Yusa was right. Hary was concerned with Ao's and Huse's fight. Once Huse loses, or the effect of the pill wears out, Ao will be free to slaughter the other members of his group. They are on a stalemate against their enemies. It is evident that even after eating such a 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 didn't open her Spiritual Energy Meridians and used her Pure Yin Body power 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 bellows. At the moment, he had two options: to kill Ao so that his son would be freed, which helps finish the battle, or to attack Yusa, who is keeping the balance. The key to the battle was the victory 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 was then that she received a Divine Sense message from Yusa. She was extremely surprised by 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 was also taken aback by 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, flying straight at Ao's back. The sword speed wasn't something a Foundation Establishment like Ao could dodge. Hary was sure it was going to hit him. After that, this battle victory would be theirs. But it was this moment 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. When Hary noticed who had been hit, his face warped into a rage. The one who was pierced wasn't Ao, but his son, Huse! He finally understood everything. That flaw appearing on Shinja's defense was intentional. They were planning to use his own attack to finish Huse off from the very start. How did they do that?
The reason was the Runestone Formation Yusa was charging since the start of the battle, an illusion formation. Its grade was Four Stars. It was something quite expensive, too, not to mention Yusa hasn't had the skills to craft one of those yet. What surprised Ao and Shinja wasn't the fact she had the Runestone, but that it was something very expensive. A Runestone tricking 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 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 with the Yusa's victory. 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's already noticed that their enemies are all from the same clan. It was even more evident if one looked at the Father's and Son's faces, which were quite similar. If the Father wanted to save his son, he would need to retreat. Ao was now free, so he immediately charged at the other enemies. The battle became one-sided. Hary might have the advantage in his battle with Shinja. 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 heard the order and also retreated from this place. Shinja then said 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. Battling a cultivator four states higher than herself for so long was a great burden on her body. She kept using her Pure Yin Body's power all the time to enhance her control over the water element, which 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 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 could kill three of those middle-stage Foundation Establishment guys, our side lost quite a few demon beasts. They were just ordinary demon beasts to start with. They couldn't jump stages to fight those of a 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! 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 are what make us stronger."
Yusa then took out one of Krune's Three-Star Healing pills 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 at that. She knew Krune was a Four-Star Alchemist, but she didn't expect his pills to be so effective.
"Forget what I said. With this, I should be able to recover in a day at most."
Ao looked in the direction their enemies retreated and asked.
"Do you think they will be back soon, or they will go back to gather more reinforcements?
Yusa wasn't preoccupied with that, but with another thing.
"They won't come back alone. That Core Formation Guy is a big problem 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, which would definitely be much faster. Not to mention that whoever decided to help him would definitely be around his own power to guarantee the fairness of their agreement."
Shinja and Ao were taken aback. They hadn'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 for their help. They can't move the wisps away either. There are too many of them to hope that no one will notice. It would make things more complicated 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 more profoundly into the Katiu Forest. He knew that if he waited to go back to the city and only then came back, his target would probably find a way to escape. He had to prevent that at all costs. As 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 at sight, but he knew that this place was the lair of an Infernal Beetle, a third-stage Core Formation Realm Demon Insect.
Hary spread his Divine Sense and soon found his target, and 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 with your cultivation."
Gory's attention was picked. His foundation wasn't as poor as Harys. Still, he also used his own sheer amount of wisps and other cultivation resources in the past. Thus, normal resources had little effect on him now.
Hary didn't waste time, and except for Lakin's presence, he explained everything that had 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 the 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. If that happened, they could say goodbye to their wisps.
Noticing how effective the healing pill was on Shinja, Ao took out his own and gave it to her. If Yusa's conjecture was right, Shinja couldn't be in a weakened state for long. Shinja also understood that and stayed quiet. She just took the pill and moved back into the Spiritual Vein Lake to recover. By now, she's 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 used 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. However, it should be able to hold back the Foundation Establishment ones for a while.
Ao had gathered the demon beasts and was explaining how to use a battle formation to them. He had tried to do that when he first arrived, but he hadn't had enough time to finish the preparations. So he could have only put that aside during the last battle. But this time, with fewer beasts taking part in the formation, he finally got it to barely work. He 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 knew that he didn't like side occupations like alchemy or formations. 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 impressive 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 them, and they won't let him down here.
Lakin took a deep breath and nodded. He could 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 it. 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 the Spiritual Vein Lake Cave Room, a certain Teleport Formation started to shine.
