Chapter 757 - Believe?
"Shouldn't you take off your mask as well?" Gu Zhengrong saw that he was discovered and immediately exposed Leng Hanfeng's fake facade as well.
Leng Hanfeng took what he said without being flustered. He didn't say anything and immediately took off his disguise, showing a cold and calm face.
"Your face looks much better now," laughed Gu Zhengrong. He rather liked to speak to a familiar face.
Leng Hanfeng had a confused expression on his face and asked, "Who really are you?"
"Me? I just took a mission to find out things about this academy." Smiled Gu Zhengrong. "You're the same right?"
Leng Hanfeng didn't answer and only stared at Gu Zhengrong. Gu Zhengrong didn't care and put out his hand, "Let me introduce myself, I'm…"
Right at that moment, Gu Zhengrong's expression instantly changed. He pulled Leng Hanfeng away and quickly backed up a short distance…
However, he was already too late. A man appeared before Gu Zhengrong and ruthlessly hit him with his fist. Gu Zhengrong cried out in pain and spat out a mouthful of blood into the air.
Gu Zhengrong fell roughly on the ground, his back hurt so much that he couldn't stand up on his own. Luckily, he had Leng Hanfeng beside him to hold him up.
"Are you alright?!" Leng Hanfeng asked worriedly.
"I'm not dead yet!" Gu Zhengrong wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked at the space in front of them. The middle-aged man who he thought he had lured away was actually hiding around in the vicinity and hadn't left.
"You really think I'm only at the optimal peak Great Perfection stage of Qi-Jin? Someone who just temporarily reached the domain stage for a few seconds wanted to fool me?" Sneered the middle-aged man.
"Brother Leng, looks like we really have to put our lives on the line this time." Gu Zhengrong smiled bitterly towards Leng Hanfeng.
"I had this realization long ago," Leng Hanfeng said without fear.
"Alright, I will put life in your hands," Gu Zhengrong smiled as he replied and executed a stance. This time, it was a real stance where he would put his life on the line.
Although Leng Hanfeng didn't answer, he used his actions to tell Gu Zhengrong that he will fight with him to the bitter end.
"You two are really naive." The middle-aged man smiled in a belittling manner. Then, his force of presence exploded outwards and it began to rush towards Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong. The strong force of presence pressured Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong to the point where their faces turned pale. They bit their lips and used all of the Qi-Jin in their bodies to resist the pressure coming from the middle-aged man's force of presence.
Suddenly, they felt their bodies seemed to have been transported to a swamp, every action they made was met with a lot of resistance. They looked below them and discovered a transparent line had wrapped around them.
"A domain expert!" Gu Zhengrong was very experienced so he knew what was happening to them. It was no wonder that middle-aged man looked down on them. Anyone below the domain stage were considered ants to domain expert. Even a half-step domain expert was just considered a larger ant when compared to the overpowering existence of a domain expert.
Leng Hanfeng had a hint of despair in his eyes. A domain expert… they had no hope of escaping.
"Leng Hanfeng, will you trust me?" Gu Zhengrong suddenly asked Leng Hanfeng.
"I'm part of the Huaxia Federation and would never betray the Huaxia Federation." Leng Hanfeng said without any hesitation.
Gu Zhengrong had a complicated look on his face, then became determined in an instant. "Alright, I have a life-saving technique that could make me temporarily enter the domain stage for 10 seconds. Once the time is up, I would pass out. As I activate it, you need to hold onto me for your dear life. I will try and run as fast as possible…"
"Of course, if we can't run away in time, you must leave me here and run away yourself… the mission is more important," Gu Zhengrong continued.
"But…"Leng Hanfeng seemed to not agree with Gu Zhengrong's decision.
"Remember, we are soldiers! Nothing goes above our mission," Gu Zhengrong shouted softly.
Leng Hanfeng stared into Gu Zhengrong's eyes and then nodded. "Understood."
After hearing Leng Hanfeng's answer, Gu Zhengrong's expression changed. He shouted loudly and his entire aura began to grow exponentially.
"Domain!" Gu Zhengrong screamed. Leng Hanfeng quickly held onto Gu Zhengrong's body as he quickly ran towards the edge of the forest.
The ground suddenly rose around middle-aged man, sealing him inside a something like a coffin. Seeing this, the middle-aged man shouted angrily, and countless of water streams appeared behind him and pierced through the sand coffin. However, inside the deep forest, other than the abundance of the wood element, the earth element was also in abundance, and the water element was comparatively weaker and lesser than both of them. Thus, the middle-aged man couldn't break through the sand coffin instantly and could only watch as Leng Hanfeng escaped with Gu Zhengrong.
Finally, not knowing whether it was because of the water streams or because 10 seconds was up, the sand coffin created by Gu Zhengrong's temporary domain instantly crumbled. It became bits and pieces and fell to the ground.
The middle-aged man escaped from the sand coffin. Right as he wanted to give chase, the communicator on his wrist suddenly began to vibrate. He looked over at it and had a change in expression. "Not good, someone actually invaded the headquarters." He ruthlessly looked over at the direction Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong had escaped towards and spat. "It's your lucky day!" Then, he quickly headed back to the headquarters. Although capturing these hidden spies were important, the headquarters was more important.
After running for some time, Leng Hanfeng discovered that the middle-aged man wasn't chasing them. He then looked at Gu Zhengrong, who had already fainted. Leng Hanfeng had a complicated look on his face, then he sighed. "Elder Brother Gu, I'm sorry. Just as you said, the responsibility of a soldier is to put the mission first." Leng Hanfeng looked towards the headquarters in the central area of the forest and continued, "I won't leave until I find out what's inside their headquarters."
Leng Hanfeng carefully set Gu Zhengrong down on top of a thick branch on one of the large trees. He was afraid that Gu Zhengrong would fall down, so he used a belt to tie him to that branch. Then, he disguised himself. As long as no one looked at him closely, he probably wouldn't be found out.
After finishing everything, Leng Hanfeng left the scene and moved towards the center of the forest.
Not long after Leng Hanfeng had left, Gu Zhengrong, who had been unconscious, began to move his fingers…
Ling Lan, who was hidden around the main gate of the enemies' headquarters, finally acquired the information about the intersecting sight lines of all the members in the patrol team, along with the blink frequency of the two guards by the gate.
It couldn't be helped, this was the way this headquarters chose to guard their gate. They didn't use high-tech surveillance equipment that had no blind spots to guard their gates. Instead, they used people to guard it. If she wanted to silently enter the headquarters and not be seen by the 10 or more pairs of eyes intently staring at the gate, it would be almost impossible, especially the two guards at the door which seemed to have been ordered to look at the direction opposite of the door.
Luckily, it was only almost impossible and not completely impossible. Of course, if it wasn't Ling Lan it would be completely impossible for anyone else.
After calculating and planning for a short while, Ling Lan finally calculated the timing between the blinking speed of the two guards. Of course, this timing had already eliminated the sight lines of the patrol team. Ling Lan finally confirmed when she needed to make a move.
Finally, after waiting for that small window of time, Ling Lan flew out as light as a feather and silently moved towards the direction of the gate. Suddenly, the gate opened slightly revealing a small opening which Ling Lan instantly slid through.
As expected, the Li family's inner mansion was the one with the problems, who told them to not have any high-tech equipment! After the traumatizing experience, Little Four began to judge places that had made him lose his dignity in front of his Boss.
It turns out, it was all Little Four's work that made the gate open.
The place Ling Lan was hiding at was not too far from the gate. This distance was enough for Little Four to use Ling Lan's spiritual power to reach to the scanner on the gate. This high-tech and difficult to crack equipment was similar to a naked Little Blossom that he could bully however he wanted…
Little Four felt that comparison was weird, but he always saw others describe it in that way. Some people really liked to say that, but bullying is bullying, but why do they not wear any clothes? Does that them easier to bully? In reality, Little Four believed that a naked Little Blossom would go on a rampage and wouldn't be so easily bullied… but he didn't have anyone else to bully other than Little Blossom.
He really couldn't understand how the people in his Boss's world thought. Little Four sighed sadly. He had just recently discovered that he was really smart in some ways. It was no wonder that he was a one of a kind intelligent entity.
The equipment and machines in the headquarters were undoubtedly technologically advanced. However, when faced with this overpowering force called Little Four, they were all useless. If it wasn't for the fact that his Boss Ling Lan told him not to alarm those in the base, Little Four would have already taken over the base and let his Boss go anywhere she wanted.
However, Little Four couldn't help but respect the person who designed the headquarters. If it wasn't Ling Lan who had entered the base, it would be impossible for hackers to use other methods to get through the headquarters' defenses.
