After receiving their battle armor and alchemy pills, Aurelius and his companions set off toward the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, one of the largest naturally formed canyons in the world.
As they arrived at the edge of the canyon, the sheer size and depth of it took their breath away. The canyon stretched endlessly, its steep cliffs and rugged terrain a testament to nature's power. Surprisingly, there was no water source; everything looked dried up. Perhaps the canyon had recently formed, causing the absence of watercourses.
As they looked at the canyon, Aurelius and his companions recalled the plan they had discussed with Major Luther.
Flashback, Yesterday:
In the small conference room, Major Luther, Aurelius, and his companions sat at the round table.
Major Luther said, "Normally, to take down the 5-tier abomination, you can't take the normal path. The peak 5-tier abomination with fully developed intelligence is in charge of the battlefield. An abomination at that level can think like a human and organize all the abominations into formations to battle us. It will be harder to traverse the path."
"So, you all will take the path from Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon. A thousand years ago, we discovered caves inside the Grand Canyon. The caves are interconnected and lead to the other side of the battlefield. It took us 900 years to map out the whole paths, with the majority leading to dead ends and some paths leading to the other side."
"I think it's time to finally use this path to reach the other side, but the problem is the 5-tier abomination. Before, we didn't worry as 4-tier abominations didn't have enough intelligence to map the caves, but it is different with 5-tier. According to the statistics, there is a high chance that the 5-tier abomination will know about the caves and try to find the path, so we don't have a lot of time."
Hearing this, Lana asked, "Didn't it take us 900 years to map the path leading to the other side? What do you mean there is no time?"
Major Luther explained, "The reason is the difference between us and them. We are individuals; we are careful by nature, get tired, take precautions, and take time to map everything. Sometimes, for a few decades, we never surveyed the canyon, and sometimes we even forgot about it. So, it took a lot of time for us. But it is different when compared to them. They are negative energy lifeforms; they don't care about their safety, never get tired, never care about the death of individuals. If the peak 5-tier abomination summons a massive number of abominations from the 1st floor, they can easily map out the caves within a decade."
Lana and the others nodded in understanding. Seeing this, Major Luther continued, "So, we will use the canyon as a passage to the other end. I have already sent the map to your mail; please look into it."
Aurelius and the others then looked into their mail to find a link. As they clicked the link, the GPS app opened. The GPS app looked different; it had the imperial logo on it.
Seeing this, Major Luther explained, "Since this is an imperial mission and the map is an army secret, the hidden mode in the watch will be activated, After completion, all the data and links will be deleted. History and related data will be deleted as well. I hope you understand."
Aurelius and his companions nodded in understanding.
Major Luther continued, "After following the path, you will be able to reach the end on the other side. According to the latest statistics report, you may encounter abominations at the end of the path. You need to be careful and try to kill the abominations before they can make a sound and alert others."
"After you reach the end of the path, you will find a fortress. Like us, 5-tier abominations can create strategic buildings. We don't know how it will look, but we will depend on you to strategize and eliminate the threat."
"From my side, I will commission everyone on the battlefield to start a war. We will try to distract them and relieve the pressure from our side."
"Please make sure everyone comes back alive. That's all I ask."
Back to Present:
Aurelius and his companions traveled through the caves with the map. After two days of traveling, they were sitting inside a cave, resting, having covered three-fourths of the journey.
Aurelius looked at his GPS and thought, "There is still one day of journey left."
"The terrain looks complicated," Aurelius thought. "The path leading to the other side is sometimes narrow, sometimes wide. Some parts are weak, and just a little pressure can cause a collapse. Thankfully, we have a map leading us through."
Aurelius then looked at everyone, observing that they had recovered. He got up and asked them to get moving.
After traveling for almost a day, Aurelius and his companions were close to reaching the other side of the canyon. They were only 300 meters away from the entrance when Aurelius suddenly heard a sound.
He halted abruptly, causing everyone to stop alongside him. Gesturing that enemies were ahead, Aurelius used a technique called "Mind Eye." His perspective shifted, and from his soul body, a domain-like field began to form, covering a radius of 100 meters.
With the help of the Mind Eye technique, Aurelius observed five 4-tier abominations surveying the caves and searching for the path ahead.
Turning to his companions, Aurelius said, "Within a hundred meters, I noticed five 4-tier abominations. The entrance from here is 300 meters. We must not alert abominations beyond this range. Lana, you're the most capable among us for assassinations. You cultivate shadow techniques and can kill without leaving a mark. Since killing them will make them disappear into thin air, we don't have to worry about leaving any traces. What do you think?"
Lana nodded and asked, "Do you know the levels of the five abominations?"
Aurelius replied, "Three initial and two mid 4-tier abominations. Since they have just discovered the path, I think they haven't sent any higher levels yet. With your cultivation realm, you can easily kill them."
Understanding his plan, Lana nodded and said, "No worries, I will take care of them."
Lana quietly left the group. Using her shadow steps, she moved silently, without making a sound or disturbing even the dust particles, towards the nearest abomination.
The abomination was walking and searching for a path when Lana crept behind it and activated another technique called "Shadow World." A domain-like field enveloped both Lana and the abomination. This shadow domain created a sound isolation environment and an aura isolation field. Within this field, Lana used her Knife Qi to swiftly and silently kill the abomination. After the kill, she quietly moved on to the next target, repeating the process and eliminating all the abominations without alerting anyone.
When Lana returned to the group, Aurelius continued moving forward. The same process was repeated each time they encountered more abominations. Finally, Aurelius and his companions reached the end of the entrance.
As Aurelius and his companions neared the entrance, they observed a garrison just outside the cave. There were ten abominations present: two low-level, four mid-level, three high-level, and one peak 4th-level abomination.
Seeing the abominations, Aurelius turned to his companions, then addressed the two captains, Alex and Siri, who were mid-level 5th-level cultivators. He said, "Sir, I need your help in eliminating all the abominations. Please use your full strength to eliminate them as soon as possible."
Alex and Siri nodded and examined the garrison, contemplating how to kill all the abominations quickly and cleanly without causing any disturbance.
The garrison was square-shaped, with walls made of stones, creating a weak structure. Some material resembling cloth covered the garrison. Inside, all ten abominations were present, observing the surroundings and looking for any enemies.
Alex and Siri, using their battle force—an energy trained into military personnel that creates a circular field around them, originating from deep within the body—combined their forces. They used a technique that merged their battle forces, releasing energy capable of instantly killing any initial 5th-level cultivator. Both of them used this combined technique to instantly evaporate the entire garrison. Although it seemed like it took a long time, everything happened instantly, within seconds, without giving the abominations a chance to fight back.
Aurelius, Jake, Lana, and Chris watched in awe. It was their first time witnessing the military fighting technique.
Jake, recognizing the technique, said, "Battle force."
Hearing this, Aurelius looked at Jake and thought, "Battle force, an interesting technique. I hope I can learn it, but it seems I need a flesh body to master it. I can't learn this technique until after reincarnation."
Shaking off his thoughts, Aurelius, along with his companions, moved quickly towards their destination. At present, they had no idea where to go and needed to travel deeper to find the 5th-tier abominations.