Is that a Wisp?

In the past five days when the village was working in full swing while growing grass, Krune wasn't being idle either.

During the middle of the night, he exited the village and roamed through the other villages, targeting the bandits that were stationed nearby.

All he did was knock them out unconscious before carrying their bodies somewhere else, setting them inside an abandoned cave. While doing so, he had ensured the cave was well hidden from view.

As for the places where the bandits had been on standby, he left behind some traces, pointing to the Yin Beasts.

On top of that, he increased the clues every day, pointing them to the Barren Range. After more than ten bandits had gone missing, the bandits were no longer able to remain passive.

They realized that the Yin Beasts had become too dangerous and had begun to threaten their position. So, without wasting any time, they set off to investigate, trailing towards the Barren Range.

Through their sentries, they discovered the Yin Beasts going about in the area, relaying the news to the bandits' boss.

With that, the bandits immediately set out for an expedition. As for Krune, he had confirmed it. Only after did he send Wang Hao into the village head's house and slept alone in his house.

As he had expected, he was kidnapped by the Yin Beasts and brought over to their lair. Then, the bandits struck soon after that, causing the two parties to become broiled in a fight.

Having observed their fight through the sounds, Krune headed deeper into the cave, finally arriving before a discrete section, a tunnel that led from one corner.

The tunnel spanned around five meters in length, leading into a small cave. However, the moment he closed in on it, Krune was alarmed, inhaling a putrid stench. He summoned the Cloud Whale, loading the Soul Needle in its horn as he held it in his hand, cautiously peeking from a corner.

The scene he saw next left him seething in rage.

In the cave was a small stone bed, layered with hay atop which a leather blanket was placed. Laid down on it, grunting in pain, was a human woman, or at least, someone that had once been human.

It seemed that she had been enduring enough pain that her mind had shattered, leaving her as a husk of her former self. Currently, a pair of horns grew on her forehead while her eyes glazed over, turning silver, similar to the Yin Beast.

On her hand were traces of scales, with an occasional patch of fur. However, the most alarming of all was an orb embedded onto her forehead, one that pulsed with energy to affect her, turning her into something not human.

Her stomach was bulging, looking like she was pregnant. Though, the moment he glanced at the orb, Krune was flabbergasted. "T-That's…a Nightmare Core."

Unlike a regular Nightmare Core, this was bigger and pulsed with a stronger energy fluctuation. After being embedded on her forehead, this Nightmare Core was constantly changing her race, causing her to give birth to the Yin Beasts.

After some observation, thanks to the memories of Su Zixin, Krune was able to understand the cause. "So, Yin Beasts are birthed when a human woman is affected by a Nightmare Core."

It made him scowl because he clearly understood that a human woman was only able to give birth once before she died. It was because she was unable to endure the changes done to her body by the Nightmare Core forcefully.

He looked around, seeing the bones of human women scattered around. It seemed the Yin Beast captured them, placed them in this cave and attached the Nightmare Core on their forehead.

Once they birthed a Yin Beast, the hatchling Yin Beast first devoured them while the adult Yin Beasts found another human woman to give birth to more of their kind.

"I thought only an Imperial Arms was capable of killing a Nightmare." Krune frowned, realizing that the world was more complex than he had assumed.

He then gently arrived before the lady, muttering, "Sorry, I don't have the power to heal you. All I can do is give you mercy."

As he had expected, the woman was unable to even sense his existence, withering in constant pain. Sighing, he used the Cloud Whale to first knock her unconscious. After that, it unleashed an Air Needle on her forehead, killing her.

Scree!

Suddenly, the developing Yin Beast burst out of her stomach, expressing its anger.

"Shut up!" Krune shouted in anger, unleashing an Air Needle on it, watching it only tumble in response to the hole on its forehead.

"What frightening vitality." He unleashed three more Air Needles, finally sighing in relief upon noticing that it had died.

"This shouldn't be here," Krune said, gazing at the Nightmare Core lodged on the lady's forehead, prying it out as he frowned. Sensing the energy fluctuations it emitted, he muttered, "Since the Yin Beasts are birthed through this, they would be able to sense its energy fluctuations."

Thinking as such, he dispersed his Cloud Whale, summoning it once again. But this time, he condensed it around the Nightmare Core, noticing that its body had prevented any energy fluctuations from coming out.

"But this way, I won't be able to use the Cloud Whale." Sighing in response, Krune looked around, unable to find anything else of value.

He then arrived at the pool he had woken up at the start, using the Cloud Whale to gently press a couple of acupoints on the remaining two bandits that were alive. He also removed their bindings, hiding the Cloud Whale within his clothes as he shook them awake.

The reason he had done so was because he needed their help to successfully leave the place. There indeed existed methods to tame Yin Beasts. However, they required a long period of effort and suppression using Imperial Arms before achieving success.

The Yin Beasts in the possession of the Su Family had taken at least two to three months to tame each. And this was considering all the power and means they possessed.

As for Krune, even though there were hatchling Yin Beasts before him, he didn't have a guarantee in subjugating them. After all, he wasn't an Imperial Meister right now. Only to the aura of an Imperial Meister would a Yin Beast become subservient towards.

So, he needed the help of the bandits for his plans.