That was because this headquarters was not connected to any satellite. All of its wiring did not connect to anything outside. The water and electricity it used was created within the base. The mainframe of the headquarters also only integrated into this headquarters and had never connected with anything outside of virtual worlds. It could be said that this base was an enigma. They couldn't acquire any information from the outside world, unless they sent people outside of the headquarters and go to the academy at the edge of the forest…
In other words, even if someone was to successfully enter the base, before they leave, they wouldn't be able to transfer anything they had come to know. Those people who had disappeared after taking on the mission of infiltrating the headquarters perhaps hadn't actually died. They may still be trapped inside of the base, unable to get out.
However, when Ling Lan entered into the base, all of this was no longer a problem… If Little Four wanted to, he could let the mainframe connect to any satellite and to any network, making this headquarters be known to everyone
Chapter 758 - Fake Domain!
Little Four managed to enter and leave the headquarters easily but Ling Lan on the other hand, who was lying in a corner of the gate where the guard couldn't see, was met with some difficulty.
Ling Lan knew that the security at the headquarters was tight but she didn't know that it would be this tight. There was a guard with every three steps in the underground passageway leading deep into the headquarters. It would not be easy to get past these people.
"Troublesome." Ling Lan knew that the longer she waited, the greater the chances of her being found so she needed to act now.
Ling Lan's body started melting into a liquid form, disappearing from the guards' sight. She couldn't evade all these pairs of eyes so she had no choice but to enter her domain mode, allowing her body to merge with her domain element.
Ling Lan's domain element was ice, and ice was a form of water. A year ago, Ling Lan was already able to control the three states of water, but Ling Lan knew that she must have some hidden cards so she didn't tell anyone about this, even when she fought with other people, she only used her ice attacks. She had never revealed the two other states besides the time when she merged with the rainwater during the princess escorting mission in order to fight with the domain realm master.
In that fight, the domain realm master died so her secret didn't leak out.
That meant that this was her second time using another state of water. This time, she used both the liquid form and the gaseous form of the water element.
The water flowed down the walls. Before the water went into the vision lines of the guards, it changed into a gaseous form. Ling Lan was afraid that a mist would form if she evaporated too fast so she controlled the speed of her evaporating. A minute later, the water disappeared from the wall.
"Ah Lian, don't you think that the air in the headquarters is fresher today?" One of the guards sniffed the air and said to the guard near him. They had been working together at this job for quite a while now so they were familiar with the environment of the headquarters.
"Isn't it the same?" But not everyone was sensitive to the change in the quality of air. The man called Ah Lian didn't sense any changes
"It isn't dry anymore." The person who spoke first expressed his thoughts. Underground places were normally cold and humid. High humidity would affect the integrity of the headquarters so the mainframe kept the environment dry.
"Maybe the mainframe adjusted the humidity of this place," Ah Lian replied indifferently. To him, this was nothing strange.
"That makes sense. I hope that the mainframe would continue to maintain this level of humidity," The guard couldn't help but comment. He preferred a more humid environment.
"That might be possible. The researchers probably needed to conduct their experiments in a humid environment. Let's hope that they will prolong their experiments." Ah Lian consoled the other guard.
While they were talking to each other, Ling Lan sneaked passed the two guards nervously. She didn't expect there to be a guard who was so sensitive to the quantity of water particles in the air. She was fortunate that they didn't think otherwise. If not, she might have been exposed.
Ling Lan passed the guards safely and finally entered the inside of the headquarters. She looked at the bird's-eye view of the headquarters Little Four showed her. She commended the faction which built this extravagant headquarters, to build such a huge headquarters secretly without alerting the government, this faction must be powerful. No wonder the Federation placed such high importance on this mission and sent a talent from the Flying Dragon Special Forces.
With the help of Little Four, Ling Lan didn't waste any time finding her way around the headquarters. She went directly to the places with the highest security and surveyed every one of them. As she continued on her stroll around the headquarters, she got more and more furious the more she saw.
"We must destroy this headquarters, the foundation of this faction," Ling Lan told Little Four as she walked out of a human experiment laboratory.
Little Four was shocked by what he saw too. Those cruel human experiments that appeared in history books was actually conducted in this headquarters. The experiments carried out in this headquarters might be even more vicious than what was written in the books. They actually used underage youths for their experiments.
"Now I know where all those domain realm masters come from…" At first, Ling Lan was afraid of the people in this headquarters. It was because all the guards in the inner parts of the headquarters appeared to be domain realm masters, shocking her greatly. When did the domain realm masters become so common? With those cruel experiments in mind, she finally got her answer. These domain realm masters were created through countless of those experiments.
She remembered the domain realm master who chased after Xiao Yiqiu. She hid her force of presence purposely so when she attacked him, she didn't use much of her power, as she just wanted to injure the skinny man and continue attacking from there. Yet, what had happened was out of her expectation. She managed to destroy the skinny man's domain easily, striking him square in his chest.
At that time, she could already feel that something was amiss with those domain realm masters, but time was tight then so she couldn't think deeply about it. Thinking back, these domain realm masters who were created do have their domains but there was major flaw about them, and the major flaw was their defense. Of course, the skinny man she met might just be an outlier of their successful line of domain realm masters. To affirm her thoughts, she needed to look for more domain realm masters created using this experiment.
For some reason, she thought of Qiao Ting. At Soldier City, her forceful attacks forced Qiao Ting to release all his energy and achieved a breakthrough to the domain. However, that domain was later proven to be just a pseudo domain. It was not stable. To stabilize a pseudo domain, the person had to achieve the domain stage which required many years of hard work and experience. The person needed to understand how a domain worked and how to use it properly.
This kind of domain was not as stable and powerful as the true domain as there were no weaknesses in a true domain. When compared to true domain realm masters, their domain realm masters were a joke. Their domains are fake!
Fake!
"Little Four, have you collected all the evidence?" Ling Lan had already searched through most of the places, but she felt a sense of danger at some locations so she didn't go close to those locations.
"Don't worry, Boss. I have recorded all of them. There are pictures and videos." If this place had surveillance cameras, his Boss would not have to come here personally. It seems like the people who built this headquarter were afraid that their experiments would leak out so they didn't leave any form of pictorial evidence behind. They didn't even dare to install surveillance cameras.
The paper documents they found were weird too. It was written using strange characters that didn't exist in the world. It was probably a language invented by the people in the headquarters. That way, only their own people knew what was written on it, even if it was stolen, no one would know about their doings.
Little Four recorded all of these documents too. He looked at a few pages and couldn't understand anything, none at all. But, this was not an unsolvable problem for him. With his powerful calculating ability, he would be able to find a pattern in the words and decipher its content.
Ling Lan quickly retreated from the headquarters. She found a safe spot in the forest and sent the evidence she found to the number that gave her the mission.
Somewhere far away, a major who had been taking note of this number finally saw a message sent to it. He got excited. "There's news."
His colleague, who was a major too, reminded him. "Take a look at its content first. It might be some normal information."
"That makes sense." The major opened the file. When he saw the gruesome photos flashing before his eyes, his expression changed. Every consecutive photo was gorier than the last. After looking through all the photos, the major rushed to the rubbish bin and vomited in it.
"What happened?" His colleague asked out of concern.
The major took a while to control his urge to vomit. He raised his pale face with eyes full of grief and anger. He said to the major beside him, "Major Liu, inform Major General Wu. We got evidence from Planet Azure." He closed his eyes after he finished speaking to hide his tears and anger. He clenched his fist tightly. Those people should die a thousand times for what they have done!
Major Liu saw the furious expression on his colleague's face and was surprised. He glanced at his optical supercomputer. His expression changed. He quickly contacted Major General Wu and reported the situation to him.
After some time, Major General Wu came over hurriedly with some officers who looked around 60 years old. Everyone had one or more stars on their shoulders. It meant that they were either major generals or lieutenant generals.
All the majors on duty were shocked to see so many generals in the room.
Major General Wu asked the moment he came, "Where is the evidence?"
The major who received the evidence had recovered by now. He pointed to his optical supercomputer. "Over here."
Major General Wu rushed over and took control of the optical supercomputer. He flipped through the evidence. The photos were shown one by one, and all the officers looking were shocked by what they saw.
"Bastards! This bunch of bastards…" One of the lieutenant generals slammed his clenched fist on the table beside him, shattering it into pieces.
"Hurry up and inform the people on Planet Azure to control the Central Scout Academy." The major general gave his order decisively.
His deputy quickly replied, "Yes, major general." They had waited for this day for a long time. All they lacked was evidence. Hence, they waited patiently for that evidence to come.
"Wait!" One of the lieutenant generals stopped him immediately. "The other line sent us some information too. There are many domain realm masters over there. Without an overwhelming number of domain realm masters on our side, we would be unable to control the Central Scout Academy. Furthermore, there are many scouts in the academy. If the enemy uses them as hostages, we will be at a disadvantage."
"We must gather enough domain realm masters!" The person who seemed to be in command gave an order. "Ask all the division, ground units, starship units, special forces, and any free domain realm masters to gather at the ground headquarters on Planet Azure within 24 hours. The time of action will be…" He looked at the communicator on his wrist. It was 1.23 pm now. He continued, " 1400 tomorrow."
