The tall fat man had already been hit by three water arrows, so he was in a foul mood. The short fat man's words hit the mark, and the two of them, without any further hesitation, pushed their abilities to the max and charged forward.
In the eyes of the tall skinny man, the roses, after being attacked, had gone wild. The flying vines were frantically attacking him. Though he was terrified, he didn't want to sit and wait for death, so he fought back with all his might, completely exhausting his abilities.
The air was filled with a faint scent of blood. The other ability users outside, who had been shouting earlier, realized that no matter how much they yelled, there was no response from those inside.
Now that it was dark and the scent of blood was strong, they worried that zombies might come. However, they had already cleared the surrounding area of zombies, so a little blood shouldn't attract any.
Still, some of them were uneasy, given that their teammates were inside, so they sat outside the yard, guarding the area. They hoped that once the abilities of those inside were exhausted, the strange situation in the yard would end quickly, allowing them to rescue their three leaders immediately.
Meanwhile, those outside were starving, while Park Su, unbothered, began to wash up and prepare dinner.
Xu Nuo had already been breaking through for three hours. With the people outside eyeing them hungrily, Park Su decided to have a proper meal to boost his spirits and spend more time waiting for Xu Nuo to complete his breakthrough.
Those waiting outside the villa soon noticed a few peculiarities. Firstly, the yard was unusually bright, as if there were no power outage at all.
Secondly, the aroma wafting from inside was incredibly tempting, making those who were already short on food feel almost unbearable.
Compared to their current bleak situation in the cold wind, they felt quite pitiful.
However, their condition was still better than those trapped inside the yard.
Especially their three leaders—one seriously injured, one exhausted, and one lightly injured—none of them were in good shape. They could only find some solace in comparing their situations.
The tall fat man and the short fat man, after restraining the tall skinny man, still couldn't determine if the zombie dog was actually him. Luckily, the zombie dog was also exhausted.
So they decided not to move further, just pressing down on the zombie dog transformed from the tall skinny man, resting quietly.
Given their current state without abilities, it was safer to lie low.
No matter what was causing their hallucinations—plants, humans, or something else—they believed it would eventually run out of energy.
Rather than exhausting themselves and getting severely injured by recklessly moving around, it was better to wait for the enemy's abilities to run out. Then, they could naturally escape.
In their view, making everyone hallucinate must consume a lot of energy, and the enemy could only sustain it until the next morning at most.
So they believed it wouldn't take long to get out of this predicament.
Their thinking wasn't entirely wrong and was indeed the safest approach.
As long as they stayed still, they wouldn't be harmed in the formation. Once the talismans' spiritual energy was depleted, they could escape.
However, this time Xu Nuo was breaking through, and he worried about Park Su's safety alone outside. After all, when he entered the villa, he had detected many ability users with abilities similar to Park Su's.
In case of a conflict, he feared Park Su wouldn't handle so many ability users alone. Therefore, Xu Nuo used fourth-level or higher talismans for this formation.
Once activated, the formation could trap them for at least four to five days, giving Xu Nuo enough time to complete his breakthrough. And those trapped for that long would likely lack the energy to oppose them afterward.
So those three thought they could escape the formation by tomorrow, but that was impossible.
After finishing his dinner, Park Su looked out the window and saw that everyone inside the formation had calmed down. Some were walking in circles, while others were sitting in groups, resting.
It seemed they didn't want to take any more risks. Park Su was amazed at how effective Xu Nuo's formation was. He hadn't even needed to do anything, and these people were already subdued. Truly, Xu Nuo lived up to his reputation.
Given the current situation, Park Su figured that after another day, he could easily handle these people. As for the talismans Xu Nuo had given him, he could keep them for himself.
Feeling pleased, he returned to sit by Xu Nuo's door.
The next morning, as the sun rose, a dense purple aura appeared on the horizon, drawn to Xu Nuo's room.
The spiritual energy emanating from his room was unprecedented. Even Park Su, dozing outside the door, could feel the change.
