Death... and me

Rago looked at the hole and then thought about something.

"Now that I think about it, the people who were first enveloped by this thing weren't pushed away. They were taken inside."

Droman nodded as he responded.

"Exactly. That's one more reason why I think it's a natural formation."

Kocei once again looked at one of his subordinates and ordered.

"Alright, go inside and check if everything is okay."

The man quickly acknowledged and moved in the hole's direction. However, as soon as he tried to pass through it, the formation seemed to gain life as multiple arcs of red lightning spread around the hole. Those arcs then aimed at the guy, quickly obliterating him down.

The guy simply didn't have the chance to defend himself as he was sent flying by the attack.

*Boom!*

He crashed to the ground at such an extreme amount of force that a crater spanning a few meters appeared around him.

"What?! Impossible! That shouldn't have happened!"

Droman didn't know what to say. He was sure that the hole was safe to pass, so why did that happen?

Rean didn't waste his time and immediately moved in the guy's direction. The man's body was completely charred, his breath incredibly faint. They only knew he was alive because they could feel it through their Spiritual Sense. However, he definitely wouldn't last long like that.

Although Rean moved quickly, Kocei was even faster. He quickly took a healing pill from his bag and fed the man. Immediately, the pill began to take effect as the healing properties spread around his body.

Of course, Rean still gave his support when he got close.

'Life Style, Second Form, Instant Recovery.'

Everyone looked as Kocei's subordinate healing slowly. This time, even Rean had problems healing the guy. The injuries were too severe, and the difference in their cultivation was too big. It took quite some time before Rean's Light Energy was able to stabilize the guy's condition. However, Rean stopped at that point.

"Alright, that's enough for now."

Kocei narrowed his eyes as he asked.

"Aren't you going to heal him completely like what you did with his hand before?"

Rean shook his head as he replied.

"The difference between that hand injury and this one is like heaven and earth. Besides, a lot of Red Lightning Energy is still present in his body. It would take me quite some time to get rid of that. Also... Senior Kocei has noticed it already, right?"

Kocei looked at the man and sighed. How could he not notice? The man's dantian was destroyed in the previous attack. His cultivation was continuously dropping as they spoke. Unfortunately, even Rean's Light Element had no use in that situation. Rean was basically giving Kocei the chance to chose whether it was worth using more pills to heal him or not.

"Just say whatever you want to finish the job. He's a loyal subordinate of our Jialin Royal Family. I can't just pretend that I'm not seeing him."

Rean smiled before saying.

"One Hundred Rank Four Spirit Stones."

Everyone around took a deep breath. Although it wasn't any heaven-defying price, it was still quite expensive. One should remember that even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators have a lot of difficulties gathering that number.

"Aren't you a little too greedy?"

Rean shrugged his shoulders as he answered the question.

"You can also use your own pills to heal him. However, I believe the pill you just fed him before isn't any less expensive than what I just asked you."

Roan was the one who told Rean about that just a moment ago. That's why Rean came up with this idea. Roan had nothing against it since they really needed Rank Four Spirit Stones. After all, the Circuitry Teleport Formation inside the Soul Gem Dimensional Realm used them for teleports over a thousand kilometers.

"But it was your Master who opened the hole."

Rean smiled as he said.

"He never said it was safe. Otherwise, we would have entered it first. You knew very well that there was a risk, but you took it anyway."

"Fine! Take it."

Kocei passed 100 Rank Four Spirit Stones, much to Rean's appreciation.

"Thank you for the support."

Rean's hair changed into black and white as he used Roan's  Dark Element to get rid of the Red Lightning Energy in the man's body. At the same time, his Light Element continued to heal him.

'It was indeed a frightening attack. If it was Roan or me, it would have been an instant death.'

Because of the Red Lightning Energy and the difference in cultivation between him and the target, Rean took more than 20 minutes to finish. Eventually, Kocei saw that the guy's body was fine and used his Spiritual Energy to force him to wake up.

The guy slowly opened his eyes and looked around, not knowing what had happened. However, he quickly remembered how he was struck down by the Natural Formation. Following that, he noticed how all the Spiritual Energy was escaping his body nonstop. Only then did he see that his Dantian was no longer there.