Their opponents were already in an alert state by the numerous attempts to investigate the school. They didn't have much time left. If their opponents escaped, no matter how much preparations they tried to make, it'll be all in vain.
As the orders were given, everyone in the room started acting. They gave out orders to the various units near Planet Azure for them to gather on Planet Azure within 24 hours.
Major General Wu asked the major who received this document, "Were these evidence sent by the lieutenant colonel from Flying Dragon Special Forces?"
The major was stunned for a moment. "No, it was from the other lieutenant colonel." To ensure the safety of the person taking the mission, the mainframe didn't provide detailed information about him. However, one of the requirements for this mission was to have the rank of lieutenant colonel or above. Hence, the major addressed him as a lieutenant colonel.
"He is not…" Major General Wu was surprised and curious about the lieutenant colonel who had done what they couldn't for so long. Who was this person that managed to get this information before the person from Flying Dragon Special Forces?
Around Planet Azure, all the domain realm masters from various divisions and units received the order. Those that were free or didn't have any important task rushed to Planet Azure. However, domain realm masters were not common, even after sending out the order, the generals were still worried. This mission affected the lives of many youths. There must be no mistakes. If not, they would be unable to answer to the people from the Federation. It might also affect the political world, as many important figures would get implicated by this.
No one could bear these consequences, especially the generals who were in charge of the mission. These 24 hours were like torture to them.
After Leng Hanfeng left Gu Zhengrong, he quickly arrived at the main gate of the headquarters. When he saw the numerous guards and the high-tech door, he immediately understood why the spies before him failed.
"Boss, look at what I found." Ling Lan was still sending out the evidence from a tree nearby when Little Four shouted at her.
"Your roommate!" Little Four said excitedly when Ling Lan turned to look at him.
"Leng Hanfeng or Gu Zhengrong?" Ling Lan asked indifferently.
Little Four was dispirited. "Why didn't you guess Meng Shaoran?"
"He should be on the way too but he is not free now." When Ling Lan noticed Meng Shaoran following after Su Pei, she had already guessed his reasoning for choosing Su Pei.
It had to be said that he made a good decision. Su Pei was calm and knew when to give up certain things. He knew what he should do to gain the most leverage out of the situation. Compared to Xiao Yiqiu who was straightforward, Su Pei would give Meng Shaoran what he wanted more easily. Ling Lan agreed with his decision. If she was in the same situation, she would choose Su Pei too.
Chapter 759 - Appear On Stage All Prim And Proper!
"It's Leng Hanfeng!" Little Four was dejected as his Boss was too smart and calculative. It was hard to tease his Boss.
"It's him!" Ling Lan looked up excitedly. "Is Gu Zhengrong not with him?" After she saved Xiao Yiqiu, she continued her way to the base. As she was walking through the forest, she saw Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong fighting against a domain realm master.
This was something Ling Lan wanted to see. With Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong helping her attracting some of the attention of the guards outside, she would have an easier time getting in their headquarters.
"Nope, he is alone." Little Four found out that Gu Zhengrong was nowhere near Leng Hanfeng.
"Interesting!" They didn't move together. Looks like things are getting fun. Ling Lan smiled slightly. "Little Four, you did well today so I'm going to reward you with a great show. Let's just wait a while and, the leads of the show will appear on stage all prim and proper!"
Ling Lan silently climbed up a tree with dense leaves and branches. With the dense leaves and branches, it allowed little sunlight to hit the ground, shrouding the forest grounds with darkness. Ling Lan leaned close to a thin branch. The dense leaves and branches covered most of her figure. When the wind blew, she swayed along with the branches. From below, nothing amiss could be spotted.
Leng Hanfeng really wanted to complete his mission but he was not a rash person who would recklessly charge into his objective without thinking. When he saw the heavily guarded gate, he slowly retreated as he didn't notice any obvious way in, so he wanted to report the situation to the military first.
When he retreated for around a hundred or so meters, his expression suddenly changed. He instantly jumped into a bush.
A figure appeared at the spot Leng Hanfeng was at a moment ago. Leng Hanfeng was already very careful but he still got noticed by the guards.
However, he reacted well to the situation. The guard didn't seem to realize that he was hiding in the bush. The guard looked confused, seemingly to be doubting himself.
"What's wrong?" Another guard wearing the same uniform appeared beside him. Looks like they were a team.
"Nothing. I discovered some movements here so I came here to take a look," the other guard replied.
"Did you find anything?" His partner asked in concern.
"No. I probably am too sensitive," the person who came first replied.
"Maybe not… after we reached the domain stage, our five senses got more sensitive. Since you felt something, it means that there must be something suspicious here." The person who came late was more cautious than his partner. "To be careful, let's activate our domain to scan the surroundings."
The person who came first felt that it made sense. He was also worried that there was someone here so he nodded to his teammate's suggestion. They immediately activated their domain.
"So this is where you are…" The moment they activated their domain, all kinds of disguise were useless. The person who came first sneered and reached out his right hand. He attacked the bush where Leng Hanfeng was hiding.
The bush exploded, and a figure jumped out. It was Leng Hanfeng.
Leng Hanfeng flew back a few hundred meters like a shadow and quickly ran towards the edge of the forest. With him being discovered by two domain realm masters, he only had one choice: run.
"Chase him!" The two domain realm masters saw Leng Hanfeng and exchanged glances with each other. Then, they chased after him.
At that moment, a young man who was leaning on a tree tiredly appeared. When this young man heard the commotion in front of him, he looked up in shock. When he saw Leng Hanfeng speeding towards him, he let out a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Erm…" He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Leng Hanfeng shouted, "Run!"
"Huh?" The young man was astounded. When he saw the two shadows chasing Leng Hanfeng, he understood what was happening. He hid behind a tree and shooing at Leng Hanfeng with both hands. He was asking Leng Hanfeng to ignore him.
Something flashed passed Leng Hanfeng's eyes. He didn't slow down but changed his direction instead, running towards the young man. He grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
"I realized that whenever I meet you, nothing good will happen." The young man who was pulled along bore with the excruciating pain in his chest and ran with Leng Hanfeng.
"I also realize that I will meet you whenever I get unlucky," Leng Hanfeng replied nonchalantly. He was pulling a person along but his speed didn't decrease in the slightest.
"You offended two domain realm masters… even if you want to die, this is not the way to do it." The young man was pulled by Leng Hanfeng so he had some time to look back. When he saw the two people chasing them clearly, his face turned black.
"Gu Zhengrong, shut up!" Leng Hanfeng warned him. They were running for their lives now. He didn't want Gu Zhengrong to make any noise, interrupting his thought process.
Gu Zhengrong opened his mouth. In the end, he knew that this was not a good time to complain so he decided to shut up. He decided that once they are safe, he would cut all ties with Leng Hanfeng. He didn't want to get implicated by him ever again.
However, the difference between Qi-Jin and domain was just too vast. Not long after, the two domain masters blocked Leng Hanfeng from the front and back.
"I'm really going to die because of you now." Gu Zhengrong gave a bitter smile.
"Since you woke up, you should have left. Why did you come deeper into the forest?" Leng Hanfeng was unhappy about Gu Zhengrong's decision too.
"I'm afraid that some idiot would overestimate himself and get himself into trouble." Gu Zhengrong replied angrily. The two of them were seriously injured. Why didn't he go back and rest? Why did he go to look for the headquarters himself? Is the base so easy to enter? If it is, there wouldn't be so many people who had failed in the past.
"Are you saying that I have to thank you?" Leng Hanfeng scoffed.
When Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong started complaining to each other in a life or death situation, the two domain realm masters were stunned.
At that exact moment, Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng suddenly moved. They rushed towards the domain realm master who was blocking their way of retreat. If they wanted to live, they needed to subdue this person first.
Boom! Boom! The two domain masters resisted their attacks easily. Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong knew that they were so dead as the guard didn't even seem surprised by their attacks. They were too well-prepared.
"What a simple scheme. If we didn't discover it, we should quit the organization." The domain realm masters who fought with Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong gave a sarcastic smile to them.
"Brother, seems like we really have to die together," Gu Zhengrong said with a serious face. This was the first time he felt actually hopeless.
Leng Hanfeng didn't say anything. He pursed his lips tightly and stared stubbornly at the domain realm master in front of him. Gu Zhengrong smiled when he saw Leng Hanfeng's never give up attitude. "How about this. Let's fight one each and see who can last longer."
Gu Zhengrong turned and pressed his back against Leng Hanfeng's back. He said in a low voice, "Leng Hanfeng, remember, don't die too fast."
"Don't worry, I will not die before you." Leng Hanfeng could be quite irritating when he wanted to be. Gu Zhengrong felt frustrated. "Hope that you will do what you say. Don't disappoint me."
