Chen Shouhu

Chen Shouhu

Zhou Leng said, Team leader, you're overthinking it. Before we came here, your dad ran a background check. Besides, we're at most high school seniors with slightly stronger martial arts. If we were truly capable of doing something improper, we wouldn't have come to your place—we would've done it long ago.

The team members' expressions softened.

Xue Chengsong threw up his hands and said, I know that too, but what can I do? I'm just too deeply influenced by my old man. Let's go. As long as there are no fiends and no Demon-Worshiping Cult, this trip of ours won't run into trouble.

Xue Chengsong walked as he spoke. Our study goal this time is Wolf Valley. It's a demonic wolf lair specially reserved by the Sea-Calming Army. Once they cleared out the strong ones, only ordinary Blue-Backed Demonic Wolves were left, specifically prepared for study teams. These Blue-Backed Demonic Wolves don't move in packs and mostly hunt solo, so they're suitable for us...

As Xue Chengsong spoke, the team marched forward.

Occasionally, someone recognized other team members and exchanged simple greetings.

Near the Pioneer Base exit, a familiar voice called out.

Zhou Leng!

Zhou Leng looked toward the source of the voice to see Xu Qingjin in full camouflage gear waving energetically, her ponytail swaying gently, her smile pure and clean.

Around Xu Qingjin stood nine other classmates from No. 8 High School's elite class.

They successively waved greetings to Zhou Leng and Feng Wenhao.

Zhou Leng and Feng Wenhao waved back.

Both sides tacitly refrained from chatting and kept moving forward.

Look over there, Feng Wenhao suddenly said in a low voice to Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng looked in the direction of Feng Wenhao's gaze.

A team of trees over five meters tall was walking. Their roots, resembling thick clusters of snakes, supported their trunks as they wriggled forward.

These treants bore no human form whatsoever—no limbs, no face, looking entirely like ordinary trees.

On each treant's trunk, varying numbers of swirling tree burls were arranged. They used those swirling tree burls to emit different sounds to communicate.

It was Zhou Leng's first time seeing a treant with his own eyes, though he had seen Demon Spirit Masters before.

Keep entering Demon City more often in the future, and you'll encounter even more Ten Realms creatures, Xue Chengsong said. Look at that treant with the golden leaves; it should be a Mother Tree Favored One. I reckon something major happened, or a treant of that level wouldn't appear in a human Pioneer Base.

Could a major battle be about to break out here? a petite figure in the team spoke up. He had a slightly dark complexion, but an exceptionally large head.

Zhou Leng recalled that this person was named Ding Yan. His movement and footwork techniques were at Great Accomplishment, making him fine material for learning lightness skills after the Blood-Circulating Stage.

Not to that extent. If a war were truly about to break out, they would've notified us long ago. The most likely scenario is that the treants and giant insects are going to war. Either they're here to request reinforcements, or they're trading some demonized items. Anyway, it doesn't have much to do with us.

The team had not walked more than a few steps when a violent explosion suddenly rang out from not far away.

A piercing alarm siren resounded across the entire area.

A small minority stood frozen, while the majority panicked and scattered in all directions.

Take cover immediately! Guo Xiaohao rushed over, grabbed Xue Chengsong's arm, and bolted toward a direction far from the explosion.

Zhou Leng ran right behind Guo Xiaohao.

As he ran, Zhou Leng glanced toward the direction Xu Qingjin had been heading.

That ponytail-wearing Xu Qingjin was also looking back over here.

Amidst thousands of people, the gazes of the boy and girl intersected.

The two nodded slightly, each following their respective fleeing teams.

Don't panic too much. It should be Demonic Beasts or the Demon-Worshiping Cult, Guo Xiaohao consoled loudly.

As the crowd ran, they occasionally glanced back.

Obstructed by the base buildings, it was impossible to see clearly what had actually happened.

Hmph!

A peculiar cold snort spread across the entire area.

Zhou Leng looked in the direction of the sound.

Two figures leaped high into the air—one a camouflage-clad man, the other a figure in black.

