Zach's reconnaissance
None of the four captains was left alive,the same applied to all their supporters. Mamba had chosen to show no mercy,as for the two search parties that had returned at noon,they were all bonded in chains,he planned on handing them over to whoever had placed the bloodline seal on one of his bandits as a sign of goodwill.
He had even instructed the bandits to divide their stored resources and materials into two. His plan was simple,he would use the twelve bandits and half of his stores to negotiate for a peaceful coexistence.
As for the twenty-four neutral bandits,he was not willing to part with. They have proved that they could rectify and we're loyal to him,and so he chose to take them under his wing.
The twenty-four would be the foundation on which he was going to establish himself.
Mamba knew well that he was not in a position to rebuild his former power or go after those who wiped them out,and so he opted to start a fresh.
He was going to establish a sect,all he needed was a good territory, time and resources.
The location he was currently in was not conducive,he planned on heading deeper into the forest,where the rank of spirit herbs,of spirit beasts were higher. Also the level of spirit qi was higher than the region they were in. But for him to achieve this,he needed to raise the cultivation of the twenty-four men to atleast the foundation establishment realm and a few core condensation realm,as the central region of the forest,where his previous home was,was inhabited by stronger spirit beast. Foundation establishment realm and core condensation realm were plenty,and it was not rare to come across a nascent soul realm beast.
Zach had contained his aura as he hid in the shadows of the bandits lair. He silently moved from one cabin to another as he accessed the bandits present. There were five high stage,two mid stage and four low stage spirit qi gathering realm bandits.
As for the body forging realm bandits,there were thirty of them,ten were locked up together with the two mid stage spirit qi gathering realm bandits.
Zach also noticed that the bandit chief was nowhere in sight.
A good number of the cabins in the bandits lair were damaged,a clear indication of a battle having taken place not long ago.
"Their numbers are way to low..."
"Did the chief kill all the rebelling bandits?"
Zach wondered as he moved towards the lair hall. He tried to be as silent and discreet as possible but still, someone was watching his his every movement on a tiny silver mirror.
The tiny silver mirror was a mid rank surveillance spirit tool that Mamba had retreived from the ruins.
"Peak stage of foundation establishment realm..."
"Not bad..."
"And his skills in scouting are not that bad..."
Mamba accessed Zach. He was in the basement of the bandit lair hall, healing his wounds and replenishing his spirit qi.
He had opted for the use of the spirit tool as his dantian was low on spirit qi after the battle with the four captains and their supporters.
"Let see what you plan on doing..."
Mamba said as he opted on binding his time,he had an inkling that Zach had more under his sleeve and was probably the one behind the fifth captain's missing squad and the ten search parties disappearance.
For a man to pull out moves like these,he needed strength,and from the low cultivation realm of Zach,he believed that his strength came from numbers.
"I wonder how many cultivators he has under him..."
"Now that I think of it,is he even the leader or just a subordinate..."
Mamba realized that all this time,he had thought of Zach as the leader,but his realization left him in a bad mood.
"If he is just a subordinate at the peak stage of foundation establishment realm,how many others like him are there...?"
"And what about their leader...?"
"How many spirit qi gathering realm cultivators do they have...?"
"And how many of them are above the foundation establishment realm...?"
All these questions made Mamba weary,he had already exhausted enough during the previous battle. He could only hope that these people were reasonable.
Zach left the bandits lair at dawn,he had mapped out the lair,taking notes on their strength and the location of their warehouses,the lair's hall and their hidden vault.
This one was located underground, between the lair's hall and the communal dining shed. The entrance to the vault was located in the communal kitchen pastry.
Zach had only found it during his raid in the pastry for some food,as he had taken none with him and did not fill like hunting. The patrol in the lair was lax, enabling him to pull off his little pastry raid without being noticed.
Having left the bandits lair,he headed east to wait for the arrival of his men.
"He finally left..."
Mamba let out a breath of relief,that he did not know he was holding as he watched Zach leave the lair. Headed for the eastern region.
"I have to be ready for their arrival..."
"From the amount of food he took with him,I estimate they would be attacking tomorrow..
"
"Probably at dawn..."
With that,Mamba silently cultivated as to regain his used up spirit qi. If push came to shove,he was willing to go all out.
Half a kilometer away from the bandits lair,seated on a boulder,was Zach. Three metres from the boulder were formation flags set in a hexagonal layout,and within them was a spirit qi gathering formation. Both of them were low ranked. The hexagonal formation was a triple formation,as it had defensive capabilities, masking capabilities and offensive capabilities. This was one of Zach's original creation. He had combined three different formations into one.
The spirit qi gathering formation was there to increase the amount of spirit qi within the formation,and also provide spirit qi for the hexagonal formation,as both were link.
From outside the hexagonal formation,the area looked similar to before Zach set the formations.
Zach had decided to spend his time cultivating,he was close to breaking through into the core condensation realm. His core was about eighty percent complete,and he deduced that by giving it his all,he would probably breakthrough in two days time. His men had to wait a day at their rendezvous point for him.