His cultivation was above the Core Flame Evocation stage. Seeing as how he was rushing through the air, this was an existence above even Grandmaster, their guesses were further confirmed by their inability to make out his cultivation base at all!

Whoosh!

Bang!

The old demon clapped both palms together, sending a terrifying shock wave towards Long Di.

The latter could barely stand, much less stop this! Long Di could only watch as the attack made its way towards him!

****

Long Di stared at the demon and stood up on unsteady legs to face him. What was he going to fight with? The saber intent he just released drained him of his spiritual force not long ago.

Any martial technique launched without the guidance of his spiritual force would only be a shot in the dark and wouldn’t hit an expert of this level. In addition, because of the depletion of his spiritual force, his consciousness faded in and out, making the situation even more hopeless.

The shock-wave was so strong in its destructive rampage that space warped and twisted in its wake, thus giving it form. The only solace this granted Long Di was that he could see what would reap his life.

Rumble!

It closed in at an alarming speed when suddenly, not just the surrounding area, but the entire region began to shake.

C-Crack!

A black hairline crack could be seen in the space before the shockwave. The crack immediately expanded before it broke apart revealing the dark void within.

Puff!

A terrifying torrent of flames descended before Long Di, acting as a shield of sorts.

Vwoosh!

The shock-wave crashed into the wall of flame. However, the expected explosion did not ensue. Instead, it was as if the shock-wave was quietly swallowed up by the flames.

The disciples and the elders were shocked at the sight of this. Where did this wall of flames come from?

The first and second elder had a thought about the scene before them, but didn’t express their guesses without any proof.

It didn’t take long before the flames disappeared and the crack within the void healed as if nothing had ever happened.

Even the grey-haired demon was shocked for a moment. However, when he spotted the now dead Tai Ren and the bloodied unconscious Zhen Paohui, his fury reignited!

He was currently standing in the air. The somatic essence within his body compounded and was concentrated to such obscene levels that he could use it to assault the space around him to remain afloat.

This was a true expert, and yet somehow the attack of such an expert at this level was stopped!? What was going on?

The grey-haired elder’s eyes narrowed before he shot towards Long Di all the same! He stretched out his hand, intending to capture Long Di and torture him for the crime of killing Tai Ren.

So what if there was a powerful expert in hiding? He himself was a top power in this region. He was confident at catching Long Di and fighting it out with whoever it was that appeared.

“What!?”

Yet, his body stopped once again, this time he shuddered as a blank expression overtook him.

He staggered in the sky before he regained his bearing. His expression returned to normal and when he looked back at Long Di, rage could still be seen in his eyes.

Surprisingly, however, he waved his sleeves and retrieved Zhen Paohui from the hands of the third elder. He then spotted the injured Nymph and was about to retrieve her as well, before the same phenomenon took place.

Veins appeared on his forehead as he tried to fight against whatever it was that opposed. But it all seemed fruitless. Realising this, he gnashed his teeth in anger and left just as quickly as he came.

It wasn’t until a long time after that everyone released a breath of relief. This was really too exciting!

This battle had escalated to such shocking heights. If that mysterious crack in space that released a wall of fire had not come down, would there still be a Long Di in this world?

With the relaxation of just escaping death dawning upon him, Long Di’s vision darkened completely as he slipped into a deep sleep.

…

“Groan…”

In an old hut, a drawn-out groan escaped the lips of a figure laying on a bed. His eyes opened to reveal the poorly thatched ceiling of one of the many houses in the village he was aware of.

His expressionless eyes blinked a few times before he recalled what happened not long ago.

“You’re awake,” a delicate voice drifted over that stole his attention.

It was the Nymph from before. She stared at the boy before her with a curious look. Were it anyone else that held such a deadpan demeanour and an apathetic expression, it would have been seen as odd or maybe downright creepy.

However, she remembered how during this battle this boy wore this same look and it made him look heroic as if nothing was worth him getting flustered over.

