Nine Lights Void Ship, Escape

The flying mortal flying was actually Jiang Po.

From the astonished expression on his face, he was clearly very surprised. As a matter of fact, his voice could be heard spouting expletives as his body wobbled dangerously in the air.

"F**k shit, what the actual f**king f*ck? What the f*ck, arghhhhh!!!!"

Jiang Po's voice suddenly rose to a shrill scream as a formless hand grabbed him and dragged him to the ground.

It was Patriarch Auna who acted. In a flash, he vanished on the spot, leaving the others stunned.

"Where did he go?" Leila asked to no one in particular. Li Mei shrugged.

As for Di Tian, he slowly "came out" of the hypnosis spell's effect, blinking dazedly. Da Sha squinted his eyes thoughtfully as he watched him.

"For a mortal, you're rather interesting," he suddenly said ambiguously in a half smile.

Di Tian felt a pang of panic; had he been seen through? There was something about the knowing smile on the man's face that gave him an inexplicable feeling.

Da Sha said nothing further and resumed his silence, leaving Di Tian even more perplexed.

******

Meanwhile, Jiang Po gingerly picked himself up, dusting his clothes as he did so. Nearby, there were two drunk men staring at him dazedly. They were the only ones on the street.

"Am I trippin' or wazzat guy inna air two shecondsh ago?" Drunkard One slurred to his friend.

"Ishgehwbmmabs..." Drunkard Two's reply was even more incoherent.

Jiang Po heard their little dialogue and mumbled to himself, "Man, I must be short on sleep or something, 'cause what in the bloody hell..." He paused and blinked as a figure suddenly appeared in front of him, "Errrrr?"

Patriarch Auna's forehead furrowed into thoughtful lines as he observed Jiang Po closely. A moment later, he spoke.

"Another innate talent?" His tone was quizzical.

"What are you talking about?" Jiang Po's chatty nature was involuntarily triggered and he forgot about the weirdness of the situation. "Also, what's with the ninja hippie dress style? Hell, we're in the twenty first century....." As he spoke, he curiously reached out to touch the sleeve of the robe.

Patriarch Auna's aura instinctively erupted, but he realized something and withdrew it immediately. Still, Jiang Po bore the brunt of the impact within that short duration and was directly knocked out, collapsing on the earth.

Patriarch Auna calmly scanned him with his Divine Sense; the guy was just unconscious and not in any grave danger. He picked him up and vanished, returning to the alleyway where he was earlier.

As soon as he reappeared holding the chubby guy, Di Tian's expression turned unnatural.

"Don't be foolish, just act like you don't know him," Da Sha's voice suddenly appeared in Di Tian's mind, stunning him.

"I'm using a voice transmission, they can't hear us," he continued. "Anyways, for your own sake, act natural."

The thought instantly came to Di Tian's mind that this was a trap. Was this some ploy to get him to put down his guard and reveal some sensitive information?

"Father, what happened?" Leila asked. "And who is this?"

"Another interesting mortal," Patriarch Auna replied. "He was just flying a moment ago."

"Flying....how?" Di Tian spoke without meaning to. Da Sha threw him a disapproving gaze.

"It's rather strange," Patriarch Auna continued. "I suspect it's an innate talent, but he's only a mortal. Also, by all indications, it appears newly manifested. He didn't appear familiar with using it."

Leila got her father's implication, "Are you saying this has something to do with...."

"That's what I was thinking," Patriarch Auna interrupted, turning to Di Tian. "It could even be that his special physique is the same, likely manifested very recently..."

But just as he continued speaking, the night sky above him brightened without warning.

At the same time, nine light pillars appeared above the Earth's atmosphere, creating an artificial daylight.

Despite the night's series of surprises, Di Tian was shocked once more, his thoughts racing wildly.

Strange futuristic lights in the sky, wasn't this the typical opening plot of every alien invasion movie?

Di Tian wasn't the only one surprised. Humans all over the planet had their attention drawn to the same sight in the sky.

The Internet that was already abuzz with conspiracy theories about the anomalous light explosion that happened within the past hour welcomed another influx.

While all this was going on, Patriarch Auna and his group had a different reaction, particularly as they recognized what it was.

A Nine Lights Void Ship.

The battleship type unique to the Universal Council for official tasks.

"Why the hell is one of their Void Ships here? Or, was there a leak?" The thought flashed through Patriarch Auna's eyes and his aura abruptly exploded, locking onto Li Mei, Da Sha and the other stout man.

