Li Ling chuckled and raised his hands as if to surrender. "Okay, you got me. What a clever plan to catch a thief in the act. So, what's going to happen next?"
Song Yan's smile became less friendly as he did not understand why Li Ling could remain calm, which indicated that the lad felt that he had something to rely on against the threat he faced. This made the Fourth Realm Elder hesitate, but he still sent a message to the sect reinforcements he had called earlier to hurry it up.
The realm gap was there, as he assumed that Li Ling could only be at the peak of the third realm at most during this short period of time. He couldn't actually gauge the young man's level because Li Ling kept the Mana Regressing Art fully activated in order to maintain his stealthy nature when traveling through subspace.
