Chapter 717

The old soldiers were all grumbling, complaining that they didn't know how much longer their shift change would be delayed.

The guards at the Eye of the Storm were supposed to rotate every three hours, as the high-intensity, high-risk nature of the mission required them to be on constant alert.

In reality, however, the garrison had long since switched to rotating every five hours.

Yet, the duty rosters and pay supplements were still issued based on a three-hour rotation—this money never actually reached the rank-and-file soldiers doing the work, leading to years of bitter complaints.

Unfortunately, these grievances could never reach the ears of the higher-ups, so complaining was just a waste of breath.

Just then, several fireworks rose into the night sky opposite them, shaped like lotus flowers.

"Huh, that looks like it's near Tianji Peak? What happened at Mount Xu again?" Everyone knew those were signaling arrows.

Just at that moment, a youth carrying a pack ran over in a blur and said to the Garrison Commander, "My lord, I'm delivering supplies for my team!"

The Garrison Commander recited the standard procedure: "Which team?"

"The Yuan family's. I'm from Commandant Yuan's household."

Most of those remaining in the Grass Sea were logistics personnel for the competition teams. Teams entering the Fu Realm had been struggling for many days, and they needed to swap people and supplies every few days. Thus, it was no surprise to see humans and monsters constantly coming and going through the Eye of the Storm.

Because of the anomalies at Mount Xu and Lingxu City, the Garrison Commander wasn't concerned with idlers and waved him off: "Go on in."

Within the first five days after the competition started, personnel entering and exiting had to be strictly registered. But by now, people were coming and going as they pleased, and the Garrison Commander didn't feel it was necessary to check strictly.

As long as it wasn't a Danube Beast entering or exiting the Eye of the Storm, he couldn't be bothered to care.

The youth nodded and bowed as he went in.

Once in the Fu Realm, the garrison at the other end of the Eye of the Storm was equally lazy and ignored him.

The place was barren, not even a single tree in sight, but fortunately, the hills were rolling; after crossing two small mounds, no one would know his whereabouts.

The youth channeled his true qi and moved with the speed of a flying bird, holding a gourd in one hand and flicking water onto the ground every dozen paces.

In reality, what flowed from the gourd wasn't water, but a pale yellow, viscous liquid—translucent and with a strange, fishy stench.

He ran all the way toward the area where the storm was most intense.

Only a few dozen breaths later, the Lingxu garrison stationed in the Fu Realm heard an unusually loud beast roar from afar.

One roar after another, like several claps of thunder rolling across the sky.

Huh, why was it coming from that direction? Because they were not far apart, the ground was shaking and trembling.

The garrison couldn't help but change color. The commander grabbed a messenger, pointed at the Eye of the Storm, and shouted: "The 'Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast' is acting up! Go tell the human world quickly!" With that, he kicked the messenger into it.

The Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast roared twice more and then stopped.

The garrison waited for a while, heard no further movement, and breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was just a routine show of force? But before long, the pebbles on the ground began to bounce.

A rumbling sound approached from afar, as if an army of thousands was advancing toward the Eye of the Storm.

Ahead lay the boundless Grass Sea.

Thin ice had already formed on the lake shore; in this season, only the reeds could still show off.

National Master Qingyang and Baili Zhantian chased them to this spot, just in time to see the giant spider leap into the air and jump into the lake water dozens of zhang ahead, sending ripples outward.

It went into the water.

Baili Zhantian's gaze hardened, and she ran forward with long strides.

She didn't need to chant any incantations to run across the clear waves as if on flat ground. Upon reaching the center of the ripples, she raised her long spear, gathered power for about two breaths, and stabbed fiercely into the water! The spear tip plunged beneath the surface, instantly lengthening by ten zhang and tripling in size, reaching straight to the lakebed.

Most terrifyingly, the water within a five-zhang radius of the spear tip was completely frozen, leaving the living creatures unable to move until they were silently swallowed by the annihilation power erupting from the spear tip!

Within two breaths, she stabbed more than thirty times in all directions, churning the water beneath her feet into muddy, sky-high waves.

But no blood emerged from the bottom of the lake.

It seemed the Spider Immortal was also moving very quickly underwater.

Everyone knew the underwater terrain of the Grass Sea was complex; ordinary cultivators chasing them here would likely have to give up. But Baili Zhantian glanced at National Master Qingyang: "Find them."

National Master Qingyang nodded, and the short staff in her hand emitted a green light.

She dipped the short staff into the lake and said clearly: "Local Water Spirit, come and pay your respects at once!"

She repeated this three times, then withdrew the staff and waited quietly.

The Grass Sea was so vast; how long would it take to find them if she went into the water herself? The best way was to ask the local tyrant for help.

This was the outskirts of the Demon Kingdom's capital, where the density of monsters was rarely seen in the world.

After more than twenty breaths, a massive head indeed poked out of the water and bowed to her: "Grass Sea Water Spirit, greets National Master Qingyang!"

It was a giant eel, its head half-gray and half-white, looking somewhat faded, as if it would just be a reef if it sank to the bottom. But when it opened its mouth, there were at least two large rows of fine, serrated teeth.

Although it called itself the Grass Sea Water Spirit, in reality, every stream, river, and lake from here to Mount Xu was within its sphere of influence.

"There is a giant spider and a living human underwater. Find them for us and keep a close watch, but don't alert the enemy."

The giant eel paused for two seconds before answering in the affirmative.

The Grass Sea competition wasn't over yet, and there were quite a few humans around. Fortunately, there was also the target of the giant spider, otherwise, how would it recognize them?

