There are usually two circumstances under which one can be immune to the opponent's mental attacks.
First, one's own mental strength far surpasses that of the opponent.
Although Ye Fan had accumulated nearly a million years of mental strength in total, and had stood at the pinnacle of the world in many lifetimes, a million years is not a particularly long time for cultivators or immortals.
Theoretically, individuals with mental strength superior to his did exist.
After all, he had not specifically cultivated mental energy-related techniques before; it had all accumulated and grown automatically with his cultivation.
If this were the case, then the source causing these things to mutate would undoubtedly be a terrifying existence.
The second circumstance is that the thing itself is immune to all mental attacks and pressures.
Such anomalous existences indeed existed, and Ye Fan had encountered many of them before.
But if that were the case...
As he thought of this, various images flashed through Ye Fan's mind.
Each one was more troublesome than the last.
And the supremely troublesome kind!
This was utterly bizarre!
How could his sect be involved with these things!
The original Purple Cloud True Person, capable of sealing these things underground, must have possessed extremely formidable strength.
This fellow...
Could it be a powerful figure from the Immortal or Divine Realm playing a side account?
Time ticked by.
These fellows seemed to have some strength.
After about two hours, they finally subdued this demonic beast.
The cost was three lives lost and five injured.
Watching their leader store the corpse of Hu Mang in a ring, a hint of regret flashed through Ye Fan's mind.
This was his first time seeing a Hu Mang, and he wondered what it tasted like...
After the arrangements were complete, the group walked towards Ye Fan and his companions.
They stopped when they were about ten zhang away.
Ten zhang was an unwritten rule among cultivators.
Although this distance did not hinder either side from attacking, it signified that the opponent had no immediate intention of engaging.
Neither group spoke, and they scrutinized each other.
After a while, the leader of the opposing group frowned slightly.
In fact, when he first saw Ye Fan and his group, he had already conducted a preliminary assessment.
The cultivation of the four individuals on the other side was truly unremarkable.
The woman with the highest cultivation was merely in the Nascent Soul stage.
The two old men, one in the Core Formation stage and the other in the Golden Core stage, were even less noteworthy.
Whether Nascent Soul or Golden Core, to a mighty expert like himself in the Integration stage, they were no different from ants.
If he willed it, eradicating them would be a mere thought.
As for the young man remaining...
Looking him up and down, he appeared to be an ordinary mortal with no cultivation...
If they had encountered him elsewhere, it would have been understandable. It was common in the cultivation world for a senior to bring a junior out to broaden their horizons.
But what place was this?!
Not to mention the heavy losses they had already sustained in finding this place.
Just the guardian beast at the main entrance had cost them a master at the seventh level of the Integration stage!
They had only five elders in the Integration stage in total, and the loss of one would be a source of pain for a long time...
Most importantly, where did these people come from?
They had not seen anyone else appear throughout the entire process, from battling the guardian beast at the gate to the appearance of the small world's entrance.
Had these fellows simply sprung into existence?
Of course.
The most direct reason he hadn't acted was the strength of Ye Fan and his group.
Putting aside how Ye Fan and his companions had entered, the dangers within this dead town were far beyond what they could handle.
They had encountered more than ten battles since entering, and the cultivation of every demonic beast had not been below the Integration stage!
With the highest cultivation among Ye Fan's group being Nascent Soul, it was clearly impossible for them to cope!
Furthermore, when they were fighting earlier, these individuals had shown no signs of distress.
Even though they had won, the peril involved was unimaginable to outsiders!
The strength of Hu Mang was secondary.
What truly gave them trouble was the demonic energy and pressure emanating from Hu Mang earlier.
That pressure was clearly higher than Hu Mang's actual level, and it also contained something peculiar.
While it did not affect their use of true qi, it caused confusion in their minds.
Their heads buzzed, making it impossible to concentrate on the fight!
If not for that, their losses would not have been so severe!
And it wasn't just Hu Mang; all the demonic beasts they had encountered before were like this!
Their strength clearly surpassed what it should have been.
The peculiar substance mixed in the demonic energy.
It was as if these creatures had all mutated collectively...
Mutations in demonic beasts were rare occurrences.
Some cultivators might never encounter a mutated demonic beast in their entire lives, which speaks to their rarity.
But the demonic beasts here seemed to have collectively taken performance-enhancing drugs...
While he was pondering these matters, the two elders spoke.
"Strange, why is he staring at us?" the Second Elder whispered.
"Have we been discovered?" Master Xie Yan asked, full of doubt. "But that shouldn't be the case. Our disguise is absolutely perfect; he shouldn't be able to see through it!"
At these words, Ye Fan's mouth twitched...
It was obvious they had been spotted, hadn't they?
Did the two elders really think the others were staring at thin air and contemplating life?
Of course.
Ye Fan was too lazy to argue with the two elders about such matters.
After all, discussing such things with two mental energy powerhouses was simply asking for trouble...
The sect leader on the opposite side also felt his eyebrows twitch slightly...
He hadn't thought much of the current actions of these two "weeds" – oh, no, these two elders – before.
After all, there were all sorts of people in a large forest.
It wasn't entirely incomprehensible for some cultivators to have peculiar habits or behaviors.
But from their recent words...
Did these two old fellows have a screw loose?
Or were they perhaps toying with him?
Given that the four of them could appear here, their strength must not be as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Perhaps they were concealing their true power.
Or perhaps they possessed some trump cards or magical artifacts.
However, from any perspective, he couldn't understand why they would suddenly choose to play games with him.
This place was fraught with danger, and making unnecessary enemies was clearly unwise.
Could it be that their true strength far surpassed his own group's, making such matters irrelevant?
If that were the case, they would simply reveal their strength, and his group would immediately acknowledge them as superiors. Why go through all this trouble?
"Senior," Ye Fan said politely, gesturing to the side, "shall we step aside and talk?"
"That would be most appropriate," the sect leader opposite nodded.
Thus, the two groups returned to the location of their previous battle.
Ye Fan and his companions stood in the center of the plaza with the opposing sect leader and a few elders, while the others were scattered around casually.
On the surface, they appeared to be recuperating and restoring their true qi,
but judging by their positions, they had already formed an encirclement around Ye Fan's group.
"We arrived here unintentionally," Ye Fan stated frankly. "Do you know what this place is, Senior?"