Honestly? It was a bit disappointing. It was true that since they came into enemy territory, they wouldn't bring all their resources, but even then, it seemed like not much. In the two Qi Building Spirit beasts' storage bags, Baotian and Zi Moyan found a total of one thousand spirit stones, a ridiculous amount considering that the average cultivator of this stage always kept two or three thousand ones on them. Besides that and a few pills, there weren't many useful things.
"Alright, enough with the small fry, open the big owl's bag, junior brother!" Zi Moyan exclaimed, excited.
Baotian happily obliged, and his eyes shined as he took out the content: it was already much better!
"Five thousand spirit stones, dozens of pills, a bow-type artifact at the peak of Qi Building… a Core Formation level artifact!"
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that this artifact had an ability that allowed the user, once an hour, to deploy a late stage Core Formation barrier around them for a full minute. It was simply… priceless!
"The Core Formation owl's storage back only has a fourth of the spirit stones one usually carries at this stage, but this… this… this is worth every trouble we had to go through!" Baotian exclaimed, almost drooling due to greed.
At the same time, he felt a chill run across his back. It seemed that, due to the injuries on its core, the owl was not able to use artifacts.
'Yet it gave us that much trouble… terrifying'
Baotian suddenly stopped thinking and looked at Zi Moyan in awe as she took the protection artifact, feeling a slight killing intent rising from the depth of his heart.
"You should wait for your Qi Cube to form before thinking of putting your hands on Core Formation artifacts" she said. "With how little spirit energy you have right now, you wouldn't even be able to use it. I'll take it and you can keep the damaged core, the blood essence, the pills, the spirit stones and even the bow, does that sound good to you"
Reluctantly, Baotian had to admit that it was indeed a fair repartition:
"Fine then, senior sister" he said.
And thus, they transferred their respective shares into their storage bags. In the meantime, they had managed to regain a fair bit of spiritual energy.
"We weren't found by any righteous cultivator nor any remaining Spirit Beast, so it seems luck was on our side until now" Baotian said. "Let's not push it more, senior sister, we need to get away as fast as possible!"
Zi Moyan nodded, and the two of them flew as fast as they could.
"Senior sister, I wanted to say… thank you for the pill"
"Uh, that? Don't think too much of it, I needed you alive for the future. Oh, if you mean giving it for free, I was actually going to ask you to pay me back, junior brother, but considering you almost expended half your accumulated blood essence on this, I felt like it'd be a disgrace to ask more"
"Haha, you're kinder than me, I would've probably asked you to pay"
"Ugh, that's why I can't stand other demonic cultivators. If one doesn't have moral nor honor, then they should at least have some principles! Else, the lifespan heaven granted them is wasted on trash!"
"That's probably because you don't hesitate to say things like this that nobody wants to be your subordinate, senior sister"
"Aaaaah? Because they can't handle the truth?"
"Yes, because the truths you spout out make it so nobody likes you"
"You dare! Don't think I won't give you a beating, you-"
She suddenly paused. A second later, she stopped flying. Baotian, surprised and slightly scared, did the same:
"What is it, senior sister?" he asked.
"Baotian… I remember this place" she said. "It was in almost all the reports I got. Whatever happens, we can't keep going straight forward, let's make a small detour"
"Why is that?"
"The zone that's in front of us, it's known to be deadly to cultivators. Once, deciding to make it their new territory, an entire clan went in. Out of the two Core Formation, twenty Qi Building, and two thousand Qi Refining cultivators who entered, only twelve managed to leave with their lives, and the Core Formation ones weren't part of the lucky ones. They disappeared soon after escaping, but apparently, they were raving about a terrible curse, one that no cultivator could escape no matter their level"
"Oh…"
Indeed, staying as far away as possible from this death zone seemed to be a wise decision.
"I see, then let's make a det-"
Baotian interrupted himself. He felt an overwhelming aura filling the area. Like the golden owl from before, it was at the Core Formation stage, yet the pressure was so overwhelmingly stronger that it felt closer to a mid stage Nascent Soul than a mid stage Core Formation.
"Sh-shit" Zi Moyan said. "This pressure, it… it feels like a righteous cultivator… Ba Ke, I hope your acting is top tier. We'll have to play it right, but if we don't show them our demonic techniques, stay respectful and act innocently, then-"
"N-no" Baotian interrupted her. "I… I know that aura. He must have reached the grand perfection stage of Core Formation, and he's the only person who can produce pressure half a realm above his own. He… he knows my face, there is no use trying"
"What? How would you even know someone like tha-"
Once again, she couldn't finish her sentence as Baotian grabbed her hand and started to fly erratically.
"Ba Ke, you bastard, will you let me finish my sentences? Wait no, not in this direction!"
Suddenly, realizing he was dragging them toward the death zone, she started shouting, but Baotian couldn't care less.
'I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me I can't let Zhenyun catch me!'
"Ba Ke, I told you to stop, you bastard! If we go in there, only death awaits us!"
She started burning his wrist with a weak spell as a warning but, clenching his teeth, Baotian turned to her without releasing her wrist and shouted back:
"Don't you feel his pressure growing close? He already noticed us! You said only twelve out of two thousand and twenty two cultivators survived, that leaves us more than half a percent chance of survival, but if we let that infamous sword maniac catch us, we'll be as good as dead! Hurry!"
Zi Moyan grit her teeth, hesitating. But remembering how often his decisions had saved them in the past several hours, she decided to trust him, and flew alongside him, multiplying their overall speed by three.
Even then, the monstrously strong Core Formation cultivator was quickly closing the gap. At this rate, they would be in his hands in less than a minute. However, just as he was about to catch up to them, both Zi Moyan and Baotian felt their spiritual senses getting weaker, and their heads getting dizzy. The next moment, the world around them became black, and they felt themselves sink into unconsciousness
"Where did they go?" the Core Formation cultivator wondered out loud. "That aura, it was vaguely similar to… Baotian?"
Zhenyun, left alone, was trying to understand what had happened. However, he couldn't think for long as he suddenly felt something trying to pull him in.
"Th-this…!"
Zhenyun didn't know what it was, but he could feel from the depth of his being that this [something] didn't have any good attention toward him. If he let himself be dragged, he might never be able to escape!
"N-no, I mustn't… let it… catch me!"
Liu Zhenyun didn't like to resort to 'it', but he didn't have much choice: putting a strain on his soul, he suddenly felt a bright light come out from its depth, filling his body and intertwining with his spiritual energy. From only having mid stage Nascent Soul pressure, his strength grew to fit a mid stage Nascent Soul as well!
"Nggh! I… won't… let you… get me!" he exclaimed, taking his sword in hand.
Using 'this', he imbued his sword in light as well, filling it with enough power for it to start cracking, and cut.
Just like this, the vicious force that was trying to pull him in his depth was severed, returning his freedom. Zhenyun didn't think twice and flew at full speed in the opposite direction for half an hour, until he was sure that the [thing] couldn't reach him anymore.
"Ahh…. ahh…"
Panting loudly, he shuddered, thinking about what would happen if he didn't have 'this' talent.
'Ah… even with an Earth talent, it wouldn't have been enough to escape'
If it was anyone but him, they would have been pulled right here and now.
"Baotian, I truly hope it wasn't you"
If it was, then most likely his death wouldn't be painless.