Zhishi Wu immediately attempted to flee he screamed at his muscles to move but realized that he had been restrained by the sect leader's Qi.
"It seems I've hit the nail on its head." Patriarch Thunder removed Zhishi Wu's mask and got a good look at his face.
He grabbed his face and inspected it closely, staring deep into his eyes and then even into his mouth looking for something.
"You have truly experienced a miracle to jump from the initial stage of body tempering to the middle of Qi condensation."
Zhishi Wu took a deep breath in and analyzed his options, he understood that this man didn't want to kill him, if he did, he would have been dead right now, the only option left was to agree with whatever he said, even if he forced him to stay.
Patriarch Thunder let go of him and the Qi restraints vanished.
"I will not force you to stay here."
Zhishi Wu immediately began to dart towards the exit.
"However, it is not the same story about the various disciples within my sect." The man let out a little laugh as he yelled.
"STOP THE INTRUDER I HAVE MARKED HIM WITH MY QI SIGNATURE." the voice boomed inside the entirety of the mountain and chaos ensued.
"DAMN IT WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE ECCENTRIC OLD MEN!?" Zhishi Wu complained as he ran down the stairs he had walked up earlier.
Patriarch Thunder stood at the top of the stairs alongside Elder Kong.
"Is this really necessary? You must have scared him to have him flee like that." Elder Kong sighed in defeat.
"If he can't handle a few Qi condensation disciples how will he be fit to represent this sect as an elder."
As Zhishi Wu ran he thought to himself.
"If he really wanted to stop me he would directly interfere and restrained me, which means he has no issue with my identity and doesn't plan to expose it."
As he realized the truth of the matter he suddenly halted near where the disciple's living quarters were.
"This is just a way for him to test my combat strength."
As the disciples began to rush at him ready to attack he assumed a fighting stance akin to a boxer, back on earth he had spent a long time learning various martial arts and putting them into practice. Compared to fighting beasts this was far more suitable a situation for him.
"Anyone below the peak of QI condensation should stay out of this fight." The sect leader's voice echoed throughout the sect.
The crowd surrounding Zhishi Wu thinned and 4 figures appeared, three male disciples and one female.
They were about to rush at him but halted and started to discuss internally.
"..."
"If I really was a dangerous intruder I could have escaped by now." he mumbled internally.
As the heated discussion ended one of the male disciples approached Zhishi Wu and instantly leaped at him ready to fight.
Zhishi Wu quickly measured him up, he looked to be around 20, the distribution of his QI across his body was even and violently fluctuating as if it was a burden for him to maintain it.
WHOOSH!
The first blow was about to land on Zhishi Wu, in this instance he decided to drop his boxer's stance, and caught the fist holding on to it tightly.
The disciple tried to retract his fist but was unable to, Zhishi Wu had already condensed Qi within his fist, there was no way for the disciple to overpower it.
Zhishi Wu then quickly clenched his right hand which was free and hit the disciple right below the jaw, at this moment the only parts of Zhishi Wu's body that were enhanced with Qi were his fists and the accompanying stabilizing muscles.
There was absolutely no way for the disciple to block the blow, the difference in the control of Qi was far too large.
As soon as the disciple was hit by that punch he flew into the wall of the courtyard beside them, as the wall gave away and the disciple blasted through it, a few chickens took this chance to make their escape
"NOO MY CHICKENS!" A voice emerged from the crowd and a disciple in the early stage of QI condensation ran around hysterically collecting the fleeing chickens.
At the top of the staircase the two elders had a surprised expression.
"I knew he was powerful but to think, he overpowered Qin Li like it was nothing." elder Kong spoke slowly.
"Ind-" the sect leader was about to say something but was cut off.
"MY CHICKENS!"
"HELP THIS LUNATIC CATCH HIS CHICKENS!" The Sect leader roared.
The encirclement from before turned from a force blocking Zhishi Wu's escape into chicken farmers.
"Brother you should assist as well." the lunatic from earlier spoke.
"...." Zhishi Wu stared at him
"You so realize I'm the intruder here right?"
The lunatic picked up another chicken in his arms.
"Excuses tsk." he quickly moved on from the conversation as the chicken threatened to peck his head off.
Patriarch Thunder's face was dark as he observed the interaction, this wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he thought of a sect disciple in his head.
"All this talk of chickens is making me hungry." elder Kong chimed in as he drank a cup of tea that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
…
"Sect leader, how can you continue to ask me to chase Zhishi Wu when you know that a third party assisted him? In addition, the third party's cultivation is golden core or higher. Isn't this just sending me to my death."
Zumo Tian was back where he started attempting to seek mercy from the sect leader.
The figure from behind the veil spoke "You seem to be misunderstanding disciple Zumo."
A great pressure descended upon Zumo Tian.
"Me giving you this opportunity is my way of sparing your life, not only did we fail to take hold of the kingdom, but I also wasted resources on you."
Zumo Tian started to sweat profusely.
"Do you understand, this task is not you doing me a favor rather a display of my benevolence."
He quickly bowed his head on the ground.
"I will do as the sect leader commands."
He turned around to leave and walked out.
"Do not waste your time searching the kingdom, the only place he could be is the eastern wasteland."
The sect leader addressed Elder Mu who had been accompanying Zumo Tian on his mission.
"It shall be done." the elder spoke as she walked out of the hall.
As the hall fell into silence the sect leader also fell deep into thought while tossing a grape into her mouth.
"Blond hair, which emanates power and magically vanishes.... Has someone won the race already?"