Xiao Gui whispered to the rest of the group as they all nodded towards one another…

Then Xiao Gui brought out the talisman, and instantly, all the experts from the inn, including Gu Ya and his men blanched in fear as they braced for an aggressive impact;

Toosh!

Xiao Gui activated the talisman with his Qi before blurting;

"Wrath of Vajra!"

Then the talisman took to the sky before it lit up in flames and totally burnt into ashes, and instantly;

Rip!

The sky split open…

A unique and mysterious energy descended into the area and billowed everywhere causing everyone's robes to flutter intensely before a pitch black opening then appeared, and a massive fist the size of the Diamond Crust Inn came through...

But just as all the DCM experts thought of fleeing the area, they found out to their dismay that the entire area seemed to have been locked in place and they were unable to move…

But just as the fist was about to crush all of them, a green light flashed out of Gu Ya and approached the descending hand, transforming into a massive shield as it headed of the palm, and then;

KABOOM!

KACHA!

The massive shield of light could be heard scattering into shards of light as the palm continued its descent, albeit with half the force it was launched with massive as a massive explosion the level of 700 nuclear missile rocked the entire area…

Splurt!

Cough!

Blergh!

The entire area was flattened with the stones around grounded into nothing but fine sand, as the massive handprint of a beast with three fingers could be seen on the ground, creating a ten foot depression with the bodies of all the DCM experts within it, laying there, unmoving, seemingly lifeless…

On the other hand, Xiao Gui, Teng and their groups were nowhere to be found, and just about 5 minutes later, the sound of rushing winds echoed all over the place as a figure sped over from the distance;

Swoosh!

The man came to an abrupt halt just over the handprint depression, he was almost 7 feet tall, wearing about 300 pounds of bulk, muscles and physicality…

He had long curly black beards with a glaring X shaped scar on his bare chest, and a completely hairless head as he stared at the depression looking at his son with blood red eyes…

He descended from the sky and picked up Gu Ya with trembling arms and a teary expression, but just as he was about to grieve the loss of his beloved son;

Cough!

Gu Ya coughed, causing Gu Ming to give a teary smile before sending a stream of Qi into his meridians, and then his eyes went redder [If it was even possible…] as a frown of hatred decorated his face;

"Who did this!?"

He asked with a low voice that trembled outwards like the tremor of a Cat-5 earthquake…

Cough! Splurt!

Gu Ya tried to speak but only ended up coughing some of the remaining blood in his body which he had already lost a lot of before going unconscious once again…

Gu Ming flicked his wrists and pulled out a talisman which was similar to the one Gu Ya used earlier and sent his Qi into it…

Fiissshh!

The talisman lit up in flames before darting up into the sky and exploding into a different insignia…

About three minutes later, the energy in the area went wild and began to vibrate, to the extent that even the stones on the ground began to float slightly off the ground…

It was as if an alien UFO landed in the area, then just like a ghost, a slender lady materialized out of the thin air, weary a floor length black lacy gown with all sorts of adornment decorating her limbs…

She looked very much like those manipulative witches who puts emperors and rulers under a spell and use them throughout their lifetime, as she spoke with a tone and intent one would use when speaking to a pest;

"Why have you summoned me?" She said as Gu Ming replied;

"Someone just crippled my son!"

Gu Ming's tone was dripping with utmost sadness and rage as the lady replied;

"Hmph! So, what would you have me do about that?"

"This only serves to show how low the fear of you has fallen in the hearts of all the Land of Stones… Heh!"

Rather than show compassion and sympathy, the lady instead poured more oil into the fire as Gu Ming went from Rage Level 1 to Rage Level 2…

"You said you wanted to unite the Land of Stones, right?"

Gu Ming asked but the woman didn't even respond, as she only even managed to spare him a single lazy glance, standing in the air with her arms folded beneath her barely covered breasts…

"I will help you, but this place has to be co-owned and ruled by both of us…"

Gu Ming added with a convicted tone which dripped payback as the lady finally turned around and gazed at him;

"Good… If we had done this sooner, no one would have dared to come within a ten mile radius of your son, not to even talk of thinking about harming him..." The lady added as Gu Ming continued;

"Help me figure out who caused this and how it happened and I will do as you wish…"

Gu Ming requested as the lady finally deigned him with some attention before adding;

"Good, I can rule this place and you can be my right hand man, Gu Ming!"

