7. Greed is not Good
Five kilometers west of the orphanage Clay came from, a bald man is shrewdly inspecting his loots. He is the orphanage caretaker who made a report to Buaki Gang that a kid has passed a Spiritual Mental Strength Test a few months back.
He is a careful man and planned to wait for a year for the death of the young Lanases to die down and completely be forgotten before finally checking his rewards however, his greed can no longer be contained after three months.
There is an abandoned hut where lost hunters would take shelter during their travels and after a day of ensuring that no one will be arriving, he settled and began to take out the Spatial Rings of the dead.
Tool after tool, he injected his Qi to identify their usage and their value and like a mad man, his eyes sparkled with avarice.
After an hour, he stored all the items back and ready to head to a nearby city to sell them.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the caretaker, one of the magic tools he just tested which looks like necklace is actually a secret communication tool given to important Lanas descendants.
He did not know that by injecting his Qi on the item, a Peak Late Core Formation expert has already locked into his position.
Confident of assessing the value of his guilefully obtained wealth, the caretaker once more surveyed his surroundings and did not immediately leave the hut. It was his plan to leave no traces of his presence and if he has to burn the hut to clear away his scent, he would even set the entire mountain on fire if he has to.
The caretaker strategically spread firewoods on the edges then waited for the sun to set.
And after a few hours, he took out a block of wood and a string to start fire however, the moment he sat down, he suddenly felt a terrifying aura that scanned the hut including him.
The caretaker was suddenly scared witless and wanted to bury himself into the ground then escape and hide but the moment he reached the door, the roof of the hut was suddenly blown away.
“YOU!”
The caretaker did not even have the chance to respond and the last thing he saw a gigantic hand grabbing him before his eyes went dark. Just earlier, he was blissfully calculating his gains and only now did he realize why the Gang did not loot the spatial rings.
Three days later, around 100 kilometers northwest of Buaki Gang, a meeting is taking place. It is currently officiated by the Peak-Late Core Formation expert who captured the caretaker a few days ago. He is the current Patriarch of this Branch Family of Lanas. He rarely attends meetings but this time it involves his grandson who died during a recruitment mission. For three months, investigations turned fruitless but today, he gets to hear news from the culprit he captured a few days ago.
The hall is currently silent as everyone is attentively listening.
"The caretaker was commissioned twenty years ago to report to Buaki Gang if one of their orphans or anyone during the recruitment passes the Spiritual Mental Strength Test. Other than that, there is no useful information from him." An Early Core Formation Expert made his report.
The Patriarch looked displeased and did not allow anyone to interrupt and replied, "I assume you have investigated this group of bandit, right?"
"Indeed. According to our spies, they are housing a Tier Three Formation Expert and that they have been busy looking for children who will inherit this expert’s legacy. There is currently an incomplete Azure Lightning Defensive Array protecting their hideout."
The Patriarch remained silent as he looked at one of the reports himself. He is considering if there is a need for him to seek help from Nascent Soul Expert from the Main Branch.
After assessing that there is no real threat, he spoke in a cold voice, "Gather at least 20 Foundation Establishment and all Peak Qi-Condensation Experts. The three of us should be able to break the defensive arrays. We move tonight".
Meanwhile, Clay is currently lying on a patch of grass waiting for the evening when everyone leaves the training grounds.
It has been three days and he had made significant improvement in carving the Formation. As practice, he would simultaneously control four sticks and carve them on the sands of the training grounds.
This afternoon, he wanted to check his progress and tried drawing the Formation using boar’s blood on the parchment given to him and he considered it a success. Though the Formation drawn is a little bit off, the size and shapes for each quadrant is the same which he believes will further be refined if he keeps with his training regime.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
If only possible that Rani is sincere and help him succeed, at least he would master the craft more efficiently. The problem is that, Rani seems to have developed an inexplicable animosity and it is not even related to the pills.
Clay patiently waited for his fellow brothers to completely vacate the grounds and after an hour, he looked around to make sure no one is watching in secret. Having been in the gang for three months, he had an idea how everyone is working hard for resources and he had been avoiding everyone as he did not want to become part of their pointless competition.
After confirming he was alone, he took out four sticks from his Spatial Ring and released his aura and simultaneously imbued each stick with his Qi. He then closed his eyes as he concentrated on the image of the sample Formation before writing on the ground.
*Exhale
The moon is shining brightly tonight, and Clay could feel a slight breeze brushing his face.
After sufficient preparation, he was ready to begin inscribing on the ground however, just before the four sticks touch the ground, he felt a strong mass of energy fluctuation approaching the mountain.
Clay opened his eyes and looked towards the sky and saw something similar to that of a meteor which is rapidly approaching towards their location.
