Chapter 90: Artillery Lock

Eastern jungle.

The forest is deep and the grass is dense; the mountain wind howls.

Qian Qianyi and nine other Li Yun Sect cultivators, spaced fifty meters apart, have concealed their figures and are advancing in a crescent formation, leaving no traces on the ground.

Wild boars, elk, and tigers frequently run through the forest, continuing to graze and hunt as usual, completely undisturbed.

"Senior Qian, please slow your speed to one-quarter of the current pace."

A jade pendant at Qian Qianyi's waist flashes slightly, converting into a secret spiritual sense fluctuation transmitted to his sea of consciousness.

He is slightly stunned.

This is already the standard speed to accommodate the Qi Refining Level 5 junior brothers in the team; how much slower can it go?

But he quickly reacts—that mortal's speed cannot keep up with them.

"Slow the speed by one-quarter, and be even more cautious."

Qian Qianyi says in a deep voice.

The tacit understanding formed from years of cultivating together makes the others instinctively comply. As the speed slows, they begin to ponder the meaning of this order, their eyes showing signs of dissatisfaction.

The Immortal Sect,

even if it is a noble Immortal Sect, using a mortal to control us is too great an insult!

Four thousand meters behind the Li Yun Sect cultivators' crescent formation, Jiang Ding is moving through the woods with an anti-materiel sniper rifle on his back, equally silent and invisible.

On his tactical helmet interface, images of mountains and geography flash by, and he is controlling seven drones flying at an altitude of three thousand meters.

This is no shooting range; even military drones are frequently shot down.

Besides this, there is another interface where ten small dots are moving—these are Qian Qianyi and the others.

Jiang Ding is responsible for reconnaissance in the east, while other directions also have personnel, rapidly mapping the terrain and fire strike coordinates here.

Since receiving the reconnaissance order, he has been traveling through this jungle for seven or eight hours, covering over 150 kilometers. The seven drones have opened up a reconnaissance width of over 50 kilometers in the sky, and so far, there have been no discoveries.

The battlefield is too large; the reconnaissance troops of the Seventh Middle School might have passed not far from them.

Suddenly, one drone's screen goes black.

Enemies!

Jiang Ding's expression tightens. From the perspective of other drones ten kilometers away, this drone suddenly explodes, and many fragments even undergo secondary shattering.

It is heavy machine gun fire, continuous, or perhaps multiple snipers firing together.

This possibility is low; the reconnaissance infantry course is difficult, and it is impossible for the Seventh Middle School to have produced multiple reconnaissance infantrymen by now. As high-grade special magic treasures, the Immortal Sect only issues them to corresponding professions.

"Enemy appeared, location unknown."

Jiang Ding issues a warning, maneuvering the other drones away from the crashed one, trying to find clouds to hide in.

Qian Qianyi and the other Li Yun Sect cultivators' expressions become serious, paying even more attention to the operation of their concealment spells.

Although they might encounter people from the same sect, no one will show mercy to those outside their own lineage. Only by killing all disciples of other lineages can this inner sect disciple trial end and they be promoted to inner sect disciples!

Another drone screen goes black.

Jiang Ding finally discovers a drone hiding in a white cloud five or six kilometers away.

He raises the already charged anti-materiel sniper rifle, aims, predicts its trajectory, guides the input of one-sixth of his internal power for enhancement, and waits for it to poke its head out again.

Bang!

Waiting for a moment, the extremely faint gunshot rings out, and the drone, with a small part of its body just poking out, shatters in response.

Jiang Ding lowers the rifle, continuing to input internal power into his hand; it is estimated to take six minutes to fully charge.

At the same time, inside the tactical helmet's microcomputer, lines of drawings are listed and calculated rapidly, based on the two downed drones.

Starting from the two points where the drones crashed, with an altitude of 3,247 meters as the vertical coordinate, he marks a region in the jungle on the ground using the 5-kilometer effective range of the heavy machine gun as the axis.

"Go to this area and investigate."

Jiang Ding orders.

Those out for reconnaissance are likely people from the Seventh Middle School's Internal Qi Realm paired with Li Yun Sect Dao soldiers.

Immortal Sect Qi Refining cultivators see their combat effectiveness drop sharply once they leave their tanks, and they are easily discovered by spiritual sense, no stronger than Internal Qi Realm martial artists.

They can't exactly drive tanks through the jungle, carving out long roads just to scout.

Unless they are those kinds of super elites.

Immortal Sect cultivators who can maintain their own cultivation, study tank driving and shooting spells, and learn various array and cultural knowledge, while still finding time to practice concealment and reconnaissance spells—this exceeds common sense.

