Feicui Long is finishing the energy gathering formation, in the end he realizes he is going to need it, the whole village is consuming energy and soon they are going to surpass the consumption threshold and there are still 14 days left before winter ends, if he does not want people to die of cold, lack of water, and still be able to cook, then he is going to need to gather more energy.
This formation makes him spend quite a bit: 10 energy crystals and 4 of the energy stone essences, but with this they are going to gather so much that it is going to go from being an energy-poor area to one extremely rich in energy, but when he is about to complete the core, he just hears the voice of a crow with delusions of grandeur.
The crow quickly says: "Hey tyrant Feicui Long, quick, quick, that girl Irina needs your help, she asked me to give you this."
Feicui Long looks at Kagetsume and takes the paper from her claws, he reads what it says and then more or less understands what happens, Feicui Long then looks at his crow and says: "How much time has passed since you came here?"
Kagetsume tilts her head while doing the calculations and says: "I think about 7 hours."
Feicui Long nods and says: "Hmm I still have time to finish this." And Feicui Long speeds up, he starts inscribing the inscriptions directly with his energy quickly, in the end he even uses his greatest treasure and when he finishes the core, he inscribes another concealment formation.
With that soon a great amount of energy from above and below starts to accumulate in the area, making the surrounding formations go from emitting a faint glow to shining like the lights of a hyper-developed city for a moment while they adapt to the new conditions.
Afterward Feicui Long leaves the village calmly, to be realistic at this moment as someone at the peak of grade 9 elemental realm, he is way too far from a cultivator of the earth palace realm, he is literally 2 entire realms away and even worse from one at the peak of earth palace realm who is 3 entire realms above him and no, he has no way of killing them with treasures and such, but he does have an ace up his sleeve… the aura projection formation.
Even though the formation projects a suppression aura through bloodline and this type of suppression is weaker the more distant the clan is and in general is weaker than the one generated by realm, the bloodline used is that of a divine green dragon, a beast at the level of his father's divine black tortoise in this seventh life of his, which at the very least is enough to even incapacitate cultivators in the mythical realm and those of the spiritual palace realm would barely be able to avoid fainting if he uses the formation's full power.
Besides that, thanks to the fact that in his core he uses his stealth of the emerald heart of space and time, which like all his inscriptions and formations created and designed by him at the level of absolute craftsmanship quality, they are linked directly to him, something extremely difficult to do and risky, not because it can attack you through them, since that is not possible, especially if another person uses them, but because they can track you if you did not take precaution when doing it, also it is a painful and costly process, so most choose not to do it.
But it has one advantage, it gives you total control over that inscription, regardless of distance or place or power level, that inscription is yours even if someone else uses it and that is why the projection formation is fully under his control just like the other important ones he put and therefore he can modify the power, the strength, the shape and the area where it can act, currently it covers only 1 km² (0.386102 mi²) in square shape, but that is far from the maximum it can reach, with the blood of the divine green dragon covering this whole mountain range and also covering the entire Skylion barony and all the Leechwald forest is possible.
Now it is not like the usage is without limitations, for starters even though he can use it anywhere, that means that the range would have to expand until it reaches that place, it cannot appear out of nowhere unless he uses an artifact like a repeater, besides that the process is not instant, it has to reach them, so if he is too far it could arrive too late and keeping it extended at full power would attract the attention of unwanted individuals, finally his low cultivation, even if the usage is not limited by power, if he wants to manipulate it constantly he would need to spend energy that with his low cultivation will not last long, so that is why he does not use it to solve his problems.
So Feicui Long leaves the village calmly and stands in the middle of the 3 km road he built, calm while waiting for Irina.
…
Another 7 hours have passed, Irina is exhausted but at least she can already see the road toward Sky Dragon village, luckily the place of the final battle of the 7 forces is a day away from the village, if it had been farther she probably would already be dead.
Then she sees it, the road and with that she uses her last burst of energy while gritting her teeth tightly, this chase makes her understand that she finally has to learn the golden eagle steps and the icy flight, she can no longer relax in the guest house of the mansion.
