Ambushed by Mercenaries

 Ryker didn't bother chasing the beast as he had a more important thing to worry about. Namely checking on his Genesis Core to make sure no flaw is formed. After a brief check, he let out a sigh of relief.

 "Looks like everything went well. Now I don't have to worry about a thing. As long as there is no powerful expert checking my Genesis Core, then no one would guess there is something wrong with the core," he said to himself.

 Now sure of no hidden trouble, he still thought about a few things, namely on the Cultivation Art he should focus on, 'I take a look at those later. With me staying at the house for a week or so, I would have some time alone to check on those,'

 While he was having such thoughts, he could sense several presences coming in his direction. He would have waived it off as wild beasts if not for the qi they emitted being similar to human cultivators.

 His eyes narrowed as he avoided a powerful blow aimed at his neck. A quick look at the attacker gave him a full sight of 13 foes, all of them at the Genesis Core realm with the strongest even being at the peak of the realm.

 "My, oh my. Even the weakest one of you is at the 5th Stage. Tot think you will be so insecure to handle a weaker person like me," he taunted them. However, they seemed to ignore the taunt, judging by how they scoffed loudly.

 "Weaker?" the peak Genesis Core expert said derisively, "Maybe in terms of cultivation realm but you are strong enough to beat people a major realm higher than you. Only fools would determine your strength by your cultivation realm,"

 Hearing this, Ryker thought about the mercenaries that had followed the group in the secret realm. 'To think they would sell my information. Though, I don't really care as long as the one after me is not so strong. They would make for some good training partners, ' he thought to himself. Training partners as in the one fighting against him would die horribly.

 "However, we had made ample preparation. Even if you reach the Genesis Core realm, you would still have trouble dealing with this group. Plus, activate the formation!" the expert yelled. Soon, a formation lit up around him.

 Ryker could feel his strength being weakened, though not by much. "This formation could even cause a peak Genesis Core expert to weaken greatly, making their strength equal to the 7th Stage Genesis Core. I would preferred to take you on when you were about to breakthrough, and caused some backlash but to late to do that, so I did the next best thing,"

 Hearing what the leader said proudly, Ryker let out a light chuckle, in his mind that is. While his strength had been weakened, it only made it so his strength was equal to the 2nd Stage Genesis Source expert, which would be something that even the assortment of people in front of him couldn't handle.

 He didn't bother correcting their assumption of their strength as he would prefer to let them see it for themselves. After all, they did try to come after his life, so he had to return the favor, tenfold.

 With that said, he would like for them to make the first move, as he would like to see if they have any other cards or if they aligned themselves with another group, namely Horo's group, though he finds it unlikely as it would meant they would have to share the loot with others, not to mention the other group has a Genesis Source expert so dealing with them would be harder.

 While he was in deep thought, one of the mercs attacked him, a spear aiming to stab the back of his head. He easily avoided the attack, before using Monkey Lord Fist. The merc tried to escape but despite his attempt, the attack was too fast for him to dodge, resulting in him losing his head.

 The leader looked at him with interest, "So, you are more than a match for a 5th Stage Genesis Core expert. How about someone stronger?" a figure jumped at him, his club aiming for his head. He avoided the strike. While not its target, the ground cracked from the impact.

 "A 7th Stage? Don't you skip a stage?" he asked the leader, who merely snorted. 

 "And lost more men? No, he would be the one to test you, maybe even kill you," the man lunged at him again, qi powering his club, making his attack much stronger. Ryker let out a disappointed sigh. 

 While the attack is powerful, the technique used is rather crude. He had to console himself, thinking that mercs didn't have access to powerful techniques. However, with such strength, he merely blocked the attack, his left arm letting out a metallic glow.

 Seeing how his attack had been blocked so easily, the man tried to retreat, but Ryker would be a fool to let him do so. He swings his arm, a metallic slash heading towards the man. He tried to block it with his qi but the slash easily cut through it, along with the lower part of his body.

 The leader gnashed his teeth. Despite having foreseen such an outcome, he had thought he could minimize the losses by using the formation. Clearly, he was so strong that even with the formation, his strength would equal to even himself.

 "No more playing around! Everyone, surround him and blast him with your strongest attack!" the leader roared. His men quickly did as he said. 

 While most people, namely from the more powerful and prominent families think that mercenaries are similar to bandits, they couldn't have been more wrong. While they are as crude as one, they are often more disciplined and listen to their leader's orders. Which something that could not be said with bandits if the are several others with strength equal to their leader.

 Not to mention, they will fulfill the contracts they had made, so they are more trustworthy than bandits already, who likely betrayed you given the chance. 

 While the mercenary group is strong, they had only thought they would deal with someone with strength equal to the peak of Genesis Core, not someone who could handle weaker Genesis Source experts with ease.

 The attack they unleashed upon him, while kicking a lot of dust around, didn't even scratch Ryker's qi barrier. Still, even before the dust fell back to the ground, they had already celebrated, thinking they had won. 

 After all, even a peak Genesis Core expert couldn't handle such a barrage, right?