Level-Five Alert

The man's entire body looked cast from brass, his face as if dusted with bronze powder. He was gaunt beyond recognition, his skin stretched tightly over his bones.

He walked slowly, yet his bearing was immense, as though an army of a thousand horses and ten thousand men followed behind him.

Tong Tianxia looked at the Rust Priest and asked kindly, "Have you forgotten what I told you?"

The Rust Priest bent at the waist.

"I haven't forgotten. I was only joking with these children." After saying that, the Rust Priest told them, "You may leave."

The seven of them returned to normal and got to their feet. They looked at the Rust Priest and the man named Tong Tianxia without daring to move.

Tong Tianxia glanced at Zhou Leng, swept his eyes over the others, and revealed a benevolent smile. "Go back, put on your backpacks, and leave this place. Run all the way to Pioneer Base without stopping. If anyone from the Demon-Worshiping Cult or any demons block your way, tell them I am here."

Zhou Leng cupped his fist in his palm. "Thank you for saving our lives."

He then signaled to the other six and headed toward the temporary camp.

The other six hurried after him, grabbed their backpacks, and left at a jog without even daring to look at those two.

Afterward, Zhou Leng gathered his courage and looked back.

Tong Tianxia stood before the Rust Priest, smiling as he said, "Do you remember what I told you before we set out?"

"Y-you said I could kill people, but I must not harm children."

"Then do you remember?" Tong Tianxia spoke unhurriedly, calm and steady as a mountain.

"I remember. I didn't lay a hand on them."

Tong Tianxia glanced back. The seven children had already vanished into the forest, even dragging away the two corpses.

Tong Tianxia turned back, smiling as he reached out and placed a hand atop the Rust Priest's head.

The Rust Priest trembled with fear. "You..."

Tong Tianxia gave a light pat.

Pfft...

The Rust Priest's head was slapped into his chest cavity. His body toppled sideways to the ground, black, filthy blood flowing out.

Tong Tianxia turned and looked toward the direction in which the seven had fled.

"That child..."

Tong Tianxia narrowed his eyes slightly and sank into memory.

Beneath a tree, seven people looked at the corpses of Guo Xiaohao and Liu Teng in the branches above.

Sorrow and regret filled every pair of eyes.

Two perfectly fine Blood-Circulating Stage experts had perished just like that.

"The location has already been sent. Someone will come retrieve the bodies later. Open your backpacks now and throw away all useless weight. Next, we'll run back to Pioneer Base in one breath, without sleep or rest," Captain Xue Chengsong said.

They opened their backpacks, discarded tents and other nonessential supplies, then hoisted their half-empty packs onto their backs.

"As for these two bows and crossbows... which of you has practiced archery?"

Everyone shook their heads. Only Cao Jiajia raised her hand. "I'll do it."

Xue Chengsong handed the demonized bow to Cao Jiajia, then picked up the demonized crossbow. "A crossbow is relatively easier than a bow, but it still requires enough strength. Cui Mingcong has the strongest body, but he needs to break through tough defenses, so it doesn't suit him."

"What about me?" Feng Wenhao asked.

Xue Chengsong shook his head. "You aren't decisive enough. If you use a crossbow in battle, you might hurt us."

"I'll do it, then. If we encounter demonic beasts, I can move around and shoot at the same time. My strength isn't great, but I've still reached major completion in the Qi-Nourishing Stage," Ding Yan said.

"Fine. Take it. We're heading back!"

Xue Chengsong handed over the demonized crossbow, and the seven set off at a jog with their backpacks.

Zhou Leng looked up at the sky.

This was a space where multiple realms overlapped. There was no sun to be seen, only sunlight on the heavenly curtain.

Amid suffocating silence, the seven passed through forests and crossed ravines.

Chasing the light until the sun set, they trekked onward through the darkness.

The starlight of Demon City was negligible, making the night exceptionally dark.

Pioneer Base.

Monitoring room.

A piercing alarm suddenly rang out.

Everyone rose to their feet at once and stared at the monitoring map in shock.

