All of the attendees in the banquet room nearly jumped out of their skin.

The aftermath of the explosion had no less of an impact compared to the explosion at the Pill Pagoda a few days ago.

Somehow, there was a faint sense that the two occurrences were similar in terms of their bizarreness.

Everyone close to the explosion was dizzy from the earth-shaking aftermath.

"Was the City Lord Mansion blown apart?"

Once the banquet attendants recovered from the shakes, they saw a majestic and large-scale mushroom cloud in the distance.

After that, the venue fell into dead silence.

It was unimaginable that there would be individuals destroying the heavily guarded City Lord Mansion.

The only other possibility was this was a repeat of the attack from the other time, another chop that could have split Tiansang City in half.

"Explosion?"

Fu Xing stared at the diminishing light of the explosion. His feelings greatly differed from the rest of the crowd. He felt his entire heart sink into the depths.

He had a different and more in-depth understanding of the explosion than the other attendees.

"Where is Xu Xiaoshou?"

"Where is Xu Xiaoshou?"

Holding a wine glass as he traversed the crowds, Fu Xing had initially ignored the disappearance of Xu Xiaoshou since he had to socialize with many elders that were present at the banquet.

However, the wave of the explosion had knocked him out of his assumption. Xu Xiaoshou must have had something to do with it.

He did not think that Xu Xiaoshou would continue his antics even when he was in the middle of the City Lord Mansion.

In the face of the familiar blast, anyone would have guessed the individual who was responsible for it.

Fu Yinhong sprinted past the crowds and joined Fu Xing where he was.

As one of the witnesses present who had observed the explosion of the Pill Pagoda that day, she shared the same deduction of who would have caused the explosion that just happened.

She was still not completely certain of her deduction.

"Quick! Find Xu Xiaoshou and suppress him!"

On the other hand, Fu Xing was fairly certain about his own deduction. "Don't let him fool around anymore!"

He was seething with hatred.

He had reassured himself that the City Lord Mansion was large in scale and well-protected with layers of barriers.

Therefore, if the man were to be practicing alchemy anywhere, it would not have caused much of a scene.

The thought that Xu Xiaoshou would return to his explosive tricks never occurred to him, especially since the current batch of alchemy had not started yet.

The next round had not started, but he had already played his ace.

Fu Yinhong was nervous as well, but she was still doubtful as she returned the gaze.

"The explosion seemed to have come from the back garden..."

"Who can enter there anyway?"

"Maybe this was an attack."

"It's not impossible!" Fu Xing interrupted her words and replied with a voice of steel, "It is Xu Xiaoshou!"

Fu Yinhong frowned and thought before adding sincerely, "Even Guardian Liu can't enter that space. I don't think that was Xu Xiaoshou's doing."

"It is him!"

Fu Xing was anxious. "I don't need your doubts!"

She had no personal experience with Xu Xiaoshou, so she did not know the extent of terror the young man was capable of creating.

His strongest area was not limited to alchemy alone.

Fu Yinhong had wanted to speak more, but Fu Xing stopped her.

"Let's not talk any further. Just find Guardian Liu and someone to go to the back garden with you."

"If it is Xu Xiaoshou, please suppress him but do not try to attack or eliminate him."

"If it is someone else, then activate the array and eliminate them!"

"We can't let tonight's banquet be disrupted!"

Fu Yinhong nodded. She was aware of the banquet's significance. After all, she had her personal missions to complete.

"But the Red Coat..."

Fu Xing paused. His expression instantly turned sour.

"You get to that first if you still can't be back when the time comes."

"I'll receive them!"

He held up his wine glass. His expression was a mixture of pain and reluctance. It was as if the individual he was receiving was not a human being at all.

A smile unfolded on Fu Yinhong's face. After a light laugh, he reached out and patted Fu Xing's shoulders.

"I'll leave it to you. Don't worry, I will do it well!"

Fu Xing glared at her. "You better hurry and return!"

"Not possible!"

He watched his sister depart. He could not help but fall into a dark place mentally.

He had just sent the older man, Wen Song, back to the Wen family and forbade him from entering the City Lord Mansion in the future. That was enough to give him a headache.

