*Shine!* The number of cracks shone on Leroy's body was more than a few inches in thickness. To those gathered, it looked like he was going to detonate his Dantian. That could just not happen!
Even though it would survive the wounds, the attack would make it impossible to escape the approaching cultivators.
"You are a pest!" Lashing out, like a whip, Lord Ghast ignored the burns from both fire and the lighting it touched with all its might. "Exploded by yourself!" Wapping around him, it flung Leroy into the air away from it and the others.
Two small fires fused into one that fell out of Leroy's chest area. Noticing the small flames, Lord Ghast was turned but dismissed since the fire in the area was decreasing along with the lighting the further its enemy went.
*Tsss!* A flame no bigger than a bonfire came down and burned Lord Ghast. It then grew in size exponentially and then swallowed the majority of the creature inside of it.
"NNNOOOOOOOOOOoooo!" The flame detonated and burned all of them up. As its consciousness burned away, it regretted leaving Leroy alive instead of refining him on the spot. 'Filthy mortal, I will return for you!'
As it was a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator with a plethora of skills to survive, it was just out of luck meeting Leroy. The gathering of itself before ditching its new body, it burned into nothingness the moment it discarded the flesh.
The various cultivators of different sects screamed in pain as the backlash from the creatures that acted through Lord Ghast caused their Qi to run violently. The worms inside them turned into a poison that melted the flesh and organs.
"Ughh.. need to get out of here!" A few survived the process and made their way to escape. "Our Elders will want this place for the Sect!" Struggling, they had to get through the fire that burned. "Have the Flame Martial Artist clear the way!"
These members of the Ashbone Sect had tougher bodies from pushing their Body Tempering Realm enough before going into Qi Refining. Having Life-Saving Devices on their body gave just enough help to get them through this ordeal.
*Boom!* The few Sect members that made it out had the unfortunate chance of getting caught in the explosion of overheated rocks and the destruction to the land itself giving way to underground methane gas.
The bodies of the cultivators and the creature's remains were engulfed in the explosion. Removing further traces of what happened but getting rid of Leroy's fire that caused the most damage to the creature.
The good news is that it was dead. Along with all the worms in the area. The bad news, it allowed the leftover of Leroy's Qi to influence the area.
As for Leroy, so loud was the explosion that came out of him hitting a small village that his cry of pain was barely heard. Broken and dying, he got up and staggered to head back so he can escape on an instinctual level. Barely back in his right mind he knew at least something had to be done for healing.
Checking on the Formation he set up in his Internal Space to keep the people safe he gambled the next move. Slightly unhinged, Leroy was going in and out of a manic state of survival. As if his brain and body were turning off and on.
"Burn it all!" Lighting the area he was in on fire, he swiped any and everything he could to throw into the Flame Vortex. "All of it should be burned away!" Saliva dripped out of his mangled mouth that started to froth but dried up from his overheated body.
Burning away his Qi to restore his eyes had to be done as the Metal Seed was cracked in the fight and he could barely interpret what he picked up through the demented state he found himself in.
It was not just this village that burned, Leroy flung burning trees in every direction. Burning the various areas and hoping against all odds that it will make it to Port Tundra quickly. A mantra repeated as he shambled about all over.
"Urrk!" Feeling a squirm in his chest, he plunged his one good hand in and ripped it out. "Filthy.. disgusting.. thing!" Squeezing it to death, he fell forward. "Something has to be around here I can use right now!"
The worm inside him was capable of surviving thanks to the vast improvements in Leroy's body and his harmful but powerful Core Qi. The deranged state was amplified by the secretions and instinctual behavior of the creature. It was also providing him with additional health to live.
Briefly the thought pass to keep the creature but common sense said hell now. Along with the spike of Murderous Intent that appeared when noticing it inside him. The Gu Worm as it was known in this area was used by only a few Sects anymore.
Killing the creature had also removed the last anchor for the Formation in the place. The various Sects were on their way directly now and had their time cut drastically down.
With a half-developed eye, Leroy looked all over what was visible. A few herbs that were turned over would have to do. Crawling through the fire he set, it would take some time to reach any of it.
Unknown to Leroy, a creature flew above watching. It looked no different than a moth but one thing set it apart. It was about 600 feet wide and floated way above the clouds. If Leroy knew these Gu Worms could also turn into these creatures he would go on a campaign of killing all Demonic Beasts that resembled the creatures.
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3 Hours Later-
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The entire plateau burned as Leroy leaned against a stone wall. The dead cultivators were plentiful but nothing compared to the countless Villagers and Hamlet members in the Old Fort. Despite his condition, Leroy's eyes carried a look of hatred at the burning bodies and scenery as a whole.
He couldn't find the way back until now. He was so close but exhaustion took over and he had to take a break.
The look on Mikado's face kept overlapping with that of a friend back home. The same ethnicity and haircut made it worse. Despite his denial and focus on survival, he didn't have it in his thoughts at first.
"Someone is still alive!" A shout came out from a cultivator that landed. An actual ship was in the sky full of disciples of a Sect. They were the first to arrive on the scene, but several other Sects were heading to the location. "Send out the recovery team in every direction!"
Another Elder gave orders to contain the fire itself that spread quite far across the place.
