Ghost town

"So anything different now that you are ascended?" nick asked curiously. yin yun stopped fondling herself and waved her right hand. a crescent of energy flew out and all of the sword aura in the area vanished. nick could tell that rather than removing the sword aura that crescent actually absorbed it into itself strengthening itself. "nifty trick you got there," nick said after the crescent dissipated. "other than that i got a huge boost to my strength as well as increased the limit that i can cultivate to." she said with a huge grin. "if i had to guess I'd say i can reach ascended king before i have to increase my main bodies potential again." she finished speaking with a happy expression. "that's pretty good all things considered , though i am a bit angry at those rumors that led me to this place since it is obvious that no such treasure could be found here." he said with slight irritation. after saying that nick decided to head back to the town to try and power through the bottleneck since he couldn't find the necessary treasure. the closer he got to the town though the more he felt that something was wrong.

Nick saw the city further in the distance but he couldn't tell what was wrong since the city seemed perfectly fine at first glance but then it suddenly realized the problem. 'there's no sounds.' he thought seriously. it is not usually something that people pay attention to but the fact is that humans are almost always surrounded by sounds. in a town such as this one for example one would constantly hear the sounds of other people as well as natural sounds like flowing water and animal activity. the distinct lack of any of these sounds would cause most people to feel as though something was off even if they can't say what. for cultivators this sensation is amplified that many times since their senses are on an entirely different level. nick was no exception to this rule no matter how strange he is compared to others. the lack of any of the usual ambient sounds as nick approached the city made nick feel as if he should stay away from this odd phenomenon but he ignored those thoughts. upon reaching the city gate though his fears grew as he didn't see even a single guard there.

Whats worse is that he sees that the gates are barred shut from the outside rather than the inside which added with the lack of guards and sounds made him think that he had missed something important when he left.