Chapter 104: For safety’s sake, let’s start with some carpet bombing

"Really? You’re only noticing now?" Robert gasped, clutching his chest as he regained his composure. "You’ve been here for over ten minutes, and we’re less than two meters away from you. And you’re only noticing now?"

"Alexander, your timing is impeccable," Robert said, catching his breath. "Had you not arrived when you did, we would’ve been done for."

Alexander gave a wry smile. "Of course. Judging by how fragile you both looked, death seemed inevitable."

Louis muttered under his breath, "A little humility wouldn’t hurt, you know."

Without another word, Alexander flicked his wrist, and like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat, he produced two pills of mysterious origin and tossed them to Robert and Louis.

"Eat these, quick. We need to find the High Priest posthaste. We can’t afford to dawdle here," Alexander urged.

Robert stared at the pill in his hand, awe filling his eyes. "Is this a dan pill? Alexander, do you actually possess such a precious thing? These are the stuff of legends!"

But before pondering where Alexander might have procured such an item, Robert and Louis swallowed the pills. Instantly, they felt warmth course through their bodies, converging at their wounds.

"My God! Is this... a Supreme Revival Dan?" Robert exclaimed, his gaze fixed on Alexander in disbelief. "The pill you casually handed us—is that what this is? Could you be... could you be the illegitimate son of a God-King?"

Soon enough, their injuries had almost fully healed. Louis stood up and gestured towards Lanxi, who was still lost in her own world.

"Alexander, she’s Lanxi. We met her while we were fleeing. She’s from the Daoist tradition of the East. She got separated from her master and she’s all alone. It’s rather pitiable. Do you think we could bring her along?"

Lanxi gracefully bowed to Alexander, her cheeks flushing with a winsome hue. "Big brother, my name is Lanxi. Nice to meet you."

Alexander’s face broke into a charming smile. "I’m Alexander. Welcome to our group!"

As Lanxi’s cheeks grew even redder, the sound of voices emerged from the nearby forest. Led by a ghost figure, Laura and her group quickly joined them.

"The Holy Maiden! You’re here too?" Robert exclaimed, clearly delighted.

Laura surveyed the group and nodded approvingly. "I’m relieved to see everyone is okay. Now the only one missing is the High Priest; I have no idea where he could be."

Alexander looked up at the sky, noting the waning light. "It’s getting late. I’ll continue to have my ghosts search the forest. We should head to the nearest military base to regroup. Given the High Priest’s capabilities, I doubt he’s in any real danger."

The group nodded in agreement, their faces a tableau of conviction and relief. Robert, who knew the High Priest best, felt assured. Though the Priest’s talent tier was ’only’ A-class, his level of cultivation had reached 120; no ordinary being could defeat him.

After a brief respite, led by Louis, they began their journey toward a military base deep in the Amazon. Time ticked away, second by second. The sky darkened, casting its nightly shroud over the Earth.

At last, after an arduous trek, the group reached the outskirts of the military base under Louis’s guidance.

"We’re here!" Louis pointed towards the looming, dark wall ahead. "That’s our destination: Military Base Number 1520. We can rest and recuperate there."

The group nodded and moved closer to the base. Just as Robert set foot forward, he felt intense fluctuations of spiritual energy emanating from the ground beneath him. A large magic circle instantaneously spread out, trapping them all within its perimeter.

"Damn it! Someone’s laid a trap!" Robert shouted.

Simultaneously, a layer of otherworldly thorns materialized out of the darkness. These weren’t ordinary thorns; their surface glistened with a haunting purple sheen. More unsettling was the misty black fog that coiled around their needle-like tips—a macabre blend of magic and nature.

Robert let out a roar, ready to charge forward. But Alexander grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, declaring, "I’ve got this."

In an instant, Alexander channeled elemental forces into his palm. With a heavy fist, he launched an attack into the shadowy thorns.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion rang out. The thorns were obliterated by the elemental force. A stifled groan followed from the darkness, clearly indicating that the trap’s caster had taken significant damage.

Narrowing his eyes, Alexander growled, "Who are you to dare trap me? Do you have a death wish?"

Without a second thought, Alexander darted into the darkness. A moment later, he emerged in a clearing within the dense forest. There, he noticed a man dressed in Taoist robes.

The man clutched his chest, blood dripping from his mouth, his entire body reeking of charred flesh, as if scorched by fire. When he saw the lingering flame element on Alexander’s hand, his face revealed sheer terror.

"Sacred Fire Element? How do you possess such legendary fire?" he stammered, stepping back.

"What do you think?" Alexander said with a smile.

Without giving the man a chance, Alexander moved in for the next assault. Clearly, this was the culprit behind the thorny trap.

The man hurriedly raised his sword in defense. However, as soon as his blade made contact with Alexander’s fiery element, it was severed with a crisp, resonating sound.

The gap between them was staggering. His blade stood no chance against Alexander’s elemental might. With a resounding clang, Alexander’s fist landed squarely on the man’s chest.

Blood spurted from the Taoist’s mouth as he was flung against a tree. Tearing open his robe, a jade amulet designed to protect his heart was revealed, now covered in cracks.

Alexander paused, "Ah, double insurance, I see."

Gritting his teeth, the Taoist glared at Alexander. "This isn’t over between us."

"Earth Escape!" he shouted.

In an instant, his body transformed into tendrils of dust that sank into the ground. Then, a rising mound of earth sped north toward the military base at an unimaginable speed.

Alexander was intrigued. "What’s this skill? Looks interesting!"

