Zhou Leng said, "Captain, you're overthinking. Before we came, your dad already did a background check. Besides, at most we're high school seniors with slightly stronger martial arts skills. If we were capable of doing something we shouldn't, we wouldn't be here; we'd have done it long ago."
The team members' expressions softened.
Xue Chengsong spread his hands and said, "I know, but I can't help it; my dad's influence runs deep. Let's go, as long as there aren't any Demons or the Demon Worship Sect, we won't have any problems this trip."
Xue Chengsong continued while walking, "Our research goal this time is Wolf Valley. It's a Demon Wolf nest left by the Sea Suppression Army. They've cleared out the powerful ones, leaving only ordinary Blue-backed Demon Wolves, specifically for research teams. These Blue-backed Demon Wolves don't hunt in packs and usually hunt alone, so they suit us..."
As Xue Chengsong spoke, the team moved forward.
Occasionally, people would recognize other team members and exchange simple greetings.
As they approached the base's exit, a familiar voice called out.
"Zhou Leng!"
Zhou Leng looked towards the voice and saw Xu Qingjin in a camouflage outfit waving vigorously, her ponytail swaying gently, her smile pure and clean.
Around Xu Qingjin stood nine classmates from the Eighth Middle School's honors class.
They all greeted Zhou Leng and Feng Wenhao.
Zhou Leng and Feng Wenhao waved back.
Both parties tacitly refrained from conversing and proceeded on their paths.
"Look over there," Feng Wenhao suddenly whispered to Zhou Leng.
Zhou Leng followed Feng Wenhao's gaze.
A group of towering trees, over five meters high, was moving. Their roots, like thick serpents, supported their trunks as they slithered forward.
These Tree-men didn't have any human features—no arms, no faces—and looked entirely like trees.
The trunks of each Tree-man were lined with varying numbers of spiral knots, which they used to produce different sounds for communication.
This was the first time Zhou Leng had seen Tree-men in person; he had only seen Demon Spirit Masters before.
"You'll encounter more creatures from the Ten Realms the more you venture into the Demon City," Xue Chengsong said. "Look at that Tree-man with golden leaves; it should be a Mother Tree Protector. Something major must have happened; otherwise, such high-level Tree-men wouldn't appear at a human pioneer base."
"Could a war be about to break out here?" a short member of the team, with a surprisingly large head, asked.
Zhou Leng remembered him as Ding Yan, who had mastered body and step techniques, a promising talent for learning lightweight skills after the Blood Transporting Period.
"It's unlikely. If war were really going to break out, we would have been notified long ago. The most probable scenario is that the Tree-men and giant insects are at odds. They might be here to request support or trade some demonized items. Anyway, it doesn't concern us much."
The team had barely taken a few steps when a violent explosion suddenly echoed from not far away.
An ear-piercing alarm sounded throughout the area.
Most people scrambled in panic, though a few stood still.
"Take cover immediately!" Guo Xiaohao rushed over, grabbing Xue Chengsong's arm, and ran in the direction away from the explosion.
Zhou Leng followed Guo Xiaohao as well.
While running, Zhou Leng glanced in the direction Xu Qingjin was headed.
Xu Qingjin, with her ponytail, also looked over in this direction.
In a crowd of thousands, the eyes of a boy and a girl met.
They nodded gently, each following their respective teams to escape.
"Don't panic too much; it's probably just a Demon or the Demon Worship Sect," Guo Xiaohao loudly reassured.
As they ran, people occasionally glanced back.
The buildings of the base obscured their view, making it unclear what had actually happened.
"Hmph!"
A peculiar cold snort spread throughout the field.
Zhou Leng looked towards the source of the sound.
Two individuals leapt high into the air—one in camouflage gear, the other in black.
The man in camouflage was enveloped in the faint, pale light of Innate True Gang and punched towards the person in black.
The punch tore through the air, surpassing the speed of sound with a sonic boom.
