Chen Shouhu

Chen Shouhu

Zhou Leng said, "Captain, you're overthinking it. Before we came, your father already conducted background checks. Besides, at most, we're high school seniors who are somewhat stronger in martial arts. If we were really capable of doing something we shouldn't, we wouldn't have come here to you. We'd have done it long ago."

The team members' expressions eased.

Xue Chengsong spread his hands and said, "I know that too, but it can't be helped. My dad influenced me too deeply. Let's go. As long as there are no demons or Demon Worshipping Cult members, nothing will go wrong on this trip."

As they walked, Xue Chengsong said, "The destination of this field study is Wolf Valley. It's a demon wolf nest deliberately left behind by the Sea Suppressing Army. After clearing out the powerful ones, only ordinary Blue-backed Magic Wolves remained, specifically for field study teams. These Blue-backed Magic Wolves don't travel in packs and mostly hunt alone, so they're suitable for us..."

As Xue Chengsong spoke, the team continued onward.

Occasionally, someone recognized members of another team and exchanged brief greetings.

As they neared the exit of the Pioneer Base, a familiar voice called out.

"Zhou Leng!"

Following the voice, Zhou Leng saw Xu Qingjin in camouflage waving hard. Her ponytail swayed gently, and her smile was pure and clean.

Nine classmates from Eighth Middle School's elite class stood around Xu Qingjin.

They greeted Zhou Leng and Feng Wenhao one after another.

Zhou Leng and Feng Wenhao waved back as well.

By mutual understanding, neither side stopped to chat, and both continued onward.

"Look over there," Feng Wenhao suddenly whispered to Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng followed Feng Wenhao's gaze.

A group of trees more than five meters tall was walking. Their roots resembled thick swarms of snakes, wriggling forward while supporting their trunks.

These Treefolk had no human shape at all—no hands, no feet, no faces. They looked exactly like trees.

On every Treefolk's trunk were varying numbers of spiral burls. They used those spiral burls to produce different sounds and communicate.

It was Zhou Leng's first time seeing Treefolk with his own eyes. He had seen Spirit Masters before, though.

"Enter the Demon City more often, and you'll encounter more creatures from the Ten Realms," Xue Chengsong said. "Look at that Treefolk with golden leaves. It should be one of the Mother Tree's Favored. Something major probably happened, or a Treefolk of that level wouldn't appear in a human Pioneer Base."

"Could a great battle break out here?" A short member of the group spoke up. His body was slightly dark, but his head was unusually large.

Zhou Leng remembered that this person was called Ding Yan. His movement techniques and footwork had both reached Greater Mastery. After reaching the Blood Circulation Stage, he would be promising material for learning lightness skills.

"Not likely. If war were really about to break out, we would have been notified long ago. The most likely possibility is that the Treefolk and Giant Insects are at war. They either came to request support or to trade some Demonized Items. In any case, it has little to do with us."

The team had only taken a few steps when a violent explosion suddenly sounded in the distance.

A piercing alarm rang throughout the entire area.

A small number of people stood frozen, while most ran about in panic.

"Take cover immediately!" Guo Xiaohao charged over, grabbed Xue Chengsong's arm, and ran away from the sound of the explosion.

Zhou Leng followed Guo Xiaohao as well.

As he ran, Zhou Leng looked toward the direction Xu Qingjin had gone.

Xu Qingjin, with her ponytail, was looking over here too.

Amid ten thousand people, the young man's and young woman's gazes met.

The two nodded lightly, then each fled with their own team.

"Don't panic too much. It should be Demonic Beasts or the Demon Worshipping Cult," Guo Xiaohao shouted reassuringly.

As they ran, everyone occasionally looked back.

The base buildings blocked their view, and they could not see what had happened.

"Hmph!"

A peculiar cold snort spread throughout the entire area.

Zhou Leng looked toward the sound.

Two people leaped high into the air: one was a man in camouflage, the other dressed in black.

The man in camouflage was enveloped in a Pale White glow of Innate True Qi. He smashed a fist toward the man in black.

His punch tore through the air, surpassing the speed of sound as a sonic boom exploded.

