A staff of about a meter in height shimmered, seemingly without substance, merely an illusory shadow. However, the staff’s handle was firmly planted in the ground, creating a small pit.

Atop the staff, a white gem radiated a dense light.

Within this small cavern, there were two black-clothed night watchmen and a four-person rookie team in white camouflage.

Of course, within this team, one young man was no rookie.

That was the ever-smiling Hai Tianqing.

The cave wasn't large, roughly thirty square meters in an irregular circle. Three tunnels branched out to the west, southeast, and northeast, each guarded by two black-clothed night watchmen and Li Weiyi.

One night watchman shouted, "Let's switch. There's a group of White Ghouls here; I'll go fight the mercenaries over there."

"No need, I'll go," Hai Tianqing said, quickly returning to Li Weiyi's side, hearing the sounds of mud snakes striking Li Weiyi's black shield.

The battle didn't seem to drag on for too long. In just a few exchanges, Xia Yan was seriously injured.

Among her peers, she was considered outstanding.

But facing a group of mercenaries, her strength was still lacking.

For her, this wasn't even a battle of the same level.

The mercenary team seemed to understand how to exploit their advantages. The next moment, several mud snakes suddenly burst out from the central part of the cave.

They didn't even need to charge in; they could tear the team apart from within.

Fortunately, no one in the attacking mercenary team seemed to possess the Gold-Grade Star Technique *Mudflow River*.

Otherwise, this team would have been wiped out.

The home-field advantage was simply too obvious.

"Teacher Hai, retreat," Han Jiangxue said softly, leaning against the wall and reaching the edge of the tunnel.

"Hm?" Hai Tianqing, covered in a strange light, was tearing apart an incoming mud snake. He was about to rush into the tunnel to fight, but Han Jiangxue's words abruptly stopped him.

"Feign injury, retreat to their blind spot," Han Jiangxue continued, turning to look at Xia Yan. "Crawl towards me."

Hai Tianqing backed away. A mud spike pierced down from the upper slope of the tunnel, narrowly missing Hai Tianqing's face. At that instant, several mud bullets struck Hai Tianqing's body, exploding directly.

Hai Tianqing rolled backward, hurriedly crawling to the side.

The mercenaries in the tunnel didn't rush out. Instead, they first used mud snakes to shatter the staff standing in the center of the cave. Then, the mercenaries cautiously walked in, fully alert.

Through the narrow tunnel entrance, he saw a black-clothed night watchman's ankle, then it disappeared again.

He quickly stepped forward. When he was about a meter away from the tunnel entrance, his vision blurred. Then, he suddenly realized he couldn't breathe.

Han Jiangxue leaned against the wall, retracting her Shattered Void. She carefully looked at the surrounding stone walls, but also discovered that the soil beside a night watchman was loose and surging, as if transformed into flowing soil.

It wasn't the Gold-Grade Star Technique *Mudflow River*, but it was enough to open a tunnel there.

Han Jiangxue hurriedly waved her hand, and Shattered Void landed directly on the stone wall.

The mercenary inside Shattered Void hadn't suffocated yet. When he saw the suddenly appearing exit, he was overjoyed. Because his body had no leverage, he could only struggle to swim towards the open exit. However...

A figure flashed out from the stone wall, darting out with a "whoosh," and rammed the mercenary trying to crawl out back inside. The figure also darted into the Shattered Void.

"Go!" Hai Tianqing shouted urgently, leading the team to fight and retreat. In this cave, they were truly being beaten without any ability to resist. The opponent's home-field advantage was too great. In this situation, even rushing into the group of White Ghouls was better than fighting these "stinky muds" in the cave.

It was precisely because of the opponent's home-field advantage that the powerful Night Watch army was retreating steadily.

Hai Tianqing pushed Li Weiyi, following the small tunnel the newcomer had opened up, and beckoned for everyone to run inside. The golden light on his body flickered as he slammed heavily on the ground.

Another illusory staff landed, directly inserted into the tunnel behind him. This time, the gem on top of the staff was blue.

*Shua shua shua.*

Streaks of lightning burst out from the gem on top of the staff, wildly shooting lightning inside and outside the tunnel.

Han Jiangxue came to the side of a night watchman and said, "Quickly."

The two quickly ran into the newly opened small tunnel. Han Jiangxue didn't forget to use Savage Winds, directly blowing Xia Yan, who was sitting on the ground, over.

The night watchman blocking the White Ghoul cave entrance was grabbed by Hai Tianqing and dragged into the small tunnel. A group of White Ghouls instantly surged out, swarming and rushing into all the visible cave entrances.

Hai Tianqing, who had darted into the small tunnel, was very much aware of his responsibility to cover the rear. Another sapphire staff was inserted down, blocking the entrance of the small tunnel.

The splattering current tore at his body. He endured the intense pain and numbness, clenching his left hand into a fist. The people climbing ahead heard the pleasant sound of a bell.

A medical beam jumped onto the night watchman in front, and along the narrow tunnel, it jumped onto the team that was squeezed into a straight line: Li Weiyi, Xia Yan, Han Jiangxue, and the night watchman.

Hai Tianqing's whole body was numb, and he trembled as he crawled forward, enduring the pain.

Another medical beam shot out. This time, he put a mark on himself. The medical beam returned, but continued to jump backward, latching onto a White Ghoul at the cave entrance.

Hai Tianqing pressed one hand on the back of the night watchman in front of him, quickly leaving a brand.

The medical beam returned, latching onto Hai Tianqing's body, and finally shuttled back and forth between Hai Tianqing and the night watchman in front.

The night watchman at the very front had already crawled out of the small tunnel and was engaging in close combat with two mercenaries.

One mercenary carried a mud shield, covering his body with mud, resisting the night watchman's fiery barrage, but he wasn't panicked. He knew that his teammates behind him would use mud snakes to drown this suddenly appearing night watchman.

But what surprised him was that this night watchman actually retreated!

He retreated to the left side of the tunnel entrance, creating distance from the two mercenaries on the right side of the tunnel entrance.

The next moment, the mercenary only felt a blur before his eyes. The space in front seemed to overlap.

Then, a gale suddenly surged from behind, directly blowing him into the shattered space.

The night watchman on the left side of the tunnel entrance used all his strength to knock off the mud climbing up his legs. The climbing mud also abruptly stopped surging. The night watchman looked up. Where were the shadows of the mercenaries?

Both mercenaries had been thrown into the Shattered Void!

Han Jiangxue quickly crawled out. At this age, in this low-level Nebula Phase, she had received her parents' blessings, obtained Star Techniques she shouldn't have, and also endured pressures she shouldn't have.

The importance of Star Techniques had been proven, and the importance of combination techniques had also been confirmed.

If she were to use this technique in the National High School League, her ranking couldn't be low, but she would inevitably face imprisonment, or even more severe penalties.

Possessing such Star Techniques, her life shouldn't be wasted on peaceful sparring.

"Were these people specially trained to attack this place? How can every mercenary control mud?" Xia Yan said indignantly.

A complaint caused Hai Tianqing to be slightly stunned. The truth might really be as she said...