This was a continuous range of mountains, covered so thoroughly with vegetation that to say it was completely enveloped would not be an overstatement. A stream flowed down from the mountain and gathered into a small lake at the foot of the mountain.

Because the weather was too cold, there were no swans to be seen by the lake, and one couldn't help but wonder what the Swan Reserve was actually protecting.

The two found a relatively safe place to rest. Ling Zhenfei knew that Phoenix must be exhausted. If it were not for the Blooming Step Technique, Ling Zhenfei guessed he would be even more tired.

"Where is the entrance?" Ling Zhenfei asked vigilantly as he looked around.

Phoenix said in a low voice, "It's not time yet. We need to climb the mountain for a bit, but starting from there, there will be guards. We have to be very careful."

"Don't worry, I feel secure with you here."

It seemed like a compliment coming from Ling Zhenfei, but Phoenix felt an inexplicable sense of irony when hearing it, yet she didn't have anything to say in response.

Phoenix put on a mask to cover her face, and then led the way up the mountain.

The two moved without making a sound, their feet cushioned by Northern Spiritual Energy, slowly making their way up the mountain.

Ling Zhenfei had already released his Divine Sense, which enveloped half the hillside. He had located everyone within its reach; indeed, there were many visible and hidden sentries. Without caution, they could easily be discovered.

After Ling Zhenfei and Phoenix ascended, Ling Zhenfei's Divine Sense took action, employing the Soul Passage technique in a simultaneous attack. Both visible and hidden sentries felt as though their heads had been struck, and they consequently passed out.

Phoenix approached one of the guards from behind, ready to make her move, only to find that all of the guards had their eyes closed, as if they were asleep.

"Haha, this is great. All the guards are asleep. How lucky, it saves me the trouble of making a move." Little did she know that it was actually Ling Zhenfei who had knocked them all unconscious.

Ling Zhenfei smiled but said nothing, as the two made their way toward the direction of the main entrance.

The guards at the entrance were also unconscious. The two of them easily entered the interior of the cave, which was presumably the lair of Wu Yingxiong.

Ling Zhenfei was extremely pleased. Everything was a little too easy. His Soul Passage had grown incredibly powerful; as long as the opponent was not some formidable cultivator, his Soul Passage was invincible.

Phoenix too was very happy. If they could proceed like this, the mission would be all too simple.

The two advanced slowly into the interior, and the further they went, the more alarmed they became. What kind of cave was this? It was clearly a bomb shelter, where everyone was armed with either submachine guns or rifles—it was like a military outpost.

Ling Zhenfei and Phoenix moved forward cautiously. If they encountered any guards, Ling Zhenfei would use his Soul Passage to launch a Soul Attack, so they advanced quite smoothly.

Surprisingly, some doors were not even closed, sparing Ling Zhenfei and Phoenix a lot of trouble. However, Ling Zhenfei felt something was amiss—Wu Yingxiong's lair seemed to be too loosely defended.

"Something doesn't feel right. I've heard that Wu Yingxiong's lair is impregnable. If this is what they call impregnable, these walls are really made of tofu dregs," he said, growing more and more uneasy.

The further Ling Zhenfei went, the more he felt something was wrong, and he asked Phoenix in astonishment.

Phoenix sneered, "You are Ling Xiu and at the Zhiyi Boundary as a Spiritual Cultivator. These people are just ordinary humans, so of course they pose no threat to you. But to ordinary people, these men are indeed like an iron wall."

Ling Zhenfei felt that what the Phoenix said did make a lot of sense. The crowd in front of him was too weak, especially after his Soul Passage advancement, his Soul Attack had become much stronger.

Now, ordinary people couldn't possibly approach Ling Zhenfei, let alone harm him.

But Ling Zhenfei still felt something was off. Logically, someone at Wu Yingxiong's level should definitely have powerful Spiritual Cultivators protecting him. However, since the ascent of the mountain, he hadn't seen any, nor had he sensed the aura of any powerful cultivators.

They walked until they reached the end where there were two forked paths leading into caves. The two people stopped their steps at the intersection.

"There are two cave entrances, which one should we take?" Ling Zhenfei asked the Phoenix.

"How would I know? If there are two entrances, it's easy—let's each take one, and see who captures Wu Yingxiong first."

The Phoenix's voice was cold and filled with confidence as if he didn't care about anything at all.

Ling Zhenfei, hesitating, looked at the Phoenix and said, "Isn't that a bad idea? We are already at a disadvantage venturing deep into the tiger's den. Wouldn't it be too dangerous to split up?"

The Phoenix gave Ling Zhenfei a scornful glance and said, "What, are you scared now? If you are scared, you can leave first. I've already made sure there's no danger here, I'm enough on my own."

Ling Zhenfei was startled. He had assumed that all members of their organization were highly professionally trained, but who would have thought that the Phoenix would be so impulsive and reckless, not to mention dangerously overconfident.

The most taboo thing in this line of work was overconfidence. Anyone who had made a name for themselves in Jianghu was cunning. They wouldn't be easily caught off-guard, so being overconfident often led to trouble.

"Have you decided yet? You choose first. Which way?" Phoenix asked Ling Zhenfei in a cool voice.

Seeing the Phoenix's demeanor, Ling Zhenfei knew that Phoenix had made up his mind. With no other choice, Ling Zhenfei walked toward one of the cave entrances.

He originally wanted to release his Divine Sense to monitor the situation on Phoenix's side, but to Ling Zhenfei's surprise, the conditions inside the cave were very peculiar; his Divine Sense couldn't penetrate the walls.

This strange discovery made Ling Zhenfei even more certain that something was not right in the cave.

Perhaps because it was nighttime, the entire cave was eerily silent—you could hardly hear any sound at all. Silence was generally good, but it was too quiet around here.

This kind of silence caused some worry for Ling Zhenfei. After turning a corner, he suddenly heard footsteps outside, and even the sound of a door closing.

Ling Zhenfei was startled and wanted to go back to check the situation, but at that moment, a large group of people suddenly rushed out all around him, surrounding him on the spot.

Ling Zhenfei knew he was in trouble—no wonder it was so quiet outside. All these people had been hiding, preparing for an ambush.

Looking around at the people, most were ordinary, but a significant portion were cultivators. There were about a dozen cultivators with strengths around the Mingmu Initial to Mid Stage, and a few had reached the Mingmu Late Period.

Although against Ling Zhenfei's formidable strength they weren't very strong, they would be difficult to handle if there were too many. Even more concerning for Ling Zhenfei was that behind these people, there were several experts present.

By "experts" Ling Zhenfei meant those who had the ability to fight him. There were four in total, all at the Zhiyi Boundary, and there was even one who had reached the late stage of the Zhiyi Boundary.

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