"Old friend, we've landed on an extraordinary continent!" Professor Sam said, his gaze profound and his voice filled with lingering fear. If he hadn't been lucky this time, he would have perished in the forest.
Lin Wencheng's expression was grave. He had listened to the entire account of Sam's adventure team's experience and was equally unsettled. Trees as hard as steel, strange and peculiar flora, and ferocious tigers with wings on their backs that were impervious to blades and spears. All of this proved that this continent was no ordinary place, even 'beyond the syllabus' for Earth.
Lin Wencheng sighed, "When we encountered that sea beast, an octopus larger than a cruise ship, we should have known this new continent was unusual." His heart was heavy. He was already over ninety years old and had long since come to terms with life and death. To see a new continent and various strange creatures before his death was not so bad. However, his grandchildren were still young, the eldest only eighteen. They couldn't perish here with him, an old man. At this moment, Lin Wencheng was filled with regret. He regretted bringing Lin Xue and Lin Zihao, exposing them to such peril.
Sam also understood Lin Wencheng's worries and comforted him, "Old friend, you don't need to worry too much. At least the camp is safe for now, and we haven't encountered any danger." "We've been out of contact for four days. The rescue teams from outside should have entered this sea area by now. I believe they will find us soon and rescue us."
Lin Wencheng nodded slowly. All they could do now was hope for external rescue. Currently, this new continent was extremely dangerous, filled with unknown and powerful monsters. However, in his opinion, although these monsters were terrifying individually, they were not powerful enough to contend with warships. With the most advanced warships today, a single missile would be enough to kill an octopus sea beast. Therefore, Lin Wencheng was not worried about warships encountering trouble; he was only concerned about when the warships would find them.
...
Watching the few survivors return to the camp, Chen Wu and the other two gradually moved away from the camp, maintaining a safe distance. Just now, the three of them had simultaneously released their auras, pressuring the young Ironwing Tigers and finally forcing them to leave. The entire process was carried out without them revealing themselves or their tracks.
"Captain, we've now ascertained their background. They are all mortals. What should be our next move?" Wang Hao asked Chen Wu.
Chen Wu pondered for a moment and then said, "They are all mortals, so it should be much easier to handle. However, we still need to await instructions from the General. We cannot act rashly." He instructed Wang Hao and the other to monitor the camp here while he returned to the military camp to report the news.
Wang Hao patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry, Captain. We will keep a close watch on these people. You go back and report to the General!" Chen Wu nodded. Wang Hao and the other were cultivators, and quite powerful ones at that. Monitoring a group of mortals was incredibly easy. He turned, jumped off the wooden boat, and flew towards the military camp.
Upon returning to the military camp, he directly met General Fan Cheng and General Bai Zhan. Chen Wu bowed his head and said, "Reporting to the Generals, we have made a significant discovery while monitoring the humans from the Endless Sea..." He recounted the entire incident of the adventure team venturing into the Giant King Forest, including how many people died and how they rescued a few survivors.
After listening to Chen Wu's report, Fan Cheng and Bai Zhan had very interesting expressions on their faces. Bai Zhan was initially surprised, then he laughed heartily at Fan Cheng and said, "Hahaha! Fan Cheng, you idiot! Facing a group of mortals without any extraordinary power, you were still so cautious and timid. What a disgrace!"
Fan Cheng's expression was not good, but he remained calm, glancing at Bai Zhan. "Caution is never wrong. Do you think everyone is as reckless as you are?" "If those people possessed extraordinary power, and not a little of it, and you charged at them directly, wouldn't you be throwing your life away?" Saying this, Fan Cheng looked at Chen Wu and frowned, "Are you sure those people are all mortals? Without a shred of extraordinary power?" He found it somewhat suspicious that people from the Endless Sea would come without any extraordinary power.
Chen Wu also found it suspicious, but those people truly lacked extraordinary power. However, he didn't dare to speak too definitively. "Based on our current observations, we can confirm that these people do not possess extraordinary power. But it's not impossible that they are trying to deceive us, using some kind of illusion!"
"Hmph!" Bai Zhan snorted coldly and said, "If this is truly an illusion, then these people are too cold-blooded, not good people. They should be killed!" Fan Cheng agreed wholeheartedly. Sacrificing their companions' lives to perform a so-called illusion? What else could they be but demons? Therefore, these people were most likely ordinary mortals, though there was a small possibility they were a group of villains.
"Generals, what should we do now?" a deputy general asked curiously.
Before Fan Cheng could speak, Bai Zhan interjected. "What else can we do? Of course, we'll bring our troops and capture those people directly, then send them to the Imperial Capital for His Majesty to decide their fate!" Bai Zhan believed that whether they were mortals or demons, capturing them directly was the simplest approach, saving the trouble of probing back and forth and wasting time.
Fan Cheng also agreed with this course of action, but he wanted to be more cautious. "Assemble all the eastern and southern garrisons and prepare to head to the Giant King Forest to capture those humans from the Endless Sea!" "Yes! General!" The deputy general replied firmly and then turned to leave to organize the soldiers.
Seeing Fan Cheng making such a grand display, mobilizing two garrisons, totaling six thousand cultivator soldiers, Bai Zhan remarked, "You're making too much of a fuss. Why use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken? We could just go over ourselves and capture those people." He felt Fan Cheng was overreacting. The humans from the Endless Sea were almost certainly mortals. To deal with a group of mortals, he was mobilizing both garrisons, and judging by Fan Cheng's preparations, it seemed they would even form battle formations. This kind of setup could be used to hunt down a Divine Rope Realm cultivator, yet Fan Cheng was using it against a group of mortals.
Fan Cheng ignored Bai Zhan, but still explained, "When facing the unknown, the best we can do is go all out. We cannot wait until danger strikes to hastily prepare; that will only lead to a miserable end." "Even if we are certain those people are mortals, we cannot be careless. What if there's a Divine Rope Realm cultivator hidden among them?"
Bai Zhan was speechless and could not think of a retort, so he stopped speaking. The military camp immediately sprang into action. All the soldiers orderly formed arrays in the air, arranging themselves into square formations. This was a cultivator army, possessing terrifying combat power! A combined army with battle formation enhancements could almost rival a Divine Rope Realm cultivator!