Chapter 364: Outpost Camp

The resonant words had just landed, and Lou Miyue appeared loyal and devoted.

It seemed so, but her words just now, both overtly and covertly, were probing Du En's attitude toward Luo Heng, very much as if she were looking for any sign of dissatisfaction to seize upon and lead a counter-attack.

Aside from the foolish, those under his command were either power-hungry or ambitious; that Luo Heng was quite good at stirring things up.

Du En couldn't help but think this, saying nothing more, and simply continued walking forward.

After the recent incident, Lou Miyue also seemed to have received her answer; she suddenly stopped expressing any doubts and led him further ahead, onto the widest path, clearly the main route, guarded by heavy troops and overseen by priests.

Facing their arrival, the priest-soldiers here actually did not notice Du En; they could only see Lou Miyue, and one after another, they struck poses of respect.

She didn't care in the slightest about her unconventional public appearance, and they seemed very obedient... it appeared she was a true wielder of power.

Du En thought this, and he basically understood Luo Heng's intention this time.

Borrowing a knife to kill! To get rid of a powerful figure within the sect who was not currently suitable for him to try and kill while things were still intense! That was why he had intentionally revealed Du En's existence, letting her take the bait herself!

However, what exactly was her specific intention? Since there was a spatial anchor point in the east where she presided, the situation was clear: there must also be some crisis or danger here.

What role did she play in it? Why had she come to him so urgently, almost without a second thought?

And, having just tried to probe his stance, attempting to use his authority to launch a counter-attack... examining all these events, Du En was lost in thought, vaguely seeing something.

At the same time, Lou Miyue was not surprised that others could not see him, as he did not wish to be seen.

After all, he was the "High Envoy"!

She said to herself, her mood known only to her.

In short, they continued to move forward along this main battle line, which was pitted and scarred from fighting against demonic beasts, filled with broken, strange trees, scattered mineral debris, and stained with blood that had long since turned black.

The curtain of strange trees gradually became tattered, and in contrast, more and more Essence Steel clusters protruded from between the branches.

The mineral vein was extending and spreading over!

It swallowed and purified spiritual Qi, spewing it out, constantly condensing and growing, expanding outward, but it was blocked by the curtain forest of strange trees, so naturally, it would encroach and spread, leading to this kind of natural conflict.

Originally, the Spirit Mother should have been able to block it.

Even if this was a fifth-tier mineral vein.

But because Luo Heng was there, meddling and drilling, and also engaging in battle with demonic beasts that had come sniffing around, it was like adding frost to snow, so over time, it had become this way.

It looked like one day, the mineral vein would completely overturn the strange tree curtain forest.

"If that day really comes..."

This was clearly another move by Luo Heng to drag down the Spirit Mother, but the current situation was obvious: it had no real practical use.

The reason he still chose to keep it, without blocking the path or disbanding the army, was probably to feign weakness, making it appear as though his own decision-making was flawed and arrogant, causing the Spirit Mother's side to misjudge and become careless.

At the same time, he also...

"Chi-chi-chi!"

A sharp cry rang out, and in the pitch-black darkness, amidst the twisted, broken thickets of strange trees, pairs of greenish eyes opened.

"High Envoy, be careful!"

Lou Miyue became nervous at once, looking as if she hadn't expected them to return so quickly. "It's the Black-Haired Ghost-Faced Monkeys, a very dangerous large group of demonic beasts. The ordinary individuals are at the Golden Core stage, the leaders are at the Nascent Soul stage. According to some past records, the Monkey King should be at the peak of Nascent Soul, or even a half-step to Spirit Severing!"

She said this, intentionally lowering her voice, as if wary and extremely cautious.

"Chi-chi-chi!"

One by one, the demonic monkeys with pitch-black fur and ferocious, ghost-like faces, hearing and understanding these words, immediately revealed sinister smiles—their mouths stretching to cover half their faces—as if mocking them, while revealing a grim intent to kill.

Regarding this scene of being surrounded by monkeys, Du En appeared indifferent, exceptionally calm and composed.

"High Envoy?"

Lou Miyue couldn't quite fathom his meaning and couldn't help but whisper.

"Hm?"

Du En only emitted a faint echo, looking at her with some confusion.

The attitude was very clear.

I am the High Envoy, after all; does a matter of this level really require me to take action myself?

Then what use are you?!

Thus, his gaze afterward seemed to carry a hint of dissatisfaction.