Behind her, around 2 km (1.24274 mi) away, the leaders of the 7 forces see her use her last bit of power and, sensing something, activate their movement techniques again. The first is the leader of the Silberthal exploration force, who is at the peak of the Earthly Palace realm, and shouts: "Silver Flow!"
Soon a silver wind wraps around his feet and his speed nearly doubles. The others follow him using different energies, except for the leader of the Falkenburg viscounty, who hesitates extremely because he can feel how his blue flame falcon refuses to move forward. It is too afraid. It is almost as if a much more powerful beast is waiting for them there, and that says a lot, since his falcon is at the Earthly Palace realm grade 7 – advanced stage. If something more powerful is waiting there, it must be at least at the intermediate grades of the Earthly Master realm...
Even so, he cannot just leave things like this. This time he has lost nearly 100 soldiers. Falkenburg is a territory with few troops. Although they are stronger than the county of Krötenheim, which has 3,000 troops, they barely have 3,500. Losing 100 soldiers is a huge blow, especially considering the energy beasts that accompanied them... so he must capture that woman, at least to have an excuse to present.
Irina runs along the road, being relentlessly pursued by the 7 leaders, and soon sees a figure standing in the distance. The figure is standing calmly, relaxed, with arms crossed behind his back. Irina quickly passes by his side and grabs his arm to pull him, but the figure does not move. On the contrary, he smiles at her and says: "You'll be fine, calm down and take this."
Feicui Long smiles at her while handing over some energy recovery pills. Irina takes them hesitantly and swallows them. She does not understand what the young master's intention is in doing this.
The leaders, 1 km (0.621371 mi) away, can finally see them, and although they initially stop, suspiciously thinking he is an expert, when they all realize he is just a peak elemental realm like the woman, they continue running without worry, unaware that Feicui Long smiles darkly.
When there are only 100 meters left between the leaders and Feicui Long, Irina, worried, closes her eyes, while the leaders shout: "Brat, hand over that woman!"
Feicui Long responds by raising his arm and snapping his fingers: "No."
Soon a terribly powerful aura bursts from behind, like the wave of a tsunami, and at incredible speed. The ignorant leaders, still running and thinking they are just centimeters away from catching them, are suddenly pinned to the ground.
So Feicui Long crouches and looks them in the face, then puts on a serious expression and says: "So you are the ones intimidating my subordinate, aren't you?"
The leaders, struggling to breathe, look at him, until one of them, from the viscounty of Rotenberg, says: "Ha, brat, I don't know how you did this, but don't be so arrogant. Once we get up, a mere peak elemental realm like you will be crushed under our feet like an ant."
Feicui Long shakes his head and looks at him: "Seems you don't understand. I'm the one who speaks here. I'm the one who decides here, not you. I'll ask again. Are you the ones who are intimidating my dear subordinate?"
One of the leaders, bearded and muscular, wearing black armor with bright blue stripes that emit a freezing aura, angrily says: "Arrogant brat, don't think you're something great!" Then the ethereal image of a jet-black palace with icy blue glows, matching the armor, appears, and also an ice rock golem in the Earthly Palace realm emerges behind Feicui Long, about to strike him.
Irina screams when she sees it, but Feicui Long only frowns and says: "I see you don't get it. The only reason why you haven't passed out yet and are not bleeding from the pressure is because I simply want you awake." With that, the aura on the bearded man and the golem intensifies to a terrifying degree. At that moment, cracks begin to spread all over the golem's body and it starts to crumble, leaving only its core, while the bearded man coughs up blood directly and loses consciousness.
Feicui Long then stands and says: "I see that talking is useless. It's better to eliminate you directly." After saying that, he draws his halberd. His halberd, jade-colored, appears and strikes the ground.
A while later, a group of people appears from behind. They are Isabella, Mariane, Feicui Long's troops, as well as Caroline, Andrea, Arianne, Freja, Callista, and Melisa, along with Kagetsume, Surinbit, the Sparkling Draconic Purple Eagle, and his celestial bitch.
