Chapter 581: Unexpected Circumstances

When Ye Feng and his seven companions reappeared before Sherlock, he was utterly shocked. He could clearly sense that almost all of them were on a similar level of cultivation as himself, while as for Long Tian and Ye Feng, he simply couldn’t figure them out.
Under normal circumstances, those who reached the Star level had the right to challenge the rulers of the sacred lands. If they succeeded, they could replace them as rulers and receive rewards such as the essence of the sacred realm.
In fact, among the rulers of the seven sacred lands, three were only at the early Star level, two were at the mid-Star level, and Sherlock himself was at the late Star level. The ruler of the First Sacred Land, however, was at the peak of the Star level.
Ye Feng and his eight companions had originally only been strong at the Starlight level, but now they appeared before him with Star level cultivation, which made him secretly rejoice—was it as if heaven itself was on his side? After all, only the First Sacred Land had one ruler at the early Star level, while he had eight.
Three days passed quickly. When Sherlock arrived at the arena of the First Sacred City with Ye Feng and the others, the expressions of the other six rulers became strange. Although Ye Feng’s cultivation level was undetectable, and Long Tian’s was higher than theirs (also undetectable), even at the same level, one could sense it without investigation. Especially Shi Tuo’s fierce aura made those rulers feel deeply wary.
Among these rulers, aside from Sherlock, Ye Feng and his group only recognized Urbeka, who had previously visited the Fifth Sacred Land. They nodded at her as a greeting.
Her expression showed confusion and surprise, rather than the bitterness seen on the other rulers’ faces. She had seen Ye Feng and the others before, though not often, and had long recognized their strength. But the Ye Feng and group appearing now were completely different from what she had seen before. This puzzled her, though more so, it surprised her, as this was something she had never expected. However, it seemed she didn’t care about the outcome of this competition, so she didn’t show bitterness like the other rulers.
“Sherlock, these guys are almost as strong as you, right? Where did you find them?” Brooke, the ruler of the First Sacred Land, whispered to Sherlock.
“Well… it’s a secret…” Sherlock turned toward Brooke’s direction and raised his glass in his hand.

Ye Feng scanned the crowd. After pausing briefly on a few unfamiliar figures, he sent a message to Long Tian, “Those guys with cultivation beyond the Star level must have come from above, right?”
“That’s right. The weakest one also has Nebula-level cultivation,” Long Tian replied quickly. “The strongest one is beyond my detection range; I guess they’re at the Sea of Stars level. It seems we need to be even more careful during the competition.”
“I understand!” Ye Feng hadn’t expected that even those at the Sea of Stars level would be here.
Just then, five people suddenly appeared in front of Long Tian, surrounding him. Ye Feng saw this as well and swiftly appeared beside Long Tian.
“What do you want?” Ye Feng glared coldly at the five of them.
“Nothing, just doing our duty!” One of them gave Ye Feng a cold glance. “Strangers, step aside!”
“Can those who come from the main plane act so unreasonably?” Ye Feng grew angry too.
“Get lost!” The man reached out to attack Ye Feng, but was stopped by a stick.
“If you want to fight our boss, you have to pass through me first,” Shi Tuo said with fighting spirit.
Xiao Yu, Xiao Bei, and the others also stood in front of Ye Feng and Long Tian, watching the five with wariness.
“Aliens—everyone must be punished! You’ll all die today!” The man blocked by Shi Tuo glared coldly at Shi Tuo and Ye Feng and the others behind him.
“Why do you call us aliens?” Ye Feng frowned slightly. It turned out they weren’t targeting Long Tian but mistook him for an alien.
“The spiritual energy strength in this plane is only enough for people to reach the peak of the Star level. To reach the Nebula level, one can only do so in the main plane.” The man glanced at Ye Feng disdainfully. “You don’t even know such basic knowledge of the Sacred Realm. How dare you claim you’re not aliens?”
“What you can’t do doesn’t mean others can’t!” Ye Feng knew it was impossible to explain. Time-accelerating spiritual treasures would definitely cause a huge stir in lower-level main planes. Not to mention peak virtual treasures like the Absolute Martial Ark, which could adjust both time and spiritual energy levels—such things would only attract even more envy.
“If you’re not aliens, you can rest assured and let us tie you up and take you back for tests.” Another strongman, seemingly the leader, seemed unwilling to listen to Ye Feng and the others’ excuses anymore.

As soon as he spoke, Long Tian’s expression changed slightly. This was the person who posed the greatest threat to him—this guy was likely a mid-stage Star Sea-level warrior.
“Let you guys tie us up? Do you think we’re fools? Even if the final test shows we’re not aliens, you’ll still refuse to admit you’ve captured the wrong people. In that case, the only outcome will be killing us to cover up the mistake, and you can simply claim these people are aliens.” Ye Feng knew exactly how these guys operated—they would never admit they’d made a mistake. Even if they really had, they would rather kill by mistake than let someone go. If he and the others surrendered, their fate would likely be death.
“That’s slander!” Another person pointed at Ye Feng and said coldly.
“Whether it’s slander or not, you know best.” Ye Feng knew there was no way to resolve this peacefully anymore. It was better to go all out. “If you want to capture us, show some real strength!”
“Everyone, calm down! It’s a misunderstanding!” Sherlock stepped between the two groups. He looked at the Star Sea-level warrior who had been acting arrogantly. “My lord, these people are indeed ordinary human warriors with normal identities.”
“Sherlock, this isn’t your concern! Your duty is to manage the Fifth Holy Land; leave the rest to us.” The man’s expression grew even angrier.
“Sherlock, thank you, but there’s no way to resolve this peacefully anymore.” Ye Feng gave a cold glance at the Star Sea-level warrior. “It’s time to settle things with fists. Whoever has the stronger fists will have the right argument.”
“This…” Sherlock’s face twisted in frustration. He had originally come to Ye Feng and the others to ask them to help in the Holy Land rankings tournament. But before the competition even started, his team members already got into a fight with the envoys from the upper realms…