Chapter 71: 71
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Yusa was right, Hary was concerned with Ao and Huse's fight, once Huse loses or the effect of the pill worn out, Ao will be free to slaughter the other members of his group that are on a stalemate against their enemies, it was obvious that even after eating that pill, Huse was still on the losing side, barely holding himself.
As for his battle with Shinja, he has somewhat the advantage, the difference in cultivation is very high after all, if Shinja hasn't opened her Spiritual Energy Meridians as well as used the power of her Pure Yin Body and the Soul Technique, she wouldn't be able to hold Hary, this made Hary even more determined to kill, someone with a talent like that must have a very profound background, something that his Cout Clan probably can't mess with.
He used his Divine Sense to look around and find an opportunity to attack those bellow, he had two options at moment, kill Ao so that his son will be freed and can help finish the Battle or attack Yusa whose is keeping the balance of the balance, the key of the battle was in the victory of the battle between Ao and Huse, if he kills Yusa, the others will be able to support Huse to finish Ao in that case.
Shinja knew that and was doing her best to keep Hary at bay, but it then that she received a Divine Sense message from Yusa, she was extremely surprised with what she heard, but it didn't show on her face, her battle with Hary continued as if nothing had happened.
Below, Ao also received a Divine Sense message from Yusa and a faint smile appeared on his face, he also was taken aback with what he heard, he immediately intensified his assault after that, it would use more spiritual energy but that was the time to go all out.
On the skies, Hary noticed the change in the battle between Ao and Huse and got alarmed, he also intensified his attacks on Shinja and was finally able to open a flaw to send an attack below, Shinja looked alarmed and tried to stop him.
"Too late!"
Hary used a flying sword which passed by the flaw in Shinja's attack and it flew straight at Ao's back, the speed of the sword wasn't something that a Foundation Establishment like Ao could dodge, Hary was sure that it was going to hit him, after that, this battle victory would be theirs, but it was at this moment that he noticed a cold smile appearing on Shinja's face, a sense of foreboding immediately assaulted his senses, but it was too late to stop the attack.
Down below, the sword was already right behind Ao, it didn't show any mercy and passed right through him, a scream could be heard and a body fell to the ground, but when Hary noticed who had been hit, his face warped into rage, the one who was pierced wasn't Ao, but his son, Huse! He finally understood everything, that flaw that appeared on Shinja's defense was intentional, they were planning to use his own attack to finish Huse off from the very start, but how did they do that?
The reason was the Runestone Formation that Yusa was charging since the start of the battle, that was an illusion formation, its grade was Four Stars, it was something quite expensive, not to mention that Yusa still doesn't have the skills to craft one of those, what surprised Ao and Shinja wasn't the fact that she had the Runestone, but the fact that it was something very expensive, a Runestone that could trick the senses of a Core Formation Realm cultivator wasn't something that could be bought without using Rank Four Spirit Stones at the very least!
And they were right, there is no way that Yusa would ever pay for something like that, it was her shamelessness that helped her obtain it from the Runestone Formations Guild, during the exam for new recruits of the guild, Yusa had enraged the examiner, in the end, they made a bet, and the end result was Yusa's victory in that bet, this Runestone was the payment, one must first kill Yusa before asking her to pay for something this expensive, of course, she was not going to tell them that.
Surprisingly, Huse didn't die, this was the key point of this scheme, everyone already noticed that their enemies are all from the same clan, it was even more obvious if one looked at the Father and Son faces which were quite similar, if he wanted to save his son, he would need to retreat, Ao was now free as well, so he immediately charged at the other enemies, immediately, the battle became one-sided, Hary might have the advantage in his battle with Shinja, but there is no way he can finish her off anytime soon, by that time all his forces will be wiped out, not to mention that his son was still alive, if he is fast, he might be able to save him.
"Retreat!"
Hary gathered a lot of spiritual energy and attacked Shinja, she knew what he wanted to do and didn't try to stop him, she just dodged and appeared beside her companions, Hary took Huse's body and charged out, everyone else also retreated from the place, Shinja gave the order to not pursue anyone, finally, the battle was over.
When the enemies left Shinja's Divine Sense range, her face immediately got pale and she vomited some blood, she was definitely the one who got the greatest burden, to battle a cultivator four states higher than herself for so long was a great burden on her body, she kept her using her Pure Yin Body's power all the time to enhance her control over the water element, that was no easy feat, if Hary had stayed some time longer she would definitely fall in the end.