“What is that?”
When the fire ball was at least hundred meters to their location, multiple dark and tall pillars suddenly erupted from the ground and gave off a bright light creating a transparent conic barrier which immediately covered the enter ground of Buaki Gang.
BOOM!!!
An ear-piercing explosion was generated after a large ball of flame came in contact to the invisible Protection Array of the Gang creating tremors which vibrated within the barrier.
“What’s going on?” Clay panicked he lost his balance when the ground trembled. He wanted to stand up but upon seeing more fire balls approaching, his body froze in fear.
BOOM!!!
BOOM!!!
Clay could hardly breathe as the area is being bombarded. His eyes is wide open as he watch those blinding explosions above him and while he is not versed in Defensive Formation, he could tell that their Gang’s Protective Barrier is about to collapse.
BOOM!!!
CRACK!!!
“How dare you treat us as nobodies?” Amidst the explosions, an old man shouted as he levitated from the central building where no one was allowed. It was none other than the current leader of Buaki Gang, Tao Fa-ad Jun, a Mid Core Formation Expert.
BOOM!!!
CRACK!!!
After two more explosions, the Defensive Barrier finally collapsed revealing a group of cultivators all with blue eyes.
Tao Fa-ad released a domineering aura as he greeted the intruders mid air but upon noticing the eyes of the unknown guests, he already had an idea who he will be dealing with. In a span of two seconds, he had already assessed the strength of the other party’s cultivators and he knew it will not be easy.
"I do not know how our faction has offended these Dao Friends, but I hope we can talk this out. We are but a nameless …. Noo!!!!"
BOOM!
Tao Fa-ad was cut-off midsentence when another set of bombardment came landing. With their Defensive Barrier gone, the fire balls that were launched directly flew in the area where his son and Tao Ad were busy refining tools.
Tao Fa-ad became immediately enraged and shouted, “None of you will leave! Activate the Killing Array!”
There are currently three Core Formation Experts on the enemy’s side, but he is confident he can win with the aid of their Killing Array. Since these guests did not want to negotiate, then he will show them how despicable their can gang can be.
In an instant, a halberd appear on Tao Fa-ad’s hand ready to attack but he could not feel the array activated yet so he shouted again.
“I said activate the Killing Array!"
Tao Fa-ad could see his enemies preparing to attack but he does not dare charge recklessly however after two more seconds, he felt something was amiss.
He was preparing his magic tool to attack but the array did not seem to activate.
“You should have thought it twice when you killed one of us.” The Patriarch of Lanas Branch Family finally revealed himself as he flew closer towards Buaki Gang’s leader.
Tao Fa-ad finally realized what is going on as echoes of blades and shouts of desperation resounded below and when he looked below his feet, countless Foundational Establishment and Late Qi Condensation Experts had already swarmed in killing everyone even the guards in charge of the Arrays.
BOOM!
Another explosion erupted from behind and when he lifted his head, he saw an incoming slithering Qi Attack in a shape of a dragon.
Tao Fa-ad was not ready to give up so he put up a Qi barrier in front of him and readied his lance. In the mean time, he took out ten smoke bombs from his ring to prepare his escape.
CRASH!!
Tao Fa-ad successfully defended and wanted to take advantage of that attack and explode the bombs however right after the impact, a blade suddenly appeared from behind piercing his neck.
Arggghhh!
He was caught off guard. He thought he could escape and someday get his revenge but did not expect that his enemies were one step ahead.
Two seconds later, his body and head came falling to the ground.
Not far from the center of the battle, Clay just witnessed the merciless death of what he thought would defend their lair. His vision has been deeply enhanced when he became a Qi Practitioner and he just witnessed how their mighty leader was killed like a defenseless chicken.
“I have to and escape.”
Clay woke up from his stupor and hammered his legs with his fist to move his legs.
“Move! Move!”
When his legs felt the pain, Clay’s feet jerked and forced his body to stand. He was scared and wanted to hide. He could hear people shouting as fire spread towards nearby building but in the mist of confusion, he remembered the underground cellar within their residence.
Clay ignored his surroundings and rushed towards their residence but when he arrived, only a burning house greeted him. On top of that, he saw a familiar headless body lying on the ground beside a sword.
Clay stood in silence as his head followed the trail of blood and when he looked to where it stopped, there was the head of Aunt Shi.
His fear was suddenly replaced with an inexplicable trauma. He slowly walked towards the clean cut head then kneeled to pick up Aunt Shi’s head. Her eyes were still wide opened so Clay forced it to close with fingers.
Clay wished it is all a bad dream.
Tears run from his eyes, but he made no sound. He just kneeled and gently caressed Aunt Shi's head on his lap.