Wu Guang had done everything for this single moment. Even his apparent inaction was part of his plan. His opponent was already stressed out thinking about why he did not attack to kill, why he stood now unmoving, and even though she would not admit to it... She did not want to die. However her thoughts went, no sane person, cultivator or mortal, would want to die in some abandoned ruins, and worse die for nothing.

And so, a moment before the shining, winged, blazing sword eagle kingdom lieutenant reached him, Wu Guang closed his eyes and opened them right away, staring directly into her eyes. It was not a blink, no, and neither this stare was a simple gaze. Every ounce of Wu Guang's extremely powerful peaked at the limit of this plane, consciousness was behind that gaze... And so, without knowing what happened, Yuan Xiuying's mind crumbled.

*Step*

Wu Guang made a single step to the side, avoiding the still-moving body...

*CRASH*

... and allowing her to crash into the wall behind him.

She crashed through most of it, but he had positioned himself near the extreme of the treasury room, which meant she crashed into more than 20 feet of rock. Rock reinforced with runes that, for over the last 87 years, were active and prepared to resist whatever damage would be inflicted upon the walls, be it an attack or simple wear from time.

But well, at the moment it did not matter to her anyway, did it? Not with her mind crumbled down into a series of unconnected thoughts, rendering her practically unconscious.

________________________________________________________________________

One's consciousness could be used for many things, including intimidation of weaker enemies. Granted, there would be no real need for a cultivator to resort to it against someone far weaker than himself, but the option was there. Wu Guang's consciousness was on the very limit of the plane, being equivalent to a 2nd level Warrior Lord. Still, scaring someone off and making one's mind crumble were different matters. For the former, it was only enough to apply one's consciousness behind the gaze, but the latter required far more preparations.

Preparations that Wu Guang had begun since the moment he entered this, main, room of the ruins. He presented himself as an unfathomable expert, only to show then that he was only... slightly stronger than the Eagle Kingdom soldiers. To again overturn any thoughts by dispatching her subordinates without any effort. And after allowing her a moment of triumph with the glyph, he threw everything into confusion by not attacking her seriously even once.

And in the end, he openly toyed with her only to proclaim that they will finish it with a single bout. During he did not act, like if he intended to receive her attack.

Originally, this was not his optimal plan, as he intended to fight it out with her seriously. Regretfully, for her, she never posed enough threat to him and so he lost interest. And however cynical it could sound to others, Wu Guang did not care for anything except his own interest in any matter. Even in the matter of the war, he was here only because he was curious to see it happen, and he wanted to comply with his sense of duty towards people he considered close. Not more, not less.

________________________________________________________________________

Anyway, now that she was down, it was time for the unsavory business.

Storing away the weapons he mainly had been holding for show, Wu Guang approached the almost unconscious woman and restrained her with a spell. He did not seal her cultivation but simply made it that her mind would never recuperate. At least not until a Sage realm expert healer examined her, or he allowed it to happen.

"Chun Hua, how is everything going outside? Any new guests?"

"None"

"Good, keep at it for some time more. I will read her memories and find out all that I need to know. If everything looks alright, I will set up everything for the ritual"

"And if not?"

"I will let her live"

"Only live? Not free?"

"Not free, I may like or dislike someone but there is also the matter of our respective powers being at war. And do not worry, I will find you a body before leaving the island. Whatever I have to do"

"...I see"

Wu Guang knew that Chun Hua simply did not understand why he was so reluctant on snatching the first body he saw for her. Still, she respected his decisions. Or at least conceded to him while slightly, or not, pouting.

________________________________________________________________________

Three hours later, Wu Guang opened his eyes. He had cleaned everything and dove into reading the memories of his captive. Different from his previous time, his strength and abilities had grown to a level where he could easily browse the entirety of them, which he speedily did.

As he had 'overheard', she was indeed a Lieutenant of the Royal Eagle Army. To be exact, Yuan Xiuying, 21 years old, was a graduate from the Military Academy of the Kingdom and had been serving in the scout wing of the army for 2 years.

As Wu Guang half feared, half knew from the start, Yuan Xiuying was not a bad person. On the contrary, one could say that she was a very good one. From her memories, he managed to glean a lot of things she did for other people, including mortals, and one could say that her karma should be extremely good.

But when Wu Guang touched the latest memories, the orders, and other things that related to the current war, his first impression was overturned. After all, she did not hesitate to accept her orders. They could be considered wartime, but... Sabotaging the defense by any means necessary? Staging incidents between the mortal refugees?

And she did not even wince when that 'all means' included poisoning supplies. Even more, she had even suggested using poisons native to the kingdom, as their antidotes would be not openly known or available.

"Hmm, a person surely is far better discovered when facing such orders. Accepting them is one thing, but I sense almost no vacillation in her mind" Wu Guang muttered. It was not that he did not understand that war called for extreme measures, especially one where one party believed their only chance at salvation was to move to a new land in under three years. Not that she could refuse, he admitted. Still, her willingness to follow them fully, and the fact that she did not hesitate to sacrifice her subordinates, however it looked, to simply gain time for the glyph... Made his decision obvious.

Chun Hua was getting a body, this body.

