Wu Guang's plan had worked almost perfectly until now, and now he was at the stage to play tag with Teng De, to both protect the people he wanted and as well to find a window to use his last trump card.

And so, what Wu Guang had less need of was the Lang Mu and the others playing hero, especially as he doubted that even the five of them could take down Teng De.

His eyes also caught that neither Lan Yanzhi, Xiao Feng nor Yuan Taotu showed any intention to leave, but thankfully, that was something he expected and had prepared for.

"Chun Hua, take that three and the mortal away. You can nicely ask, knock them out, or do whatever else. Just make sure they move at least five miles from here and stay at such a distance"

"Ok" Chun Hua acknowledged, and being sure that she would do her part, Wu Guang turned all of his attention to Teng De, fully ignoring anyone except him, the four Clan heads, and Lang Zheng.

***

Zhao Zhihao and Mo Tai were the only two members of the council present. And with the latter still being considered the acting headmaster in case Teng De was not present, were the only people able to issue any orders.

On Xiong Yating's last-second order, Hallmaster Zhao had moved all of the disciples and elders from the outer and inner circle zones, as well from the wall guard - gathering them all in the square. Still, that had been some time ago already, time that passed without any news arriving. They both had sensed Xiong Yating's aura, after all, it would be practically impossible for a Warrior Lord power to not be felt by a normal cultivator. Still, a few minutes ago this aura had disappeared, but no news arrived.

The sole fact that Xiong Yating was forced to act was already alarming, but now... he could have not probably met someone who could match him? To force him to retire the expanded aura and use it for combat?

They did not know about Wu Guang's appearance or the different events that followed either, and so ended in a loop of thoughts, assumptions, guesses with no way to confirm any of them.

"Screw it, we can not remain in the dark anymore" Mo Tai said and rose from a chair inside his office in the Main Palace.

"And what do you propose?" Asked Zhao Zhihao, who was sitting on another chair placed across the room.

"We can either first go see by ourselves what is happening, or we can gather some core members, including Headmaster Teng's disciple and directly move out"

"But revered grand headmaster Xiong's orders!"

"If everything is fine and went along the plan, then we will simply show a bit of unwarranted worry, and if something happened, then not even the old headmaster will bite our heads off for appearing"

Zhao Zhihao digested Mo Tai's reasoning and found that the old fox was right. After all, no one probably hold against them slightly overreacting because of worry.

"I agree, and so I think we should go with the second one. It's not like we will step out of line more than if we went alone, and if you are right about something happening... Then the more people we bring, the better"

"Mmm, I thought the same"

"So who do we call?"

"I think we should leave a few elders to control the situation here, especially with the uninformed ones asking too many questions, and take a hundred or so strongest from the Pocket Realm"

"Agreed"

***

An enormous explosion, one that albeit unheard still was visible and made the surrounding qi waver came from just a few miles to the left, from the direction where Kass Shaa'r and the previous headmaster had moved. And it served as the start of the clash between the clan's strongest five and the 4th level of the Sage realm Teng De.

Wu Guang had wondered how could a 1st level Sage and 4 peak Soul realm cultivators even talk about fighting against him, but as he observed, he found that they had at least some kind of chance.

With Teng De having already spent plenty of his reserves attempting to break through Wu Guang's formation, he had decided to fight in close range, calling a short one-handed mace. The Clansmen seemingly had some advantage in the area, or at least thought they had, as in place of spreading out and trying to whittle him down from different sides and ranges, they simply called for their weapons and met him head one.

At the very start, the clansmen were visibly at a strength disadvantage, being pushed or even flung out from the encirclement they maintained. This made them call for their best techniques and skills, as well as activate their bloodline powers, and as they launched back into the fray, each at their most powerful form, the situation began slowly changing.

________________________________________________________________________

Lang Mu's aura assumed the form of a cloak, one that looked as if made from fur and wrapped around a stone armor he had called before. His bloodline was made apparent by a materialized helmet, one that bore an uncanny resemblance to a wolf's head. His stance lowered, and with an audible growl, he launched back into battle with his paired small-axes wildly slashing and releasing qi slashes that looked like wolf claws.

Lang Zheng was from the same Wolf clan, and so his techniques and bloodline were of the same type. The only difference was that he used a pair of sharp claws as a weapon, and both them and his iron boots were covered in a blue-colored, slightly howling gale made of qi blades.

Hai Heng, the head of the Boar Clan arms almost touched the ground from how hunched he was. And no wonder, as his entire back was covered with an enormous earth mound, the main defensive method of the Brutal Boar that served as their totem. His weapon of choice was a short spear, made from an enormous tusk, it gave out the airs of a Spirit weapon, and each lunge of it had behind it the force of a true Brutal Boar.

Patriarch Si, the head of the Snake clan bloodline made him be covered with scales, and the bluish-verdant hues of them made one immediately think of his clan's totem. His weapon was a short, curved saber, and most of the techniques he used carried the sometimes acrid, sometimes sweet smell of poisons.

Kongtou De, the head of the Two-Headed Bear clan was the only one his bloodline did not provoke any visible changes. No armor, no qi cloaks, or anything else. But the air around him changed, and Wu Guang's senses said that the man had grown physically stronger. Which probably would be the correct power for a Two-Headed bear bloodline, considering that they were by far the strongest Spirit beasts on the island. A double-sized spiked mace, one that probably weighed over a hundred pounds naturally, even with several weight increase rune-sets activated appeared as light as a feather in his enormous arms.

