Preparing to Act

Morag Canyon is located at the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, and it has been a place rarely visited by humans since ancient times. The target of this mission for Qian Yun and his team was hidden right here.

As soon as Hu Liena jumped off the carriage, she remarked, "They really know how to pick a spot."

Qian Yun looked ahead, seeing nothing but dark green vegetation. Moreover, it had rained a few days ago, and now the forest was filled with white mist. In such conditions, let alone finding someone, it would be a stroke of luck not to get lost.

Yake Entu stood at the very front of the team, exchanging intelligence with the surveillance personnel who had been stationed here.

A moment later, he turned back with a serious expression, "Team members, target confirmed! The enemy is located on the left side of the canyon, numbering fifteen people. Among them, there is one three-ring Evil Spirit Master, seven one-ring Evil Spirit Masters, and two two-ring Evil Spirit Masters. The rest have no spirit power."

Qian Yun nodded; this was basically consistent with the intelligence they had received earlier.

"Under normal circumstances, they guard three houses. The Evil Spirit Masters occupy two of them, while the hostages and other personnel are in the third."

Yake Entu's gaze swept across everyone's face, "Due to the special nature of this mission, the extermination and rescue tasks must be carried out simultaneously. Therefore, I plan to divide us into three squads. Squad one: Amiga, Boli, and I will be responsible for eliminating the Evil Spirit Masters. The other squad will be led by Ge Yan and will be responsible for rescuing the hostages. Two people will remain as mobile support and to ensure the safety of the retreat route. Any questions?"

Hearing his words, the team members looked at each other and eventually shook their heads. Indeed, it was generally acknowledged that Qian Yun and Hu Liena were the strongest in the team, and they should be able to resolve the battle quickly by staying with the captain.

"Good. Since there are no questions, Ge Yan, you lead the way." Yake Entu looked at a brown-haired youth in the team.

"Yes!" Although Ge Yan looked thin, he was not sloppy in the slightest.

He walked to the front of the team, stood still, and then the hair all over his body began to grow wildly, while a tail behind him slowly lengthened.

A few breaths later, after Ge Yan completed his Martial Soul Possession, he waved to the group behind him, "Follow me."

His martial soul was the Mountain Bewilder Monkey, known for its agility. Although this martial soul did not have strong offensive power, it was famous for its nimbleness, and now, especially in this dense mountain forest, it would undoubtedly maximize his advantages.

In contrast, another agility-type spirit master in the team who possessed a flying martial soul would be severely restricted here.

This brings us to the fact that the personnel configuration of the Martial Soul Hall enforcement squads is different from that of academies.

While basically ensuring a complete configuration of spirit master types, the focus of each squad varies. Some squads have many power-attack spirit masters, so their style naturally leans toward head-on clashes.

Some squads have many control-type spirit masters, so they naturally focus on coordination. As for the squad Qian Yun was in, it had many support-type spirit masters, so the team's style was versatile.

The team slowly moved forward in the dense fog. Before long, as the mist grew thicker, Qian Yun finally activated his martial soul.

Why was it said that besides the captain, he and Hu Liena were the strongest two-ring spirit masters in the team? The reason boiled down to their near-monstrous crowd control abilities.

After Qian Yun's Martial Soul Possession, his spiritual power instantly enveloped the forest within a half-kilometer radius, and nothing in the surroundings could escape his perception.

He looked up and pointed in a direction for Ge Yan, who was in the trees, and the latter nodded. The team accelerated.

Before long, the team found their target.

Just as the intelligence stated, there were three wooden houses at the bottom of the slope. They were originally places for loggers to rest, but given the current situation, they could only be occupied by Evil Spirit Masters.

"Qian Yun, you just consumed some spirit power, right? Do you want to take a break?" Yake Entu looked at Qian Yun.

"No need to rest. The consumption of spirit power just now was almost negligible."

"Alright." Yake Entu did not insist. He turned back and lowered his voice to tell the other members, "Act according to the battle plan."

"Yes!"

Ge Yan led six people from the squad and slowly moved away, while Yake Entu took Qian Yun and Hu Liena toward the other side. Lina and another support-type spirit master were responsible for staying behind to provide support at any time.

Since the Evil Spirit Masters chose to occupy this place, there must be hidden sentries and traps. Therefore, Qian Yun did not hold back. Relying on this ability that was like a god's-eye view, Qian Yun quickly discovered the three hidden sentries nearby.

"Two in front, one on the left," Qian Yun said.

"What do you plan to do? Should I go up and take them out directly?" Yake Entu had not yet used Martial Soul Possession because his martial soul was too conspicuous; using it now would easily expose them.

"No need, we'll handle it."

"Boli, get ready," Qian Yun said to Hu Liena.

"Oh, okay." Hu Liena said, drawing the short blade she had used when she killed the Demon Fox.

Qian Yun smiled, and then Yake Entu saw a mass of pure white water mist slowly drift over, quickly completely obscuring the figures of the two.

