Time kept passing slowly. The times were of peace, and Xu Ming could cultivate without any difficulty. He didn't need to go to any mission, nor did he have to do anything else for the sects. He was living a comfortable life.

Xu ming received the resources from the sect, which were in the forms of Qi crystals that were useless for him. He couldn't use them at all, so they kept going in his storage ring. He had tens of thousands of Qi Crystals, and this number only kept increasing every month. ​​

The sect master did not disturb him uselessly either and only met him once in a while to talk to Xu Ming about his cultivations. He wanted to help more, but Xu Ming never came to ask him for any help ever. He just assumed that Xu Ming didn't like asking for help; still, he went to his courtyard every month of his own volition.

Another year passed away. The same routine continued for Xu Ming for the next year as well.

Valeria was also growing at a decent pace. Even though she didn't use a spirit crystal or any other resources, her strength still grew with time as she continued her cultivation.

During the last two years, Xu Ming had a lot of growth. He had become an 8th stage Gold Core Realm Cultivator.

****

It had been exactly two years since Xu Ming had stepped into the core sect as the core disciple.

Today seemed like a peaceful day, but this peace was disturbed by a heavy knock on the door.

Xu Ming opened his eyes as he looked towards the door. His light blue eyes looked slightly more mature. He also looked more grown-up now. His body was even leaner, and his height had also increased, but the change was barely noticeable.

Valeria, on the other hand, still looked the same. She was still tiny, which was probably never going to change.

There was another round of heavy knocking on the door. It made it seem like someone was really desperate.

Xu Ming stood up and opened the door.

As he opened the door, he found the Servant of the Sect Master standing on the other side.

"What happened?" Xu Ming asked in curiosity.

"You need to run! Right this instant!" the Servant said to Xu Ming.

He was horrified, which made Xu Ming turn serious as well.

"What happened, tell me! Why do I need to run?" Xu Ming asked again.

"Master! He is dead! It's not safe! Run!" the Servant said again.

He was about to speak again, but as soon as he opened his mouth, only blood came out.

The servant fell down with his face on the ground. Only then did Xu Ming saw the reality.

The back of the servant was covered in blood, which had turned everything red.

"What is happening here?"

Valeria also flew outside. She was stunned to see that someone was covered in blood, lying on the ground.

"We need to leave. Something terrible is happening! Someone has killed the Sect Master, and I don't know who or why! It can be an attack from the outside as well," Xu Ming let out as he checked if the servant was alive, but he found him to be dead.

"Why is every place so silent then? There is no blood on the ground, and no chaos," Valeria asked in confusion.

"I remember now. Today should be the Annual Core Tournament. I didn't attend it, but others probably did. Something must have happened there," Xu Ming muttered as he walked towards Mia's courtyard just to be sure if she was there or not.

He used his origin movement to enter the place only to find it empty. He again stepped out, but he was shocked to see some people surrounding the body of the servant, all of them had their Swords out, and they were wearing clothes that didn't make it seem like they were the disciples of the Mighty Demon Sect. They also wore the Mask that covered their face and a red cloak with a Python Symbol on it.

"Hehe, so this dog died after escaping here. But why to this courtyard? Is anyone here?" one of the men muttered.

"You guys check that courtyard. While we're at it, let's just check if other courtyards are empty or not. We can't dismiss the possibility of everyone not being there," he told his fellow disciples who nodded their heads.

They spread out to check courtyards separately.

Xu Ming hid inside Mia's courtyard.

"I was right. We're Under attack," Xu Ming muttered.

"These guys being able to roam freely in the sect doesn't give me a good feeling either. Even though I don't know what happened, it would be best to assume that everyone is dead," Valeria told Xu Ming.

"That makes sense. It's good if they are alive, but I can't put all my hopes on them. I need to leave," Xu Ming muttered as he decided.

"Yeah, If they killed the strongest dude of the sect, I don't think you can face them at all. Even if you use the Sword of Judgement, in the end, you will lose. Their number will be too big," Valeria told Xu Ming.

Xu Ming moved towards the back of the courtyard and used his Origin Movement to pass through the back wall as he stepped out.

He used his spiritual sense to scan his surroundings so that he could understand the positioning of the people that were present here.

He saw one of the men breaking the door of Mia's courtyard.

Xu Ming walked away from that place and kept using his Divine Sense to keep himself safe from the enemies.

"Wait a minute. I can use them," Xu Ming muttered as he glanced back.

He walked back and entered Mia's courtyard again. He silently appeared behind the man that was looking through her place and sliced his neck off.

He didn't want to damage the clothes of the man.

The man's body shape was similar to Xu Ming, so he wanted to use the man's clothes and the mask to join himself with the infiltrators.

He took the clothes off of the man and wore the clothes.

He also wore the mask of the man to cover his face and wore the red Python cloak on top.

He kept the body of the man in his storage ring.

Xu Ming stepped out of the courtyard confidently.

"Li Mu, Did you find anyone there?" one of the men asked.

Xu Ming shook his head.