Chapter 540 - The Tragedy Of The Tri Cauldron Peony Sect

Patriarch Mudan and the elders were affected by the force of the sonic boom and were pushed back as well. Mudan was still able to handle himself but the elders couldn't do the same and ended up crashing into the trees nearby breaking them.

The ones who were lightly injured simply spat out blood while the others had broken bones and were directly knocked out. 

Mudan stabbed his sword into the ground and stopped himself from flying back more. Even though he could fly on his own without the support of a spirit weapon, the force was still too much. It was as if there was more than just Air that had caused such an effect.

Mudan looked in the direction in which Little Shrubby had gone, but couldn't see it anywhere. 

"YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER!" Mudan yelled while flying after them.

His spirit sense was fully spread around, covering over a kilometer of the area as his eyes darted around. The old patriarch ended up searching for over a day, to no avail. He couldn't bring himself to believe it, but it really had happened. A core condensation realm beast had outrun him, an Adult stage Nascent soul realm cultivator.

If this news got out, there was a great chance he would become a laughing stock of the cultivation world.

Still, he knew news such as this would not be able to be suppressed. There were far too many disciples who had seen everything that had happened and they would probably let it out even unintentionally.

Besides, this was something he would need the help of other sects to resolve now. It had gone beyond the scope of just one sect. If a thief could steal from their sect, they could very well do with the other sects.

Mudan returned to his sect feeling disappointed, only to get fed with more despair. The sect had not known that it was not just the main peak and pill peak that had been robbed. It was later that they found out that even the Herb Peak had become a victim.

But this time they had a suspect that was most likely behind it or was at least part of it. No one would believe that this was done by just a single person. There was simply no way it could be done.

Currently the sect patriarch, the peak masters, and all elders of the sect were in a hall. Everyone's expression was tense as they looked at the patriarch pensively.

"So you are telling me the culprit behind this is the disciple who won the competition you organized?" Mudan questioned.

"Yes, patriarch." Shaoyan Qianyu ordered with a straight face.

She herself couldn't bring herself to believe that it was Wu Lian who had stolen all the things from the vault. But when she went to check the formations it was obvious that what opened the vault was the very token that she had issued the man.

"So a genius who can ignite an intermediate ranked Qi flame is behind all this?" Mudan questioned.

"Yes, patriarch." Shaoyan Qianyu repeated.

Mudan turned to look at the elders of the sect registry before speaking.

"And what information do you have on this disciple Wu Lian?" He questioned.

"Theres… none." The elder, who was the head of the sect registry answered.

"None? WHAT DO YOU MEAN NONE?" The patriarch yelled.

"We don't know how, but while his name is indeed in the registry, there is no other information in it. It is likely someone forged the records." The elder replied.

"Useless! The lot of you!" Mudan scolded as a bunch of expletives came out of his mouth. 

The session lasted for five minutes, after which the patriarch forcefully calmed himself down and took a deep breath. No one dared to even speak a single word for the fear that the patriarch may very well execute them in rage.

"How did he… how did he break through the formations?" Mudan questioned after a few minutes of silence.

"Our formation masters checked it and have reported that it was a method they have never seen nor read about. It is likely that it was done using a specialized spirit tool that is made for breaking formations as there is no way anyone would be able to get through them in that short of a time.

Even if a formation master was given the literal blueprint of the formation array he would still need a lot of spirit Qi and time to unravel the formations one by one. In our case, it seems as if the formation posed no obstacle to the culprit and he went straight through them.

We… we think it may be a peak grade spirit tool." The Elder who was in charge of formations, spoke.

Mudan couldn't help but rub his forehead in frustration. This was perhaps the worst day of life since he was born. Even his heavenly tribulation was perhaps a ten times better than this.

"Another thing, patriarch… since the main vault was entirely taken, we believe the culprit also had a peak grade spatial storage tool with him. No other spatial storage tool would be able to accommodate something that large." Another elder added.

"Peak grade spatial storage tool… peak grade spirit tool… martial skills that allow him to defend against tens of elders at the peak stage of the core condensation realm at once… surviving a heavenly tribulation… and that spirit beast… I don't think we are dealing with anyone normal patriarch." Yi Deng who had been silent all this while, spoke.

Mudan looked at him and gestured for him to speak more.

"If this man had so many powerful things, he must have a great backing. I believe he may be from one of the hidden trump cards of some sect or kingdom. They may be doing this to intentionally challenge us." Yi Deng spoke.

"Hmm… and what is it that you suggest we do?" Mudan questioned.

"I believe it is time to contact 'master'." Yi Deng answered, as his eyes glowed in a red light for a moment.