Someone Was Here

Inside the broken tower, it was quiet, with the occasional hum of the formation's workings. They continued to watch the scene where Fang Hao and Wenxiu talked over wine about various topics.

"His heart is weak, not resolute enough, a lost cause," the middle man said, sighing lightly as he observed Fang Hao being ensnared by Wenxiu. The masked figure nodded; it seemed this job would end soon.

"Oh? Interesting." They both watched as Fang Hao was led upstairs by Wenxiu, who then undressed, attempting to seduce and kill him.

"So, he knew from the beginning?" The middle man asked aloud, but the masked figure remained silent.

"Let's see how this plays out. He has set up two formations, one mist and the other defensive, to buy time and cover the upper floor." The middle-aged man stroked his beard as he began to scribble down the details, adding his own comments as he observed.

Fang Hao proceeded to eliminate them using the array and by hiding in the shadows with his sword art. He then deceived the leader of this 'village', inflicting a wound that made him fall unconscious.

"I guess the others didn't inform the new member 15 about the limitations of the necklace," The middle-aged man mused as he watched Hu Guang Len's head explode, followed by a similar fate for the Early Muscle Realm cultivator.

"This concludes the fight. His power is below average. I expected him to be stronger, and his fighting style is not in line with how our Sword Hall normally operates," the middle-aged man said casually as Fang Hao walked over to Wenxiu.

He arrived in front of her, engaging in conversation for a while, still wearing the bloody robes with a serious face.

"Wait, don't tell me!" The middle-aged man wore a shocked expression, narrowing his eyes as he overheard the conversation with the naked Wenxiu.

"He knows how to break the first limitation." The masked cultivator showed a surprised face, muttering, "Interesting," before also standing up.

Fang Hao touched the necklace, then swiftly turned his head toward the distant broken stone tower, almost as if he were looking them in the eyes, and rushed at it with his sword drawn.

"He figured it out. Time to leave," the masked cultivator said lightly before vanishing as if he didn't exist.

"Senior, goodbye," the middle-aged man quickly said, but no reply came, leaving him feeling a bit awkward. He gathered the formations quickly and erased any overlooked evidence with a shake of his sleeve before flying off into the distance.

He continued to add extra details to the scroll; the mission here was done. Out of the initial 15 tokens, 14 broke, leaving only Wenxiu alive. The two who escaped earlier triggered the second limitation, resulting in their deaths outside the village.

"Let's see, 'Yang Jun,' I will start grading you soon, and I will be fair. I hope you find the reward that the sect left for your trial," the middle-aged man said, looking at the scroll in his hand, which featured a picture of Fang Hao smiling awkwardly.

---

A few minutes ago...

---

Fang Hao arrived in front of the naked Wenxiu and asked her a simple question, "Do you want to live?" She nodded eagerly, seizing the opportunity.

"Don't move," he instructed, carefully taking hold of the necklace and examining it closely. He had an idea of how it worked; there were a total of two limitations on it.

The first limitation was that the wearer couldn't share information about anything they knew.

The second limitation was that if they left the village's surroundings or removed the necklace from their head, it would explode. This was the most reinforced one, making it impossible for him to break it at the moment.

"I can break the first one and allow you to share what you know with me. But before that, I have to deal with this person. I'm not sure if I will survive, but I do have a backup plan, I didn't think I would use it this early."

Fang Hao checked his spatial ring for the ordinary sword his brother had given him, feeling somewhat assured.

"I will be back. Don't you dare move," he warned before leaving.

Turning his head toward the tower, wearing a murderous expression, Fang Hao rushed out of the window, leaving Wenxiu with hope as she watched him depart.

In the middle of the pitch darkness, Fang Hao caused the rocky and muddy ground to produce noises as he sprinted outside the gate.

He leaped over it and quickly formed a circular array before shooting a beam at the tower. "BANG!" The stones shattered into pieces, creating a cloud of dust that rose into the sky, yet nothing was there.

Nervously, he waited a bit, ready to pull the sword out and activate whatever it did.

"Impossible, I'm certain someone was here," Fang Hao narrowed his eyes as he tried to find a hidden room, but there was nothing apart from stones.

"Was I mistaken? The instinct I had about this tower being weird back then was wrong?" he muttered as he touched the ground. Suddenly, he found something like dust.

Bringing it closer to his eye, he recognized what it was: spiritual stone remnants.

Finding more traces, he was sure that a formation had been here, and someone had been operating it, most likely spying on him.

Going outside, he looked around at the early darkness, feeling as though eyes were watching him, which sent a small shiver down his spine.

"They ran fast. Their cultivation realms are higher than mine. Who is it, and what do they want?" Fang Hao thought as he came to four conclusions.

"Someone from my father's side following me, that merchant, or the sect, or just a random person up to something?"

He thought, 'If they wanted me dead, I would have died by now. There's no reason for these tricks.'

After a moment of silence, during which he couldn't sense any immediate threats, he decided to speak out loud, trying to "fish" as his caretaker used to say, to see if anyone was still listening but hiding.

"Wenxiu should know some details. I'll head back and find out," he said, with his finger on the ring for reassurance.

But nothing happened. With no other choice, he headed back; he was going to try to remove the first limitation and get answers.