"And who knows, if you prove yourself to be very valuable and useful, then I might think about us sharing the same roof…"

She added before descending down to him and touching his firm massive biceps and adding;

"Go… Go take care of your son, I will make those who did this to us pay a hundred folds…"

Just like the manipulative bitch she was, Gu Ming didn't notice her mode of address move from 'You' to 'Us', or perhaps he simply wasn't paying any attention to her shenanigans as he simply bolted into the air headed towards the direction he came through with the unconscious Gu Ya in his hands…

"Hmph, if not for the fact that I can't take on the entire DCM, do you think I would even be here frolicking around you?"

The lady grumbled to herself after Gu Ming left before looking down at the massive handprint on the ground;

"But even if I manage to defeat them, the person who did this is also another obstacle worth worrying about…"

"I guess I just have to use you to clear up every existing and potential obstacles first before getting you out of the picture…"

"I only hope he is still here and my efforts won't go fruitless, otherwise, I might not be allowed to return…" She added with the latter part of her statement dripping of sadness and desire…

"Moreover, I haven't heard from that useless Fao Hai…"

"How long could it possibly take for A Saint Stage expert, 30 Nascent Soul and 70 Dan Formation experts to destroy another group consisting of about 30 Nascent Soul and 70 Dan Formation experts?"

Her faced darkened with disappointment at this stage as she looked into the distance where Fao Hai's dried corpse now laid;

"I better finish up here quickly and head over there to check the state of things…"

Then she floated into the air and spread her arms wide causing a mysterious wave of aura to spread out of her body into the environment…

This technique allowed her to become more sensitive to the energies in the atmosphere as she began to use the feedback in her senses to predict what had happened in the last half an hour or so…

The after about ten minutes, the aura retreated back into her body as she frowned deeply and muttered to herself;

"What a powerful talisman… Luckily it was used with the Qi of a Nascent Soul expert, otherwise, Gu Ming could have lost his son today…"

"A Nascent Soul Stage expert shouldn't have a talisman of this level of power in their possession, and such an expert shouldn't be from here either, otherwise, the news of a talisman on this level would have spread across the entire barren lands by now…"

"To go against the Diamond Crust Mercenary, they must be utterly confident in themselves, which means they must have calculated the Diamond Crust's power level and aren't scared of them…"

"That means this new group can either be stronger, or at least on par with the power level of the Diamond Crust mercenaries…"

"Adding the fact that this happened very close to the Diamond Crust Inn, the strongest and biggest business under Gu Ming, as well as the fact that they could attack his son, then they must really have no fear regarding Gu Ming and his group of mercenaries at all…"

"I am already unable to defeat Gu Ming, if these people were to join in on the power tussle, my chance of getting to him would be close to zero…"

She thought to herself as her frown deepened;

"Except… Except if I appear neither as an ally or enemy too both sides which would give me a greater chance to infiltrate them both, get them to fight each other to death and then get rid of the leftovers, and by then, the entire land of Stones will fall into my hands…"

Her expression then began to lighten up gradually, as she placed one of her fingers on her pouted drippy lips which was currently wearing a luscious purple lipstick…

"Alright!"

"Arise my minions…"

She said as a purple demonic flame burst out of her body and swarmed all over the corpses littering the palm depression, and instantly their eyes lit up in flames as they began to twitch, whilst some of them screamed signifying that they were still alive when she used her technique, but still, their souls were burnt to crisp only to be then replaced by a purple possessive type of flame...

"Go, search the entire land of stones, find them and report back to me!"

She said with a wave of her hand as these zombie experts stepped atop their flying swords and bolted in every direction to do the biddings of their mistress...

Meanwhile....

About 10 miles off this place were Xiao Gui's group fleeing for their lives from the scene of murder...