Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu left their residence at dawn. The meeting time for the mission was a few of hours away, but they had agreed to eat with Wei and Kuang Jing, and so they met at the cafeteria. The cafeteria for the inner circle worked more like a restaurant as it accepted orders and even sold packed meals, so not only they ate, but also bought some of the latter.

The talk was mostly miscellaneous and as neither Yuan Taoutu nor Wu Guang released what happened during the night, the matter remained hidden. Some points of their mission were nonetheless discussed, but mostly it was about the location of the cemetery. And indeed the location was surprising to not say more, as it was almost near the east coast, where the population was low and lived in small settlements.

"Most probably it's either a communal graveyard or a ruined one from the pre-war epoch" Kuang Jing gave his opinion.

"I would say the second, as in the case of an actively used one, the undead would be discovered right away. Plus the mission would be prioritized" Wu Guang followed.

"I haven't been there, but the location reminds me of the place where the cultivators and soldiers that fought off the beast tide from thirty years ago were buried" Wei added after thinking for some time.

"I thought that the Zhen estate and their villas were located more to the north?" Kuang Jing questioned.

"Indeed, but as the tide came unannounced, the first wave survivors moved to the south to meet with the reinforcements mustered by the powers" Wei explained while restarting his previously paused meal.

"I see. So the fight against the latter waves was around there? Then it's understandable. Battlefield burials are often made without all the rituals, and most of the people related to the buried would not visit them often. Especially as 30 years have passed" Wu Guang concluded.

"Indeed"

"Probably you are right Wu Guang"

Yuan Taotu also agreed to such an explanation with a silent nod.

"In any case, we will see after reaching the place. Does anyone knows the elder in charge?"

"No, but that's normal. The elder is supposed to be a young outer elder that after graduating stayed a few years in the Holy Light Monastery and only returned a couple of months ago"

"Outer elder? It's good that our enemies should be comprised of undead, after all, his strength should hardly be over our own" Wei said.

During the talk, the time had advanced enough for them to start moving towards the meeting point, which was located near the main gate. And so, after paying and receiving their packed meals, the four left the cafeteria.

As they arrived at the meeting point right on time, they found out that there was no outer elder around. Deciding that he could be late, the four decided to wait for a bit. Still, after waiting for a quarter of an hour, nobody appeared. But before they decided on what to do, suddenly an inner elder from the mission hall approached and spoke to them

"Good, you are here. Outer elder Pan can not be present as he was forced to enter seclusion. As for such missions certain skills are needed, it took a bit to find a replacement. The elder in question has notified me that he will go to the location directly as he is not present here, so please proceed towards it by yourselves. Your mission goal is unchanged and so after meeting the elder, you will investigate the cemetery alongside him and protect him if he needs to perform any ritual. Also, the escort part of the mission will remain, but only for the return journey. Understood?"

"Yes" Wu Guang as the leader answered and after confirming that there was nothing else, motioned for the team to move out.

Thankfully the mission scroll that Wu Guang obtained when accepting contained an approximate map of the location, so reaching it would not be an issue. Finding the elder could be, but as the latter said that he will meet them on-site, the elder should have an idea of how to do it.

Exiting through the main gate and taking the road that would let them move east, the team set out. The first third or so of the 150-mile journey was easy and safe as they would follow the main road and so they rushed at full speed. After an hour they had already reached the point from where they would take a smaller and less transited road, but it was still considered pretty safe as several big towns were connected to it. And so, they could still move speedily, albeit paying more attention to their surroundings.

For about 70 miles they traveled like this and it took them around two hours as obviously reacting at full speed was far harder, in vie of which, they moved at half of theirs maximum.

As for the last 30 miles, the road was basically inexistent. It was an earthen track that was mostly overgrown with grass and the surrounding forest had already started advancing on it.

Such a road was the perfect place to be ambushed by bandits that preferred to hide nearby and use it to move towards the main trade roads or what was even more possible, ambushed by some beast living in the forest.

Obviously, their speed was dropped more and the team assumed a classic rhomboid formation. Yuan Taoutu and Wei as middle-close range weapon users took the sides, while Kuang Jing assumed the rear. Wu Guang was left as the point, which was both because of his senses being the strongest and to have time to react move in between the rest to act as the leader and archer in case of noticing something in front.

Thankfully they arrived at the outskirts of the zone marked in the scroll without any incidents. The full journey had taken them around six hours and so the sun was still up, so there was not much danger from entering it. The cemetery itself was already visible and indeed as they had guessed, it was most probably one built over a battlefield. This could be seen from the fact that no wall was circling it and all of the graves had simple tombstones, without the tombs, steles, and mausoleums that would be always mixed into a normal one but the wealthier and noble families.

And as to ease their worries of not being able to locate the elder, Wu Guang noticed and pointed the rest towards a rock on which an elder dressed in the blue hue of the inner circle was sitting in meditation. The latter seemingly noticed they approach before they had seen him, as in response to Wu Guang pointing, the elder stood up.

The four quickly approached and greeted the elder. Wu Guang also excused them for being tardy.

"No need. You took six hours to reach the destination and the time is perfect. Seems that you took the needed precautions on each part of the road. You did not get overcautious and advanced with the best possible speed. I have found that half of the graves show signs of being empty. We will wait until sunset and then enter the graveyard. Somewhere in the center of it, we should find the motive. You will guard me while I disrupt or destroy it if needed. You have one hour to rest"

The first thing that Wu Guang and the rest noticed was that the elder's voice was monotonous and almost unnatural. Every phrase was cut at the end. And as the elder faced the graveyard as he spoke and so they could not see that his mouth did not move at all.

Wu Guang intended to answer but found out that the elder had activated some kind of movement technique and had left them standing there.

"Did you see how he left?" he asked

"No"

"..."

"I can swear I did not take my eyes off him..." Kuang Jing was the only one who seemingly noticed the same as Wu Guang, that the elder's movement technique not only moved him somewhere but also did it instantly and without them sensing anything.

"Well... We were instructed, so let's rest. I think we should also eat now as most probably we will only finish the matter deep at night"

Wu Guang thought was sensible and so the four sat down and after making sure that there was nothing nearby, took their meals out. A fire could be nice, but considering they had only one hour and that it could attract unwanted attention, Wu Guang shot down Kuang Jing's idea of starting one.

The meal did not take much time and they neither had much desire to speak in such a place, so for the rest of the hour, they simply meditated. Wu Guang noticed that the qi around them contained an excess of ying, which either was or was related to the reason behind the rise of the undead. The others most probably did not notice it as elemental qi could be identified only by Soul realm and latter realm cultivators, but for Wu Guang, it was not a problem as even only relying on his memories was enough to compare and find it out.

As the hour passed and the sun mostly set down, the elder appeared near them without, and again neither Wu Guang nor the rest sensed how he did.

"Let's move. Follow me. If you notice anything. Do not react until I allow you" The elder said in the same manner as before and without waiting for their reply started walking towards the graveyard at a normal pace.

Wu Guang and the rest followed while assuming a similar formation as before. The only exception being that the point was now the elder, while Wu Guang was the center.