Davion tried to go near the altar but a huge force suppressed him from nowhere. His spiritual energy, body, and even the soul inside him felt locked by something. So, he immediately backed away.
"Damn, it's really scary. Even from such a distance, I could feel its terror. Was it the sword that suppressed me?" Davion wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"If the sword is already this powerful, then how about the devil?"
"Maybe this might be the cause of the calamity a thousand years ago. I don't want to stay here any longer. It's really dangerous."
"I can only return here after reaching higher levels. This place is not something I should set foot at."
"I should return back now. Sect Master might be waiting for me."
After Davion left, the right eye of the skull shined for a brief moment. But nobody was there to notice it.
***
Outside the graveyard, Thaddeus wearing a black robe was waiting for his disciples. There was a wooden carriage pulled by two horses waiting for them. A young man was infront of the carriage. He looked like a typical city boy.
From this, one could say that the boy was from the Dark Moon City, who was hired to drive the carriage. If the people from other sects were to see this, then they would laugh their asses off.
The Bone and Devil sect were too poor to afford a beast to pull the carriage. Even the carriage was normal ones used by the civilians. Although they had a spiritual artifact, it was not big enough to take all of them. So, Thaddeus could only come up with this.
A while later, Isla and Hendrix came together. Seeing them, Thaddeus smiled. The one thing that surprised him the most was Hendrix. After missing for a week, Hendrix came and apologized to him and Isla. Not only that, his character has become much better, and worked even harder.
"I don't know what happened to him in the city. But after he had returned, he became a whole new person."
"Cultivation is a long path and people do often make mistakes and die from greed, pride, anger, foolishness, and emotions. But only those who can overcome this, can live long and become a great cultivator. Maybe he realized his wrongdoings."
"This is for the better good," he sighed.
"Sect Master." Isla and Hendrix both bowed and greeted him.
"How are you guys feeling today?" Thaddeus asked.
"Hehe, this is not the first time we have participated in the conference. So, you don't need to worry about us." Isla smiled but deep down she was really worried about the sect.
Hendrix then asked, "Sect Master, where is Junior Brother? We went to his cave but he was not there. We thought he might have already come here."
Thaddeus said, "It looks like he might be preparing something. He looked very excited the other day. It is his first conference, so you guys should take care of him."
"Leave it to us," Isla exclaimed.
She felt very proud thinking about Davion. When she heard that Davion had already reached the Qi refining state, she was really shocked. Only Hendrix had no expression on his face. Being the Senior Sister of a genius was something to be proud of.
After a while, Davion came running. He had already changed his wet clothes. He was wearing a white robe and carrying a sword on his back.
"Sorry, I made everyone wait." Davion apologized.
"It took some time to prepare and I am getting a little nervous."
"Forgot about it. Don't think too much about the conference. If you can't beat your opponents, then just give up. Don't try too hard on yourselves."
The three nodded in understanding.
"Ok, now enter the carriage. We should not waste much time."
Seeing them enter the carriage, Thaddeus finally looked back.
"I don't even know whether we can return back here. They might be already prepared to seize it."
"But I will not let them have it this easy. Even if it takes my life." Thaddeus pulled back his sleeves and looked at his right hand. There was a tattoo of a lion on it. When he focused on it, the tattoo started burning and looked like it was alive.
***
Far away, a carriage was moving towards Lilium City. There were three disciples and an old man inside it.
The old man took out a strange red orb from his ring. He looked at one of his disciples and seriously said, "This is a one-time use spiritual artifact that I got yesterday. I will give this to you. It produces a huge explosion. You lost to Hendrix last time. We won at the end because they had only one disciple at the middle stage of Qi refining. But I do not want to take such risks. Just use this and blow him up."
"Thank you, elder. You can depend upon me."
The disciple took the orb and laughed smugly. "Hehe, nobody can save you now Hendrix. I will definitely have my revenge."