Lou Miyue: "..."

One could imagine that her inner thoughts at this moment must have been filled with profanity, but as things stood, she had no choice but to bite the bullet.

There was nothing to say about the specific process; as a cultivator, her methods were much like those of the others in the Queguang Sect—simple and plain. She grabbed her weapon and charged into the fray, fighting the monkey swarm that was pouncing on them.

Then, the swarm of several hundred monkeys was, in a short time, turned into headless corpses under the blade of this brave General-Priest.

"Ha—ha—"

Covered in fragrant sweat, panting heavily, her face becoming alluring and dripping with charm—truly a scene to make one drool; even the darkness acted like a veil, half-concealing and half-revealing, adding a touch of eroticism out of thin air.

Regarding this situation, Du En glanced at the fourth-tier Monkey King, which was staring with wide eyes, truly dying with its eyes open, and nodded lightly: "It seems it is not a half-step to Spirit Severing; you are."

"High Envoy, you flatter me..."

"Do you want to sever the spirit?"

"..."

Du En's single question, seemingly ordinary, hid danger, making Lou Miyue fall silent, her eyes becoming obscure for a moment.

Spirit Severing.

It was the name of a realm.

It could also be used as a verb.

To transform into a god, to ascend to a divine throne—that is blasphemy!

In a sect like the Queguang Sect that truly had "gods," if she dared to answer, she would only be branded with such a title; it was a bottom line that could not be crossed. Once one accidentally crossed the line, the fate of the Great Priest was a warning from the past!

Therefore, she could only remain silent.

Regarding this, Du En calmly withdrew his gaze and casually stowed her spoils into his storage bag.

Although they were of no use to him, he could toss them to Meng Changqing upon returning, which would show that he still kept the Li-Shen Faction in mind.

As for whether the previous incident would repeat itself, that would depend on the situation; last time, it was just a coincidence that he needed to increase his bargaining chips. After finishing this, Du En strolled forward slowly.

Since he had already opened the door, he would also collect any Essence Steel Stones he saw that were of decent quality and not affected by evil nature; it was essentially picking them up for free.

Such a pretentious and mysterious posture made Lou Miyue grit her teeth in secret, yet she still had to force her exhausted body to step forward and keep up.

Gradually, the twisted trees were no longer visible, and the pervasive evil nature became so faint it could no longer be felt; what appeared before them was pure darkness, a darkness so deep Du En could not see the bottom at a glance.

Floating Stone Abyssal Chasm!

As the name implied, it was a bottomless abyssal chasm with stones of various sizes floating above it—some as large as small hills, others only the size of a fist—fixed and drifting at different heights under the lift of an unknown force.

Although the bottom of the chasm was too deep to be seen, these stones were covered in countless piled-up skeletons, mostly of demonic beasts, with some human ones as well.

When he reached out his hand again, he could feel a powerful gravity that was completely different, even opposite, to that of the floating stones!

Du En withdrew his hand and his gaze from the bottom, then looked upward to see the equally distant, empty, and dark space.

This abyssal chasm was like a gap that had abruptly appeared in the earth; although the space above was extremely high, there was a distance to it, and Du En could see the thick, sealed lid two thousand miles away at a glance.

In other words, they had walked out of an opening on one side of the chasm and appeared on the side wall within the chasm, near the top.

"This is the natural barrier that blocks the demonic beasts; if it didn't exist, the central camp might never have been established at all."

Looking at this abyssal chasm that seemed like a great work of heaven and earth, naturally carved out, Lou Miyue's tone became reverent, appearing rarely sincere and earnest.

She truly thought so.

Du En glanced again at the countless skeletons piled on the stones, some very obvious and others faint.

This situation was indeed the result of accumulation over a long period, and this chasm was indeed a fortress wall hindering the mass invasion of demonic beasts!

He said nothing, ignoring Lou Miyue behind him who might be unable to cross the chasm due to fatigue, and lightly carried the small stone statue, jumping from stone to stone as he continued to advance.

The spatial fulcrum was still further ahead, and wanting to resolve the demonic disaster Lou Miyue spoke of clearly required crossing this chasm.

At the same time, already possessing the consummate Spirit-Seeking Technique, he naturally knew from his overlooking view as soon as he arrived that the fifth-grade Essence Steel Stone vein was on this side of the chasm, right next to the Desolate Separation Zone.

This was actually not too strange, after all, Luo Heng still had to use this to design the Spirit Mother.

