Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

Even if the three men were normal humans, they were still warriors at the Seventh to eighth stage of the body tempering realm, thus moving some large rocks was manageable to them.

The moment the three entered the mine, the cultivators got active.

"Follow them," A Nascent soul ream cultivator said in a low voice.

It was still heard by Lin Wu though, and he took note of them. Two Qi refining realm cultivators and a core condensation realm cultivator came out of hiding and entered behind the three men.

Having disappeared inside, the rest of the cultivators waited for five minutes before leaving their hiding places as well.

"Can't hold back anymore?" Lin Wu muttered.

The four nascent soul realm cultivators spread their spirit sense around and ensured there was nothing nearby before looking at each other.

"Begin the plan! Set up the formation array!" The junior cultivators all said in a unison and got to work. 

Several different materials were taken out and were being used to construct formations which would then be layered together and liked to make an array.

"Seems like they will be functioning as the nodes themselves. No wonder they brought Qi refining realm cultivators here as well…" Lin Wu understood.

In a formation array, if one wanted to enhance the control while reducing the complexity, one could use more people to control it. Of course, not all formation arrays could be controlled like this, but the ones that could, it was really beneficial.

It would make use of multiple people rather than just one person to control and regulate the formation, reducing the mental burden and cost of spirit Qi to operate it. 

Lin Wu observed as they set up the formation array that was rather wide. It surrounded the mine in a wide circle and the furtherer edge of the formation array was about five hundred meters from the entrance. 

The Qi refining realm cultivators were situated in the outermost parts, the core condensation realm ones in the middle and finally the four Nascent soul realm experts near the center.

They directly took out hexagonal stone platforms that were carved with thousands of runes and placed them down in a rhombus shape. Then sitting on them, they started to make runes in the air with their hands and joined the formation.

Lin Wu took note of which formations were being made.

"Hmm… A confinement formation as the beast, then a restraining one to enhance it and a Qi gathering fomentation to amplify it. The outermost layers are just there to strengthen it and prevent any impacts from affecting it." Lin Wu quickly identified the formations that were being made.

Because most of the components of the formations were already prepared by them, the cultivators were done, making it in less than an hour. 

Lin Wu was also keeping an eye on the three men and their three stalkers. 

"Oh? They managed to reach the second level?" Lin Wu saw their markers underground. 

It was surprising to him, as he knew just how convoluted the mine was. If someone did not have a guide or some map to show them the path, they would probably get lost. Even the signposts that the miners had put up had long since been broken due to the fights that happened in there.

"This map is really good!" The younger brother spoke out loud.

"Indeed, we were lucky to find one left behind by miners. This place is a maze. But even then, the tunnels don't seem all right. Some of them are not present on the map. What's up with that?" The Third man asked.

"Haven't you seen? The new tunnels are all small. I don't think they are made by miners." The older brother guessed.

"Who could have made them then?" The Younger brother questioned, feeling nervous.

"Who cares! We are in here so we can now find the hidden stash." The Third man said casually.

Hearing their conversation though, Lin Wu raised his brows. 

'There was certainly no map here when I came. There were just some destroyed registers and documents that the overseers and miners used to log their haul in. If there really was something, the system would have found it.' Lin Wu wondered.

But then he focused on the three stalking cultivators and understood what must have happened.

"So they are the ones behind this… they not only baited them using a fake information broker, but even made it seem like they got this map by luck. Interesting… but letting them come this far and even following them doesn't make sense." Lin Wu said to himself.

He thought that if the three men were just baited, following behind them was just adding more bait. Rather than that, it would make better sense to stay behind. 

Three hours passed like this as the men finally reached the third level. In this time, the rest of the cultivators at the surface had already completed the formation array and had hidden within it. 

"Will this be fine, elders?" one of the core condensation realm cultivators questioned.

"Yes, the illusory formation is enough. Now even if we stay here for weeks, we shouldn't have any problem." One of the Nascent soul realm elders answered.

The core condensation realm cultivator cupped his hand in respect before retreating to his position. 

"Hmm… making the important formations first and then the illusory one next once they got more time. That was a smart move, though… it's useless against me." Lin Wu said to himself as the system gave him a notification that the formation array had already been infiltrated by it.

Seeing that they were just staying silent, Lin Wu decided to act now.

Within the spirit stone mine where the weasel was resting, a voice was heard.

"Are you ready to eat, Tim?" 

The weasel quickly raised his head and tried to look around but didn't see anyone there. 

"The humans have entered the mine. You can go and eat them now. There are six of them." The voice spoke again.

This time, Tim found it to be coming from a crystal that was hidden in one of the crevices on the wall.