Shi Lang lay on the ground, his breathing was deep and steady. The others woke up slowly, and Jenkins was the first to wake up, and then he helped others regain consciousness. Amelia came to check on Shi Lang and Jenkins said, “He is awake, but seems to be in deep cultivation. We need to evacuate here and find a place to hide.”

Quinn said, “Jenkins is correct, let us move out. Thankfully we crashed in the mountains and have a decent cover. Darcx, you are a secret division operative. You will bring up the rear and ensure that you do not leave any traces. Everyone put your visors on thermal, Amelia will be our scout. I will bring up the flanks with Nexa, Jenks you carry Captain.”

Her aura was calm, and the people were all alert. Quinn was the second in command if Shi Lang was unable to command the team. Amelia heard the order and immediately she turned invisible and rushed forward into the mountains.

They were looking for a natural cave. Jenkins picked up Shi Lang on his back and moved with Nexa and Quinn on his left and right. Darcx moved behind them wiping off the traces. This formation reduced the mental pressure that the team would have to suffer. They would have to spend concentration on clearing up their traces. However, this arrangement rectified that.

Nexa was surprised when she saw Amelia vanishing into plain sight. She asked, “Amelia can turn invisible?”

Quinn replied while keeping an eye on the surroundings, “More than that, she can eliminate her presence from your senses.”

Nexa was surprised but they kept moving forward through the mountains. Jenkins suddenly asked, “What if they are monitoring us with the satellites?”

Quinn shook her head and replied, “We used the lob maneuver and appeared three thousand feet from the crash site. We used all the means we had to decelerate and land yet we crashed. Do you think they will be able to detect us if not for the regular surveillance from abnormalities?”

Jenkins nodded and said, “Vice-Captain you are wise.”

Quinn snorted but her chin was lifted.

…

After two hours, the team found a cave with a pond in it. They were about to settle when Amelia said, “Shit. They found us.”

Quinn asked, “What happened?”

“They have found the crash site and dispatched the forces. Just now one of the detection cams I left behind went off and self-destruct.”, reported Amelia.

Quinn thought for a bit and said, “What shall we do? Take out those Arcadians?”

Jenkins shook his head, “Bad choice, it will alert them and they will send more people, and we will be in a bigger trouble.”

Darcx was sitting by the pool and Quinn was getting tensed, she snapped, “What are you doing by the water? Fishing?”

Darcx replied, “I dropped a surveillance drone in the pond. The results show that there is another cave, leading through here. This is actually a water tube.” his speech was calm and the people were surprised.

Quinn said, “You all dive in and we rush to the secondary cave. Block the tunnel and Darcx, remove the traces.”, in a hurry.

The team reacted quickly. Quinn and Jenkins were the first to dive, while Nexa and Amelia carried Shi Lang and followed them. Darcx cleared the footprints and smell of their presence and then he also slipped into the pond.

They moved through the center of the tunnel. Jenkins was about to use his gun to demolish the tunnel, when Darcx said, “Stupid, the phaser will leave traces on the stone, move, I will handle it.”

Darcx touched the ceiling of the flooded tunnel and then he quickly moved to a safer distance. Then using his communicator he send a command to the nanobots he had deployed on the ceiling. The nanobot produced high-frequency vibrations and the impact of these vibrations made the ceiling collapse.

The team then moved through and came out in another cave. Amelia and Nexa placed Shi Lang next to a boulder, the man was half-sitting. The rest of the team gathered and Darcx said, “We came here in time, the enemy has arrived rather quickly.

He displayed the footage from the surveillance drones he had left behind. The drones were all nano-sized, and could not be detected without special means. The enemy forces were not specially equipped, they seemed to be regular patrol troops.

Quinn nodded and said, “We stay here till the captain is awake?”

The rest of the people nodded. Nexa asked, “What happened to him suddenly?”

