A Chaotic World

Chapter 189: Sneak Attack

Away from the violent combat, the winds blew gently, rustling the tall grass that swayed in unison across the plains.

It seemed like a peaceful sight, but moving under the cover of the grass were a group of people bearing intentions that were less than honourable.

Simply put, they were here to target the weak and wounded.

At the front of the pack was a young man with eyes filled with resolution.

He cared not that their actions today might not appear to be the most valiant. The only thing on his mind right now was to successfully complete his mission and retreat safely along with his companions.

After all, this was war.

With the number of lives that they had taken, even those among them who initially had unrealistic expectations of war had learnt of its brutality by now.

Lu Tianzi led the pack as he crept forward cautiously, not daring to let down his guard.

All of a sudden, Lu Tianzi stopped in his tracks, raising his arm up slightly as a signal for the rest to follow suit.

No one dared to second guess his decision, and the group of around one hundred and fifty men came to an abrupt stop.

From their current position, a large encampment stood majestically not far away from them, stretching out for as far as their eye could see.

The style of the tents was similar to that of the Scarlet Moon Army's, and a barricade had been erected around it as fencing.

Watchtowers reached up from the ground at regular intervals, though they were barely manned at the moment.

Right now, most of the able soldiers had been sent to confront the main force of the Scarlet Moon Army, so how would they be able to spare additional manpower for guarding a relatively empty camp?

Still, this was not all there was to the defence of the camp.

A silvery light flashed across Lu Tianzi's eyes as he accurately pinpointed the flow of energy in the vicinity.

"Just as expected" Lu Tianzi muttered under his breath begrudgingly.

"How are the defensive formations?" Nanqing Haowen asked. "Will our talismans be enough?"

Now that the three squads had been given a huge responsibility to bear, the leaders of the Scarlet Moon Army were not nearly unreasonable enough to truly leave them without any assistance.

Aside from the extraction team prepared for their retreat, each of them had also been given a talisman to help them display strength at the peak of the Essence Condensation realm for a period of time.

This was exactly what they were going to rely on for the success of the mission!

"From the looks of it, the talismans should be able to resist the might of the defensive formation for a while, but the energy within will probably be depleted far too quickly for us to do much," Lu Tianzi rubbed his chin in contemplation. "That would be far too unimpactful to warrant us taking such a big risk."

"What should we do then?" Nanqing Haowen asked further.

Nanlan Qianxue did not speak much, merely looking at Lu Tianzi and waiting for his decision.

Both Nanqing Haowen and Nanlan Qianxue clearly understood that Lu Tianzi's knowledge on the art of formations far exceeded not just the two of them, but even most of the younger generation. If there was someone who could accurately assess the situation and come up with a feasible plan, it would have to be him!

This was the reason why the two of them were purely waiting for his decision right now.

However, even they would never have expected what Lu Tianzi was about to suggest.

"You guys wait here for me. I will go disable the formation before calling you in."

Lu Tianzi spoke so matter-of-factly that it almost seemed as though he was talking about going on a simple stroll, but how could Nanqing Haowen and Nanlan Qianxue not understand the risks that were involved?

"Are you crazy?" Nanlan Qianxue chided him immediately. "If you were to be caught, you would be left stranded alone against the enemy! How would we be able to get you out of there?"

"Nanlan Qianxue is right. This is too risky!" Nanqing Haowen agreed. "If things are not looking good, we just have to do what we can while relying on the talismans. Even if the effect is lower than expected, at least it comes with an increased chance of success. That's not too bad a trade off!"

"No, that will not do," Lu Tianzi shook his head. "This operation is supposed to justify the large mobilisation of troops for the main battle. If we fail to leave an impact, it will be considered as a failure on our side. And besides, I am confident of getting away if I get caught, so don't worry!"

"Are you sure?" Nanqing Haowen eyed him doubtfully. But seeing the confident look on his face, Nanqing Haowen could not help but waver.

Even though it sounded like such an outrageous thing, he suddenly felt like this matter no longer seemed to be such an impossible feat.

Was it because Lu Tianzi was the one suggesting it?

This was a man who had proven himself time and again, repeatedly overcoming the odds to accomplish the unexpected.

With all that he had seen, Nanqing Haowen dared not rule out any possibilities when it came to this junior of his!

"Yeah, I am confident," Lu Tianzi nodded before turning towards Nanlan Qianxue. "Trust me."

"Be careful," Nanlan Qianxue finally agreed after a short pause. "Make sure you prioritise your safety."

"Of course I will. Well then, wait for my signal," Lu Tianzi set off without another word, while the two remaining could only stare at his back and hope for the best.

Step by step, Lu Tianzi crept forward.

With the jade pendant given to him by his master Xihuang Yuanfeng, his aura was concealed from the senses of most martial artists.

Even Origin Core realm martial artists would need to specifically direct their perceptions to investigate Lu Tianzi's location before they could detect his presence.

As for the Essence Condensation and Essence Building realm martial artists who had been left behind as guards, the only way for them to detect Lu Tianzi would be if the latter came into their line of sight.

But how could Lu Tianzi ever make such a fundamental mistake?

Under the cover of the tall grass, Lu Tianzi continued to creep forward silently, finally reaching the edges of the defensive formation's range.

This was by no means a simple formation.

