Chapter 522 - 316: Search 2

Chapter 522: Chapter 316: Search 2

’What is the Old Master... trying to test me on?’

Sword Qi howled as Yu Fei’s brow furrowed.

This was why, despite having spent so much time with Ye Shuping and telling him many secrets, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

’His desire for control is just too strong!’

’All of this will probably come to light when I find Yan Sea!’

Pingsha Ridge was within the territory of the Yuan Demons. Due to the Yuan Demon race’s unique power-growth mechanism, humans had always been cautious about controlling occupied areas, not daring to expand their territory.

Furthermore, since the Demon Mountain Realm lacked any special resources, humanity was on the defensive in this theater of war. The main defense was handled by four Grade-A and dozens of Grade-B corps.

The Celestial Sword Gorge camp, for instance, was just one of the main battlefield areas in this realm.

Moreover, due to the Demon Mountain Realm’s unique seismic activity, the camps in this realm frequently had to be relocated.

In the offensive and defensive battles of this realm, human Martial Artists usually set up their camps along the mandatory paths of the Yuan Demons’ attack routes, a bit like a tower defense game.

If seismic activity happened to occur, the Yuan Demons would change their attack routes. If not handled properly, the human camps would suffer heavy losses. But if too many Martial Artists were deployed, the cost became a major consideration.

The Cangye Corps was a Grade-B corps stationed at Frost Mist Lake, which was the entrance to Pingsha Ridge.

「By dawn the next day, Yu Fei had finally approached the Cangye Corps’s control zone.」

Once he was within a thousand li of the area, Yu Fei activated his Silent Shadow Body and shielded himself with the Returning Ruins Realm Sword, vanishing from the world.

Yu Fei’s current stealth capabilities were even more extraordinary. Aided by his Spatial Penetration Skill, he could even pass through some solid objects of low energy intensity, as if he were in an Alternate Space.

This special stealth ability surpassed ninety-nine percent of all perceptive abilities.

The Cangye Corps was currently in a period of rest and reorganization. The intensity of attacks in the Demon Mountain Realm was actually greater than in the Abyss. Although it seemed like fewer enemies attacked here and the intervals between attacks were longer, the strength of the attacking Yuan Demons was far superior to those in the Abyss.

The temperature around Frost Mist Lake was low, and this natural lake was more like an inland sea.

Floating ice formed on the lake’s surface year-round, and the lake was shrouded in a milky-white mist, which was especially thick at dawn and dusk.

The mist flowed like fine gauze, severely obstructing vision.

Furthermore, this mist possessed faint elemental properties that greatly interfered with an observer’s line of sight.

Tall watchtowers were set up along the lake’s edge. In the Void Clearing Mirror’s perception, the observers in these watchtowers were all prodigy Martial Artists. He could detect the faint feeling of being watched, though there were only two of them.

That was sufficient for monitoring a conventional battlefield.

Yu Fei had long since stopped flying through the sky; the trail of Sword Qi was too conspicuous and difficult to conceal.

He swept past the Cangye Corps’s garrison like a ghost and rushed toward Frost Mist Lake. The lake had a diameter of over five hundred kilometers, and its surface was enclosed by three forbidden zones. Just like the forbidden zones on either side of Matie Road, entering them meant the loss of one’s five senses.

As he flew, Yu Fei continuously dropped Fog Pine Stone markers along the way. This had already become a subconscious habit.

No one would ever imagine that these common, low-grade extraordinary stones, found everywhere in the Martial Arts Extraordinary Realm, actually contained the markers for his teleportation.

Fog Pine Stone had such low durability that it was practically useless. Even as a building material, it would be rejected for its weakness.

Past Frost Mist Lake was the Pingsha Ridge region.

The north wind was like a knife, kicking up rippling waves of sand. Huge, grayish-black boulders jutted out from the sea of sand, where unknown grayish-brown plants struggled to grow.

Here, the dawn was steeped in an ashen light, sky and ground blending into one, a desolate scene as far as the eye could see.

It was hard to understand how the area around Frost Mist Lake could be so full of life while this place was utterly dead.

The complex ecological conditions of the borderlands could make any geologist tear their hair out.

This place was indeed unsuitable for a garrison. Swarms of Wing Demons circled in the sky, and scattered Shadow Demons wandered the ground.

These were the Yuan Demons’ methods of surveillance.

After entering this area, Yu Fei fully activated his perceptive abilities to search for any trace of Yan Sea and Su Yue.

After searching for a long time, he even found the Yuan Demons’ gathering place.