"Report! Monitoring indicates abnormal spatial fluctuations across a large number of areas. Levels one, two, and three have all appeared. Preliminary judgment puts them at the equivalent of Level Four or even Level Five spatial fluctuations! The detected areas are as follows: Number 305, Number 306..."

Three minutes later, at the training grounds of the Seventh Division Martial Brigade.

Brigade Commander Chen Shouhu held a two-meter-long red-and-white-striped horn. He took a deep breath, puffed out his cheeks, circulated Innate true qi, and blew the horn.

Woooo... Woooo... Woooo... Woooo... Woooo...

Five horn blasts sounded in succession.

Water Continent Demon City had entered Level-Five Alert.

The sound of the Demon Bull Horn carried for a thousand miles.

In the jungle, the seven heard the five horn blasts, and all their expressions changed slightly.

Ding Yan grimaced. "Level-Five Alert means either a huge number of Innate demons have appeared, or a Grandmaster demon has appeared. I just hope the Four-Faced Duke doesn't show up. Once an upper demon noble of that Grandmaster level appears, all of Water Continent Demon City will be plunged into a long and drawn-out war."

Cui Mingcong looked at Xue Chengsong. "You're well-informed. Is something major about to happen? At a time like this, don't keep it from us."

The team all looked toward Xue Chengsong.

Xue Chengsong gave a bitter smile. "How would I know? As far as Ru City is concerned, only two major things have happened lately. The first is a mysterious treasure. Anyway, all the famous Innate experts are fighting over it. I don't know whether it has anything to do with this."

"What's the second major event?"

"It probably has nothing to do with the demons mobilizing. The Zhao Clan's Third Young Master is coming to Water Continent Demon City because there is a fixed 'Super Spirit Land' in Water Continent Demon City's Pioneer Base. His cultivation quota at the other Super Spirit Lands has run out, so he's coming here to cultivate."

"A direct grandson?"

"If he weren't Martial Saint Zhao's direct grandson, how could he affect all of Ru City? I heard that the wealthy and powerful families of Ru City have all stirred at the news, trying to find ways to befriend this Third Young Master of the Zhao Clan."

Zhou Leng said, "I heard that the Grandmasters have also been making unusual moves?"

Everyone looked at Zhou Leng.

Xue Chengsong nodded. "I heard that too, but it has little to do with Ru City. They say it's something on a higher level, affecting all Ten Realms, with barely any impact on us. As for exactly what it is, probably only Grandmaster families know."

"In this situation, one step slower could mean dying here. Should we speed up a little more?" Ding Yan looked toward Xue Chengsong.

Xue Chengsong hesitated for several seconds before asking, "Can you hold on?"

"Yes!" Ding Yan said.

"Yes!" Cui Mingcong said.

"Yes!" Zhou Leng said.

Feng Wenhao hesitated.

He was only at the seventh level of minor completion in the Qi-Nourishing Stage. With a backpack on his back, it was difficult for him to keep up.

"Give it to me." Zhou Leng took Feng Wenhao's backpack and slung it onto his own back.

Everyone looked at the two of them.

Feng Wenhao's eyes reddened.

Zhou Leng smiled. "Over the years, you and Hu Yi always found excuses to give me meat at lunch. That meat has solidly grown onto my body."

Feng Wenhao nodded hard.

"Accelerate!" Xue Chengsong glanced at Zhou Leng and gave the order.

The team increased its speed by thirty percent.

Ding Yan did not even pant or skip a beat as he said, "Actually, this kind of Level-Five Alert is a good thing. It'll be a stroke of deep, vivid ink in our records."

"That's right. Military merit is sought amid danger." Cui Mingcong lightly rolled his neck.

Suddenly, a bright ball of light flew up ahead and exploded over a hundred meters in the air, illuminating the sky and remaining unextinguished.

Xue Chengsong cursed. "Detour immediately! We've run into a rookie."

Cui Mingcong, who was running at the front, immediately turned left, and the team followed.

Zhou Leng asked, "Because it can attract demons?"

