Lonemoon conjured a seal to send Shortie back to the sect. Then, he followed Yi Qing into the portal. The scene before their eyes hanged. Under the night sky, they saw Shen Ying still sitting quietly on the mat Yi Qing had left her on. She was still hugging her little immortal boat and her eyes brightened when she spotted them.

　　The two of them visibly relaxed and walked over. But before they could fully relax, a foreign male voice sounded.

　　“So this is where she’s hiding.” Suddenly, an overwhelmingly strong force swept past the both of them from behind. They jumped and drew their swords, but they could not do anything to defend themselves against the formidable force. As it swept past them, they fell to the ground and spat out blood.

　　The portal that was closing up suddenly ripped open, as if someone was physically tearing it apart. A man in black robes stepped through it. He looked surprisingly average. He had a wide-set face and average looks – the kind that would help him blend into a crowd of people. The only thing exceptional about him was the frightening aura radiating forth from his body. It was different from the two assistants they had met earlier. It felt like a top-grade kind of aura that nobody would be able to defend themselves against.

　　This was the manager of the foreign plane!

　　“It’s no wonder that I could not find her despite turning the entire small world upside down. Thank you for leading the way – now I know that she’s here.” The man laughed. He was being extremely sarcastic to the both of them.

　　Their hearts sank. They had been way too careless. This man was hiding on purpose. He knew that the two of them would look for Shen Ying – that was why he quietly followed them until he got what he wanted.

　　“Daddy, Mommy…” Baby Ying looked confused. Her young mind could not process what was happening. Upon seeing the two of them fall down to the ground, she immediately got up and tried to walk toward them.

　　“Master! Don’t come over!” Yi Qing shouted.

　　“Little Ying, be good, don’t move,” Lonemoon instructed, his tone slightly panicked.

　　Indeed, Little Ying halted and did not move. BUt the man had already turned to look at her. He broke into an evil grin. “So the manager of your plane…” He narrowed his eyes, as if he was slightly disappointed. A moment later, he continued pointedly, “is so weak! I thought that given the assistants’ powers, the manager would be particularly exceptional. I didn’t expect that she would turn out like this. Could it be… she gave the both of you all her powers?”

　　The man thought that he had figured out the reason and looked at Shen Ying in utter contempt, like she was already a dead girl. “This plane chose someone as simple as her to be its manager. It’s fated to become mine.”

　　As he spoke, he walked toward Shen Ying. With each step he took, the killing intent and frightening aura around him seemed to grow stronger. The divine realm was threatening to fall apart from the pressure that this man was emanating. It began to shake. Even the plane tree in the middle was swaying from side to side. Its leaves were wilting, as if someone or something was sucking all the energy out of it.

　　“Master!” Yi Qing used all the energy left in his body to charge forward and stop the man, but he could do nothing against the formidable force. No matter how hard he tried to get up, he remained pinned to the ground. Faintly, he heard the sound of his internal core breaking into pieces. Master… Master!

　　“Shen Ying…” Lonemoon was beginning to panic. He had no backup plan. Not only was his body in pain, his internal core was being crushed into pieces by this formidable force as well. In a weak manner, he called out, “Run, Shen Ying…”

　　Baby Ying continued to stare blankly at them. She seemed to sense that she was in grave danger. Panic began to rise up in her eyes as she instinctively retreated backward. Yet, she did not know where she could hide. As the stranger got closer and closer, his grin was getting more and more sinister.

　　Within seconds, he was directly in front of her and raising his hand toward her. A while light appeared on his hand. He shot it toward the defenseless Shen Ying. Yi Qing’s eyes widened in shock. A fear like he had never felt before filled him and consumed his entire body. A crazed power rose up inside of him and broke the chains that were holding him down.

　　He heard a ding.

　　Power from an unknown source fought back against that formidable force that had been holding him down. Yi Qing appeared in front of Shen Ying in a blink of an eye. He fended off the attack from the man. But the man was the manager of the foreign plane after all. How could an immortal sword alone stop him? The next moment, he grabbed hold of Yi Qing’s immortal sword and broke it in half. Then, he summoned another white light and pressed down on Yi Qing’s forehead.

　　The white light acted like a blade. The man swiped it down Yi Qing’s shoulder, cutting off his entire arm. Fresh blood spurted out of the gaping hole in his shoulder blade.

　　The man paused, shocked. He did not think that Yi Qing would have been able to stand up due to the force. Lonemoon suddenly appeared behind Yi Qing. He summoned thousands of swords that rained down on the man, forcing him to retreat.

　　“Chef…” He looked worriedly at the one-armed Yi Qing, whose face was now white as a sheet. With a flick of his wrist, Lonemoon sent a thousand swords raining down on the man once again.

　　But not one of them hit the man. Instead, they flew right through him and onto the ground, as if the man was formless.

　　“You’re really no ordinary assistants,” the man said sarcastically as he stared at the both of them icily, as if they were nothing but a couple of chickens struggling on the chopping board. “You could break through my restraints. It looks like you’ve almost unlocked all the powers you could possibly have as assistants. With skills like that… I should probably get rid of you as soon as I can so that you would have no hope of improving any further!”

　　The moment he finished speaking, the man’s expression darkened. He pointed toward Lonemoon and a laser beam appeared, shooting out from his fingertip. Lonemoon had no time to react at all. Instead, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. The next thing he knew, his sword had fallen on the ground, together with his arm. Even the thousands of swords that he had formed up in the sky fell to the ground at once.

　　The manager of the foreign plane curled his finger and spun circles in the air with it. Light that resembled rounds and rounds of rope appeared around each of them, tightening around their bodies to restrain the two men who were now bleeding profusely once more. The man then raised his hand so that the both of them flew up into the air. The light ropes became tighter and tighter still. They felt the pressure around them increase as well.

　　By now, Lonemoon and Yi Qing were both covered in blood. The light ropes were cutting into their skin and cutting deeper and deeper still. They felt like even their souls were getting cut by the ropes around their bodies. Their vision began to blur.

　　Shen Ying had not spoken a word until then. She looked on with her big, frightened eyes. Trembling, she loosened her grip on her little immortal boat, which fell to the ground.

　　“Daddy… Mommy…”

　　She raised both of her hands, attempting to pull them back to the ground. But she did not have enough strength. Instead, all she managed to do was get her own little hands covered in their blood.