Chapter 876: The Lifeforce

Way back where Krune's group had passed through...

"Once upon a time, long long ago." The man with the crown paused as he saw these words on the ground, reading it aloud.

"Interesting," he smirked while muttering, watching how the font used to engrave the words on the ground conveyed the feeling that the person who wrote it had been pressed for time.

The man with the crown then skipped over the words and continued to jog over the path, unconcerned if he could catch up to the people he was chasing after.

"There lived a man fatter than fat and a woman thinner than thin." He read aloud the next sentence, smirking as it seemed strange. He wished to understand why his target had written such words.

A kilometer later, the man with the crown came upon two arrow marks and another set of words, reading them aloud, "Follow the arrow on the left if you wish to read the fat man's fat tale. Follow the arrow on the right for the thin woman's thin tale."

The man with the crown paused after seeing that and actually contemplated over his choice, eventually deciding to follow the arrow on the right. He proceeded in the direction it had pointed towards, returning an hour later as his eyebrows twitched by the time he came back.

He then walked in the direction pointed by the left arrow, similarly returning after an hour had passed, grunting as he kicked the ground, erasing the set of words engraved on it. He soon muttered to himself, "I had hoped for a story. It would have made the journey better."

The man with the crown continued to jog further, trailing after the path Krune had traversed on. A voice from the pouch dangling on his right would remind him from time to time, pointing him in the right direction.

Soon, he came across another set of words on the path, skipping it without a glance. Though, once he passed it by a bit, curiosity got the best of him, prompting him to return to the spot and read the set of words on the ground. "The following is a story about the prodigy demon beast grown by the fat man and the thin woman. Their fat and thin tale combined resulted in the prodigy demon beast's peerlessness. If you want to see their story instead, follow the respective arrows for 10 kilometers."

"...Damn, this guy is cunning." The man with the crown was shocked, pausing as he continued forward, muttering something along the way. A couple of hours later, he returned to the area, grumbling, "The story actually continues further in this path. I should read the stories of the other two first."

Saying so, the man with the crown backtracked until he reached the previous set of words, frowning as he noticed his earlier kick had erased all the words. He then looked around, retracing the path of the fat man based on his memory before traversing in the respective direction.

"It's probably Krune's effort to waste your time. Don't follow them." A voice from the pouch hung on his hip resounded. Its tone was one of caution.

"I'm quite curious to know the full story, though," the man with the crown said in response. "Besides, we can always catch up to Krune when we need to. He's traveling on foot while I have you guys to give me a ride."

"In that case, use us to travel, then. Don't waste your time on foot," another voice resounded from the pouch.

"I don't wanna." The man with the crown chuckled. "This is fun. I don't want to catch up to Krune that soon. It seems he has sensed my approach. With that, I just plan to pressure him like this...for a month or two."

"..." All the voices that wished to speak next from the pouch turned silent. The man with the crown continued to jog his way, returning after four hours had passed as he plopped on the ground. "There's no story further in that direction."

"We told you. Krune's getting farther away from you as we speak. He wouldn't have the time to run everywhere without reason just to what...set up a story for you to read? This is probably just his attempt to delay you from catching up, without any guarantee of its result," the voice from before rambled on and on until the man with the crown shut it up.

He then faced the other direction, the one that apparently led to the story of the thin lady, before muttering to himself, "I better check that out."

"Oh god!"

"No!"

The voices from the pouch groaned and cursed in protest as the man with the crown began to jog once again.

...

Krune and Yulian continued to run through the Lawless Plains, passing through the massive carcasses of demon beasts scattered everywhere. The ones that survived had escaped long ago. So, all Krune and Yulian came across were scenes of death everywhere.

"That actually worked?" Krune was surprised for a moment when he felt the looming threat on him decrease. As he was sensing it through the Calamity Laws, he was able to determine whether the one pursuing him had closed in or moved farther away.

In any case, he was surprised when the chaser moved away. It meant that the set of words he had placed actually worked. 'That's quite surprising.'

It was something he randomly did. Krune didn't even expect it to have any effect on the pursuer. It was surprising to know that it did. This allowed him to get an idea about the person that was pursuing him.

Since it was something Little Cally orchestrated, Krune realized that the other party was probably someone that became interested in him through one coincidence or another. Since it was only on the level of interest, he wouldn't chase after Krune with the intent to kill.

