Death... and me

Jana was taken aback by Vueni's words.

"What?! That's impossible! Even someone in the Transition Realm wouldn't be able to force their way inside by brute force. Wait, could it be that Yulian Sasamil..."

Vueni immediately shook her head.

"It definitely isn't Yulian. The formation wasn't broken by brute force. However, I can't tell what was used to make it happen."

Jana quickly calmed down after hearing that.

"That's right. It can't be Yulian. First of all, only a single day has passed outside even though ten or so days have passed here. It's far from enough for the Sasamil experts to arrive in this place. It seems like there was some flaw in the Natural Formation that we didn't account for."

Vueni agreed with her.

"That means that only the cultivators from the surrounding countries could have done it. In that case, it's still fine. At most, only a few Nascent Soul Realm cultivators should have entered to investigate what's happening."

Vueni then looked at the formation under his feet before asking.

"Should we transform the Natural Protection Formation?"

Jana pondered for a bit before asking.

"Wouldn't it drain the Natural Core energy a lot faster?"

Vueni nodded.

"Yes. However, if they can already open a hole this easily, it'll be useless to keep it as it is. Once I activate the transformation, the formation's properties will change, not to mention that it would be several times more resistant. We wanted to use it to hold Yulian back if he appeared, but it seems like we need to do it right now."

Jana then looked in a certain direction on the ground as she pondered about the idea.

"The ancestor will need a lot of time. Will we be able to give him enough?"

Vueni shook his head.

"I don't know. However, that's our best bet at the moment. If worse comes to worst, we might need to go all out to defend him for as long as possible. However, the priority right now should prevent any more cultivators from entering this place."

Vueni and the other experts looked at Jana, waiting for her decision. In the end, Jana gritted her teeth before saying.

"Very well! Go ahead and change the formation. I'm sure the ancestor knows how tight on time he is, so he should be doing his best at the moment. We can only hope that he'll make it in time."

Vueni nodded before looking at all the other experts.

"Begin!"

In an instant, several Spirit Stones were brought out and placed in the formation on the ground. Surprisingly, each of the Spirit Stones was Rank Six ones! Just a few hundred of these stones would be enough to make two countries wage war if necessary. However, they were being used here without any care. That showed just how important these people think their plan was.

This natural formation had been here for a very long time. Its very existence was linked with these people with red line patterns on their bodies. At some point, they found it and made sure to keep the formation core hidden. After that, they spent many years creating the formation under the Red Core so they could control it.

However, just controlling it wasn't enough. It had to be able to hold everyone out for their own purposes. Unfortunately, this Red Core was too powerful, a real wonder of mother nature. Because of that, its essence kept escaping to the outside. It was that essence that made so many Masput Rocks appear in the valley.

At some point, a cultivator entered the valley without them noticing and found some of the Masput Rocks. In the end, he left and spread the information, which brought all those cultivators to look for the Masput Rocks. One must remember that these rocks were extremely important for those under the Core and Soul Fusion Realm. After all, it was one of the main components of the Cross-Realm Pill.

However, so many cultivators wandering around would eventually find the existence of the Red Core. Naturally, the existence of the Natural Formation would be found out as well. These people's initial plan was to keep hidden until the time was right. Still, they were forced to activate the formation when they noticed that the cultivators began to get closer to the truth.

Suddenly, the Red Core began to tremble as some kind of blue energy came from the formation below it. Not too long after, a powerful burst of Spiritual Energy came out of it and shot through the skies. As soon as it reached the ceiling of the Protection Formation, it began to spread outwards.

Back to the present time, the Sects and Royal Family forces were still waiting. For them, it had just been one hour since their teams entered the formation. As for Zuan and the Dalamu Sect members, it was also one hour since Rean and Roan had disappeared. However, they couldn't think about it for long because a few powers from Guntao, a nearby country, appeared there.

One of them seemed to be the leader of this group, so he came out to talk.

"Kocei, I talked with your brother before coming. I hope you don't mind the fact that we had to enter Jialin."

