Calm Before the Storm

-" They moved most of the soldiers to the western part of the Verdant Forest?" Elias had a frown on his face, almost a month had passed since Jeffrey had deployed the army, from Jeffrey's movements he was sure that he already knew about the treasure, but, Elias was now confused. " Why would they set the camp so far away? This doesn't make sense."

-" I already confirmed the presence of two army counselors there, while Jeffrey and Cyl remain on the first camp, they are usually hunting down beasts." Elizabeth continued informing Elias about the situation there. " The young man you asked previously is there too."

-" Oh, it looks like this will be easier than expected, we should hurry up and finish this, there are others matters that I need to resolve." A man who looked about the same age as Elias spoke, he was slouching at a chair near him.

-" Mathias, we can't rush this, the sect leader said that we must obtain his treasure at any cost." Elias quelled the man, Elias felt like the sect master wronged him, after waiting for backup for so long, the ones who arrived here were all people Elias had problems with in the past.

-" If this is something that we must obtain why don't we act already? If times pass and more people find out about this we may be at a disadvantage." From the other side of the room, a young man spoke.

Elias's head was throbbing, this mission had turned into a headache, and the two newcomers' relaxed attitude didn't help that.

-" We need to be more careful, there is a lot of things that are suspicious about the Heigong, and I think that the Strafhamptons are planning something too, I still don't know where Philips is." Elias wanted to convince them to wait for a few more days.

-" Suspicious? For all we know the Heigong don't know about this yet, taking more time to complete this is only beneficial to them, as for the Strafhamtons what they can do? Philips isn't even here, Jeffrey is just a brat, what are you fearing? The young man called Luckas? He is even worse." Noah the young man sounded angry as he lashed out.

-" Tsk, Noah are you still angry that I made Madeline approach Byrth? Getting information on him was a good thing, besides that, Madeline herself wanted to talk with Byrth."

-" What information could be useful? He is just a kid that didn't even enter the Foundation Establishment yet, How something from him could be of importance to us? Letting Madeline interact with the commoner for something so frivolous is stupid and an attack on the Sect Leader's honor."

Elias was about to retort, but, decided to stay silent, he knew that Noah liked Madeline, to him sending Madelina to get close to a man was the same as telling her to seduce someone.

Elias gazed at the two with somber eyes, he knew that he couldn't convince them, and they most likely would move alone. -" Sigh, if you guys want to start now, we will, but, I need for you to follow my lead there."

The three girls that came with Elias first were excited as they heard that, even they were already bored of their stay here. While Elias and his group began the preparations to finally finish their mission, Edward and his three eldest disciples were on the move too, noticing how the Strafhamptons moved their forces out of the area near the treasure, the Left guardian ordered them to prepare.

-" Wil will send twenty cultivators there, but only you and your disciples know about the treasure, use the chaos of the battle to get it, remember we must obtain it." The left guardian's eyes gleamed in excitation, he had prepared extensively for this moment. " I will be keeping an eye on the situation, if things get too troublesome i will help you."

-" We will complete this task successfully for the glory of the Heigong." Edwards had a serious face as he bowed to the left guardian.

Behind him, his disciples followed suit. "Glory to the Heigong.". Monark and Dale's failure lowered their master's standing in the sect, and the ones who felt it the most were them. They had a resolute gleam in their eyes as they received this chance of redeeming themselves, and most of all, vengeance against the ones who caused such a humiliation to their master.

Edward and his disciples left the room and headed to the meeting hall, a small crowd was already there, one of the elders who were delegated for this mission was Paul Olsen, Edward's eyes were full of hatred as he looked at him.

-" Oh, Edwards finally arrived, I was thinking that you were too afraid to come out." Paul saw Edwards and didn't lose the chance of provoking him. " Are you taking these three disciples? I just hope that they don't embarrass us too much, but, I doubt there will be villagers there, so I think they are safe." Paul's mocking tone angered Edwards's disciples, but, they soon calmed down.

Edward knew that the time for retribuition was near, so while Paul humiliated and provoked him, he remained calm. The old debts were soon to be repayed, just the same as the new ones.

Luckas was inside a dimly lighted tent, with each breath he took his body trembled, since returning from the trip to Byrth old village, Luckas took his time and focused on finishing his plan and cultivating. After a few weeks of effort, he was pretty confident that his plan could stall and wear down the forces of every part involved before they sweep in and take the rewards.

But now, Luckas didnt have any of this in his mind, he was completely immersed in his breathing techniques, after using the points of his system his cultivation sped up and his was now at the verge of breaking through the third level of the Qi Gathering Realm.

Sweat poured all over his body, he cultivated for the last thirty hours, each time he completed the set of his breathing technique more and more Qi gathered at this dantian. The feeling of the thick Qi stream follwing inside his meridians channels left him in awe.

The third level of the Qi Gathring Realm was the first "powerspike" of this realm and could be considered when one truly entered the cultivation world.