Chapter 729: Dark Currents Surge

In the afternoon, the Huai River riverbank.

The order to relocate the camp came suddenly, but its execution was extraordinarily swift.

The news of the fishing village's entire population mysteriously disappearing cast a shadow over everyone's hearts.

The temporary campsite settled upon by Xu Da and Tang He was a platform five li southeast of Eagle Beak Ridge.

Though not as good as Haozhou, the terrain is high enough, the view open, sufficient to temporarily avoid the flood.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) stood at the center of the camp, watching the crowd quickly gather.

Women and children carried bundles, able-bodied men shouldered grain sacks and tools; everything proceeded in an orderly manner.

Liu Ji hurried over, his face showing a rare solemnity.

"Leader, just now we measured wind direction and atmospheric pressure; an abnormal energy gradient has appeared in the northeast direction."

"Energy?" Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) keenly caught this modern term.

"In my youth I traveled and saw similar records in the secret archives of the former Song, called 'abnormal terrestrial qi, energy turbulence'."

Liu Ji sped up his speech.

"At this moment, in the northeast, heavenly and earthly energy is being transmitted here in an abnormal pattern, at extreme speed, certainly not a natural weather phenomenon."

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) immediately lifted his head.

The sky was indeed changing.

The clouds in the northeast showed an abnormal gray-blue hue, with edges unusually clear, as if painted by an invisible hand.

Sunlight passing through that firmament became bleak and icy.

Just then, a frightened horse's whinny came from the edge of the camp.

Chang Yuchun was trying to calm a suddenly frenzied warhorse.

That horse was an old veteran, having followed him in the breakout at Huaiyuan, never retreating amidst blades and arrows.

But now its eyes were bloodshot, its muscles spasming, it desperately strained against the reins backward, as if something invisible and terrifying lay ahead.

"Something's not right!"

Chang Yuchun turned and roared, veins bulging on his forehead.

"This beast smells… the stench of death!"

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) quickly walked over.

When he was still ten steps away from the horse, he felt a faint prickling sensation on his skin.

It wasn't cold; it felt like countless extremely fine needles lightly pricking.

The air was suffused with a faint metallic tang, mixed with something… an ozone-like irritant odor.

"An energy field leak."

That term flashed through his mind.

The physics knowledge from his past life told him that a strong electromagnetic field or radiation leak would produce an ozone-like smell and could cause biological discomfort.

But what lay before him…

"Everyone, speed up!"

He gave the order in a ringing voice, his tone decisive and unequivocal.

"Within two ke, we must completely evacuate the riverbank!"

The order was swiftly relayed.

The crowd began to run.

But just then, a large flock of birds took flight from the treetops east of the camp.

The bird flock fled in panic, yet as they flew past the edge of that gray-blue sky, they collectively exhibited abnormalities.

First, their flight paths became disordered, as if they had struck an invisible wall.

Next, their feathers began to fall out for no reason.

Their bodies twisted in midair, then plummeted straight down.

It was as if a black rain had fallen.

Tang He's face turned pale.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) stared fixedly at that area.

The "pricking sensation" in the air intensified.

He could even see the vegetation ahead, its leaves curling, yellowing, and turning gray-white at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This was neither burning nor frost.

But rather some kind of thorough… energy drain.

"Don't look! Run!"

He shouted sternly.

The last batch of infantry began to withdraw.

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) remained in place until he confirmed that everyone had left the riverbank.

He mounted his horse.

He glanced back at the camp.

Wooden palisades, moats, watchtowers.

And that flag, the Blade-and-Plow Flag, still flying.

"Leader, the flag…" Xu Da began to speak but stopped.

"Leave it."

Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang) turned his horse's head.

Tell everyone, we will come back.

And this flag will always stand here.

Hoofbeats rose.

Twenty horsemen guarded him, galloping swiftly toward the southeastern terrace.

Behind them.

That gray‑blue anomalous energy field finally spread over the riverbank.

The first wooden wall they touched quickly showed fine cracks on its surface.

Gray‑white powder seeped from the cracks, as if accelerated weathering had acted for decades.

The flagpole began to bend and become brittle.

The blade‑plow flag shattered silently in the invisible energy turbulence.

Turning to dust.

At the same moment.

White River Town, deep underground of the Commander of a Thousand Garrison.

This place was originally a cellar for storing weapons, but has now been completely remodeled.

The walls are inlaid with crystals that emit a faint blue glow, forming a complex network.

In the center of the room, a device assembled from black metal and crystals, resembling a giant heart, pulses regularly.

With each pulse, the crystal network on the walls lights up in a cycle.

The black‑robed person stands before the device.

He is no longer the image of a mysterious spellcaster.

He is more like an operator.

His hands quickly tap the crystal panel on the device's surface, adjusting parameters.

On the panel, a constantly refreshing data stream composed of twisted symbols appears.

"The diffusion speed of the energy field in the target area is lower than expected."

His hoarse voice echoes in the cellar.

"Cause?"

"A high‑density cluster of life signs is detected moving southeast… with great speed."

On the panel, a blurry thermal silhouette appears—a squad on the move.

The black‑robed person fixes his gaze on the light point at the front of the squad, where the signal strength is unusually high.

"Variable individual 'Zhu Yue'."

