"My lady... there's news from Berith."
At a mansion in an isolated forest in a Western country, Bael walked into the lounge where a young woman sat. She was sipping tea and enjoying the afternoon time. She couldn't help feeling displeased at being interrupted during such rest.
"What is it?"
"Barbatos has been detained by that country's authorities..."
The old man spoke softly. But the lady of this mansion furrowed her brow immediately upon hearing. She put down the glass in her hand and asked what happened.
"In Eastern countries, there shouldn't be anyone with enough power to handle you all right now, right?"
The young woman seemed quite familiar with cultivator power levels. She even said further:
"In this era, even the strongest shouldn't have reached Sage level yet..."
She murmured to herself. The old man standing beside showed a slightly hesitant expression. He still remembered the fury that occurred before. This made him prepare himself carefully before reporting.
"...According to the report, the one who stopped Barbatos was that Bai Fanxian."
And he guessed correctly. The moment his lady heard this name, her expression changed. He sensed the unstable fluctuations of air starting to tremble. She needed a moment to calm herself.
"...Call all those who have awakened to gather here."
The young woman spoke with a flat voice. She leaned back against the sofa and closed her eyes as if immersed in memories of the past.
"...Looks like it's almost time we'll meet again."
.
.
.
Back at Bai Fanxian's seaside vacation home, a new morning arrived with noisy commotion at the beach. This was followed by intense power waves that could make the boundary tremble lightly. There was Bai Fanxian floating in midair while radiating pressure that could crack the air around her.
Zheng Renyi and Liu Yianfei gulped. They themselves wanted to become stronger. But they didn't think Bai Fanxian's training method would be this insanely intense.
"I don't think there's a faster method than this..."
Bai Fanxian spoke softly before waving her hand once. Hundreds of purple energy streams appeared behind her. They spun in circles before shooting down to attack Zheng Renyi, who gripped his sword tightly.
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
Because the pressure Bai Fanxian radiated had characteristics similar to a domain, the two Grandmasters inside felt they couldn't circulate their power freely. They moved with difficulty as if gravity had increased enormously. Just moving a few steps required tremendous energy.
"This is a Domain."
Bai Fanxian explained with a calm face. She waved her hand again and a wind current struck Liu Yianfei, who tried to attack from behind, sending him flying into the sea.
"If Grandmaster is aerial flight and walking on air..."
"While Sage is cultivating Intent..."
"Then Domain would be the privilege of Ancient Sage-level existences."
The young woman finished speaking and all the pressure increased another fold. Just that was enough to make Zheng Renyi, who was flying in midair, lose his balance and crash to the ground.
"If you're going to fight high-stage Sage-level opponents, you need to get used to their pressure first. Until you can move normally under this Domain, I'll keep attacking you with Grandmaster-level power. At least then I can be confident you can handle it."
Those attacks were the hundreds of energy streams appearing behind Bai Fanxian again. They weren't intense but were enough to make Grandmaster-level existences uncomfortable if hit many times.
The young woman merely waved her hand. Both had to move to dodge frantically. Although these attacks wouldn't kill, if hit by one shot, there would be another ten shots following.
At the balcony, three children were cheering on both Grandmasters. In Mei Ying's hands was Liu Yianfei's symptom-suppressing pill prepared in case his condition flared up. It was a pill Bai Fanxian specially refined based on Grandmaster Lu Qing's medicine formula. But she used her own power and the Eternal Myriad Heavens pill in her body to raise its level even higher.
Liu Yianfei found that since he took leave and came to live at this house, his condition flared up much less often. Even after going through intense fighting, if he received adequate treatment and rest, he would still be fine.
*BOOM!*
Before he knew it, Liu Yianfei's body flew and landed on the nearby beach. His condition was battered. Even his outfit was torn in many places. This was the main reason he didn't carry medicine on himself and chose to leave it with the children instead. He coughed up blood. Mei Ying, with good eyes, quickly grabbed one of his pills and threw it to him.
"Uncle Liu, catch!"
Liu Yianfei turned back and caught it. He swallowed it and waited for it to take effect. Once certain his body condition was ready, he leaped back in to receive attacks again.
"...Do you people love pain or what?"
The Dragon Queen was calmly sunbathing on a nice cushion Huang Zihuan brought out for her. She yawned lazily.
"Then let's go train too! Little Red, let's go!"
Tang Yeye grabbed the Dragon Queen and pulled her into her arms. Naturally she protested but couldn't resist. The small dragon was dragged to another corner along with Hui'er following.
"Not going with those two?"
Huang Zihuan cleaned up the place. The old man was surprised to still see Mei Ying sitting in the same spot, not going anywhere.
"I'd rather read books here, Uncle Huang."
