"???"
Qin Yi was bewildered.
He was from Haicheng, so why was the other party disappointed? Were they some kind of regional bigot who discriminated against people from Haicheng?
Sensing Qin Yi's expression, the woman in white didn't explain. She said, "If you have nothing else, please leave!"
"I hope Mr. Qin won't tell anyone about what happened here after you leave!"
"Don't worry, I won't!" Qin Yi promised.
He wasn't a gossip. Moreover, the woman in white had been completely upfront with him, even showing him the core of the spirit gathering formation without any reservation. Given her honesty, how could he betray her?
However, Qin Yi didn't get up to leave. He sat down cross-legged on the cushion.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man immediately shooed him away, "You can go now!"
Qin Yi still showed no intention of leaving. He simply stood up, walked around the room, and carefully observed the house, both inside and out.
Then, under the puzzled and impatient gazes of the woman in white and the middle-aged man, he stopped and said, "Your spirit gathering formation isn't very well set up. If you give me that bead, I can set up a formation that's several times better than this one!"
"!!!"
"..."
The woman in white and the middle-aged man exchanged a look of astonishment. The woman in white asked, "You know how to set up spirit gathering formations?"
Qin Yi nodded. "Yes."
As long as he had the materials for the core, he could not only set up a spirit gathering formation but also many other formations.
"That's utter nonsense!" the middle-aged man retorted.
It was clear that he didn't believe Qin Yi at all and thought Qin Yi was boasting.
After all, the art of formations was profound and complex, requiring decades of cultivation and exploration for any formation master to achieve something!
For a young man like Qin Yi, who wasn't even thirty, to claim he could set up a spirit gathering formation, and a better one than theirs, struck the middle-aged man as incredibly ridiculous and absurd.
Moreover, others might not know who set up the spirit gathering formation in this house, but the middle-aged man knew very well that it was their Wu family patriarch, the foremost formation master of Taiwan Island.
Was Qin Yi claiming to be even more skilled than their patriarch? That was a joke!
The woman in white's attitude towards Qin Yi also began to change. Her tone became cold, "Please leave quickly. We have other matters to attend to and cannot entertain you further!"
Sensing their change in attitude, Qin Yi spread his hands and had no choice but to bid farewell.
Although, in his heart, he still felt a bit regretful. He thought they were wasting precious resources, using such a good bead as the core for their spirit gathering formation, which was of such poor quality.
But if they didn't believe him, there was nothing he could do.
Qin Yi went downstairs and left. The woman in white and the middle-aged man stood on the balcony of the second floor, watching his receding figure.
"Miss, why did you let him in? And even show him the spirit bead!"
The middle-aged man was very displeased with Qin Yi and complained, "That guy talks nonsense. He doesn't look reliable at all! Claiming to set up spirit gathering formations, what does he think formations are, something anyone can do?"
"At first, I thought he was also a formation master when he spoke about the spirit gathering formation so readily. That's why I asked you to let him in!" the woman in white shook her head, disappointed. "I was mistaken!"
With that, she turned and went back inside, sat cross-legged on the cushion, and closed her eyes to meditate.
The middle-aged man stood guard outside, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
Although the middle-aged man was constantly observing the situation around them, soon, several figures approached the house.
They moved with incredible speed, making not a sound as they neared the house, so much so that the middle-aged man didn't detect them beforehand.
By the time the middle-aged man noticed them, the figures were already close to the house and had leaped onto the second floor.
"Miss, be careful..."
Qin Yi emerged from the house, thinking about his upcoming plans. After he and Han Xin finished their tour of Taiwan Island, should he continue searching for other places with rich spiritual energy on Taiwan Island, or should he come back later to discuss with the woman in white?
He wanted to ask her to agree to let him cultivate in the house or nearby for a period.
With the spirit gathering formation here, the spiritual energy from all directions would be continuously drawn in. If he practiced here, his strength would increase much faster!
"Miss, run!"
As Qin Yi was contemplating, he suddenly heard the middle-aged man's shout.
Qin Yi stopped his thoughts, turned around reflexively, and looked back towards the house.
"Ah..."
The next second, he heard the middle-aged man's scream. Qin Yi's gaze sharpened. Without hesitation, he sprinted back towards the house.
Moments later, when he was still a few hundred meters away from the house, he saw the woman in white fleeing rapidly towards him.
However, before the woman in white could escape far, someone caught up and struck her back with a palm.
The woman in white was immediately sent flying high into the air. She coughed up a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground not far in front of him.
Qin Yi was shocked. He rushed over and found the woman in white lying on the ground, unconscious.
She was tightly clutching the wooden box containing the spirit bead in her right hand. The wooden box had been knocked open, and the bead had rolled out.
Qin Yi quickly checked the woman in white and found that she was only injured and unconscious, not in life-threatening danger. He breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Just as he was putting the bead back into the wooden box and preparing to pick it up, several figures rushed over and surrounded him.
All the figures were masked with black cloth, making their faces indistinguishable.
A masked man, the one who had struck the woman in white earlier, stepped forward and demanded, "Give me the box in your hand!"
Qin Yi scanned the figures and, instead of handing over the wooden box, put it into his chest.
Seeing this, the masked man's eyes, visible behind the mask, suddenly flashed with killing intent. "You're courting death!"
Immediately after, without any further words, he raised his palm and struck towards Qin Yi.
*Snap.*
As fist met palm, the masked man was sent flying back like a kite with a broken string.
He flew dozens of meters before crashing to the ground.
The force was so great that he even created a large pit in the ground.
"!!!"
The other masked men, witnessing this scene, visibly shuddered.
Instantly, they dared not engage Qin Yi and turned to flee.
Before long, they had vanished. The masked man who was sent flying by Qin Yi was also carried away by two of them.
They hadn't abandoned their comrade!
Qin Yi didn't pursue them. He re-examined the woman in white's injuries and, confirming she wouldn't wake up anytime soon, picked her up and carried her towards the house.
He carried the woman in white back into the house and found the middle-aged man lying in front of the door, surrounded by blood.