Meanwhile, in the city in question.
It was a night of celebration, the year-long festival proposed by the city lord to mark the day he officially completed the challenges and became the ruler.
Bright lanterns hung from every building, their warm glow casting a golden hue across the streets.
The city was alive with laughter and music, the air thick with the smells of food stalls offering delicacies, and the sound of children playing echoed through the crowded festival grounds.
Everywhere you looked, people were smiling, enjoying the festivities without a care in the world.
But beneath the surface of this joy, something sinister was lurking.
Hidden from the festival-goers' view, an illusionary dark formation had been set in place, slowly drawing in Spiritual Qi from the environment.
It was subtle, almost invisible to the naked eye of the low-level cultivators, and even those with cultivation would need to focus intently to notice it.
