11: plot

Xu Le rubbed Little Black Snake's head.

Just as he thought, monsters swallowed into Little Black Snake's belly would suffer damage.

According to his calculations, the amount of health Little Black Snake recovered was the true damage dealt to the Shadow Mantis (excluding defense, damage reduction, etc.).

Little Black Snake squinted its eyes and held a skill in its mouth, handing it to Xu Le. When Xu Le took it, information immediately appeared:

[Skill] Conceal Aura

[Grade] Rare

[Requirement] Spirit ≥ 120

[Description] Consumes 800 Mana to conceal one's aura, allowing the user to evade detection from professionals or monsters no more than 20 levels higher than themselves. Cooldown: None.

(Note: Using a skill will automatically break the concealment effect.)

"Not a bad skill."

"But why is it somewhat similar to the Shadow Mantis's talent, 'Invisibility'?"

"Except this skill can only conceal one's aura; it can't hide you from the naked eye."

Xu Le chose to learn it.

With the enhancement of the Innate Divinity talent, the skill evolved again. Not only could it be cast on others, but it could also perfectly conceal an aura, making the target visible only to the naked eye.

He casually cast the Conceal Aura skill on himself.

Little Black Snake, coiled beside the egg, searched in panic, only breathing a sigh of relief after finding that Xu Le was still there, even conveying a hint of complaint through the Mind Link.

Crack, crack, crack... The giant egg began to crack.

A fiery red giant bird flew out.

After seeing the tears in Xu Le's clothes, it lowered its head in shame.

If the master is disgraced, the servant dies.

As an SSS-Rank Divine Beast, it actually needed its master's protection; what a disgrace to the Fire Phoenixes!

Little Black Snake, originally carefree, also realized this and became incredibly depressed.

Xu Le patted the heads of his two contracted beasts: "It's fine, aren't I doing well?"

"But you two need to get stronger quickly. I used a secret technique this time and can't make another move for a while."

"You must protect me well!"

The two contracted beasts immediately regained their spirits, beating their chests to show they would work hard and never let their master be harmed again.

Little Black Snake looked gratefully at Little Yellow Chicken; if not for the latter lending a wing, it wouldn't have known how to beat its chest to show its loyalty.

Sensing the thoughts of the two little ones vaguely through the Mind Link, Xu Le was speechless and continued searching for monsters to grind for levels.

He walked for an hour straight without encountering a single monster.

It seemed as if the surrounding monsters had all been slaughtered by the Shadow Mantis.

Just as he was wondering if he should change direction, the Mind Link vaguely sensed a powerful monster's aura.

Xu Le cast the Conceal Aura skill on himself and both contracted beasts.

He stealthily crept over.

A fat ant, fifty centimeters tall, was building a nest.

From its fat and bloated abdomen, one could vaguely tell it was a queen ant.

"Are all the worker ants dead?"

"Or is it..."

Xu Le activated Divine Eye.

[Bloody Ant Queen]

[Rank] Level 45

[Health] 98,600/98,600

[Mana] 67,000/67,000

[Strength] 280

[Agility] 120

[Physique] 2,200

[Spirit] 900

[Talent] Demonic Qi Contamination 4

[Skills] Rapid Breeding, Ant Colony Control, Mental Shock, Life Sharing

"Why is there another terrifying monster?"

"The previous Soul-Devouring Demonic Tree was good at camouflage, and the Shadow Mantis was good at invisibility."

"Now this queen ant even lives underground."

Xu Le felt something was wrong.

Today's monsters were on a completely different level compared to yesterday's.

It couldn't be that his luck was bad just because Li Yang wasn't around, right?

Impossible!

How could someone with Innate Divinity have bad luck?

There must be something fishy going on!

Xu Le bypassed the queen ant and continued walking forward.

Three minutes later.

The Mind Link detected eight creatures gathered together.

Creeping over to look, he saw eight people in black robes with a giant magic circle drawn beneath their feet. With his limited knowledge of Formations, he couldn't understand it at all.

However, on the outer ring, there was another massive Formation that looked somewhat like a concealment Formation.

"This getup doesn't look like they're good people!"

Xu Le activated Divine Eye, and the information of several people appeared before his eyes.

