Chapter 1672: General Ai He

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Using the power of the sealed space, Zhang Xuan concealed himself and flew forward swiftly.

Before long, the barracks of the Alien Spirit Tribe came into view.

He paused, and with a series of crisp cracks from his bones, his body elongated by a foot, his features altered, and he had disguised himself as an Alien Spirit tribesman.

His aura was not as pure as that of King Qing Ye, but rather similar to that of an ordinary soldier.

After doing this, he landed on the ground, skirted past rows of soldiers, found a lone Alien Spirit tribesman, and lightly tapped with his finger.

Pfft!

Silently killing him, he stored the corpse in his storage ring.

In a short while, he had disguised himself to look exactly like the other, even swapping clothes.

Revealing his form, Zhang Xuan, clad in armor and holding a long spear, slowly walked toward the rear of the main camp.

The Alien Spirit Tribe's fortifications were meticulously crafted, and the various formations clearly showed the hand of a master. Fortunately, Xing Jian Sheng had not led a charge; otherwise, caught in these formations, even with their bloodline-boosted combat prowess, the Zhang Clan disciples would have suffered at least half casualties.

“These formations are somewhat different from those of the Formation Master Guild, built around Alien Spirit script as the core. Entering them, one would be assaulted by killing intent, causing mental confusion…”

Carefully observing each formation, Zhang Xuan remained inwardly vigilant.

He had encountered such formations during his first descent into the underground cavern, but those were crude in comparison—the difference was vast.

Even a peak Saint Realm Nine expert suddenly caught in these would be stunned, let alone those of lower cultivation.

Yet the Alien Spirit tribesmen were unaffected.

As he advanced, he deduced the structure of the formations and the locations of their cores, subtly infusing his true energy into them, but he did not rush to destroy them.

He was here to gather intelligence; tampering with the formations would easily expose him, the gain not worth the loss.

The weakest of these Alien Spirit tribesmen were at Saint Realm Three, the strong ones even at Saint Realm Nine. As for Great Saint level beings, they might be deeper inside and had not yet been spotted.

“Compared to this, that so-called Qing Tian lineage is far too inferior…”

Zhang Xuan couldn't help shaking his head.

The sovereign of the Qing Tian lineage was only around Saint Realm Six, the Domain Realm, and several of their kings had not even reached the Primordial Spirit Realm. Compared to these, they were truly lacking.

It seemed that within the Alien Spirit Tribe, just like the Empire Alliance and Kingdom Alliance, the title 'king' could signify vastly different levels of power.

Unfortunately, the Fiend was still unconscious; otherwise, having fused with the sternum, his memories would have recovered considerably, and Zhang Xuan could have inquired about the Alien Spirit Tribe in detail to prepare defenses in advance.

“Your duty is to patrol and check for hidden dangers. What are you doing here?”

As he walked forward, a reprimanding voice suddenly rang out. He quickly turned and saw an Alien Spirit tribesman in black armor approaching, a frown of displeasure on his face.

This fellow was at Saint Realm Eight, clearly a mid-level officer.

He spoke pure Alien Spirit language, which Zhang Xuan had learned during his first visit to the underground palace; otherwise, he could not have tricked King Jin Ye and King Qing Ye into killing each other.

“I just finished my shift and was told to rest,” Zhang Xuan quickly saluted and said.

When he arrived, he had seen a group changing shifts; otherwise, there would have been no chance to catch a lone Alien Spirit tribesman.

“Don't rush to rest. Come with me; I have something for you to do.”

The black-armored Alien Spirit tribesman snorted and waved his hand.

“Yes!” Knowing this was not the time to be exposed, Zhang Xuan dared not refuse and followed closely behind him.

After conscripting him, the black-armored Alien Spirit tribesman gathered over a dozen others, all similar to the one Zhang Xuan had impersonated—around Saint Realm Three, the lowest rank of soldiers.

“What does General Ai He want us for?”

Following behind, one Alien Spirit soldier could no longer hold back and quietly asked.

“I don't know either. Probably to build some kind of fortification,” another shook his head and replied.

“Build fortifications? Aren't they already finished?”

“Can't figure it out. Whatever the general orders, just do it. Don't ask too many questions or talk too much, or you'll die without knowing how!” The second soldier snorted and fell silent.

“This fellow is called General Ai He?” Zhang Xuan mentally noted the name.

Since the other hadn't used any martial techniques, he couldn't tell exactly who he was. For now, he'd remember the name to avoid being completely in the dark.

“Halt!”

After walking for a while, they arrived before a peculiar building. The black-armored General Ai He waved his hand and pushed open the door, entering first.

Inside the room was empty, save for a few scattered large chests.

Each was over a man's height, arranged in a seemingly regular pattern, about ten meters apart. Zhang Xuan glanced at them; they were neither formations nor seals, with no trace of energy fluctuation.

“Move these chests over there!”

General Ai He commanded.

“Move chests?” Zhang Xuan frowned. The other soldiers also seemed baffled.

At their level of cultivation, almost everyone had a spatial ring. With a sweep of their spirit, they could store the chests and take them anywhere… Why summon a group of soldiers to carry them? What was the meaning?

“Move it!”

Seeing the crowd dazed, General Ai He's face darkened: “Whatever order I give, just execute it. You don't need to know why!”

“Yes!”

Not daring to argue, the men approached the chests, each lifting one and heading outside.

The chests were not heavy. Zhang Xuan extended his spiritual sense to see what was inside, but the surface seemed coated with something that blocked his perception.

The Library of Heaven's Path, being separated by the chest, could not detect anything either. He had no choice but to give up and follow the others forward.

“Maintain the original distances between these chests, don't move them!”

Once outside the room, General Ai He turned around.

All were at Saint Realm Three with remarkable memories; they quickly took positions matching the chests' original arrangement.

“Hmm.”

General Ai He looked at their positions and nodded in satisfaction before continuing forward.

Maintaining the distances, they followed closely behind.

“Keeping these chests at fixed distances while moving—what's the point?”

Frowning, Zhang Xuan was puzzled.

If these chests were formation flags or something, maintaining fixed positions would make sense. But these had nothing to do with formation flags—why be so particular?

Most crucially, why couldn't they be stored in spatial rings?

“Hmm?”

Perplexed, he activated his Eye of Insight and carefully looked around. As he did, his brows jumped and his body tensed: “This feeling… it's like entering the Diviner Guild… Are they… obscuring the heavenly secrets?”