The person in black, also wielding Innate True Gang, punched back at the man in camouflage.
Crack...
The black-clad man's right arm shattered, and his body flew backward, crashing heavily to the ground, scattering a shower of debris.
The man in black fell not far from the Golden Tree-man, which emitted strange sounds from its spiraling knots.
Roots sprouted from the ground, securely binding the black-clad figure.
"Thank you, Tree-man friends," said the man in camouflage as he landed, knocking the black-clad man unconscious with a slap, then picking him up like a chick and carrying him off.
"Alarm cleared! Alarm cleared! Alarm cleared!" the broadcast announced.
Everyone still watched the man in camouflage.
Xue Chengsong sighed, "It's indeed Chen Shouhu."
"You know him?" Feng Wenhao asked.
Xue Chengsong smiled, "I know him, but he doesn't know me. He's the Colonel Brigadier of the Seventh Division Martial Arts Brigade, a disciple of the Martial Saint, at the Peak of Innate, ranked first on the Rucheng Innate Chart, and in the top ten of the Human Race Innate Chart, always on the brink of advancing to Grandmaster."
"A disciple of the Martial Saint... Martial Arts Brigade..." The eyes of the crowd gleamed with admiration.
Ordinary brigade, Special Ops brigade, Martial Arts brigade—the combat strength escalates progressively.
A single Martial Arts brigade can easily crush multiple ordinary divisions.
"I've heard that a Martial Arts brigade can easily overwhelm more than ten times its number in ordinary brigades."
"A Martial Arts brigade, equivalent to the Top Ten in Martial Arts at Martial Arts University; only the crème de la crème can serve as officers there."
"I envy you all who can view the Innate Chart; we can't even access the Qi Blood Chart right now," Feng Wenhao said.
"It's all what those martial artists say; I can't see it myself. Once we surpass the first layer of the Copper Man Array or advance to Blood Transport, we can access it. The person caught is probably from the Demon Worship Sect; it's quite normal. Let's move on."
Ding Yan shook his head, "This isn't normal. This is my third visit, and the first time I've seen an Innate-level battle."
"Such a small coward," Xue Chengsong scoffed at Ding Yan.
The team walked out of the pioneer base gate, and Zhou Leng surveyed the surroundings.
Nearby, green grass paved the ground, a lush forest sprawled ahead, rivers meandered, and beyond, mountain ranges rose and fell, enveloped in swirling clouds.
The green of the vegetation here seems to have been smeared with a faint layer of black, ink green, ink green.
Even the stream not far away seems to have a hint of black.
Xue Chengsong said as he walked, "This is my fifth time entering Shuizhou Demon City, considered an old hand."
Feng Wenhao replied, "You keep saying you're slacking off, but you're actually putting in the effort."
Xue Chengsong helplessly replied, "Isn't it just because my dad is pushing me? He's determined to have me advance to Innate. He says his talent is limited, can only remain in the Vitality Stage, very hard to advance to Innate, suffered losses all his life, can't let the Xue Family suffer again."
"Turns out everyone is pretty much the same," Feng Wenhao said.
"Alright, no more rambling, from the moment we step out of the Pioneer Base, we should be vigilant. Remember, the most terrifying place in Shuizhou Demon City is where there is water, unless you need to drink water, otherwise stay away..."
"Let's quicken our pace..."
The team of seven walked quickly, with Xue Chengsong like an old soldier continuously explaining points for attention.
Fifty meters later, Guo Xiaohao and another Blood Transporting Period expert followed the team.
Zhou Leng remained silent, observing carefully as he walked.
There were many pedestrians near the Pioneer Base, and military vehicles or aircraft carrying demon corpses occasionally passed by, not a single living demon could be seen.
Everyone proceeded quickly, approaching evening, arriving at a camping spot.
Hundreds of tents were scattered everywhere, campfires flickering.
Feng Wenhao asked in surprise, "The Demon City is so dangerous, why is there still a fire?"
