With the checkpoint so heavily guarded, it has become a pipe dream to enter Saint Empire with their current strength. Their 3 days of traveling on the back of the land wyrm have allowed them some form of recovery, but since life force isn't as quickly recovered as Ki they are mere at 70% capacity on average, and it isn't nearly enough to break through before the SS rankers behind catch up to them.
The previous time when they had to quickly recuperate, they could make use of the scent of the 3 treasured plants to improve the effect of their recovery pills, but riding on a mount made this method an impossibility. A person's vitality is dependent on his life force and life span. Though Kairos' group did not harm their life capacity and thus shorten their life span, when they infused soul energy into their bodies and into their weapons, they are actually hurting themselves to gain power. It is akin to burning up one's body to create heat, though the truth is, their method incomparably efficient.
Having drained of their life force in their previous battle, every part of their body seemed to have wilted, but for Jones, he also had to deal with the physical damage from the backlash. Jones had gone over his limits by attacking 3 times during the Northern Sword Saints array, where even once would knock a person unconscious, the amount of rebound he received can only use the word 'immense' to describe.
Yet, right now...
"Hey, come on, let's just rush into the checkpoint and break through it with a blast" Jones stood up on the back of the land wyrm, wholly unaffected by its wobbling run and completely pumped up for a fight. Right now, besides Vouno that had a relaxing time during the battles, Jones is the only other person who is at 100%. Comparing to the others who had used less energy and still not yet recovered, they rolled their eyes at the difference of their cultivating talents. Kairos is on the other extreme having only recovered half of his energy after 3 whole days. Everyone ate the heavenly scent pill to regain their strength, but the same pill seemed to work the least efficiently on him.
"A problem with my bloodline," Kairos thought for a moment before redirecting his attention to their current options.
"...And when those SS rankers behind us caught up while we were fighting through the checkpoint?" Kairos answered Jones with a question and a raised eyebrow.
"Uhh... Right... Wait, what are we going to do then?"
"Our best chance now is to lead them on a chase until all of us reached full strength, and we'll break through in a single breath and run all the way into Saint Empire without stopping. But just in case, we will lead them towards the direction of the southern cavernous area. If it comes down to us being trapped, I have another plan we can use at that place."
Kairos knows that this tactic is a poor one at best. To lead their foes who have much higher cultivation than them on a wild goose chase is tedious, and dangerous. When they are so outnumbered, every twist and turn they make would significantly increase the risk of being surrounded.
However, they have few choices left now. Uncertain of how they are being tracked, they did not bother to try and lose their pursuers once again. To cover their tracks requires them to slow down, and that alone come with a risk that they could not afford.
They made a large turn and ran towards the south. They quickly entered a vast stretching plain where it should be free of enemies. But just after a short distance of traveling, they noticed more foes appearing at their front. Those enemies are not as powerful as the SS rankers chasing them, but their numbers alone would delay them long enough to be caught by their pursuers. At this critical junction, they could not afford to stop and fight.
Alan observing with his soul perception said, "They are diverting their troops over from the nearby cities to surround us, we wouldn't be able to continue leading them on a chase."
Their plans had failed after just a short moment of travel, the Emperor's decree had made the capture of Jones the highest level of national urgency, and now their enemies are coming from all directions.
In their original escape plans, if they meet with this situation, they would need to seek shelter in the southern caverns until they could break through the checkpoint. Kairos had arranged for a suitable method that would enable them passage to safely, but unfortunately, their hiding spot, the smuggler's cove they had prepared, is still further ahead. With enemies closing in from all sides, they had to abandon both plans.
The place they are at, The Giant's Prairies, a place where there no trees, rocks, or any vertical object to hide them from sight for miles. With a glance, their foes would be able to locate them even from far.
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Everyone looked at Kairos at this time, for directions. Somehow, they feel that no matter how desperate or crazy the situation they are in, he could somehow resolve it with an immaculate plan.
Kairos looked at them in return, his friends, brothers, and family, and his mind started thinking at high speed considering their options and weighing their choices. Then, as he looked at Jones, he suddenly paused and rested his eyes on him.
"We are camping right now!" He suddenly declared, to the shock of everyone, and causing the land wyrm who understands human speech to skid to a stop.
"Right here?" They asked uncertainly.