Yusa and the others looked at her concerned.
"Are you okay?"
Shinja nodded.
"I'm fine, I just need some days to recover, how were the things on your side?"
Lakin came forward and shook his head, he had quite a few injuries on his body but overall, he was fine.
"Although Ao was able to kill three of those middle-stage Foundation Establishment guys, our side lost quite a few demon beasts as well, they were just ordinary demon beasts to start with, they couldn't jump stages to fight those of higher level, it was due to the higher numbers that we fended their attacks for so long."
Lakin sighed in the end, he had spent quite some time with those demon beasts so he got somewhat attached to them, Ruik saw that and simply commented.
"We are demon beasts, the battle is part of our lives, most of us aren't afraid of dying to start with, a few might have been gone, but those who survived will experience a great boost on their cultivation, life and death struggles is what make us stronger."
Yusa then took out one of Krune's Three Stars Healing pills that he had prepared a long time ago and given it to Shinja.
She didn't say anything and swallowed it, after that, her injuries and chaotic energy started to stabilize straight away, Shinja was surprised with that, she knew that Krune was a Four Stars Alchemist, but she didn't expect that his pills would so effective like that.
"Forget what I said, with this, I should be able to recover in a day at most."
Ao looked in the direction that their enemies retreated and asked.
"You think they will be back soon or will they go back to gather more reinforcements?"
Yusa wasn't preoccupied with that, but with another thing.
"They won't come back alone, but that Core Formation Guy is a big problem, the problem is because he doesn't need to go back to the city to ask for reinforcements, he can just go deeper into the Katiu Forest and ask the help of another Core Formation Demon Beast, that would definitely be much faster, not to mention that whoever decided to help him would definitely be around his own power, that is to guarantee the fairness of their agreement."
Shinja and Ao were taken aback, they haven't thought about this possibility before.
"We can only hope that Krune finishes the formation as soon as possible, if things really get out of hand, we will need to abandon the wisps and flee, we can't simply die here either."
Lakin heard that but said nothing, Krune's team members had already helped a lot, he couldn't possibly ask them to give up their lives here, if anything, he was already very grateful with their help, they can't move the wisps away too, there is too many of them to hope that no one will notice, it would make things more difficult instead since they won't be able to protect them when the battle starts.
Exactly as Yusa thought, Hary healed his son until his condition became stable and told the others to protect him, as soon as he finished, he charged deeper into the Katiu Forest, he knows that if he waits to go back to the city and only then come back, his target will probably find a way to escape, he has to prevent that at all costs, since he was alone, he didn't have to wait for long, in just a few hours he arrived at a hill, there was no cave, nest or anything like that in sight, but he knows that this place is the lair of an Infernal Beetle, a third stage Core Formation Realm Demon Insect.
Hary spread his Divine Sense and soon found his target, he then sent a message over.
"Gory, it's me, Hary Cout, I need your help with something."
Immediately after, the ground started to move and a hole appeared, from inside one could see a red-colored beetle coming out, the beetle was quite big, no smaller than Hary himself, the beetle looked at Hary and a moment later, it transformed into a middle-aged man.
"You know this isn't a place you should trespass lightly, what is it?"
Hary didn't mind the beetle's temper.
"I know that well, but something came up, don't worry, it will be very beneficial for both of us, it will probably help you in your cultivation as well."
Gory's attention was picked, although his foundation isn't as poor as Harys, he also used his own sheer amount wisps and other cultivation resources in the past, so normal resources had little effect on him now.
Hary didn't waste time and except for Lakin's presence, he explained everything that happened and what he was fighting for.
"Did you say you saw two 9th stage Qi Condensation wisps? Are you sure?"
Hary nodded.
"There is no doubt about that, not to mention that there is a lot more with lower-level cultivations."
Gory found it hard to believe, but when Hary got a blood contract out to prove his words, Gory could only accept the truth, after that, the two of them discussed how they should share the spoils, it didn't take long for them to reach an agreement and sign another blood contract.
After that, they immediately moved out, time was of essence, the previous battle definitely had caught the attention of the other beasts around, it wouldn't be long before another Core Formation Beast noticed that something was wrong, when that happens, they can say goodbye to their wisps.