After he finished speaking, he looked at the other domain realm master. The domain realm masters didn't feel that these two little fish were a threat at all so they didn't initiate the fight first. As the stronger party, they felt it was beneath them to attack first.
Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong knew that this fight would decide whether they live or die. Their hearts were heavy. They secretly gathered their strengths. They hoped to adjust their body condition to its best state so that they had a chance to survive, no matter how small the chance.
"Hey, why is the atmosphere here so tense?" A playful voice sounded in the forest.
Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong were dumbfounded as they looked at the direction where the voice came from. A young man wearing a scout uniform was leaning against a tree and waving at them lazily.
"Meng Shaoran!" The two of them shouted instantly.
"Tsk, why are you two so passionate? I'm not used to it." Meng Shaoran gave them a look of disgust. "Brother Shaoyun is still the best. He is pure, sincere, honest, and not as fake as you two."
Little Four, who was looking at the show, laughed when he heard this. "Haha, Boss, you are pure, sincere, and honest. This is so funny." If their Boss was honest, there would be no liars in the world.
"Little Four, I seem to be too kind with you lately." Ling Lan clenched her fist and cracked her knuckles. She looked at Little Four threateningly. This person needed to be beaten occasionally.
Meng Shaoran's words angered Leng Hanfeng. He sneered. "You are dishonest too." They were not the only ones hiding their identities.
"Yes, yes, we are all the same. Why are you so proud of yourself?" Gu Zhengrong added on. He revealed how hypocritical he was.
Leng Hanfeng glared at Gu Zhengrong coldly. Who said that there were the same?
Gu Zhengrong felt that there was something wrong with what he said so he slapped his mouth and smiled awkwardly at Leng Hanfeng.
"So, are you all done with claiming your family connections?" One of the domain realm masters saw the three of them talking among themselves and immediately scoffed at them.
"I'm not his relative." The three men spoke simultaneously as they gave a look of contempt to the other two people.
This chemistry caused the faces of the domain realm masters to turn black. Are the three young men trying to tease them?
They exchanged glances with one another and understood each other thoughts. They attacked together. Their target was Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong. No matter how powerful a person was, they knew that they should pick the weakest off first. Meng Shaoran appeared without them noticing. This meant that he was much more powerful than the other two. The two domain realm masters decided to subdue the two weaker ones before combining their efforts to fight Meng Shaoran.
Chapter 760 - From The Start!
Their plan was good but they were not the ones writing the script. Meng Shaoran moved quickly and stopped one of them.
"Looks like you want to become our enemy," the domain realm master that was stopped said angrily.
"Tsk tsk. Look at how fake you are. From the moment I appeared, we all already know that we are not on the same side." Meng Shaoran jeered.
The domain realm masters' expression changed. Because Meng Shaoran stopped one of them, the other one had to fight Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong alone.
"I always know that I'm not so unlucky. Leng Hanfeng, looks like we have to work together again." Gu Zhengrong touched his nose nonchalantly and gave a smile. If they could escape from a domain realm master once, they could do it again.
"You can use your special skill again?" Leng Hanfeng raised his eyebrows.
"Hmph. We talked with them for so long in order to drag the time and let the recovery agents show its effects. Don't tell me you didn't use it." Gu Zhengrong raised his eyebrows too. He didn't believe that Leng Hanfeng didn't use the agents.
Leng Hanfeng shook his head stubbornly, showing that he didn't want to talk to him. Gu Zhengrong smiled. As expected of a soldier, straightforward and bad-tempered. Well, he should just ignore him.
The two of them didn't speak nicely with each other but they both prepared their stance for a fight.
When he saw two young men at the peak stage of Qi-Jin attempting to fight with him, a domain realm master, the domain realm master sneered in contempt. He decided to teach these two little brats a lesson. He would let them know what the phrase 'anyone below the domain stage is a nobody' really meant
He turned and said to his partner, "I will handle these two brats. Take care of your opponent and don't let him interfere with my fight."
"Don't worry, I will not interrupt your side!" His partner shouted back.
Meng Shaoran raised his eyebrows. He felt that there was an underlying meaning behind his words. However, he didn't have the time to think about it carefully. The domain realm master had already unleashed his domain, and it was attempting to engulf him. In response, Meng Shaoran released his domain without hesitation, creating his own domain space.
The two different elemental domain clashed with each other, forming a powerful and frightening energy. Trees swayed furiously, branches were blown hundreds of meters away. Yet, the clothes on Meng Shaoran and his opponent's body didn't move an inch.
At that moment, Gu Zhengrong suddenly shouted and grabbed Leng Hanfeng. He then quickly ran away from the battlefield of two domain realm masters.
If they stayed too close to the fight, they could get injured by some rogue attack. Moreover. there was a domain realm master looking hungrily at them. If they wanted to have even a chance to survive, escaping now would be ideal.
If they escaped, they wouldn't distract Meng Shaoran too. It was the best course of action.
Leng Hanfeng almost fell when he was suddenly grabbed by Gu Zhengrong. Fortunately, his foundation skills were good so he managed to stabilize himself and followed Gu Zhengrong.
The domain realm master who was looking at Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng got distracted by the fight between his partner and Meng Shaoran. This was one of the reasons why Gu Zhengrong dared to run away. When the domain realm master came back to himself, he realized that Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng were extremely shameless. They escaped when they outwardly show that they wanted to fight. He was indignant. He glanced at his partner and only chased after the two young men when his partner glanced back at him.
Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng managed to catch the domain realm master off guard and escaped when he wasn't paying attention to them. However, domain realm masters were too strong. In about three seconds, the domain stage guard had caught up to them. They only managed to escape for a few hundred meters.
In actuality, Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng didn't plan to escape. When they saw that they had achieved their goal, they stopped.
Gu Zhengrong calculated the distance and smiled in satisfaction. "This far is good enough. We will not affect Meng Shaoran at this distance."
"Yes!" Leng Hanfeng agreed with a serious gaze.
"Now, our lives are up to us." Gu Zhengrong was serious too. He had already accepted their faith in dying in the hands of the two guards. However, Meng Shaoran's help gave them some hope of surviving.
Leng Hanfeng was not a talkative person, so he didn't say anything else. He focused on the domain realm master who was walking towards them step by step.
Gu Zhengrong and Leng Hanfeng released their full power. The former's force of presence was even stronger than the latter as he was a step away from the optimal peak Great Perfection of Qi-Jin. This was his true strength. He could only break through the bottleneck and enter a step into the domain stage when he uses his secret skill. However, the consequence of using the skill was huge. Unless it was absolutely necessary, Gu Zhengrong would not use it.
"Overconfident little kids, do you think that you two could fight against a domain realm master?" The domain realm master slowly walked forward as he mocked them.
"You talk too much!" Gu Zhengrong looked at him with disdain.
The domain realm master turned red with anger when he heard that. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out. He didn't know what to say. Leng Hanfeng looked at him pitifully. When Gu Zhengrong decided to be harsh, he could hurt someone quite badly.
"You are looking for death!" The domain realm master finally lost control of his anger. He released his domain power and charged towards Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong.
A few hundred meters away, Meng Shaoran and the domain realm master were at a standstill, with one side constantly attacking and the other side constantly defending. Both sides couldn't subdue the other person. The domain realm master was on the defending side as he could replenish his constantly harassed earth wall with ample amounts of earth element due to them fighting in a forest which favours the earth element. Additionally, being on the defensive was an earth element domain's specialty. As Meng Shaoran's domain element was fire, he was more adept at attacking than defending, but with the lack of fire element in the forest, his weakened fire attack couldn't break through the empowered earth wall of the domain realm master, thus making both sides not gain any advantages.
Boom!
The entire forest shook as a loud shockwave was heard. Meng Shaoran and the domain realm master looked at the direction where the shockwave came from. It was where Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong escaped to.
"Looks like they started fighting," Meng Shaoran muttered.
"Your companions might be dead by now." The domain realm master gave a delighted smile. When his partner comes back, this young man would be dead.
Meng Shaoran raised his eyebrows. "Why are you so confident? I personally think that your partner might be the dead instead." If the person he was looking for was among the two of them, the domain realm master would die instead.
"If that's the case, let's make a bet. Do you think the person who appears later will be from your side or from my side?" The domain realm master gave an arrogant smile.
"Bet? Is there a need for it?" Meng Shaoran smiled evilly.
"Haha, there is no need. I'll definitely win." The domain realm master laughed loudly.
"No, I just feel that there is no need to make a bet with a dead person." Meng Shaoran looked at his opponent maliciously. From the start of the fight, he had never thought of letting his opponent off alive.
"Bastard!" The domain realm master was furious. Multiple thorns formed in his domain space, and they flew towards Meng Shaoran at lightning speed.
"Fire elements are mostly used for attacking but that doesn't mean that it couldn't be used for defending." Meng Shaoran waved his hand and a fire wall appeared in front of him.
