Boiling Ling Island

With the destruction of the underground "Cloud Fang Magic Array," the Burning Cloud Technique that shrouded Cloud Fang City lost its energy source.

The dark red fire cloud that had lingered for nearly half a month began to disintegrate, its shape becoming fragmented. Every now and then, a ball of fire, trailing a long tail of flame, would fall from it, only to be blown away into sparks by the wind before it even reached the ground.

Fires caused by this occurred frequently in the city.

But the night sky did not reveal itself as a result; the "mysterious celestial curtain" remained.

It consumes far less power, powered by Magic Power crystals deployed on the ground, stubbornly blocking satellites and drones from vertically spying on Cloudfang City.

The three major legions in the surrounding area assembled urgently, and tens of thousands of soldiers moved about in a chaotic manner. Some of the fastest-moving units had already surrounded the Blackstone Mine.

Detection spells swept across the mine walls again and again, soldiers moved aside rubble, and large numbers of people crawled along drainage ditches and ventilation holes, leaving no crevice unchecked.

The Bell of Death needs to figure out how the human spies who appeared in the "Torchfire Array" dungeon managed to infiltrate it.

More troops were deployed in all directions, spreading into the woods and wastelands outside the city.

Wolf Wild Fern observed this spectacular scene and reported the news to Su Ming.

"You've desecrated someone's ancestral grave?" she exclaimed in surprise.

"We were clearly excavating the ruins of the Cangxiao Dynasty," Su Ming said, "We just cleaned up some illegal structures on the side." Knowing that Su Ming and his group planned to leave, Lang Yefu was quite happy.

"It's good that you guys get away quickly."

"So I don't have to live in constant fear, afraid that something might happen to you, the Bone King."

"Anyway, I'm in Cloudfang City with the two little ones. With support from behind, I can still complete basic intelligence gathering."

****

Earth Support Team Lobby.

Countless people stared intently at the screen, analyzing the situation on Water Chestnut Island and watching the evacuation plan unfold with bated breath.

The internal phone rang urgently, and Jin Rongjia answered it. It was from Sang Zi.

"The spider lily has detected the formation of a spatial rift."

The other person spoke very quickly.

"It's small-scale."

"The exact location is still being analyzed." Jin Rongjia's heart skipped a beat. "Has Eden World sent people to Teya again?"

Sang Zi shook her head, denying the guess.

"The intensity of the spatial fluctuations is very small; it should only be a short-range jump over a short distance."

She said this with a hint of doubt in her voice.

"However, the background noise during the fluctuations is exceptionally stable and extremely deep, suggesting that large-scale equipment is operating."

"I suspect it's the 'dimensional void' we've been searching for!"

During this period, the advisory teams on both the technology and magic sides have been analyzing the exact location of the "dimensional gap" of the Bell of Calamity.

Eliminate the invading advance team and smash this broken door; the problem will be partially solved.

Back in Sangzi, as more data was transmitted back from the other shore flower, the supercomputer quickly completed its analysis.

The results confirmed that the spatial fluctuations originated from a massive magic array located 130 meters below the Cloud Fang Palace.

"That's fine, at least we know where the 'Dimensional Gap' is," Jin Rongjia said.

"This location is impenetrable by bunker buster bombs. Once Operation Dandelion begins, we need to deploy offensive forces to quickly suppress this area," said Inchworm.

One researcher was puzzled:

"Why is the Bell of Calamity activating the dimensional portal now? Is this the time for the test?"

But the members of the General Staff figured out the reason.

"Oh no, this is to bring Abidaci back!"

****

Su Ming received the warning immediately.

"I've forgotten about 'dimensional gaps'," he said regretfully.

Abidaqi's drift deviation may seem far to an individual spellcaster, but in the face of a large spatial magic circle, it's just a matter of snapping a finger.

Su Ming unfolded the map, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding area.

The Y-20 will arrive in about half an hour.

Their group was only a little over ten kilometers away from Cloudfang City. The key figures and elites of the Calamity Bell would undoubtedly be pouring out in full force, pressing towards this area.

Among them, there will also be Abidaqi of the Destiny level.

So, in front of these powerful figures, should the Y-20 descend to a lower altitude and speed to pick up the person?