"This..."

He was just about to panic when Kocei slapped his head.

*Pah!*

"Focus on rebuilding your Dantian. You didn't lose your changes from the Body Transformation, so you can create a new dantian straight away. Don't worry, the Royal Family will give you financial support for your cultivation."

The man quickly calmed down and focused his attention on entering the Energy Gathering Realm once again. As he did that, Kocei gave another one of his subordinates an order.

"Bring him back to the Royal Palace and arrange for him to be treated."

"Yes, Ancestor."

Finally, Kocei looked at Droman, who was analyzing the Natural Formation, trying to understand what went wrong.

"Let's leave this shameless disciple of yours aside. What happened with the formation? It's obvious that you also didn't expect that."

Droman nodded as he said.

"Indeed. I also can't understand what's happening here."

Droman wasn't the only one. A few other Formation Masters stepped forward and analyzed the formation with him.

"Droman isn't wrong. That thing shouldn't have happened with a Natural Formation. I saw the runes Droman used, so it should have worked."

"I agree. However, it's a fact that the formation retaliated, but for what reason?"

Rago pondered for a bit before asking.

"You said that a Natural Formation shouldn't have done such a thing. Does it mean that it is not natural?"

Droman and the others were taken aback by that question. However, they quickly reached a conclusion because of that. Droman then looked at the Rohe and Royal Family Formation Masters before asking.

"Are you guys thinking the same thing as me?"

"Yes. That's the only explanation possible."

"I also think the same thing."

Everyone looked with puzzled expressions at the three Formation Masters, waiting for them to explain.

Finally, the Royal Family Formation Master looked at everyone else.

"If we're not mistaken, someone's controlling it. However, this is, without a doubt, a Natural Formation. I would say that someone is at the Natural Core of this formation, controlling it to prevent others from entering."

Mia couldn't help but ask.

"Is it possible to control a Natural Formation?"

"It is. However, one must spend a very long time analyzing it. After all, Natural Formations are agglomerations of coincidences that turn into Formation Runes. They are completely random. Naturally, it is excruciatingly difficult for us Formation Masters to understand it."

Everyone could tell where it was going.

"A very long time. That meant someone knew about this formation's existence and had been studying it for a very long time. However, we don't know who or why."

Zuan then sent a Spiritual Sense Message to Rean, Roan, Old Worm, Droman, and Mia.

'Do you guys think it has something to do with the Chrole Empire?'

Mia shook her head, responding.

'I don't think so. It's too flashy! Although we're much closer to the Chrole Empire's border in the north than the Capital, this is already quite far.'

Old Worm agreed with Mia.

'What's the point in building this thing in such a remote place? That would give them no advantage at all.'

Roan nodded as well.

'Indeed. We are far from everything that could be considered important to the Empire. There are three more countries to pass by from the Chrole Empire to reach this place. From a strategic point of view, starting something in this place would be useless. At most, it could be used as a distraction for another event, and even so, it would be quite a poor choice of placement.'

'Of course, I'm only saying this relying on the information we have at the moment. I can't guarantee that it's like this. Who knows, there might be some heaven-defying treasure capable of destroying countries inside this thing or whatever...'

Zuan narrowed his eyes.

'A treasure, huh? Considering how big this thing is, it might really be related to a treasure. After all, there are natural treasures in this world. It's just that they're far rarer than Natural Formations.'

Their Spiritual Sense message only lasted a second or two. Soon after, Droman went back to work with the two other Formation Masters.

"This is still a Natural Formation. Even if someone is using the core to control this thing, it isn't easy at all."

"Correct. We should be able to come up with a way to conceal our presence as we pass through."

"What about the Red Lightning? Wouldn't we be easy prey inside this thing?"

"That's fine. The Red Lightning Energy is accumulated in the red barrier alone. As long as we don't get too close to the barrier, it won't target us."

Of course, no one knew what to expect inside after passing through that thing.

Rago then asked something else.

"Wait, won't that take forever for you three to do it?"

Droman and the other two Formation Masters nodded. They would indeed need some time.

However, it was then that Droman received a Spiritual Sense message from Rean.

'Master, just create a short circuit.'