Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When Ye Mo left the merchant house, he took off the diamond mask. The shopkeeper was keeping him company.

Before long, a city solider, as strong as a bear, showed up.

“Mr. Soldier, this young man is one of my distant relatives. He wants to join the Ice City Army,” said the shopkeeper, taking out a pouch filled with Transcendence Pills and stuffing it into the soldier’s pocket furtively.

“Join the Ice City Army?” The man secretly took the Transcendence Pills looking Ye Mo up and down, and then nodded. “A Transcendence Sixth Realm cultivation level. If you want to join the army, you’ll have to start from the bottom.”

“Sure thing.” Ye Mo nodded.

Later, the city soldier led Ye Mo to the military camp of the Ice City. The camp was within the Ice City, protected by patrols all around.

The castellan controlled the military and could send the army at will. The task of the city army was to maintain order in the city. In order to do that, they needed to collect information from adjacent cities.

Battles between cities did happen. The castellan from one city murdered the castellan of another city and sent the deputy castellan to replace the deceased castellan, taking the other city under their control. Such things weren’t unusual.

Some powerful castellans could control more than ten cities.

Ye Mo followed the city soldier into the camp and instantly felt countless powerful auras flying around. A fly could hardly sneak in there without being noticed.

The place was full of high-ranking cultivators!

In the distance, Ye Mo could hear the voices of training soldiers. The voices all together were like the vicious roar of a rampaging dragon.

Then, the city soldier led Ye Mo to a camp, built of iron and steel. He shouted loudly, “General, new recruit here.”

“Bring him in. If his cultivation isn’t good enough, send him away immediately,” said a rigid voice, like the ringing of a bell. This voice overpowered the training sounds from outside, indicating the man must be a Mid-grade Profound World Realm expert.

Ye Mo entered the military camp and saw a tanned man dressed in armor. The man was extremely boorish, chugging down alcohol rudely. Ye Mo cupped his hands and said, “General, my name is Ye Xiao.”

“I’m the general of the White Tiger Camp,” the man said in a relaxed tone. “My name is Ji Rulai. The lowest level to join the Ice City Army is Transcendence Fifth Realm. You’re a Transcendence Sixth Realm expert? I grant you leave to join the army. What’s your story?”

“I’m just a cultivator on the road who arrived at the Ice City recently,” Ye Mo answered respectfully. “I’d like to settle down in this city, so I came here to join the Ice City Army. I hope to make some contribution to this city someday.”

“Contributing to the Ice City isn’t that easy,” General Ji said bluntly. “There are four major camps of the Ice City Army, the Azure Dragon Camp, the White Tiger Camp, the Vermilion Bird Camp, and the Black Tortoise Camp. They are, respectively, in charge of attack, intelligence, seduction, and defense. You’re joining the White Tiger Camp. Our duty is to probe the intelligence of other cities, which is especially risky. If one soldier fails, an entire squad could be eliminated.”

“General, My advantage is speed which could be a valuable asset to intelligence tasks,” Ye Mo said calmly.

“Speed alone is useless! You also need strength, bravery, and wisdom, but I can tell you’re an energetic young man,” Ji Rulai said. “According to the latest information, plenty of cultivators from the Zone of Demon have entered the Black Forest Forbidden Land near the Ice City and generated a formation there. They haven’t made any big move yet, but the formation is rather strong. Your task is to go to the Black Forest Forbidden Land alone, in secret. Don’t get caught by the cultivators from the Zone of Demon, otherwise, you’ll be killed for sure. Don’t do anything. The only thing I need you to do is to collect information. Clear?”

“Yes, sir!” Ye Mo shouted loudly.

“Alright. Come on. Give Ye Xiao the map. If you complete this job successfully, I’ll promote you to be a centurion,” said Ji Rulai all out of sudden.

“No problem, I’ll get the mission done.”

Ye Mo took the map and changed his clothes into the Ice City Army uniform. Then he left the Ice City.

Opening the map, Ye Mo figured out the terrain around the Ice City in no time. Within a thousand miles, there was no other city at all, just the Black Forest Forbidden Land.

Ye Mo was quite curious about why cultivators from the Zone of Demon had come to the Zone of Chaos.

The Black Forest Forbidden Land appeared in front of Ye Mo. “Forbidden Land” meant there was no turning back.

The place was full of giant black trees, piercing the sky. The sky was covered by the trees so much that no light could shine through.

The giant trees were actually all tree demons with cultivation. If a human made them angry, the demons would strike.

However, the giant trees’ cultivation level wasn’t strong. A Transcendence Realm expert could handle them easily. The only troublesome ones were tree demons with a thousand years or more of cultivation. If they were that old, their cultivation level could reach the Profound World Realm.

Therefore, if you wanted to get out of the Black Forest Forbidden Land by flying, the giant trees would give you a hard time.

“So this is the Black Forest Forbidden Land?” Ye Mo murmured. “According to the map, this Black Forest Forbidden Land is massive and full of giant trees. In addition, there are all kinds of demonic beasts and bugs in it. Why would the Demon army choose this land to generate the formation? Is there some shocking secret about this place?”

At the moment, the biggest enemy of the Zone of Demon was the First Heaven Society. As the two powers competed with each other, maybe the Demon Lord was preparing for some fight here.

Hiss!

While Ye Mo was pondering the questions, a giant vine in the shape of a huge snake rushed out at Ye Mo letting out a shrill cry.

Swoosh!

Ye Mo reacted immediately, swinging his knife at the vine. The vine was cut in half in an instant.

But the vine wasn’t dead yet. It just became two vines, which both sprang to life and attacked Ye Mo.

Ye Mo had to swing again, hacking the two vines into four. Unfortunately, the four vines were still full of energy, hissing at Ye Mo.

“Brother Ye Mo, use fire! Creatures like these are always afraid of fire,” Ling’er offered Ye Mo a tip.

Listening to Ling’er, Ye Mo gestured in the air with his hand and generated the Zhu Immortal Holy Flame. Then he spread the flames on the vines and set them on fire.

The fire, however, caused an even bigger problem. More and more vines were flying toward him from all directions. Ye Mo had to keep spreading the fire and trying to burn down all of the vines.

Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh!

Another wave of vines started to attack Ye Mo, making the situation even more chaotic. A few moments later, he generated the Zhu Immortal Domain and used the Zhu Immortal Flames to cover himself. Finally, the attacks from the vines stopped.

Afterward, Ye Mo came across many other demonic beasts, but their power was rather weak. Ye Mo hadn’t met anyone that had a higher cultivation level than the Transcendence Fourth Realm.

“An average Transcendence Sixth Realm expert could easily enter this place. But getting out, won’t be that easy,” Ye Mo thought to himself.

Ye Mo was going deeper and deeper into the forest, and he realized that the demonic bests were getting more and more powerful. Some of them even had power in the Transcendence Seventh or Eighth Realm.

Deep in the forest, Ye Mo finally discovered a black area full of Energy Stones in the distance. Every Energy Stone was covered by Demon Qi. It was a kind of Energy Stone that could only be found in the Zone of Demon.

Moreover, Ye Mo also found numerous corpses of demonic beasts with their heart-stones missing, piling up around the Energy Stones like small hills. At the center was the giant formation, glowing a dim red.