________________________________________________________________________

Cleaning the remnants of the battle, and recovering bodies, spoils, and his weapons, Wu Guang moved Yuan Xiuying's body to the stage area of the room and started to prepare for the ritual.

When he had first thought of this way for Chun Hua, he did not have any real means to help the process, which would mean that it would be a brute force approach. But now, he not only had arrays but also formations at his disposal. After all, he had 11 stabilizing orbs left, so why not spend one for Chun Hua?

Especially if he did it right, she would also inherit the body's cultivation, something that would be impossible without a specific, hidden, and forbidden formation. Which Bai Qi had reversed before, and used it himself. After all, it was the same formation that allowed his consciousness and soul to flee from his killers while leaving them an 'alive' body that they could kill, and confirm to be him.

"Chun Hua, I will have everything prepared at midnight"

"Understood, there are still no changes on the road. I will approach at midnight then"

"Mmm"

As Wu Guang said, he indeed had prepared everything for when Chun Hua arrived.

At this point, he had also digested every small detail he could about the Eagle Kingdom scout detachment and even deduced their location. Yuan Xiuying's memories did not contain many indications, as she was not native to the island and only had seen it in maps. Neither she knew about what tasks were assigned to the other 11 groups that landed alongside her. Still, that was not Wu Guang's care. He simply reported everything to Zhen Mang, who would pass the relevant information to the Sect. Ironically, he used the same message glyph that Yuan Xiuying had.

After reporting, which he considered "Doing his part in name of the Island defense" He returned to the current matter.

A powerful array served to protect her and the body during the process, barring all the possible interference by anyone weaker than the Warrior Lord realm.

An equally powerful formation was laid on the body itself, granting Chun Hua at least a Soul realm cultivator power and presence.

"I do not know how much time it will take you to take over, but I have done whatever could be to speed up the process. Her mind is broken and shackled, which means you will meet nothing more than passive resistance. Still, she is a Soul realm cultivator, which means you will inevitably clash with the Soul. I can not do anything about it as it would not allow you to inherit the cultivation" Wu Guang explained.

"Understood"

"Good, then the supposed correct process is..." Wu Guang explained every detail and thing he could remember. But after the explanation, he added

"But that method is for remnant souls and other undeath, so some things may be different for you. Still, I think you will sense how to proceed"

"Mmm"

"Then start"

________________________________________________________________________

When Wu Guang confirmed that Chun Hua had fused with the formation and began penetrating the body, he set up enough spells and alarms to cover an entire mile around the building. And then resumed his own cultivation. He had stopped in an unsuitable moment, and the fighting neither did help. Thankfully he restrained the usage of aura to the minimum during the fight, and so after recuperating enough qi and Soul power could correct the deviation and continue with his initial objective. Strengthening his aura.

The process took him half a day, during which none of the alarms was activated, allowing him to finish successfully.

Adding this to the two days that had already passed since he left the Sect before he started, there was only one day to finish all his matters and proceed to Boundary Hill City.

"Chun Hua's process will take far longer than expected. Or at least it seems so" Wu Guang muttered after briefly scanning the formation. She had achieved initial success, but overall she had only achieved about a fifth of total control.

This was worrying, as he could not simply leave her here. He could not either miss up the appointed meeting with whatever team was formed for him. As if he did, who knows if they began searching for him or did something else on his behalf. Like asking Lady Xian, who would be present with them to locate him. Chun Hua was a secret and one that he preferred to keep hidden from everyone. Even if he had suspicions that the founder of the Sect reported her existence to the empire, the fact that he had actually bound her could not be confirmed in any way... Except by reading his memories or making him admit it.

Kass Shaa'r not appearing yet was also worrying, but Wu Guang could not do anything to change it right now, as any action would mean either leaving the ruins or announcing his presence to anyone in distance. And attracting attention was not something quite intelligent right now.

And so he decided to spend some time resting, as well checking the spoils. Apart from low-rank pills, money, and some miscellaneous supplies, neither of the subordinates carried anything of importance. But the commander's pouch was far different, as not only it was a 4-star pouch, but also contained six normal pouches. Wu Guang knew what was inside, but still, he checked all of them. There were different poisons and a lot of stuff to make all the incidents appear the work of the local powers. Indeed, there were badges, uniforms, weapons, and even corpses!

"Most probably kindly provided by the Black Eagles, or their Underhill marionettes" Wu Guang concluded after the examination.

As for the traitor Gu Tao's pouch, it was empty. Well, except for the gold he received, a simple spear, and a pair of common healing herbs.

The most interesting part of the spoils was comprised of the strange swords, called 'Royal Feathers'. But they were too common to be valuable, and so only served to sate Wu Guang's curiosity.

Speaking of spoils, Wu Guang obtained another thing from this battle. Or to be exact, from fully absorbing Yuan Xiuying memories... two martial skills! Granted, he had no physical access to them, but she had learned them, and now he could do so by using her memories.

At this moment, one of his farthest alarm spells suddenly activated, and Wu Guang's senses immediately covered the area. He had concealed himself again, preferring to surprise any new visitors, but this time, there was no need.

After all, that presence, equivalent to a Warrior Lord but still slightly different... He knew it!