217: Chapter 217 The flanks are wide open, and the abdomen and back are attacked (3)

Su Qingli nodded. She pushed the secondary Formation Plate next to the Receiving Formation—starting to adjust the startup array path for the Stealth Concealment Array.

Shen Hour. The detection range of the Flank's No. 3 Array Eye dropped to zero. The blind spot stabilized completely—a two-li wide gap on the northeast corner of the flank looked like an open door. The main force of the Haiyuan Clan on the front—the tenth wave source—was less than twenty li away from the Ring Reef.

Scarface looked out of the shed window for the fourth time. Outside—the hidden sentry that used to be behind the pile of coral aggregate was gone. On the sand next to the aggregate pile, only a few footprints remained, scattered by the sea breeze—the sentry hadn't been gone for more than half an incense stick of time. The number of people on the Pier was nearly half less than usual—the sentries of the Sin Battalion were retreating toward the Inner Harbor shed area.

"Blue Moon Island—is contracting." Scarface tapped his finger on the window frame. The extremely thin talisman paper on the outside of the window frame was still there—the spiritual light on the surface of the talisman had not changed. No one had approached this shed.

Shorty untied the wooden splint from his right shoulder—for the second time. This time, he didn't put the splint back on his bedding—he stuffed the splint directly into his Storage Pouch. He drew two poison-coated daggers from his Storage Pouch—one tucked behind his waist, the other gripped in his right hand. The dark green toxic gleam on the blade was mostly covered by his palm.

"Blue Moon Island is contracting its defensive line—the pressure on the front is too great. They are concentrating their forces on the front. The flank—they can't worry about it." Scarface took out the Spirit Beast bone fragment guiding talisman from the lining of his waist. A thin layer of fluff from his waist cloth was stuck to the surface of the bone fragment. He held the bone fragment in his left palm—his right hand fished out half a pinch of dark gray Spirit-Guiding Powder from his waist pouch. He sprinkled the Spirit-Guiding Powder onto the surface of the bone fragment—the pulse Array Pattern on the bone fragment began to light up from the dark color. The brightness was extremely weak—almost invisible under daylight. But the spiritual power pulse had already started to transmit outward.

The pulse transmitted along the direction of the blind spot into the depths of the Dragon Burial Trench—the frequency blended into the temperature fluctuations of the seawater itself. On Su Qingli's Receiving Formation—the waveform amplitude in the flank direction fluctuated by less than half a percent. A fluctuation of less than half a percent was within the normal range of tidal fluctuations—the Formation Plate did not trigger any warnings.

But in the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench—in the deep water layer about sixty li away from Blue Moon Island. A squad of about fifty Haiyuan Clan elites was waiting in the undercurrent. Leading them was a Black-Armored Commander whose size was nearly double that of an ordinary warrior—the surface of his carapace was not dark cyan, but black. The black carapace was covered with dark red miniature sacrificial patterns. His bone spear was nearly three times thicker than an ordinary bone spear—embedded on the spear blade were three dark blue crystal fragments. The three fragments were the same thing as the fist-sized crystal on the High Priest's staff that sealed the Main Hub—only the fragments were much smaller, and embedded in the bone spear, they could only sense spiritual power fluctuations within about three hundred li.

On the spiritual power detection bone fragment in the Black-Armored Commander's hand—the guiding signal from the direction of the Blue Moon Island flank lit up. The pulse frequency—matched the frequency agreed upon by the guiding talisman. He glanced toward the mouth of the Dragon Burial Trench—then tilted his head toward the undercurrent. The fifty elites behind him paddled simultaneously—floating up from the undercurrent.

The fifty elites were all at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage. The color of their carapaces ranged from dark green to deep black—the darker the color, the stronger the combat power. The weapons held by each Haiyuan Clan member were all bone-based—bone spears, bone axes, bone hooks—all grown from their own bodies. This type of self-grown bone weapon fit the user's spiritual attributes better than forged Magical Artifacts—there would be no sluggishness in spiritual power conduction when switching between underwater and land. Following behind the Black-Armored Commander were two False Core stage Deputy Commanders—their carapaces were black-cyan, and simple acceleration Array Patterns were carved on their bone weapons. The three commanders led the way—the forty-seven behind were arranged in three echelons. The formation was a standard shoal assault array—front row bone shields, middle row bone spears, back row hook ropes. The shoal assault array did not need to be organized on the water surface—they would surface and advance directly inward.

Wei Hour, third quarter. Scarface walked out of the shed door—the bandage on his left leg had loosened by a turn. The edge of the loosened bandage rubbed against the callus on the outside of his ankle—rubbing the bandage so it slid about half a finger's width away from the wound. He didn't look down—he tugged the bandage upward. Then he walked toward the Pier.

When he walked past the pile of coral aggregate—he stopped for a step. On the sand next to the aggregate pile were two footprints—toes pointing outward. They were the last footprints left by the Blue Moon Island hidden sentry before they evacuated. He took a look—there were no other traces around the footprints. The hidden sentry had evacuated cleanly.

He continued walking forward. He walked to the side of the logistics shed at the Pier—and stood still. From here, he could see the Ring Reef on the front of Blue Moon Island—the garrison on the reef wall was concentrating toward the front. The shields of the Sin Battalion's first page reflected a row of neat metallic light under the sunlight—the distance was too far to see everyone's face, but the number of shields matched the number of sentries being mobilized. Blue Moon Island was piling all the troops they could mobilize to the front—the main force of the Haiyuan Clan on the front was less than twenty li away from the reef wall. This mobilization was completely reasonable.

