‘Hey Bob, can you tell me why this shitty thing always stops working when I really need to? This would be a lot easier if I could see where everyone is located.’

‘Unable to answer, insufficient date.’

‘Yeah, sure at least keep the scanners running and tell me if you detect anyone from the sect, even if it’s just a regular foot soldier.’

‘Affirmative.’

‘If I haven’t found anyone by now, then maybe they are all at one main location?’

Zhang Dong flew through the barrage of trees while trying to find his sect members. For one reason or another his faction window wasn’t working correctly. Things like the location of his troops were giving him errors and he could not even pinpoint where his wife was. Usually, he would be able to instantly teleport to her side but even the rings that connected the two weren’t functioning.

“This makes no sense, is it only allowing larger-scale teleportations?”

Something wasn’t adding up, he was able to use the system to get to the golden palace but not to anywhere else. It was like a setting that was limiting his selection just to make things harder. Was the Overseer watching from the shadows and interfering with the scenario? Without all these strange traps his people should have been able to use the stronghold to invade this formation.

“Or is there some program running in the background to artificially equal everything out? Realistically speaking, Long Qing should not have been able to defeat me. That sword wasn’t there when I came to the city.”

Zhang Dong strained his brain to try and recall everything that transpired when he visited the capital city. Long Qing back there never used a sword like the one he had now. Could it be something hidden away in their treasury or was it manifested to equal things out? As it stood, he was above everyone when it came to cultivation might. The quasi-immortal weapon shifted things in the favor of his enemy.

‘Could the last boss be given a boost if things play out too easily for our hero?’

That was a possibility but this was not the time to speculate. What he needed to do was to get to his people and get them back to the golden fortress. After enough people were gathered then the renovation could progress and with his presence within the ship, he hoped to defend against whatever destroyed the main generator battery.

‘Now where could they be, considering I’m up against the bastards from the Long Clan, they will probably use things that don’t involve them directly in the conflict.’

Ever since this conflict started it became apparent that the Long Clan didn’t like to get their hands dirty. Within this space was something that they had control of and they could decide on the tactics against trespassers. Would they risk their own lives by engaging the people trapped here? This was not very likely, instead, they probably had other ways like traps and beasts to do it for them.

Just as he had assumed, soon a few life signals started popping up. They didn’t belong to his people but to spirit beasts instead. There was a herd of cat-like creatures that looked like tigers with horns on their foreheads. Their fur was mostly white with bluish spots that fell in line with the Azure esthetic.

‘Those are some powerful fire energies, those things are radiating…’

There were thousands of these monsters running around and many of them were of the nascent soul level of strength. On thing was strange, all of them were running in just one direction as if they were chasing after something. With his system being blocked and his senses not able to pinpoint the location of his people, perhaps this was a clue.

‘I should follow these beasts, they might take me to my people.’

He had sunk into the shadows of the many trees that were inside this jungle. It was impossible for these beasts to find him as he didn’t produce a smell their enhanced noses could pick up on. The whole spectacle reminded him of the pocket dimension in the ocean. There after he triggered the main trap a swarm of monsters attacked him. They were able to track his exact location and this could be similar to that time. Thus he followed after them while pushing himself to the forefront where the leader of the pack was outrunning everyone else.

‘It’s big, at least twenty-five meters in height…’

These beasts seemed to grow to large proportions the stronger they became. The leader made all the other beasts look like little kittens. Most of them were around the three-meter mark when it came to height but there were also some that were close to twenty.

‘Should I just book it?’

Zhang Dong started getting stressed. This monster was quite strong, to the point that it would even give Huo Qiang the second strongest of his sect some trouble. All these beasts were sprinting in one direction which he could just focus on. It was possible that his people were already under siege by some other creatures. His top speed was above this and in a situation where a second could save even one person from dying, it was worth risking it.

