1672 General Auer

Sou sou sou!

Using the Spatial Quintessence of Sealing, Zhang Xuan concealed his figure and quickly advanced toward the encampment of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe.

It didn't take long for him to arrive before the enemy barracks and halted his footsteps.

'Cruck cruck cruck', his bones and muscles began warping, and his height by a chi. By the time he was done, he looked no different from any other Otherworldly Demons.

Of course, he didn't neglect to alter his aura either. This time around, however, he held himself back quite a bit such that the killing intent he emanated wasn't as pure as what it would ordinarily be. It was even beneath the level of Greenleaf King and the others, no different from an ordinary soldier in the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. 

After completing his disguise, he descended onto the ground. He swiftly found a group of patrolling soldiers and discreetly crept up to the Otherworldly Demon soldier lagging behind at the back. Raising his finger, he tapped the back of the Otherworldly Demon soldier lightly.

Puhe!

It was a silent first blood. He hurriedly kept the corpse of the Otherworldly Demon soldier into his storage ring. 

After cleaning up the scene, he quickly morphed his appearance into that of the Otherworldly Demon soldier. Of course, he wouldn't forget something as basic as to change his clothes as well.

So, when he revealed his figure once more, he was already wearing a heavy set of armor with a long spear in his hand. He broke free of the group he was following and marched his way into the main encampment.

The Otherworldly Demons were very particular with their defenses. It was apparent with a swift glance that the defensive formations they had set up were the work of an expert. It was fortunate that Sword Saint Xing had made the call to stand guard at the fortress. If they had really attempted to breach these formations, the Zhang Clan could very well lose half of its entire army.

These formations are slightly dissimilar to those of the Formation Master Guild. They are inscribed using the runes of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. Those who step into these formations will be struck by a gush of killing intent, placing them in a state of disorientation… Zhang Xuan thought as he analyzed the formations carefully.

He had encountered similar formations when he descended into the Subterranean Gallery the first time around. However, the formations he had seen back then could only be said to be mediocre compared to those standing before him right now.

Even Saint 9-dan experts would suffer a bout of light-headedness if they were to barge into the formations carelessly, let alone weaker cultivators.

Of course, due to their unique constitution, these formations wouldn't affect Otherworldly Demons.

As Zhang Xuan proceeded ahead, he carefully analyzed the structure of the formations and deduced the locations of their cruxes. Following which, he discreetly infused his Heaven's Path zhenqi into those formations. However, he didn't rush into destroying them.

He was here to scout intelligence. If he were to destroy the formations right now, it would only expose the presence of a spy within the encampment, thus tightening the security of the base. That would only make it harder for him to do his job.

So far, the cultivation of the Otherworldly Demons he had encountered ranged from Saint 3-dan to Saint 9-dan. He hadn't encountered any Great Sage Otherworldly Demon yet, but they could just be located in the deeper parts of the encampment.

The Qingtian Lineage can't even begin to compare to this… Zhang Xuan couldn't help but shake his head.

The Otherworldly Demon Kings of the Qingtian Lineage had only barely reached Primordial Spirit realm, and even the Qingtian Emperor himself was only at Saint 6-dan Grand Dominion realm. That bit of fighting prowess was truly pathetic compared to the troops right before him.

From the looks of it, it seemed like there was a massive gap in abilities even amongst fellow 'Emperors'. Of course, it could also be possible that the Qingtian Lineage was an exception.

It was a pity that Vicious was still in a state of hibernation at the moment. Otherwise, Vicious would surely have regained another significant portion of his memories after fusing with his upper body. He would be able to ask the latter about the circumstances in the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe and take precautions against them accordingly.

"Your are supposed to patrol the area and check if there are any threats in the area. Why are you loitering around here?" 

All of a sudden, Zhang Xuan heard a harsh voice sounding behind him. Turning his head around, he saw an Otherworldly Demon wearing a black helmet walking toward him with a displeased frown on his forehead.

The Otherworldly Demon was at Saint 8-dan. Judging from his tone, it seemed like he was a relatively high ranking officer in the army.

He spoke in the native tongue of the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe. Fortunately, Zhang Xuan had already learned the language the first time he descended into a Subterranean Gallery. In fact, it was using the language that he managed to fool the Goldenleaf King and the Greenleaf King into killing one another.