Its appearance matched the records: it was composed of a grid of three-dimensional cubes, each about fifty meters tall. It had the texture of grayish-green biological tissue, and its surface was covered in glowing, bright green-veined conduits.

Unfortunately, humans still knew nothing about its internal structure. Perceptive abilities were ineffective, and if anyone tried to force their way in, these biological cubes would immediately self-destruct and vaporize, leaving behind only some high-energy biological residue that was useless for anything but fertilizer.

These biological cubes were where the Yuan Demon royalty resided and mustered their troops, and only they could enter.

Yu Fei maintained his Silent Shadow Body and slowly approached. He circled the structure but found nothing. Then, a crimson-gold light flared in his pupils as he activated his X-ray Vision Ability.

His vision was blocked after penetrating just over a foot deep. It was like looking through frosted glass; the deeper he tried to see, the blurrier it became.

Suddenly, his prying triggered its defense mechanism. The runic patterns on the biological cube’s surface flared brightly, and two squads of about thirty 7th-rank Yuan Demons, led by an 8th-rank Yuan Demon, rushed out to investigate the surroundings.

"How incredible!"

The Yuan Demons’ methods were not enough to discover him. Yu Fei had a few ideas, such as using his Sword Qi to penetrate space and create a marker to teleport himself inside for a look. But after much thought, he abandoned the idea.

The security of their biological cubes was a critical part of the Yuan Demons’ assessment of their controlled territory. If Yu Fei accidentally destroyed this place, the Yuan Demons attacking the Cangye Corps next time would inevitably be stronger. That would be a huge disservice to them!

Aided by his powerful perceptive abilities, on the third day, Yu Fei finally found Yan Sea and Su Yue.

"So they’re here!"

They were already quite deep into the area, almost at the farthest end of Pingsha Ridge.

They were in a natural cave, a cavity that seemed to have been formed by compression and tearing during seismic activity. Its entrance was well-hidden among a jumble of rocks.

Without perceptive abilities, an ordinary person would have great difficulty finding it.

The inside had been crudely hollowed out to create a simple shelter.

Yan Sea’s eyes were red, his face gaunt and haggard.

Su Yue lay flat on a stone slab, her face pale. Her chest and abdomen were crudely bandaged, with faint traces of blood seeping through.

Yan Sea stared blankly at Su Yue, his eyes filled with regret.

Although he had been practicing Buddhist Teachings for some time and could normally maintain a calm and stable mind, free from radical impulses...

In the Shenxiao Army, Zhuo Feiming had taken good care of them. Their strength had improved steadily, and they were gradually overcoming the effects of a lost decade. Everything seemed to be heading in the right direction.

Until, that was, they returned to Guihong Base to rest a few days ago and he accidentally discovered a classified document in the archives.

Yan Sea followed the trail from the document and uncovered part of the truth from that year in a sealed archive room within Guihong Military Base.

It was a battle order confirmation receipt...

"Confirmed... Sima Hong, Sima Yue... a total of sixteen killed in action. Key objective achieved. Operation proceeding... Confirmation from Zhou Xing, Celestial Phenomenon Corps!"

Reading this file sent a chill through Yan Sea’s heart. Through this battle order receipt, Yan Sea could almost see a secret web spread across the major corps, manipulating the course of the war, systematically eliminating certain people and events!

And his master, Sima Hong, along with so many of his martial brothers, were the victims. What role did the Shenxiao Corps, which he had served for so long, play in all this?

Yan Sea’s state of mind, stabilized by years of practicing Buddhist Teachings, shattered in an instant. A corner of the truth he had so desperately sought was now revealed, and it all pointed to finding a vanguard messenger from the Celestial Phenomenon Corps named Zhou Xing.

Yan Sea was a very stubborn person, and even somewhat sensitive and prone to internal conflict.

After learning a piece of the truth, he was tormented by inner conflict. On one hand, there was the burning impatience to uncover the full story and exact his revenge. On the other hand, there was Su Yue.

This affair was fraught with danger. He was afraid of telling Su Yue and bringing danger upon her, but to leave without a word... ’Would I even be human? Could I really do something like that a second time?’

Before Yan Sea could figure it out, Su Yue noticed that something was wrong.

When Su Yue learned everything, she just sighed, then began preparing supplies and gathering intelligence, planning to face it all with Yan Sea!

And then... after successfully interrogating Zhou Xing, the two were hunted down. In a moment of crisis, they fled into Pingsha Ridge, where they now lay on the verge of death.