The man in black also possessed Innate True Qi and swung his fist to meet the camouflage-clad man's.

Crack...

The black-clad man's right arm exploded. His body flew backward and slammed heavily into the ground, sending shattered stones spraying everywhere.

The man in black landed not far from the Golden Treefolk, whose spiral burl emitted a strange sound.

Roots emerged from the ground one after another and bound the black-clad man tightly.

"Thank you, Treefolk friend." The man in camouflage landed, knocked the man in black unconscious with one slap, and carried him away like a chick.

"Alarm lifted! Alarm lifted! Alarm lifted!" The broadcast sounded.

Everyone continued looking at the man in camouflage.

Xue Chengsong sighed. "As expected of Chen Shouhu."

"You know him?" Feng Wenhao asked.

Xue Chengsong smiled. "I know him, but he doesn't know me. He's the Senior Colonel brigade commander of the Seventh Division Martial Arts Brigade, a disciple of the Martial Saint Sect, Peak Innate, first on Ru City's Innate Ranking, top ten on the Human Innate Ranking, and he could promote to the Grandmaster Realm at any moment."

"A Martial Saint Sect disciple... a Martial Arts Brigade..." Everyone's eyes burned with fervor.

Ordinary brigades, special combat brigades, and Martial Arts Brigades—their combat strength increased step by step.

A single Martial Arts Brigade could easily crush several ordinary divisions.

"I heard that a Martial Arts Brigade can easily crush more than ten times as many ordinary brigades."

"A Martial Arts Brigade is like the Top Ten Martial Arts Universities among Martial Arts Universities. Only the elite among elites can serve as officers there."

"I envy you people who can see the Innate Ranking. We can't even view the Qi and Blood Ranking yet," Feng Wenhao said.

"I only heard it from those martial artists. I can't see it myself either. Once we pass the first level of the Bronze Man Formation or reach the Blood Circulation Stage, we'll be able to view it. The person who was caught should be from the Demon Worshipping Cult. That's perfectly normal. Let's go."

Ding Yan shook his head. "That's not normal. This is my third time here, and it's the first time I've seen Innate Masters fight."

"You're just timid." Xue Chengsong rolled his eyes at Ding Yan.

The team walked out through the gates of the Pioneer Base, and Zhou Leng looked into the distance.

Nearby, green grass carpeted the ground. Farther away, forests flourished, rivers wound through the land, and beyond that, mountains rose and fell amid swirling clouds and mist.

The green of the plants here seemed as though it had been brushed with a faint layer of black, dark and inky green.

Even the nearby stream seemed to carry a faint hint of black.

As they walked, Xue Chengsong said, "This is my fifth time entering Water Continent Demon City. I'm practically an old hand."

Feng Wenhao said, "You keep saying you're going to slack off, but you're actually working hard too."

Xue Chengsong said helplessly, "Isn't it because my dad forced me? He's dead set on making me Promote to Xiantian. He says his talent is limited, that he can only remain at the Vitality Stage and has a hard time promoting to the Innate Realm. He suffered losses his whole life because of it, and he can't let the Xue Family suffer losses again."

"So everyone's more or less the same," Feng Wenhao said.

"Enough nonsense. From the moment we step out of the Pioneer Base gates, we need to stay alert. Remember, the most terrifying places in Water Continent Demon City are wherever there's water. Unless you need to drink, stay far away from it..."

"Let's pick up the pace..."

The seven-person team quickened their pace. Like an old soldier, Xue Chengsong continuously explained the precautions they needed to take.

Fifty meters behind them, Guo Xiaohao and another Blood Circulation Stage expert followed the team.

Zhou Leng remained silent, carefully observing as he moved forward.

There were many pedestrians near the Pioneer Base. From time to time, military vehicles or aircraft carrying Demonic Beast corpses passed by, but not a single living Demonic Beast could be seen.

The group hurried onward and, as evening approached, arrived at a campsite.

More than a hundred tents were scattered about, with campfires burning one after another.

Feng Wenhao asked in surprise, "The Demon City is so dangerous. Why are people still lighting fires?"