After receiving the order, it dived into the water and disappeared.

Baili Zhantian frowned: "Not good. I fought Zhu Xiuer in ancient times. Her magic power is mediocre, but she has many tricks."

"We have already mobilized the army, and with the help of the Grass Sea aquatic clans, the longer it takes, the greater our chances of winning." National Master Qingyang knew very well that the Spider Immortal's body could not be maintained for long. "Let's start searching from this area. By the way, you should have other tracking methods, right?"

A Heavenly God had various means; she didn't believe Baili Zhantian couldn't track the intruder and the Spider Immortal.

Baili Zhantian nodded and breathed a puff of white mist forward.

National Master Qingyang immediately saw a tangled golden thread appear in the white mist, but it was blurry and indistinct. In fact, it was more accurate to call it golden light than a golden thread, because it hadn't been woven together at all, but was dispersed in the air like spider silk swaying in the wind.

"This is the Thread of Karma, used to trace cause and effect to find people," Baili Zhantian explained. "During the fight just now, I took the opportunity to entangle it on the Spider Immortal. But the Thread of Karma needs three hours to truly take shape."

National Master Qingyang was curious: "Is this the legendary Thread of Karma? I thought it could be seen at a glance."

"On an ordinary person, it is indeed visible at a glance," Baili Zhantian explained. "But the spider demon still has the power of a half-immortal; I don't want to be detected by it immediately, so it's best to do it slowly."

In other words, it would take three hours to accurately grasp the Spider Immortal's whereabouts.

This didn't delay their all-out capture efforts for the moment.

Before she finished speaking, dozens of people ran over from the front. National Master Qingyang recognized their uniforms; these were the garrison troops guarding the Eye of the Storm in the Grass Sea.

"Why are you only here now?"

Inside Lingxu City, no one would mistake this token. But the guards looked at National Master Qingyang with hesitation. Who didn't know that National Master Qingyang's crimes had been exposed and she had been detained by the Tiangong? National Master Qingyang didn't scold them, just took the token in her hand, surrounded by green light.

Seeing the power of the token in her hand erupt, the guards had no more doubts.

Only when the authority is there does the power exist.

What happened to National Master Qingyang was not something they could understand. They only needed to recognize the power.

Therefore, when National Master Qingyang asked again, "Why are there only these few people?", the guard leader immediately said: "The Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast rushed out of the Eye of the Storm and is wreaking havoc in the Grass Sea. Please, National Master, take action!"

"Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast?" National Master Qingyang was startled. "How could it enter the human world?"

This kind of lord-level Danube Beast had a very strong sense of territory and rarely left its own domain. Most importantly, the space-time barrier restricted monsters of this magnitude; it couldn't enter the Storm Gate. Therefore, Lingxu City had never worried about lord-level giant beasts breaking into the human world.

At this point, National Master Qingyang suddenly remembered the news she had heard a while ago, saying that the Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast had laid eggs and had also repelled attacks from the Fu Realm sandstorms and another quasi-lord monster, and that the warriors of the human world had also been affected.

The Tiangong team that entered the Fu Realm also submitted a report saying that the Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast might have been demoted, but it hadn't been finally confirmed.

Now it seemed the information was correct.

It was just a pity that this intelligence hadn't been taken seriously by the Grass Sea guards.

And what was going on today? Everything was wrong. Mount Xu and Lingxu City were undergoing sudden changes; even the lords of the Fu Realm were interested in meddling in the human world?

National Master Qingyang had lived for so long and knew the meaning of the phrase "when things are abnormal, there must be demons." How could there be such coincidences in the world? Ninety-nine percent, this accident was related to the intruder again! She glanced at Baili Zhantian, but the latter didn't care at all, not even moving her eyebrows: "What does a Danube Beast matter? Catch the intruder first!"

In Baili Zhantian's view, how much havoc could a Danube Beast wreak? The human world was Lingxu City's home turf; after calling in more troops later, they could quickly suppress it. By comparison, the intruder making off with the spider molts and divine objects was the top priority that the Heavenly God hated and feared!

National Master Qingyang also understood the stakes, sighed secretly, and said: "Search this area in groups of five. Go to the Grass Sea and call two thousand people over."

She didn't know that the Emperor had already transferred five thousand people from the Grass Sea to support the Tiangong, and only one thousand were left here. Moreover, the Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast's violent appearance just now caused a wave of trampling, and the garrison was caught off guard, suffering many casualties.

These soldiers turned pale and said anxiously: "B-but the Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast has already..."

National Master Qingyang's tone turned stern: "Go quickly!"

Two soldiers suddenly pointed to the side: "It's here!"

National Master Qingyang and Baili Zhantian also felt the tremor of the ground and subconsciously turned their heads to look.

Originally, after crossing the long slope twenty zhang away, one could see the famous White Sand Beach of the Grass Sea. But now, hundreds of guards were running out from behind the long slope, shouting loudly while running toward here, actually collapsing in the face of the army.

Immediately after, a large group of monsters emerged from behind the slope!

Danube Beasts! Some were big and some were small; the small ones were three or four hundred jin, about the same as wild boars, while the large ones were over a zhang tall and weighed tens of thousands of jin, comparable to a giant elephant.

There were at least two or three hundred of them, and the earth shook as they ran.

Not to mention, the leading Thunder-Bearing Giant Beast was more majestic than all its little brothers behind it combined.

Thanks to the netizen for the appreciation.

(End of Chapter)