The key towards finding out the truth was Ding Feng. Surprisingly, at his own party, everyone but him got knocked out, and he wasn't present at the time the police arrived. Lao Bing knew that he definitely knew something.
...
Yi and Yan Yuiling, heading to a nearby restaurant to eat and discuss their next steps, didn't talk.
Yi first thought that Yan Yuiling wasn't in the mood because of her loss, but looking at her face, it wasn't a face of sadness or even anger.
Instead she smiled, seemingly not bothered by what happened. Not something Yi expected, but not trying to read too much into it, he just thought, Good, as long as she is happy, I don't mind.
Thinking about that, he sat back until suddenly, while driving across a smaller street, a luxurious car hit Yan Yuilings from the side.
Yi obviously was quick to react and directly shielded her from any harm, yet after getting out, Yan Yuiling's car was not usable anymore.
On the other side, the luxurious car fared much better, with only a few frontal damages, but nothing that would affect the car's functionality.
A young woman came out of the car, accompanied by a bodyguard, surprisingly wearing robes.
"What did you do to my car, you idiots?" The young woman began to shout after seeing the minor damages on her car. She was furious, since the car was a present from her older brother, whom she loved a lot.
"Hey, you are at fault. I had the right of way, while you just drove into me," Yan Yuiling countered. She was in the right here.
"You dare to say I was wrong?" The young woman looked at Yan Yuiling's crashed car. "I see, you are poor, and you don't want to pay for the damages. I will be gracious with you. Just give out your bank account number. I will take everything you have, and you won't be in debt. Deal?"
"No, I will not pay for your car. You are at fault," Yan Yuiling tried to stay patient, but the number of delusional people she had to deal with started to get too high for her comfort.
"You still dare to say it was my mistake. That's enough..."
Soundly, she and her bodyguards just froze on the spot. They didn't move a muscle, and Yan Yuiling looked at Yi with a puzzled expression.
Yet Yi didn't look like usual; he looked somewhat excited and quickly turned to Yan Yuiling. "Stay here; I will be back soon," then he vanished from his spot.
He appeared, standing in the air, roughly about a mile above ground. In front of him, also flying in the air, stood an old man and a young woman with red robes.
They looked confused, yet mighty and overbearing. Yi didn't know who they were, but they were the first real cultivators he had seen in this world. "Who are you?" he simply asked.
The old man, quickly probing Yi, surprisingly without a result, quickly answered. "My name is Xiao Li, head of the Xiao clan. Esteemed traveler, do you know the Xiao clan, or what this place is?" he asked.
It was weird; this place was completely different from his home.
"The Xiao clan?" Yi thought for a bit. "The Xiao clan! You are from the Xiao clan by the mountain of the mountain lord?" he asked in surprise.
"Yes, I am Xiao Li, and this is my granddaughter Xiao Lao. We were looking for the esteemed mountain lord but ended up in this place," he explained.
"Well, I guess you found him," Yi simply said. A lot of questions raged in his head, but he could ask them later.
"You? Are you truly the mountain lord?" Xiao Li said in shock while bowing.
Meanwhile, Xiao Lao, looking at the shocked look on her grandfather's face and unable to discern the strength of the man in front of her, mimicked the gesture of her grandfather. "I greet the lord of the mountain. The safe haven of the nine clans," she said in awe.
Yi, seeing that they believed him, spoke up, "No need to bow in front of me. You can call me Yi for the time being. For now, follow me and try to hide your powers. Understood?"
Xiao Li and Xiao Lao, although not knowing anything, simply spoke in unison, "Understood, esteemed Yi," and "esteemed mountain lord."
"Grandfather, how dare you defy Yi by calling him mountain lord?" Xiao Lao said in shock.
"I'm sorry, esteemed Yi," the grandfather quickly corrected himself.
"It's fine, for now follow me and don't forget to hide your cultivation," Yi said. These people were quite weird.
Yi quickly arrived in front of Yan Yuiling again, with Xiao Li and Xiao Lao closely behind him.
"Who are they?" Yan Yuiling quickly asked.
"Don't mind them; they will follow us for now," Yi said and unfroze the young woman and her guards.
"gh. You don't know who I am, and you don't want to find out. Confess your mistake, or I will make you," the young woman spat out, totally oblivious to the fact that she was just frozen for a few minutes.
Yan Yuiling looked at her surprised but then continued to argue. "I would confess if I made a mistake, but I won't take accountability for something that wasn't my fault."
"Alright, you dare to disrespect my Luan family. I will show you why you can't mess with me."
She inhaled and exhaled a few times, then took a martial arts stance before coating her hand with some aura. She had trained ever since she was little and was confident in even beating up the heavyweight boxing champion.
She ran towards Yan Yuiling, determined to knock her out with one swift chop, but sadly Yi intervened and caught her hand.
"Young lady!" The bodyguards shouted in surprise and ran towards Yi at a speed beyond humanly possible.
"Let go of the young lady now, or this will be your deathbed!" one of them warned.
But suddenly, they stopped. They didn't stop because someone forced them to but because of something else entirely.
An aura with killing intent, an aura full of malice and dread, an aura that could not be ignored and was never felt before by any of them, looming over them and the young woman.
They looked for the source, and finally, after looking at Yan Yuiling, feeling nothing, Yi, feeling nothing, and even the old man that seemingly just arrived, they felt nothing coming from him. No shred of aura or cultivation discernible.
But the girl next to them, Xiao Lao, the source of the aura, made them hesitant to even breathe.