He opened his eyes, sensing the fluctuations in the surrounding energy, and marveled at the intensity compared to the previous day.
Rushing to the window, he saw the astonished faces of those outside staring at the villa.
Though surprised, they weren't rushing in as they had the day before. Park Su breathed a sigh of relief, realizing the formation's deterrent effect was working.
He returned to Xu Nuo's door, wondering if Xu Nuo had finished his breakthrough, when suddenly, his own dantian began to activate automatically.
Park Su was puzzled. With Xu Nuo in the middle of his breakthrough, he worried about being left unprotected if he also started cultivating.
But as his dantian drew in the surrounding spiritual energy, he felt more alert.
He thought about the people outside, figuring they wouldn't break in anytime soon.
Deciding to absorb some spiritual energy for now, he found he could still keep an eye on things outside while cultivating.
As time passed from dawn to two hours later, the spiritual energy fluctuations in Xu Nuo's room finally settled.
Park Su's eyes lit up. Had Xu Nuo completed his breakthrough?
Just as he was thinking this, the door to Xu Nuo's room opened. Xu Nuo, whom he hadn't seen in five days, stood there, looking no different but clearly more powerful.
Eagerly, Park Su asked, "How did it go? Did you succeed?"
Seeing Park Su's excitement, Xu Nuo smiled, "Yes, I did. But what's going on in the yard? It seems the formation has been activated, and there are quite a few people inside. Are they all here to cause trouble?"
Park Su nodded and said, "Because your breakthrough caused quite a commotion, it attracted the residents here. Three jerks were particularly rude. I didn't go out to confront them, as I wanted to stay here and protect you during your breakthrough. They ended up walking into your formation themselves and look at them now." With that, he pointed out the three jerks from the window.
Xu Nuo glanced at the tall, short, fat, and thin ones, then looked Park Su up and down to confirm he wasn't injured before calmly saying, "Good job, this time you didn't try to play the saint and save everyone."
Park Su, knowing Xu Nuo was teasing him, couldn't help but twitch his mouth, "I've been protecting you all this time. You could at least thank me instead of teasing me."
Xu Nuo raised an eyebrow and replied, "I'm technically your master now. Isn't it your duty to protect me? And you still want credit for it?"
Knowing he couldn't win this argument, Park Su changed the subject, "Alright, alright, it's my duty. I won't ask for credit. So, what do you plan to do with the people outside?"
Seeing Park Su's helpless expression, Xu Nuo stopped teasing him, "Even if we deal with them, let's do it after I've had something to eat. I haven't eaten in days. You didn't even ask what I wanted to eat, just worried about those outside."
Park Su, resigned, asked, "Alright, what do you want to eat?"
Xu Nuo smiled, "Make your specialty. No rush, make a few dishes. I've been hungry for so long, a bit more waiting won't hurt."
Park Su obediently went downstairs to cook, while Xu Nuo, in the hall, secretly expanded his mental power.
Sure enough, after breaking through to the ninth level, his range of mental detection had increased significantly.
Looking at the situation of the three in the yard, he figured they could last another two or three days. Since they came to cause trouble, they should be prepared to suffer.
It was good to show them that not everyone could be messed with.
As for the others, their pleas meant nothing to him. Seeing they hadn't caused trouble, he had no intention of acting against them.
With these thoughts, Xu Nuo extended his mental power further. He had previously sensed many ability users in this villa area.
However, the three strongest were now trapped in the formation. Though these three seemed formidable to Park Su, they were insignificant to Xu Nuo.
The other two seemed to live farther away; Xu Nuo hadn't found them. Since they hadn't provoked him, he didn't want to waste energy on them.
Xu Nuo's ability level was now on par with theirs. His Taoist breakthrough had also advanced his abilities to the peak of the second level, and reaching the third level was just a matter of time.
In fact, if it weren't for his concern about Park Su's situation and sensing that the formation had been activated, he might have absorbed more energy there and even advanced his abilities to the third level.