It was fishy.

There was definitely something going on behind the scenes here. However, Jin did not poke further. Regardless of how horrible things might be in the background, he had no reasons to check. After all, whatever was happening here had nothing to do with him. It might be coldhearted but this was how one survived... Focusing on himself and not being meddlesome.

He already paid far too high a cost for involving himself in all kinds of things already.

He watched as everyone ate and drank. He did not pick anything himself. And he could see that one of his handpicked teammates did not either. The soldier missing a leg and an eye remained seated without making any moves towards the feast. He, Harkhem, remained composed and smiling yet he kept his distance from everything.

Jin had opted not to partake in the feast in case but judging from that man's actions...Then, he looked at the other old man of his team, Adom, and saw that he, too, was not moving for the food. Apparently, 'the older the wiser' was proven true.

Jin circulated his spiritual energy within his eyes and checked the food and the drinks. He was unable to uncover anything particular... Sight did have some limitations. He was unable to see the structure of material items of which food and drinks belonged to. Even water was not entirely composed of pure water elements... He was incapable of seeing this far. As impressive as the secret technique was, it was geared towards cultivation and spiritual techniques.

However, he had other ways to check such a thing.

Since the others did enjoy the feast, he only needed to observe them and watch over them later on.

...

The feast ended and the Sect Master offered them to rest for a few days while they prepared the offering. In his words, it was a bit difficult to take out so much at once. Of course, this was clearly a lie considering the practicality of spatial rings and such.

Nevertheless, Ame and the group agreed.

She was still pondering on whether to take actions or not.

As they returned to their accommodation, she asked Jin: "What do you think about it?"

Even though the question was very implicit, he easily got what she meant. And he answered: "Not our job"

She sighed sadly before nodding.

...

In one of the dorms, a bunch of kids were grouped up. They were having a serious discussion.

"Brother Bol gave up his life to get us this opportunity!"

"We need to grab it! Before we all die!"

"But what if they don't help?"

"What if they reject us and abandon us?"

...

..

.

"I will do it"

"What if they find out?"

"Enough. I made up my mind. If I have to die, I would rather have tried my best while alive!"

"..."

...

Deep into the night, a young disciple of the Boiling Blood Sect approached the 11th Squad guest house. He was twelve years old and had to use all his courage to be able to walk to that door and knock on it.

Several minutes later, a young man opened up the door.

At that moment, the kid's emotions ran wild. He was so close to success that all his sadness and grief flowed out. He cried while asking for help, snot and tears mixing down his face.

The young man hurriedly brought the kid in and calmed him down as best he could.

A few moments later, two other youths arrived and they began to listen to what the child had to say. Anger grew within their hearts the longer they listened. Once the child was done, they were furious.

Being young and decently powerful, they were highly confident in themselves. They decided to take care of this without alerting their comrades. The kid's eyes sparkled as they reassured him many times and promised to help.

After they settled him in a bed, they prepared themselves.

They would act now before any of the miscreants got suspicious.

Few moments later, they left the villa and made their way towards their destination. As they moved soundlessly within the shadows, no one detected them.

They reached the 'Grand Hall' after following the kid's directions. It was quite bigger than the other buildings but nothing too grandiose compared to the Palace. They were not awed in the slightest.

They moved quickly and efficiently, breaking a window and jumping in.

The inside was decently decorated but nothing too extravagant. They did not bother checking the surroundings as they made their ways towards the sixth room on the right.

They opened the door in complete silence and entered the room. It looked like a very average study. There did not seem to be anything out of place or suspicious.

One of them walked to the desk and pushed it aside. It revealed a staircase going downwards.

The three of them frowned.

Since this secret entrance existed as the kid stated, it was quite likely that everything else did as well. They did not hesitate before they began to descend.

A few moments later, they reached the end of the staircase and entered a room. It was luxuriously decorated and lightened by torches on both sides. The red of the tapestries was vibrant.

However, what attracted their attention the most was the man sitting on the side, gazing at them.

It was Elder Tian Shun.

He was the one to initiate the conversation: "Dear Guests, it is not yet too late for you three to go back as if nothing happened"

The three youths exchanged glances and spread themselves. As one, they took out their respective weapons. Elder Tian Shun sighed as he slowly got up.

He glared at them and stated: "How foolish"

After that, a fierce battle erupted. Unfortunately, the three of them were no match for the man. While they were elite soldiers, they were still under the 20th stage. This man, however, was of a higher stage.

He captured them easily after having beaten them up.