The moon was bright and stars were few.
In the Black Rock Mountain Range, one could only see crows and vultures circling in the sky, while various magic beasts roamed within the mountains.
Fortunately, in this godforsaken place, most were just low-rank magic beasts; there were no powerful magic beasts claiming the mountain as kings. After all, magic beasts have to eat too, right?
In this Black Rock Mountain Range where even a ghost's shadow was hard to find, let alone finding something to fill one's stomach, it was already good enough not to starve to death!
By now, Xiao Lin had already ventured deep into the heart of the Black Rock Mountain Range.
It was only at this moment that he finally understood why Nalan Jie and his group had shown no reaction even though the people from the Chu Yun Empire had been wiped out by him.
"Is this... miasma? And it was artificially created! No wonder those fellows from the Chu Yun Empire were so confident they could keep lying in wait here to ambush the squad led by me and Mu Chen. It turns out they aren't afraid of being attacked from both front and back at all!"
Standing at the entrance to the deepest part of the Black Rock Mountain Range, what Xiao Lin saw was a sky filled with thick, purple-black fog.
This purple-black thick fog was the miasma. Now, with such a large patch of miasma existing at the exit of the Black Rock Mountain Range, how could Nalan Jie and the others dare to rashly charge out on a whim?
If the people from the Chu Yun Empire launched an attack when they were halfway through, they would all die inside!
It was no wonder that even though Xiao Lin had caused quite a commotion when exterminating the Chu Yun Empire group, Nalan Jie and the others still hadn't appeared. It wasn't that they didn't want to come out, but that they didn't dare to!
Even though miasma of this level could be braved by a Da Dou Shi using a Dou Qi Armor for protection to force a way out.
But doing so would consume a massive amount of Dou Qi for starters, and how could they ensure the enemy wouldn't kick them while they were down during the process of rushing through the miasma?
Therefore, under the circumstance where they couldn't be absolutely certain the enemy wouldn't intervene, Nalan Jie and the others choosing to stay put and wait for rescue was already the optimal solution!
After all, regardless of how loud the noise outside was, who could guarantee it wasn't the enemy playing tricks?
Meeting all changes with constancy was Nalan Jie's only choice!
Xiao Lin stood quietly before this patch of miasma, contemplating for a long while, and ultimately chose not to disperse the miasma immediately.
To prevent more people from knowing about the effort he exerted in this matter, Xiao Lin decided to let Nalan Jie suffer a bit longer; it wasn't like he would lose a piece of flesh anyway, right?
One must know, it was now time for the most crucial step of the plan!
Time continued to flow slowly.
Unwittingly, the moon had reached the center of the sky, and it was about to reach midnight.
At the same time, within the Jia Ma Empire's military camp, Grand Marshal Mo Ya had already changed into black night-walking clothes and quietly left the camp. He had to rush to the meeting place and agreed with the mysterious person who knew his secret!
As a Grand Marshal, normally speaking, he could not leave the military camp at will. That was why he chose to put on the night-walking clothes and leave quietly.
For Grand Marshal Mo Ya, who was a Dou Wang, it wasn't difficult to leave the camp stealthily; as long as he could handle everything and rush back before dawn the next day, no one would discover that he had quietly left the camp last night!
In this way, everything would still be under his control.
"I'd like to see just who has the guts to threaten me!"
After a low-voiced curse, Mo Ya's figure landed within the Black Rock Mountain Range. However, before he could even see the mysterious person who had invited him, he quickly discovered that something was wrong with this place.
"What's going on? Why can't I see a single person from the Chu Yun Empire in the Black Rock Mountain Range? What on earth are they doing? Did they not act according to the plan?"
The Black Rock Mountain Range wasn't actually very large; to put it bluntly, it was actually just a canyon.
Since the people from the Chu Yun Empire had chosen to counter-ambush the Jia Ma Empire's people here, they should have at least stationed some sentries in the surroundings, right?
But after Mo Ya arrived, he couldn't see a single ghost!
Oh, that's not right. When Mo Ya reached the entrance of the Black Rock Mountain Range, a few low-level Rank 2 and Rank 3 magic beasts had droolingly and warmly welcomed him.
Naturally, without any surprises, these few low-tier magic beasts were slapped into meat paste by Mo Ya's backhand. With the strength of a Dou Wang, killing these Rank 2 and Rank 3 low-level magic beasts was very simple.