Noticing how effective the healing pill was on Shinja, Ao took out his own and gave it to her as well, if Yusa's conjecture was right, Shinja can't be in a weakened state for long, Shinja also understood that and didn't say anything, she just took the pill and moved back into the Spiritual Vein Lake to recover, by now, she already got back 80 to 90% of her power, she should be able to hold off for a while.
Outside, Yusa wasn't just waiting for the enemies to come, Runestone Formations use normal formations as a base, so she built a few common defensive formations, it wouldn't be able to do anything against Core Formation Experts, but it should be able to hold back the Foundation Establishment ones for a while.
Ao had gathered the demon beasts and was explaining for them how to use a battle formation, he had tried to do that when he first arrived, but in the end, he didn't have enough time to finish the preparations, so he could only put that aside during the last battle, but this time, with fewer beasts to take part in the formation, he finally got it to barely work, he then spent the next hours practicing with the demon beasts, using himself and the core of the battle formation, his combat prowess was boosted through the spiritual energy of the demon beasts.
Yusa wasn't the only one that tried to learn something new, Ao knows that he doesn't like side occupations like alchemy or formations, so he used some of his time to learn how to use battle formations, but he didn't expect that a situation where he needed it came sooner than he had thought.
Yusa and Ao were in the middle of their actions when they noticed Shinja coming out of the cave, she looked in the distance and her face got cold again.
"They are coming, there are two Core Formation Realm cultivators this time, the second one is at the Third Stage."
Hearing that, Ao came forward, a look of determination could be seen on his face.
"Leave the 3rd stage one with me, I should be able to hold him for some time as long as the battle formation doesn't crumble."
Yusa also came forward to say her piece.
"I finished setting up some simple protection formations, as long as the enemy isn't a Core Formation I should be able to hold the rest of them with Lakin and Ruik's help."
Lakin and Ruik didn't complain about the setup, it was already impressive that they had a countermeasure against two Core Formation Realm cultivators.
Shinja looked at Lakin and said.
"If things go south, we will leave, and I will bring you out even if you don't want too, I can't let Krune's disciple die on my watch, I feel sorry for the wisps, but dying won't change anything, do you understand?"
Yusa and Ao also looked at him, their opinion was the same as Shinja, Krune had done a lot for the two of them, and they won't let him down here.
Lakin took a deep breath and nodded, he can only hope for the best.
Hary and Gory arrived shortly after, Hary looked at Shinja and said.
"Last chance, if you leave now, we won't pursue, although I'm angry, I can at least tell that my son only survived my attack because you planned to do so, on account of that, I can let bygones be bygones."
Shinja didn't say anything and took out her spiritual weapon, her actions were her answer.
"Very well, Gory, I'm counting on you to finish things fast."
Gory didn't say anything and charged ahead, immediately, the battle started.
No one noticed, but inside of the Spiritual Vein Lake Cave Room, a certain Teleport Formation started to shine.
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Yusa was right, Hary was concerned with Ao and Huse's fight, once Huse loses or the effect of the pill worn out, Ao will be free to slaughter the other members of his group that are on a stalemate against their enemies, it was obvious that even after eating that pill, Huse was still on the losing side, barely holding himself.
As for his battle with Shinja, he has somewhat the advantage, the difference in cultivation is very high after all, if Shinja hasn't opened her Spiritual Energy Meridians as well as used the power of her Pure Yin Body and the Soul Technique, she wouldn't be able to hold Hary, this made Hary even more determined to kill, someone with a talent like that must have a very profound background, something that his Cout Clan probably can't mess with.
He used his Divine Sense to look around and find an opportunity to attack those bellow, he had two options at moment, kill Ao so that his son will be freed and can help finish the Battle or attack Yusa whose is keeping the balance of the balance, the key of the battle was in the victory of the battle between Ao and Huse, if he kills Yusa, the others will be able to support Huse to finish Ao in that case.
Shinja knew that and was doing her best to keep Hary at bay, but it then that she received a Divine Sense message from Yusa, she was extremely surprised with what she heard, but it didn't show on her face, her battle with Hary continued as if nothing had happened.
Below, Ao also received a Divine Sense message from Yusa and a faint smile appeared on his face, he also was taken aback with what he heard, he immediately intensified his assault after that, it would use more spiritual energy but that was the time to go all out.
