With the power of his newly upgraded system, especially the Unity Attribute that encompasses his Mind, Heart, and Soul, it effectively manages these aspects; as a result, his control over the Dao Heart has become precise. With every attack, the aura of the Dao Heart penetrates directly through its essence, causing significant damage. Unlike last time, when he needed an entire day of nonstop attacks to destroy it, he now only requires an hour before it stops recovering and turns to dust.
Ding!
[You have earned: 1,000 system points.]
Others of his clanmates cheered after seeing that the monster was now gone. Hengsheng sighed with relief, even though the monster couldn't do anything to him. However, its aura really made him uncomfortable. He couldn't feel the monster cultivation realm at all. The monster also had an unusual imbalance since its attack power and speed were so potent, but its defense was that of a mortal. He really wanted to know where the abomination came from. He was sure it was definitely not a normal demon beast.
He turned to one of his clanmates—the one who had led him here—but noticed that another guard was missing. "You, where is your friend who guards the cave entrance with you?" he demanded.
The man, who had previously cheered at the monster's death, immediately turned to sadness and replied, "Brother Hengsheng, Lan FengYi is dead. He was eaten by this demon just a while ago."
Hengsheng frowned and asked, "How many have we lost?"
The man looked up, trying to recall the events. His hesitation confirmed to Hengsheng that the losses would be significant. Finally, he answered, "Fifteen? I couldn't count exactly how many brothers and sisters we lost there outside. I even saw someone being thrown down from the mountain by the demon. I have to check on him first—has he died yet?" At Hengsheng's urging, the man hurried off to check on that individual.
Hengsheng's expression was serious; he did not expect disaster to be confined solely to their group. "Who, drag this monster here and bring them to me!" he shouted.
In the middle of the clanmate group, Hengsheng noticed that a group of five—both boys and girls—stepped forward, trembling with guilt. Hengsheng immediately noticed them and gestured for them to come closer. Other clanmates recalled the entire event and seemed angry at these five for having brought the demon here; Hengsheng shook his head and ordered, "Everyone else, go clean up and collect the dead bodies. We will give them a proper funeral now!" With that command, the others hurried to the entrance of the cave to clear up the mess.
Only Hengsheng and the five who had just returned remained. They appeared to expect punishment for bringing danger to the clan, but Hengsheng would not do that. He turned to them, his eyes narrowing as he surveyed the group of five clan members, his voice firm yet laced with concern "Explain yourselves—what exactly happened? How did this monster come after your group?"
One of the girls in this group, who seems to be the senior among them, answered his question with a trembling voice, "Big brother Hengsheng, we didn't mean to bring this monster to endanger our clan, but… we are out of options. We've been chased by this monster nonstop for a month," she began to tear up as she continued to speak.
"At first, our group had ten brothers and sisters traveling in the secret land for two years. We found many opportunities, and a month ago, we decided to come back here for a safe place to break through. But on the way back, we encountered a group of people dressed in black, covering their entire bodies to the point where their faces or genders are unknown, performing some kind of creepy ritual in the middle of nowhere."
She continues, "I don't remember seeing this group when we were at the entrance of the secret land. We didn't want to get involved and tried to leave quietly, but their ritual seemed to be over before we left. Then, a dozen of the monsters similar to the one that attacked us crawled out from the ground and started to kill everything that moved immediately. Before I knew it, a group of people in black had already vanished, and one of the monsters noticed us and then chased us all the way here. We lost half of the brothers and sisters in our group when we tried to kill it, but it didn't die, so we came back here only to ask for help! We are not intent on causing this tragedy!"
After she finished her story, she began to cry, and others tried to comfort her. Hengsheng frowned, realizing it was a group of people who had caused this monster to appear. Why are they doing that? In the land of the overlord, what kind of death wish is this, or was it the overlord themselves doing this? Was it to eliminate the younger generation of the other force? Hengsheng shook his head, recalling what the First Elder had told him about the overlord. There was no need for such a disgraceful act; they were already strong enough to suppress everyone head-on.
"You all go help others clean up the mess and prepare for the funeral," they nod and leave. Hengsheng also has to do his part. The formation at the entrance appeared damaged from the monster attack. He finds a corner of the cave and sits down, taking out materials for the basic hidden formation array to craft a new flag array.
He did not take long to craft a new flag array in the past two years. Not only did he treasure hunt and cultivate, but he also practiced the basic profession skills he acquired from the Golden City. He practiced until he was completely proficient in the basic skills of three professions. The basic hidden formation was just a rank 1 formation, so it was not hard for him to create it alone.
He went to the entrance and saw others now almost done cleaning up. At the side of the cave entrance, there were many deformed bodies lying on the ground. He saw only seven bodies intact; it seemed that the other bodies were being eaten by the monster.
He does not waste time setting up the formation array precisely and quickly. He gestures his hand for a second and sends the flag array floating into the right position. When glowing with and forming a Qi pattern after a while, it slowly disappears along with the cave entrance. The new hidden formation is complete.
After cleaning up all the mess, we finally know that 19 of his clanmates died by this monster attack, including the five that died before even reaching Lan clan base; the funeral was as simple as the one where the body is kept intact in a space ring to be properly buried in the clan area. For those that are not good to look at, we burn the remains and collect the ashes in a chamber pot. In the last case, where nothing remains, we find their belongings and return them to their family. It was just a ritual back in the clan; their family might already know their child is gone since their soul lamp is extinguished.
When everything ended, he ordered everyone to enter the cave and not come out for a while since another monster might be out there. Once he saw everyone had gone back inside to the cave, Hengsheng's face turned dark because, while he was presiding over the funeral, his divine sense noticed someone in the endless forest below trying to peek at them from very far away. He might not have noticed this without the wide range of his super divine sense. He wanted to know who they were and what their intentions were. He took one step and then disappeared from the rocky mountain silently.
On the west side of the endless forest, a group of four people dressed in black and carrying swords at their waists moved through the endless forest at high speed yet surprisingly remained silent. No sound came from their footsteps. After traveling a long distance from the rocky mountain, they began to slow down and eventually stopped to rest. One of them broke the silence. "We were surprised to find the Lan clan hideout."
"I told you! The group that ran away from the God spawn. They are wearing black and green dresses, which are Lan clan costumes. If we kill them all at that time, then we might not find their hideout, especially the one acting all high and mighty among those black water bumkin; that must be Lan Hengsheng, whom Senior Brother Wei asked everyone to look for."
"We really have a jackpot this time. This Lan Hengsheng bounty is high. If I remember correctly, the senior brother said 50,000 low-rank spirit stones!"
"What! That much! Even if we split it, it would still be worth more than 10 years of sect wage!"
"What a poor bastard if he didn't dare to humiliate those weak asses of our sect. He wouldn't have had to die so miserably at the hands of Senior Wei. I still remember a young man from a merchant family who dared to obstruct him from taking some women. That guy's end was so horrible, including his entire family being sold as slaves."
"What do you think senior brother gonna do with him then? I think he properly destroys his cultivation and makes him crippled for life"
"That was so basic. I think from senior brother Wei's standard, he properly forces this guy to eat his clanmate's dead body"
"Awe.. that Disgusting, hahaha…!…!", "Hahaha", "..."
Unbeknownst to them, a dozen miles away, a pair of eyes is watching them from the forest's darkness. Judging by the eyes' reaction, it seems the owner of those eyes can hear what they are discussing.