Surprisingly the first words that came out of Nero's mouth were that of scorn and ridicule. He even went as far as calling the white-robed man's cultivation 'measly'! At the Divine Sea Realm, a martial artist forms the divine sea which protects their soul. The soul is the most sensitive aspect of any living being, likewise being the only aspect with weaker defenses compared to the physical body.
The soul harbors many extraordinary abilities, but they come at a great cost. When a martial artist switches to use their soul as a weapon, they could succeed but they inadvertently reduce the defenses of the soul. Every living thing has a soul. Even if the body is destroyed, as long as the soul remains, it is only a matter of time to be revived.
The soul is bred from the Mortal Realm which is basic for everything. As one steps into the road of cultivation, their soul grows stronger, but not strong enough. The growth advances to the Divine Sea Realm, which is where the soul can be used as a weapon whilst under the protection of the divine sea.
In fact, anyone in this realm has a great deal of strength that can only be imagined. But now, one of them was being ridiculed by Nero. How could he not find this surprising?
"Measly? Hehehe... I was thinking of sparing your life but now…"
Saying up to this point, the man in the white robe grinned devilishly. Behind him slowly appeared dozens of martial artists, each having both a weapon and a sinister grin whilst releasing waves of killing intent. They spread to every corner of the cave, surrounding Nero. Nero remained completely unfazed. He was already aware of their presence; from the beginning, he released his perception pinpointing their exact location.
Nero took a glance at them and sneered in his heart, " One Divine Sea Realm martial artist, four Foundation Establishment Realm martial artists, and rest are at the Qi essence gathering Realm. In total, there are 72 of you… how laughable."
Only someone like Nero would find being surrounded by this many martial artists funny.
He didn't spare them a second glance and said, with a sinister smile, "Shall we begin.." His eyes lit up with a brilliant green light as his aura surged forth.
…
"This is a serious matter. There are only two people in the Western Earth Kingdom who can break my formation, and they are not here. Whomever this is must be strong. This is why I am sending you… my strongest fighter and the rest of the six to intercept whoever this person might be and bring him to me." Saburo said solemnly with every word stressed to the tiniest detail.
When Nero unleashed his aura, it slightly shook the mountain making Saburo a bit apprehensive. According to him, only a few people could make him apprehensive and they weren't here either so… who might this be?
"Master.." The one being spoken to called out, "Tavi returned gravely injured; one arm had been torn off. And we also lost the twins. According to him, it was unclear who attacked him, but he suspects that he might be the one rampaging through our base. If this is true then we need to take care of this quickly."
When Nero was out hunting the lightning Jaguar, he had encountered three martial artists. Two of which died in his hands while the other one hurried away with his flower; which was why Nero was here. He had followed closely behind the other one to get his flower back, but he came across this hidden land.
"Is that so?..." Saburo pondered. According to what he just heard, he just lost two strong martial artists and another was gravely injured. This can be considered a slap in his face, how could he possibly let this go?
"No matter what it is, do as I ordered. Bolivar! Do not disappoint me." Saburo's voice thundered throughout the stone cave.
"Never have I, and never will I." The one named Bolivar replied. He bowed and left the stone cave.
Saburo had a grim uneasy expression, "No matter who are, I.. will... kill you."
...
The sound of dripping blood bounced off the walls of the narrow passageway echoing loudly. A young man stood motionlessly as blood dripped down his face, staining his clothes. Behind him was a horrific bloody sight.
Corpses!
Piles of corpses lined up on the passageway. Some had holes in their chest while some had holes in their heads. Some had their heads exploded while some had their guts pulled out from their bodies. Some were dismembered while some turned into scraps of flesh…. No matter how one viewed it, it was gruesome. To have died like this was simply unjustifiable.
Nero was emotionlessly standing amidst this stretch of blood and flesh. The atmosphere must have been nauseating, but he just… stood there. He slowly exhaled while casually wiping the blood off his face.
"What a waste of time."
Nero had spent up to half an hour in the mountain. During this time, he had crossed many caves and passageways, and likewise, going on a killing spree. He was coming to the end of this passageway when abruptly stopped.
"You people take me too lightly if you think that such petty tricks will work on me. If you don't take me seriously, it will cost you a lot more than you know. Now… get out here all seven of you!" Nero thundered.
"Hehe…" Sinister laughter echoed out. From the shadows emerged seven figures! They were all dressed in the usual black attire with the image of a curled-up dragon branded on the left side of their robes.
Nero's eye suddenly lit up, "You!"
Among these groups of seven was one that Nero was familiar with. Not that Nero had seen his face but his aura was familiar, and he had a grave injury on his left hand; it was ripped off! This was the same person that hurried away with Nero's five petal blazing flower.