Hao Xuan sat in front of the tunnel for several minutes, still clutching onto the glaive like a lifeline. The darkness moved, twisted and turned, taking different shapes but somehow he knew it wasn't anything too dangerous.
What confused him was the fact that he couldn't tell if he was just seeing things or was it actually happening.
If he had a bit more knowledge about the higher cultivation levels then he would have known that although rare, this wasn't such an "extraordinary" phenomenon like he had assumed.
Once cultivators and beasts reached the Profound realm they would be able to connect to the world around them, borrowing its energy to use as their own. And if the understanding of the chosen energy was deep enough then every single movement of theirs would leave 'imprints' in the void.
This imprint was the remnant energy from their everyday actions and would usually be very mundane. It could look like an apparition or a hologram, repeating itself over and over again.
But in some rare cases if the user had an extreme affinity with their energy, then the imprints would be able to gain a bit of sentience and react to their environments.
This was the case here. It was just an imprint left when the creature entered the tunnel, and over the years it came alive. It would not be able to think or feel any emotion, only react to an external stimulus.
Time passed, minute by minute, it felt like a lifetime for Hao Xuan. He sat between the siblings and tunnel with the glaive in his hand, ready to attack at a moment's notice, but nothing happened.
After several hours the rain lightened up a bit. Hao Xuan turned to look at the siblings and they were still fast asleep. They had been under so much pressure for the last week or so that sleeping for more than a day even wouldn't be considered too much.
He looked through the storage ring and found another small formation plate and put it in the entrance. It was a warning glyph that would send him a signal in case someone or something approached the entrance of the cave.
He looked outside and there weren't any beasts there. After putting down some more food in a pot and covering it with coals from the fire, he stepped out of the tunnel and used Demonic steps, leaving in the direction of the caravan.
This time he didn't use the energy from either of his meridians as it would draw too much attention and simply jumped from one tree to another silently using Demonic Steps, looking a bit like a monkey.
It only took him 40 minutes to find the caravan. There was only blood and some body parts left along the wreckage which was burned to cinders. There was no one there but Hao Xuan didn't jump in.
"It doesn't make sense. Why would they follow one specific caravan out of hundreds and for almost a week even? And that trap was perfectly placed. Bandits my ass, they are probably mercenaries hired by someone who wants to bring harm to the royals," Hao Xuan thought.
Instead of just jumping in, he backed up a little more and started going around in a circle around the area and soon enough found what he was looking for. There was figure hunched under a tree about 5 meters away from the wreckage. It was a person covered in a greenish-brown leather that almost melded perfectly with the surroundings.
If Hao Xuan wasn't specifically looking for him there was no way he'd be found out.
"Since the kids escaped and there was no one following them, its only natural they would leave someone here in case they came back," he said with a grin. "Time to have some fun," he mumbled and took out a training sword he had. It was blunt and weighed a lot, a perfect weapon for knocking someone out.
"Alright, I can either go running in, use Demonic steps with infernal rapture and just freaking slam into him, or try to get a jump on him somehow," he came up with some ideas on how to deal with this situation. He was really excited for some reason, it was like finding a treasure almost. An enemy with its guard down was not easy to find.
"The sound! I completely forgot about the damned thunderous ringing that accompanies it though," as if a bucket of cold water was poured over him, the joy that he was feeling a second ago vanished into thin air.
"Alright, new plan. Send in Bai to distract him and then hit him when he's distracted," came up with another plan.
He closed his eyes and summoned Bai, whose gigantic body appeared a few meters away from him.
"There's a man hiding under that tree, attack him but try not to kill him," he said telepathically.
Bai looked at the place he was pointing towards and saw the man and without even trying to hide in the slightest he simply walked right up to him and jumped.
*CRACKLE*
Lightning crackled loudly in the sky and distracted Hao Xuan. "Of Course! How could I be so stupid? It's already raining, even if there are others nearby they would just think lightning fell and wouldn't bother about it too much," he rejoiced.
"Damned beast, I have no quarrel with you, just go away," said a voice and he remembered about Bai again.
Bai and the man were both in a clearing right next to wreckage now. Bai had attacked with everything he had and managed to rip the man's left arm off.
"Hmm?" Hao Xuan frowned looking at the man. He was about 6 feet tall with a lean build, there were scars all over his arms and were much darker than his face. But what caught his attention was that the man didn't even make a sound or sounded angry in the slightest at losing a limb, instead, he casually ripped off a piece of cloak and stopped the bleeding.
This was either a seasoned soldier or a psychopath who couldn't feel pain.
"Leave, NOW!" the man roared at Bai while taking out a sword. But of course, Bai didn't even blink or show any displeasure and continued looking at the man with a straight face.
The man frowned looking at his behavior. A beast would never attack someone stronger without a reason, and even though the difference was only of one stage, he was still stronger and the beast had shown no emotion from the beginning.
But then it suddenly dawned on him and his eyes constricted, "Trap!" he whispered and threw his sword with full force towards Bai and jumped in the opposite direction.
"Too late," just as he landed in the new position, a voice spoke from behind him. He turned his head and saw a young man grinning at him, his green eyes shining like lanterns in the dark.
"Who-"
*BOOOOOOM*
Before he could finish his query, thunder boomed and all he saw was a blunt blade coming straight towards him.
*Craaack*
He lost consciousness.
