Is That A Wisp?

"Careful... Steady!" The leader of the Spirit Aberrations shouted as he pulled the reins of the Zenith Plugger, making it take flight at every interval to fly over the paths that had caved in. 

The Zenith Plugger wasn't making use of its body as efficiently, making a lot of mistakes that exhausted it faster than usual. Its wings were already trembling after quite some time, giving off the feeling that they wouldn't last any longer. Nevertheless, the leader of the Spirit Aberrations controlled it, forcing it to run without stopping.

The Zenith Plugger limped at times due to its foot being injured. Unfortunately, the Spirit Aberrations in human form on its back were unable to defend against all the falling boulders, even though all of them were huddled in the same place. That showed just how weak they were in their human forms.

"Once I devour her, our situation will definitely improve drastically," The Spirit Aberration leader snorted as it said, making the Zenith Plugger run nonstop. At times, the Zenith Plugger would wail in pain, but despite everything, it had no choice but to run, even if it meant crippling itself.

Though they were weak, they weren't helpless. They had accumulated a lot of abilities to help out in their situation. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to live for so long in the dangerous God Realm where old races would die, and new races would emerge constantly. 

"Those items are from Trivar's caravan. Pick up some of them." The leader motioned at some items scattered across the path. In response, one of the Spirit Aberrations landed on the path before running forward at speeds greater than the Zenith Plugger. It then grabbed the items before returning to its back, handing them over to a Spirit Aberration that was tracking Trivar's caravan.

"This would help us locate them faster." He smiled as he said before continuing his chase.

…

The Pitlook Merchant Caravan headed into a large flat pit on the ground—one situated 10 meters underground—and proceeded to travel without breaks, officially entering the Immortal Severance Zone.

At the very moment they entered, everyone in the caravan, including Krune, let out a grunt, feeling the limitation imposed on them become stronger. Right now, unless they left the place, their cultivation would be limited to the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm.

Not only that, but Krune noticed that the range of his Divine Sense, Godly Energy reserves, and physical body strength had changed as well. All had regressed to the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. The most shocking fact was regarding the Godly Energy flowing in his Godly Meridians. 

He thought that even if his cultivation was suppressed, the Godly Energy in his body would remain the same. But as it turned out, even its quantity was suppressed to the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. This was pretty alarming. 

On top of that, another frightful matter was how his Mental Energy Scan had become slower in the area. It wasn't adversely suppressed like Godly Energy. Its range and functionality remained the same as before. But compared to before entering the area, it felt like a tortoise. 

'Maybe it's because the concentration of the Suppression Law here is so dense that it can even affect my Mental Energy. I see... it just suppresses everything, regardless of whatever it is. Mental Energy is no different. It's probably because it's unique and something the laws of the God Realm hadn't probably encountered before. That's why the suppression effect on it is minimal.' Krune thought to himself, offering a hypothesis to the situation that he felt made sense. 

He then noticed how the speed of the caravan had slowed down considerably as the Zenith Pluggers were feeling some difficulty in pulling them. Thankfully, two of them were attached to each carriage, reducing the burden on each Zenith Plugger. That was why they could continue pulling their respective carriages. 

The ground was plain, barely layered with thin topsoil. It was mostly flat, hardened ground, allowing an easier travel. The depth of the pit from the ground level steadily increased as the surroundings grew darker.

The caravan passed by some rock pillars along the way, unhindered as they numbered few and far between. Among them was a series of rock pillars, placed parallel to one another, separated by a distance of 100 meters.

The caravan soon entered this section, continuing to move past as the mercenaries were on high alert, including Xula, who was dissatisfied with the entire situation. Once the caravan had disappeared from view, a large crowd emerged from a rock pillar at the front.

They huddled at the top of the rock pillar, eerily gazing at the back of the caravan. Their cultivation, just like the ones on the caravan, was also at the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm, but their auras reeked with a bloodthirsty scent. Their figures were of all sizes, mostly emitting the auras of various demon beasts in human form.

Among them, a stout man appeared atop the rock pillar, holding a great sword using his mouth as he gazed at the caravan that had moved a fair distance away. "Are they loaded?"

"When they entered the Immortal Severance Zone, the suppression effect caused the formation on their carriages to fluctuate. I inspected them using that chance…" answered a demon beast in human form, looking no different from a human baby in appearance, currently seated on the man's shoulder. "Boss, they're loaded. The carriages are filled with useless goods, but the ones in their storage rings are probably the real deal. They're superior quality."