Scarface stood next to the logistics shed for about ten breaths. Then he turned around and walked back. He walked back to the quarantine area—and walked to the door of the third shed. Inside the shed, Shorty had already tucked the poison-coated dagger back behind his waist—hilt facing outward. The ten people in the other two sheds had all drawn their weapons. The blade surfaces of the weapons shimmered with a dark green in the dim shed—ten poison-coated weapons were drawn simultaneously, and the Spiritual Pressure density in the shed was nearly double what it usually was.

"Blue Moon Island is contracting its defensive line. The main force is pressing on the front—they have emptied out all the troops on the flank. On the flank passage—there are no sentries." Scarface took a look at the activation status of the guiding talisman at his waist. The pulse Array Pattern on the bone fragment had all lit up—the spiritual power pulse was still continuously transmitting outward. "The Haiyuan Clan has already received the signal. Within one hour—they will land from the blind spot."

Shorty stood up straight. He pulled the Storage Pouch completely out from under the bedding—the copper box inside the bag was empty; the Corrosion Powder had all been sprinkled. He pressed his left hand against the hilt of the dagger behind his waist.

"Where are we going from?"

"First, pass through the narrow alley. The exit of the narrow alley faces the back door of the Lords Mansion. After the Haiyuan Clan lands, they will charge in the direction with the densest spiritual power—drawing all the attention of the garrison. We will sneak into the Lords Mansion from the side. Search areas—the Chart Room on the second floor of the Lords Mansion, the inner room of the Formation Affairs Room, and Lu Changyuan's bedroom. Target items—rubbing Jade Slips and the Formation Plate analysis records. After finding them—retreat from the narrow alley to the flank passage, and while the Haiyuan Clan is still fighting the garrison, go into the water from the blind spot. The spirit boat is still tied at the Pier—after boarding, sail directly toward the fortress. The Blue Moon Island garrison will all die in battle—martyred for the country. No one will ask questions."

Scarface drew the poison-coated dagger from behind his waist. The dark green on the blade shimmered under the sunlight—like the color of rotten seaweed. He held the blade horizontally in front of his chest—edge facing outward.

"Let's go."

Twelve people came out of the three sheds simultaneously. Their movements were neat—not at all like the scattered way of a routed army. From leaving the sheds to lining up—less than five breaths. The formation was two rows—the front row of five held shields and short daggers—the shields were drawn from Storage Pouches, and the shield faces had no military markings. The issued shields of Zhenhai Fortress all had brands on each side—this batch didn't have a single one. The back row of seven held long weapons—a mix of long spears and long blades. Scarface was at the very front of the queue—the bandage on his left leg had come undone halfway, but his walking speed and formation were kept extremely precise.

They walked from the quarantine area toward the flank passage—they did not go in the direction of the Pier. The direction of the Pier was the concentration area for the front garrison—they deliberately bypassed it. The route passed by the pile of coral aggregate, behind the Inner Harbor warehouse, and the old sentry post of the flank passage. There was no one at the old sentry post—the cold light stone lamp in the sentry post was still lit, but the lens of the lamp had been flipped and turned upside down on the stone platform. There were footprints on the stone floor next to the sentry post—the soles of the shoes were pointing toward the Inner Harbor shed area. They had evacuated less than an incense stick of time ago.

The flank passage was very quiet. No people. No sentries. No shouting—the sea breeze poured in from the gap in the blind spot, blowing the wooden window shutters of the old stone houses on both sides of the narrow alley, making them clatter back and forth. The narrow alley between the stone houses was less than one zhang wide—two people walking side by side had to turn sideways. Both sides of the narrow alley were empty—the sentries of the Sin Battalion's second page who originally guarded here had all retreated to the direction of the Pier. There were newly pasted reinforcement array talismans on the walls of the stone houses—but the talisman papers were all dim and lusterless. The Geng Metal Sword Intent Killing Array had not been activated—the spiritual power on the array path had been cut off.

Scarface stopped for a breath at the entrance of the narrow alley. At the other end of the narrow alley—less than one hundred zhang away—was the direction of the Outer Port Pier. The spiritual power fluctuations in the direction of the Pier were very concentrated—spiritual light was shining in more than one place. Blue Moon Island had concentrated its defensive spiritual power on the Pier and the front—the flank was dead silent.

"Let's go."

Twelve people lined up in a single file and squeezed into the narrow alley. The stone walls of the narrow alley were damp—the sea breeze blew the water vapor of the seawater in, condensing it on the cold stone surfaces. Scarface's shoulder brushed against the stone wall—rubbing off a layer of grayish-white salt frost.

When they reached halfway through the narrow alley—about fifty zhang—a very low, deep sound of water came from the direction of the sea.

The sound of waves would not have such a deep bass—this was a large amount of seawater being pushed upward simultaneously and then exploding. The frequency of the sound was nearly half lower than ordinary sea waves. Something underwater was rushing upward. The speed of the rush was extremely fast.

Scarface stopped in the narrow alley. He turned his face toward the flank—the stone walls of the narrow alley were too high, and he couldn't see the sea surface of the flank blind spot. But he could hear it—after the sound of water came the sound of carapaces scraping across the reef. One Haiyuan Clan member stepping on the reef and fifty stepping on it simultaneously—the sound was completely different. The current sound was the volume of fifty. Fifty Haiyuan Clan elites were climbing onto the reef wall from the front of the shoal simultaneously—the sound of their bone claws scraping against the surface of the reef was like dozens of files grinding iron at the same time.