Staring at the space Leon was just tied up, Alex blinked a few times…
What… just happened?
Did the slave she would sell just escape right under her nose!?
It hit her all at once.
She thought she had full control of the situation—every move calculated, every angle covered—but in truth, they'd been dancing to the rhythm of a mortal boy's game. Now she didn't even know who he really was. None of them did. Because not a single one of them had bothered to remove the mask.
Why would they? Who in their right mind would think that a mere mortal could escape from a team of Cultivators?
He had used a teleportation artifact? But how!?
Artifacts like that required an immense amount of Qi to activate. Even if the artifact had Qi preloaded inside, anyone using it would still need to be a Cultivator to trigger the release of that energy.
So how…?
Her brain was spinning.
He had a backup plan. That little bastard had planned everything to the last second. But how was that even possible?
Unless… unless he really is a Cultivator… and he tricked us…
But how? By what method?
This was the first time in years that she had encountered a situation that didn't make sense.
Even if he was a Cultivator, how did he mask his cultivation so completely? And why did he seem so weak? His strength wasn't even on par with someone in the first stage of Body Tempering Realm. In fact, he looked like someone who had never even trained their body before.
A sixteen-year-old just played her.
A sixteen-year-old mortal, supposedly.
Just who the hell was this boy!?
She turned to look around. The loud-mouthed Cultivator who had tied Leon up was just as confused as she was—frowning so deeply his eyebrows practically touched.
The mysterious man hadn't even noticed anything yet; still talking to the Baron on his phone.
The two other guards she'd hired for the night? Both stood rooted, stunned.
No one had an answer. No one saw it coming.
Could that boy have been Leon?
The boy had blue eyes. That much she remembered clearly. But they didn't check his face, or his hair. He was masked. His body covered. There was no way to confirm it, no way to tell if her intuition had been spot on—or completely off.
But now she was doubting everything.
Why didn't we just remove the mask back then…?
Well, why would they? The boy was tied. He was a mortal. There was no rush. They could have just dealt with it in the morning, after a night of proper rest.
Now she saw the entire ploy for what it was.
He had revealed the mysterious man's identity at just the right moment—right before they were about to remove the mask. He'd exposed that he was Nux, the son of the Baron and leader of the village, and threw the entire group into chaos.
It bought him time.
That must've been it!
Maybe his artifact had a delayed activation time, and all his words—all his questions—were just a distraction. All of it was a well-executed facade to delay them until the artifact triggered.
And the worst part?
The boy had gotten the pill!
He had it. It was in his pocket when he vanished.
If the news spreads… if people find out I couldn't even catch a damn thief after spending this much money…
No.
She couldn't afford to just stand there and think.
She needed to act.
"Everyone!" she snapped, voice sharp like a whip. "Spread your Spirit Sense! Or Cultivation sense! Whatever talent or domain-type ability you've got—use it! Check if he's turned invisible. If he hasn't teleported but instead stealthed himself, then we still have a chance! One strike is all we need to cancel out that ability!"
It sounded insane, sure, but right now? It was the only shot they had.
A mortal with no Qi couldn't even dream of activating a stealth technique.
But if he wasn't a mortal…
If he was something more…
Then nothing was off the table.
If she ever caught him again, she'd personally make sure he was well-fed and fattened up—just like a prized goose before slaughter. Then she'd sell him for the highest possible price.
He would pay for every coin, every second, every drop of face she lost tonight.
Immediately after her command, everyone sprang into action. Not because they wanted to help her specifically, but because this was no longer just about a stolen pill.
It was about reputation.
About pride.
No Cultivator wanted to be mocked as the fool who let a thief escape from right under their nose.
But unfortunately, none of them had awakened a domain.
That kind of ability was astronomically rare. One in a billion, if even.
All they could do was wait for Nux to finish his phone call with his father—he was the only one with the potential to salvage the situation now.
The others could only resort to blind attacks, flailing spiritual sense and Qi-enhanced strikes through the air. Waiting. Hoping.
Invisible didn't mean untouchable, after all.
If someone was invisible, you could still grab them. Still hit them—if you were lucky.
But if that invisibility was layered with a Qi Concealment Technique?
Then good luck.
If, on top of that, he'd also used the FadedBody Technique, then strikes might pass through his body like wind through mist… unless, of course, the attacker was in a higher realm. Only then would attacks have enough presence to connect and do real damage.
Meanwhile, Nux was finishing his conversation with his father.
"Yes, Father," he said. "I'll finish him off once I'm done with this."
He ended the call with a sigh and turned to look toward where the thief had been, fully expecting to see the boy's identity revealed.
Instead, he saw nothing.
No thief.
No mask.
Not even a shadow.
Nux's face froze.
He looked at Alex.
His eyes said everything.
Where is he!?
Alex didn't answer. She didn't have to.
Her guards were swinging wildly, attacking air. Their faces tight with stress and frustration.
They were searching.
Nux's brows furrowed. He rushed toward her—he had gone far enough during the call that even Cultivators couldn't overhear him, but now that the situation had flipped, he needed answers fast.
He approached. Her eyes met his.
Without missing a beat, she asked him a question that made his jaw twitch in disbelief.
"Can you use a domain?"