Chapter 196

It's him!

The moment the dark silhouette appeared, Chen Shicheng saw his features clearly.

It was that very general from Lian Tie Town!

But how did he end up here, and how did he become an altar guard? At the instant Chen Shicheng was stunned, the horse spear, after a slight tremor, directly dodged his outstretched left hand and slammed into his chest.

"Ugh?"

The young general's strike was immensely powerful; the gust of Wind generated by the horse spear even blew down a military tent ten meters away, yet when it struck him, it instantly turned into a soft force, attempting to push him out of the camp's bounds.

"Is this helping you get out?"

Although he didn't know why the general did this, Chen Shicheng clearly couldn't just flee before anything was investigated.

Feeling the massive soft force on his chest, Chen Shicheng's center of gravity dropped, and his right leg thrust sharply into the ground.

"Whoa!"

After carving a long trace, he finally released the force and stood steadily in place.

"You"

The general tucked the horse spear behind his back, furrowed his brows deeply, and looking at the clueless Returnee before him, a blaze of anger rose in his heart, "You don't know any gratitude; you truly think that because you can die and be reborn you can act as you please!"

Hearing that, Chen Shicheng's heart stirred; what does it mean? Could it be, like La Tiao's restriction on resurrection locations with the stomach sac, that there is also a method here to stop players from reviving elsewhere? In that case, this formation looks more like a trap, intending to drive the players to extinction.

However, the general's behavior now was intriguing: despite having a battle formation, he charged alone, and the thrown horse spear deviated in angle; the attack wasn't meant to harm but to push himself out of the camp.

Moreover, the meaning of what he just said was debatable, seeming more like a warning or a hint to himself—could he be on the player's side? Remembering how he had once exhausted himself to foster a friendship with him for the sake of Xiao Mi, Chen Shicheng blinked, and the general who was drawing a bow and preparing to strike was hit by a Universal Rainfall; then he released his dantian, activating the Blood Killing Pearl to emit a wisp of aura.

At first, when he saw Chen Shicheng make a move, the general remained expressionless; after all, his armor was not ordinary, and could not be harmed by a Spell with such low True Essence fluctuation.

But the moment Universal Rainfall fell upon him, his complexion changed instantly, and the subsequent aura of the Blood Killing Pearl left him somewhat stunned; he immediately recognized the identity of the person before him.

"Chen"

He had just uttered a single word when the general immediately shut his mouth, carefully surveyed the surroundings, then spun the horse spear on the ground in a circle and slammed it toward Chen Shicheng.

It seemed as if he intended to put him to death, but amid the rising dust, the horse spear brushed Chen Shicheng's body and struck to the side, the much denser dust fully obscuring both of them.

The others could not see what was happening inside; they only saw countless blade whips flying out of the smoke, slashing everything around into fragments.

And within the dust, the general and Chen Shicheng were earnestly staging a fake fight.

"How did you get here?" The horse spear carved a line on the ground, flinging shards that made the surrounding fences crackle.

"This formation needs its roots cut; how could I possibly not come?" Countless blade whips fluttered arbitrarily, cutting gaps in the airborne dust.

The general quickly struck the ground several times, stirring up dust across the sky again, "I'm guarding this place; you cannot succeed. It would be better to try outside the city; perhaps you could destroy an important node and delay the formation's completion time."

"What do you mean?"

【8】 "I didn't say anything."

"I didn't say anything."

"... Thank you."

Seeing that Chen Shicheng understood his meaning, the general's mouth curled into a smile, lunged fiercely to Chen Shicheng's front, just as at the start, using all his strength to hammer the horse spear at Chen Shicheng's chest, while shouting loudly, "Not good, the enemy is cunning, all soldiers obey, attack!"

"Charge!"

With the general's command, the troops, already prepared with the battle formation, stepped forward in unison, a unified True Essence spreading like a blanket toward Chen Shicheng, but by then he had already caught the general's soft force and retreated out of the camp's bounds.

After taking a deep look at the expressionless general, Chen Shicheng fully activated Compress Earth to an Inch, calmly stepped back one pace, and vanished from everyone's sight.

"General, should we chase after?" Wang Peng jogged up behind the general and asked.

"No need." The general shook his head, "Instruct those below to stay on guard from now on; no more incidents of someone sneaking in tonight are allowed."

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, Chen Shicheng circled the city at length until his True Essence was exhausted, then returned to the private suite of the Rolling Cloud Tower.

After confirming no one followed, he immediately logged off, took out his phone, and dialed Song Bingyuan.

Under normal circumstances, he should use his Zi Shu identity to contact people from Iron Blood Great Wall directly, which would lend some credibility to his words in terms of strength.

But to avoid exposing his real-world identity, he left no real-life contact info; to reach Iron Blood Great Wall he must search for their trace within the game.

Now is the crucial moment for breaking the formation; after arriving in the capital, these people have hidden to avoid detection by orthodox cultivators, so finding them is not easy, and thus one can only rely on Song Bingyuan's successive reports.

Fortunately, there are still three days left before the break formation Task, which should be enough.

After the call connected, a brief dead silence ended, and Song Bingyuan's voice came from the other side.

"What's wrong? Contacting me at this hour?"

"I've discovered some issues regarding the break formation; do you have time now?"

Song Bingyuan glanced at the gazes converging on him in the conference room, gave an apologetic smile, bent and ran outside, "Speak, what's the matter?"

"The capital's altar is likely a trap; the true formation core lies elsewhere," Chen Shicheng got straight to the point, briefly recounting his night raid on the altar.

"Are you sure? Explain in detail."

It's not that Song Bingyuan doesn't believe Chen Shicheng; it's that a player with modest strength claiming to have solo night‑raided the altar and returned unscathed is something no ordinary person would trust.

Moreover, the matter is too serious; he must get a clear answer.

Chen Shicheng paused, then repeated the night's events in the most precise language to avoid any misunderstanding, emphasizing his relationship with the general.

"So you mean, aside from the formation's counteracting reason, you confirmed the altar is a trap through that general?"

"Exactly."

"Are you sure that NPC is reliable? How confident are you?"

"Fifty percent!"

Chen Shicheng didn't dare to state it too definitively, so he gave the most conservative number possible; whether it's a trap or not now rests on Song Bingyuan's judgment.

(End of Chapter)