Sophia, surprised and agitated at what happened, tried to probe using her spiritual sense, but found nothing. She was about to clarify with Ray when they heard noise from the forest side.
Extending their senses, they found the last part of the group of the evil masters returning, and thous last two had eyes on them at that moment.
"Oh, right on time to try this," Ray said, and with swift movement, he knocked them down and dragged them to his initial standing point.
Taking out a bead similar to the ones he used before, he used the tip of the gauntlet's finger to draw something on it. Soon, Ray fed it some soul power, and it started to shine. Throwing it in front of his feet, it sent a beam of light forward, opening some kind of mirror-like door.
"Let's go," Ray said excitedly, dragging the two men by the neck, and looking at a confused Sophia.
Passing through the door, they found a huge tree in the same place as before, but the vicinity was covered in some kind of membrane. From the inside, they could sense and see the outside, but from the outside, it was impossible to feel anything. That was the property Ray gave this formation—well, part of its property.
Ray dragged them to the tree trunk, which was bulkier compared to before. The moment Ray got closer, the tree's red leaves shone calmly, as if greeting him.
By the time they arrived at the trunk's entrance, the pair of evil masters had regained their senses. Sadly, they didn't have a way to move, as Ray had sealed them completely, leaving them with only the ability to talk.
"You, what do you think you're doing?" one screamed at Ray, but his eyes never left Sophia since he woke. Funnily enough, along with the fear, a crazy intent to devour her was clear as daylight in their eyes.
"Oh, you woke up already. You have quite the spiritual energy to even wake up after that hit," Ray said, continuing on. "Welcome to your eternal prison from now on."
Getting past the only opening in the trunk, he dragged them inside. Sophia shrank to get inside as well.
Inside the trunk, the walls were layered with human-sized holes all around, with nine already filled with cocoons of some kind. From time to time, they emitted a light beat, like a heartbeat. The light would travel the only root connected to the cocoon, to the tree walls, then vanish into the ground, creating a beautiful light show.
Despite the beautiful scene, Sophia still had eyes on Ray. The reason was his action: the moment Ray entered, he threw the men into the center, looking down at them like pieces of trash.
"I never thought it would work, but since it did, then I will definitely make this a worse nightmare for you bunch of low-lives," Ray said before giving them a cold smile. "Enjoy your stay, and wait for your friends here."
The moment he finished his words, tree branches shot out of two openings, dragging the screaming men inside and wrapping them in the same cocoon-like membrane the others were trapped in.
"Okay, what the hell did you create?" Sophia couldn't hold it anymore, asking in an astonished voice.
She saw how he created the formation, and despite sharing his memories and knowledge, and knowing the effects of all the formations he used, she was completely clueless as to how it came to this point where they could work together.
Something about formations: each working formation will release a unique wave of energy, and to stack them together, you need to put that into consideration.
The types Ray used would work perfectly with each other, but that didn't mean they would complete each other. After all, Ray's creation just now was more of a patchwork than a real formation.
"Well, it's actually completely out of my calculation too," Ray said with a smile, given his happy mood. "Do you know the function of the initial formations?"
"Yes, it's a sealing and draining formation," Sophia said. "And you used some kind of tree seed as a core to reinject the absorbed energy back into the atmosphere."
"Yup," Ray nodded. "And additionally, I tweaked the defense system of the seal to counter anything with the same property as the sealed beings."
That was the reason the seven men got devoured by the tree so easily, and Ray's attribute being a perfect counter to them, and used in the formation, raised the lethality of the defense.
"Since they had quite the energy, the tree actually gained minor sentience," Ray added, smirking.
"You mean…" Sophia murmured, looking at the tree walls. "This tree became a spirit beast?"
"Nah, it's more like it got fused with the formation and my remaining energy," Ray refused, leaving her confused.
"What I mean is that after it started to grow, the formation's property became the tree's inner ability," Ray added, trying to explain. "So instead of a formation, it's more like the tree using the formation as a soul skill to grow."