On the skies, Hary noticed the change in the battle between Ao and Huse and got alarmed, he also intensified his attacks on Shinja and was finally able to open a flaw to send an attack below, Shinja looked alarmed and tried to stop him.
"Too late!"
Hary used a flying sword which passed by the flaw in Shinja's attack and it flew straight at Ao's back, the speed of the sword wasn't something that a Foundation Establishment like Ao could dodge, Hary was sure that it was going to hit him, after that, this battle victory would be theirs, but it was at this moment that he noticed a cold smile appearing on Shinja's face, a sense of foreboding immediately assaulted his senses, but it was too late to stop the attack.
Down below, the sword was already right behind Ao, it didn't show any mercy and passed right through him, a scream could be heard and a body fell to the ground, but when Hary noticed who had been hit, his face warped into rage, the one who was pierced wasn't Ao, but his son, Huse! He finally understood everything, that flaw that appeared on Shinja's defense was intentional, they were planning to use his own attack to finish Huse off from the very start, but how did they do that?
The reason was the Runestone Formation that Yusa was charging since the start of the battle, that was an illusion formation, its grade was Four Stars, it was something quite expensive, not to mention that Yusa still doesn't have the skills to craft one of those, what surprised Ao and Shinja wasn't the fact that she had the Runestone, but the fact that it was something very expensive, a Runestone that could trick the senses of a Core Formation Realm cultivator wasn't something that could be bought without using Rank Four Spirit Stones at the very least!
And they were right, there is no way that Yusa would ever pay for something like that, it was her shamelessness that helped her obtain it from the Runestone Formations Guild, during the exam for new recruits of the guild, Yusa had enraged the examiner, in the end, they made a bet, and the end result was Yusa's victory in that bet, this Runestone was the payment, one must first kill Yusa before asking her to pay for something this expensive, of course, she was not going to tell them that.
Surprisingly, Huse didn't die, this was the key point of this scheme, everyone already noticed that their enemies are all from the same clan, it was even more obvious if one looked at the Father and Son faces which were quite similar, if he wanted to save his son, he would need to retreat, Ao was now free as well, so he immediately charged at the other enemies, immediately, the battle became one-sided, Hary might have the advantage in his battle with Shinja, but there is no way he can finish her off anytime soon, by that time all his forces will be wiped out, not to mention that his son was still alive, if he is fast, he might be able to save him.
"Retreat!"
Hary gathered a lot of spiritual energy and attacked Shinja, she knew what he wanted to do and didn't try to stop him, she just dodged and appeared beside her companions, Hary took Huse's body and charged out, everyone else also retreated from the place, Shinja gave the order to not pursue anyone, finally, the battle was over.
When the enemies left Shinja's Divine Sense range, her face immediately got pale and she vomited some blood, she was definitely the one who got the greatest burden, to battle a cultivator four states higher than herself for so long was a great burden on her body, she kept her using her Pure Yin Body's power all the time to enhance her control over the water element, that was no easy feat, if Hary had stayed some time longer she would definitely fall in the end.
Yusa and the others looked at her concerned.
"Are you okay?"
Shinja nodded.
"I'm fine, I just need some days to recover, how were the things on your side?"
Lakin came forward and shook his head, he had quite a few injuries on his body but overall, he was fine.
"Although Ao was able to kill three of those middle-stage Foundation Establishment guys, our side lost quite a few demon beasts as well, they were just ordinary demon beasts to start with, they couldn't jump stages to fight those of higher level, it was due to the higher numbers that we fended their attacks for so long."
Lakin sighed in the end, he had spent quite some time with those demon beasts so he got somewhat attached to them, Ruik saw that and simply commented.
"We are demon beasts, the battle is part of our lives, most of us aren't afraid of dying to start with, a few might have been gone, but those who survived will experience a great boost on their cultivation, life and death struggles is what make us stronger."
Yusa then took out one of Krune's Three Stars Healing pills that he had prepared a long time ago and given it to Shinja.
She didn't say anything and swallowed it, after that, her injuries and chaotic energy started to stabilize straight away, Shinja was surprised with that, she knew that Krune was a Four Stars Alchemist, but she didn't expect that his pills would so effective like that.
"Forget what I said, with this, I should be able to recover in a day at most."
