Took over two days to crush the various shrines all over. With only a small increase in the number of Spirits under him. Luckily the material to send through into the Black Gold Vortex was plentiful enough for the production of more Rich Qi.

Rexford stop the number at 50 for Spirits. He didn't want to keep sharing Rich Qi to allow them to grow stronger and he need more information about what was going on in the area of the years.

To many spirits were not forthcoming with even some wanting to kill him and take his body over. So after day 1 of Shrine crushing he developed Soul Search tech further by brutally and crazily using Soul Search on the earthbound spirits.

"Haa, last one." Dropping the near listless soul, Rexford rubbed his temples to soothe it a little. "I really feel incompatible with this tech. Despite increasing his effectiveness. Oh well, time to attack this damn Warlock."

"Grr, you sure this will be enough?" The wolf looked at the remains of the dispersing soul with pity. 'At first, he was quite reasonable but when he got that phone call the soft touch went away. Yet I find I am not too bothered by this side of him.'

The Wolf spirit was still quiet about the mixed memory it has. But like most of the 50 that did what Rexford asked they found themselves wanting to be around his presence more.

"it will have to be. Both Luigi and Cosmo are to exhausted taking care of the Greenbear Tribe. Not going to spend any more money in this venture than I have. Time to hit the Warlock with everything we got now!" As soon as Rexford turned to leave the dirt cavern, since he swallowed everything else up for resources, he was about to sprint off again. "Hmm?"

*Vrrm!* His phone vibrated with a message.

"That device is always going off!" The Wolf with a slight grin as it sprinted forward. "Why have I seen so many humans with them in the last few years?"

Rexford split his attention from refining towards speaking with the Wolf mentally. His other attention was on the message while running back to the Mines.

Msg: The Green Bear Tribe have brought in another tribe to help them. We are about to hit them hard and get back your product. However, those at the Mine said it has gotten quite weird there. Do we send more to go help with the backup from Prescott or stick to the plan.

Reply Msg: Stick to the plan as is.

Tucking his phone away back into his Internal Space, Rexford circulated the Tortured Mind Refing Arts to help calm his nerves. The Warlock had been planning this for years and what he started to piece together was that the Warlock used to be really powerful and was hiding out on Earth.

Lots of lives were lost, but he was going to stop it just to save his profit margin.

'It should be perfectly fine...' Pulling out the gun he took from last week, a few inscription patterns were added on from new information gained during Soul Search. As well as a few experimental pills he made that did not work out. 'Hopefully, I can take him out before I run out of these bad pills.'

Breaching the mine was easy but the moment the duo made it pass the quick-drawn formations from before it went bad. Rexford and the Wolf had to fight various species of ghosts as all the other Spirits he had were sent to penetrate from different locations and also to scout the place for changes.

Thankfully he was able to feed Mana directly into the Spirits to get updates in real-time by using Elemental Body Cultivation. As for fighting, he relied on the Qi from his Qi Condensation VII Stage. Even a little of it in his hands and feet cause the creature extreme pain.

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Confrontation-

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Though it was only minutes of fighting it felt like a fight in a sinking quagmire. But Rexford and the Wolf barely could fight anymore. In such a brief time the situation turned worse with the only good thing being his Warm Gold Qi keeping them alive overall.

"Graaaa!" A growl from one of the Spirit leaders brought a little cheer. They swarmed in like a tide of literal death. Ripping apart the evil spirits and cultists in such a fashion Rexford dared not drop his guard.

"At this point.. I rather blow this place up completely.." He leaned against the wall trying to catch his bearings. A few of the Spirits came over to help guard him and the Wolf. "Thanks for the save."

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The various spirits smiled in return. The very presence helped removed the feeling of being in a Quagmire as well.

Considering he needed time to recuperate, Rexford thought over why that was the case.

'They were here an odd number of years, so a type of resistance for sure. But I changed them by Refining them and supplying them with my Rich Qi. My Rich Qi resists to a great extent and allows me to harm Spirits overall.' Keeping a watchful eye the Spirits continued to cut the enemy down. Sucking them up to throw into the Black Gold Vortex for resources was much needed right now. 'But innately now they are a different species than me.'

As the bodies were churned up and produced a drop of Rich Qi into his Internal Space, Rexford recovered his overall injuries on the spot. The Cultists were quite capable and much better than simple rocks and trees.