Some of the remaining leaders, specifically 5 of them, upon seeing the symbol on Isabella's sword, quickly try to negotiate, especially the leader who came from Heligheim, saying: "Hey kid, don't kill us. I'm sure the Skylion barony doesn't want to provoke all of us!"
Feicui Long laughs slightly 'Hahahaha', as if he has just heard a very funny joke: "Are you idiots? No one knows this village exists. Not even you knew about it. Not even the people of the barony know about it, except for the most important members of the Skylion family. If we kill you here, no one will notice anything, and the legend of the Forest Lord will remain intact after your departure."
All five stay silent, they know he is right. As for the other two, one is unconscious and the one from Krötenheim already knows he won't be able to leave here alive. Even so, none of them plans to surrender. The commander of 100 men or centurion of Tannenwald says: "Even so, we have 63 subordinates. When they get here and see you kill us, they will escape and tell what happened here, so be reasonable, boy!"
Feicui Long smiles, raises his hand only to snap it again and says: "I already knew that, that's why I've been stalling so they could catch up."
Soon a group of 63 people appears 1.5 kilometers (0.932057 mi) ahead at the start of the road built by Feicui Long. The leaders, realizing this, want to shout, but the aura is faster than them. All their troops fall unconscious from the aura.
The five leaders with chances of survival are now truly scared and nervous and one by one they try to negotiate for their lives, starting with the centurion of the barony of Tannenwald who steps forward ahead of the others, since the barony is a very prosperous commercial village and they are used to using their economic power to get out of trouble. He says: "Boy, if you let me and my men go, we'll give you 5 platinum coins and we promise we won't say a thing."
Feicui Long laughs again 'hahaha', then puts his hand into his special spatial bag given to him by the guilds union of summoners, tamers, necromancers, and golem and puppet creators. He grabs several things and drops them on the ground, saying: "I'm an alchemist, an inscription master, I know refinement-smithing, and besides that I possess the Sovereign Quartet. I'm not short on money."
Everyone opens their eyes wide, because there are more than 50 platinum coins... this is equivalent to the treasure held by their own territories. Only Silberthal and Tannenwald have more than that.
Irina quickly picks up the coins of her young master and hands them all to him, even counting them in front of him. Feicui Long thanks her and says: "You have nothing to give me, and keeping the secret of the forest and this village is more important to me than your lives. So you can only blame your bad luck."
The centurion of Falkenburg, who is normally the calmest, says: "I... I'll serve you, I'll serve you, please spare my life. I can do whatever you want, even betray the viscounty!"
When Feicui Long hears this, a cold gleam runs through his eyes and he directly cuts off the man's head. As a cultivator of the peak elemental realm, he normally can't even injure a palace earth realm cultivator, but that is mostly because of the defensive energy barrier used by internal cultivators. And although the body strengthens as internal cultivation increases, the boost is nowhere near that of an external cultivator. The same thing happens with externals and spiritual or mental attacks, where although they improve, that improvement is a joke compared to internal cultivators. That's why he follows the dual path even though it takes more time.
Therefore, in an environment where the aura prevents the use of energy... it is almost like cutting through butter for him, especially with his dual cultivation. As for why he kills him, it's because he hates traitors. Those who surrender to the enemy at the first sign of trouble are more of a danger than a help.
The four remaining leaders are left speechless. Feicui Long says: "I hate traitors. I'd rather have an enemy around me than that kind of trash. But even so, I won't deny you're useful. I'll give you a chance. Become my slaves and serve me as informants. I won't ask anything crazy like betraying your territory and rising in arms, but you will be my eyes and help me infiltrate, and if possible, help me subdue your territories peacefully."
After that, he generates four contracts in front of them. They all look at each other... the centurion of Tannenwald says seriously: "I'll sign only if you promise not to harm the Tannenwald family. I don't care if you take the territory and replace the ruler, but as a member of House Tannenwald I cannot betray it."
Feicui Long nods and says: "Alright, I promise. In fact, let me modify the contract." Feicui Long takes the contract and adds that condition, then hands it back to the centurion of Tannenwald.
He nods and, biting his finger with difficulty, signs the contract. Then Feicui Long releases the pressure on him. The centurion then asks: "Sir, about... my subordinates."