Jenkins replied, “It seems like the crash wounded his body and he is now in a deep cultivation state to heal. It will take at least twelve hours before he might come around.”

The team began to discuss the plausible strategies.

…

Meanwhile, inside Shi Lang’s consciousness, there was only one thought that mattered to him, to harness the spirit energy in the atmosphere. Yes, this planet was rich in spirit energy and he was taking it all in. He was nurturing his physique, every single cell of his body was being fed spiritual energy. The result was that his strength was increasing exponentially.

The boy did not want to miss this chance. This strength will be better for him to use when the face the enemy. Yes, he intended to use himself as the cover for the rest of the team to sneak into the palace and kill the quartet.

Shi Lang was already at what the people from the cultivation world would call the second stage the spirit gathering stage. He was still going strong, unknown to him twelve hours have passed when he had stopped.

He slowly opened his eyes and the aura radiating from him shocked everyone. Darcx had even taken out his knife. He muttered under his breath, “Eight-star level?”

The people were shocked when they heard this. Shi Lang gazed at all of them and stood up from his spot. His whole body was emitting crackling sounds. He flexed himself and stretched himself letting out groans and moans of satisfaction. The team was still in shock, Quinn asked, “Captain, how do you feel?”

Shi Lang cracked his neck as if relieving stiffness and said, “How do I feel? Invincible.”

Darcx thought Shi Lang was joking so he chuckled and said, “Then how about you take out that patrolling group in the open?”

Shi Lang cast him a gaze and then he smiled. He said, “Amy, baby do you have a sword?”

Amelia was a scout and due to her stealth, she kept a sword with herself. She did not ask much and directly gave Shi Lang the sword. Quinn was confused and was about to ask something when Shi Lang said, “Whatever is about to happen here should be kept a secret. I will let you guys in later.”

The people nodded and Shi Lang dived into the pool on the side.

…

The patrolling team of the Arcadian Empire was camping beside a lake stream. A man with a broad back stood at the banks. A man stood beside him and said, “What are you thinking about captain?”

The man was the leader of the patrol party, he said, “I do not know why but I feel uneasy.”

The other man beside him frowned. They were all part beasts, they all had the instincts of the beasts. Suddenly, they both looked at each other and then turned to face their backs. They saw a figure standing on top of a tree branch, a figure dressed in black.

The captain felt a strong killing aura and said, “Attention. Enemy spotted.”

The figure was no one else but Shi Lang.

Just as the troops picked up their weapons, the figure vanished and they heard a scream. Locating the source they found a soldier on the ground, holding his hand and wailing from pain. Shi Lang had just cut off his hands. They did not have the time to react or register how things happened when another scream was heard.

Shi Lang was like a grim reaper, his shadows were the only thing that these people could see. the patrol unit had twenty people, and this beastmen with higher senses could not put a hand on where the person was.

In fifty seconds, Shi Lang was done taking down the twenty people, and the surroundings were still echoing with the dying screams.

…

Amelia and the rest who watched this were shocked. Darcx said, “Is this not invincible? He dodged a **ing phaser beam?”

Jenkins gulped and asked, “What happened to him?”

Quinn thought about something and then she said, “Could it be that his ability evolved with the breakthrough?”

Amelia shook her head and said, “No, he said that he will tell us the secret later. Do not let this scene occupy our minds. We should rush out. The time to finish the mission is very crucial. We have lost a significant amount already.”

Darcx asked, “What about the captain?”

Quinn said, “He is going to attract attention. We are going to sneak in like the dagger in the cloak. Let’s move.”

“Yes.” said the four and they moved out of the cave, Shi Lang had already cleared the debris in the tunnel to leave enough space for a person to pass on his way to the patrol crew.

While Shi Lang took out the information given by Cara about the military posts and commandeered a vehicle of the patrol group and commenced his journey to deal with the first post closest to him.

Shi Lang mumbled, “Like this planet, there must be other planets with spirit energy. It seems like I still have a shot at transcendence.”