Meanwhile, Rocky and Vivian led the two Spiritual Emperors and the rest of the members of the joint
team to try to catch up with Valeria and the others. But soon, they realized that Valeria and the others
were too far ahead and that they had left no marks behind. Obviously, there was something wrong.
"It's strange. They retreated to the west. Why haven't we caught up with them yet?" Vivian asked,
looking around her suspiciously.
"I think the performer might have adjusted the illusionary array temporarily and changed all the paths in
the valley, deliberately cutting off the connection between us and Valeria..." Rocky guessed, scratching
his chin.
"Do you have any way to break it?" Vivian questioned. There was a sense of urgency now. If she
couldn't find Valeria and the others soon, something terrible would happen to them.
Rocky shook his head immediately. He was not all-powerful, after all.
"How about this? Let's split into two groups and search for them," Vivian proposed. She was so worried
that she was beginning to have trouble thinking logically.
"No. If we were to split up now, our opponents could attack us separately. Actually, what I'm most
worried about are Valeria and the others..." Rocky hesitated.
"Why? Shouldn't we be worrying about ourselves right now?" Vivian was puzzled. Logically speaking,
there were a lot of people in the joint team and many of them were Spiritual Emperors. But on the
contrary, her side had suffered great losses. Her side was more exposed to the enemy and they should
be worried about themselves more.
"Valeria does have lots of people with her but we just encountered an ambush and they retreated in a
hurry, which will have a negative impact on their morale. If our opponents are determined to attack
them, they will struggle to fight back." Over the years, Rocky had experienced a lot of battles, so he
knew the bad effects that could be brought on by an unexpected retreat. Plus, Valeria was not as calm
as Vivian and she tended to act rashly.
"Then we should find them as soon as possible!" Vivian agreed with Rocky but that only made her feel
more anxious.
"Miss Vivian, you need to calm down. Our opponents want to see us panic. You don't want that to
happen, right? Listen to me. I think Valeria and the others are safe right now. We need to find a
secluded, quiet place to heal ourselves and carefully plan out what we will do next," Rocky said in a
soothing voice. Nervousness played into bad decisions. Instead of running around clueless, he thought
it would be better for them to recuperate and ensure their combat effectiveness.
Vivian nodded and led the team onwards. They moved quietly and cautiously.
Before long, they found an area that was covered by a huge, arched stone. Tucking themselves
underneath it, they began to rest.
"If I had listened to you earlier, this would have never happened," Vivian said in a regretful tone. If she
had been smart, she would have considered his opinion more.
"That was all speculation. If I was wrong, it could have also hurt the team. So, don't blame yourself,"
Rocky told her.
"What should we do now? I feel like they are watching us as we speak..." Vivian was well aware of the
fact that they were in the light and their opponents were in the dark. It put them at a disadvantage if an
attack were to unfold.
"Yes. I'm sure they are watching. That is why we can't act rashly. If we want to find the others, we have
to break the illusionary trick in the valley first. I am going to go out on my own and find the source of the
illusionary trick," Rocky said after some careful consideration.
"Alone? No, it's too dangerous!" Vivian objected, shaking her head and crossing her arms over her
chest.
"Dangerous? This is just the beginning. If we don't solve this problem fast, the situation will become
even worse!" Rocky knew that their opponent hadn't physically attacked them yet. When that
happened, things would get a lot harder.
"I should be the one who goes!" Vivian stressed. Rocky expected that Vivian wouldn't want to let him
take the risk. She believed that she should be the one to carry out the most dangerous tasks.
"Are you sure that you can find the source of the illusionary trick?" Rocky asked.
"Well..." Vivian hesitated.
"Now, please don't argue with me. I can do it. In fact, I'm supposed to take care of all the
responsibilities during this task. You only have to protect me. And I don't want the team to suffer any
more because of me. Plus, I know that I can find the source of the illusionary trick," Rocky insisted,
making it so Vivian couldn't retaliate.
To be frank, she was stunned by Rocky's words. Despite not meeting him before the current task, she
had heard that he acted detached from the world. However, the man in front of her was demanding and
calm, almost like a boss.
"Miss Vivian, please stay here and rest with the others. I will come back after I break the illusionary trick
in the valley." The moment he was done talking, he activated the Earth-diving Skill and vanished into
the ground.
Staring at the spot where Rocky had disappeared, Vivian's eyes flickered a little. Worry still consumed
her but she couldn't do anything except trust Rocky. After a few minutes, she sat on the ground and
tried to control her breathing. She had to recover because there would be a fierce battle soon.
Rocky arrived in the place where the wolves had ambushed them earlier thanks to the Earth-diving
Skill. He looked around. An illusionary trick that was able to cover the whole valley must be supported
by a magnetic field made of spiritual power. The Nether Fire Land was the land of demons so the
magnetic fields of spiritual power were everywhere. There was no doubt in his mind that the valley was
sitting on a magnetic field of spiritual power so it provided the condition for others to perform the
illusionary trick.
And those who could perform that illusionary trick were not ordinary people. At minimum, they would
have reached the Emperor Realm.
If he wanted to break the illusionary trick, he had to find the core of the magnetic field of the spiritual
power. In other words, he had to find the performer and stop him.
But time was ticking away at a rapid speed. The longer it took to break the illusionary trick, the more
Valeria and her team were at risk.
Because the illusionary trick had changed the terrain, some traces of spiritual power had been left on
the ground. Rocky stooped and collected some clues around the place where they had been
ambushed by the wolves. Then, he used the Earth-diving Skill to travel through the valley and confirm
the magnetic field of the spiritual power. It was connected using countless streams of magnetic
meridians, resembling a large, intricate spider's web. In the center, all the magnetic meridians of
spiritual energy had attached themselves to the core of the magnetic field. So, as long as Rocky
followed the spiritual meridians, they would lead him to the core.
In the meantime, Valeria and her team were waiting in a safe zone and growing anxious. They kept
their eyes peeled for both Rocky and Vivian and their enemies.
"Godly Genius Valeria, do you want me to take some people and look for them?" one of the Spiritual
Emperor suggested. He was feeling antsy too. After all, Rocky was their Godly Genius and Vivian was
the sister of their leader. If something terrible happened to either of them, it would be an immeasurable
loss to the Ghost Fief.
Just as Valeria was hesitating, a Spiritual King came running over and reported, "Godly Genius Valeria,
something is wrong. Look over there!"
"What?" Valeria spun around.
Soon, she noticed a cloud of thick smoke surrounding the area they were in. Someone was playing
tricks on them.
"Do you know how many enemies we are facing?" Without even guessing, she knew that it must be a
Godly Genius who wanted to stop her and Rocky from reaching the lair of the Nether Dragon King.
"I'm sorry but I have no idea," the Spiritual King answered as he shook his head.
"Send someone to investigate right now. Find out who we are facing and how many people are out
there. Meanwhile, ask everyone to be on their guard..." Valeria ordered in a firm voice. Meanwhile, after
searching the area for about half an hour, Rocky finally found the core of the magnetic field and
managed to break the illusionary trick. Now he could see the valley as the way it really was. Rocky
continued heading east as he tried to find traces left by Valeria and the joint guard team members. That
was when he saw huge footprints of some wild beast. He soon recognized it as he remembered seeing
this kind of beast with the team of the Primitive Fief. The weird part was that judging from the footprints,
the team was obviously heading west instead of east. He stood there for a while and had a rough idea
about what was really going on. He then went back to Vivian. "I know where Valeria and the others are,
and I know who were behind the ambush," he said.
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