"Did any of you alert the Universal Council about our whereabouts?" He asked calmly, a quiet threat in his voice.

"Father, retract your aura!" Leila said with an urgent tone. "The battleship will detect the energy surge."

Her words made his aura falter, but the intensity of his stare did not change as he gazed at the three of them.

"I didn't, Clan Head" Da Sha quickly said, feeling the suffocating killing intent.

Li Mei hurriedly spoke, "It didn't either, Clan Head. I mean, it could be a coinciden....."

To everyone's surprise, Patriarch Auna suddenly slammed a palm at her as she spoke.

Boom!

The attack instantly vaporized Li Mei's body into ashes.

"......"

Amidst their shock, Da Sha and the stout man involuntarily took a couple of steps backwards. Meanwhile, Di Tian subconsciously inched close to Jiang Po, as if to shield him.

"Cla....Clan Head...." The stout man named Nie Tian stuttered nervously when Patriarch Auna's gaze landed on him. The latter was expressionless as he raised a palm.

Boom!

More ash residue filled the air, some of it landing on Patriarch Auna's robe as he finally turned to look at Da Sha.

Da Sha swallowed, then felt a sudden sharp pain in his stomach. He looked down to see Leila withdraw a short dagger from his body, a malicious smile on her face.

"Poison?" Da Sha murmured, feeling a wave of paralysis numbing his senses.

"He'll be dead in two minutes," Leila said, looking up at her father. "No witnesses, right?"

Patriarch Auna's expression was deadpan. It was obvious that he was furious.

"Two-third of our Clan's resources pool," he said. "A whole two third of everything we've saved up all these centuries, gone just like that. Guess who's going to have to take the blame when I report back to the higher-ups?"

Leila shifted uncomfortably. In her mind, she was wondering how it was any of her business. She couldn't care less what those old fogeys Elders chose to do.

"It's not our fault the Universal Council is here," she grumbled. "Also, the treasure might still be somewhere nearby, who knows?"

"I can't perform a signature scan on the planet anymore unless I want them to discover our presence," Patriarch Auna sighed. At the end of the day, he had to leave a way out for himself and his daughter.

"Someone has to take the blame to satisfy those old men though," he continued, speaking in a monotone. "So, Li Mei secretly got in contact with the Universal Council, but I found out and eliminated her before the clan got compromised with her betrayal. Da Sha and Nie Tian were in cahoots with her, and I killed them too before escaping the radar of the Council. The treasure is nowhere to be found."

"Is that the story we're going along with? Yippee!" Leila said, childishly clapping her hand excitedly. The watching Di Tian found himself wondering if she was retarded.

Patriarch Auna glanced at her casually before continuing, "Of course, it's a little too smooth, so we have to make it more believable."

Right after he finished speaking, he made a grabbing motion and Leila was sucked right into his arms.

Thud!

With a gentle pat on her head, he destroyed all the meridians in her body.

"Arghhhh..."

Mid-scream, her father tapped a few acupoints on her temples, directly knocking her unconscious. At the same time, he infused some energy into het body to maintain her condition.

Di Tian sucked in a cold breath. Patriarch Auna suddenly turned to him.

"What do you think?" He said. "At some point, Da Sha tried to take her hostage and she ended up getting hurt. Those old fogeys won't make things difficult for me upon seeing that my dear daughter was implicated, right?"

Di Tian blinked. In his mind, he was calculating a feasible plan to get out of this situation,but all the scenarios fell short.

Afterall, all he knew about the man's capabilities was limited to just the aura field lock, instant movement technique and energy palm he had seen him do.

"Oh, don't worry about getting hurt for now," Patriach Auna continued. "There's something strange about you two, so I'll be taking you along with me." He raised his hand, and a suction force dragged the two of them towards him.

But at the very next moment, his expression abruptly changed as his Divine Sense detected several rapidly approaching figures making in his direction.

From their aura, he could deduce that even the weakest was far stronger than him. He needed to leave right now!

But the more the number of people to teleport at a time, the longer it took to activate a Star Chart.

Decisively, Patriarch Auna threw a wide-ranged attack that descended towards Di Tian, the unconscious Jiang Po, and Da Sha who was lifeless at this point.

Boom!

As the resultant explosion echoed, Patriarch Auna quickly retrieved his Star Chart and vanished from the planet with his daughter.