Even the First Middle School doesn't have such cultivators.

Except for Li Tie, the dual-spirit root Qi Refining Level 8 student, the other Qi Refining cultivators in the Seventh Middle School are nothing special, a cut below the Qi Refining cultivators of the First Middle School.

As for the Li Yun Sect cultivators,

Dao soldiers are restricted from using many unique Immortal Sect magic treasures, and their reconnaissance range is too small.

"Yes!"

Qian Qianyi and the others have bitter expressions, but they dare not disobey the order. They head straight toward the coordinate area marked by Jiang Ding, cautiously using their spiritual sense to probe every part of the jungle.

For a Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator, spiritual sense covers a radius of seventy meters; this area is not small.

They are constantly moving, circling irregularly, and their speed is extremely fast. Although the designated area is wide, they can roughly cover it in ten-plus minutes.

"Nothing."

"No discoveries, Senior Brother Qian."

The cultivators below report continuously, the results the same as his own investigation.

"Good, continue forward, do not be careless. Although that person is also a mortal, we cannot find him..." Qian Qianyi breathes a sigh of relief and is about to offer some encouragement when two semi-transparent, sneaky figures appear at the edge of his spiritual sense.

They are only semi-transparent, a huge gap from their superiors; one can see clues with the naked eye, let alone using spiritual sense scanning, where one could even see how many hairs the opponent has.

They dare not advance quickly, sneaking along with hunched backs; once they leave traces in the trees or grass, they will be discovered even faster.

Qian Qianyi is silent for a moment.

"Kill!"

He shouts coldly, his icy spiritual sense transmitting into the minds of every junior brother.

Swish!

Instantly, ten cloud-colored flying swords fly out, killing their way to the two transparent figures in a flash.

"We've been discovered!"

Jiang Jinxian and Wu Jinqian's expressions change drastically. With the flying swords in the air and the icy killing intent piercing their bones, they truly realize the gap between them.

What Internal Qi Great Circulation? How ridiculous the martial arts leaders of the Seventh Middle School are in front of these flying swords!

"Save me!"

The two instinctively scream.

The lean cultivator guarding within a radius of dozens of meters feels annoyed. As a dignified Qi Refining Level 8 cultivator, he is sent to guard two mortal ants along with subordinates he spends every day with, leaving him tied up.

Yet he dares not fail to save them.

Also Li Yun Sect cultivators, another ten flying swords fly out, instantly blocking the opposing flying swords. The two sides fight fiercely, sword Qi overflowing, and waist-thick trees fall just by being grazed.

Jiang Jinxian and the other take this opportunity, no longer restraining themselves, and explode with all their speed, fleeing desperately toward the rear.

"People from Black Cloud Peak."

Qian Qianyi's face turns cold. Risking his flying sword being slashed away by the lean Qi Refining Level 8 cultivator, in a flash, the cloud-colored flying sword turns, bypassing Jiang Jinxian and the other's heads. Their fine heads are sent flying, sword Qi explodes, and their bodies are sliced into countless thin pieces.

Mortals are too fragile, completely unable to be protected.

"Seeking death!"

The lean cultivator is furious.

A mere Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator dares to be distracted while fighting him; he simply doesn't know how to write the word 'death'!

The mid-grade magic treasure cloud-colored flying sword suddenly erupts with brilliant light, its speed increasing by more than double, arriving in front of Qian Qianyi in an instant and slashing down fiercely.

With just one slash,

Qian Qianyi's shield magic treasure's spiritual light dims and it totters, while his flying sword is still on its way back, completely unable to resist.

The lean cultivator's flying sword's spiritual light suffers no damage, becoming even more dazzling. After one slash, it turns again, easily cutting open the already dim shield and slicing toward his neck.

"Spare my life, we are all Li Yun Sect disciples..."

Qian Qianyi shows fear, regretting that he shouldn't have listened to that mortal's order to kill.

"Ridiculous!"

The lean cultivator's face becomes even more ferocious, but suddenly he feels extreme pain and his whole body goes weak.

Looking down, he sees a fist-sized blood hole at his waist; his body is stiff, and even his flying sword becomes dim and lusterless.

Boom!

Scorching flames erupt from the blood hole, turning him into a pile of ash.

Over four thousand meters away,

Jiang Ding puts the rifle on his back, quickly moving away from the original sniping position, his internal power exploding throughout his body, and he runs wildly.

"Escape! This coordinate is no longer safe!" ===== CHAPTER 91 =====