Ao looked in the direction that their enemies retreated and asked.
"You think they will be back soon or will they go back to gather more reinforcements?"
Yusa wasn't preoccupied with that, but with another thing.
"They won't come back alone, but that Core Formation Guy is a big problem, the problem is because he doesn't need to go back to the city to ask for reinforcements, he can just go deeper into the Katiu Forest and ask the help of another Core Formation Demon Beast, that would definitely be much faster, not to mention that whoever decided to help him would definitely be around his own power, that is to guarantee the fairness of their agreement."
Shinja and Ao were taken aback, they haven't thought about this possibility before.
"We can only hope that Krune finishes the formation as soon as possible, if things really get out of hand, we will need to abandon the wisps and flee, we can't simply die here either."
Lakin heard that but said nothing, Krune's team members had already helped a lot, he couldn't possibly ask them to give up their lives here, if anything, he was already very grateful with their help, they can't move the wisps away too, there is too many of them to hope that no one will notice, it would make things more difficult instead since they won't be able to protect them when the battle starts.
Exactly as Yusa thought, Hary healed his son until his condition became stable and told the others to protect him, as soon as he finished, he charged deeper into the Katiu Forest, he knows that if he waits to go back to the city and only then come back, his target will probably find a way to escape, he has to prevent that at all costs, since he was alone, he didn't have to wait for long, in just a few hours he arrived at a hill, there was no cave, nest or anything like that in sight, but he knows that this place is the lair of an Infernal Beetle, a third stage Core Formation Realm Demon Insect.
Hary spread his Divine Sense and soon found his target, he then sent a message over.
"Gory, it's me, Hary Cout, I need your help with something."
Immediately after, the ground started to move and a hole appeared, from inside one could see a red-colored beetle coming out, the beetle was quite big, no smaller than Hary himself, the beetle looked at Hary and a moment later, it transformed into a middle-aged man.
"You know this isn't a place you should trespass lightly, what is it?"
Hary didn't mind the beetle's temper.
"I know that well, but something came up, don't worry, it will be very beneficial for both of us, it will probably help you in your cultivation as well."
Gory's attention was picked, although his foundation isn't as poor as Harys, he also used his own sheer amount wisps and other cultivation resources in the past, so normal resources had little effect on him now.
Hary didn't waste time and except for Lakin's presence, he explained everything that happened and what he was fighting for.
"Did you say you saw two 9th stage Qi Condensation wisps? Are you sure?"
Hary nodded.
"There is no doubt about that, not to mention that there is a lot more with lower-level cultivations."
Gory found it hard to believe, but when Hary got a blood contract out to prove his words, Gory could only accept the truth, after that, the two of them discussed how they should share the spoils, it didn't take long for them to reach an agreement and sign another blood contract.
After that, they immediately moved out, time was of essence, the previous battle definitely had caught the attention of the other beasts around, it wouldn't be long before another Core Formation Beast noticed that something was wrong, when that happens, they can say goodbye to their wisps.
Noticing how effective the healing pill was on Shinja, Ao took out his own and gave it to her as well, if Yusa's conjecture was right, Shinja can't be in a weakened state for long, Shinja also understood that and didn't say anything, she just took the pill and moved back into the Spiritual Vein Lake to recover, by now, she already got back 80 to 90% of her power, she should be able to hold off for a while.
Outside, Yusa wasn't just waiting for the enemies to come, Runestone Formations use normal formations as a base, so she built a few common defensive formations, it wouldn't be able to do anything against Core Formation Experts, but it should be able to hold back the Foundation Establishment ones for a while.
Ao had gathered the demon beasts and was explaining for them how to use a battle formation, he had tried to do that when he first arrived, but in the end, he didn't have enough time to finish the preparations, so he could only put that aside during the last battle, but this time, with fewer beasts to take part in the formation, he finally got it to barely work, he then spent the next hours practicing with the demon beasts, using himself and the core of the battle formation, his combat prowess was boosted through the spiritual energy of the demon beasts.
Yusa wasn't the only one that tried to learn something new, Ao knows that he doesn't like side occupations like alchemy or formations, so he used some of his time to learn how to use battle formations, but he didn't expect that a situation where he needed it came sooner than he had thought.
Yusa and Ao were in the middle of their actions when they noticed Shinja coming out of the cave, she looked in the distance and her face got cold again.
