Julian and his crew ventured into the cave and were slightly surprised by its interior. From the outside, it resembles a small cave, barely capable of passing as the residence of such a large creature as the ironhide bear.
However, the interior was vastly different. It expanded inward, exuding a slightly overwhelming aura. The cave sloped downward, forcing its visitors the descend underground.
Julian and his group descended slowly, taking their steps one at a time in a very careful fashion.
"Be careful not to touch anything, including the walls."
Julian warned with a serious expression on his face. He didn't want them to trigger any traps that could possibly kill them.
Of course, all of this was just a safety measure, as any traps that might have been present would have been triggered by the Ironhide bear already.
When they got to the depth of he cave, the scene that met them caused all of them to break out into smiles.
******
A few hours earlier, outside the cave, Adrian watched the intense battle with bated breath. Having followed them for quite a while, he had a preliminary understanding of the strength of the group.
He knew that this battle was going to be intense. And indeed it was. From the get-go, the Ironhide bear was bombarded with various martial skills, making it resemble a fireworks display.
However, when the dust settled, the bear was still standing, with seemingly no injuries on its body. Seeing that the attacks of its opponents failed to injure it, it let out a triumphant roar before charging straight towards them.
Without hesitation, the disciples of the War Machine sect led by Julian also charged forward without shrinking back.
******
A few hours later, the bloody body of the Ironhide bear collapsed on the ground, and with a final mournful roar, its life faded away.
However, the disciples were not unharmed. Their robes were all tainted with blood, though it was unknown if it belonged to them or the bear.
One of them was also missing an arm. The bear hadn't gone down without a fight and had shaved a layer of skin off them.
Julian, with his robes torn and bloody, swiftly put away the carcass before collapsing onto a nearby boulder.
His chest heaved up and down as he tried to catch his breath, his exhaustion evident from the intense battle.
The others did the same as they all brought out pills from their storage rings. However, they couldn't all recuperate at the same time.
They were still in the very dangerous Misty Mountains after all. They took turns, with Julian being the first to recover from his Qi depletion and injuries. One by one, they all did their best to recover swiftly.
As Adrian was watching them recover, a devious idea slowly crept into his mind. He entertained the idea of ambushing Julian's team.
With their current situation, this would be the most opportune time for him to strike. They were currently at their most vulnerable, with one of them even losing a limb, basically halving his combat power.
However, after thinking it over, he ultimately decided against it. Even if they were not in the best condition, ambushing five golden core formation realm experts was something not even he could do at this moment.
After they finished their recovery, he watched them enter the cave, excitement evident on their faces.
He waited for a while, expecting them to come out, but unexpectedly, even after a few hours, they still hadn't emerged.
'What's going on? Why haven't they come out yet?
Could they have possibly encountered some danger inside the cave?
But I can't hear any sounds of fighting.'
Adrian waited for another hour before his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to enter the cave himself. As he approached the valley, his senses heightened to the extreme as he became even more vigilant of his surroundings.
When he finally reached the cave, he took a deep breath before stepping inside. The cave, as expected, was dark and gloomy. He was a bit surprised by its size as he was also deceived by its outward appearance.
The lack of light was not a problem for him as he was a cultivator. His eyesight was especially sharp, taking in all the books and crannies of the cave.
On the ground, he noticed the footprint of Julian and the others and followed it until he reached the depth of the cave.
He was surprised as the footsteps abnormally ended when he reached the end of the cave. There was no sign of Julian and the others present anywhere.
All that was there were three stone pillars arranged in a triangular pattern.
'A formation array!' Adrian yelled internally. He had recognized the pillars in front of him as some sort of runic formation.
However, the only problem was that he didn't know what the formation was for. He guessed that it was done sort of teleportation formation. This guess wasn't unfounded.
From the footprints of Julian and his group, they stepped into the centre of the three pillars. However, that was where his insight ended.
He didn't know how Julian activated the formation. He guessed that it was related to that beast parchment that he had seen him holding earlier.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it. Just as Adrian was deep in thought about what to do next, the beast parchment inside the blood star started emitting a faint glow of light.
Adrian sensed this immediately and swifly brought it out. As soon as it appeared, the golden glow coming from it intensified until it enveloped the three stone pillars.
As they bathed in the light, faint runes started to appear on the stone pillars. Starting from the top, intricate patterns started forming simultaneously in all three pillars.
As soon as it reached the base of the pillars, the patterns spread outwards, depicting an elaborate pattern that eventually merged together, in the centre of the three stone pillars.
Adrian watched all this in shock as the runic formation fully formed and emitted a resplendent golden hue, similar to that of the parchment in his hands.