After another two days travel, the convoy finally reached Sadasun Point. Surprisingly, they were still at the peripheries of Hanging Forest.
Sadasun Point was like a giant circle road, with a large stone monument at the center. The stone monument looked something similar to a large chair, with a broad, square raised seat, a very tall back, and two wide arm-rests curling outwards. A seven leafed pattern was carved into the back of the chair.
As Uncle Yaoi said, this seat had always been there, probably a remnant of some old civilization. No one knew clearly what was the purpose of this gigantic monument. Some thought it had probably been the seat for an emperor or priest. Some believed it was actually a portal or some sort.
No matter what, the remnants of this seat, along with the large circular stone floor on which it stood was in a dilapidated condition. Large and small cracks had formed on the floor and stone seat, spreading outwards like webs. Yet despite the numerous cracks, not a single chip of stone had dislodged from their original placement.
From this point, many small and wide paths separated out, moving towards the interior of the forest. The Convoy decided on separating, and taking the five widest paths. All of these five paths led straight through the Hanging Forest, and reached the exit at Uni Prefecture.
So the 500 something cultivators separated into larger groups of about 100, and made their way into the forest.
Throughout the journey, Rihanna had maintained a constant distance from Zenoba's group. This way she could not only keep refilling her energy into Su Matsao, Wen Haoli, Ganombi and the others, but also keep an eye on Zenoba. Peeking at him, she was sure that he was going to set his plan in motion once they moved a bit more inwards. In their entire journey to Abarone-Tengai, this place was the closest point to Beyi, as the forest would now start curving in another direction to move towards Uni.
Moreover, with the lesser number of people, it would be easier for him to take action without being evident.
Rihanna sent a silent glance towards Artreya and Uncle Yaoi. Both had been informed before. Now seeing her gesture, they both straightened their backs. They were going to act before Zenoba got a chance to put his plan into action.
These paths led through dense overgrowth of bushes and shrubs and plants sprouting lavishly amidst the root-pillars. Many precious medicinal herbs and plants were scattered around randomly. It was difficult to control these teams of lone cultivators from foraging these precious materials as they moved through the forest.
As such, the leaders of the group merely told the smaller teams to stay close to the main group. If anything happened to these small teams acting individually, it was not the responsibility of the group.
The three of them gradually started separating from the larger group on the pretext of foraging. With so many smaller groups acting in the same way, no one could say they were acting differently. Especially when Rihanna and Artreya showed so much of excitement and curiosity for all the things they were foraging. Uncle Yaoi seemed to be guiding them, patiently explaining the attributes of the various plants and herbs they collected.
As they kept moving away, Zenoba too slowly started moving away from the main group. He had previously anticipated that they might get carried away after entering the forest. After all, a girl who had never left her home for more than 10 years, after coming out into the unknown world, would surely be enticed by the amazing things surrounding her.
Trying to fit in with the mood of the surrounding people, he gestured for his disciples to casually follow behind the three, while maintaining a distance. Gradually the two teams moved further and further away from the main group, seemingly engrossed in their passion of foraging.
Rihanna glanced around casually to check how far they had already come from the group. Then she sent out her sensory perception towards the way they were currently progressing. They needed to be sure that there were no large beasts on that path. They couldn't afford being attacked by a high grade beast as she was dealing with this group of people.
After making sure, she gestured towards Uncle Yaoi, then excitedly moved forward, dragging Artreya with her. To Zenoba and his team, it looked like Uncle Yaoi was busy with a certain plant he had found within a thick growth of bushes, and had lost track of the two kids who had continued moving deeper in their excitement.
"You follow them. Take the others with you. Be careful. The boy is almost as strong as you. And the girl probably has some hidden tool. Stay hidden and move in a circle around them. Ambush them to catch them off-guard. Don't let the girl activate that tool of hers. Let the others handle the boy till you have the girl in control. I will wait here to stop this guy from following behind."
Ganombi nodded his head quietly to show he understood the command, then gestured to the rest of the disciples to follow him. Without a single sound, the whole group swiftly followed the two, disappearing from the sight of the main group.
Unknown to all of them, Uncle Yaoi secretly glanced from the corner or his eyes, pursing his lips tightly. At least the man had not followed them. He could only hope that the two kids would be able to handle so many of those people who had gone after them.