The camouflage-clad man's entire body was enveloped in a faint white micro-glow of Innate True Aura as he smashed a fist toward the figure in black.

The punch broke the air, surpassing the speed of sound with a sonic boom.

The figure in black likewise carried Innate True Aura, throwing a punch to meet the camouflage-clad man.

Crack...

The right arm of the figure in black exploded. Their body flew backward, slamming heavily onto the ground as a vast scatter of shattered stones flew in all directions.

The figure in black landed not far from that golden treant, whose spiral tree burls emitted a bizarre sound.

A series of tree roots burst from the ground, binding the figure in black tightly.

Thanks, treant friends. The camouflage-clad man landed, slapped the figure in black unconscious with a single palm strike, and hauled them away like a chick.

Alarm lifted! Alarm lifted! Alarm lifted! The broadcast chimed.

The crowd still stared at that camouflage-clad man.

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

"You know him?" asked Feng Wenhao.

Xue Chengsong smiled, "I know him, he doesn't know me. Colonel and brigade commander of the Seventh Division Martial Brigade, disciple of a Martial Saint, Innate Peak, number one on the Ru City Innate Ranking, top ten on the Human Innate Ranking, and a potential Grandmaster at any moment."

"A Martial Saint's disciple... a Martial Brigade..." The others' gazes burned with eagerness.

Ordinary brigades, special operations brigades, and martial brigades increased in combat effectiveness step by step.

A single martial brigade could easily crush several ordinary brigades.

"I heard a martial brigade can easily crush ten times as many ordinary brigades."

"A martial brigade, equivalent to the Martial Arts Ten in martial arts universities. Only the elite of the elites can serve as officers within them."

"I envy you guys who can check the Innate Rankings. We can't even check the Blood Qi Ranking right now," said Feng Wenhao.

"We just hear it from those martial artists; I can't see it myself either. Once we pass the first layer of the Bronze Man Formation or advance to the Blood-Circulating Stage, we'll be able to view it. The person who got caught should be from the Demon-Worshiping Cult, totally normal. Let's go."

Ding Yan shook his head, "This isn't normal at all. This is my third time coming here, and it's the first time I've seen an Innate-level battle."

"You're just a coward." Xue Chengsong gave Ding Yan a sideways glance.

The team walked out of the Pioneer Base gates, and Zhou Leng cast his gaze far and wide.

Lush grass paved the ground close by, while distant forests grew dense, winding rivers circled around, and further away, mountain ranges undulated amidst swirling clouds and mists.

The green of the vegetation here seemed coated with a faint layer of black, an ink-green hue.

Even the streams not far away seemed to permeate a faint blackness.

Walking as he spoke, Xue Chengsong said, "This is my fifth time entering the Water Continent Demon City. I'm practically an old hand."

Feng Wenhao said, "You always talk about lying flat all the way here, but you're actually working hard."

Xue Chengsong said helplessly, "Am I not forced by my old man? He's dead set on making me advance to the Innate realm. He said his talent was limited, leaving him stuck at the Force-Generating Stage, making it hard to advance to Innate. He suffered losses his whole life and can't let the Xue Family suffer losses anymore."

"Turns out everyone is pretty much the same," said Feng Wenhao.

"All right, no more nonsense. From the moment we step out of the Pioneer Base gates, we must be vigilant. Remember, the scariest thing about the Water Continent Demon City is any place with water. Unless you need to drink, definitely stay far away..."

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

The seven-person team marched quickly, with Xue Chengsong acting like a veteran, continuously recounting precautions.

Fifty meters later, Guo Xiaohao and another Blood-Circulating Stage expert followed the team.

Zhou Leng maintained his silence, marching forward while carefully observing.

Pedestrians near the Pioneer Base were extremely numerous. Military trucks or aircraft carrying demonic beast carcasses passed by from time to time, though not a single live demonic beast was in sight.

The group marched quickly, and as evening approached, they reached a campsite.

Over a hundred tents were scattered everywhere, with campfires blazing one after another.

Feng Wenhao asked in surprise, "The Demon City is so dangerous, how can they still light fires?"

