"Ahem, I am the City Lord, Caterina Feline. I heard you have a supreme treasure to disable a formation. Can you give it to me?" She asked.
As much as she wanted to continue roleplaying as a ghost, the situation right now just wouldn't allow it. So she revealed herself as the city lord.
Leyvi was dumbfounded. The city lord? Not a ghost? So he was being trolled? Looking at her cat ears headband, he could see why she might be the city lord. So, she was the one who came up with Holy Cat City and Grand Kitty Nine Layer Formation?
Leyvi's eyebrow twitched. He felt like a fool taking the ghost thing seriously. So his father-in-law didn't want to get involved previously because she was the city lord? Was she stronger than him?
Leyvi snapped out of his inner monologues a few moments later. "Forgive me, City Lord Caterina, but I can't give it to you."
Her expression changed. "Why? Are you upset?"
Huh? Leyvi realized that she had misunderstood him. "No no, I mean, the supreme artifact is bound to me, so I must do it myself."
Caterina felt surprised. She didn't expect this young man to be very brave. "The villain outside was a Soul Formation expert, you know. A spit from him could kill you. Aren't you afraid of death?"
Death? Of course, he was afraid! But he was already here. He couldn't chicken out now. The problem was that his initial plan to dismantle the formation secretly with Scarlet could not work anymore.
On the way here, he saw a giant creepy birdcage that was floating above a hunched old man. Instantly, he identified that the birdcage was the formation. If it was on the ground, he could use Scarlet to get close from below, dismantle the formation, and escape quickly. Unfortunately, the formation was up in the air. He had to expose himself, no matter what.
"Of course I'm afraid of death. That's why I need the City Lord to protect me while I disable his formation until I safely get away. However, if I die, my panda wife might turn into a villain and destroy this city next. So I have to survive no matter what!" Leyvi said to her seriously.
His panda wife? That alchemist girl? Was she that brutal? Anda's image appeared in Caterina's mind. Well, that girl did learn the fire concept. When her cultivation level increases and her comprehension of the fire concept rises to fire law in the future, it wouldn't be difficult for her to torch the entire city.
"If that's the case, don't worry, I'll give you a few life-saving artifacts." Caterina already had a plan in mind.
Meanwhile, the entire city center was almost destroyed by ongoing battles. There were only a few buildings that were still intact, which include the headquarters of the Alchemy Association and the Grand Stadium.
Since the beginning of the chaos, the Alchemy Association's experts had done their best to protect their properties and members from the rampaging Demonic Beasts. This was only possible because they were a massive organization and had a lot of experts. The only other intact building here besides them was the Treasure Pavilion South Region Headquarters, an organization on a par with them.
"President, it doesn't look good. The Demonic Beasts are overpowering the city's elite fighters now. Since we're not trapped anymore, let's evacuate. All of our things have been stored away." Elder Arjun suggested to Albert Wood.
Even though they had high cultivation levels, it didn't necessarily mean they were good at fighting. After all, they have dedicated to alchemy all their life. However, they still had plenty of means to protect themselves, even if they were mediocre in attacking.
"Hmm... those dark Qi are interesting. Can we use them in alchemy? Maybe I could create new alchemy techniques using them. I want to collect some samples." Albert mumbled.
"Dammit President! We're in a crisis over here! Can you be a bit more responsible?" Arjun criticized his weirdo president.
"Tch, always buzzing like a fly. How about our top three winners? Have you confirmed them to be safe?" Albert asked while clearly expressing his annoyance.
"Mia Fafifa and Norin Homun are safe. They had safely evacuated with their elders, but Anda Leyan was missing. Her entire family had also disappeared. We couldn't find them." Arjun reported.
"Hahaha! Is that so? We don't have to worry about her then. This means they have their own way of protecting themselves. Arjun, evacuate if you want. I'm going to help them fight. I want to test something." Albert immediately flew towards the battlefield to help the Law Enforcement elites.
