The true members of the Yi Yang Group seemed to crawl out of the woodwork and put up a much better fight against the vicious group of killers that had already infiltrated their building. Since this location was in the middle of the city, its defensive Formation Arrays had to be somewhat restrained. They had an outer barrier on the outer wall, as well as another that closely hugged the building itself. Lastly, the most powerful one was around their treasury.

These unknown attackers had put on the guise of a gang of ruffians specifically so they could slip past the second layer of the Formation Array. Now that they were inside with the main force of the Yi Yang Group they no longer had to hide their intentions. The Yi Yang Group had sent out a huge number of guards to keep them between the gates and their main building, but they’d used just enough power to push through without seeming too dangerous. They’d made themselves seem like an annoying nuisance, and then suddenly sprung their deadly trap.

The leader of this group of attackers quickly scanned his eyes and Spiritual Sense over the incoming defenders while the others on his team rapidly cut them down. He ignored those coming towards him, standing in place as he rapidly searched through the enemies. Then his eyes suddenly shot to one of the guards wearing a wide brimmed spiked helmet and the others stopped in place.

“There, that one!”

The team spread out, moving with explosive bursts of speed to turn the surrounding guards into ribbons. They cleared a wide area around the guard that was pointed out leaving the specific guard for their leader to handle. In a flash, the leader rushed forward and slammed his palm against the guard’s chest. The glowing aura around the leader’s body expanded outward, instantly encapsulating the guard in a bubble-like spherical aura the same color as the leaders. These attackers were moving so fast previously that it was hard to see the aura, but now that the leader had slowed down to make this attack it was much easier to see. The blades and spikes that sprouted from their armor were the same bluish-green jade color that matched the Lang Clan’s Jade Mantle, but the rest of their aura was of a deeper darker green color. The whole team had this same technique going, their body’s sheathed in forest green auras while the weapons that extended from them were of a lighter jade.

The unlucky Yi Yang Group guard was captured within a dark green bubble. The energy that washed over him started in the shape of a large sphere, but then it rapidly shrunk down till it was a prolate spheroid. It covered the man from his neck down to his shins, yet it was only wide enough to reach the middle of his biceps. The man had no idea what was going on, but there were no signs of panic, confusion, or anger on his face. The hat he wore made him into a perfect drone unless his controller’s wanted him to pretend to act as his old self. The large spherical shape was first like a hamster ball and he moved to attack it, but then it shrunk slightly to allow his feet outside. His ankles were suddenly trapped, preventing him from reaching the outer edge of the bubble. A blade appeared in his hands but as he swung it, the bubble shrunk rapidly and took its current shape.

The glowing bubble was solid, locking up the core of the guard’s muscle power. By restricting the shoulders and hips his limbs were too weak to act on their own. It also squeezed tight around the guard’s core, resisting his attempts to push and pull on his shoulders and hips to break the aura. The midsection was the most powerful part of the human body. The back, abdomen, and upper legs combined together to generate power. This strange looking technique was shaped to impose the greatest restriction upon a person for the least amount of energy expenditure. It was sort of the opposite of using handcuffs or manacles. Instead of pinning the extremities together to hobble the range of movement while leaving power intact, this move left the extremities free while restricting the power generation.

With this guard secured, the leader pushed him out of the main doors of the Yi Yang Group base to stumble about in front of the building. A few eyes watched this captive in secret while the group inside the building suddenly took off. Instead of simply holding the main foyer, they dashed down the halls. Without taking any time to decide on direction they made a few turns and stopped in front of a large circular stone door. The walls to either side as well as the floor were also made of stone and one of them tapped the floor to confirm its hardness. Then that same member of the team tapped the heavy door and nodded to the others.

“This is it. Do it.”

The one who had done the tapping nodded to the leader and the group of them moved back down the hall slightly. He lowered his waist and extended his arms to either side. Each of the blades on his wrists changed shape to form a large hook. The team members to either side of him did the same, except the two long blades on their arms combined together to form a single hook on the end of a three foot pole. The glowing aura of the man in the center rapidly started to grow and thicken, tripling in size till the one inch layer had become more than three inches thick over most of his body. Then the team members standing to either side of him reached over with their large hooks and linked them with the hooks on his wrists. Behind him the team leader patted his shoulder and he nodded. Then the leader gave a push to the back of his waist while the two to the side pulled him forward. The aura around the three of them thinned and the man was launched forward like a rocket, propelled by his three team members.

The man’s legs could barely keep up with the speed he was hurled forward, but he looked to be in control as he stuttered his steps and changed his stance mid-stride. He leaped forward with both legs, planting them and looking like his forward momentum was going to carry him into a violent fall, but then he pushed off the ground with both legs and the aura around him flared brightly. The jade hooks on his wrists wrapped around his hands and transformed into the shape of two cylinders. The flat faces of them shot forward and slammed against the stone door like two glowing pile drivers. The whole building rumbled from the force of this explosive impact and the spatter of stone debris sounded like stone rain, splashing against the walls, floor and ceiling.

When the massive cloud of dust cleared the ten foot tall circular stone door was almost completely gone. Only a few pieces of scattered rubble remained in its place. The man who was responsible for this destruction had already fallen to a knee and was covered in blood. The thick aura that had covered him previously was completely expended to make this one devastating attack. As he burned away all that power he was left completely open to the aftermath of the strike and many bits of stone shrapnel had stabbed into his body. One of the other team members fed him some Medicinal Pills while the others rushed into the open door. He started to heal rapidly and an aura then reappeared around him. This time his whole body was sheathed in a very thin layer of jade color.

Inside the room that had just been opened, the explosive method of entry had already disabled many of the personnel in the room and the attackers rushed through the clouds of dust to finish them off before they could put up much of a fight. Then they reached a small chamber at the back and with a few swipes of their blades the walls, floor and ceiling of the chamber were defaced with deep gouges. The extremely complicated and detailed symbols and shapes that were carefully carved were disrupted. Just like that, the Formation Array that defended the whole base was shut down. While the precious materials used to create it weren’t lost it would take more of them as well as many hours of effort to repair.

Just like that, the whole base was now at the mercy of these attackers and they didn’t hold back at all. One of them stayed with the injured member of the team while the rest rushed off on their own to finish clearing the base of enemies. With their objectives achieved, the leader of the team rushed out of the base’s vault and returned to the front yard where quite a sizable crowd had already gathered outside. Guards from the City Lord’s Manor had already arrived and were cordoning off the place, wanting to prevent the spread of chaos and also knowing little about the situation on the inside. It wasn’t often that the city would shake from the force of a battle and dying screams echoed down the streets. Most of the mortals fled immediately, going to stay with friends to get themselves as far away from the dangerous place, but the Cultivators of the city all came closer to get a look at the action.

For their reward, a huge plume of smoke rose from the center of the base and a team of people with glowing auras around them stepped out into the yard with a single hobbled guard. They pushed the guard in front of them, drawing everyone’s attention to the man. What was special about this man caught in a bubble?