"Areas near the Pioneer Base are all under high-altitude surveillance..." Xue Chengsong said, pointing to the hardly noticeable light spot in the sky.
"There are no satellites here, those are floating airships, spread around the Pioneer Base, acting as signal stations. Further in, without floating airships, no one dares to camp like this with fires."
"Let's go, let's join in, set up the tent first, then assign night watch..."
Shuizhou Exploration Base.
Inside the monitoring room, huge screens covered three walls.
The map of Shuizhou Demon City appeared on the central wall.
On the map of Shuizhou Demon City, there were thousands of green dots scattered everywhere.
Suddenly, a green dot turned red abruptly, emitting circle after circle of red ripples.
Beep beep beep...
The faint sound rang out, everyone became fully alert.
A lieutenant flipped through the screen in front of him, carefully checking, connecting to the communication line.
"Monitoring point 1053 detected abnormal spatial fluctuations, fluctuation level one, please proceed for investigation."
People in the monitoring room relaxed, each going about their business.
Spatial fluctuation level one means the demon entering Shuizhou Demon City this time is only at the Qi Blood Realm and the quantity does not exceed a thousand, which is normal.
Seventh Division, Martial Arts Brigade.
Chen Shouhu, with scars all over his hands, blinked, the lens suspended over his left eye retracted, merging into the position of the super demonized computer at his temple.
If not looked at carefully, that location just appeared to be normal hair and skin.
"In these days, small groups of demons have been frequently invading, perhaps there's something unusual, everyone be on guard."
"Yes."
"Did the Innate from the Demon Worship Sect this morning confess?"
"Said nothing, very tight-lipped."
"From Huang Meng Sect?"
"Probably, other sects either confessed honestly, self-sacrificed, or went crazy, his gaze firm, unafraid of torture, very likely from Huang Meng Sect."
"If nothing comes from questioning tomorrow, kill to prevent any unexpected incidents."
"Understood."
"It seems the internal struggle within the Demon Worship Sect has been intense recently, otherwise they wouldn't provide such big intelligence. What's your opinion?"
"Huang Meng Sect is tightly organized, this Innate Master hidden for so long suddenly appearing, something big is likely happening, there should be shadows of Huang Meng Sect's giants behind."
"Who's most likely?"
"Recently heard Tong Tianxia spotted around Yangtze River and Tai Lake," the speaker secretly observed Chen Shouhu.
Chen Shouhu appeared dazed for a moment, then chuckled.
"Haven't seen him in a long time, Wang Boxiong and I really want to meet him again, snatch back that year's number one from him."
Chen Shouhu's expression was particularly peculiar, seeming to carry nostalgia, hatred, self-blame, and powerlessness.
The people in the room said nothing.
After a while, Chen Shouhu asked again, "Any other important news?"
"A coincidence, Ma Xingkong's nephew graduated high school this year, entered our base today, and personally witnessed your arrest."
"That side's surveillance was withdrawn after so many years, indicates the matter is unrelated to the child, treat equally."
"Yes."
Chen Shouhu contemplated, then asked, "How is the child?"
"Was attacked by demons, his academic and physical exam scores are very poor, but martial arts exam ranked in Rucheng's top thousand, enough for Top Ten Martial Arts' supplementary enrollment."
"For him, entering the Top Ten Martial Arts is instead a hassle."
"Indeed."
The darkness dispersed, the hazy morning light shone on Shuizhou Demon City.
The collective camping site's human voices gradually boiled.
Zhou Leng and others gathered together, eating Marching Pills and compressed food prepared by the Xue Family.
A thumb-sized Marching Pill is enough to provide the energy for a day's forced march, significantly reducing logistical burdens.
After breakfast, everyone picked up their backpacks, ready to set off.
"Hey, isn't this Young Master Xue? You came to Shuizhou Demon City personally?"
A burst of laughter followed.