Su Ming quickly calculated in his mind, realizing it was too late and the risk was extremely high!

"Cancel the air evacuation plan," he decided.

Zijin seemed to want to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

Facing a super-ranked mage head-on is a terrifying prospect.

If that scene in the underground palace had been a normal battle, our side would have suffered severe casualties in that instant!

This is not child's play.

She still feels lingering fear.

The bone dragon projected by the consciousness of Zijin faced the legendary spell: Time Stop.

Everything happened so suddenly that she was a beat too slow to disengage her consciousness, causing a significant shock to her sea of consciousness. Even now, her mind still throbs with a sharp, stabbing pain.

"That damn old bastard, come back a little later!" Zijin couldn't help but complain.

The executioner, Zapley, also sighed. Now, facing Abidaqi head-on, he truly had no chance of winning.

Today's underground palace plan is based on the intelligence gathered over this period and the analysis of the "Teacher-Deceiving and Ancestor-Slaying" team; the plan has been thoroughly prepared.

However, the power the old master displayed in actual combat still astonished everyone.

Especially since Abidaqi has been in Teya for quite some time now, his Magic Power power has indeed noticeably decreased.

However, this mage's rank did not drop in the slightest.

This is completely different from the previous clock hands!

****

"Yun-20, continue to feign a rendezvous and lure the enemy elsewhere," Su Ming instructed.

"Receive."

Su Ming began to summon, and ripples spread out, revealing four sets of clothing identical in style and appearance to those worn by the orc troops. The entire group immediately changed into them.

As for the disguise of being an orc, it had already been put on long ago.

"Take only essential supplies, everyone abandon the vehicles!" Su Ming ordered.

Yise cleared out some food and water, Su Ming took a set of communication equipment, and Vioas carried a spare battery.

Everyone got off the bus.

"Simina, make the horse keep going!"

Simina patted the necks of the two horses, employing "animal friendship" and "animal conversation," and whispered a few words in their ears.

The two horses shook their heads, then set off, pulling the empty cart at breakneck speed along the road.

"Where do we go now?" Yise asked.

Su Ming turned his head, looking in the direction where the enemy was gathering, his eyes reflecting the distant flames that were constantly lighting up.

"Go back!"

The first place to change was Cloudfang City.

Following Abidal's command, the entire city resembled an anthill that had been poked with a stick. Beneath the shattered Burning Clouds, a large number of elites rode wyverns, led by key figures from the Bell of Calamity, and rushed out.

The three military camps, which originally only dispatched some detachments, have now been completely emptied.

As time went on and the mobilization order was further implemented, the scale of the orcs' actions expanded exponentially.

The scene is even more spectacular from satellite images.

Thousands of bipedal dragons have assembled, spreading out in a ring around Cloudfang City to search. The riders on the dragons release search spells from time to time, and beams of light of different colors alternate and overlap in the night sky, like a giant net that keeps spreading outward.

Behind the Wyvern Legion, three elite infantry legions, totaling 100,000 orcs, were advancing on the ground, carrying torches and covering the mountains and plains.

As the scene zooms out further, it becomes clear that all the orc cities within a 50-kilometer radius have been mobilized. Together with the dozen or so legions deployed in these areas, nearly a million orcs have been mobilized.

Some set up blockades in various places, while others rushed towards the area surrounding Yunya City.

From above, long streaks of firelight stretched along roads, valleys, and riverbanks. Villages, passes, and transportation hubs were successively sealed off, and vast stretches of once-dark wilderness were fragmented by these intersecting lines.

"This is quite a sight," Su Ming sighed.

His appearance on Water Chestnut Island was like a piece of meat falling into a pond teeming with piranhas—it instantly caused a stir! "You're even more delicious than Tang Sanzang's flesh," Jin Rongjia sighed.

"If Journey to the West were written like this, based on the scale, the eighty-one tribulations would become eighty-one thousand tribulations!" Su Ming complained.

****

Several dragon units suddenly left the search array and headed straight for the nearby area where underwater passages existed.

Among them is the Kum Cave.

This is not surprising; although few people visit the Kum Cave, it is still known to many as a water source.

The wyverns were very fast, and more than a hundred orcs landed outside the cave.

They entered the cave carrying torches or using magical illumination, and after a thorough search, they immediately discovered the anomaly.