Feicui Long looks at him and says: "Bring them. If they sign the contract, they'll live. If not... you know what will happen."
The centurion of Rotenberg sees this and lets out a heavy sigh: "I ask the same for my family. I'm the third son of the Rotenberg family of the Red Mountain. My only condition is the survival of my family. I ask for nothing more."
Feicui Long nods and goes through the same process, even allowing him to carry his subordinates. Then he looks at the others and waits calmly.
One of them, the centurion of the county of Silberthal, directly tears the contract and says: "Kill me. I will never betray the Silver Valley, not even if a god asks me to."
Feicui Long nods in respect and cuts off his head swiftly. The remaining centurion of Heligheim takes out a "poison" pill and swallows it, falling to the ground, barely able to convulse under the powerful pressure of the aura. But Feicui Long doesn't flinch and cuts off his head, impressing the others, and explains: "That pill wasn't actually a poison pill. It's called the false death pill, and it's usually used by assassins and spies to escape their pursuers."
Feicui Long learns it long ago. He may not be a genius in alchemy and refinement-smithing like he is in inscription mastery, but even so, he memorizes everything his master teaches him and everything he learns, especially this pill that during his sixth life, which he lives on Earth after regaining his true size, he sees in action several times, since mortals respect their dead far too much. They tend to bury them even if it's in mass graves or they just leave them lying around. Assassins and spies know this, so they take that risk.
After that, Feicui Long goes and cuts off the head of the bearded man from Kaltstein. The pressure has already damaged his organs severely anyway, and with the pride he shows, he tells him he wouldn't accept his proposal.
As for the centurion of Krötenheim, although resigned to his fate, he feels angry and mutters to himself: "Damn it, why do I have to be the one assigned to this place? Just because I'm a commoner? Just because the girl that the young master of House Krötenheim falls in love with likes me... it's not like it's my fault that fat bastard is so horrible."
The centurion continues: "Damn House Krötenheim, if I ever reincarnate, I'll get revenge for being repaid for my service by sending me to certain death just for their whims…"
He is so focused on that that he doesn't even realize everything that has happened. Feicui Long stays still listening to all of it and smiles. He can use this one too. He hates traitors who betray easily, which is why he doesn't ask the others to betray their family, but rather to help him or give him information. This man, who already harbors resentment toward his lords, could be very useful, especially against the enemies of the Skylion family, the count house of Krötenheim.
Feicui Long then speaks to him saying: "I can spare your life if you sign the slavery contract... no, better a servitude contract. And I can also help you get revenge on the Krötenheim, in exchange for you helping us later in the invasion of the county."
The centurion hears this and looks at Feicui Long confused. He asks: "Seriously? You won't kill me? But what about the Skylion house?" After saying that, he looks at Isabella, who simply looks at him indifferently.
Feicui Long nods and says: "I can assure it. I give you my word. Here is the contract."
The centurion signs it without a second thought. Then Feicui Long finally eliminates the remaining troops of the four forces that don't submit. He kills half of Falkenburg's falcons.
Then Mariane interrupts him, saying: "Master, don't kill the weaker falcons in the ascending realm. Now that I've reached the first grade of the mystic realm, even if I still can't tame them, it's only a matter of time until I reach mid mystic realm and can do it, so it would be a waste to kill them."
Feicui Long thinks it through and nods. Anyway, he has already killed the strongest ones, even the one in the palace earth realm, and they will make good materials for artifacts, medicines, and also to strengthen his own beasts.
As for the 10 ice rock golems, he doesn't destroy any cores, especially because they all have personalized cores, and with the pressure they can't regenerate their bodies. Besides, he can seal them with his formations until he can tame and use them himself.
So with this, Feicui Long takes everything with him: the spatial storages, the corpses since he plans to use necromancy as soon as he has the necessary cultivation on all of them except the one from Silberthal who earns his respect. In fact, he places seals on them to retain the power in their corpses for when he reanimates them.
With this, Feicui Long enters the village with his new 30 subordinates, new resources and more things, including vital information from Irina.