Is That A Wisp?

Yuric stared at Whack, intending to unsheathe his sword as his right hand held the hilt. He had only unsheathed it halfway when a hilt hit the back of his hand, stopping him from fully unsheathing his sword. The speed and expertise behind the action shocked him for a moment as Yuric lifted his head, staring at the greatsword Whack held. 

Whack used its hilt to stop Yuric from fully unsheathing his sword. 

"Fine." Not even a second had passed as Yuric's right leg shot forth, arcing as it aimed to hit Whack's head. Unfortunately for him, it didn't land on the target, being stopped by Hack instead. He had only used one hand to stop Yuric's attack.

"Being arrogant always leads to an early demise," Hack cackled as he said, hastily increasing the strength in his hand as his fingers dug into Yuric's leg, drawing out some blood. 

"My turn." Whack laughed, sending a straight punch right at Yuric's face, noticing that his attack only hit the air. Yuric made use of Hack's hold over his leg to lift his body up and twist himself, using the spin to unsheathe his sword and slash out at Whack.

"You're quite strong," Whack mocked, using his gauntlet to shield himself from the sword slash. "But that's all."

Hack soon opened his mouth and spat out a fireball that slammed into Yuric, throwing his body back. Hack didn't let go of his hold over Yuric's leg, watching the fireball push his upper body forward, causing slight strain in his joints as the impact stretched him.

Not long after, he then spat out another fireball towards Yuric when Whack swung his greatsword, severing Yuric's right leg. The momentum from the fireball impact sent him flying for more than 10 meters, resulting in Yuric's body being charred black.

"And with that..." Whack smirked. "Your strongest fighter just died. He wasn't anything special, just like everyone that died to date."

He then directed his gaze towards Hwalian before taunting him. "Aren't you the second strongest in this caravan? Fight me if you dare."

Hwalian stared at him without responding, slowly unsheathing his blade. He then entered a battle-ready stance. 

"That's it?" Krune was shocked, wondering if he had missed something. Yuric went down way too fast. Krune was unable to detect any signs of life in Yuric's charred corpse. He frowned, inquiring Xula, "What…just happened?"

Xula didn't reply to him, gazing at the Boss Bandit before them—Zuna. She stared at her as her eyes widened in shock, though it soon morphed into that of sadness as she muttered, "…Zuna."

"It's a surprise seeing you here, Xula." Zuna smiled, a stark contrast from Xula. She motioned for her followers to begin attacking. Followed by raucous cheers, the 400 bandits behind her rushed towards the caravan members, immediately engaging in a fight. 

"Why…did you leave our clan?" Xula frowned as she asked. "You were close to becoming an immortal."

The two tall ladies faced each other. The emotions between them were quite complicated. Zuna sighed as she replied, "The clan elders were pressuring me too much. I didn't have confidence in surviving the heavenly tribulation. I just…had too many lingering attachments. Plus, I wasn't well-prepared yet."

"But..." Xula shouted in response, "You were at the peak of the Nascent God Stage. Even if you didn't become an immortal, you were still a powerhouse. Why leave your authority and enter this place? You can no longer be one of the strong now even if you leave this place."

"I don't have a plan to leave this place, though," Zuna smiled as she responded. "Even powerful immortals are no different from us here."

"Also…" Her eyes emitted tremendous hatred as she continued, "I've killed quite a few immortals that our clan revered. Without their cultivation, they aren't anything impressive. They're just fat pigs that have consumed a country's worth of resources to get to that point."

Zuna took a quick glance at the group behind Xula, saying after a light sigh, "Just leave this place. Your caravan doesn't have enough strength to face us. I promise we won't pursue you."

Xula hesitated for a bit, taking a quick look at the ongoing fight behind her as she noticed the caravan members putting up an even fight against the bandits. There didn't seem to be much of a difference between the two parties. 

Then again, as long as nothing changed, the situation would become worse for the caravan members. After all, they only numbered 500, while the two bandit groups consisted of 700 cultivators. This difference was enough to grind away at them.

As Xula pondered over her decision, a blade flew towards her. Just when it was about to slam into her, a shield blocked it as Krune shouted, "Don't you notice? She's been lying to you all this time!"

Xula's eyes widened as she gazed at Zuna, surprised to notice her expression of ridicule. "You…were lying?"

"I didn't lie, to be honest with you," Zuna inched closer, pulling out a hammer from her storage ring, "Though I wasn't telling you the entire truth either."

"What…do you mean?"

"I just escaped from my clan," she laughed as she replied. "Because it was suffocating to cultivate all day. I've been doing that ever since I was young and got fed up with it. Also, to the clan that restricted me this long, I bear no good feelings towards them. That includes you as well."