________________________________________________________________________

One thing that Wu Guang noted, was that the bloodline not only increased their combat prowess or added abilities, but it also enormously improved their cultivation. The increase was almost like an entire added level, and so even though such increase could not break through a minor realm, the four peak Soul realm were not at the peak either. It was something like a half-sage level, with the physical, soul, and qi strength of one, but without the mindpower and other inherent abilities.

In any case, with the five of them in such a state, it was Teng De's turn to begin stepping back or even having to use his aura to absorb an attack or two. And this was happening more and more often, making Wu Guang think that there was at least some chance that the five would win.

"Our bloodline can be activated only for half an hour and then it will be unavailable for a week, so if you have any plan, use this time to prepare for it" As if hearing Wu Guang's thoughts, Lang Zheng sent him a qi transmission.

The last trump card prepared by Wu Guang before coming here, and one that he had been saving for whoever followed him as he made his fake escape was comprised of several 'Void Call' spells. This spell was not considered offensive, at least by their creator, but Wu Guang had found a way to use it as both a method to attack and defend based on his, Bai Qi's, memories. The main effect of the spell was to create a small window to the plane's void, a space accessible only to cultivators above the Earth Realm. Which in short made them a perfect, and deadly, space for any cultivator of the Yellow Realm. Or in the defensive case, a place to send any attack and prevent it from harming anyone.

"I do have a pair of treasures as my last trump card. But their success will depend on him being distracted and having no one else around" After formulating a quick plan on the go, Wu Guang transmitted it to Lang Zheng.

"I see, we will try to keep him busy and maybe even bleed him a little before breaking off then" Lang Zheng acknowledged and began informing the others of the plan.

***

Teng De was an experienced cultivator as well, and so he understood that the situation was slowly turning bad for him. Granted, the five attackers were weaker than him and hardly could break through the aura cocoon he had surrounded himself with, but that did not prevent them from trying. And while someone continues to try, it's only a question of time and luck for something to happen.

The problem was that he himself had committed into a close-range fight, and made him have five cultivators surrounding him, each of them having activated their bloodline which made them far more resilient to any attempt to push them away. And so, breaking from the encirclement was an arduous task, one probably even harder than waiting them out. After all, no bloodline could be activated for long!

"Great Hill Protection!" He called for a defensive wall of earth to surround him. It will probably not stop the clansmen for much time, but they will be forced to spend far more effort and qi to break it than he to maintain it.

"Senior Hai, please move aside, now!" Wu Guang suddenly shouted, and the Boar Clan Head, one that had seen the methods used by the youngster immediately did as asked.

*Swoosh*

Something resembling a dagger flew through the spot that the clansman was just standing, and flew into the earth mound that now protected Teng De just a second before it closed entirely.

"What was that?" Hai Heng asked.

"A knife with one of the explosive talismans they set up for you" In truth, both the knife and talisman were things that Wu Guang had looted from the Black Eagle surnamed Wang. Still, some cheap dramatism would only help strengthen the Clan Heads morale.

*Boom*

Half muted by the earth hill, the explosion still was heard to everyone nearby. And just a moment later, the entire mound dissipated in a cloud of dust, smoke, and... curses.

"DAMN YOU!" Teng De had not suffered any damage, but as with all defensive skills and techniques, his 'Great Hill Protection' wasn't created with resistance against attacks from within.

"Continue!" Lang Mu shouted and the five surrounded the headmaster again, not allowing him to launch at Wu Guang, something that he would probably have done.

________________________________________________________________________

Unknown to the people fighting, and to Wu Guang as well, a group comprised of a hundred cultivators between the 7th and the 9th level of the Soul realm was beginning to make way to the battlefield. Led by the second disciple of Teng De, Lu Zhong. The young man, who recently turned 25 was a recently ascended Sage realm cultivator. And even though he had previously lost the first position to the now-dead Tao Qiu, his master had always thought of him as the successor. After all, if not, why would he allow Tao Qiu to go on a suicide mission? While keeping Lu Zhong back, and actually bringing him into the true plan before anyone else.

In fact, just a few days ago the master had introduced him to the great master, Xiong Yating!

And so now that the Head core elder and the Hallmaster had brought him to the current situation, he immediately agreed with their plan and even used his own clout with the core elders and disciples to quickly create this group, and assume its leadership.

Not that Mo Tai and Zhao Zhihao resisted against it. Now if the group was needed, they will be the ones behind the idea, and if not, then the leader would probably be the one chided.

***

Unknown as it may to Wu Guang and his allies, there was a single man that did know. Floating almost two miles from the ground, using the void to cloak himself, and cleverly positioned to see all that was happening.

"So even more enemies are about to appear? How fitting. I wonder, how will the young dragon act? How will he face this situation? Will the tables turn on him, or he has some kind of unrevealed trump cards yet to show? Or maybe it will be time for me to act?" Unseen and unheard by everyone, the man, who even without the void concealment would be a speck of dust in the wide skies murmured, and his eyes, the only thing not covered by a black cloak glistened with interest...