"Yes here. Let's get all the tools out" He said, but the others stared at him cluelessly. They are begin chased, not by a few people but by all the troops that an empire could afford to direct. Their closest pursuers are not of the same rank as they are, but technically 4 whole ranks above. When was there a time that a small group of C rankers was chased by over a hundred SS rankers and two platoons of Peak A imperial troops? Even if they fought at their maximum power after Origin Infusion, the guys are still only B and A rankers, two who levels weaker, yet they boldly decided to set up camp in plain sight,. Even if everyone trusts Kairos entirely, this plan still bewilders them.
"Haha, don't worry, we'll be okay. Did you guys forget something?" Kairos pointed at Jones. When he looked at the wide gape that everyone has on their faces, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Jones? Oh yeah! You're a rich heir of the Solitary Blades clan right? Don't you have a few items for this situation?" Jim turned and grabbed Jones' arms excitedly.
"Bah, even if I had such treasures, they had all been taken from me, remember?" Jones rolled his eyes because of how Jim is grabbing his hands, his heart belongs to that wild girl back at the academy, and right now he still does not understand the reason Kairos pointed them.
If Jones doesn't have such treasures, then maybe the items from the royal treasury could work. Immediately Jim turn towards Kairos who is keeping all the time-space containers, and repeated his question, "Jones doesn't have it! What about you, boss?"
"It's not Jones that I'm pointing. I'm referring to his contract beast" Kairos explained, exacting an 'ohhh' from them. They had forgotten the ermine's natural ability to create illusions.
As a celestial beast in the mortal realm, the Snow Stoat do not have the resources it needed to grow, but it doesn't mean that it could not use its natural abilities. Though it would be more draining for it because they aren't in the divine realms, it had managed to elude capture for a million years. Except that one time where the contract beasts shop somehow caught it and sold it to Jones.
With their soul resonating, Jones easily told its contract beast of their needs, and it easily cast a large web of illusion where they are. No matter if their enemies tried detection by Ki, by sight or even by artefacts, the place they are at would appear empty.
Only some divine artefacts or some special abilities would still be able to detect them or destroy the illusions because a celestial beast's skill would not be that easy to neutralise.
Even though they only have an illusionary net and no defensive barrier, they quickly pulled out their cultivation resources and prepared to camp here. The 3 treasured plants are the first ones that were placed in front of them. No matter it is to recover their energy or to cultivate, it would greatly help them. Their plan is still to break through the checkpoint, however, with the illusionary barrier they could gain some time.
When everything had been set up, Jones walked towards Kairos, "Brother, when I was in the Solitary Blades, there were Stratagems carved into the ground that could help raise cultivating speed. Maybe there might be books referring to this in the rings, that you could use and replicate here?"
"...Stratagems, aren't those only done by Stratagem Scholars or Masters? I'm not able to do something like that" He said immediately. His brother's request to picked up a difficult book and immediately apply its technique sounded like a joke, and he dismissed it at once.
Learning Stratagems isn't an easy thing. For most people, it would require at least 10 years of study as an apprentice before one is allowed to start attempting a basic Stratagem portrait. Of course, there are always geniuses in every area that will only need a fraction of the time to learn it.
The Stratagem arrays are well-known for being capable of changing the environment or even increasing the amount of Heavenly Energy in an area for cultivation. Making use of this miraculous effect, Stratagems has also been incorporated into combat, usually splitting into 4 types: Destruction, Trapping, Barrier, and Illusion.
However, even if those who masters this art are highly sought after, the cost of learning it is so high, that only those with a prestigious background could afford to do so. That is because, while it requires precious resources to deploy a Stratagem portrait, the success rate is rather low.
It is no wonder that Stratagem scholars are the least popular profession within Saint Empire, but because of this, Kairos did not know that his arrays are in fact top-class Stratagems.
Most common people understands Stratagems as formations created on ground or platform adorned with rare materials, Demon Cores and spirit stones.
However, the creation of Stratagems is not limited to the precise placement of objects of power. Generally, anything including people or contract beasts could be used to create a Stratagem. But to create even a normal Stratagem already requires countless tests with rare and expensive ingredients. And once a test ends in failure, the items used are seldom salvageable.
Because the risk is unbelievably high, not many people are willing to volunteer themselves as test subjects to create a Stratagem, and eventually the existence of such arrays became unknown to the general public and understandably so.
Even Kairos who created several such Stratagems did not know why the Starfire array that the military had adopted is so precious to them that it became the reason the Emperor of Saint Empire conferred the title of Viscount onto him.