When it descended, the first thing that changed was the scroll. It was as if the scroll was imbued with some kind of mysterious vibe which bind the statement written in it.

“Even though we are just indirectly involved in this…” Manstein became tongue-tied, he wanted to just make the seal inside his soul out and curse at it!

According to the previous experience as well as records that Intelligent Assitance Device had, everything in the world was observed. That was why there would be a certain restriction whenever an outsider entered a different world. This was just a speculation Manstein found based on many experts observation and information gathering.

And the second thing was recorded after The War of The World. Although it did not provide concrete evidence, at least some traces could be found.

“After the war, there are some changes in the world. Perhaps you can’t tell the differences because you are here already when the change already took place but I can tell.” Alice showed the seal on both her soul and Manstein’s soul. It was the Tribulation and Retribution Seal!

“What!? This is not right. You told me earlier that The Will of The World will certainly restrict anyone who comes to this world so what is the meaning of this?” confused, Manstein asked Alice.

“Previously, the world only restricted the outsider with a limiter which caused anyone who enter this world to weaken. But after that war, this restriction cannot serve its function well. Thus to improve the situation, it formed a seal.”

Manstein clicked his tongue in annoyance. So it was just as he thought. And at that moment, he thought he would hear some unexpected things but it was just the reason for the changes in the restriction the world had given to him.

“It emitted a certain feeling to me. What is it doing?” Manstein felt strange but familiar sensation coming from the scroll. It was like the seal inside his soul and somehow they were connected. It could be good and bad for Manstein though but he did not know which one will emerge first.

“It just shows off its might, as long as we abide the agreement then we will be fine.” Commented Alice because she knew things better.

“As per the agreement, everyone that wanted to return in the group may return.” Turned around and gazed at the crowd that wore various types of clothes, Li Dian said calmly. After that words were said, there appeared a large cluster of people moving between the crowd.

“If you want to return to your sect, now is the time for that.” It was at this time that Li Dian talked to Luo Mang who kept silent all the time. He knew better than anyone else just how much loyal Luo Mang to his sect, even to the point of giving Li Dian admiration despite the problem the sect had given.

“I…” truthfully, Luo Mang had been living in the city happily, but in the end, he had to return where he belonged to. He felt reluctant to leave the city and he lowered his head to find that the usually naughty dog was right beneath his feet.

“Will you miss me?” so he crouched down and patted the dog’s head. Strangely, he had an attachment to this dog but he knew that this dog did not belong to him.

“Return to where your owner is. She probably misses you.” With that last words to the dog, he returned Li Dian’s gaze while opening his mouth.

“Thanks for your hospitality!” Luo Mang said as he bowed his body and cupped his hands. He knew the people of this city were truly different from the others. After that, he left with bitterness inside his heart.

“Well, looks like you failed to poach him.” Commented Manstein in an awkward manner. But to his surprise, it did not make Alice disappointed. Instead, she was happy.

“Perhaps he cannot betray his sect but our kindness during his stay will affect his opinion on us. At the very least, we already pulled him to our side and not antagonize him. This is the result I expected.” She said while letting out a faint smile.

“So this is how you want to make friends with people? Truly good method.” For Manstein though, it was the first time he had seen Alice used this method on people. No, perhaps she had been using it long before she came to this world but still, it was amazing.

“Not just him but all the disciple, the seedlings of the generation will feel our kind intention. It will make them feel grateful and want to repay this kindness, this is how karma works.” Alice continued while she also gave him an example as to how to sow karma.

“Ah, you are doing this on purpose right?” Manstein became confused about this. One because it seemed like she did it intentionally and the two, she wanted to get a favor from those young disciples which looked like someone who wanted to get a free helper.

“Of course if there is a free meal but takes time to get it, I will grab that chance.” Stated Alice before she asked back, “What? Is that a problem?”

“No. But helping someone without pure intention to just help them is lacking…something important.” Manstein also realized this. When you wanted to help someone, your intention should be the same. To help someone, your only intention was to save them.

‘Oh, right! It is the intention. The foundation of all the activities we are going to do.’ Manstein remembered it again, the importance of intention was truly the top priority for him that Manstein wanted to see it for himself whether the difference in intention could change the result or not.

-

“Finally reached this moment.” The time was before the day of negotiation. Manstein secluded himself for one night as he wanted to do something a little private.