Who else could it be but Long Di? He stared at her for a moment before asking. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Two days? The people here told me to tell you that you should go see them the minute you’re awake. There are pressing matters that are of utmost importance,” she explained.

He nodded to indicate he understood. He examined his body and was a bit surprised to learn that his spiritual force had already recovered by fifteen percent!

His spiritual force had been greatly depleted when he lost consciousness. The mere fact that he was able to recover this much just by sleeping was inconceivable.

“How-”

“I healed you,” the little Nymph admitted with a guarded expression.

Long Di stared at her once again, but seeing as how she said nothing more on the matter, this must concern something that was very sensitive. Combined with his ‘I don’t give a crap’ attitude and he quickly stopped caring.

“Thank you,” he still expressed his gratitude to her before getting off the cot he was on.

He then left the hut he was in when the sunshine nearly blinded him. When his vision came to, he realised he was in the village.

The villagers all carried on with their tasks of either fetching water, farming or other secular tasks. It was quite a peaceful scene.

It was completely untouched by any scene of destruction caused by Long Di and his need to flip people off.

‘Where was I before that was so far away that these people don’t even seem to care about what happened?’ Long Di’s thoughts were on this matter as he made his way to the hall.

The Nymph followed behind him. She said nothing the entire time and took in the scene before her as well.

By the time the two arrived, the only elder present was the second elder, as if knowing he would be there in advance.

When Long Di saw him, he couldn’t help asking, “Are you just always here? When do you train your disciple? When do you even cultivate yourself?”

The second elder said nothing in response to this and only exited the podium he was seated behind.

He then shot Long Di a meaningful look before passing him by. This was a signal to follow him which Long Di was used to.

Through the village, the three passed before they started to take a couple of turns and twists. Going through alleyways and backstreets that were somehow hidden in plain sight.

Soon enough, Long Di could no longer see any of the villagers from before and continued for quite some time.

‘We’ve been walking for a while now. No wonder the villagers are going about their daily lives as if nothing happened. They were too far away to notice anything. How entranced was I about tumbleweeds last time that I didn’t notice?’ Long Di realised he was walking for nearly an hour by this time.

Eventually, he came to an opening where a scene of destruction lay before him. The ground was ravaged for miles in the distance. A particular area even released a dim glow as it behaved in a manner similar to a thick soup.

Long Di’s brow rose when he saw this. “Lava?”

“The flame wall that appeared to protect you didn’t leave quite peacefully,” explained the second elder.

Apparently, the heat of the flame wall was even more horrifying than what they had thought. Even after two days, the rocks and earth there were still melted into lava and showed no signs of hardening back into regular earth.

They arrived before the entrance to the stairway that Long Di had gone down before. This was where Uncle Tian Lu was forging.

The second elder gestured for Long Di to enter and stopped the Nymph from entering.

Long Di obviously noticed this but didn’t make anything of it and descended the stairwell.

“L-Long Di,” the second elder beckoned to Long Di before he went too far, and the latter turned around to see what it was. If this he was correct, this would be the first time the second elder referred to him by name.

“Take care of my disciple and the others… please,” without another word, the second elder left carrying the Nymph with him.

Long Di was confused for a moment and had an idea of what was going to be happening, but shrugged inwardly before continuing his descent.

After some time, he arrived at the end and went through the door that held that same dull light.

Bang! Clang! Cling!

The minute Long Di stepped through the door, he could hear the numerous clangour of Uncle Tian Lu’s magical forging art.

“Take off your clothes.”

… And just like that, the magic was gone.

A moment of silence arose between the two, such that not even the clangour of the hammer could be heard. A gentle wind blew by that further amplified the awkwardness that came to be.

Shu, shu, shu.

A tumbleweed bounced down the stairs and circled Long Di a few times before it went back up the stairs and disappeared from view.

Long Di’s gaze followed the odd weed as it merrily went on its way.

“So many wrong things happened, in so little time,” Long Di said. “And ALL OF IT, needs context.”