The thorns struck the fire wall. They were not blocked by it. Instead, the fire wall burnt the thorns made using the earth element and turned it into ashes. Even in a defensive position, the fire element showed signs of offense.
While the earth element and fire element were clashing on this side, another situation was happening on the other side.
Let us look back at the moment when Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong started fighting with the other domain realm master.
"You are looking for death!" The domain realm master finally lost control of his anger. He released his domain power and charged towards Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong.
Boom! Huge forces collided with one another. The ground shook. The place where Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong were standing at was covered with dust and soil.
After some time, the dust slowly settled revealing Leng Hanfeng standing still and grabbing a hand that was reaching for his heart. In his other hand, multiple lightning spears could be seen. The tips of the lightning spears were pointing at the throat of the domain realm master who attacked him.
If he could form lightning spears, it meant that he was an experienced domain realm master who understood how a domain worked.
Leng Hanfeng, who had been beaten up all the time, was actually a domain realm master!
"When did you suspect me?" Gu Zhengrong asked curiously after his lethal attack was stopped by Leng Hanfeng.
"From the start," Leng Hanfeng replied indifferently.
"The lightning element is the most powerful in terms of attacking. You are the person from the Flying Dragon Special Forces." Gu Zhengrong finally understood everything. "Who is Meng Shaoran then? Is he the person doing the mission?" If Meng Shaoran didn't reveal his domain power, he would not have decided that Leng Hanfeng was the person he was finding. This mistake caused him to fail his entire plan.
Leng Hanfeng didn't reply to him. He just stared at him coldly.
Gu Zhengrong said with pity, "Leng Hanfeng, you are damn careful." It was too difficult to fish any information out from him.
"Since you never believed me, why did you save me?" Gu Zhengrong didn't understand.
"I didn't know who you are!" He was worried that Gu Zhengrong was on his side so Leng Hanfeng waited until he for sure knew Gu Zhengrong's identity.
Chapter 761 - Ling Xiao's Secret!
"I see!" Gu Zhengrong finally understood. Leng Hanfeng was uncertain about his identity so he came back. "There is another thing I want to ask you. When did I reveal myself and made you certain that I'm not the person you are looking for? How did you know that I will attack you."
When Leng Hanfeng stopped his ambush accurately, he knew that he had already been exposed. It meant that Leng Hanfeng had already concluded that he was an enemy, not a friend.
"When you used your domain," Leng Hanfeng replied to him directly.
"My domain? What's wrong with my domain?" Gu Zhengrong was confused.
"It's weird. It made me feel uncomfortable!" Leng Hanfeng turned and looked at the domain realm master who was stopped by his lightning bolt. He said in a cold voice, "He gave me the same feeling too, including the first domain realm master we met. You all possess different elements but the feeling you gave off is the same, and it made me uncomfortable."
Actually, Leng Hanfeng already felt uncomfortable the first time Gu Zhengrong used his secret skill. At that time, he just thought that it was because of the secret skill. Hence, he didn't think deeper into it. However, Gu Zhengrong shouldn't have fought with the domain realm master for ten seconds, as it created a scene that made him realize the similarities in their domains.
At that moment, Leng Hanfeng started suspecting Gu Zhengrong. He helped him escape but he guarded against him too.
"That is why you purposely tie me on a tree and said those words to me, right? You want to make me believe that you are a soldier and was duty-bound to finish your mission which is to investigate the headquarters." Gu Zhengrong found all the answers he needed. He knew why he had failed to find his enemy's base inside the school.
"If you are still unconscious on the tree when I came back, I might have brought you back to my base camp. However, your patience is not as good as I imagined." Leng Hanfeng could be as irritating as Gu Zhengrong when he talked.
Gu Zhengrong turned red in anger when he heard this. He gritted his teeth. This was why he didn't like Leng Hanfeng. He had three temporary roommates, and Little Brother Shaoyun was best out of the three as he was cute and harmless.
"All in all, you were acting. You wanted to force me to attack. Not bad, as a domain realm master, you were willing to be beaten up so badly. Are you not afraid of being laughed at?" Gu Zhengrong retaliated.
"It's good to be cautious as a mistake could be lethal." Leng Hanfeng had his suspicion but before the other party attacked him, he would not reveal himself easily. He was afraid that he would make a wrong judgment and hurt his friend.
"Leng Hanfeng, you are cautious I give you that, but I think that you are too indecisive. How could you wait for me to attack when you are being chased by a domain realm master?" Gu Zhengrong smiled.
Leng Hanfeng replied, "A domain realm master is not a threat to me."
"True. For someone who has the most powerful offensive element, you should be confident. Unfortunately, your overconfidence and your indecisive personality will kill you." As Gu Zhengrong finished talking, purple lightning bolts formed on his hand which was being held by Leng Hanfeng. The sound of electricity was apparent.
The strong electricity forced Leng Hanfeng's hand away and pushed Leng Hanfeng a few meters back, but the lightning spears that were pointing at the domain realm master's throat didn't move. Instead, it had lengthened itself.
"A lightning domain?" Leng Hanfeng frowned. He had prepared himself for the fact that Gu Zhengrong was a domain realm master. Furthermore, after experiencing the domain of his two opponents, he was confident that he could subdue them. However, the element that Gu Zhengrong had was unexpected as he had the lightning element too.
"Didn't you use the earth element? Is your innate talent not of the earth element?" Leng Hanfeng remembered that when Gu Zhengrong fought with the first domain realm master they met, he used an earth domain. The element of the domain stem from the innate talent of a person, and there was only one innate talent in a single person… so why did Gu Zhengrong have two totally different elements? Leng Hanfeng was puzzled.
The domain realm master who was currently threatened by lightning spears by his throat smiled. He said proudly, "He is the most perfect creation of our organization. His innate talent is the strongest innate talent in the universe."
"The strongest innate talent?" Leng Hanfeng was stunned. He didn't know that there was an innate talent that could allow a person to use two different elements.
The lightning spear started crackling menacingly in Gu Zhengrong's hand. It looked the same as the one Leng Hanfeng had in his hand. Gu Zhengrong looked at his weapon with satisfaction. He could sense the dangerous lightning energy coursing through his body. This was the domain he wanted. It was worth going to the Central Scout Academy for this.
"I don't know what kind of innate talent can be considered the strongest in the world." His lightning innate talent was keyed as the strongest in terms of offensive ability, but it didn't dare to be called the strongest innate talent. "Even if there is one, it will only appear in the future. It will not be something someone already has."
"No, this innate talent has already appeared. Your military just missed it." Gu Zhengrong smiled proudly. "However, our organization didn't. We spent more than 20 years trying to decipher this innate talent, and it was finally passed onto me."
"You make me curious. What kinds of innate talent did our military miss? What innate talent made you all so crazy? You were willing to spend so much time and manpower trying to decipher this innate talent." Leng Hanfeng was really curious.
Gu Zhengrong smiled happily. "A god-class operator, one of the ten generals in your Federation, Ling Xiao. His innate talent is Duplication. That is the strongest innate talent in the world. However, you all didn't seem to notice it. As for Ling Xiao, I'm not sure if he understands his true capability. I don't even know if he is a domain realm master yet."
Leng Hanfeng's expression changed entirely. "If he is a domain realm master, he would know that he could duplicate other people's domain, right?"
Leng Hanfeng now understood why Gu Zhengrong had the lightning element. The other party duplicated his domain. The earth domain from before was duplicated from someone else's domain too. From the looks of it, the innate talent of duplication was indeed the strongest.
Gu Zhengrong smiled. He had said everything he could. The information which couldn't be said would be kept a secret.
As for Ling Xiao's secret, it was time to let it spread. Ling Xiao's existence helped to keep the Federation safe for long enough. In the past, other countries had no choice but to hold back their desires to attack, but this didn't align with the motive of their organization. Hence, they must swarm Ling Xiao with problems so that he wouldn't have the time to care about them. That way, they could fish in troubled waters.
"Ah, my father's innate talent is the strongest one. He can duplicate other people's domains. Woah! As expected of my father, he is so strong." Little Four's eyes were filled with respect. He was elated.
On the other hand, Ling Lan was worried. If Leng Hanfeng told the Flying Dragon Special Forces about this, it would be troublesome for her father. Ling Lan believed that the Federation would not let anyone with this powerful innate talent have any freedom.
In that instant, Ling Lan wanted to kill the three people in front of her, including Leng Hanfeng who was from the Flying Dragon Special Forces. This was the only way her father's secret would remain a secret. However, she calmed down quickly.
Since the other party said Ling Xiao's secret so blatantly, it meant that they had made ample preparations. It would not be of any help if she killed the three of them. The organization that Gu Zhengrong was in would use other channels to spread the secret.
Ling Lan sighed. She hoped that her father could safely pass through this crisis.