"Someone has just switched places with me, so I came back to the encampment to rest a while!" Zhang Xuan quickly lowered his head and bowed.

Zhang Xuan noted that the Otherworldly Demon soldier had just switched shift with another group, and that was also the primary reason why he chose to attack the latter. If the Otherworldly Demon soldier was still on his shift, it might have taken him a bit more trouble to switch positions with him.

"Follow me. There's something I need you to do!" the black helmet Otherworldly Demon harrumphed coldly as he beckoned Zhang Xuan to follow him.

"Yes, sir!"

In order not to give himself away, Zhang Xuan obediently followed the black helmet Otherworldly Demon.

The black helmet Otherworldly Demon proceeded on to assemble ten other Otherworldly Demon soldiers. The soldiers that he had picked out were all the lowest Saint 3-dan soldiers, similar to the one which Zhang Xuan was disguised as.

"What does General Auer want us to do?"

Following obediently behind the black helmet Otherworldly Demon, one of the Otherworldly Demon soldiers asked the group discreetly.

"I'm not too sure either, but I guess it should be some kind of construction work!" the Otherworldly Demon beside shook his head and replied.

"Construction? Haven't we completed the construction of the base already?"

"Don't ask unnecessary questions. We just have to do whatever General Auer orders us to do. Poke your noses in where it doesn't belong, and you won't even know how you died!" one of the Otherworldly Demon soldiers harrumphed impatiently, and the crowd fell silent.

"That fellow is called General Auer?" Zhang Xuan took careful note of the name.

The black helmet Otherworldly Demon hadn't executed any battle technique yet, so he had no way of knowing the other party's identity. In any case, he should remember the name first so as to not mess up later on. 

"Stop!"

After walking for a while, they stopped before a peculiarly designed building. The black helmet General Auer stepped forward, pushed open the door, and led the way in.

The interiors of the building appeared empty. There were only a couple of massive boxes placed within.

Each of these boxes was roughly a person tall, and they were placed in an orderly fashion, roughly ten meters apart from one another. 

Sensing that something was amiss over here, Zhang Xuan took a closer look at the boxes. There was no pulsation of power coming from the boxes, which indicated that it wasn't inscribed with any formations or seals.

"I want you all to move the boxes over to the other side!" General Auer ordered.

He gathered us here just to move a couple of boxes? Zhang Xuan thought in bewilderment.

The other Otherworldly Demon soldiers were confused by the situation before them as well.

At their cultivation realm, they could easily use their Spiritual Perception to keep anything into their storage ring and place them elsewhere… Yet, they were all gathered here to accomplish something as easy as this?

"What are you all dawdling for? Hurry up!" Seeing that no one was moving at all, General Auer's face darkened. "You just have to do what is ordered of you. There's no need for you to know anything at all!"

"Yes, sir!"

Not daring to protest against their superior, they hurriedly carried the boxes and brought them out of the building.

These boxes weren't heavy at all. Zhang Xuan attempted to extend his Spiritual Perception through the box to take a peek at what was placed within, but as if there was a seal cast over its exterior, his Spiritual Perception was unable to seep in at all.

He tried using the Library of Heaven's Path as well, but he could only compile information on the box but not what was within it. Eventually, he could only give up on it and obediently follow the crowd out. 

"Make sure the boxes are the same distances away from one another!" General Ayer ordered sternly.

As Saint 3-dan cultivators, each of the Otherworldly Demon soldiers possessed exceptional memory. They quickly got into the same formation as the boxes when they first saw them in the building. 

"Good!" Seeing the formation put up by the crowd, General Ayer nodded in satisfaction before gesturing them to head forward.

Maintaining the same distance amongst one another, they began marching forward.

What is the purpose of maintaining the distances amongst the boxes? Zhang Xuan frowned in incomprehension.

If these boxes were parts of a formation or something, he could still understand the need to maintain their positions relative to one another. However, the fact that he couldn't feel any pulsations of energy from them showed that that wasn't the case. Thus, was there really a need to be so concerned with such a minor detail?

More importantly, why couldn't they move the boxes with their storage rings instead?

Hm? 

Perplexed by the peculiar situation, Zhang Xuan activated his Eye of Insight and observed his surroundings carefully. With a look, his body stiffened in astonishment, This feeling… It's similar to how I felt whenever I enter a Seer Guild… They are trying to conceal something from the heavens?33.3cm