The little girl smiled and picked up a book about herbs to show Huang Zihuan. It was a book about Tier 3 herbs. He didn't expect this child to advance so quickly.
"My power isn't as strong as theirs. So I should focus on what I'm good at first."
Mei Ying laughed while looking at the two little children starting training by running and releasing power at the Dragon Queen, who protested endlessly because she couldn't fight back.
Suddenly Huang Zihuan sensed an existence appearing at the house's front entrance through the boundary. As someone with secondary authority, he could sense from anywhere in the house if something abnormal entered.
The one who appeared walked through without being stopped. Meaning they were one of those already permitted by his lady. The old butler smiled widely when he knew who the newcomer was.
"Butler, hello!"
A young woman's sweet, clear voice rang from inside the house. Then the voice's owner walked out and appeared at the balcony with hands full of gifts.
"Grandmaster Xie, welcome."
Huang Zihuan welcomed gladly. The newcomer would be none other than the Red Widow Matriarch, Grandmaster Xie Suyao, who had gone to handle matters at her northern clan for a long time.
"Aunt Xie, hello!"
Mei Ying herself also greeted happily. Although they hadn't spent much time together before, even when going to the Dragon Queen's dimension they barely met. But because she knew they were on the same side and Xie Suyao often showed sincere concern for all three children, Mei Ying quite liked this young woman.
"We haven't seen each other for just a month, and you've grown so much."
Xie Suyao was surprised. From the little child who looked sickly back then, she now looked much more substantial and cheerful. She smiled gladly and put down bags of gifts that filled the table.
At that moment, Mei Ying noticed bandages and some bruises on the young woman's body. She cried out in shock.
"Aunt Xie... are you injured?"
The child's question made Huang Zihuan turn to look. On Xie Suyao's body were traces of battle wounds that had occurred recently.
"What happened?"
The old butler was curious. But at the same time, he quickly went to get the first aid kit from inside the house.
Xie Suyao had a troubled expression. She rolled up her sleeve to show. It revealed traces of many wounds that seemed to come from swords and sharp weapons. Moreover, there were traces of qi on those wounds showing they definitely came from cultivators.
"Just finished handling the problem. Sorry for showing up like this."
She said that but at the same time looked gratefully at Mei Ying, who started treating her wounds.
"Is the northern situation still chaotic?"
Huang Zihuan asked. Because lately he'd been busy serving his lady, he hadn't been able to check distant news like before.
"Yes. While we were gone, three people broke through to Grandmaster realm in the north. I don't know where they got treasures that increased their power dramatically. When they joined forces, it became a real problem."
Xie Suyao recounted while sighing. "In the south, besides that Mr. An who broke through to Grandmaster realm several months ago—there are two more who just reached Grandmaster recently. Seems like they're cooperating to establish a 'New Generation Grandmasters Group' to overthrow the four great clans."
Hearing the outside world's situation, Huang Zihuan nodded slightly and narrowed his eyes. It looked like lately Grandmasters were sprouting like mushrooms. It seemed the cultivator world's balance was about to collapse.
He'd need to prepare well to handle the sudden changes that would occur.
The old man touched his own chest lightly. His old wound had healed well. Or was it time he needed to step forward too?
Huang Zihuan felt that in times of danger, his Martial Artist-level power couldn't protect anyone. He'd need to find time soon to consult with his lady.
"So what's elder sister doing now?"
Xie Suyao asked while looking at the sea where three people's shadows were floating swiftly in the sky.
"My lady is giving special training to Grandmaster Zheng and General Liu."
"Special training?"
The young woman's eyes immediately sparkled upon hearing. She quickly leaped from the balcony and flew toward Bai Fanxian with a bright smile.
"Elder sister! I'm back!"
Xie Suyao shouted loudly. Liu Yianfei and Zheng Renyi, sweating profusely, quickly turned to look. They were shocked and hurried to gesture for the young woman not to enter, but she didn't understand.
The moment she entered Bai Fanxian's Domain, pressure and enormous gravity pressed down from the sky. She, who hadn't prepared, nearly fell crashing into the seawater below!
Xie Suyao trembled in confusion. She quickly circulated qi with full force to support herself. But the next second, over ten beautifully curved purple qi streams appeared. Before she could prepare herself, they attacked her, forcing her to dodge frantically.
"Welcome back..."
Bai Fanxian nodded once in greeting. But she spread her hand out to the right as far as it would go. A tremendous amount of qi streams were created behind her, filling the sky. Liu Yianfei below also gulped without realizing it.
"You returned at just the right time... let me see how far you've developed."
Suddenly thousands of qi streams in the sky fell down from above. Not just Xie Suyao, but Zheng Renyi and Liu Yianfei also stared at this rain of qi with a strange feeling of despair in their hearts...