Nevertheless, since Krune felt a threat from the other party, he did not delay and slow down at all. That was because the interest of the other party could be anything. If his interest was to eat Krune's heart, then it was no different from a death sentence to Krune.

"Can you continue, Yulian?" Krune asked after seeing Yulian pant once again. He had become too tired before and was only able to continue when his cultivation base had recovered by another stage.

"I'll manage somehow." Yulian gasped as the strength in his legs increased all of a sudden. His cultivation recovered by another stage, placing him at the Fifth Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. He instantly recovered his stamina, now able to maintain his speed for longer durations.

As he had trained his body immensely, Yulian had great stamina in the first place. That was why he was able to sprint for hours without taking breaks.

As for Krune, his cultivation was recovering at a slightly slower pace than Yulian. An hour later, he also entered the Fifth Stage of the Godly Fusion Realm. Krune felt a bit better while using his Mind Splitting Technique thanks to that. The quantity of Godly Energy he could siphon from the Rank One God Stones had somewhat increased.

His godly meridians processed the Godly Energy faster, allowing him to run better. He was also able to use Godly Energy to reinforce his body, keeping up the pace. The greatest benefit he obtained from recovering his cultivation base was the replenishment of Godly energy.

So, every time this happened, their Godly Energy was at the maximum. Krune and Yulian had a better time running as this happened, soon getting another boost when their cultivation bases recovered by another stage.

"Stop!" Krune suddenly shouted as he leaned his ears towards his surroundings, trying to listen to something. He relied on his other senses as well, trying to understand the oddity he felt. He looked around, feeling a hint of someone's presence, or rather their lifeforce. Normally, he would have been unable to feel something like this.

Then again, in the current scenario where he was surrounded by death on all sides, the tinge of life energy was vividly registered in his senses. Krune used his Mental Energy Scan to search through his surroundings, keeping his eyes closed as he probed through the feeling, moving in the direction it called for him.

"..." Yulian frowned for a moment, soon picking up the same feeling Krune felt. Without speaking anything else, he followed Krune, walking past a few massive carcasses of demon beasts.

The demon beasts around them were of all races, but their sizes were massive. Krune and Yulian had reached the center of the Lawless Plains. They climbed above the figure of a demon beast that resembled a hill, crossing it as they traveled in search of the lifeforce's source.

Since the distance between him and his chaser had widened, Krune didn't have as much need to hurry up as before. This allowed him to look around and search for the source of the life force he felt.

"Damn it," Krune cursed aloud when he came across a massive eye staring at him. The eye was bigger than his body. Plus, with it being so close, the impact it made on his mind was greater. After a moment, when he realized he was staring into a corpse, Krune calmed down as he muttered to himself, "Just how strong had this demon beast been when it was alive?"

"I think this demon beast was the ruler of the Lawless Plains." Yulian frowned as he soon asked, "But...where is its Spiritual Incarnation?"

He then looked around, failing to find any traces of a Spiritual Incarnation being used.

"Have you heard about this demon beast in the past?" Krune inquired.

"Yeah, I heard about it from my fellow mercenaries." Yulian nodded as he frowned once again. "But, it was supposed to have a Spiritual Incarnation. There used to be around three demon beasts here that possessed a Spiritual Incarnation. They were usually called the three rulers of the Lawless Plains."

He sighed as he continued, "They were actually at the God-Trial Realm. So, I don't even understand how this is possible."

"Maybe it's because this isn't one of them." Krune sensed using his Mental Energy Scan. "This demon beast's cultivation base is only at the First Stage of the Semi-God Realm."

"You can sense the cultivation of someone from their carcass alone?" Yulian was surprised once again as he asked.

"Can't everyone do that?" Krune was shocked as he soon questioned. "The bodies of demon beasts alone should reveal the strength they possessed when alive, right?"

"Hmm, maybe it's something only demon beasts can sense." Yulian shook his head. "I can't do that. I mostly mingle around human mercenaries. I guess that's why I haven't been able to notice this. After all, I never had the habit of looking through the corpses of demon beasts when I slay them."

'Well, as a Spiritual Chef, I...handled bodies a lot.' Krune didn't say it aloud, focusing as his Mental Energy Scan picked up the source of the lifeforce. It was coming from somewhere around the demon beast's stomach.

Krune and Yulian made eye contact as they made an incision on the demon beast's stomach, fishing out a cracked egg from within.