"Boss Whack, please spare me. I already gave you all my belongings." The pleading voice of a cultivator resounded from behind as his pummelled figure landed on the ground. He wriggled, trying to get up, only for him to fail as his limbs had been twisted beyond measure. He was just gritting through sheer desire to live.

"Sure." Whack smiled in response, motioning for his underlings to set the cultivator free. Unfortunately, it was of no use. His limbs were twisted. He also lacked Godly Energy to use, having been drained of everything in his previous conflict.

He was placed at the foot of the rock pillar, unharmed as the bandit group moved away. Upon seeing their backs, the cultivator was relieved that he was alive, and they hadn't gone back on their words. But this thought soon disappeared as he felt utter despair.

He was unable to move, nor did he have any belongings with him. He was left to starve to death in the place he was in. It was even more cruel and vicious than going back on their words and killing him. The cultivator cursed the bandit boss, Whack, for a long time until his voice turned hoarse, gradually becoming faint. The sounds of sobbing continued after that.

"Boss Whack, we're ready to ambush. They would have to stop at the blockade we've set up. Before they finish making a path, we would arrive at that area," one of the bandit underlings uttered, turning into a four-legged demon beast. It looked like a mix between a horse and a reptile, suitable for a person to ride on its back.

The baby cultivator on Whack's shoulder cackled as it replied, "It's been a long time since we've gotten such nice prey. Ahh, that time when I ripped and devoured the flesh of a God Trial Realm cultivator, that was pure ecstasy. I need some high-quality prey! I need it! I need it!"

"Let's make do with what we have now, Hack." Whack patted the baby's head, seating himself on the four-legged demon beast, motioning for it to give chase. Whack then shouted, "We've got another prey, idiots!"

"Yeah!" Hundreds of bandits then followed after Whack on their respective demon beasts, their appearances similar to the one Whack rode on. The ground thumped at their rhythmic running as the bandit group moved. 

Peering through a telescope was a tall lady, looking like she was from the same demon beast race as Xula. She noticed the movements of Whack's bandit group, shouting at her group in response, "It seems Whack has managed to find some really good prey this time. Let's grab them first before they can."

"Yeah!" Followed by raucous cheers, her bandit groups too gave chase. 

Seated in the carriage's balcony, Krune felt his heart thump faster and faster all of a sudden as he felt a trace of the Calamity Laws for an instant. With that, he sprang to his feet in shock, alerting the Silver-Winged Mouse couple.

Krune looked around, failing to find anything apart from the rock pillars that occasionally appeared. The place was eerily quiet, except for the sounds of the Zenith Pluggers running. Krune was unable to see any signs of activity, but he could feel the thumping of his heart intensify.

"Get ready, guys. Something bad is about to happen," Krune frowned as he warned them. He then climbed up the carriage with a bit of help from Vardin before dashing towards the end of the caravan, jumping on the balcony of the carriage where Xula was staying with her team.

The four mercenary teams were arranged in sequential order. The strongest of the Mercenary Teams, the E Rank Mercenary Team, Ink Sword, was stationed next to the first carriage where Trivar stayed. Ink Sword had a total of 10 mercenaries, two of which were in the God Core Realm while the rest were in the Eighth and Ninth Stage of the God Foundation Realm. 

It was followed by the F Rank Mercenary Team, Razor Claw that had four mercenaries. Their leader, Zactuc, was in the Ninth Stage of the God Foundation Realm, while the rest of his members ranged from Seventh to Eighth Stage of the God Foundation Realm. 

The third one was Krune's Mercenary Team, Winged Wasps, while the last team was Xula's Mercenary team, Plotted Heels. They consisted of five members, all of which were at the Ninth Stage of the God Foundation Realm. 

"Krune?" Xula frowned, slightly surprised as she noticed Krune jump into her balcony. She had no reason to despise him now, especially after seeing his competence in the Falling Boulders Precipice. The five carriages he protected remained unharmed until the end. Sure, it did suffer some damage, but it wasn't beyond repair.

Just that alone made him worthy of respect in her mind. Xula gazed at Krune, seeing his team members jump into the balcony after him before asking, "Did something happen?"

"Don't scatter, no matter the reason," Krune nodded as he warned her. "I have a feeling that something terrible's going to happen. My senses are sharper than the rest, so I can feel it in advance. It's best to stay as a group and act accordingly."

He then transmitted a message to her mind, "Seeing Trivar's expression at the loss of goods, they shouldn't have been expensive. No merchant would behave so nonchalant at losing three-fourths of his goods. I think most of the carriages are filled with dummy goods."

"So, you feel the same, then," Xula nodded as she said in response. "To be honest with you, I also felt something was off from the start. I don't understand what Trivar's even planning at this point."