None of the outcomes were favorable to him at the moment. However, with the issue of Xu Xiaoshou and the problem of receiving the particular guest…

Fu Xing was a bundle of nerves.

He held his head back as he drained everything in his wine glass in one shot.

'Oh Dad, when will you return and take back these responsibilities?'

'Your son can't take it anymore!'

...

In the field of flowers…

The place could hardly be described as a field of flowers at this point.

A few moments ago, it was a thriving and lush garden of blossoms. Now, it had been turned into a burned mess.

Thick and expensive-smelling smoke had filled the area.

The intricately constructed three-dimensional Nested Spiritual Array was blown apart, leaving only a small fragment of it in its place.

The area that closest to Xu Xiaoshou had nearly been evaporated into nothingness by the explosion.

Puff!

A piece of mud was launched into the air.

Xu Xiaoshou emerged from the ground covered with dirt from head to toe.

He sweated nervously as he observed the barren and incredibly different surroundings around him.

'What happened?'

To honestly confess, Xu Xiaoshou had no idea that the explosion would occur.

Weaving Technique was used to construct spiritual arrays. It had flexibility to its usage, so Xu Xiaoshou felt that he had uncovered a new method of using it.

'Exploding Weaving Technique?'

The scale of this explosion was much bigger than the cauldron explosions derived from alchemy.

Xu Xiaoshou stood up in shock. He saw a middle-aged man kneeling on the ground not too far away from him.

The man was in a much worse state than the scruffy-looking man.

His clothes had been burned black, and his hair was curled. He was kneeling on the ground with his tattered clothing as if he was crying.

Xu Xiaoshou's mouth moved slightly.

'He...' Xu Xiaoshou guessed that the individual could have been the enemy he had faced just now.

He thought about the figure who had flown in at the last crucial moment but was unable to stop the explosion.

The more he recalled the figure, the more he could see the desperation in the figure's actions.

"S-sir?"

Xu Xiaoshou called out cautiously.

He thought about turning around and leaving the premises immediately, but he remembered his missing-in-action junior sister. A remaining sense of duty was reawakened in him. Xu Xiaoshou stood up.

"Sniffle… Huff… Sniffle…"

The closer Xu Xiaoshou walked, the more clearly the sounds of crying could be heard.

Xu Xiaoshou was speechless. He thought, 'Is the man crying after all?'

He dared not to lower his guard despite the appearance of the man. Just from his naked eye, the man had the potential of an ordinary Sovereign Stage. He could perhaps be less ordinary than he looked.

He took into account the wave of the Nested Spiritual Array from before.

Although he was the one who broke through the spiritual array, he was not going to underestimate the man before him. To him, it was a coincidence that he had the tactic to settle the problem, albeit a bit aggressively.

Nevertheless, it was close to 10 stories of Nested Spiritual Array.

The man was definitely of the Master Stage. His level was likely higher than that of Elder Qiao.

Xu Xiaoshou walked toward him and lowered his body. With a low voice, he asked, "Hello?"

The man sniffled loudly.

The man was barefooted, and his nails were overgrown. Additionally, he was covered head to toe in black dirt. He did not resemble a dignified individual.

He was skinny as if he had not eaten in a long time. The man continued to cry.

Xu Xiaoshou hesitated. He wondered, 'Could it be that he is facing a language barrier?'

"Sawadikap?"

"Hm."

The sounds of tears paused for a moment, but they quickly restarted again.

Xu Xiaoshou was stunned. He thought about how the explosion might have driven someone into tears.

Were some middle-aged men this emotionally fragile?

Xu Xiaoshou did not say a word. He squatted down next to the man. His Perception was searching for his sister disciple who had disappeared in the meantime.

"Sniff, sniff!"

After a few more sniffles, the man seemed awkward with the close distance between the two of them.

He wiped his dirt-covered face and turned around. His mouth opened.

Xu Xiaoshou tilted his head.

The man swallowed hard and regained his voice.

"Who are you?"

He was responsible for the other's tears, therefore, Xu Xiaoshou felt that it was his duty to coax the other out of their sadness.

He held up his hands over one another and straightened his head like he was comforting a small child.

"Mushroom."

"The kind that makes a 'jojo' sound."

"Are you a mushroom too?"

The man was more confused than ever.