He whispers the name, marked as high priority by the 'Main Covenant'.

"Hala."

"Subordinate present! The Commander of a Thousand, who had been standing bowed in the corner, rushes forward."

"Dispatch the 'Purification Unit' to pursue the moving target to the southeast."

"How many?"

"All of the first sequence."

Hala startles.

"All? The garrison…"

"I'm here." The black‑robed person, without turning back, says, "Carry out the order."

"Yes!"

Hala hurries away.

The black‑robed person continues operating the panel.

He calls up another set of data—the energy‑field diffusion situation toward the Huai River bank.

"Diffusion is impeded…… could there be an unknown interference source?"

He frowns.

His fingers swipe quickly, pulling up more detailed scan data.

On the screen, at the spot where the blade‑plow flag was shattered, a faint but tenacious energy imprint lingers.

Unlike the corrosive nature of dark energy, this is a more ordered, more… stable fluctuation.

"Fortune Momentum imprint?"

Blue light flickers in the black‑robed person's eyes.

"The Chen Dynasty…… has already infiltrated here?"

He immediately opens a comm link.

"Report to the 'Main Covenant': detected residual Chen Dynasty Fortune Momentum imprint, coordinates Huai Xi riverbank."

"Suggest raising the deployment priority of the 'Purification Unit'."

Moments later, the panel displays a new order:

【Approved. Activate second sequence. Target: eliminate the variable, recover the imprint.】

The black‑robed person's mouth curls into a stiff arc.

"As you wish."

Outside White River Town.

The iron door of the cellar entrance bursts open.

One hundred black‑armored soldiers march out in silence.

Their movements were more coordinated than before, steps neat and uniform, like a precise machine.

The blue light in their eyes was steady and icy.

The leading black-armored soldier raised his right hand.

The skin at the center of the palm split open, revealing a crystal embedded in flesh and blood.

The crystal flickered.

All the black-armored soldiers turned their heads simultaneously, facing southeast.

Then, they activated.

One hundred silhouettes coalesced into a stream of dark blue steel.

No shouting, no panting.

Only the neat, heavy sound of footsteps.

And wherever they passed, plants withered rapidly, the soil exuding a bluish-gray mark of death.

Behind them.

On the surface of White River Town's city wall, the azure crystals embedded in the mortar all lit up at once.

Forming a colossal energy network that covered the entire city.

At the network's center, underground at the Thousand Household Office.

The beat of the "Heart" device began to accelerate.

Further north.

Fortified Town.

Atop the highest tower in the city center, likewise covered in crystals and metal structures.

An old man in a gray-blue robe, his face concealed by a breathing mask, stared at the observation panel before him.

On the panel, two bands of light representing the spreading energy field extended southward.

One originated from White River Town.

The other came from the Huai River bank.

"Senior Brother is too impatient..."

The old man's voice, filtered through the mask, became mechanical and cold.

"Forcibly overclocking the 'Energy Diffuser' will shorten the lifespan of the core crystal."

"But that variable..."

He called up the thermal imaging profile of Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang).

"It is indeed worth investing more resources."

He pressed the communication button.

"Order the outpost at Happy Peak Pass to advance fifty li to the south."

"Along the way, carry out standard purification procedures on all settlements."

"I will expand the yū energy coverage to the north bank of the Huai River within ten days."

"Received." came a emotionless reply from the communicator.

The old man leaned back in his chair.

On the observation panel, the red dots representing the black-armored troop were rapidly approaching the green dots representing the migrating convoy.

"Run, variable."

He muttered under his breath.

"Let's see whether your flesh and blood will give out first..."

"... or my purification unit."

Meanwhile,

In Xijing, beneath the Observation Platform,

Zhao Lao Nian stared at the frantically jumping needle on the bronze instrument, sweat pouring down like rain.

"Sir! Massive yū energy readings are surging in the Huai Xi direction!"

"Two sources! White River Town and the Huai River bank!"

"Contamination spreading speed... three zhang per second! And still accelerating!"

"Calculating target direction!"

"Southeast direction! They're pursuing... pursuing Zhu Yue's signal!"

Zhao Lao Nian whirled around.

"Report to Your Majesty at once! At once!"

The young artisan sprinted off.

Zhao Lao Nian lunged to the control console, his trembling fingers entering a string of commands.

The energy flow in the pinhole channel had already become chaotic.

But he forcibly activated the backup observation array.

On the screen, he barely captured a fragment of data:

——Yū energy biological units: 100+.

——Movement speed: forty li per hour.

——Estimated contact time: six to eight hours.

——Estimated survival probability: under 10%.

"Damn it..."

Zhao Lao Nian slammed a fist onto the control console.

He looked toward the massive device behind him that was slowly charging, preparing for the next long-range bestowal.

The energy reserves are enough for only a brief communication.

But the signal in the Lord's plan still needs two days to be ready.

There's no time.

Unless...

A flash of resolve crossed his eyes.

"Come here!"

"Here!"

"Hook me up to the emergency power! All of it!"

"Sir, that is the Lord's long-range bestowal..."

"Use it now!" Zhao Lao Nian roared.

"I will force open a three-second pinhole!"

"Send Zhu Yue a final warning——"

"Run!"

"Don't look back!"

"Keep heading south!"