With his expertise, Lu Tianzi could tell that this was an intricate defensive formation, something that would require quite a bit of time to put in place.

Of course, it could not compare to defensive formations for permanent structures. But for a temporary camp like this, to be able to set up such a defensive formation was nothing short of amazing.

On top of that, just the density of the energy undulations alone made it clear that this formation had been set up by someone who had a cultivation level at least at the Origin Core realm.

Even for someone with his level of knowledge in the art of formations, it would have been difficult to break the formation in a short span of time.

However, Lu Tianzi had an advantage that most formation masters did not possess.

Limitless Mirror Eye!

Lu Tianzi's eyes glowed with a silvery light as he carefully inspected the defensive formation before him.

There were two layers to it, just like most that were put in place around key establishments.

The first layer was a detection formation, designed to point out any uninvited intruders. This was something essential for most defensive setups.

As for the second layer, it was not a killing formation, but a binding formation.

What came as a surprise to many people was that the latter was actually much more common than the former.

While a killing formation was capable of completely annihilating their enemies on their behalf, it also eliminated the possibility of capturing them as hostages. On top of that, one other benefit of binding formations was that it prevented the accidental elimination of allies.

After all, even formation masters were not perfect.

If there had been any errors with the setup, it might cause the formation to inaccurately identify some allies as enemies. In such a situation, a binding formation would be far less damaging.

Of course, the pros and cons of setting up a binding formation over setting up a killing formation did not matter too much to Lu Tianzi.

Either one of them would spell trouble to them if they were caught within.

Thus, all he cared about was only the ease at which the formations could be dismantled.

The flow of energy was laid bare before his Limitless Mirror Eye, allowing him to see right through the setup of the formations.

There!

Lu Tianzi immediately identified the nearest node of the defensive formation.

It was a stone pillar that seemed to be nothing conspicuous at first glance. Had it not been Lu Tianzi but some other formation master, they would probably never have expected it to be one of the nodes holding the formation together!

These nodes were the building blocks of a formation, with formation flags being the simplest example.

However, many formation masters did not like to use formation flags as their nodes unless forced to do so, simply because they were far too conspicuous!

Unfortunately for the other party, even this ordinary looking stone pillar failed to escape Lu Tianzi's eyes.

With a quick flick of his wrist, Lu Tianzi sent a pebble charged with Slaughter Essence energy flying towards the base of the stone pillar.

This pebble passed straight through the small gaps in the fences, striking its intended target with pinpoint precision.

Bang-!

A small explosion sounded out as the pebble struck the ground just next to the stone pillar, creating a little crater that caused the stone pillar to slide in.

"What was that?" the guards went on alert immediately, staring down from their tall watch towers at the cloud of dust that had stirred from the impact.

But even then, they were unable to see Lu Tianzi who had carefully hidden himself in the tall grass.

On top of that, the displacement of the stone pillar had been quite minute, and in its new position, the stone pillar completely filled up the newly made crater, hiding its existence from their eyes.

From what they saw, nothing had changed from before other than the sudden cloud of dust.

The position of the nodes of the defensive formation was an absolute secret that only the leaders of the camp were aware of. Thus, the guards had absolutely no idea that they were currently looking at one of these important nodes, and could only feel confusion at what just happened.

"Send someone over to check it out," the guard commander instructed. Even though he no longer thought much of it after seeing nothing amiss, he did not want to just let the matter slide either.

"Yes, sir!" the soldier beside him immediately turned to speak into his communication ring, making the arrangements as instructed.

The pair of patrolling guards that had been chosen to investigate the matter jogged over quickly, eager to get this errand over and done with so that they could return to resting.

By the time they arrived, the cloud of dust had cleared away, and everything seemed to have returned to its original state. Unaware of the importance of the stone pillar, they had nothing to lock on to for their investigation, and could only look around aimlessly.

One of these guards walked over to the barricade, intending to inspect the integrity of the structure just for the sake of it.

Little did he know that this would be the last thing he ever did.

Before he could even react, his surroundings were plunged into darkness, a ghastly apparition charging straight towards him!

Thud-!

The guard fell limply to the ground, his eyes devoid of life.

"Hmm?" his partner turned around to take a look, only to be met with a sword stabbing straight towards his face!

The sword strike was swift and precise.

As an Essence Building realm martial artist, there was simply no way for him to defend himself against such an attack.

Slice-!

The guard froze in place as a streak of blood trickled out from the light cut across his cheek.

He knew better than to believe that the other party had missed. After all, he could still feel the cold sensation of the blade resting against his cheek.

"Speak, where are the recovery tents?" Lu Tianzi questioned. "And you'd better not try anything funny. If you as much as move a single inch, I will take you life immediately."

The guard might have been shocked, but upon hearing Lu Tianzi's words, he could not help but feel a sense of anger welling up within him. "Don't even thi-"

Before he could even complete his sentence, Lu Tianzi slashed across his throat, sentencing him to death.

Since the guard was being uncooperative, there was no reason to keep him alive any longer.

In fact, even if he had spoken the truth, Lu Tianzi would have ended his life, so perhaps the guard made the right choice not to betray his side.

Still, this would only serve to delay the inevitable.

Lu Tianzi carefully laid down his victim, hiding the corpse in the tall grass before whispering into his communication ring.

"The defensive formation is down. Everyone, move in."