After all, Su Ming and his group didn't have enough time to clean up; the cave where four humans and two horses had stayed couldn't possibly be without leaving traces.

The unit quickly issued a warning, and more elite troops assembled.

It wasn't difficult; the group spotted the carriage tracks and quickly gave chase.

"Immediately deploy a multi-layered interception perimeter centered on the Kum Cave!" Abidaqi's face was grim.

He was also riding on the back of a dragon, disguised by a camouflage spell. His long silver hair and aged face were completely concealed, revealing only a pair of angry eyes.

The situation is quite clear: Bone King entered the underground palace from the Kum Cave by following the lava passage, and is currently making a hasty retreat.

The observation post reported that the annoying big plane had returned, clearly intending to pick up people and leave.

"Dream on!" Abidaji gritted his teeth.

"Push it all up! Fill in the surrounding area completely!"

"Outer perimeter troops, quickly surround us!"

"During the march, blockade lines will be set up along the route!"

As expected, after making a feint over Cloud Fang City, the Y-20 flew towards the vicinity of the Kum Cave.

Unable to find an opportunity to descend, it could only helplessly circle overhead.

The massive fuselage would occasionally swoop down and skim past, attracting two-legged flying dragons to gather and intercept it. After several attempts, it still couldn't get close enough to make contact.

Abidaqi mobilized further, dispatching even more orc troops. These men were certainly no match for Su Ming, but that didn't matter; as long as they risked their lives to uncover the group's whereabouts, that would suffice!

"All the high-ranking combat officers also patrolled back and forth on their wyverns, repeatedly plundering this area!"

Abidaci commanded.

High-ranking warriors dispersed into various patrol teams. Spell detection, human perception, and tracking swept through the mountains and forests in turn, leaving no possible hiding place in the rock crevices unchecked.

But ten minutes passed, then half an hour, and there was still no response.

The Y-20 transport aircraft continued to circle overhead, but those people who should have been driven to the brink of despair seemed to have vanished into thin air.

****

As soon as Su Ming and the others got off the carriage, they sped off towards Yunya City.

Especially when Abidaqi ordered the troops to assemble around the Kum Cave and set up layers of defenses, they took advantage of the brief gap in the deployment and, guided by the satellite, penetrated in the opposite direction.

Behind them, a dozen lines of defense were rapidly being deployed, tightening layer upon layer. But the fish in this net had already swum out.

A few kilometers ahead lay the thick walls of Yunya City.

When the commanders of the Calamity Bell were making their arrangements, they subconsciously regarded Cloud Fang City itself as part of the interception line, even relying on it as the most solid node on the defensive line. They also poured more resources into the opposite direction from which Su Ming was most likely to break through.

Even so, Su Ming's team's counter-infiltration operation was extremely dangerous.

Large numbers of orc troops were being hastily mobilized, with messengers galloping back and forth on their mounts, issuing orders that constantly changed the direction of each unit's advance.

The once clearly defined defense zones were dismantled and reorganized, and the roads were now filled with a jumble of soldiers, vehicles, and supplies.

Su Ming and his group blended in among the crowd without drawing attention.

They passed by quickly.

As they passed a blockade, they joined a group carrying supplies and followed the chaotic flow of people through the checkpoint.

Even a sentry post that was originally blocking the way received a relocation order to set up a checkpoint at a new location.

Su Ming and his group helped dismantle the structure, carried the two wooden stakes, and left, thus brazenly passing another orc army.

****

But the biggest challenge is avoiding high-level combatants.

Despite using alchemical tools to conceal their presence, getting too close would still reveal them. The Y-20 risked flying low.

The roar of the engines rolled down onto the ground. To create the illusion of picking someone up, the plane also lowered some of its flaps and made a breakthrough maneuver.

This action immediately drew heightened security.

The nearby wyverns surged forward, and the spellcasters gathered in the vicinity, beginning their spellcasting with hastily drawn, rudimentary magic circles.

Dozens of beams of light shot towards the Y-20 from the ground and the air.

Fortunately, the distance was far, and the Y-20 was able to capture them all thanks to the defensive runes on its fuselage.

Zijin and several mages arrived at the stern of the cabin.