A second drop was produced and he immediately flushed to all of his Spirits. The detail of each of them increased with more changes done to the environment like a normal living creature once more.

"Alright.. let's end this evil Shaman and be done with it!" Pushing off the wall, he walked forward accompanied by the Spirits.

The inner area of the Mine was straight out of a horror movie. The deep foreboding atmosphere, a chill coming from nowhere with flickering of candles for illumination.

The earth itself smelt raw and gritty with the tinge of blood somewhat overwhelming. If he never smelt such a thing before, Rexford might have panicked or given in to worse traits of the human psyche.

But the memories taken from the Butcher bolstered him more than his own training. A feral desire that borders on the insane from seeing such blood in the room.

Hanging from the walls were several bodies of animals and people. Long since dead with blood having dripped down below to create a pool. On each of their chests, a strange symbol was visible.

A mark of a Deity from long ago. One that passed with the passage of time was that the Shaman was trying to either Resuerrct or obtain its power for himself.

"You.. have been quite the pain in the side." The Shaman's words carried in the Mine easily despite the fact he turned with a hole in the throat that pulsed with blood. "I had to start killing my own pupils to make up for what was lost."

"You are already dead? Well doesn't that just beat all!" Rexford took a step forward taking a gamble. He started to suck the blood into his Internal Space as it seemed to be a big component of the Ritual taking place. "Supplementing their life with your own, very evil in most Circles of Magic."

"They always frown on what they don't understand. You don't seem to bother by it." The Warlock was intrigued until he felt the change in the Ritual. "It is too late child, the Ritual is already complete and just needs time."

Of course, he did not listen as that would be pretty dumb. he sped up taking in the blood and pushed the Black Gold Vortex to suck it all in. No point in passing over the rich Mana mixed inside it for himself.

"Yah know, if you just flee and never mess with my property ever again we could call this quits." Rexford took a step forward sending some Qi through a few of the inscribed symbols under the pool of blood. 'So much of this stuff it is taking forever to take away!'

"If you would have came asking on hands and knees, I could do such a thing. But no need." The Warlock was waiting for the Ritual to finish but felt it was taking too long. Not to mention the various Spirits that circled around. "You think these weak creatures can stop me?"

"I do not think, I know they can!" With that, Rexford and the Spirits attacked. Seeing the Spells wielded so wildly, the Warlock definitely game some power already from what happened. 'Didn't think my first Battelmage fight would take place like this! Hopefully, it goes better than the one against the Greenbear Tribe!'

Bolts of blood and bone weaved through the air bombarding the spirits that acted like a shield for the stronger ones. Two spirits of squirrels launched out of the explosion of mana. Jumping onto the Warlock's face then clawing and biting at his throat one that tried to heal.

As this fight kicked off, the others that dealt with the Greenbear Tribe had their problem come to its conclusion.

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Does higher up getting involved-

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Cassandra and Luigi stood across from those who stole the creature from the camp. With he admission and investigation already done they couldn't do much else. The police of the Supernatural side were on the side of the Tribe folk.

'Is this what my grandfather had to deal with this entire time?' Cassandra was taken back and by the looks of the situation, it was not going to get better anytime soon. 'I am not a fan of bribing and that ill lot, Rexford is just going to have to take a loss this time. This does not bode well for the future.'

"AS for the death of the tribesman, nothing can be done about that. We do hope you can return the body though." The officer asked peacefully. But they shook their heads that was not gonna happen. "I understand the dispute got difficult but these people.."

"These people trespassed and stole from someone who wanted nothing to do with them. If they wanted the Mine they should have gone through the legal trouble involved with it, but no!" Luigi's face turned vicious while looking at them. "They waited until after someone else took care of the dirty work and moved in to gain benefits!"

"His body belongs with his family!" A young tribe member shouted out.

"His body has already been disposed of, and to the victor goes the spoils!" Walker Prescott was pissed as he really wanted to buy the creature but their gathering of people took to long and they couldn't wage a battle so openly once the police were involved. "The person you stole from was quite angry and by my little understanding I assure you this won't end easily!"

"Be that as it may, unless you plan on breaking the law this will end here and now." The officer said. His eyes narrowed as he felt a strong force coming into the area. Someone much stronger than him had arrived. "It's the feds!"

Surprised the officer didn't think it would go to such a high profile case. Only thing on his side was that he finished the case and this was just the aftermath. As far as the body of the creature went, the tribe folk had technical ownership as it was one of their Ancestors.