Chapter 206: Gorge Ambush

As the saying goes, seeing is believing, hearing is false.

But that day, the Demon Eye saw exactly the opposite.

When the Demon Eye mechanically scanned the snow ahead, a black silhouette appeared in its view.

The figure was enveloped in black aura, its features indistinct.

From the black aura emanating from its body, it resembled a demon clan soldier.

The soldier stepped toward the Demon Eye.

His demeanor was natural, his steps light.

The Demon Eye halted its rotation, and the red scanning beam illuminated the soldier, rendering him completely transparent.

Beep beep, preliminary scan passed, awaiting sample confirmation. Beep beep, preliminary scan passed, awaiting sample confirmation.

Zhang Xingyu hurried to the base of the Demon Eye tower. At that moment, the Demon Eye emitted a strong suction, drawing his aura away.

Beep beep, conducting aura sampling analysis. Beep beep, conducting aura sampling analysis.

Hearing the Demon Eye's prompts, Zhang Xingyu felt not the slightest nervousness.

At this moment, he was a bona fide demon, exuding pure demon qi beyond purity.

Before departing, Zhang Xingyu activated the Creation Technique, converting his Spiritual Aura into demon qi.

This demon qi conversion ability was a chance discovery during his boredom.

The Creation Technique can not only transmute alien primordial qi into Creation qi, but also reverse the process.

It is an incredibly awesome function.

After uncovering this function, Zhang Xingyu entertained a bold idea.

By using the Creation Technique's demon qi conversion, he could masquerade as a demon and operate openly within demon‑controlled territory.

Beep beep, aura detection passed. Beep beep, aura detection passed.

The Demon Eye resumed its rotation, and the scanning beam on Zhang Xingyu shifted away.

Zhang Xingyu exhaled softly and continued toward the Demon Tower.

Reaching the base of the tower, he climbed up agile as a monkey.

Soon after, the Demon Eye was dismantled.

Zhang Xingyu waved downward, signaling that passage was safe.

Captain Whiteface let out a long sigh, and his clenched fist quietly relaxed.

"Advance!"

Captain Whiteface waved lightly, and the white‑clad squad pressed onward.

Crossing the towering ridge, below lay a dark valley.

The valley, called One‑Line Heaven, formed the throat through which the demon vanguard retreated to the rear stronghold.

At the valley's center stood a demon army outpost.

The army braved wind and snow, slipping silently toward the outpost.

Captain Whiteface gestured, and Zhang Xingyu with a few engineers slipped inside.

Inside the outpost, a cluster of bonfires blazed, and several demon soldiers were drunk to the point of stupor.

Zhang Xingyu gently drew the Fire Dragon.

The Fire Dragon transformed into a streak of light that swept through, dismembering all demon soldiers.

The enemy forces were eradicated.

All the camp's troops successfully entered One‑Line Heaven.

Without pausing to catch their breath, they again began constructing a wall under Captain Whiteface's direction.

Zhang Xingyu was in charge of welding the wall's gaps.

He softly activated the spell "Flame Spirit Dance," and flames erupted from his fingertips.

Moments later, the fire coalesced into a beautiful fire phoenix.

"Go!"

With a flick of his fingertips, the fire phoenix flapped its wings, darting back and forth through the wall's gaps.

Its sharp beak emitted streams of fire, instantly melting and fusing the blue stones.

Unexpectedly, the Flame Spirit Dance proved truly effective.

In less than a quarter‑hour, all the wall gaps ahead were fixed.

Zhang Xingyu took a piece of demonic deer meat, skewered it with a Fire Dragon sword, and carefully grilled it over Spiritual Fire.

Soon the meat turned golden, emitting an enticing rich aroma.

Zhang Xingyu sprinkled cumin evenly over the roast.

The meat sizzled on the Spiritual Fire, its fragrance growing ever richer.

Everyone halted their tasks, staring intently at the deer meat on the Spiritual Fire.

After a short while, the meat was done.

Zhang Xingyu produced a bottle of Spirit Liquor, taking a bite of meat followed by a sip of fine wine.

"Munch munch!"

Around them came a chorus of munching and swallowing sounds.

Seeing this, Zhang Xingyu said apologetically, "Sorry about that. Brothers, if anyone has beast meat, I can grill it for you. My cooking is top‑notch."

The group fell silent, drooling.

Sergeant Li, seeing this, whispered to Zhang Xingyu, "Zhang Xingyu, eat quickly. Each of us only gets a monthly allowance of ten low‑grade Spirit Stones. The stones are all used for cultivation, so where would we have money to buy beast meat?"

I see!

Zhang Xingyu scratched his head embarrassedly.

He cut the leftover roasted meat into small pieces and gave each person working on the wall a piece.

Li Squad Leader took the roasted meat but refused to eat it for a long time.

Zhang Xingyu found this a bit strange.

"Li Squad Leader, why aren't you eating? Could it be you think it's not tasty?"

Li Squad Leader shook his head.

"Such fragrant spirit beast roasted meat—I've never seen it before. I want to keep it a while longer to smell its fragrance."

Zhang Xingyu smiled and said nothing more.

He had also experienced days of poverty.

He understood that not everyone had struck it rich like him and could eat whatever they wanted.

It seemed that, in front of his comrades, he ought to keep a lower profile from now on.

Otherwise, he would be eating roasted meat while others ate air—it would be strange not to be hated by everyone.

After a small piece of spirit beast roasted meat was swallowed, everyone's strength seemed to increase a bit, and the speed of building the wall also quickened considerably.

By midnight, three defense lines had already been erected in the canyon.

On each defense line stood a wall five meters thick and twenty meters high.

Each wall was made of blue-green law bricks, with a rune carved on each brick.

Law cannons were mounted on top of the walls, their golden barrels gleaming in the snowlight.

The defense line had been taken over by the Shooting Company, and the Engineer Company had withdrawn to the rear to rest.

The soldiers leaned together in twos and threes to doze.

Zhang Xingyu sat on the snow for a while, then stood up.

The snow was too cold, he wasn't very tired, and he simply couldn't sleep.

After thinking, he took out a recording jade slip from his bosom.

The jade slip was given by Ouyang Lanlan.

In the jade slip, Ouyang Lanlan detailed the simplified "Zhou Tian Star Dipper Grand Formation" she had refined for Zhang Xingyu.

Ouyang Lanlan said the "Zhou Tian Star Dipper Grand Formation" was profoundly obscure; she and the elites of the Formation Battalion, including Qin Rushuang, had researched it for months and only grasped its basics.

Based on their research over those months, they jointly refined a set of the simplified "Zhou Tian Star Dipper Grand Formation".

Although it was a simplified version, the power of this formation remained astonishing.

However, this formation currently has a fatal flaw: it consumes too many spirit stones.

Merely activating this simplified "Zhou Tian Star Dipper Grand Formation" requires the consumption of nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine high-grade spirit stones.

Moreover, those nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine high-grade spirit stones can only sustain the formation's operation for a quarter of an hour.

If one wishes to keep the formation running, the spirit stones must be replaced every quarter hour.

Seeing the explanation of the formation, Zhang Xingyu felt his head swell.

What kind of formation is this? It's basically a gold-devouring giant beast.

Better to let the formation stay in the storage bag.

This thing is too expensive to use.