Chapter 21 - Instead, It Will Hasten It

Outside the city, a group of cultivators, in a mass number, were observing the city from afar. As they finally got to surround the whole city from an elevated place, excitement and delighted expressions emerged from their faces.

Their grins are so eerie that anyone could tell that they have an ulterior motive in their observation.

In one flock, a person who had a mysterious aura around him commanded his subordinates. He is the leader of the group and the commander of this group of cultivators that could be compared to two brigades.

"This is the time that we will rule the eastern region." the commander said with a hoarse voice.

Others who were around him cheered in excitement and quietly so they couldn't be discovered. They couldn't just attack the city recklessly. A warning talisman and other treasures are available so that they could call reinforcements from afar. That would be a problem if that's the case.

Thus, they plan to attack the city at nightfall, when everyone will be unprepared for their sudden presence. Furthermore, they had already surrounded the city with a camp and prepared their instruments for the invasion.

This is just their first phase, to capture a city and hostage a huge number of people. In this way, they could not only get more resources, but they could also secure more people and insurance.

"Leader, what will you do after this one? Can we have a taste of any woman we see?" a guy with an unpleasantly excited expression on his face asked.

The commander didn't reply immediately, instead, he just snorted. "Do whatever you want," he said in an irritated tone.

Everyone cheered when they heard permission from their commander. Others were thirsty with their lust, so they imitated having sex by swaying their hips forwards and backward.

Their excitement was all over their faces, unprepared for what would happen next in a few seconds.

People in the city started to disappear. At first, the city got a little crowded, so the cultivators who were observing them didn't mind it. However, when they couldn't see any people in the city, they were alarmed and immediately reported it to their commander.

"Leader, the citizens evacuated! We can't see any people in the city." one guy exclaimed, his voice gasping because of the limited air.

"What?! That's impossible! They didn't know that we were early!" the commander roared and quickly went to a cliff to see the city from above.

When he saw that no one was available, he roared again in fury. 

"This is impossible!" he said as he really knew that the warning for the invasion was supposed to be next week, but they immediately went here after the day they announced their invasion.

"This isn't going to happen! They can't evacuate since they didn't pay what we needed. Where were the cultivators from the other side? Their battalion must have noticed their evacuation! Don't tell me they are slacking?!" 

The guy who reported it was hesitant to report what he knew, as he already knew how their leader would act.

"T-The problem… w-we haven't been in contact with them since half an hour ago!"

Veins popped from the forehead of the commander. "What?"

The guy quickly reported in a yelling tone, "We had no contact with them since half an hour ago!"

The commander's nerves twitched. "This isn't what I planned!"

Before the commander could vent his anger again, another guy arrived, swimming through the crowd of cultivators that were flocking to the whole forest.

It was a messenger from another battalion.

"Leader! Our battalion has been attacked. We needed reinforcement!"

The commander finally realized that his plan wasn't flawless. He regretted that he even warned the city that they would attack them in exchange for money so that they could evacuate. However, he was thinking that they couldn't even evacuate since they had already surrounded the escape route.

This isn't what's supposed to happen.

"AHHH!!!"

"GWAKH!!!"

"HELP!!!"

The commander's attention averted to the source of the shout. It was a cry from his subordinates. What's happening to them?

Agitated by the situation, he jumped on top of the branch of a tree, then leaped from one to another. His subordinates followed him, but they were running only below him.

When he finally reached the source after one kilometer of leaping, he saw his subordinates' corpses.

There were almost 500 corpses, and another 500 shouting from despair at one side.

He instinctively shifted his head towards the shouts, then saw two monstrous auras slaying his subordinates. The human figures easily killed his subordinates!

He could only gawk and spat blood from the extreme pressure he felt.

What's this? And who are they? Questions were only rushing to his brain, unbeknownst to him that his destiny had already been ruined when he planned on attacking a city where Lucas and Felicity were currently resting.

***

Silence covered the whole room.

When Felicity revealed the number of bandits surrounding the city, they could only feel their knees tremble and their hearts beat so fast.

The dilemmas they are currently facing are nowhere too easy since their city is finally about to perish. 

Arthur, who is also the landlord of the city, could only look at Lucas with anxiety. He doesn't know how to formulate the words of request to Lucas. Can he ask more to Lucas?

Lucas, who noticed Arthur's worried face, sighed before everyone.

"Do you know something, Arthur?" Lucas asked him.

Arthur nodded slowly.

"What's the context?" Lucas added.

"The Red Moon Castle announced their invasion in a week. They promised to let us go if we paid enough money. But in this instance, we didn't know if it was serious, so we hired cultivators to protect the city from their attack. We also requested reinforcement from other cities, and they will arrive tomorrow."

"But this wasn't what we expected. We thought that since they are just bandits, they could at least prepare at least a thousand people. However, 10,000… What can we do about them?"

"Lucas, I'm not asking you to sacrifice your life, but I know that you're powerful, so at least let my people be protected until they evacuate."

Felicity immediately reacted to what he said. "Shameless. You dare to ask it even though you know that this isn't our problem." she roared.

"Felicity, you don't need to act that way," Lucas said with a serious expression on his face.

"I know that I can't pay for your help, but please, I am asking this as… your friend."

Arthur could just only thicken his face to ask for Lucas's assistance. Even though it would result in him offending this man, he should be at least benevolent enough to let a group of citizens escape from the city.

Pearl could only pity his father. She wasn't expecting that the goofy and excited father from earlier would be struck by a mountain of stress.

While Felicity could only glare at Arthur, as her personality had drastically changed since she was betrayed. For a whole month, she realized the naivety she had displayed and acted to change everything. Thus, feeling frustrated by this request by using the title of a friend is blatant and vexatious enough for her.

"Don't listen to them, Lucas. They would just hinder your progress. The rule of this world is for the strong to swallow the weak. So their weakness is not your problem." Felicity remarked.

However, Lucas didn't pay heed to her. He was just thinking deeply, finding a proper way to handle the problem.

"Tell me, Felicity. What's the highest cultivator these bandits have?" 

Felicity was speechless for a moment. Does this mean Lucas is thinking of assisting them?

She could only snort in annoyance. "Whatever. General Spirit Realm."

The father and daughter were baffled. That caliber, there's no way they could defeat it. Also, the number of 10,000 cultivators: where did they get so many people?

"I see… Don't worry, Felicity. This won't hinder my progress, instead, it will hasten it."

A doubtful expression emerged from her face. "What do you mean?"

Lucas smiled before revealing what's in his mind. "I will absorb their energies, which is also a similar method to creating philosopher's stone in alchemy. This number is enough to let me jump to the General Spirit Realm."

'And also, I can reach the peak of General stage in my third energy. This will be an unlimited source.'