"I'm still too weak…" Ling Lan was a low-level officer. She couldn't help her father in confrontations between high-ranking officers. "Looks like I have to become stronger and climb up the hierarchy. This is the only way I can help father…" Ling Lan felt a strong sense of urgency.
Both parties got what they wanted. Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong didn't have any intentions of talking to each other anymore. They looked at each other in the eyes silently for three seconds. Suddenly, the domain realm master who was threatened by Leng Hanfeng's lightning spears moved away quickly. When he finally escaped from the spears, he felt a huge sense of relief.
Leng Hanfeng showed him some mercy because he wanted to focus on Gu Zhengrong. If not, the domain realm master would not have succeeded so easily.
At the same time, Leng Hanfeng and Gu Zhengrong attacked one another.
The shrill sound of electricity echoed through the forest.
Two lightning spears collided. Sparks flew everywhere. The two of them were on par with one another. After a few rounds of fighting, the domain realm master at the side noticed a weakness and decided to act.
Chapter 762 - The Weakness Of Duplication?
Gu Zhengrong just duplicated the lightning domain so his ability to control it was still poor. After fighting a few rounds with Leng Hanfeng, the lightning spear in his hand turned unstable. Then, under a continuous barrage of Leng Hanfeng's powerful attacks, the lightning spear in his hand dispersed, turning into lightning bolts which slowly disappeared into the air.
Leng Hanfeng's eyes lit up, and the lightning spear in his hand got stronger. He stabbed viciously at Gu Zhengrong, intending to kill him with a single strike.
Gu Zhengrong didn't panic. A thick and sturdy earth wall appeared in front of him, helping him to block the attack.
The lightning spear pierced into the earth wall. The powerful lightning energy was grounded with the help of the earth wall, immediately dispersing the lightning energy, making Leng Hanfeng stunned.
While he was stunned, the ground below Leng Hanfeng suddenly puffed up. It turned into a huge mouth, wanting to swallow Leng Ha
Chapter 763 - Northeastern Muqi!
Ling Lan didn't know if this weakness was because Gu Zhengrong was not powerful enough or was it a weakness of the innate talent. Is it a unique weakness of the innate talent Duplication? Ling Lan was confused. She decided to look for her father when she goes back home. She realized that her father was keeping many secrets from her.
"Looks like the innate talent Duplication is not that strong." Leng Hanfeng noticed this weakness too.
Gu Zhengrong didn't look good. There was a weakness in his innate talent. He could duplicate other people's domain and control the domain, but that was it. Any further progression would require much of his time and effort. He didn't know if it was a natural weakness or was it unique to him.
His innate talent Duplication had another flaw too, and it was something only he knew. He could only duplicate up to two people's domains. If he wanted to duplicate another domain, he needed to give up one of the original two domains. It meant that the time spent on understanding the said domain would be wasted. This was why he was very picky when duplicating a domain. He was afraid that he would meet a better domain. Then, his efforts before it would be for nothing.
The first element he chose to duplicate was the earth element. He realized the weakness in his defense so he chose the earth element which was the strongest in terms of defense. Since he managed to become the strongest person created by the organization, Gu Zhengrong was no doubt an intelligent person. He had already realized the flaws in his domain but he kept it to himself.
He didn't care much about the other domain that he had because he knew that it was just temporary. He would have to give it up anyway. Only when Leng Hanfeng's domain appeared did he realize that his domain was the domain he was waiting for.
He had the most powerful defensive element, earth and now, he had the most powerful offensive element, lightning. This was the best path Gu Zhengrong had planned for himself.
Gu Zhengrong had calculated everything. However, he didn't expect Leng Hanfeng to be so powerful. Leng Hanfeng survived the combined attacks of him and his comrade and even managed to kill the latter. The person in a dire situation now was him, Gu Zhengrong.
Thinking about this, Gu Zhengrong felt like giving up, but his life was just starting, so he didn't want to die now.
The ground below Gu Zhengrong suddenly opened. Gu Zhengrong sank into the ground and disappeared in an instant.
Leng Hanfeng's expression changed. He raised his hand and a bolt of purple lightning shot out of his hand.
Boom! The lightning bolt struck the floor and flowed underground.
"Huh?" Leng Hanfeng raised his eyebrows in surprise. He didn't hit Gu Zhengrong. Where did Gu Zhengrong go?
Leng Hanfeng didn't believe that Gu Zhengrong was able to escape from his domain space in such a short time. When he killed the domain realm master, he had activated his domain and encased Gu Zhengrong within his domain. This was why he was able to speak so calmly with Gu Zhengrong. He was confident that Gu Zhengrong would not be able to escape his domain space.
"How did he do it?" Leng Hanfeng was curious.
"Because he duplicated your domain." A familiar voice was heard. Leng Hanfeng looked up and saw Meng Shaoran leaning against a tree nonchalantly. It seems like he had already killed his opponent.
"You saw everything?" Leng Hanfeng was not surprised that Meng Shaoran was here.
"Yes. I came when you killed the domain realm master." Meng Shaoran didn't come too close. He just stood beside the tree. He was a domain realm master too but he didn't want to get barraged by the seemingly infinite number of powerful lightning bolts.
"I know who you are but we should still follow the procedure." Leng Hanfeng raised his eyebrows. "928UROQRM98RQ…" Leng Hanfeng said a series of alphabets and numbers, and Meng Shaoran gave an evil smile. This was the person he was looking for. He replied with another series of alphabets and numbers. Then, they exchanged some codes. Leng Hanfeng smiled. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Tang Ningyu. I'm from the Flying Dragon Special Forces."
"Mu Chaoran, from Northeastern Muqi," Meng Shaoran, whose real name was Mu Chaoran, replied. Mu Chaoran was a lazy person, so he didn't change much of his name.
"First-rank elite family, Northeastern Muqi? Why isn't your name Muqi Chaoran?" Tang Ningyu was puzzled.
Mu Chaoran smiled. "Once members of Northeastern Muqi leave Planet Guandong and become a soldier, we would have to choose between the surname 'Mu' or 'Qi'. This is a rule set by our ancestors. Don't ask me why." He knew what Leng Hanfeng wanted to ask him so he answered to him directly.
Tang Ningyu was not a stubborn person. Once he heard Mu Chaoran's answer, he didn't probe further. The conversation just now seemed casual, but they were exchanging glances with each other.
Tang Ningyu suddenly removed his lightning domain. At the same time, Mu Chaoran took over with his fire domain seamlessly.
"Come out." Mu Chaoran pointed, and a fire dragon flew towards the direction he was pointing at.
The fire dragon slammed onto a part of the ground that looked normal. A huge explosion occurred and a figure jumped up haggardly from the crater. Faint lightning bolts were flashing around him.
"You managed to achieve a balance between the lightning element and the earth element. No wonder you are the most powerful person in the organization. You should be the most successful and closest to perfect case that those fake domain realm masters were talking about, right?" Mu Chaoran gave his evil smile.
Gu Zhengrong looked at Mu Chaoran in astonishment. "I didn't know that you know about this."
"Not everyone is willing to become an experiment." Mu Chaoran thought about Su Pei. If they didn't come, he would become the next Gu Zhengrong, right? He just wondered if Su Pei would become just like Gu Zhengrong after the experiment succeeded.
For some reason, Mu Chaoran believed that since the faction dared to experiment with these youths who hated them for tricking them, they would definitely have a way to make them listen obediently to their orders and work for them.
Thinking about this, Mu Chaoran frowned. He started to feel hatred towards the organization that Gu Zhengrong was in. He thought about the righteous and chivalrous side Gu Zhengrong showed during this half a month they were together. He couldn't help but ask, "Haven't you thought of leaving your organization and come to the good side?"
Gu Zhengrong smiled. "What is good? What is bad? Good and evil are defined by the winners of the battle. Only the winner has the right to speak. Don't you know this rule?"
Chapter 764 - Old Man Hong!
Mu Chaoran only smiled after hearing Gu Zhengrong's words of mockery. He didn't get angry. He only asked because he felt it was unfortunate for a talented individual like Gu Zhengrong to befall in a doomed organization. Gu Zhengrong would be his opponent since he was keen on following his organization to the bitter end.
The three of them seemed to all have the same idea. The entire forest was silent for a short while. Then in the next second, all three of them sent out a terrifying domain energy wave which were of the lightning, fire and earth element.
Faced with the two of the strongest offensive elements in the domain stage, Gu Zhengrong had no choice but to give up on using the lightning domain he had copied and returned to using what he was proficient in, the earth domain. Additionally, the defensive properties of the earth domain was the strongest. In a two versus one fight, he would die a horrible death if he was to attack carelessly.
One purple purple lightning bolt and one flaming arrow hit a mud wall. The collision between all three elements caused an explosion to occur. As the dust settled, three silhouettes flew towards three different directions. Two of them landed firmly on the ground while the third one stood his ground only after taking many steps backwards.