It was just that something felt off...

Du En looked ahead, his pace slightly quickening.

The wind was howling and the gravity was heavy; even a Golden Core stage cultivator would need to expend great effort to cross safely.

For him, naturally, there was no impact.

For Lou Miyue, of course, there would be no problem either.

She appeared unexpectedly relaxed as she followed closely behind, and when Du En intentionally glanced back, she even smiled lightly.

Her attitude had clearly changed.

She was no longer overly concealing herself.

It seemed the root of everything lay on the opposite side, the other shore! Very quickly, they crossed the chasm one after another.

On this side, there were various cave entrances; the remnants of demonic power were sometimes indistinct and sometimes obvious. One of them was the Black-Haired Ghost-Faced Monkey they had passed not long ago; looking closely, one could still see that their pace at the time had been hurried and chaotic.

Lou Miyue did not stop, choosing not the cave entrance used by the Black-Haired Ghost-Faced Monkey, but heading toward another one.

Du En followed, entered it, and hurried forward, then it suddenly opened up, and a man-made cavity appeared before their eyes.

It was actually a ruined camp!

He stopped immediately, appearing to scrutinize and observe his surroundings, his gaze flicking toward Lou Miyue, exerting invisible pressure on her.

"The High Envoy should know, right?"

Lou Miyue chose to counter-question at this moment, then feigned surprise, "After all, you are the High Envoy!"

"Hm?"

Seeing that she was being ungrateful, Du En immediately put on the airs of a High Envoy, instantly releasing a portion of his Primordial Spirit to intimidate her, making her understand that a Half-Step Spirit Severing was only a half-step, and in front of a true Spirit Severing great cultivator, there was no substantial difference from a Nascent Soul perfection.

"High Envoy, spare me! High Envoy, spare me!"

Lou Miyue seemed to have only just realized that regardless of whether Du En's status as High Envoy was genuine, in this place far from the Qu-Guang Sect and far from the Spirit Mother, if he really wanted to kill her, no one from over there would come to stop him.

Thus, she was greatly terrified and returned to her previous respectful posture.

Du En appeared satisfied, withdrew his intimidation, and signaled for her to explain the situation of this camp.

"It was the sect, or rather the Sect Master, who had long intended to use the power of demonic beasts for his own purposes, so he searched everywhere for methods and finally found a way to combine humans and demons, hence establishing this outpost camp here."

Outpost camp.

This term appearing here, while very logical, still made Du En think of True Lord Huiqing, and he couldn't help but suspiciously speculate whether the Nanmo Outpost Camp he had once served in was proposed by that person.

He remained calm, and Lou Miyue, unaware of these inside details, just continued to speak on her own.

"The result was very regrettable; after various experiments, it was discovered that the method had many drawbacks, and in the end, most of them lost control and went berserk. Moreover, they were powerful and became difficult to eradicate, even gradually becoming the main force in the demonic disaster."

Speaking of this, she gave a bitter smile and sighed quite a bit.

Du En, however, began to stop concealing things and spoke bluntly: "That shouldn't be right. Normally speaking, it should be that they found a way to use demonic beasts, which is why there is the current Holy Sect Army. After all, those are soldiers created through a way of combining humans and demonic beasts, only using Spirit Paste as a carrier in the middle."

"That is also correct, so I said it was the Sect Master's intention; he was not satisfied with those initial results and continued to push for experiments to remove the Spirit Paste."

As she spoke, Lou Miyue paused, staring at Du En somewhat boldly, enunciating each word: "The superficial excuse is that one cannot squander the Spirit Mother's grace; that is an act of great disrespect."

Regrettably, Du En returned to his initial state of being unreadable; the fleeting arrogance he had shown just a moment ago was like a flower in a mirror.

Lou Miyue frowned in secret, feeling somewhat insecure due to his repeated changes.

But things had reached this point, and she could only continue.

Thus, following her previous tone, she continued with a sharp shift in her words: "The reason I hurriedly begged for your mercy to take action this time is because, during recent investigations, it was discovered that a new Great Demon seems to have appeared among the original experimental subjects!"

"Luo Heng wants me to take action and help him clean up his mess?"

"Yes, that is the Sect Master's order; he told me to find a way to bring you here."

"Audacious!"

Du En once again revealed the arrogant attitude of a third-rate character, his voice and expression severe, pressing down with intimidation.

(End of chapter)