Every cultivator within the range of the Celestial Peak experienced a form of suppression, and some outright passed out from it. They foamed at their mouth.
These floating palaces belonged to the 13 powerhouses that ruled the Human Realm.
Because of the pressure these palaces brought, A Golden Roc, almost two times the size of the floating palaces, appeared from the void and used its aura to protect its race's juniors.
Two others from the myriad races, with similar auras, also appeared from the void and protected their juniors from the pressure coming from these palaces.
As though the ones imposing this pressure on the crowd saw no need for their suppression, the pressure vanished, and from one of the palaces, a woman emerged.
She walked out of the palace and into the air, as if she were walking on ground.
Every step she took made no sound; however, everyone below seemed to have heard her footsteps.
Her figure attracted the gaze of everyone, making them feel like they had never gazed at beauty in their entire lives.
This woman wore a white gown, letting her pristine brown hair flow down to her waist.
Her fair skin seemed to reflect the moonlight.
And her eyes!
That was the best of all her features. Her eyes carried a certain, colorless glow in them that compelled one to look.
"Don't stare into her eyes. Your soul might fracture!" Belan quickly transmitted to the young men. "That's a mighty one from the Ocularis Bloodline. The Eye Bloodline, one of the two great descendants." He warned.
Luan could already tell from the moment he set his eyes on her that she was dangerous. In fact, out of everyone he had met, this life and in Sorja, this person is the only one who had made his sixth sense's bell ring this fiercely.
Absolute danger, different from physical infliction, was almost soul-rendering.
Moreover, it also felt as if the crystal pearl moved too.
As if everyone received a warning, people started to turn their gaze. Some people had to vomit blood before their heads listened and turned elsewhere.
Some people from the crowd who had failed to withdraw their gazes and stared into this woman's eyes fell to their knees, gripping their heads before passing out.
The cause of this commotion looked below without any emotions in her gaze, as if to say, those who had stared at her too long had paid the price.
It was a look no different from how one would look at trash.
Behind her, from the floating palace, emerged 90 cultivators, most of them being at the peak of the Purple Mansion realm, and the rest, peak of the Foundation Building realm.
Unlike the enchanting woman, these people didn't walk on the air, but they flew and stopped behind the woman.
All of them had glowing, enchanting eyes, and to an extent, they were all beyond the average of attractiveness.
"Hmph!" A sound came from the void, and although it sounded soft, its effect on the surroundings was no different from a sonic boom.
The wind grew rampant as a gigantic palm descended from the night clouds, heading for the giant Golden Roc by the corner. This palm wasn't made of qi or any form of energy; it was the real thing.
A real human hand of inevitability, so huge that one would think it could pluck the moon from the sky. It blotted out the sky above the Golden Roc.
"You Titan scum! You dare!" The Golden Roc, who had been protecting his juniors from the pressure coming from the floating palaces, screeched at the sight of this palm.
Over its beak, golden particles of light converged in the thousands, forming a golden ball of light as big as the palm that was descending, in mere seconds. It shone under the night sky, lighting hundreds of kilometers with its light, like a miniature sun.
It all happened so fast that no one standing on the base of Celestial Peak could properly follow what was happening. The ball of light shot at the palm, crossing the distance in a split second.
Boom!
Intense light and palm collided, the collision was silent for a heartbeat, followed by a terrifying vacuum of sound, before sending out a force so powerful that it could kill everyone below the palaces.
The shockwaves exploded into a whirlwind of light and destructive force, about to raze the entire area to bedrock.
Just before the energy shockwaves from the collision could spread, a bronze bell appeared in the void, absorbing the force and vanishing the moment it was done.
"This is still the Darke Empire. How dare the two of you dare to harm its subjects in front of us!?" A man, dressed in blue robes adorned with gold embroidery of dragons soaring the clouds, stepped out of the floating palace belonging to the floating palace of the Darke Empire.
It wasn't that the man cared about his people that much; rather, he cared more for the face of the empire. He couldn't allow the guests to run rampant in his home.
The people of the Darke Empire bowed when they saw who it was. "We, the subjects of his majesty, greet the Royal Inspector General!"
Their voices echoed through the mountain range.
Subsequently, people began emerging from the other floating palaces.
They all subtly displayed their strength, either in aura or uniqueness; regardless, it made the crowd very aware of how lacking they were when compared to these hegemons.
Even Luan's confidence in his strength seemed to flicker. This was the effect of the psychological pressure they had been exerting.
Out of all of them, the group that caught Luan's eyes the most was a group of swordsmen, openly revealing their sword qi and letting it envelope their figures.
The sword qi he felt from all of them caught his interest.
Luan couldn't describe it, but they gave off the feeling that they were invisible and beyond reach, like the sky.
A flicker of doubt wormed into Luan's heart. This feeling was unwelcome as it reminded him of days in the past, in Sorja, where he despised himself for being weak
And yet, he couldn't help but feel this way.
Even at his peak in Sorja, he couldn't replicate the type of destructive force that he just witnessed.
In the face of such hegemons, what was his two thousand years of experience?
But as his gaze continued to follow the swordsmen of the Sky Sword sect, seeing their unshakable confidence, the doubt in his heart burned away.
Replaced by a burning clarity.
Let it be.
Luan seemed to have gained more insights into this phrase that awakened his sword qi.
The Sky Sword Sect… they are indeed a hegemon of the Human Realm. For what it is worth, I owe you guys one favor.
Luan smiled as he registered this in his heart.
Even if they didn't help him directly or on purpose, it didn't change the fact that they had helped him.