself, just by throwing his title around.
To others, a protector might be a lofty warrior but to these cold-blooded mercenaries that were hired to do the dirty work by their respective powers, it had no special meaning.
To them, he just seemed like a slightly more powerful cultivator inexperienced in actual battle, only able to use flashy techniques that were unfit for real combat, just like most of those other silver-spooned rich brats.
No one paid attention to Jax and the three youngsters that were still watching from afar. They were far too weak to care about right now but if things went awry, they could easily kill them so as not to have any witnesses.
This was the first time someone had so openly challenged him like this. Hao Xuan couldn't help but become a little angry. He had been trying his best to keep his cool but that seemed useless now.
"So you won't move without a fight, right?" he asked again.
The mask didn't cover the lower part of his face, only from the nose above.
They could all see his lips arch upward into half a smile, but it was pretty obvious to tell he was losing his temper.
"If you don't mind," the man replied in the same disdainful tone as before and unleashed his cultivation in its entirety.
An invisible pressure fell on Hao Xuan's shoulders. The other individuals all did the same, suppressing Hao Xuan before he could even begin to fight.
Seeing the undisguised contempt towards him, Hao Xuan nodded with gritted teeth. A searing pain shot through Hao Xuan's temple, making him almost puke but he held back.
"So be it. I should really make this a learning moment for you nice folks then, huh?"
He waved his hand.
"The ones that are holding a weapon, cut off their arms and legs. Those that aren't, just break their arms so the next time they see me, they show a little more caution and respect," Hao Xuan ordered.
The cultivators in front of him were taken aback, to say the least. They swiftly put up their guards and looked around but there was no one.
The man let out a forced laugh.
"Is that some sort of a scare tact-" he started speaking but was cut off mid-sentence by a beastly voice.
"Yes, master…"
All pressure being exerted from these more than ten Spirit Realm cultivators popped like a balloon.
Following the direction of the voice, they all looked up into the sky and saw a green figure floating some ten meters or so above Hao Xuan. A huge tail swayed back and forth in the night breeze.
"Th…The-"
Someone tried to speak up but it was too late.
The figure had already vanished.
A cold glint flashed before Hao Xuan's eyes as a tinge of red covered his pupils.
"AAAH!"
"NO PLEASE!"
Gut-wrenching screams came from all around him. Warm blood splattered across Hao Xuan's white shirt, ruining it once again. He closed his eyes and listened intently.
Ripping and tearing, cutting and crunching, the sound of panicked footsteps as they tried to flee in different directions followed by pained moans and screams for mercy when the Scorpion King caught up to them, all of them reached his ears clearly.
Hao Xuan could feel the Scorpion King's unbridled bloodlust. Their soul connection transferred more than what he initially thought possible.
He could very clearly tell how elated the Scorpion King was as he preyed on this much weaker fleshy beings. And he could also feel the absolute dread and helplessness of the cultivators that were all so full of pride just a moment ago.
With a single word, he could make it all stop. But he chose not to.
And it was an intoxicating and powerful feeling.
For some reason standing amidst all this violence and brutality, the Chaos Qi that had been stagnant for along started circulating on its own.