"They are coming, there are two Core Formation Realm cultivators this time, the second one is at the Third Stage."
Hearing that, Ao came forward, a look of determination could be seen on his face.
"Leave the 3rd stage one with me, I should be able to hold him for some time as long as the battle formation doesn't crumble."
Yusa also came forward to say her piece.
"I finished setting up some simple protection formations, as long as the enemy isn't a Core Formation I should be able to hold the rest of them with Lakin and Ruik's help."
Lakin and Ruik didn't complain about the setup, it was already impressive that they had a countermeasure against two Core Formation Realm cultivators.
Shinja looked at Lakin and said.
"If things go south, we will leave, and I will bring you out even if you don't want too, I can't let Krune's disciple die on my watch, I feel sorry for the wisps, but dying won't change anything, do you understand?"
Yusa and Ao also looked at him, their opinion was the same as Shinja, Krune had done a lot for the two of them, and they won't let him down here.
Lakin took a deep breath and nodded, he can only hope for the best.
Hary and Gory arrived shortly after, Hary looked at Shinja and said.
"Last chance, if you leave now, we won't pursue, although I'm angry, I can at least tell that my son only survived my attack because you planned to do so, on account of that, I can let bygones be bygones."
Shinja didn't say anything and took out her spiritual weapon, her actions were her answer.
"Very well, Gory, I'm counting on you to finish things fast."
Gory didn't say anything and charged ahead, immediately, the battle started.
No one noticed, but inside of the Spiritual Vein Lake Cave Room, a certain Teleport Formation started to shine.
Yusa was right, Hary was concerned with Ao and Huse's fight, once Huse loses or the effect of the pill worn out, Ao will be free to slaughter the other members of his group that are on a stalemate against their enemies, it was obvious that even after eating that pill, Huse was still on the losing side, barely holding himself. As for his battle with Shinja, he has somewhat the advantage, the difference in cultivation is very high after all, if Shinja hasn't opened her Spiritual Energy Meridians as well as used the power of her Pure Yin Body and the Soul Technique, she wouldn't be able to hold Hary, this made Hary even more determined to kill, someone with a talent like that must have a very profound background, something that his Cout Clan probably can't mess with. He used his Divine Sense to look around and find an opportunity to attack those bellow, he had two options at moment, kill Ao so that his son will be freed and can help finish the Battle or attack Yusa whose is keeping the balance of the balance, the key of the battle was in the victory of the battle between Ao and Huse, if he kills Yusa, the others will be able to support Huse to finish Ao in that case. Shinja knew that and was doing her best to keep Hary at bay, but it then that she received a Divine Sense message from Yusa, she was extremely surprised with what she heard, but it didn't show on her face, her battle with Hary continued as if nothing had happened. Below, Ao also received a Divine Sense message from Yusa and a faint smile appeared on his face, he also was taken aback with what he heard, he immediately intensified his assault after that, it would use more spiritual energy but that was the time to go all out. On the skies, Hary noticed the change in the battle between Ao and Huse and got alarmed, he also intensified his attacks on Shinja and was finally able to open a flaw to send an attack below, Shinja looked alarmed and tried to stop him. "Too late!" Hary used a flying sword which passed by the flaw in Shinja's attack and it flew straight at Ao's back, the speed of the sword wasn't something that a Foundation Establishment like Ao could dodge, Hary was sure that it was going to hit him, after that, this battle victory would be theirs, but it was at this moment that he noticed a cold smile appearing on Shinja's face, a sense of foreboding immediately assaulted his senses, but it was too late to stop the attack. Down below, the sword was already right behind Ao, it didn't show any mercy and passed right through him, a scream could be heard and a body fell to the ground, but when Hary noticed who had been hit, his face warped into rage, the one who was pierced wasn't Ao, but his son, Huse! He finally understood everything, that flaw that appeared on Shinja's defense was intentional, they were planning to use his own attack to finish Huse off from the very start, but how did they do that? The reason was the Runestone Formation that Yusa was charging since the start of the battle, that was an illusion formation, its grade was Four Stars, it was something quite expensive, not to mention that Yusa still doesn't have the skills to craft one of those, what surprised Ao and Shinja wasn't the fact that she had the Runestone, but the fact that it was something very expensive, a Runestone that could trick the senses of a Core Formation Realm cultivator wasn't something that could be bought without using Rank Four Spirit Stones at the very least! And they were right, there is no way that Yusa