The rear hatch opened, and a gust of wind rushed in. Zijin hooked onto a steel cable and leaped out with several master-level spellcasters.

With a wave of his hand, he unleashed a massive spell.

Hundreds of bone spears coalesced in the night sky and then rained down upon the dragons. The leading bipedal dragons hurriedly dodged, and their formation was instantly torn apart.

At the same time, a large number of aerial bombs were also dropped, causing the troops below to scream in terror.

The reaction from the side of the Bell of Calamity was equally swift. A large number of high-ranking warriors rushed over from afar, some riding flying dragons into the air. Large-scale spells at nearby military outposts also began to lock onto the targets and accumulate energy.

A dozen or so thick bolts of lightning struck down from the sky. Zijin untied the steel cable around her waist and began to descend.

This move confirmed to everyone that she was preparing to dive to the ground to provide support!

Abidal quickly appeared and took action.

He didn't dare use short-range teleportation to quickly close the distance—after all, Bone King was nearby.

If what just happened again, Abidal wouldn't die, but he would definitely be sent back to the "Dimensional Gate".

But as soon as Abidaci activated his mental lock, he discovered that Zijin had deployed a force field in the air. With a few nimble steps, he turned back.

Then, she grabbed the steel cable again and tied herself up!

The Y-20 didn't even wait to recover the Zijin before pushing the throttle to full speed and pulling up again with a huge roar.

All that remained was the unfortunate arc of the spell trail that trailed helplessly through the engine exhaust beneath the fuselage.

****

Zijin's feint attack lasted less than two minutes, but it successfully drew away a considerable number of high-level combatants from the Calamity Bell. Taking advantage of this gap, Su Ming and his group passed between the two patrol teams, avoiding the last high-level combatant who could see through the disguise.

In the end, Su Ming and his group arrived near the Yunya City wall in just half an hour.

Due to the emergency redeployment of a large number of troops, the defenses on the city walls were even more lax than usual.

Under the cover of night, the group climbed over the city wall through the "back door" of the warning totem they had created earlier and returned to the city.

No one in the city paid them any attention.

Those still working here are almost all logistics-related units.

They cursed as they frantically prepared supplies. With such a massive number of orcs moving out at once, the amount needed just for food and provisions for the horses was enormous.

****

In the Raccoon Dream Theater, Wolf Wild Fern is in Su Ming's room.

She sat in front of the monitor, legs crossed, occasionally glancing at the interior of Cloud Fang City.

"Hmm, another thousand-man team has set off."

"Let me see, it's for transporting supplies." Wolf Wild Fern hummed a song, picked up Su Ming's cup, and brewed tea in the manner he usually did.

"Ptooey, this leaf juice is so bitter," she complained.

Then, Lang Yefu jumped onto Su Ming's bed and bounced around a few times.

"The king of such a powerful force sleeps in such an ordinary bed."

She sniffed it.

"The taste is just like a normal human taste."

She seemed to think this judgment wasn't rigorous enough, so she grabbed a corner of the bed sheet, intending to verify it more carefully.

The support team "kindly" shielded Wolfy from the security system surrounding the Raccoon Dream Theater for a short while.

So when Su Ming pushed open the door, he was immediately dumbfounded.

Wolf Wild Fern was clutching the bed sheet, holding it close to her nose.

She was so embarrassed she wanted to tear a hole in the bed; her face instantly turned bright red, even the tips of her wolf ears couldn't escape it.

"Why... why..." Wolf Wild Fry stammered, "Come, come back..." Yise peeked out from behind Su Ming and his expression immediately became quite interesting.

She took out her phone, took a picture, and typed:

"Auntie Chestnut Owl, someone smelled Su Ming's blanket!"

Just as Su Ming was about to send the photos and text together, he grabbed Yise's restless hand, took the phone, and deleted the photos.

Do you want her to turn into wolf meat pie?

Yise snorted in dissatisfaction.

"Isn't this just to have another target to distract our firepower?" she muttered to herself.

Su Ming waved his hand, signaling the mortified Wolf Wildflower to leave, and then pushed Yise out of the room.

Wolf Lady lowered her head, her steps quickening until she practically fled.

Then, Su Ming threw down his backpack and sprawled out on the bed.

"I'm exhausted," he sighed.

Tonight has been incredibly long.