Death... and me

While Kentucky and the others were in the process of leaving, Papola felt like she was being played with. With that said, she immediately acted, preparing to take the twins' group down. However, Yuan's hand suddenly touched her shoulder, stopping her from taking action. As mentioned before, the top ten powers weren't exactly friends or anything like that, so she obviously looked at Yuan with a dark expression, asking him, "What the hell are you doing?"

Yuan shook his head and took his hand off her shoulders. Though, surprisingly, he gave Papola a warning, telling her, "Something seems fishy. If I were you, I wouldn't attack them now." After that, Yuan turned around and made his way back to his group. He was just waiting for the second group of his Lanqueas Sect to arrive before they left for the third level. Especially because they had a huge lead compared to the rest. Also, he absolutely didn't want to touch the twins at any cost right now. "However, I won't stop you after this. If you decide to ignore what I said, then so be it." Little did Xintari and Papola notice, but Yuan was letting out cold sweat under his clothes, doing his best to keep his fear in check.

Xintari pondered over Yuan's words for a bit as he looked at the twins' group flying away. Even though the twins' group was taking the lead, it wasn't a problem since the majority were still inside. He then shook his head and went back to where the Croste Clan's disciples were. Somehow, he also felt that something wasn't right. That's not how a group of weak cultivators should act in front of powerful elders like them. "We might just be overthinking it. However, I would do what Yuan said, Papola. At the very least, wait for more members to gather. If they want to be selected, they'll need to come to the Star Altar as well."

Papola gritted her teeth in response and felt very unwilling to simply let the twins disappear into the distance. Nevertheless, seeing Yuan and Xintari's reaction, she decided to not do anything. "Hmph! I still think we're being played for fools." With that, she also returned to her group.

When the twins finally disappeared, Yuan let out a huge sigh of relief. "Holy shit! That was so fucking close! We truly escaped a calamity just now."

"What?!" Xintari and Papola were taken aback to hear that. "What are you talking about?"

However, Yuan's expression turned dark as he quickly berated them. "Idiots! Just because they looked like some weak cultivators, you totally ignored the spatial readings coming from them. What kind of Void Tempering Realm elders are you? Did you really not see the enormous black hole coming from that lizard on the guy's shoulder? It was an ancient beast, for fuck's sake! On top of that, it's several times stronger than any of us!"

Xintari and Papola were left aghast when they heard that. As mentioned before, cultivators at the Void Tempering Realm and above could easily feel each other's presence. That's because the spatial laws around such cultivators were warped due to their spatial powers. It's as if a black spot appeared on a piece of pristine white paper. One had to be blind to not see it. The higher one's realm, the bigger that spot became.

However, they truly ignored that point when they saw the twins' group appear. It was just a bunch of young cultivators, after all. "Ancient beast?! Are you sure about that?!"

Yuan felt like he was talking to two idiots. "You two really are lost causes. The moment that young man didn't show any concern towards us should have been enough of a reason for you two to think that something wasn't right. Why did you ignore your own natural spatial detection ability? Do you think I'd get something like this wrong? Would you get it wrong?"

Xintari and Papola immediately shook their heads in response. Indeed, there was no way one could get it wrong when they used the natural spatial detection ability bestowed upon them at the Void Tempering Realm. "But... how did they get an ancient beast to help them? I've never heard of such a thing in my life. Are you sure that wasn't some other demon beast they brought from outside?"

Yuan shook his head, telling them, "I don't care how they did it. I'm absolutely not going after them to ask. However, I do know which ancient beast that one was. It was a Star Armored Salamander. It's just that this was the first time I saw one that small."

Xintari shook his head, clarifying, "After a certain level of cultivation, demon beasts can shrink the size of their bodies. You should know that already. It's just that we never found an ancient beast who did that. They were always the same size. Now we found out they can also do it."

Papola's anger completely disappeared now, feeling lucky that she didn't try anything. In the end, the top ten powers were so used to these Lost Star Selection events that they had become complacent. It was a good thing Yuan stopped her. "Th-Thank you... Yuan."

"Hmph!" Yuan didn't seem to care, though. "I wasn't helping you. I was just afraid that if you attacked, that beast might have thought I was with you. I can't let the disciples from my Lanqueas Sect die just because of a wrong move you did."

A few moments later, another group exited the second level. They just so happened to use the same clothes and badges from the Lanqueas Sect. Soon after, the elder within that group came to talk with Yuan, telling him, "Sure enough, your Phoenix Pool was a lot closer to the exit this time, huh?" The Lanqueas Sect's Marks had the form of a phoenix on their foreheads.

Yuan completely ignored that remark before using his Divine Sense to explain what happened. Naturally, his companion was alarmed to hear that. "Are you absolutely sure?"

Yuan nodded, saying, "Yes." Soon after, the two elders prepared to leave as they warned their disciples. "I hope you all remember their faces. DO NOT try to cause trouble for them. We will discuss it with our sect once we leave the Lost Star Realm."

"Yes, elders."

They also added one more thing. "Also, don't tell the other powers about it. We have no reason to help them."