"Yes. Under normal circumstances, or if the main army were nearby, that would naturally be fine. But with the situation unclear, it's the same as telling demons that there are people in that place. It will definitely draw a large number of demons. Everyone nearby has now fallen into danger. Prepare for battle."

Cao Jiajia and Ding Yan removed the demonized bow and crossbow from their backs.

As he ran, Xue Chengsong said, "Don't be afraid. Innate demons are a minority, after all, and we aren't far from the base. The Red-Spotted Forest is just ahead. Even if we encounter demons, they'll be ordinary Blood Qi Realm lower demons. We have demonized bows and crossbows. If we fight while retreating, we'll definitely be able to escape."

Ding Yan said, "Now that the horn has sounded, the Seventh Division should already be mobilized. They'll surely set up defenses around the Red-Spotted Forest. We might run into troop carriers or demonized helicopters after just a few more steps."

What followed was a silence as deep as the night itself.

After running for a while, Zhou Leng said, "My senses are sharper. You decide the direction, and I'll run at the front."

"Fine!" Xue Chengsong said.

Zhou Leng sped up and took the lead. Circulating true qi, he carefully observed his surroundings in the darkness.

Xue Chengsong occasionally took out a portable demonized thermal imager, gave it a quick glance, and said, "If I'd known it would be this dangerous, I would've brought an advanced demonized thermal imager."

"Compared with ordinary study teams, we're already armed to the teeth," Feng Wenhao said.

Suddenly, Zhou Leng sniffed, stretched out an arm, and said in a low voice, "Stop."

"What is it?" Xue Chengsong asked quietly.

"I smell blood. I worked in a slaughterhouse before. It isn't demonic beast or demon blood. It smells more like human or animal blood."

They looked at one another. All of them were recent high school graduates, and for a moment, none of them knew what to do.

Xue Chengsong said quietly, "We can only use normal methods. Move slowly, bend low, and go around. Wait a moment."

As he spoke, Xue Chengsong took out the thermal imager and handed it to Zhou Leng.

Zhou Leng accepted it and carefully scanned ahead.

"At the two o'clock direction ahead, the thermal imager shows an especially black patch. That means that place is very cold. The smell of blood is coming from there, which means there are corpses within that blackness."

"Even if corpses have cooled, they shouldn't appear especially black. At most, they should be about the same as the surrounding environment," Ding Yan said, puzzled.

"Take a look." Zhou Leng handed the night-vision binoculars to Xue Chengsong.

Xue Chengsong looked once and said, "It really is low temperature." Then he handed them to Ding Yan.

"Strange..."

Cao Jiajia said, "I understand. It's the power of an ice-element demonic beast."

Several people's gazes turned frantic.

Demonic beasts required at least the Blood-Circulating Realm to handle.

Demonic beasts that wielded ice-element power were even stronger.

Zhou Leng narrowed his eyes as he observed. "I can vaguely make them out. They really are mangled human corpses, and they're scattered across several places."

Zhou Leng said, "There aren't many ice-element Blood Qi Realm lower demonic beasts. Of the ice-element lower demonic beasts that have appeared in Water Continent Demon City, there are only four types: the Frost Rat Swarm, the Ice Crystal Demon Lion, the Frost Sorcerer, and the Frost Attendant."

Everyone looked at Zhou Leng and listened carefully.

"The Frost Rat Swarm eats all flesh clean. Frost Sorcerers have no interest in eating people, while Frost Attendants usually give orders. Judging from the extent of damage to the corpses, they should have encountered an Ice Crystal Demon Lion. Of course, that is only the more likely possibility, not a certainty. Captain, you have a miniature computer. You can definitely look up detailed information on the Ice Crystal Demon Lion. We can learn about it while going around."

"Fine!"

Everyone felt a thread of relief.

But that thread of relief was quickly crushed by the Ice Crystal Demon Lion's information.

The Ice Crystal Demon Lion's claws could carry ice-element power. Once it erupted, anyone below the Blood-Circulating Stage would die without question.

One had to use qi to circulate blood at the very least to dispel the chill.