would ever pay for something like that, it was her shamelessness that helped her obtain it from the Runestone Formations Guild, during the exam for new recruits of the guild, Yusa had enraged the examiner, in the end, they made a bet, and the end result was Yusa's victory in that bet, this Runestone was the payment, one must first kill Yusa before asking her to pay for something this expensive, of course, she was not going to tell them that. Surprisingly, Huse didn't die, this was the key point of this scheme, everyone already noticed that their enemies are all from the same clan, it was even more obvious if one looked at the Father and Son faces which were quite similar, if he wanted to save his son, he would need to retreat, Ao was now free as well, so he immediately charged at the other enemies, immediately, the battle became one-sided, Hary might have the advantage in his battle with Shinja, but there is no way he can finish her off anytime soon, by that time all his forces will be wiped out, not to mention that his son was still alive, if he is fast, he might be able to save him. "Retreat!" Hary gathered a lot of spiritual energy and attacked Shinja, she knew what he wanted to do and didn't try to stop him, she just dodged and appeared beside her companions, Hary took Huse's body and charged out, everyone else also retreated from the place, Shinja gave the order to not pursue anyone, finally, the battle was over. When the enemies left Shinja's Divine Sense range, her face immediately got pale and she vomited some blood, she was definitely the one who got the greatest burden, to battle a cultivator four states higher than herself for so long was a great burden on her body, she kept her using her Pure Yin Body's power all the time to enhance her control over the water element, that was no easy feat, if Hary had stayed some time longer she would definitely fall in the end. Yusa and the others looked at her concerned. "Are you okay?" Shinja nodded. "I'm fine, I just need some days to recover, how were the things on your side?" Lakin came forward and shook his head, he had quite a few injuries on his body but overall, he was fine. "Although Ao was able to kill three of those middle-stage Foundation Establishment guys, our side lost quite a few demon beasts as well, they were just ordinary demon beasts to start with, they couldn't jump stages to fight those of higher level, it was due to the higher numbers that we fended their attacks for so long." Lakin sighed in the end, he had spent quite some time with those demon beasts so he got somewhat attached to them, Ruik saw that and simply commented. "We are demon beasts, the battle is part of our lives, most of us aren't afraid of dying to start with, a few might have been gone, but those who survived will experience a great boost on their cultivation, life and death struggles is what make us stronger." Yusa then took out one of Krune's Three Stars Healing pills that he had prepared a long time ago and given it to Shinja. She didn't say anything and swallowed it, after that, her injuries and chaotic energy started to stabilize straight away, Shinja was surprised with that, she knew that Krune was a Four Stars Alchemist, but she didn't expect that his pills would so effective like that. "Forget what I said, with this, I should be able to recover in a day at most." Ao looked in the direction that their enemies retreated and asked. "You think they will be back soon or will they go back to gather more reinforcements?" Yusa wasn't preoccupied with that, but with another thing. "They won't come back alone, but that Core Formation Guy is a big problem, the problem is because he doesn't need to go back to the city to ask for reinforcements, he can just go deeper into the Katiu Forest and ask the help of another Core Formation Demon Beast, that would definitely be much faster, not to mention that whoever decided to help him would definitely be around his own power, that is to guarantee the fairness of their agreement." Shinja and Ao were taken aback, they haven't thought about this possibility before. "We can only hope that Krune finishes the formation as soon as possible, if things really get out of hand, we will need to abandon the wisps and flee, we can't simply die here either." Lakin heard that but said nothing, Krune's team members had already helped a lot, he couldn't possibly ask them to give up their lives here, if anything, he was already very grateful with their help, they can't move the wisps away too, there is too many of them to hope that no one will notice, it would make things more difficult instead since they won't be able to protect them when the battle starts. Exactly as Yusa thought, Hary healed his son until his condition became stable and told the others to protect him, as soon as he finished, he charged deeper into the Katiu Forest, he knows that if he waits to go back to the city and only then come back, his target will probably find a way to escape, he has to prevent that at all costs, since he was alone, he didn't have to wait for long, in just a few hours he arrived at a hill, there was no cave, nest or anything like that in sight, but he knows that this place is the lair of an Infernal Beetle, a third stage Core Formation