Chapter 450: First Casualty (1/2)
After Miaomiao, Kang Yan, Ma Xingjuan, and other girls had gathered in Miaomiao's space to discuss alternate world stories, his sleeping time became longer.
Each day, Miaomiao spent 16 hours sleeping like a cat. His women also did the same.
Nobody knew why they were so lazy since they could have spent time cultivating instead of resting like commoners. Only those who were closed with Miaomiao knew the truth.
While Miaomiao and the yin slaves focused on cultivating and dual-cultivating in the Isolation Training Space, they never forgot about the city expansion campaign.
As the population continued to grow due to the influx of immigrants, Miaomiao entrusted Sun Wentai, Liu Guang, and the Zhu Clan with an important task.
He ordered them to mobilize their forces and conquer the southwest region of the continent!
Sun Wentai brought his division disciples, subordinates, and clansmen to board the flying island, which Miaomiao had returned to the clan lord. The Zhu clanswomen also tagged along to join this military campaign to prove their loyalty to Miaomiao.
As for Liu Guang, she led the man-eating termites from the southern plain to the southwest region on foot. The armies of a million giant bugs screeched in delight and marched south.
Emerald Hopea wasn't free either. After Liu Guang had departed, Miaomiao ordered her to expand east. She commanded ents and dryads to Mount Hua and the southern area of Red Sun City, hoping to merge their forces with Dian Wei's spiderling armies.
Zhao Bao and Zhang Jue also deployed their monks to spread their religion and culture in the Chicken Ann City of Liu Xuande. As for the Xuan City, Miaomiao deemed it as a forbidden area.
Brocell was still lurking in that city. It was not the right time to provoke the arms dealer.
Meanwhile, Ma Moxi, who had been deployed to the east, finally encountered a problem.
This would mark the first setback of Ten Paths of Nirvana Sect.
...
The captain of the espionage division, Ma Moxi, had undertaken a task from Miaomiao – His mission was to search for Huang Hansheng's whereabouts and Liu Bian's new headquarters.
The former assassin wasn't dispatched alone. He brought his friends over. By his side, Wang Yun, Zhang Liao, and Qu Yu acted as Ma Moxi's assistants.
As all of them were nascent soul cultivators, they were capable to act independently. The party traveled across the continent and hid in the ruined central plain, which had been destroyed by the Oni Force.
Currently, the south of the central plain was occupied by Yuan Shu while the rest was seized by the deserters of the Oni Force. Ma Moxi's group hid their presence, disguising themselves as commoners, and stayed in Yuan Shu's area.
The gang assembled at an abandoned brick building. While being invisible to naked eyes, they sent their telepathic voice to communicate.
Ma Moxi drew a map on the dirt floor with his finger.
”We've completely mapped this sector, and we've located Liu Biao and Huang Hansheng's locations. Our Lord also informed me that he would launch a campaign against the southwest region soon. He summoned us home.”
The men nodded in agreement as they had been hiding for months. It was about time that they could return and manage their divisions and their disciples.
”Should we head directly home?” Asked Zhang Liao.
”We should take advantage of our ally forces at the southern region. From the intel, Senior Dian Wei's subordinates have been governing that area and isolating Zhang Ren's Army. We can use her territory while we avoid potential pursuers.”
Wang Yun had another idea, ”Want me to shadow teleport everyone to Xiangyang?”
”If you can, please do. We don't want to run into Huang Hansheng on our way home.”
All men came to an agreement.
Wang Yan circulated his Shadow Element Qi and activated his skill, Shadow Teleportation. His shadow expanded and covered everybody in the building.
But before their bodies could sink into the shadow, chaotic screams and commotion interrupted Wang Yun's concentration.
”MONSTERS!!”
”GRANDPA!! HELP!”
A loud dog growl was audible among the random noises. Moreover, Ma Moxi and all nascent soul experts could sense an ominous aura of unknown creatures.
They were neither beasts nor demons. They had four legs, a large wolf-like jaw, sharp fangs, and a large physique like a grown tiger. However, they had four eyes, long claws, a barbed tail, and several snakes as their tongues. The fur on their back leaked dark flame, which was the characteristic of Yin Flame from the Dual Flame technique.
Wang Yun, Zhang Liao, and Qu Yi were puzzled as they had never seen these creatures before. They frowned and hesitated if they should help the local population of Yuan Shu.
Ma Moxi acted first. He exited the shadow teleportation range and rushed to the nearest house, where he had made friends with a little girl there.
The former assassin confronted the unknown creature. Only when he could see the monster personally, he could gauge its strength and cultivation level.
Surprisingly, it had a similar energy volume as an average nascent soul cultivator. However, they couldn't use their nascent soul or domain power.
KYAAAAK
The large wolf monster jumped at the grandfather of the little friend of Ma Moxi.
Not caring about the consequences of his action, Ma Moxi stood between the wolf and the grandpa. He grabbed the large jaw and tore it apart with his bare hands.
The monster without a jaw whimpered and shrunk back. Yet, its eyes showed hostility and hatred toward Ma Moxi.
The protagonist vanished and appeared at the side of the wolf. Then, the Basilisk King Dagger was plunged into the stomach.
Ma Moxi swiftly gauged out the intestines and heart of the monster in one swing!
The creature went down, but the threat wasn't over.
The Yin Flame suddenly gathered into the monster's heart in Ma Moxi's hands. Then, it shone.
Ma Moxi widened his eyes and vanished along with the heart. He shuttled to the sky while he was in his ethereal form.
BOOM
The heart exploded, creating a large mushroom flame in the sky.