The large tiger creatures didn’t notice him as they seemed to be occupied with running in one direction. It gave him ample time to quickly use the shadows to travel to the leader and wait for a good opportunity for a strike. His shadowy form didn’t allow him to utilize his full speed and when he performed his attack his position would quickly become known. Everything needed to be done quickly and with no mistakes if he wished to defeat this monster.

His body which was covered in shades blurred forward as he left his hiding place. In his right hand, he held a new sword that quickly went into motion. A blade of golden light was created with a combination of newly gained swordsmanship enlightenment and electrical might. The huge beast glanced down quickly but it was already too late when it realized. Its head went flying through the air as a massive surge of energy appeared from under it.

‘My fight with Long Qing made me a bit stronger…’

This beast was at the level of an advanced great circle nascent soul master. If released into the Empire it would be able to probably destroy a medium-sized sect along with all its masters. Its skin, body, claws, and leather would be too thick to be pierced or slashed by conventional means. Yet, such a monster easily lost its life to his strike which was reaching the limitations of this world and his own body.

The head was flying through the air and the monster’s huge body was collapsing. Yet, the other creatures from the pack didn’t even react to losing their leader. Instead, they all focused their gazes at the human that had done the deed. All of them roared at the same time which even sent shivers to run down his spine. There was no fear, only maddened rage as they threw themselves in his direction.

Zhang Dong didn’t have time to play around with these beasts, taking out their pack leader was supposed to stop their approach. After this plan had failed he just turned around and used his superior cultivation to get out of here. His power was still limited and wasting too much of it could prove deadly.

‘They shouldn’t be able to keep up with me anyway…’

A tactical retreat was initiated as he just flew up and out of their range. Even though these beasts were strong, they were incapable of maintaining themselves in the air. Some of the larger ones could jump quite high but after a few dodges, he started gaining some distance. His trip soon continued and with time he widened the gap even further to the point of not being able to see his pursuers.

‘Those creatures, they looked familiar… where did I see them before?’

During his trip, something started bothering him. This whole place had some type of nostalgic vibe that he couldn’t really pinpoint. With doubts in his mind, he continued further where he finally discovered a large structure in the distance. The old memories rushed back into his mind the moment he saw it as it reminded him of a very early time of his life.

‘It looks like that stronghold. Wait, didn’t they fight four beasts during that trial? There was a large white tiger… a turtle, a phoenix, and a snake…’

It all started coming back to him as he noticed a group of beasts sieging the large fortress in the distance. Many serpents were attacking with a huge one trying to constrict the walls from all sides. His people were manning the walls where large spirit cannons were placed. It all looked similar to the tower defense trial in the first expedition the Zhang Clan had to participate in.

‘Why would the Long Clan have something like this…’

He asked himself the question but soon realized that there wasn’t really any time to lose. The swarm of tiger beasts would reach this place soon and they were not the only ones. In the distance, he could see a black cloud but when using his enhanced vision to look closer he noticed a giant azure bird in the front. Around it were many smaller version that looked similar all covered in blue flames.

‘That only leaves out the turtles…’

There was only one direction that they could be coming from, there he only saw a large unsuspecting mountain. However, after his new realization, he paid attention to this rocky formation that seemed to rise up and then back down. It was not a naturally formed mountain nor a hill instead, it was something that was slowly moving towards the fortified castle.

‘Did that person actually recreate this strange area inside that secret ground he made? Was it to prepare me for it?’

Zhang Dong couldn’t be sure but it somehow made sense. His predecessor won it all and could ascend into the immortal realm at any time. He took his time to analyze the world here before finally succumbing to old age and moving on. His connection to the Long Clan was probable which begged the question. Did he have to watch out for something similar to the pride demon that had almost cost him his life, or would these four beasts be the only problem?

‘Not everyone is there… could it have multiple layers of traps and this is only the first one?’

He quickly took off as spiritual energy belonging to his sect members was present. They weren’t all there but at least, this was a start.