Realm Demon Insect. Hary spread his Divine Sense and soon found his target, he then sent a message over. "Gory, it's me, Hary Cout, I need your help with something." Immediately after, the ground started to move and a hole appeared, from inside one could see a red-colored beetle coming out, the beetle was quite big, no smaller than Hary himself, the beetle looked at Hary and a moment later, it transformed into a middle-aged man. "You know this isn't a place you should trespass lightly, what is it?" Hary didn't mind the beetle's temper. "I know that well, but something came up, don't worry, it will be very beneficial for both of us, it will probably help you in your cultivation as well." Gory's attention was picked, although his foundation isn't as poor as Harys, he also used his own sheer amount wisps and other cultivation resources in the past, so normal resources had little effect on him now. Hary didn't waste time and except for Lakin's presence, he explained everything that happened and what he was fighting for. "Did you say you saw two 9th stage Qi Condensation wisps? Are you sure?" Hary nodded. "There is no doubt about that, not to mention that there is a lot more with lower-level cultivations." Gory found it hard to believe, but when Hary got a blood contract out to prove his words, Gory could only accept the truth, after that, the two of them discussed how they should share the spoils, it didn't take long for them to reach an agreement and sign another blood contract. After that, they immediately moved out, time was of essence, the previous battle definitely had caught the attention of the other beasts around, it wouldn't be long before another Core Formation Beast noticed that something was wrong, when that happens, they can say goodbye to their wisps. Noticing how effective the healing pill was on Shinja, Ao took out his own and gave it to her as well, if Yusa's conjecture was right, Shinja can't be in a weakened state for long, Shinja also understood that and didn't say anything, she just took the pill and moved back into the Spiritual Vein Lake to recover, by now, she already got back 80 to 90% of her power, she should be able to hold off for a while. Outside, Yusa wasn't just waiting for the enemies to come, Runestone Formations use normal formations as a base, so she built a few common defensive formations, it wouldn't be able to do anything against Core Formation Experts, but it should be able to hold back the Foundation Establishment ones for a while. Ao had gathered the demon beasts and was explaining for them how to use a battle formation, he had tried to do that when he first arrived, but in the end, he didn't have enough time to finish the preparations, so he could only put that aside during the last battle, but this time, with fewer beasts to take part in the formation, he finally got it to barely work, he then spent the next hours practicing with the demon beasts, using himself and the core of the battle formation, his combat prowess was boosted through the spiritual energy of the demon beasts. Yusa wasn't the only one that tried to learn something new, Ao knows that he doesn't like side occupations like alchemy or formations, so he used some of his time to learn how to use battle formations, but he didn't expect that a situation where he needed it came sooner than he had thought. Yusa and Ao were in the middle of their actions when they noticed Shinja coming out of the cave, she looked in the distance and her face got cold again. "They are coming, there are two Core Formation Realm cultivators this time, the second one is at the Third Stage." Hearing that, Ao came forward, a look of determination could be seen on his face. "Leave the 3rd stage one with me, I should be able to hold him for some time as long as the battle formation doesn't crumble." Yusa also came forward to say her piece. "I finished setting up some simple protection formations, as long as the enemy isn't a Core Formation I should be able to hold the rest of them with Lakin and Ruik's help." Lakin and Ruik didn't complain about the setup, it was already impressive that they had a countermeasure against two Core Formation Realm cultivators. Shinja looked at Lakin and said. "If things go south, we will leave, and I will bring you out even if you don't want too, I can't let Krune's disciple die on my watch, I feel sorry for the wisps, but dying won't change anything, do you understand?" Yusa and Ao also looked at him, their opinion was the same as Shinja, Krune had done a lot for the two of them, and they won't let him down here. Lakin took a deep breath and nodded, he can only hope for the best. Hary and Gory arrived shortly after, Hary looked at Shinja and said. "Last chance, if you leave now, we won't pursue, although I'm angry, I can at least tell that my son only survived my attack because you planned to do so, on account of that, I can let bygones be bygones." Shinja didn't say anything and took out her spiritual weapon, her actions were her answer. "Very well, Gory, I'm counting on you to finish things fast." Gory didn't say anything and charged ahead, immediately, the battle started. No one noticed, but inside of the Spiritual Vein Lake Cave Room, a certain Teleport Formation started to shine.