He closed his eyes, trying to reach the calmest state possible. As usual, he had to feel the energy at his own body. Then he had to circulate it throughout his entire body and formed a cycle.

The Qi, moving as he controlled his breath and entered his body. The energy flowed on his blood vein and after the third cycle, it finally entered his spiritual vein. Manstein was absorbing the remaining energy that still inside his blood vein to enter his spiritual vein.

The spiritual vein then could use the energy to accumulate Qi somewhere in his body. This was also a step when someone was in Qi Condensation stage. The Qi had to be gathered at a large number and then one would use the condensed qi to nourish the body as well as to prepare for the forming of the foundation pillar.

As Manstein was already deep in his meditation, he also felt something inside him grew exponentially. He could not recognize it at first but as that feeling rose, he sensed it to be something he had met.

‘What is it? It is familiar…’ as Manstein thought about it, suddenly a burst of Soulforce happened inside him. Manstein could not meditate any longer and he opened his eyes.

The burst made a little explosion though it only so small that the place was still intact. Then something with a bright light appeared in front of Manstein.

“Well, looks like you successfully entered the world of cultivation.” Manstein could recognize the source this light coming from, it was from the soul seed. It meant that the figure would be speaking about something related to the reason why the soul seed was given.

‘So something must have happened then. I just wondering the reason why he gave it to me?’ because the soul seed had the power of the one who made it infused within, the seed could act as a guide and a sign.

And since the seed came from Ye Shui, this message was probably not only for him alone but also for his family, his sons and grandchildren. The thing was, why now of all time?

“Hmm.” A sound of acknowledgment was the only response Manstein could give. At this moment, even Alice attentively heard it. No, she was the first one to notice it but since the seed was given to Manstein, she could only let things flow like the river.

“As things started to get interesting these few years, I suspected that something happened in the center of the continent. I want to ask you, how much did you know about it?” the figure asked.

“How much?” Manstein frowned but he reconsidered all the thing he had in his head. First, there was this connection between the attack on the Yellow Bee Nest which located right atop of the Ranked Treasure and the vein.

Then there was also Nightstalker King. After assimilating his memories to his own, Manstein found out the reason why he could defeat this person as well as some connection to the Royal Family located at the Central Region.

But this was not enough of information, not to the point where he could pinpoint anything that happened at the place he had never been there personally. Basically, he knew something had happened but he did not know what and the exact thing to anticipate it. He was barely able to sense what was going on, almost in a complete dark.

“I am not sure. But recently some large powerhouses are making move here and there, causing the rest of the people to raise their awareness. Even right now, we are trying to probe them in this city.” After he properly thought, Manstein, replied.

“I can understand that former part. My time to give this to you is limited so listen carefully. This is done in case someone is trying to break the seal.” The figure was starting to glow more and more, it increased its brilliance and its light radiated to the entire room.

“Wait, what do you mean by that Foster Grandfather? You can just tell the others, even Foster Father and Uncle is good. Why me? What is the seal are you talking about?” asked Manstein with the barrage of questions.

“It was actually something from the very last war but its responsibilities fall to my family. Why don’t you see this for yourself?” the figure then changed its form, causing the figure to shake before it expanded.

“This is…something to make this clear to me?” even though Manstein asked such thing, he actually recognized the thing that appeared in front of him. It was a constructive symbol that only located at the center of the continent.

To be exact, he recognized it due to the fact that he got the memories from Nightstalker King. After all, this thing was located at the center of the continent but if he had to be honest, it was located at the palace of the current royal family.

‘Foster Father, I have to tell him about this. Especially since he has relation with the royal family…this is troublesome.’

-

After the agreement had been reached, as well as the placement of the guest was appointed, it was the time for the second event.

Ouyang was holding the proof of the negotiation, which laid down on his hands. He felt that today’s matter was more than it just appeared. A lot of question started to pop out of his head, why did the world itself have to use a portion of its will in this negotiation.

‘What is it that caused this? Is it because someone from the royal family or is it because of something else?’ he thought like this.

But the strange thing for him was when he remembered the negotiation. It was like an equal trade instead of putting the advantages over the other party. It stated that a certain condition had to be fulfilled, the case where the sects or the organizations of the representatives came from must not touch the city anymore as of the day where the negotiation took place.

Actually, it was one hell of an argument but it ended only in a few minutes. When he turned his head around, he saw the confusion amidst the crowd of the citizen. He chuckled because this was the case for anyone the first time they went to the negotiation between cultivators.