[Name] Xie Donghan

[Age] 46

[Class] Spirit Array Master (SS)

[Rank] Level 61

[Talent] Spiritual Heart and Skillful Hands (A-Rank)

[Health] 12,240/12,240

[Mana] 4,200/24,480

[Strength] 614

[Agility] 614

[Physique] 1,224

[Spirit] 2,448

[Skills] Bewildering Formation, Six Ding and Six Jia Formation, Big Dipper Formation, Tiangang Positive and Negative Concealment Formation, Spatial Teleportation Formation... [Name] Huang Zhishan

[Age] 38

[Class] Flower Fairy Elf (S-Rank)

[Rank] Level 55

[Health] 1,140/1,140

[Mana] 3,600/24,280

[Strength] 114

[Agility] 113

[Physique] 114

[Spirit] 2,428

[Skills] Sweet Seduction, Shadow Poison Dust, Healing Pollen, Summon Piranha Plant, Root Entanglement... [Name] Bai Xuemei

...There were eight people in total, all in Formation-related classes.

Each of them had very little mana remaining.

Xu Le wouldn't believe it if someone said the previous monsters had nothing to do with them.

These people must be the culprits who teleported dangerous monsters nearby.

Their intentions were even more sinister.

Those monsters were all skilled at camouflage and hiding; if the Ninth District's Formations were destroyed and Devilish Qi swept in, who knows how many people would die.

Truly vicious!

Xu Le was about to move further away and call to report them to the police.

Suddenly, he noticed something was off with the space ahead.

The Mind Link still hadn't sensed anything.

He cast Divine Eye and looked over.

Densely packed health bars were getting closer and closer; a group of people wearing Great Wall Guard Army uniforms were stealthily surrounding the area.

Every giant city had a top-tier army for protection. They were stationed in contaminated zones year-round and were the core force resisting monsters.

Even if they suffered heavy casualties and fought to the last moment, they never retreated.

They were the "Great Wall" in people's hearts.

A hundred years ago, they were collectively named the Great Wall Guard Army.

"As expected, the authorities aren't pushovers!"

Just as Xu Le was thinking this, he saw a white light screen rise from beneath the feet of the Great Wall Guard Army.

The eight people resting were startled.

Xie Donghan cursed loudly, "Those Great Wall Guard Army lapdogs, their noses are really sharp!"

He casually released a burst of mana, activating the magic circle that had been drawn on the ground long ago.

After reaching Level 60, a Spirit Array Master could already activate Formations from a distance.

Light screens rose one after another, blocking the Great Wall Guard Army outside.

Huang Zhishan sighed inwardly and cast Shadow Poison Dust. Colorless and odorless poisonous pollen drifted into the air, enveloping the other seven people.

Xie Donghan suddenly felt something was wrong. He looked at Huang Zhishan in shock and cursed, "You bitch, so you're a spy and you secretly poisoned us!"

"Bah! Scum who endanger human safety deserve to be executed by anyone!"

Huang Zhishan shouted back and cast Sweet Seduction on Xie Donghan.

Among them, he was the strongest and a Spirit Array Master. If she didn't stall him, he could easily escape with a single Formation.

Then her years as an undercover agent would have been in vain.

Seeing Huang Zhishan exposed, the leader of the Great Wall Guard Army secretly regretted his carelessness. Ignoring the light screen ahead, he directly brandished the large halberd in his hand and charged forward.

Savage Charge!

Boom!

The light screen shook but withstood the attack.

The rest of the Great Wall Guard Army followed suit, releasing skills to attack the Formation's light screen, causing cracks to appear.

"Hold back this bitch!"

"I'll leave immediately after activating the teleportation Formation."

Xie Donghan was anxious. The other six woke up as if from a dream, only to find that their already low mana had been completely emptied.

"Despicable!"

"She actually used Mana-Devouring Pollen. Her own mana must be low too. Just hack her to death!"

One of the six cursed, pulled out a staff, and rushed forward to strike her.

Huang Zhishan's heart sank. She cast Root Entanglement to bind Xie Donghan, but unexpectedly, a Formation rose beneath his feet, blocking the attack.

"I've been on guard against that move of yours."

"When I get back, your whole family is dead!"

Xie Donghan ran to the side and released another burst of mana, activating the teleportation Formation that had been drawn long ago.

Huang Zhishan was desperate and used her last bit of mana to summon a Piranha Plant next to Xie Donghan.