But he grinned, "You won’t escape, though."

Elemental earth forces began to radiate from Alexander, and like the Taoist, he too burrowed underground, racing toward the northern military base.

Meanwhile, Robert and the others arrived at the spot where Alexander had just clashed with the man.

Robert suddenly turned to Lanxi, who looked visibly shaken. "Are you sure the one who ambushed us is from your Taoist temple?"

Lanxi clutched her chest, speaking with an innocent tone, "That thorn trap is one of our Taoist temple’s Binding Spirit Formations, specifically designed for restraining enemies. We generally use it as a perimeter defense for our bases."

"Why didn’t you say so earlier?" Robert questioned.

"I was... startled," Lanxi said softly.

Ignoring her, Robert turned toward the high walls of the military base to the north. "Let’s go, quickly! Alexander is alone. If he’s mistaken for an enemy, it could spell trouble."

A glint of urgency and worry crossed Lanxi’s eyes as she swiftly followed the group running toward the military base.

’Alexander, you must be okay!’

’Disciples of the Taoist temple, please don’t hurt him!’

Meanwhile, Alexander reached the walls of the military base using his Earth elemental power. A barrier stopped him, but the Taoist priest he’d wounded earlier was clearly unaffected as he entered the base through the ground.

Alexander grinned, "Being stopped here isn’t so bad. There are probably ambushes inside. If I rush in, I’d likely get surrounded."

He looked up, his eyes gleaming with cunning, and quickly retrieved numerous spiritual swords from his ring, along with a multitude of fire talismans. Hastily, he tied the fire talismans to the spiritual swords.

"For safety’s sake, let’s start with some carpet bombing," Alexander mused.

In a flash, each spiritual sword carried a payload of ten fire talismans, and hundreds of such swords took to the night sky.

At the same moment within the military base, the Taoist priest that Alexander had wounded burst out of the ground, spitting out another mouthful of blood.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" he bellowed.

Within the battered military base, flickers of firelight ignited one after another. The next moment, a procession of Taoist priests clad in robes rushed out. The white-bearded priest leading them immediately rushed forward to help up the injured man, exclaiming, "Tianheng, what happened to you?"

Tianheng, catching his breath, turned his gaze toward the high walls of the military base. A glint of horror flashed in his eyes as he spoke:

"This is bad. During my patrol around the perimeter, I discovered that someone had triggered our external formation. I encountered a being with the power of Sacred Fire, and I am no match for him. I was injured within a single exchange. He will likely catch up with us soon!"

As these words reverberated, the faces of everyone present changed dramatically. "What? Sacred Fire? This power has always been controlled by the king of gods. Could it be that Hephaestus has descended into this world?"

Almost simultaneously, on the other side of the military base, another group burst out upon hearing the commotion outside. They were monks in magical robes and cassocks. The leader, an elderly monk with nine precept scars on his forehead, a cassock draped over him, and a staff in his hand, approached, escorted by his disciples.

"Master Tiansi, what has transpired?" he inquired.

Master Tiansi, the aforementioned elderly Taoist, swiftly walked up to the old monk and frowned, "Abbot Jiesi, I kindly request that the venerable monks of the Shaolin Temple join us in facing the enemy.

An unidentified group of enemies has broken into the base. One of them possesses the formidable power of Sacred Fire. We may have met a formidable foe!"

Hearing the term "Sacred Fire," the surrounding monks also displayed expressions of shock.

"Amitabha, could it be that the ancient god Hephaestus has descended as well?" The old monk’s hands met in a gesture of prayer, his brows tightly knit.

"If descendants of the ancient gods have indeed arrived in the Amazon, it would be best for us to leave at the earliest opportunity. Compared to these ancient gods, we are but feeble. If conflict arises, our lives will undoubtedly be in jeopardy."

Master Tiansi spoke solemnly, "Abbot, there’s no need for alarm just yet; we still don’t know who we’re up against. But if they dare barge in recklessly, we’ll certainly make them aware of our prowess!" With a grand sweep of his sleeve, he swiftly rallied his disciples, readying them for the defensive battle that lay ahead.

All eyes were nervously fixed on the locked gates of the military base, with many disciples already gripping the hilts of their swords. Drops of cold sweat trickled down their foreheads.

Yet, at that very moment, a jittery disciple felt something land on his head. Confused, he reached up and pulled down a piece of paper inscribed with arcane symbols.

Turning to his master, he asked incredulously, "Master, what is this?"

As he handed over the talisman to his teacher, the eyes of everyone present widened in alarm. The sky above began to rain down sheets of paper, each one etched with magical symbols—like a snowfall, drifting and swirling in the air.

Tiansi took the talisman and looked at it. His pupils dilated, and his face twisted with dread as he trembled, "This is... a Fire Spirit Talisman?!"

Lifting his eyes to the sky, now filled with the snowstorm of talismans, he covered his face in abject terror and bellowed, "By the gods above! Run! Run now!!"

But it was too late.

Meanwhile, beyond the high walls, Alexander estimated the timing and then snapped his fingers crisply, uttering a single word: "Detonate!"

The next moment, the confines of the high walls resounded with the horrifying roars of explosions.

Boom, boom, boom!

Flames surged skyward, accompanied by intermittent blasts that echoed through the air, filling the expanse of the military base.

Shrill screams and curses mingled with the explosions, carried aloft by the billowing, dark smoke.

"Damn it all! Who the hell is unleashing Fire Spirit Talismans?!"