It was slightly different in execution when the one who negotiates were cultivators. They possessed the ability to transmit their thought to a limited number of people or they could transmit it to a large group of people.

Ouyang had to agree that this method was far better and safer as well. Why did you ask? It was because there was a time when the cultivators negotiated like normal. They spoke and argue with one another, speaking about their terms and conditions.

Of course, when there was a negotiation, there was conflict in interest which led to the point where that was discussed. It had to be remembered that cultivators possessed a power no matter how small it was and usually the one who went to the table of negotiation were their important person who had reached Culture Core stage and above.

So, when things started to heat up some of them shouted in anger letting their emotion out for a bit, they accidentally split the earth, shattering the mountain if not the small hill near them as well as shaking the whole space at a certain radius around them.

‘The worst came when the negotiation took place in a city, in a place where there is a population but we are unable to constrain our strength and there is no formation to keep things stable.’ When Ouyang remembered that, he felt glad because the negotiation was smooth and executed in the way that no one would be the victim of his or her anger. If it was not so, he could imagine where one cultivator cursed at the other while the picture of doomsday became the background.

Of course, he did not know that there was a second formation atop the one which was used as a defensive formation. This was because that second formation had to be kept in secret and even Alice prohibit Manstein from talking about its properties to the others, much less the entire Ye family.

‘Well, now that we have something in line to agree I can only say that I am grateful for your decision. If any of you have nothing to do, you can also attend the appointment of a new patriarch which will be arranged right after this.’

This message was relayed by Li Dian when the discussion came to an end. The expression of Ye Guhan was no good and seemed tired.

“Those old men are truly fierce in their stance. They kept saying ‘compensate this, compensate that’ and then they pressure us to promised them to return every single one of the people in our custody unharmed. Fortunately that we never treat anyone harshly.” Commented Ye Guhan.

“Obsessive, they truly think that their current situation is due to their own effort. They forget about the situation they once experienced. Truly, old men are as senile as our father told.” Ye Canghai could not say anything else than that. He felt that everyone involved in this was not as simple as they appeared to be.

No, it was not that they had an impressive background or something along the line but his instinct of danger which was useful started to give him tingling sensation. He glanced at the elders and doubt appeared on his face even more.

‘What is this feeling? I do recognize them as someone with a good background from the continent. But as the discussion ended, I feel restless instead.’ Ye Canghai shook his head slowly, trying to convince himself that the situation was still fine.

Then he felt someone pinched at his waist with enough strength to make him feel the pain. From the side, he could see the face of his beloved wife looking directly into his eyes. And he could see why she was doing that, to know what he was feeling right now.

Ye Canghai did not know why but when he saw the face of Yu Feng, it was like half of his worries were gone with the wind. Poof, it vanished just like that. But of course, he did not feel something unless it would threaten the safety of the people around him.

This was his unique aspect which saved him numerous times during the war between the two worlds. Perhaps it was because of him wearing something that symbolizes the responsibility or is it another matter?

“Tell me what’s wrong. You have this face ever since the start of the day. If not for the presence of me and your brother, I’m sure you will have this face. Despite the fact that you are trying to hide it, I can still see it no matter the situation.” Said Yu Feng to Ye Canghai.

“I just…hope that everything will be all right. I hope that our sons will grow into a better person than they are now. It is just that I truly worry about the things that going to happen and how it will affect the next generation.”

There was only a faint image that flashed inside Ye Canghai’s head. And that was something unpleasant to see yet that was what appeared in his imagination. The image of the prolonged instability and corruption started to form in his head, even became more clear as time pass.

He held his head, as well as closing one of his eyes. He worried that this event would be related to the premonition he had felt and even his head formed a faint but clear image about it. It was because when that time arrived, it was time for power to clash, time for difficulties and tragedies occurrence would spike higher than the highest mountain they had known.

“What do you mean by that? Is it something that will affect a lot of people?” this time Yu Feng stared directly at Ye Canghai. That statement gave something bad to anyone that heard it. It was just a matter of accepting or rejecting, but for anyone familiar with him it was only a shallow explanation.

“Huh, looks like even with this I cannot shake your concern away.” So he told her what he had felt.

It went like this: since everyone in the continent moved, especially the influential power it also meant that the matter in the past would be involved again. Worse, it could affect their children as well as the future generation. And the worst, the whole family would be searched by the royal family.

