178: Chapter 178 Soul Realm

Upon hearing this, Zhang Sheng immediately looked forward carefully.

"It really is. Let's speed up a bit; we've finally seen something different."

The 100 soldiers accelerated again, and soon they arrived in front of the giant rock.

"This... this is actually a stone tablet!" Zhang Sheng exclaimed. "And the characters on it are actually small seal script from the ancient Xia Country!"

"Wasn't small seal script only from the Qin Dynasty? Why is it here too? Could there be some secret behind this?" Da Zhuang scratched his head sheepishly.

"Never mind the secrets, who knows small seal script?" Zhang Sheng asked the other soldiers.

"I do! I took ancient scripts as an elective in university." A tall, thin soldier raised his hand.

"Great, translate it quickly!" Zhang Sheng was overjoyed.

"The inscription is divided into two parts. The two largest characters read: Soul Realm." The tall, thin soldier said, "The other smaller characters read: Abundant in soul crystals, can strengthen the spirit."

"Soul Realm should be the name of this place; 'abundant in soul crystals' is also easy to understand, meaning soul crystal resources are quite plentiful here. As for the three words 'can strengthen the spirit,' could they mean it can strengthen Mental Energy?" Zhang Sheng said with a frown.

"Forget it, let's take a photo first and let the leaders worry about it when we get back!"

As he spoke, Zhang Sheng circled the giant stone tablet and even flew up to take a photo of the top.

"Let's go, let's keep moving forward."

The 100 soldiers continued to advance rapidly. The scenery along the way was still withered trees and wraiths; aside from some changes in terrain, everything remained monotonous and dull.

"Stop!" After traveling for another half hour, Zhang Sheng suddenly signaled to stop.

At this moment, they were in front of a large mountain, with a massive river surging past its base.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Da Zhuang asked in confusion.

"There's a big fellow halfway up the mountain ahead." Zhang Sheng's expression was serious.

The others looked as instructed, and their expressions changed one after another.

"Just now, I thought it was a dense cluster of wraiths, but I didn't expect it to be one oversized wraith!" a soldier said solemnly.

"What should we do? Take a detour or just charge through?"

"We're here to explore, not to fight. Let's bypass it for now; at most, we'll just walk a bit further," Zhang Sheng said after some thought.

"How much longer can your Mental Energy last?"

"Captain, I've used a third of it," Da Zhuang said.

"Mine is also a third."

"Same, a third."

The soldiers reported their Mental Energy usage one by one, and finally concluded that almost everyone had used a third of their Mental Energy.

"In that case, let's fly across the river. This river is too wide; we need to ensure we have enough Mental Energy left to fly back," Zhang Sheng said after some thought.

"Agreed!"

"Support!"

"Seconded!"

Thus, the 100 soldiers directly activated their Mental Energy, enveloping themselves as they soared into the air, flying at high speed toward the invisible opposite bank!

Their flight speed was very fast; even though the river was extremely wide, it only delayed them for a moment.

Soon, they had reached the other side of the river.

"I didn't expect the other side of the river to be all large mountains," Zhang Sheng remarked, then slowly landed on the ground.

The other soldiers also landed slowly; after all, they had to save Mental Energy.

However, just as they landed, a massive wraith, hundreds of meters in size, suddenly appeared from behind a hilltop!

When it saw Zhang Sheng and the others, greed immediately surged in its eyes.

Whoosh—

With a burst of speed, it appeared in front of Zhang Sheng and the others almost instantly.

It opened its bloody maw toward the soldier closest to it and swallowed him in one gulp!

"Xiao Wu!" Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events.

But as elite soldiers, they possessed strong psychological resilience; with only a change in expression, they regained their composure.

"Da Zhuang, take the 50 people from the first to the fifth squads and cross the river immediately. Return at the fastest possible speed," Zhang Sheng's voice was stern.

"The rest of you, follow me to save Xiao Wu, stall for time, and cover Da Zhuang and the others."

"Yes, Captain!" Da Zhuang's eyes were red, but he knew this was a battlefield order, and the worst thing was to hesitate; it had to be executed immediately.

Gritting his teeth, Da Zhuang roared, "First, second, third, fourth, and fifth squads, follow me! Cross the river immediately!"

With that, he turned and soared into the air, leading the 50 soldiers across the great river, flying rapidly back toward the direction they had come from.

A look of relief appeared on Zhang Sheng's face as he turned his eyes toward the giant wraith.

At this moment, its belly was bulging outward frantically!

"Captain, Xiao Wu isn't dead; he's struggling!" a soldier said in surprise.

"Not dying immediately proves that this wraith isn't that powerful," Zhang Sheng said with a hint of joy.

However, how to attack the wraith became a problem; they didn't know how to use Mental Energy to attack.

"Captain, why don't we just concentrate our Mental Energy into our fists and then launch a joint attack, smashing it hard!" a soldier suggested.

"Alright! Everyone, follow my lead!" Zhang Sheng nodded and then commanded.

"Concentrate..."

"Take off..."

"Three, two, one."

"Smash it!!!"

The 49 soldiers condensed their Mental Energy into their fists and smashed toward the giant wraith!

Roar—

After being hit, the giant wraith let out a roar of pain!

Following that, its body size shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye!

Seeing this, Zhang Sheng was overjoyed.

"Brothers, increase the Mental Energy output! We'll wear it down to death!"

"Yes, Captain!"

"The twenty people from the sixth and seventh squads, go behind the wraith; we'll attack from both sides!" Zhang Sheng added.

"Yes, Captain!"

The twenty people immediately withdrew their fists, flew to the back of the wraith, condensed their Mental Energy, and punched again!

Under the attack of the 49 people, the giant wraith's size quickly shrank by half, and Xiao Wu was spat out by it.

After being spat out, Xiao Wu adjusted himself and then immediately joined the attack!

As time passed, under the siege of the 50 people, the giant wraith's size grew weaker and weaker, constantly shrinking.

Finally, after a miserable roar, the wraith shattered like a balloon.

Leaving behind only a crystal-clear octahedral crystal emitting a dazzling white light!

Zhang Sheng immediately stepped forward and grabbed the white crystal falling toward the ground.

To prevent accidents, he wrapped his hand in Mental Energy.

"Could this be the soul crystal mentioned on the stone tablet?" Zhang Sheng said in surprise.

"It most likely is." A soldier looked at the soul crystal with shining eyes.

Zhang Sheng put away the soul crystal and turned to look at the soldier who had been swallowed.

"Xiao Wu, how do you feel?"

"I feel okay, it's just that my Mental Energy is about to run out!" Xiao Wu sighed.

"There were many white tentacles inside this wraith. After being swallowed, these tentacles kept trying to bore into my head."

"Fortunately, I have the Mental Power Barrier; otherwise, I might have been finished long ago."

"Resisting those white tentacles consumes a lot of Mental Energy!" Xiao Wu showed an expression of lingering fear.

Zhang Sheng comforted Xiao Wu a bit more and then ordered an immediate return!

...