After sensing something was wrong, perhaps relying on his own strength as a Dou Wang and feeling there was nothing in the Black Rock Mountain Range that could threaten him, he chose to venture deeper.
However, the further Mo Ya walked, the more wrong he felt.
"Hmm? No, this is... the smell of blood?"
His nose twitched twice in the air, and Mo Ya quickly caught a scent that was different from the air. As the Imperial Grand Marshal, Mo Ya had already experienced countless slaughters. Thus, he was very sensitive to the smell of blood.
The moment he smelled blood, he took a stride and ventured into the depths of the Black Rock Mountain Range at an even faster speed. Not long after, by the bright moonlight in the sky, he saw a massive pit.
Furthermore, on both sides of this deep pit, the originally massive black rocks had all turned into powder. At this moment, if Mo Ya were to look down from mid-air, he would discover that the deep pit was actually a palm print.
Of course, that wasn't the most important part. The most important part was that near this deep pit lay bodies that had already turned into meat paste.
These corpses were all embedded into the ground; looking at them, it was likely they couldn't even be pried out. Grand Marshal Mo Ya also noticed that these corpses were all wearing the attire of the Chu Yun Empire!
In this way, the identities of these people were almost self-evident. It was precisely the elite squad from the Chu Yun Empire that was supposed to be counter-ambushing the Jia Ma Empire!
"What's going on? Why is it like this? Who? Who did this? I'm going to skin you alive!"
Even though they weren't people from his own country, at this moment, Mo Ya showed a frantic appearance upon seeing these corpses.
To be honest, if someone didn't know the inside story, they would probably think Mo Ya wasn't the Grand Marshal of the Jia Ma Empire, but the Grand Marshal of the Chu Yun Empire!
Thinking about it was truly ironic.
However, as Mo Ya's roar fell, the surroundings remained silent; no sound came out.
That's right, Xiao Lin, who was hiding in the shadows observing Mo Ya's breakdown, had no intention of showing himself; he was calculating the time.
As for Mo Ya, he knew someone must be peering at him from the shadows, so he didn't dare move recklessly either. Against someone who could wipe out this elite squad from the Chu Yun Empire, Mo Ya didn't dare to have the slightest carelessness anymore.
In his heart, this was absolutely something only a High-level Dou Wang could accomplish!
As for a Dou Huang, it wasn't that he hadn't thought about it. But quickly, he dismissed that somewhat paranoid thought. After all, if a Dou Huang had really done all this, why would the opponent need to sneak around and play dirty tricks behind his back?
Wasn't it because they feared his strength?
This wasn't Mo Ya boasting; indeed, from his perspective, this was the most logical deduction.
Only someone with strength not much different from his own would likely plot all this, right?
So, although Mo Ya's muscles were tense and he was constantly alert of his surroundings, he hadn't reached the point of completely losing his courage and fleeing.
Although he was currently at the strength of a Seven-Star Dou Wang, as long as he didn't encounter a Dou Huang, even if a Nine-Star Dou Wang powerhouse was before him, he felt confident he could escape back to the military camp.
This was his confidence for staying in the Black Rock Mountain Range. Of course, the main reason was that Mo Ya wanted to figure out just who had ruined his plan. Otherwise, he wouldn't be satisfied!
After all, as long as he successfully buried the new generation of the Jia Ma Empire, the Chu Yun Empire side had promised to give him a Xuan Class High-level cultivation technique!
In that way, he would have the confidence to break through to Dou Huang!
Therefore, he would absolutely not allow his plan to fail.
Time continued to march forward for about fifteen minutes.
Finally, Xiao Lin's massive Heaven Realm Soul Power allowed him to perceive that at the entrance of the Black Rock Mountain Range, another dark figure had arrived. That was the commander of the Chu Yun Empire for this battle—Gui Zhu, a Five-Star Dou Wang powerhouse.
"Finally here, huh?"
The moment he perceived Gui Zhu's arrival, Xiao Lin moved.
Naturally, he still didn't choose to show himself; instead, he threw a purple sphere shimmering with starlight toward Mo Ya, who wasn't far away. That was precisely the gas generated when the Chu Yun Empire Eight-Star Dou Ling self-detonated earlier, which could mark others.
At this moment, this special gas was turned around and used by Xiao Lin on Mo Ya's body.