Looking with the naked eye, even from such a close distance, Yake Entu could not tell that two people were hidden inside.

These two masses of water mist blended into the surrounding fog and slowly began to move.

A moment later.

With three barely audible muffled groans, it meant that the hidden sentries in front had been cleared.

Even Yake Entu was seeing such methods for the first time; it was truly an eye-opener.

With no more concerns about hidden sentries, the three quickly reached the vicinity of one of the wooden houses. As soon as they got close, the noisy sounds inside could be heard clearly by the three.

"Satisfying! Truly satisfying! If I had known being an Evil Spirit Master was this great, why was I acting like a fool before?"

"Hahaha, exactly, exactly!" another person chimed in, "For wretches like us, even if we didn't eat or drink for a year and cultivated until we died, we wouldn't necessarily be able to raise our spirit power by one level! But since following the boss, it's been one level in less than two months. Now we can have both beauties and money!"

"Hehe, if you ask me, at the speed of one level every two months, why the hell should we even cultivate? If we have that spare time, it's better to serve the boss well; that's the real priority." The sharp voice made no effort to hide the flattery toward the boss they mentioned.

At this moment, a different voice sounded. Compared to the flippant tone before, this one was clearly much more mature, "Hey, brothers, rest assured. I said it back then: since you chose to join, we are all one family. Family members should not distinguish between each other, no need to flatter me. Come, cheers!"

Immediately after, there was a clinking sound of cups.

"By the way, boss, how long until that guy changes?" someone with a sharp voice asked.

"Hehe, don't worry. It's only a matter of time before that guy is assimilated into an Evil Spirit Master by my Blood Wolf martial soul."

"Martial Soul, assimilation?" Hearing this, Qian Yun outside the house began to understand, "Doesn't that mean the hostages have already been..."

The three of them exchanged glances, each seeing the same thought in the others' eyes, and Yake Entu and Hu Liena completed their Martial Soul Possession.

Qian Yun placed his hand on Hu Liena's shoulder, and the first spirit ring at Hu Liena's feet began to glow.

The atmosphere inside the house remained boisterous. The middle-aged man sitting in the main seat was chatting happily with his subordinates, frequently raising his glass to welcome their flattery.

"Hey, Old Third, why are you wearing pink clothes? You're such a show-off," one person said, shaking his dizzy head and pointing at another.

"Heh, you're right."

"What do you know? A real man should wear pink."

The boss in the main seat narrowed his eyes, watching the color deepen, and felt an inexplicable tension rising in his heart.

"Not good!" It was only then that he finally sensed the subtle fluctuations of spirit power in the surroundings, and he cursed inwardly.

"Boom!" Just as he intended to activate his Martial Soul Possession, the wooden wall suddenly exploded, and a guy resembling a black gorilla with fur standing on end charged out from the crimson mist.

Yake Entu's action was like a signal flare; at the same time, a loud explosion erupted from the room where the hostages were being held.

Yake Entu, under the effect of Martial Soul Possession, stood over two meters tall, appearing like a giant in this not-so-high room, his fiery red eyes instantly locking onto the leader of the Evil Spirit Masters in the main seat.

"Kid, it's time to hit the road!" Yake Entu took two strides and was already in front of the middle-aged man, then swung his massive fist toward his head.

Before the fist arrived, the force of the wind had already made his skin sting. However, he did not sit still and wait for death; the second spirit ring at his feet finally flashed just as he was about to be struck by the fist.

"Bang!" Wood chips flew everywhere, but Yake Entu frowned.

The Evil Spirit Master leader, having narrowly escaped death, exuded a blood-red aura. He wiped the blood from the tip of his nose—scratched by the wind of Yake Entu's fist—with a hand that had almost turned into a claw, his expression becoming ferocious. One white and three yellow spirit rings pulsed rhythmically at his feet.

"Kill them for me!"

From Yake Entu's sudden entry to the Evil Spirit Master boss's narrow escape, everything happened too fast—too fast for these one-ring spirit masters to react.

"Charge!"

At this moment, hearing their boss's roar, and not knowing where they found the courage, they finally summoned their Martial Souls one after another, charging at the giant standing before them with bloodshot eyes.

Yake Entu didn't even bother to look at this group of cannon fodder; his second spirit ring flashed, and he grabbed a chair from the side and threw it at their boss.

At the same time, Qian Yun and Hu Liena, hidden in the pink mist, finally made their move.

"Spirit Roar!" A nearly transparent light wave tore through the air and struck two people huddled together in a corner at high speed.

"Clang—" Following a heart-wrenching sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing, those two unlucky one-ring Evil Spirit Masters were finished just like that.

After all, the Spirit Roar, enhanced by the Crown, was simply too terrifying in power for them.

The tragic state of their companions' deaths seemed to finally awaken a shred of their reason; the madness in their eyes began to fade, gradually replaced by fear.

"Run! Ugh... ah! Fire, it's fire! I'm on fire, save me... save me!"

Just as one person tried to flee, pale white flames began to burn inexplicably all over his body.