Lord Cai took labored breaths, and it was obvious that he had exerted quite a bit of strength. The old man had amplified his strength with spirit qi and Lin Mu had done the same but just for defending. He didn't dare to use too much either, or the Axe of the old man would have been cut in half with the short sword slashing into his body.

Seeing that nothing was working, the old man gritted his teeth and held onto a pendant that he was wearing.

"Let's see you handle this!

" Lord Cai shouted.

As soon as he said that, the formation lit up and small discs started forming in the air. The discs seemed to be made out of energy and glowed with a pale white color. Their numbers soon started to increase and in a few seconds reached a hundred.

"What is that…

" Lin Mu muttered.

"Get ready to defend, that's an offensive formation!

" Xukong warned.

Lin Mu's eyes went wide as he jumped back.

~shing~

The place he was standing at was hit with a disk. Looking at it one could tell that it was sharp and could easily cut someone's limbs off. Lin Mu dodged the discs, but a few of them were still able to cute him due to the sheer number of them.

"You won't escape now!

" Lord Cai taunted.

Lin Mu gritted his teeth and was now seriously considering taking the old man out. He had tried giving him a chance, but this was too much.

But then suddenly Lin Mu felt the fluctuation in the formation array.

"Its… getting weaker?

" Lin Mu realized.

"The formation is consuming a lot of spirit qi right now, and the energy source is probably getting low now,

" Xukong said.

Lin Mu quickly probed the old man and while he could tell he had depleted some of his spirit qi, it was still at seventy five percent.

"Looks like the source is spirit stones rather than his own spirit qi.

" Lin Mu concluded.

Lin Mu had now left the room he was in and was going through a long corridor. There were rooms on both sides of it, but he couldn't afford to switch his direction will all the disks attacking him. They were able to appear out of the walls and he couldn't do much.

"Dammit, I didn't want to do this…

" Lin Mu uttered.

He kept on running and got ready. Spirit qi circulated in his body and gathered in his arm. By the time he reached a large wall, he was done.

Boulder collapsing fist: Second form-Piercer!

~Swoosh~

~BOOM~

The needle like spirit qi pierced the barrier that was placed on the wall with ease. It was this that was preventing Lin Mu from leaving the house, and while he knew he could destroy it, something like that would cause a big commotion and bring more attention to him.

That's what he was intending to avoid, but now he had no choice. The needle exploded the wall after it entered it and opened up a seven feet wide hole in it. Lin Mu could see the outside area with it and was now free to leave.

"WHAT! HOW?

" Lord Cai yelled in shock.

Lin Mu paid no attention to him and blinked away. A few tens of blinks later, he had gone far away from the site of the incident and was now in his courtyard.

~Phew~

Lin Mu took a breath of relief after reaching the room. He quickly changed from the black robes he was wearing into his normal clothes.

"I made a mistake using Fade there.

" Lin Mu stated with a little resignation.

"While you did make a mistake, it is completely fine. You will make a lot of mistakes, what is important you learn from them.

" Xukong advised.

"I understand Senior.

" Lin Mu appreciated.

While Lin Mu had escaped the entire conflict, the people who were involved in it were still in shock.

***

Back at Lord Cai's house.

There were a lot of city guards standing around while a few were checking the nearby areas. The people that lived in the neighborhood were awake due to the loud explosion too, and some were out checking it themselves, while a few had sent out their servants.

The disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect had heard the explosion too and were a bit disturbed due to it. They came to check out as well and approached the guards who were currently talking with Lord Cai.

"What happened here?

" Tie Dan questioned with a fierce face.

The cultivation session of a lot of disciples was interrupted due to the explosion, and they were pissed due to it.

The guards saw the uniform of the disciples and immediately became alert.

"Seniors, there was an attempted robbery in Lord Cai's House.

" The guard explained while cupping his hands in greeting.

"A robbery? Did they catch the thief?

" Pei Lao who had come with Tie Dan asked.

"NO! These imbeciles can't even do their jobs and let that wretched thief escape!

" Lord Cai uttered with spite.

"The thief escaped?

" Uttered the senior brother, as he scanned the house of Lord Cai with his spirit sense.

"Defensive, barrier, offensive disk, and restrictive formations,

" The senior brother accurately stated.

Lord Cai was surprised by this and finally took a closer look at the disciple that was in front of him. He had not clearly paid attention to them as he was too bothered by the thief escaping, but now that he saw the patter of the peony flower over three cauldrons he recognized them.

"Ah! Disciples of Tri cauldron peony sect, forgive my misbehavior.

" Lord Cai said in a calm tone as he cupped his hands in a salute as well.

He had heard that the disciples of the Tri cauldron peony sect were in the city, but this was his first time meeting him. Though he had heard that they had visited his establishment.

"It is fine,

" The Senior brother stated as he waved his hand.

"What I'm more interested in is how a thief was able to get away despite all these formations? Even a core condensation realm cultivator would have a hard time.

"