Gale could visibly see the ladies relaxing as the murder monkey breathed out for the last time. Gale peered at the beast one final time, inspecting the unrest in its dwindling spiritual aura. It had been even more visible when it was alive, providing evidence that its advance to gold was far from being natural.
The beast hadn't advanced not long ago, probably the shift in the environment was the catalyst of that.
Leaving the corpse there, Gale walked up the stairs to the mansion, Vale following, reverting to his merry cute appearance.
He found the three ladies gawking in his direction, even though one of them was blind. Gale wasn't sure how to start the conversation after he entered, but thankfully, Wang Li helped there.
"Thank god, you're in a fair state," Wang Li stated, her eyes moving to Vale to return to Gale. "Where's Xiaolin? She came with Vale before us?"
"Don't worry, she's fine," Gale said, finding her worried. "She's with my Senior apprentice Sister."
Wang Li sighed in relief, but he couldn't say she was completely relieved.
"Where are they?" Wang Li asked.
"That. . ." Gale paused. "My Senior apprentice sister is training her, I'll explain more later. But first, you need to treat her first."
Gale's eyes pointed towards the handsome woman, who was the only one sitting, clutching her chest. Fen wasn't completely unobstructed when she faced the gold-rank beast. Although not critically injured, she was bleeding out, with a heavy injury on the side of her chest, not to mention the sheer number of bones cracked with this little conflict.
"I'll live," Fen said, gritting her teeth.
"Sister Fen," Wang Li said, her voice alarmed as she hobbled to help the older woman. She moved her fate look, which had the appearance of a scarf, to move out of her person to wrap around Fen's wound in the chest.
She transferred all the life energy her rank let her exert to heal the injury, but it wasn't really that easy to help a silver ranker with her copper rank strength, even with a unique fate lock.
"Let me help too," Gale said as he closed his eyes, focusing on the recovery spells he should be capable of casting. A soft white ball of light appeared on her palm as Gale poured more recovery energy into it. Finally, when he was done with the spell, he shot it into Fen's chest, causing the woman to shudder visibly. After a little while, she moaned and her face got a little better.
"I feel much better," Fen said.
Still, Wang Li proceeded to check on her wounds, stripping off her clothes.
Gale looked away. He considered for a moment and move into the house, leaving Vale there if there was any need.
"I need to look at the damages the formation bore," he said and moved into the central hub of the formation.
About a quarter of an hour later, Gale came back after finding the solution for all the damage the formation bore. He found all the women still in the drawing room, resting on the couch. The injured troupe leader slept after Wang Li changed her clothes.
"So when will Xiaolin come here?" Wang Li asked.
Gale didn't answer her question but asked one of his. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked. "Don't get me wrong, you're always welcome, but you should know something's very much wrong with this place."
"I was worried about you," Wang Li said and looked away, "and Xiaolin and Vale."
Gale narrowed his eyes at her. He wanted to have a private talk with her but now wasn't the time.
"And what about you, Miss Ai?" Gale asked, turning his head to the oracle apprentice.
"I had a vision of a disaster," Ai answered straightly.
"Is there anything more?" Gale perked an eyebrow.
The blind girl nodded as she continued, telling him about what they encountered after coming here. He was startled to know Sun Ziang and Twilight were here with them, but he feared they probably entered the dungeon trials, considering this was exactly the inheritance ground the noble son was here for.
After they were done with their experience, Gale exchanged information about what he found out so far. Honestly, it wasn't much, and most of it was grim news.
"The whole mountain range and more went through a spatial displacement, through some ancient mechanism," he said gravely. "I'm afraid we're completely cut off from the world."
"What does that mean, exactly?" Wang Li asked, narrowing her eyes. She didn't have the background to understand most of it, but the little she understood it seemed gravely bad news to her.
"Meaning we can't get out of this place that we came in," Gale said with a sigh. "An ancient trial ground is open for everyone to try, I think we have to beat the trial to get out of this. Of course, I can be wrong. Thankfully, we have an oracle with us."
"An apprentice oracle," Ai corrected.
"Well, you're familiar with the art of divination, right?" Gale asked.
Ai nodded.
Gale sighed in relief. "I'll need your expertise then. I hope I can count on you."
Ai looked uncomfortable as she heard him. "I'm afraid I'll need some time. My fortune imbalance won't let me divine anything properly, I would need at least a couple of days."
Gale frowned and eventually shrugged. "Well, Xiaolin is with Maya, it's not like anything can happen to her. I guess, I'll have to wait a couple of days then."
Then again, he had some work left to do, not to mention he required a proper rest after the long hours of suffering.
"What are you planning?" Ai asked.
"For now?" Gale said, "I intend to repair the formation so that you guys have no problem when I wasn't here, that would already take half a dozen hours to half a day. Then I'll have to rest and wait for your fortune to recover."
With that, Gale moved to repair the defence formation.
***
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