"The area near the Pioneer Base is entirely under high-altitude surveillance..." Xue Chengsong said, pointing to the imperceptible points of light high in the sky.

"There are no satellites here; those are airships, distributed all around the Pioneer Base, and they also serve as signal stations. Go a step further, and where there are no airships, no one dares to light campfires and camp like this."

"Let's go, we'll join in too. First set up the tents, and then assign night watches..."

Water Continent Pioneer Base.

Inside the monitoring room, huge screens covered three entire walls.

The central wall displayed a map of the entire Water Continent Demon City.

On the map of the Water Continent Demon City, thousands of glowing green dots were scattered about.

Suddenly, one green dot abruptly turned red, radiating circles of red ripples outward.

Beep, beep, beep...

Faint sounds rang out, and everyone went on high alert.

A second lieutenant flipped through the screen before him, checked carefully, and connected the dedicated communication line.

"Monitoring point 1053 has detected abnormal spatial fluctuations. Fluctuation level one, please proceed to investigate."

The people in the monitoring room relaxed, each returning to their own tasks.

A level one spatial fluctuation meant that the demonic beasts entering the Water Continent Demon City this time were merely at the Blood Qi Realm, with their numbers not exceeding a thousand—belonging to a normal situation.

Seventh Division, Martial Brigade.

Chen Shouhu, his hands covered in scars, blinked once. The lens hovering in his left eye retracted, merging into the super demonized computer located at his temple.

Without a close look, that spot simply looked like ordinary hair and skin.

"Over the last few days, small squads of fiends have frequently invaded. Perhaps there's some kind of mutation. Everyone, remain on high alert."

"Yes."

"Did the Demon-Worshiping Cult Innate from this morning confess?"

"He hasn't said anything. His mouth is very hard."

"From the Huangmeng Sect?"

"Should be. Other cults either honestly confess, offer self-sacrifice, or go stark raving mad. His gaze is resolute and he fears no interrogation, so he's very likely from the Huangmeng Sect."

"If we still can't interrogate results out of him by tomorrow, kill him to prevent any accidents."

"Understood."

"It seems the internal strife within the Demon-Worshiping Cult has been fierce lately, otherwise they wouldn't have provided such massive intelligence. What are your thoughts?"

"The Huangmeng Sect is tightly organized. For this Innate expert who's hidden for so long to suddenly surface, something major is likely happening, and the shadows of those few giants from the Huangmeng Sect should be behind it."

"Who's the most likely?"

"Recently heard that Tong Tianxia has been haunting the vicinity of Taihu Lake along the Yangtze River." The speaker secretly observed Chen Shouhu.

Chen Shouhu's gaze turned dazed, and then he let out a chuckle.

"Haven't seen him in a long time. Wang Boxiong and I would really love to meet him again, to wrest back from his hands the number one spot of that year."

Chen Shouhu's expression was exceptionally bizarre, resembling nostalgia, resembling hatred, resembling self-blame, resembling helplessness.

The people in the room fell silent.

After quite a while, Chen Shouhu asked again, "Are there any other important pieces of news?"

"There's a coincidence. Ma Xingkong's nephew graduated high school this year, entered our base today, and even witnessed your arrest process firsthand."

"The surveillance over there has been withdrawn for many years, which indicates it has nothing to do with the child. Treat him equally."

"Yes."

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

"He suffered a demon attack, his written and physical exam scores are very poor, but his martial exam ranked in the top one thousand of Ru City, enough for a supplementary admission to the Martial Arts Ten."

"For him, entering the Martial Arts Ten is actually trouble."

"Indeed."

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

The collective campsite was dotted with voices, gradually boiling over.

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

A single Marching Pill the size of a thumb pad was enough to provide the energy required for a day of forced march, which could greatly alleviate logistical burdens.

After finishing breakfast, everyone shouldered their backpacks and prepared to hit the road.

"Well, if it isn't Young Master Xue? You've personally come to Water Continent Demon City?"

Followed closely by a burst of jeering laughter.