"Fine, then," Xula's expression hardened as she attacked immediately, sending Zuna flying. She then leaped into the air, expressing her fury as she hacked a bandit into two. Her sword was as tall as her, spanning 3 meters. It made her wide swings brim with enough power to cleave her opponents into two. 

Zuna got up and dusted herself, uttering, "You're quite strong. But, something of this level is not enough to defeat me."

The two tall ladies then clashed with each other, exchanging numerous attacks that always targeted the vitals of the other. Xula's team soon engaged with the bandits, forming a protective circle to prevent them from sneaking up behind Xula.

"Krune, should we stay here in the meantime?" Vardin transmitted the message into Krune's head. 

"Hmm..." Krune frowned as he pondered, hesitating whether to abandon ship or not. As long as the caravan had a chance of making it through, he didn't wish to leave it. After all, he didn't know the route. With that, he didn't want to get lost in the Immortal Severance Zone long enough to the point his cultivation was permanently stuck at the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. 

On top of that, even after escaping from here, if they came across another bandit group, their situation would become something impossible to escape from. They had limited strength and stamina at the First Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. It went without saying that they couldn't fight for long before they exhausted themselves.

Krune had to be wise with his decisions. At present, Krune only held two shields in his hands, flailing them around to defend against the bandits. He didn't wish to expend any Godly Energy for the time being. In other words, he was passively defending. 

"Bro, we're just poor mercenaries who were hired for minimum wage. We have no worth." While fighting, Krune transmitted such messages to the bandits, causing some of them to show looks of pity at him before targeting someone else. 

As for the Silver-Winged Mouse couple, they were even better than Krune in acting pitiful. In their case, some of the bandits actually gave them a couple of Rank One God Stones and patted them on the shoulder before moving onto a different target.

Krune then noticed a faint fluctuation of Godly Energy permeate through the air. At first, he thought it was a result of all the clashes between the bandits and the caravan members. But as he concentrated on it, he soon noticed a faint issue.

The Godly Energy had disguised itself as the excess emissions from all the abilities the warring cultivators had used. But, in actuality, the moment he probed it, Krune noticed the similarity. It was an energy he had felt for the second time. The culprit was Tina, Trivar's daughter.

"Just stay beside me. Tina's attempting something." The moment he conveyed the message, Vardin and Diana stuck to him like glue. Krune used his Mental Energy to wrap around the three of them, shielding themselves from the Godly Energy.

The moment he did so, Krune then sensed something strange. He had actually been thinking about staying behind all along. He wasn't someone reckless, and since he had already formulated an escape plan with the Silver-Winged Mouse couple, it was strange that they hadn't left as is. The situation was already pretty dangerous. Plus, at the very moment a third bandit group arrived, their lives were pretty much done for.

All this time, his thoughts were subtly influenced by Tina. Vardin and Diana, as well, realized the changes in their thought process. In that instant, cold sweat drenched their backs. 

"Aaaaa!" Hack's bloodthirsty scream resounded as his body melted, starting from the hand that had been holding Yuric's leg and his stomach. It seemed that he had been unable to resist devouring Yuric's leg after severing it.

But at the very moment he did so, he felt his entire body burning up. Hack stared in fear at the charred corpse of Yuric as he stammered, "Y-You aren't a normal cultivator! You have...have a…Spiritual Incarnation!"

Without hesitation, Whack grabbed hold of Hack's head and threw him far away. The moment Hack slammed into the ground, his body dissolved into a puddle. 

"Bastard!" Whack cursed, watching Yuric's charred body slowly get up. Then, as if nothing had happened, his appearance returned to normal. Yuric smiled as he asked, "Shall we start with round two?"

"Don't worry, I won't use my Spiritual Incarnation against you," Yuric laughed as he uttered, imitating Hack's laughter. "Only against you, that is."

"Land Incarnation!" he shouted, causing his body to shine with a murky green radiance. A fluctuation of Godly Energy wafted from him before the land changed. The hard ground melted and turned into a swamp. Hot fumes arose as bubbles formed and burst along its surface continuously.

The rock pillars melted and slowly sunk into the swamp. The same went for the bandits that had been fighting against the caravan members. As for the caravan members, the ground hardened anywhere they stepped foot upon, allowing them to move without suffering from any damage. 

"Let's see..." Yuric looked around before saying, "You have 300 bandits under your command, right? I'll give you 30 seconds, then. For every second, I'll kill 10 of them. If you don't wish to see them dead, you'll have to kill me."

"Now, come!" Yuric unsheathed his sword, winking at Whack as a massive jaw emerged from the swamp and clamped upon exactly 10 bandits before retreating into the ground.