The Wilderness Runs Wild

The splattered blood stained the barren earth. Through his helmet, he saw his soldiers switch from defense to offense, slicing the howling wild boar as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

What was originally a fierce battle that could have resulted in casualties turned into a one-sided massacre under the influence of a few basic spells.

After a long period of training, Lin Xu has become proficient in controlling his Thought Overclocking and is trying to extend it to real-time combat.

"Retreat! The Red-Robed Ghost will clean up the mess!" He decisively ordered a retreat.

In the Misty Wilderness, the smell of blood may attract unpredictable and eerie things.

The Daoist soldiers quickly retreated, Ghost Bride quietly floated by. Behind her, the Red-Robed Ghost drained the blood and qi from the wild boar carcass to prevent the stench of blood from spreading further.

The battle between the ghouls and the centaurs had entered a new phase, with several wandering monster groups being drawn into it, and the battlefield rapidly expanding.

Lin Xu led his team back a mile before escaping the chaotic battlefield. Looking back, his expression changed drastically. "What the hell is that?!"

From the depths of the mist, a gigantic, ten-meter-long spider-like creature was rapidly approaching the battlefield.

Without a doubt, this is a bizarre creature, and a large one at that, comparable to a giant beast.

Its body appeared to be made up of countless human corpses glued together, with struggling arms vaguely visible.

The eight slender legs were clearly pieced together from individual human bodies, supporting the massive and bulky body as it moved nimbly.

The most terrifying thing was its head, an enlarged head of a middle-aged man filled with pain and despair, and tinged with the madness of a desperate situation.

"Retreat!" Lin Xu felt a chill and immediately blocked his view—the instant he saw the monster, he vaguely sensed a crazy and greedy consciousness tracing his vision backward!

Without hesitation, the entire team circled around, avoiding the increasingly chaotic battlefield, and continued towards their goal.

"Luckily, there was a beacon to guide us. This godforsaken place—" Lin Xu breathed a sigh of relief after escaping the chaos of battle.

By this time, they were several miles from the battlefield. He led his team carefully, avoiding the roaming groups of monsters to prevent further chaos.

Finally, at the edge of the Evil Eye's vision, a territory came into view in the distance.

"We've finally arrived!" Lin Xu's spirits lifted, and he directed the battle group to continue advancing.

Although it was only 4 or 5 li, the group walked for nearly an hour, and the actual distance was even more than 10 li, all to avoid a new battle.

As they got closer, Lin Xu finally got a clear view of the entire Chen Lineage Village.

This is a typical plain, with endless fields of lush green farmland.

In the center of the territory stands a circular earthen fortress over 10 meters high, with a diameter exceeding one li. The earthen walls, two to three zhang thick, house houses, hidden troop shelters, sentry posts, firing ports, and other facilities, integrating military and civilian uses.

Lin Xu observed carefully and found that there was only this one large earthen fortress in the entire village. It was clear that all the people and various functional buildings on the territory were integrated into this earthen city.

"A clever design, and they really spared no expense—" He looked up at the group of sentries with simple binoculars scanning back and forth above Chen Lineage Fort and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Even if local materials could be used, the manpower and resources required to build such a large earthen fortress would be considerable.

Given the preciousness of adhesives in the Spirit Realm world, the Chen Lineage has likely invested most of their resources in building this castle over the past 20 years.

Lin Xu looked at the village that was about to become his own with satisfaction, becoming more and more delighted. "Not bad, the structure is made of earth. Later, I'll have the Heavenly Craftsman Rabbit Demon come and transform the earthen castle into a rock structure, making the entire village impregnable!"

In the Spirit Realm, no defense is truly impregnable, but a castle like this is enough to withstand most dangers.

With a thought, the Evil Eye floating in the sky received the order and turned their gaze to the village militia patrolling on the wall.

A few dozen seconds later, the dozen or so NPC villagers paused, quietly changed their direction of travel, and surrounded the two adventurers who were chatting.

"Sigh~ Why did we suddenly have to call a clan meeting today? I heard that even the exploration groups that weren't in the village were called back." A young adventurer looked at the distant fields with a bored expression.

A wall of mist, stretching from the sky to the earth, cut off the view; as far as the eye could see, this place remained perpetually gloomy.

"What else could it be? Director Chen Lingfeng has been dismissed, so everyone's having a hard time." The middle-aged man took a sip of rice wine, squinted, and leaned against the wall. "I heard the new director is a hero from the Spirit Realm, and our patriarch offended him. Now he's probably thinking about how to escape."

"Run away? Where to?" The young man looked at him in surprise.

"Of course it's Lei City. Our Chen Lineage has connections in the province." The middle-aged man shook his head smugly. "Let me tell you, Lei City is much bigger than Qimeng City. Qimeng City is just a third or fourth-tier city, but Lei City is like Xiang Province capital, with a permanent population of over ten million. It ranks among the top in the country. It's much better than this little place!"

The young man hesitated. "But I heard that Brother Jiale stole a treasure from the Jiang Lineage. If we go to Lei City, wouldn't that be like walking into a trap?"

"What?" The middle-aged man's body stiffened, all traces of sleepiness vanishing. He sat up straight and looked at him seriously. "Who told you this? When did this happen?"

"Third Master, this morning when I passed by his room, I heard him talking to Fifth Master and Seventh Master—" The young man looked at him in surprise, seemingly taken aback by his reaction.

"Oh no!" The middle-aged man exclaimed, his eyes glazed over. "Our escape route is cut off!"

"Buzz~"

A sudden Mind Blast struck him; the middle-aged man's vision went black, as if he had been hit in the head with a heavy punch, and he almost fainted.

"Hiss~"

A sharp pain shot through his chest as a wooden fork pierced through his flesh. He opened his mouth, blood gushing from his throat, and his eyes quickly dimmed.

Just as he collapsed, he saw the young man opposite him lying in a pool of blood.

"The Chen Lineage is finished—"

On the earthen fortress, there are a total of 6 sentry teams. Each team consists of 5 NPC villagers and 2 adventurers.

Clearly, the Chen Lineage was very vigilant, constantly monitoring the movements within their territory even with the earthen fortress providing protection.

However, such a tight defense was ineffective against this group that had come from afar – the Evil Eye in the sky worked together and eliminated all the adventurers almost simultaneously.

A crisis is looming outside the earthen fortress, but a grand drama is unfolding inside.

"Chen Lingfeng! Are you out of your mind? You even dared to take Lord Jiang's things?" The Third Master, dressed in a blue silk Tang suit, trembled with white beard, his eyes almost spitting fire. "It's one thing that you don't get along with that brat Lin Xu, he's a jinx to our Chen Lineage, but you actually offended the Jiang Lineage too, just for a copy? What were you thinking?"