Kocei narrowed his eyes, but shook his head in the end.

"There is no helping it, Tuise. With this situation, it would be idiotic of us to try to stop you bunch from coming. Besides, I believe that the other countries where this red barrier reached are also receiving quite a few guests."

Tuise nodded his head, satisfied.

"So, I heard some nice things before arriving here. It seems like you have a way to open this Natural Formation, right? Would you mind opening it for us as well? Of course, I won't enter it, just a few of my subordinates."

Kocei didn't seem surprised by that. Spies existed everywhere. Considering how many cultivators the Sects and the Jialin Royal Family brought to this place, one or two people with a connection with other countries might have been here as well.

"Alright. The more people investigating this phenomenon, the better. In any case, the Sasamil Family's experts are coming as well."

Kocei then looked at Droman.

"Would you mind opening it again, Droman?"

Droman shook his head in response as he said.

"The number of times I can use it is limited. Unless there's something in for our Dalamu Sect, why should I do it?"

Tuise's expression became dark. He was a Saint Realm expert, so why was a Soul Forging Realm acting that high and mighty in front of him? However, Zuan quickly appeared on Droman's side as he smiled. For now, he could only put the twins' issue on the side.

"Now, now. You can't blame our Formation Master for it. After all, they need to spend a lot of Spirit Stones in their research. I'm sure a Saint Realm expert like you and me wouldn't mind paying a few Spirit Stones to get a chance to enter ahead of the others, right? After all, what if there was some treasure to be gained? It's definitely worth the risk if you consider just the core of this natural formation. Of course, if you can enter on your own, then you don't need to pay anything."

Tuise wasn't the only Saint Realm expert in his group. However, this was still the Jialin Country. Not to mention that Jialin had the advantage on Saint Realm experts at this moment.

"How much are you talking about?"

Droman smiled before lifting one finger.

"It's very cheap, just one hundred Rank Five Spirit Stones."

Tuise almost vomited blood. Cheap your ass! Even a Saint Realm would feel the pain of losing such an amount of Spirit Stones. However, he immediately noticed the look of the other Saint Realm experts from the Jialin Country. They were obviously enjoying his plight.

Tuise turned around to talk with the other two Saint Realm experts of his group. It turns out that they already tried to open a hole, but failed. Their Formation Master believed they can eventually succeed, but that would take a very, very long time. As one could imagine, they didn't know what to expect inside, so it might really be a race for treasures as far as they knew. Time was something they couldn't afford at the moment. Eventually, those three joined hands and put together one hundred Rank Five Spirit Stones.

"Here you go. Now, open it."

Droman smiled brightly at the sight of the stones before nodding.

"Right away."

He quickly made his formation. Sure enough, another explosion happened because of the red lightning before an enormous hole appeared in the formation.

However, it was at this moment that everyone noticed something strange.

"Hey, look up there!"

Droman and everyone else looked as the red barrier seemed to change its color. It was still red, but some kind of faint blue light was now covering it. Simultaneously, the red lightning seemed to disappear as it was replaced by a red and blue fire.

"This..."

"The Natural Formation is changing."

"Just how many Spirit Stones would one need to do something like this?"

Old Worm looked at the formation change and narrowed his eyes.

'I see... To think it's them...'

Droman noticed an even bigger issue.

"Everyone. If there's anyone else who wishes to enter, go now. My method only works against this specific natural type of lightning formation. Once that transformation finishes, I won't be able to open it anymore. But you better think twice about it since it also means that you could get trapped in there."

Immediately, everyone's eyes changed. The Soul Forging and Saint Realm Experts wouldn't enter the formation even if they knew Droman could reopen it, let alone now. However, it also made it difficult to gather people willing to enter since they would probably get trapped for real. Not only that, but considering the speed that the formation was repairing itself, they only had a few minutes to decide before the hole closed up completely.

At that moment, no one noticed... But Old Worm had just disappeared while they talked.