"Ugh!" Gu Zhengrong, who had just managed to stand firmly on the ground, spat out a mouthful of blood with a pained expression on his face.
Tang Ningyu's domain was already stronger than Gu Zhengrong's domain. It was impossible for Gu Zhengrong to not be injured after taking a hit from the combined attacks of Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. Gu Zhengrong knew his situation very well. He didn't want to fight, but he had no choice but to fight. He wanted to run, but the two people standing in front of him would not give him a chance to run.
However, it didn't mean he didn't have a chance to live. This forest was near his headquarters so as long as he could hold on until those at the headquarters discovers his situation, they would send reinforcements to save him, then he would be able to live. After that, he would be repaying the two people who were standing before him in blood.
Gu Zhengrong desperately tried to prolong the fight, but sadly Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran weren't idiots. They quickly discovered Gu Zhengrong's plan. The two of them looked at each other and understood what they needed to do.
Purple lightning began to crackle around Tang Ningyu's body, while Mu Chaoran became a dragon made of fire, and they danced around with one another, they looked like they were combining into double coloured spiral bolt.
The two of them prepared to use their most powerful attack to try to kill their opponent right there.
Gu Zhengrong's expression became complicated, and he was quite anxious. Why hadn't reinforcements arrived? What happened to the headquarters?
At that moment, a dozen black-suited individuals appeared outside the gate and successfully killed the two guards at the gate.
The leader of the group in black looked around at his comrades and said in a serious manner, "Our comrades helped us lure those domain experts away. We have to use this chance. Once we enter the inner parts of this headquarters, we have to be ready to give up our lives if necessary."
"Yes, captain!" The men dressed in black shouted in unison. At that moment another man that was dressed in black, who stood beside the door, shouted, "I got it." The gate opened and a pitch-black darkness appeared behind it which seemingly able to swallow light.
"Go inside!" The captain lead the dozen of men in black and headed into the darkness without any hesitation. Not long after, there were sounds of gunshots being fired from within…
"Beep beep beep…" The entire headquarters's alarm had gone off! The originally quiet and orderly headquarters instantly got into a state of panic.
The boss of the headquarters heard the alarm ringing in his room and had a serious expression on his face, "What were those domain experts doing out there? How have intruders gotten into my headquarters?" He immediately ran out and went towards the surveillance room.
In the surveillance room, the video feed of the gate showed that men in black suits had already taken over the entrance. The guards there couldn't do anything, and were all defeated. The men in black got into inner areas of the headquarters, but of course, they also had a few casualties during the battle.
As for the situation outside of the gate, they were none the wiser as to ensure hackers couldn't get in from the outside, there weren't any surveillance equipment in the forest area. Now, their decision came back to bite them in the back.
"Sh*t, finish off these invaders." Did they actually think the powers that protected the headquarters were only those domain experts?
"Yes, boss!" This order was sent out from their boss which caused the entire headquarters to move out. They wanted to quickly get rid of these invaders.
At that moment, the deputy beside the headquarters' boss softly asked, "Boss, should we notify Elder Hong?"
The boss of the headquarters glared at him and said, "You think we should ask Elder Hong for such a small problem?"
The deputy immediately nodded and didn't dare to say another word?
"Right, where's Young Master Rong?"
"He's still in the forest and hasn't notified us…" The deputy immediately answered.
The boss frowned. He was quite worried about the fact there wasn't any information coming from Gu Zhengrong.
Right at that moment, the boss's expression suddenly changed. He immediately ran out of the surveillance room. He jumped around and reached the square of the headquarters and looked at the gate of the headquarters with a serious expression.
The deputy stumbled out of the surveillance room and ran to the square with tired and audible pants. After seeing his boss just standing there and gazing at the gate, he shouted in a confused tone, "Boss, what's wrong?"
"Elder Hong has moved out," the boss said that and jumped once again. He then reached the gate of the headquarters. The deputy couldn't help but stumble downwards and follow in his boss's footsteps…
Around the entrance of the headquarters, a dozen men in black had already been grounded to dust by a strong domain. There were only pools of blood everywhere. If it wasn't for the fact that he had seen the invaders with his own eyes, he might have even thought that the video feed he saw earlier was fake.
"Ah, they're all dead," the deputy saw a pool of blood and shouted excitedly.
"If Elder Hong was to make a move, why would he leave any of them alive?" The boss knew very well how terrifying Elder Hong could be. It was just that Elder Hong had made a move not because there were invaders, otherwise he wouldn't leave the headquarters. There was only one possibility that could make Elder Hong leave the headquarters and go somewhere. That was if Young Master Rong was in danger.
"It seems that we can't keep this headquarters anymore." If even Young Master Rong was in danger, that meant the investigators the Federation sent were not standard soldiers and were real experts. The reason the Federation escalated it was possibly because they had strong evidence in their hands. Even if things were to get hairy, they weren't afraid of public outbursts.
"We've hardly operated for a few years…" The Boss felt that it was unfortunate. He now hoped that Elder Hong could take out the experts sent by the military, scaring the military to not dare to send anymore of their forces out. Then, they would be able to easily relocate their headquarters to a different location.
Inside the forest, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran finally completed the preparations of their final move. They waved their hands almost simultaneously.
A lighting dragon and fire dragon flew out from Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. The dragons opened their mouths and ruthlessly waited for Gu Zhengrong's head.
At Gu Zhengrong's position, the earth suddenly rose up and wrapped around his body, creating a sand coffin.
"Bomb! Bomb!" The continuous collision between the two large dragons and the sand coffin created deafening sounds. When the two dragons noticed that they weren't breaking through the sand coffin, they raised their heads and ruthlessly collided with it once again.
"Boom!""Boom!"
"Boom!""Boom!"
Every time they collided, the two dragons grew in size. Behind them, their masters, had pale expression on their faces. It seems the powerful attack made them deplete their domain's energy reserves.
"Break through!" Mu Chaoran suddenly shouted. As though it had felt its master's willpower and spiritual pressure, the large fire dragon lifted its head and ruthlessly collided with the sand coffin once again.
Although Tang Ningyu didn't make a sound, his lightning dragon also crashed into the sand coffin in a similar manner.
The two large dragons crashed into the sand coffin almost simultaneously. "Bang!" A terrifying explosion shook the entire forest area. In the center of the explosion, countless dust particles filled the air. In the end, Gu Zhengrong's real body was exposed.
The energy in the lightning and fire dragons were not completely depleted yet. They gathered up once again and shot towards Gu Zhengrong…
"Ah!" After a cry of agony, the two dragons went straight through Gu Zhengrong's body after his defenses were down. The two dragons, that finally depleted their energy, disappeared into the air without a trace.
Gu Zhengrong who stood at that location began to spit out vast amounts of blood. His eyes were wide open. In the end, he still get any reinforcements…
Suddenly, the body parts below Gu Zhengrong's chest area turned to dust. Half of his torso and his head fell to the ground. Faced with the burns from the fire element and the destructive force of the lightning element, Gu Zhengrong was already lucky that he still had his head intact.
Gu Zhengrong, who fell to the ground, was still not willing to close his eyes as if he was unwilling to die.
Seeing this, Mu Chaoran couldn't help but sigh, "This guy isn't bad and has good talent… Just unfortunate." If back then, he wasn't taken in by that organization, Gu Zhengrong would probably have been one of their team members and not their enemy.
"That's fate," Tang Ningyu said calmly.
Right as Mu Chaoran was about to say something, Tang Ningyu's expression suddenly changed, and he carried Mu Chaoran as he ran wildly towards the exit of the forest area.
Ling Lan, who had been watching the fight the entire time, also had a small change in her expression. She moved slightly and left the place she was hiding in. It was just that when she left, she took a look at Gu Zhengrong's head that was left on the ground and was somewhat doubtful of it.
Right as Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran left the scene, the place where they stood had a person appearing. That person had a head full of white hair with an older appearance similar to an elder who had already experienced life to its fullest.
On the ground, Gu Zhengrong's head that was left on the ground suddenly spoke, "Elder Hong, if you came any later, then I would really be dead."
"Don't worry, Young Master Rong. As long as your mind isn't destroyed, then you're immortal." Elder Hong held up Gu Zhengrong's head and snapped his fingers. Then, a person came down from the sky.
"Take Young Master Rong to the laboratory and give him a new body," Elder Hong ordered.
"Yes, Elder Hong!" The person who came to them carefully took Gu Zhengrong's head from Elder Hong.
"Elder Hong, are you going to chase those two?" Asked Gu Zhengrong.
"Of course, since they dare to wound Young Master Rong, then they must pay accordingly." Elder Hong's face had a face full of killing intent.
"Alright, but keep them alive. I want to kill them myself." Gu Zhengrong had savage look on his face. Although he could change his body, that was still his own body. It was destroyed just like that. How could he not hate them?
