Biting more than you can chew

The gu masters from the Immortal Crane Sect had made a stop while making their way towards the rendezvous point. Wang Shu, a Rank 2 upper stage cultivator was the one with most injuries. He had used his flying crane to shield himself when he crashed into the spike grass. However, it was still not enough and he got severely injured. Another gu master named Gong Zan was tending to Wang Shu's injuries using Rank 2 Spring mist Gu. She was using a healing type gu insect with a small range so the other injured masters were also present nearby.

Only their leader, Yan Cai, was contemplating their actions. He was a Rank 3 peak stage cultivator who commanded a lot of respect from his peers back in the clan. He knew that his cultivation would be suppressed after crossing the regional walls but he didn't realize the immensity of it until this point. He and his team were suppressed by a young team of gu masters who were still in Rank 2. He had borrowed his uncle's beast king for protection during this time but he was unable to utilize it effectively.

When the rumors of the resource cave reached a border village governed by the Immortal Crane Sect in Central continent, some members from the Immortal Clan Sect dared cross the region walls to gain some benefits before it was too late. Even with suppressed cultivations, they could easily fight the gu masters of Ruogang clan. This encouraged more and more members of his sect to cross the regional wall for some benefits. However, as of late, they started encountering stronger gu masters and soon came to know that Ruogang clan had requested aid from stronger clans of the Southern border.

So, all the gu masters of the Immortal Crane Sect got together and came up with a plan. Almost all the beast hordes have a few key beasts. The resource cave had numerous kinds of insect beast hordes belonging to the earth path. If they captured the queens of one of these herds, then they could direct thousands of insect beasts back to their region. So they broke up into several teams to capture the key beasts. Some teams were responsible for reconnaissance. Some were responsible for diversions and creating openings. Some were responsible for splitting up and fighting the beasts protecting the queen. They were all supposed to regroup and bait for the insect beast horde to cross the regional wall.

Yan Cai's team was unsuccessful in sneakily capturing the Herculean dung beetle queen and it resulted in them being chased by the horde. Luckily, the team responsible for interception was able to do their job well and led Yan Cai's team to escape. The Herculean dung beetle herd was not renowned for their speed. Yan Cai's team had successfully escaped the slow chase when they encountered Gu Guangzhi and his team.

"Senior brother Cai, we're done healing ourselves. Junior brother's Wang Shu is the only one who hasn't fully recovered. Let's head back and meet up with everyone.", said Lin Que interrupting Yan Cai's thoughts.

"Are you sure we are not being followed? Use your Misty eye Gu again to make sure. We don't want to lead them to our meeting place.", said Yan Cai.

"I'd like to see them try. We have over twenty Rank 3 gu masters and sixty Rank 2 gu masters on our side. Suppressed or not, they are no match our numbers.", replied Lin Que. However, she still activated her Rank 2 Misty eye Gu. It was one of the best reconnaissance type gu insect among Rank 2 gu insects. The mist in the cave slowly gathered in the shape of an eye at various places in the cave. Lin Que was able to see that the caves were clear. There was no one following them. She relayed the same to Yan Cai. He still felt that they got away too easily and felt that they were being followed. However, he knew he couldn't just turn back to face them. His juniors weren't in their best condition so he could only join his fellow sect members to bolster their strength. They began moving once again. A few moments later, a short distance away from the location, light distorted and a few gu masters became visible again.

"I still can't believe such a wonderful gu exists. Your Counter intuition Gu truly deserves praise.", said Tie He Xi while deactivating his Rank 2 Light blend Gu. Light blend Gu was a common support type gu used to distort light and hide one's presence.

"It is one of the key investigative gu insects my father gave. It is not invincible and needs to be constantly active to detect anything but given the situation we are currently in, it makes sense for me to use it.", replied Tie Ruo Nan.

"Come on, let's go! We don't want to lose them.", urged Tie Yue Sen.

Gu Guangzhi had learnt about these investigative gu insects after meeting Tie Xue Leng. Intuition Gu strengthens the intuition of a gu master. It can be used when one had some clues and needs to make a better sense of them. Counter intuition Gu, on the other hand, strengthens the intuition and gives a sense of oncoming danger when someone is acting against them. He felt that these gu insects were wonderful and wanted to refine them but they belonged to wisdom path and they were some of the most difficult gu insects to refine.

After following Yan Cai's team for more than an hour, Gu Guangzhi was finally able to sense a lot of activity through his Tremor sense Gu. They were finally reaching the rendezvous point.

"This cave looks a lot bigger than we initially thought. I'm totally spent.", said Tie Yue Sen.

"Shut your mouth. You were the one doing nothing up till this point. Tie Ruo Nan was spending her primeval essence on operating Counter Intuition Gu and I was the one covering our traces till now. What did you do to get tired?", said Tie He Xi angrily.

"If you have time to bicker, take out your primeval stones and recover.",commanded Tie Ruo Nan. She was running dangerously low on primeval essence and was furiously trying to absorb primeval essence from her stones.

Tie He Xi and Tie Yue Sen stopped bickering. Tie Yue Sen asked in a ow voice, "Now that we are here, what was the plan again?"

"Why don't you leave that question to us?", came a response from a group of gu masters who were currently surrounding them.