Thanks to the unique seed Ray used, which belonged to a type of purifying tree on his home planet, it had a high resistance to corruption. Since the formation itself was set to purify and absorb energy, the seed, upon cracking its shell, didn't just absorb the energy the formation fed it, but the property of the energy and the mechanism behind the absorption.
By the time the evil masters attacked it, it was already in synchronicity with the formation, pushing it to accept the formation as part of itself. thanks to the overwhelming energy count they provided.
"Ah, so instead of being the core of the formation, it became the formation itself," Sophia looked at Ray. "And somehow, the formation became its existing purpose?" Sophia summarized and nodded in understanding.
Ray nodded repeatedly, before smiling giddily. "And that's not all."
Ray didn't continue to talk. Instead, he created a screen in front of her with his mist. In it, he displayed a copy of the scan table.
[Evil Devouring Tree:] A tree that imprisons and purifies evil entities.
[Properties:]
Purifies and absorbs the energy generated by the inmates.
Injects the purified energy into the atmosphere.
Inmate dragged into internal nightmare.
Inmate Memory projection.
Generates a unique fruit with purifying and energy absorption augmentation (low chance to create innate skill fruit).
Active evolution.
[Connection:] Ray Light, Sophia
Reading the properties, Sophia's eyes widened slowly, until reading the last part with almost popped eyes.
"This is crazy. Did you just create a second Slaughter City?" Sophia said, completely shocked at the concept.
The Slaughter City was a sealed dimension; its first purpose was an inheritance ground for a certain deity, but it was used by humans as a prison for evil soul masters before it got destroyed by the second generation of the said deity.
And now she got to witness something like it, and it was actually a human creation!
"You think ?" Ray said. "But I think this tree is better." He added as he got closer to where the leader was captured.
Putting his hand on the platform beside it, some kind of projection appeared, and a video of someone's perception appeared. From the look of it, it was the perception of a new baby.
"Is that his memory?" Sophia asked, not really expecting an answer.
And Ray only nodded, and started to speed up the video. With every part, he grew very pissed. If the man was forced to this road, he could still understand, but this entire clan was actually low-key evil cultivators.
"Oh, boy," Sophia murmured, looking at Ray's calm eyes, as she knew for a fact he was boiling with anger insied.
Soon the memory part of the base of the evil masters started to appear, and not only the one close by but most that round this spisifik erea.
The evil master curntly Ray reading the memory off, was actually a messenger and hunter of some kind. His job was either to lead hunting groups or pass information around the bases.
Ray stopped right after confirming the base's position and the movement of its members. Stepping in front of the other man, he did the same, and after that, he got to the next one. By the end of reading the memories of the five individuals, Ray hardly resisted landing a finishing blow to all of them.
Exiting out of the tree, with Sophia behind, not knowing what to say, and knowing for a fact he would attack the base as soon as possible.
Trying to think of a way to stop him from getting reckless, surprisingly he didn't get into action directly as she expected. Instead, he got several meters in front of the tree and sat in meditation.
"Ray?" Calling him, and not getting an answer, she sighed in relief and sat beside him, knowing that he was now working on a plan.
Time stretched, and Ray opened his eyes by the time the night had almost passed.
"Sophy, I think we will have to leave our visit for later," Ray said, looking at Sophia and smiling, having finally gotten a working plan.
"Okay, what have you got?" Sophia said in a giving-up tone, but under it hid an excited and respectful tone for him even more. Not even having any connection to the people inside, he made it his job to save them.
From the last memories of the group leader, they knew that this base worked as storage.
storage for their captives. And they had around over a thousand prisoners that would be moved in the next two days. What made it worse was that the leader of the base was actually a Soul Saint, a 7-Ringed soul Master.
And even the evil masters they capture had no memory of seeing or meeting him. So that became their hardest hurdle.
"Well, first we will…" Ray began explaining his plan.
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