Despite the shock of deflecting a rank 2 spell with bare hands, there was no surprise effect to be had. If anything, Liam’s feat had made everyone warier than ever.

So, when the thunderous noises resounded, the three rooting experts from the Guild saw the sprint and braced for impact, even preparing defensive techniques, only for nothing to come at them.

If there was one weakness to the Lightning Step, it was that it required time to build up speed. The delay was in fractions of a second, literally in what Liam needed to kick the ground additional times, but it still left an initial window where cultivators could keep up with him.

The three rooting experts saw where Liam went. Their eyes snapped to the wall to their right before they lost track of his figure. They could only see the thunderous explosions that kept unfolding, as well as what he added to them.

Taking control of the playing field was one of the most basic rules of hunting and combat. Moreover, Liam had given his warning already, meaning he couldn’t let anyone escape anymore.

The walls around the training area might be vertical, but they weren’t smooth. They had plenty of small footholds, be it from hooks where weapons hung, windows, and more, which Liam could use to defy gravity with ease.

Liam soon chained ten Lightning Steps, achieving speed unmatched in the rooting stage. He could actually do far more, but his feet were already bleeding. His strategy also required a modicum of precision, and there was a limit to what his arms could keep up with.

The thunderous explosions only unfolded on the walls. Liam was running in a circle over them, the wisps of black Qi lingering in the holes his speed bursts created, marking his passage. However, yellow clouds soon washed over them.

Whenever Liam saw an opening, he threw a Poisonous Cloud Pill. The building still had many cultivators inside, so he had to draw them out, block their escape routes, or directly kill them.

Liam even circled the walls multiple times, exploiting the very holes his martial art was digging for the same purpose. It didn’t take long before those surfaces had yellow smoke leaking all over them, as if bleeding.

Screams resounded throughout the process. Some cultivators were quick enough to jump into the training area to escape the deadly smoke, while others suffered from a very different fate, their painful cries perfectly describing it.

Actually, not all those who jumped were safe. Some had been one step too slow, inhaling the smoke, which kept doing its grim job once they landed on the training ground.

The bald, scarred, middle-aged man and everyone else could only watch as bodies fell around them, screaming before crashing on the ground, their skin caving in, their flesh melting, gory holes opening on their faces.

Also, there was no safety to be found on the training ground because the black stain was still expanding, releasing more of those yellow fumes. With the same poison blowing from the walls, the remaining group was basically trapped, but not completely powerless.

The home advantage had to amount to something after all.

"Activate the formation!" The scarred middle-aged man cried, and two rooting experts fell to their knees, pressing their palms on the ground, intricate white symbols brightening on the backs of their hands.

A series of concentric circles made from intricate white symbols lit up on the ground and walls, only failing to cover the area the Master’s Pride had tainted, and Liam’s nape tingled.

Liam had perceived that unnatural trait even before entering the building. It was impossible for him not to sense it, and that superhuman ability had only improved as he had grown through the rooting stage.

It was why Liam had been confident about Lady Jessica’s absence. He knew his mind would have reacted to her, no matter how well she hid. Even if he couldn’t explain it, he would have experienced a revealing, instinctive fear.

Something similar happened with less intensity now. Of the three noble arts, Liam knew formations the least. He had always avoided messing with them, but he finally witnessed what they could do, and everything about his perception told him to be wary.

Chunks of the brownish ground turned liquid as they rose without anything cracking. Thick tentacles of soil emerged from the training area, stretching beyond what their texture deemed possible.

The same applied to the very walls Liam was running over. The wood twisted without shattering, giving birth to additional tentacles, which stretched for several meters before snapping at him.

Liam kept running, bringing his speed up a notch. He chained an eleventh Lightning Step, pushing his body, enhanced by the pill, to the very limit of its structural integrity.

Theoretically, the job was done. Yellow smoke was still blowing from the walls, and the Master’s Pride would continue to expand until everything transformed into a swamp of Liam’s creation.

There was no need for Liam to do anything else, so he could forsake precision and buy time, but the huge tentacles didn’t let him.

Liam had to abandon the very notion of thinking. He had no room for such time-consuming practices. His perception said as much.

Pressure, sound, and more assaulted every corner of Liam’s brain, drawing pictures he had no time to study. He could only let his subconscious guide him to hope to match what was coming, hopes that shattered soon enough.

A tentacle slammed right in front of Liam, causing no destruction, instead merging with the wall. Yet, he had already swerved down, ricocheting around it.

Another tentacle crashed behind Liam, creating ripples rather than explosions. The wall under his feet rose as if waves were spreading, but a thunderous noise had already escaped his bleeding, groaning feet, pushing him out of its area of effect.

Three tentacles converged on Liam from different directions, two above and one below. They caught him right after his speed burst, but he had enough time to kick the wall again, only for his instincts to reject the idea.

Liam felt danger in front of him, so he sent himself at the tentacle coming from below.

There, Liam sensed that it was game over. He had planned to run along the tentacle, only for protuberances to sprout from it as if they were roots of a tree. He left behind several of those, but many more stood in front of him, and they weren’t alone.

The other tentacles hadn’t just disappeared. They had created a maze above the training area, connecting ground and walls, and they all sprouted additional protuberances that had already converged toward Liam.

There was no way out. Liam could only watch as several tentacles slammed into his figure.