"Wait! President! Aaaa..... sigh...." Arjun knew he wouldn't be able to change his mind.
In any case, he wasn't worried about his president. The reason why he became the president despite his weird personality was partly due to his strength. Not only he had reached the Soul Formation realm, but the fire-controlling techniques he created were abnormally powerful in a battle.
A few seconds later, Arjun's eyes widened so much they almost popped out of the sockets. What the fuck he had just witnessed? A huge fire cauldron appeared in the sky and sucked up five massive Commander-level Demonic Beasts into it. Then, the cauldron was sealed by a fire lid and Albert Wood started to refine them 'alive'.
"That...that is the fire concept! Holy Shit!" He knew that his weird president was a genius but isn't this too much? Did he see Anda Leyan used the fire concept once, and he somehow figured out how to do it too? And since their cultivation realms were vastly different, obviously the usage scale was miles apart too.
Arjun felt somewhat envious of them. One had an enlightenment at such a young age and the other was born a genius. Now that Albert had comprehended the Fire Concept, he wouldn't have any problem advancing to the Soul Transformation Realm in the future.
With the help of Albert Wood, Chief Leader Badang felt slightly relieved. He got badly injured just now from the brutal fights. He tanked the Demonic Tiger's Tornado Mincer attacks many times so that they wouldn't hit his subordinates.
Even with a full body rock armor protecting him, the tornado could cut through it easily. His men would die instantly if the tornado contacted them. At his level, it was very hard to heal big injuries even with healing products, especially if the injury reached the soul.
Luna also had a hard time injuring any of the General-level Demonic Beasts now. The dark Qi around them became thicker suddenly, and their bodies could repel most of her attacks.
"Luna! I will mate with you and make sure you give birth to my offspring! Our bloodline will be the greatest! We will be invincible!" The red-eyed Demonic Tiger roared to Luna after stomping on the severely injured Badang.
"Hisss! Keep dreaming stupid! I'm not interested while you are alive. I'm not interested even after you are dead. Disgusting! Go mate, that dead bird over there!" Luna mocked the Demonic Tiger with all her heart.
"How dare you! How dare you! I'll destroy everything!" The Demonic Tiger opened his mouth and a horizontal tornado started forming.
"Shit! Everyone! Retreat far away now!" Badang screamed while struggling under the Demonic Tiger's step. He could sense that if this tornado got to the full size, it could annihilate the entire city center and kill everyone around here.
CRASHHH!!
Outside the city, Leyvi had just punched the birdcage as it split into multiple parts and fell to the ground.
"WHAT?? How dare you, brat? So it was you! You are the one who keeps messing with my plan! DIE!!!" The hunched old man who was already bleeding from his ears, eyes, and nose attacked Leyvi with a huge black hand formed by his Qi.
At first, he just laughed at a puny Foundation Building ant attempting to attack his formation, expecting him to hit nothing as usual. However, his expression changed drastically when his punch hit his formation and got dismantled into parts. He immediately recognized the way it got dismantled. Completely identical!
More than a month ago, the same thing happened to one of his formations, causing his suspicious activity to be exposed earlier than expected, affecting the rest of his brilliant evil plan. A piece of shit ant was the reason so many things went wrong. This revelation caused him to explode with fury, attacking Leyvi with all his power!
What the heck! Why does it feel like he has a lifetime of grudge and resentment towards me? Do you have to go all out against a small cultivator like me? Leyvi saw the huge black hand with a terrifying aura slowly approaching him, trying to shred him to death.
Was the huge black hand slow? No. The attack was extremely fast. It was impossible for a Foundation Building cultivator like Leyvi to react to the attack on time since the cultivation gap was too big.
It was just Leyvi's brain perceiving this moment as its last moment before the eventual death. If the black hand hit him, it would be instant death.
At the last moment, a light barrier formed around Leyvi, receiving the full force of the attack.