Chapter 765 - A Painting!
"Don't worry, Young Master Rong." Elder Hong smiled and waved his hand. He signaled his subordinate to bring Young Master Rong's head back to the base quickly. Although Young Master Rong was able to keep his mindscape alive for some time due to a secret magic art, there was still a time limit to it. The forest was full of danger, so the sooner they sent it back, the sooner he would feel at ease. Then, he could focus all of his attention on catching those two brats.
The subordinate received Elder Hong's order and immediately rushed back to the headquarters with Gu Zhengrong's head. Elder Hong allowed his subordinate to sent the head back because he was confident that no one was able to injure Young Master Rong when he, Elder Hong, the God of this forest, was here.
As he watched his subordinate safely leaving his domain, he then turned and looked at the direction where Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu went. In the next second, he disappeared.
Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were escaping furiously. Just as they were about to reach the exit of the forest, something changed. The trees around them suddenly exponentially grew taller and started moving frantically around them. Then, the trees attacked the two of them with their whip-like branches without any warning.
Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran knew that they couldn't evade the branches, because once they do, more and more branches would be flying towards them, especially in a forest with an unimaginable number of trees, so they released their lightning bolts and fire dragon simultaneously onto the trees.
It's common sense that trees were afraid of lightning and fire as they were quite flammable. However, there seemed to be something protecting these huge trees from catching on fire They were able to bounce the lightning bolts and flames away from their trunks, and even their leaves were protected. Soon, they were wantonly chasing the two people that wanted to run past them, back into the forest.
Suddenly, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran were sent flying up in the air while vomiting a mouthful of blood before slamming onto the ground heavily. A single strike was enough to severely injure them. The other party must be a domain realm master who had a title. Unexpectedly, the headquarters actually had such a powerful domain expert guarding it.
Elder Hong appeared in front of them. He looked at them and asked, "Are you the brats who hurt Young Master Rong?"
"Young Master Rong? Hurt?" Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu exchanged glances with one another. They felt that this person was referring to Gu Zhengrong but wasn't he supposed to be dead? Is he not dead yet and was just injured? The two of them were uncertain.
"Since the two of you destroyed Young Master Rong's body, you must pay the price…" Elder Hong reached out his hands, making him seem like a Grim Reaper who had come to casually reap some lives, but Tang Ningyu and Mu Shaoyu wouldn't give up their lives so easily. A lightning shield and a fire wall appeared in front of them.
"Fire and lightning… you two are the ones who destroyed Young Master Rong's body. Well then, you will repay with your bodies then." Elder Hong was elated. He was worried that there were no suitable bodies for Young Master Rong back at the base. Now, there were two high-quality bodies lying in front of him.
"In your dreams!" Tang Ningyu wiped the blood off his mouth. He stood up slowly. He was certain that Young Master Rong was Gu Zhengrong. The organization was probably able to keep someone alive even when the person's body was destroyed. They just had to change body for the person who 'died'. This was not a normal medical skill. Tang Ningyu came from the Flying Dragon Special Forces, so he knew some secret documents which recorded the forbidden things done by humans, human experiments, etc.
Mu Chaoran stood up too. He wiped his blood off his mouth and laughed softly. "I didn't know that I will meet such opponents in a disguise mission. Interesting." He lowered his voice and whispered to Tang Ningyu, "Leave. I will take care of this."
"If you stay back, you will be as good as dead." Tang Ningyu knew what he wanted to do. This opponent in front of them couldn't be compared to the fake domain realm masters they had faced just now.
"Are we able to leave if you stay behind as well?" Mu Chaoran mocked him.
"It might not work but there is at least some hope." Tang Ningyu raised his right hand, releasing a ferocious lightning dragon into the air. I, Tang Ningyu, will not abandon my brother-in-arms to survive.
"If you don't want to run, I will do it." Mu Chaoran was furious.
"Sure." Tang Ningyu replied calmly, "That is what I wish for." If he stayed back and stopped their opponent, Mu Chaoran would have a higher chance of escaping. This was in his opinion the best plan.
Mu Chaoran had complex feelings towards Tang Ningyu. Tang Ningyu might not know who he was but he knew who Tang Ningyu was. He was the person who was given up by the Flying Dragon Special Forces in favor of Tang Ningyu.
Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu were of the same age. The two of them were born in two unrelated planets, Planet Guandong and Planet Wangjiao. However, their paths started colliding when they were eight years old.
That year, their innate talents were both awakened. They were much faster than most people and their elements were both powerful offensive elements.
The Flying Dragon Special Forces had been observing all the children in the Federation so they instantly got a hold of this news. Hence, Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu got picked up by the Federation at the same time. The Flying Dragon Special Forces needed a new leader for the new generation, and over time Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu became the forefronts of the number of potential candidates for this position.
After a few rounds of intensive fights, Tang Ningyu managed to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces while Mu Chaoran failed and was sent to another place. Everyone only knew of the base camp of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. They didn't know that the Flying Dragon Special Forces actually had two base camps. The other one was the shadow camp, which no one knew of its existence.
The shadow camp was filled with a bunch of outstanding talents too, but they were just a little worse than the members who managed to enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces. Hence, they were brought there. Mu Chaoran came there to be groomed to be Tang Ningyu's shadow.
A shadow was not someone who had to remain hidden in the dark. He was in the same position as Tang Ningyu in the shadow camp. The two of them were competitors. However, Tang Ningyu didn't know of his existence. If he overtook Tang Ningyu in terms of capabilities, he would replace Tang Ningyu and join the Flying Dragon Special Forces in his stead.
Of course, the possibility of that happening was very low. All the resources Tang Ningyu received were a tier higher than him. Furthermore, Tang Ningyu's potential was greater than his from the very beginning. Unless he gave up on himself, it would be impossible for Mu Chaoran to surpass him.
Since he and many others in the shadow camp could compete with the soldiers in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, why did Flying Dragon Special Forces create the shadow camp and groom them there and not in just one base camp?
It was because they were backups. What would happen if the talents in the Flying Dragon Special Forces got killed in a mission? It would be a huge blow to the Federation. Hence, shadow members like them would replace the position of the people who had died and become the new leaders of Flying Dragon Special Forces.
By right, his mission was to watch from the side and cover-up for Tang Ningyu in case he was in danger. Additionally, he was not supposed to help him. However, he couldn't stop himself from helping him in the end and now, both of them were in danger.
Mu Chaoran suddenly wanted to laugh. If he and Tang Ningyu both died here, how would the people in the Flying Dragon Special Forces react? The two leaders that they groomed for almost 20 years died at the same time…
Mu Chaoran looked at Tang Ningyu intently. If they didn't die in this mission, he would obediently stay as Tang Ningyu's shadow! Mu Chaoran made a decision. A fire dragon appeared beside him, and it started twirling in the air.
Elder Hong smiled sarcastically. Multiple branches appeared behind him and flew towards the two young men.
Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran waved their hand. The two dragons beside them rushed forward. However, the difference in power was too vast. Their opponent broke their offense easily. The branches easily pierce through into the fire wall and lightning shield protecting them.
Kacah! Kacah! The fire wall and lightning shield shattered into pieces. Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran watched helplessly as the thick branches moved closer to them. They would not be able to escape this time.
Bang! A huge collision occurred.
An enormous ice mountain suddenly appeared in front of them. The tree branches slammed into the ice mountain, flinging some ice shards into the air. Some of it hit Mu Chaoran and Tang Ningyu's faces. The piercing cold from those small pieces of ice shard caused them to shiver.
Elder Hong's expression changed. He waved his hand and all the branches retracted. The entire forest resumed its calmness. The ice mountain exuded a dangerous cold air that formed an intimidating mist in the forest.
An ice element domain realm master!
Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran looked at each other. They couldn't contain their excitement. They were saved. The military actually sent a domain realm master for this mission. The power this person showed proved that he must be someone with a title.
"Who is it?" Elder Hong shouted angrily.
Silence. Besides the three of them, there seemed to be no one in the forest.
"Damn it!" Elder Hong was frustrated when he couldn't find the other party. His white hair flew up. He placed his palms together and shouted, "Ultimate Blockade!"
Branches and leaves started growing out of the ground and manifesting in the sky. They formed two huge nets, one below and one above. The two nets moved closer to one another, attempting to capture anyone inside.
Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran got nervous again. This earth element domain realm master had shown the power of a formidable warrior. He might be even stronger than a titled domain realm master.
"Ice Blockade!" A cold voice rang through the forest.
The furiously expanding branches instantly got frozen. They stopped moving. Within a second, the green world had turned into an ice cold world. Only ice could be seen.
At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran. The person's back was facing them. He was wearing a black windbreaker, and the windbreaker was swaying slowly in the freezing cold wind.
The person had such a cold force of presence. When he stood in this ice world, Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran felt that it was so picturesque as if they were looking at a painting of a ruler in an ice cold world.