After moving for a while, Rihanna and Artreya hid their aura using the aura-hiding potion, and hid amidst the thick root-pillars of the hanging trees. Rihanna sent out her sensory perception, trying to locate the movements of the nine people and Ganombi.
'Phantasm, when I give you the signal, lend me your illusion energy.'
The ten people had formed a circle around them, and were moving in from different directions. Soon, the ten people came into their view. And all of them looked confused.
"What.....where are they? I sensed their energy coming from here just now!"
"Did they move in a different direction? Check for their energy in the other directions."
"We came from that direction, and there is no trace of them that way."
"I am telling you, the last trace of their energy is here. They must have hidden around this place."
Ganombi was silent, looking around with a deep frown. His eyes narrowed as the frown grew deeper.
"It seems they have found us out. Impressive. They could sense us even though we hid our aura? It seems either the boy has special abilities or they have some sort of a tool."
"If the boy has special abilities, then we should take him back with us. He could be useful back in the sect!"
"And if it is a tool, of course it would belong to us....I mean, you....you should be the one with such a useful tool!"
Like it or not, Ganombi was the strongest of the ten of them. The Master often gave them small tasks only because they were close to Ganombi. So it was natural that they needed to keep Ganombi happy. These small tasks were not given out to all, and ensured a good amount of resources over their normal monthly resource pack given by the sect.
'Now.'
Invisible to the senses of all ten, a light stream of gray energy, wrapped in purple energy rapidly spread out around them. And before they could sense it, the gray energy had buried itself into the minds of the ten people. Before the ten people could realize what had happened, they felt a dullness invading their mind, and the entire scenario before them changed drastically.
It didn't take an intellectual to realize that they were all caught in a illusion. However, the grasp of this illusion seemed especially strong, and they couldn't figure out what sort of an illusion barrier they had triggered. Moreover, the illusion had captured them into separate spaces, and they could no longer even feel the aura of any of their fellow companions.
This was a special illusion of Phantasm. This was very effective when the illusion energy was directly inserted into the mind of the person. It grasped the mind tightly, and could keep the person in its grasp for a very, very long time. Perhaps even forever. It was very difficult coming out of this type of illusion which directly manipulated your mind, playing with your memories and nightmares and desires.
However, Rihanna did not plan on putting Ganombi in a mind illusion. Thus very soon Ganombi found the web of illusion around him falling apart. However, when he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see all of his fellow disciples stuck in their places. They stood frozen in their places like statues. The raised feet, pointing fingers, wide open eyes, half-closed mouth....everything was frozen in time. Their mind and souls were stuck within these scarily frozen bodies.
But before he could check on them, a sudden and sharp pain attacked his mind. He winced under the shooting pain, which seemed to e tearing into his mind. Unable to focus on anything else, he stumbled around, trying to grasp anything within his reach to stabilize his body.
This pain seemed slightly familiar.....this was like the few times his Master had tried to enter into his mind! Though he had been unwilling, he had had to give in to his Master's orders. And due to his unwillingness, every time his Master had tried to enter his mind, a sharp pain had caused him to lose his consciousness.
But who was it this time? Master had not followed them....so who else had this same power of entering his mind?!
His thoughts slowly started turning chaotic, and the pain was burning through his brain, like a thousand hammers pounding on every nerve inside. Gradually his thoughts floated away, and his senses started dispersing into an abyss of darkness. Unable to hold himself any longer, Ganombi fell down heavily. He neither had control over his body, nor did he have any control over his mind.
Artreya stepped forward, cautiously keeping a distance as he watched over the man fallen on the ground. He wasn't sure if Rihanna would be able to succeed. He was not very comfortable with this plan Rihanna had come up with. It put her in too much danger.
After a short while, Ganombi opened his eyes again, blinking to adjust to the dim light around them. Then he slowly turned his eyes to stare at Artreya, who was staring back in suspicion. Then he suddenly grinned widely.
"Success! Stop hunching down, and get to the next part. Make sure the injury in deep, but not too grave. He needs to be able to return back to his Master before losing consciousness."
Artreya sighed in relief. Rihanna had planned this for a long time. The energy she had inserted into Ganombi's mind that night had been special. For a short while, she could not only enter, but also completely control his mind and body. However, they didn't have a lot of time.
Artreya heaved a deep breath and stood up, walking closer to Ganombi's body. He was responsible for the next part of the plan, and he needed to make sure everything went without a hitch.