A Strange Mission

This mission is an escort duty.

Jia Sixteen Squad needs to arrive at the designated location within the specified time.

Together with the local garrison, they guarded the key point of the formation and hindered enemy attacks.

Hearing this, Qin Fei frowned and asked:

"But did you say who the target of the protection is?"

The mission location was near the Barbarian Tribe territory and not far from the front lines, so Qin Fei couldn't afford to be careless.

"The specific target is unknown, but it seems a fellow cultivator intends to Foundation Establishment here and has specially dispatched several small teams to secretly guard this place."

Foundation Establishment?

Qin Fei was baffled. Why would they go to the border of the Barbarian Tribe to carry out such an important matter instead of finding a safe place?

If something goes wrong, wouldn't all our efforts be in vain?

Unable to understand, he could only keep his head down and continue on his way.

What puzzled him was that Lu Caiwei seemed preoccupied after hearing about the details of the mission.

Does this woman perhaps know something?

Qin Fei was wary.

Two days later, the group arrived at a continuous mountain range.

The Big Yellow sensed something, sniffed, and suddenly transmitted its voice:

"Young Qin, there's a strong metallic aura in this mountain range."

Qin Fei's face lit up with joy. During the two years he had been in seclusion, he had never stopped searching for materials with the five elements to nourish his Spirit Root.

With the help of the Big Yellow and the tasks assigned by Yama Pendant, they reaped quite a harvest.

However, there is still a long way to go before it is perfect.

Even Qin Fei had to sigh, no wonder ordinary Rogue Cultivator didn't pay attention to nourishing their Spirit Root, it was truly a bottomless pit.

Now, upon hearing that there was a metallic aura in the mountains, and in considerable quantities, his mind began to stir again.

"Where might the scent be coming from?"

"Hmm, the scent of those spiritual materials is all coming from one direction, which is unusual. I suspect it might be coming from someone."

Upon hearing this, Qin Fei seemed to be deep in thought.

Could it be the person preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment?

The mission was described vaguely and evasively, which has never happened before and is truly strange.

After thinking for a moment, Qin Fei shook his head slightly.

Although he had just broken through, he knew he was still some distance from the Qi Refinement Ninth Layer.

Since that person is about to break through to the Foundation Establishment, his strength must have reached its peak. It's best not to provoke him.

Moreover, he is currently collecting the five elements materials at a fairly fast pace; with a little more time, he can achieve the same perfect result.

Having figured this out, Qin Fei suppressed his greed and led everyone to fly towards the designated location.

The path through the dense forest was difficult to traverse, and Demon Beast would frequently block the way.

Those who are weak can be dealt with by a few team members.

Qin Fei had no intention of paying attention to those with powerful cultivation levels, and simply led everyone to take a detour.

Those Demon Beast are usually territorial; they will not chase after something that goes beyond their territory.

However, the Demon Beast were alright; what was most disgusting were the swarms of poisonous insects.

These poisonous insects are not at a high level; they are generally only at the first or second level of Qi Refinement Refining.

However, their advantage lies in their sheer numbers; if you kill just one, thousands upon thousands of poisonous insects will swarm in.

Qin Fei had personally witnessed a Demon Beast at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer being sucked dry by these poisonous insects.

Therefore, when they encounter these poisonous insects, they can only go around them from both sides.

And so, after three days, Jia Sixteen Squad finally arrived at the designated location.

The team stationed here was the Jia Twenty-Nine Squad. Upon seeing Qin Fei and the others, they warmly greeted them.

The team leader, a cultivator from the Lu Household, was extremely enthusiastic about the arrival of everyone.

"With Fellow Daoist Qin here, this mission is assured."

Qin Fei frowned; this person's enthusiasm was a bit too much.

He looked around and saw obvious signs of a battle, as well as the corpses of several barbarian soldiers, which had not yet been dealt with.

The members of Jia Twenty-Nine Squad also sustained injuries to varying degrees, making their guard duty clearly not easy.

He suppressed his doubts, briefly greeted everyone, and then asked the cultivator surnamed Lu:

"Fellow Daoist Lu, what's the situation now?"

The cultivator surnamed Lu was a middle-aged Daoist priest dressed in a Daoist robe with a peach wood sword hanging at his waist.

He shook his head slightly and sighed deeply.

"At first, things were fine. The barbarian soldiers didn't discover our presence, and our few teams were able to guard the array's core without any problems."

"But later, one of the groups accidentally let their tracks slip, attracting the attention of the barbarian soldiers, and things have been difficult ever since."

It turns out that they were initially assigned a secret mission: to protect the cultivator who was about to break through and ensure his safe Foundation Establishment.

They intended to complete it secretly, but the Barbarian Tribe still discovered their tracks.

Their location had been exposed, and it was absolutely impossible for them to hold it with just a few teams, so they could no longer care about their secret mission and could only ask Shangyu Market for help.

In the few days since Qin Fei and his group arrived, they have repelled several attacks by the barbarian army.

Fortunately, the barbarian army was mainly probing; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to hold out this long.

Qin Fei frowned deeply after listening to his story.

"Now that the barbarian army has discovered this place, their attacks will definitely become increasingly fierce. I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to complete the mission with just a few teams."

The magic array they guarded was called the Yin-Yang Five Extremes Formation.

This formation has five key points.

Each key point is currently guarded by two teams, totaling no more than fifty people.

The barbarian army mobilizes in numbers of tens of thousands; how can we possibly resist them?

"Rest assured, fellow Daoist, the main force of Shangyu Market has penetrated deep into the Barbarian Tribe territory and launched a fierce attack."

"The main force of the barbarian army is tied down, leaving only a small contingent to guard this area. The leader of this contingent is a cultivator at the Qi Refinement Ninth Layer, and the contingent numbers approximately one thousand."

"We have a magic array to rely on. As long as we hold out until that fellow Daoist successfully Foundation Establishment, the barbarian army will be nothing to fear."

"At that time, Shangyu Market will have another Foundation Establishment Ancestor, which will be more favorable to the overall situation."

Seeing that he had gone this far, Qin Fei could only nod in agreement, but he became even more wary.

Foundation Establishment in Shangyu Market is a momentous event; how could they not send troops to protect it? If something goes wrong with just these few small teams, who can take responsibility?

This mission was shrouded in secrecy from the very beginning, and its suspicious nature was evident at every turn.

Qin Fei secretly made a decision: if the situation turned bad, he wouldn't care whether the mission succeeded or failed; saving his life was the most important thing.

At his command, the four team members immediately spread out to maintain order, while he sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes to rest.

Half a day later, the Wooden Kite in the sky suddenly issued a warning.

In its field of vision, barbarian armies surged forth from all directions.

There were about two thousand people rushing towards the center of the formation.

"What's going on? Didn't you say the barbarian army only numbered a little over a thousand?"

"This... this, I don't know what's going on either. Could there be reinforcements?"

Qin Fei cursed under his breath, calling him an idiot.

The situation of the barbarian army was always under his surveillance; there was no way that reinforcements could arrive and escape his notice.

It was clear that this old Daoist priest in front of us hadn't understood the situation from the beginning, or hadn't been telling the truth at all.

When Qin Fei saw Lu Caiwei in the group, he suddenly realized something.

This person is a cultivator from the Lu Household, and the team that came to meet him was also from the Lu Household. It's too much of a coincidence.

Perhaps, all of this was preordained.

Qin Fei narrowed his eyes, and without warning, drew his longsword and pressed it against the neck of the cultivator surnamed Lu.

"Fellow Daoist, you'd better give me an explanation."