"The areas near the Pioneer Base are all under aerial surveillance..." Xue Chengsong said, pointing toward barely noticeable specks of light high in the sky.

"There are no satellites here. Those are Floating Airships. They're spread all around the Pioneer Base and also serve as signal stations. Go farther in, where there are no Floating Airships, and no one would dare camp with fires like this."

"Come on, let's join them too. First, we'll set up our tents, then assign night watch..."

Shuizhou Pioneer Base.

Inside the monitoring room, enormous screens covered three walls.

On the central wall appeared a map of the entire Water Continent Demon City.

The map of Water Continent Demon City was dotted with thousands upon thousands of green lights.

Suddenly, one green light turned red, sending out rings of red ripples.

Beep, beep, beep...

A faint sound rang out, and everyone became fully alert.

A Second Lieutenant flipped through the screen before him, carefully checked the information, and connected to a dedicated communications line.

"Monitoring Point 1053 has detected abnormal Spatial Fluctuation. Fluctuation level: one. Proceed to investigate."

The people in the monitoring room relaxed and returned to their own tasks.

A level-one Spatial Fluctuation meant that the Demonic Beasts entering Water Continent Demon City this time were only in the Qi and Blood Realm, with fewer than a thousand of them. It was a normal occurrence.

Seventh Division, Martial Arts Brigade.

Chen Shouhu, whose hands were covered in scars, blinked once. The lens floating before his left eye retracted and merged into the Super Demonic Computer at his temple.

Unless one looked closely, that spot appeared to be ordinary hair and skin.

"These past few days, small groups of demons have been invading frequently. There may be some abnormal change. Everyone, remain vigilant."

"Yes."

"Did that Innate Realm Demon Worshipping Cult member from this morning confess?"

"He said nothing. His mouth is hard."

"From the Huang Meng Faction?"

"Most likely. Members of other factions either confess obediently, sacrifice themselves, or go completely mad. His gaze was resolute, and he feared no torture. He's very likely from the Huang Meng Faction."

"If we still get no results from interrogation tomorrow, kill him to prevent any accidents."

"Yes, sir."

"It seems the infighting within the Demon Worshipping Cult has been intense lately. Otherwise, they wouldn't have provided such a major piece of intelligence. What are your thoughts?"

"The Huang Meng Faction is tightly organized. This Innate Master, who had hidden for so long, suddenly revealed himself. Something major is very likely happening, and the shadows of those Huang Meng Faction giants should be behind it."

"Who is the most likely?"

"I recently heard that Tong Tianxia has been appearing near Taihu Lake on the Yangtze River." The speaker secretly watched Chen Shouhu.

Chen Shouhu's gaze went distant, then he gave a soft chuckle.

"I haven't seen him in a long time. Wang Boxiong and I would very much like to see him again and take back the first place from his hands that year."

Chen Shouhu's expression was especially strange, seeming nostalgic, hateful, self-reproachful, and helpless all at once.

No one in the room spoke.

After quite a while, Chen Shouhu asked again, "Any other important news?"

"There's a coincidence. Ma Xingkong's nephew graduated from high school this year and entered our base today. He also personally witnessed your arrest operation."

"The surveillance on that side was withdrawn after so many years, which means it has nothing to do with the child. Treat him the same as everyone else."

"Yes."

Chen Shouhu pondered for a moment, then asked, "How is that child?"

"He was attacked by demons before. His academic exam and physical exam scores were poor, but he ranked in Ru City's top thousand in the Martial Arts Examination. That's enough for supplementary admission to the Top Ten Martial Arts Universities."

"For him, entering the Top Ten Martial Arts Universities would instead be trouble."

"Yes."

The night dispersed, and hazy morning light shone over Water Continent Demon City.

Voices rose from the communal campsite, gradually boiling over.

Zhou Leng and the others gathered together, eating Marching Pills and compressed food prepared by the Xue Family.

A single Marching Pill the size of a thumbnail could provide enough energy for a day of forced marching, greatly reducing logistical burdens.

After breakfast, everyone put on their backpacks and was about to set off.

"Oh? Isn't this Young Master Xue? You came to Water Continent Demon City in person?"

A burst of laughter followed.