"This... they were killed by him." The Grand Elder of the Unlimited Sect was taken aback by this. "Who is this young man?" As his eyes scanned over everything he caught the bodies of the various Sect Members burning faster when they moved them pass Leroy. 'This fire looks vicious enough to burn the Soul itself!'
"Who are you?" An Enforcement Elder didn't like this at all. 'Those wounds look brutal and not something an average Qi Refining Realm cultivator can survive.' Looking at the T5 Occupation sash he chalked it up to that.
Out of everything on him, the Sash was by far the most intact item on his persons.
"Student of the Heavenly Theocracy Akademy, Leroy Agu Shentai. I will not be getting up to greet you." He didn't have the strength to get up and was barely holding on still. Considering they had the information most likely no point in hiding it. 'Come on and Refine Faster!'
"He is the student that came to take on this mission." Another Elder of the Unlimited Sect read over a scroll. The list of all those on a Mission or had Commissions that could take them here was quite vast. "Comes from the Continent to the East. Warp Gate to get here and Warp Gate to get back. The Akademy highest Realm is someone at the Soul Severing Realm it says. He is far away from being a real threat against the various Sects, Elder Hiachi."
A basic hint they thought of killing Leroy.
"Hmm not bad overall. Elder Boksun, what do you think of this situation overall?"
"We should ask the dead what happened before it is too late." Eyes glowing purple, a burning corpse walked over toward Elder Boksun. "Tell us what happened!"
Following the Command, the Undead recites the events that took place as it knew. It didn't take long before a picture was painted on the passing events. Not to mention the disciples who were watching from above to frown in disgust.
Offended and disgusted those of the Unlimited Sect showed pity to Leroy and those who died. As for those Sects that raised such shit Cultivators they would deal with them as soon as possible.
"It is a shame that we can not talk more Doctor Leroy, but you have my thanks for taking care of this scourge of cultivators." Elder Boksun gave him a bow and passed over a token. "If you ever find yourself near our Unlimited Sect, let's have a conversation."
"I will try to remember. Here, I was to give this to any member of your sect. Got it from a friend named Mikado." The woman and the others gave their lives for he could get away, he was not a scumbag and keep her item. In his hand, he had the ring given before. Then he pulled out the Teleport Talisman in the other. Leroy gave a forceful smile as the Teleportation Talisman whisked him away. "Be careful, that disgusting Devil Beast mentioned something about Traitors having infiltrated the various Sects!"
The Unlimited Sect knew well that there were traitors. For they had fought against a few of them already. However, they kept it quiet as they did not want to be looked down on for not being able to keep a clean house.
"To have a way of escape but unable to use it until now?" The Grand Elder frowned as he looked at the spot Leroy was at when they first arrived at the spot he inched toward while they were here. "I thought it was just fear but looked to be self-preservation."
"The Escape Talisman was not better than most of ours but it has a range restriction most likely. Possibly cost him something or it might be a danger to his health." Elder Boksun had unsealed the ring and received the instructions from Mikado. "The practice of the Blood Worm, it will be a massacre if they get out."
"Grand Elder!" A disciple shouted running over. "We found a burnt-out Demon Plant Nest!"
It was not that major as the disciples that came here were meant to deal with that. But the urgency on the disciples' face kept them from saying anything so far.
"In the burnt-out nest we found several tunnels! The Scout Division said the tunnels go in every direction! One was found heading back to the direction of the Sect exactly!" The Disciple was not finished. "We found a Spirit Stone Mine bigger than the entire Sect itself!"
The news of the mine was good, however the tunnels part meant that several could find it if not careful. With the traitors in the various sects as well, the various Elders frowned as the problem grew much bigger now.
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Away from that hellhole-
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Crashing into the floor because of how far away he was, the Return Talisman function was off, Leroy threw out the tablet that he designed with hastily drawn inscription patterns on it. Hopefully, it really resembled an artifact good enough. It flared up and exploded in blinding light. The survivors of Port Tundra were thrown out of his Internal Space at the same time to help sell the deception.
"What in the Emperor is this!?" Those on guard were shocked but immediately started to scrabble to help the large population that appeared. "What kind of device was that?"
As an alarm went off, several people came in to keep those of Port Tundra in line and find out what happened. One of the staff spotted Leroy and picked him up. Feeding him a Qi Nourishing Pill and some Amp Flower, Leroy came to.
"Leroy, are you ok enough to speak?" The Gate worker asked.
"Sela.. the..e seal.. the.. area.." He mouthed before passing out.
Not an idiot she did so. The alarm went from a simple one to one that lit up the entire area. Nascent Spoul Realm Cultivators stopped what they were doing and flew in the sky as Formations were used to keep anything from getting out.
"What is going on!?" Tang Ansui came over from the Testing Area. "What happened to him?"
"I do not know, but whatever happen is hard to push back!" She was injecting her Qi into him but it was getting pushed back mostly. "I don't know how this is happening but he said to seal the area before fainting!"
A few Medical Doctors and Alchemists got to work on him but found they were having the same problem.
"He is resisting even in this state. Not much we can do." A Medical Cultivator lifted up the arm and could see the bones themselves were damaged. "This arm might have to be removed at this rate."