“Everything since the reappearance of our nephew is showing that the time of peace will be over. Even my senior brother visited me and warned me. He will not appear unless something important is happening.”

Seeing that what Ye Canghai said was reasonable for the moment, Yu Feng did not ask again. Instead, she had the thought of her children. They were young but never went outside at all, different from their nephew.

‘I wonder if what he meant is there will be a long time of conflict?’ that was the last thing Yu Feng had in her mind.

But then all of that thought had to be buried for a moment because the next issue would be the appointment of the new patriarch. Perhaps for the majority of the people in the continent, it was a small matter because the position itself was neither high nor low, just right in the middle of the hierarchy. But for the people of Xuan City, this was like the moment where their likable family in their community gained another leader.

If the negotiation was a let down for some of them because they could not even hear it then this moment would not disappoint them any longer. And that was the sole reason why Li Dian gathered them here while discussing this matter with the elders.

“Satisfied now? We already agreed to your demand and you also do the same. For all of the respected guests here, I have to thank you for not minding the people of this city around you.” This was expressed by Li Dian through the transmission.

“And so we are. We also have to thank elder Ouyang who mediate this. Please don’t take any offense from one of us here because of his method of expressing his opinion.” The one who sent this was none other than Bai Zhen because he knew that one of the people from his side acted inappropriately.

“I know that some people have short temper. All right, since we agreed to the condition from now on we must do to our utmost to abide. Add to the fact that somehow it involved the power of the world itself, I’m sure that every one of you will not break it.” Li Dian nodded in satisfaction and exchanged a glance with everyone involved.

‘Ugh, unexpectedly there is an involvement from the world itself. How am I supposed to explain this to Sect Leader and to him?’ because of this event, Bai Zhen became wary of the situation that the place he was in right now held something. But whatever that thing was, he would not know.

Other than that, he still did not find any sight of the person he had been looking for. This made his heart restless and he did not know how to carry the next act. But should that person not appear, he would just postpone the task he had and waited for confirmation about the situation.

“Huh…huh.” As soon as the event ended, it was then that Manstein bathed in his own cold sweat. He felt something stroking the deepest part of him. It was unpleasant to taste and he knew the reason why.

“Good, good. Apparently, there is someone that helped the person who has been caught escape. Do you remember the time when I urge you to become one of the administrators of the formation? This is one of its function.” Seeing the condition Manstein in, Alice explained the reason.

“It’s because of that time…”

At the moment where Alice introduced the formation to him, she had asked him to give her his blood. For Manstein though it was a good opportunity to learn something and get to know the basic things about formation.

Well, using blood was actually the current best method to utilize the formation. It was because the blood from the user contained a bit of the characteristic from their qi to the smallest unit that can be said to be unique each person.

That was the first thing he learned about utilizing formation. By using his blood he could gain a certain range of control for any formation. But this was the most direct and the most common method or to put it harshly it was crude.

And the second thing he learned from this was the control over the formation. This was what caused the sensation Manstein felt just now. Apparently, someone with a decent or above skill had breached and get the hostage out from the Underground Labyrinth.

“But that person is the only lead for us to know the plan they want to do in details. As you know, even if I have that luck when facing with Nightstalker King, it was just my fortune. I don’t even know that...” Manstein wanted to continue but was interrupted.

“Never do that kind of things again! If you are unlucky, your consciousness will be closed, in other words, you will become a retard!” said Alice in protest from inside his consciousness.

“Err, I know. But that time I have a feeling that my opponent is a master at the battle but average at his control of his Soulforce. I’m slightly better in this regard and the most fortunate thing for me to find out at that time was he cannot utilize his energy to launch an additional attack against me.” Replied Manstein in his defense.

“Just don’t do it again. Anyway, you should pay attention to the ceremony. It’s far more important and besides, the person that we caught will lead us somewhere. I hope that when they realized it, it is too late to change.” Alice said in confidence.

Manstein only had a vague feeling that Alice had placed something akin to a tracker on that man. Whatever the method, he could only pray that it would work just like what she claimed.

“They arrived.” An invisible light tap on the shoulder was enough to sign for Manstein to know who was the person. It was Wang Yu, he should have noticed the small hole in the formation and realized that it was a spatial crack.

“It's them? Really? What took them so long?” Manstein asked in a cheerful manner despite knowing the reason. He could not say it directly so he expressed it through his mind. Of course, the change in his expression did not escape from the observation of the three other people besides him.