"There's fire" Lu Zheng muttered as he stood, watching the burning forest before him.
After taking as many spatial rings as possible, Lu Zheng, Hong Haoyu and Shu Mingling's fingers were all covered with rings.
"People must be fighting in the forest. Why don't we take a detour?" Shu Mingling suggested.
Lu Zheng released his Sea of Consciousness and sent it into the forest. With it, he was able to see what was happening in it.
"Three men are attacking with arrows. They are probably the invaders. I can't find any guards" Lu Zheng said.
"How did you…?" Hong Haoyu was stunned.
"I have a good scouting technique" Lu Zheng quickly replied.
"The three men are all at the Domain Formation realm with one at the second tier.
The rest are at the third tier of Domain Formation realm. We should be able to beat them" Lu Zheng assessed.
"Hmm" Shu Mingling and Hong Haoyu nodded affirmatively before entering the forest.
Like Lu Zheng had said, the three men were at the Domain Formation realm and were skilled at long range fighting and assassination. They easily lost to Lu Zheng's group.
Lu Zheng and the two then continued delving into the forest and they saw the signs of explosions. They also saw the corpses of many of their comrades.
"Those three must have been behind all these. I hope Themur and the others are safe" Lu Zheng said.
"Hopefully" Hong Haoyu said.
…
Inside the vital stone mine, a yellow haired man sat atop a corpse with three vital stones in his hands.
Strong life energy revolved around him as he absorbed the Qi within the vital stones.
"Dun Yong, you were very strong" The man smiled. "But compared to me, Yue Bolin, you are nothing"
The vital stones cracked and turned into powder as the last streams of Qi inside them were absorbed.
"During this raid, most of my subordinates died and only those three brothers survived. I hope the vital stones in their treasure point would cater for my losses" Yue Bolin thought to himself as he entered the treasure point that Lu Zheng and the others had just left.
As he entered, all he saw was a sparse amount of spatial rings. It was obvious that the treasure point had been ransacked.
"Who did this?!" Yue Bolin's aura exploded out of anger. "Oh no! Sun Palace's troops would soon reach here. I must leave now. I have made a huge loss"
Yue Bolin angrily flew out of the vital stone mine towards the seashore. As he flew above the thick forest, he wantonly destroyed the trees in his anger.
Lu Zheng, Hong Haoyu and Shu Mingling that were walking through the forest sensed the wave of attacks behind them and began running at an even faster rate.
"Shit! It seems the leader of the invaders won the invasion" Shu Mingling cussed.
"He must've noticed the lack of vital stones in the treasure point" Lu Zheng said.
"Fuck! Do you think he has noticed us?" Hong Haoyu asked.
"No need to run ants because I've already found you" Yue Bolin said imposingly from afar as if he heard Hong Haoyu's question.
Hong Haoyu's eyes glistened with a sharp light: "You two go on before me, I'll hold him back"
"What are you saying?" Shu Mingling was quick to reply. "That's a Sky realm expert!"
"I know" Hong Haoyu said coolly as he plucked his right eye from his head and crushed it.
The seal that was put in his eyes was destroyed as his aura began to rise.
"What are you…?" Lu Zheng was shocked by the turn of events.
Fresh blood flowed from Hong Haoyu's eye but he didn't flinch from the pain and closed his eyes.
"This aura!" Lu Zheng had a knowing expression. "The Supreme Ice Physique!"
Hong Haoyu's aura didn't stop growing and it soon exceeded the limits of the third tier of Domain Formation realm cultivation base.
Steadily, it approached that of the Sky realm cultivation base.
"This…"