71: Chapter 71 Omens

Deep within the Northern Wilderness, inside an underground palace.

The blood pool churned, and the stench of blood permeated the entire underground palace.

Xue You, the Lord Demon sitting upon the throne of bones, suddenly crushed the bone goblet in his hand.

The aura of a Half-Step Martial Venerable raged through the great hall, causing the demons below to tremble in fear.

"That batch of blood soul orbs can no longer be contacted?"

Xue You's voice was cold.

Below, a demon pressed himself tightly against the ground, trembling all over as he said, "It is... the communication with the Bone Tower altar was forcibly severed. The spies sent there only saw headless corpses everywhere. That batch of blood soul orbs... they are all gone!"

"Trash."

Xue You spat out these two words in a fit of rage.

He raised his right hand and clenched his five fingers.

The demon couldn't even let out a plea for mercy before his body exploded, turning into a cloud of blood mist.

Xue You took a deep breath, and the cloud of blood mist turned into red light, surging into his body through his nasal cavity.

He closed his eyes comfortably, a layer of red light shimmering on his body, seemingly enjoying the plundered vital energy immensely.

The demons below the steps revealed fear in their eyes and bowed their heads even lower.

"Mere humans dare to touch the opportunity for this Lord to break through to the Overlord Level."

Xue You stood up, killing intent boiling in his eyes. "Since they dare to reach out, this Lord will chop off all their hands."

"My Lord, should we send a great army to search the mountains?"

A demon asked tremblingly.

"Search the mountains? No need."

Xue You's lips curled upward as he slowly walked down the bone steps. "This Lord has received intelligence that that old thing, Lei Qianjue, is away. In the current branch, there isn't even anyone decent who can fight."

He walked to the doorway and looked up at the sky.

"What's more coincidental is that Lei Qianjue previously killed a Dark Gold Dragon Emperor at Black Wind Pass. If this matter were to reach the ears of that 'Nether Dragon Venerable'..."

Xue You let out a cold laugh.

Although he had only recently broken through to the Martial Venerable level, that was a genuine old monster of the Martial Venerable rank, and he was extremely protective of his own.

"Go, assemble all the tribal armies!"

Xue You's fingers cracked as he clenched them, a flash of madness appearing in his eyes.

"Today, this Lord will join forces with that old monster to flatten the Pojun Division branch!"

"Use the vital energy of the martial artists there to make up for my blood soul orbs twofold!"

The emergency assembly order sounded three times.

When Li Zhengyang came out of the villa, quite a few people were already rushing toward the assembly point.

In the Command Center hall, Assistant Chen Feng stood before the central control console, his expression grim.

More than half the people had arrived; Zhao Yi, Lei Hu, and others were also there.

When Li Zhengyang walked in, everyone's gaze automatically cleared a path for him.

No one dared to treat him as a recruit anymore.

"Everyone is here."

Assistant Chen Feng pressed the control console, and a holographic projection unfolded overhead.

It was a thermal map covering two hundred kilometers of the area outside the barrier.

Under normal circumstances, the thermal map should have scattered red light points, representing individual monsters or small clusters distributed across various regions.

But at this moment, a large area in the top right corner of the map had turned deep red.

"Three hours ago, the outer detection array began to sound alarms." Assistant Chen Feng tapped the deep red area, enlarging it.

Dense swarms of light points surged within the image, slowly advancing in the direction of the barrier.

"The monster populations in zones C3 to C9 have shown large-scale abnormal migration. The number of individuals above Rank 6 is more than twenty times the normal level."

The hall went quiet.

More than twenty times.

Everyone present understood the meaning of this number.

A beast tide.

Assistant Chen Feng nodded and switched to the timeline comparison chart.

"Three days ago, the monster distribution in zone C7 was still normal. This afternoon, the secondary reconnaissance team cleared the demon strongholds in that area, and Unit 1001 even swept the entire C7 periphery clean."

He drew a line on the map with his hand.

"But since the team returned, for some unknown reason, monsters from other regions have started converging toward this sector."

"According to model projections, at the latest in thirty hours, this migration wave will converge into an organized beast tide, charging straight at the barrier."

Lei Hu's Adam's apple bobbed. "What about the scale?"

"Conservatively estimated, A-rank."

Curses erupted throughout the hall.

A beast tide of this scale would be nothing to fear if Venerable Lei were here.

But dealing with it now is still somewhat tricky.

"Misfortune never comes singly."

Zhao Yi slapped the table. "Venerable Lei is still at headquarters. Deputy Division Commander Assistant Chen Feng, when can you contact him?"

"I have already sent a highest-priority emergency dispatch, but there is no reply for the time being."

Assistant Chen Feng's voice was taut.

The conference room became noisy, with a dozen captains each voicing their own opinions.

Some advocated for defending the barrier to the death, while others suggested splitting forces to attack.

After arguing for a long time, there was no result.

"What are you arguing about?"

The voice was not loud, but everyone present shut their mouths at the same time.

Li Zhengyang took two steps forward and stood directly beneath the holographic projection.

He looked up at the surging deep red area and tapped the map twice.

"The beast tide hasn't formed yet?"

Assistant Chen Feng nodded. "Currently, it is just a large-scale migration; it has not yet formed a directional shockwave."

"A true beast tide requires a core. Usually, a monster above the Martial Emperor rank acts as the leader, forcing the surrounding low-to-mid-rank monsters to form a charging formation."

"Where is the core?"

Assistant Chen Feng enlarged the map and pointed to the deepest part of the migration zone.

A particularly bright light point was moving slowly.

"Here. A monster suspected to be at the peak of the Martial Emperor rank has been detected; the species cannot be confirmed for now."

"Its position is exactly in the center of the migration zone, and the surrounding monster groups are all converging toward it."

"Once it begins to lead the charge, all the monsters that have gathered will become its cannon fodder, forming a true beast tide."

Li Zhengyang stared at that red point.

"How far is it from the barrier?"

"One hundred and forty kilometers."

"Thirty hours, right?"

"Yes, the model's projected time is quite conservative."

Li Zhengyang turned his gun butt downward and struck it against the floor.

Clang.

The sound was crisp, suppressing all the remaining whispers in the hall.

"Waiting for it to form before fighting is stupid."

"Then what do you mean?" Assistant Chen Feng frowned.

"Strike first."

Li Zhengyang tapped on the brightest red point on the map.

"Before they have gathered, take out this core. Once the core is gone, the migrating monster groups will lose their direction and disperse on their own."

Zhao Yi stood up. "One hundred and forty kilometers deep, and the entire route is filled with monsters above Rank 6. To reach the location of that core, it will consume a significant amount of stamina and energy."

"But this is currently the only reliable method."

Li Zhengyang gripped his gun and looked around the conference room.

"Once we wait for the beast tide to truly form, that will be the hardest time to deal with it."

Upon hearing this, the people below couldn't help but ponder.

Thinking of Li Zhengyang's performance when dealing with the demons earlier.

They nodded one after another in agreement.

"Fine! We support you!"