Within the Inner city.
A middle-aged man is currently looking through all the documents. Some people who are alive after the shock from the explosion managed to give some information. They are a bit far away from the location, but they still suffered from the aftereffects of the attack.
At first, they were unable to say anything because of the corrosion as well as the chaos in their bodies due to the explosion.
But after these four days, they recovered and they gave out some information, even though it is of little help.
They saw the glowing objects that suddenly appeared on the stone pillars out of nowhere and they gave a brief description of how they looked and reacted.
At the same time, they also gave some information regarding the small explosion created by the small insect puppet in the middle of it, before the larger explosion happened.
Their speculation for the suicide bomber was gone with this. But they are still worried about the fact that the person who planned this and planted the explosions were not caught.
But at least, they got to know what they should look out for.
He took out communication and spoke to someone.
"I want a meeting with the formation masters. Make sure that they are thoroughly checked, they cannot bring their spatial rings. Even if they want to bring them, they had to be thoroughly checked."
"Yes, sect leader. Where do you want the meeting to be?"
"In my current residence. Remember, only two of them shall come and no one else."
"Yes, Sir."
With that communication was cut off and he just waited there. He is the earth sect leader, who is working on the investigations.
The remaining three sect leaders are focusing on the defense and even some backup plans. They are already preparing for an escape. They knew that there is a possibility of being completely wiped out and this might be the time for them to use the escape plan they prepared while the whole construction of the five sects began.
As he thought of their situation which made them feel holed up, he couldn't help but curse Demon Soul who is the main cause of their situation.
If they had all the grand elders, they wouldn't have had to go through all of this.
He killed around ten Grand Elders.
There is no way they would have been hiding like this without any proactive measures if they are still here.
As he was thinking, the formation masters finally arrived. They are carrying a bunch of stuff with them as they couldn't wear their spatial rings.
They sat down as the Earth Sect leader started explaining what they are looking for based on the information given to him from the recovered witnesses.
After explaining what clearly happened, the formation masters came up with some speculations and presented a plan for the detection of that said material. After all, there is no way those things suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They are planted there, but they were covered with a really good concealment setup.
So, their goal is to detect some cylindrical devices with highly active energy sources with very high concentrations and cover up with high-level concealment.
The formation masters went to work immediately and the Earth Sect leader took a copy of the plans to meet with the other three sect leaders so that he could explain as well collect their share of resources to make the formation while the masters worked on the complete design.
As he walked through the streets with all the thoughts weighing his mind, he suddenly felt a cold sensation on his back as he felt some chills go through his spine.
It is almost like something truly evil is eyeing him hungrily.
He stopped in his tracks and immediately activated earth elemental fusion.
There is a reason why he was chosen for investigation.
The main reason is of course he is good, but the other reason is that he is the second strongest person but with the best defense possible.
He is sure that no one can take as much damage as him within the same realm, so he got ready to fight immediately without wasting any time doubting whether there is someone around him or not.
All of a sudden, he felt something coming from his side and involuntarily stomped his feet, a large earthen wall appeared in front and he didn't wait to punch at the wall.
The wall molded itself to make way for the fist as it literally went through. He felt the presence there with his spiritual sense, but for some reason, he couldn't feel the impact of hitting that presence.
And when he was confused, a ghost materialized in front of him as it passed through the wall and manifested in front of him as it tried to enter his sea of consciousness to attack him.
He closed off his mind with mental energy as he struggled and with his cultivation being higher than Night Ghost he managed to do it.
But he was pretty shaken from this as he couldn't focus for a moment and Night Ghost took advantage of it as he came through the wall to stab him with the dagger in his hands.
The Sect leader made another stomp even in that shaken state and an earthen pillar shot straight to the testicles of Night Ghost who is in midair because of his lunge.
A stone pillar strengthened by the spiritual energy of someone who is stronger than me, Night Ghost doesn't want to take the risk and used the ghost that could do physical damage to get swing himself away as he changed the trajectory of where he is going.
The sect leader got steady, made some hand signs, and slammed his hands onto the ground.
The earth tremored around and quicksand appeared under Night Ghost who is trying to regain his balance because of the sudden motion. He landed right into the quicksand directly. He used two of his ghosts to carry himself out of it, but before the ghosts couldn't even act, something grabbed on to him.
A sand snake appeared from underground as he grabbed him on the torso. Before he could hit it and destroy it another one appeared from the rear and bit him on the other side of his torso, another came and dragged him from the shoulder.
He was being pressed into the quicksand and even though he was caught easily, it couldn't be said that holding him down was easy.
The sect leader is surprised with how much energy it is taking to capture one person who even has cultivation lower than him.
He is holding the handsign as he continuously channeled his energy to make the snakes suppress Night Ghost, but that didn't last long.
Night Ghost waved his hand and the dagger in it disappeared as he forcefully made his hands go closer and clapped.
A loud screeching noise occurred causing the sect leader to be shaken once again. He felt his soul shivering.
Using this chance, Night Ghost got out of the trap and ran towards the Sect leader, and this time, he didn't directly attack him normally, he used the soul seizing technique that would make his soul unable to function for a while making his body completely out of sync.
After landing two hits, he took out the dagger and was about to stab him, but the sect leader fell backward voluntarily and used the momentum to roll himself up. His earth elemental fusion was modified a bit as he turned into a boulder with some stone spikes all around it.
As he moved forward, the spikes were shot one after another at the Night Ghost who started dodging and making his way towards the sect leader.
But the sect leader started rolling deeper into the inner city, towards the residence of another sect leader.
He knew that he wouldn't be able to do anything if two sect leaders arrives here. All this while, he only lasted because of his unique fighting style, if the other party decided to stay and got used to his style, he would have slowly lost his advantage over him.
Night Ghost immediately made his move. He ran after the rolling boulder with all his might. He exerted all the power he could and once he is in a certain range, he started making hand signs and clapped his hands.
All of a sudden, time seemed to have slowed down for a moment as a bunch of souls appeared out of nowhere and all of them surrounded the boulder.
*SCRREEEECHH*
A loud screeching sound appeared from all the ghosts and the boulder stopped in its tracks, the sect leader lost his boulder form and even his elemental fusion fluctuated a little bit.
He was caught completely unprepared. If he was standing in the battle, he might have had the chance to counter the attack as he would have sensed it, but now that he is focused on running away he is in trouble.
And that trouble didn't stop there. Night Ghost made his move and stabbed the dagger in that guy's chest.
But not before landing a punch of Night Ghost which sent him almost a hundred feet away.
