A Chaotic World

At this time, the group of demons had just finished setting up their tents, and were sitting around a small campfire as they started to indulge on their dinner.

Without warning, five men erupted from the cover of the surrounding bushes, the weapons in their hands heading straight for the demons!

"Enemies!" one of the demons yelled as all of them sprang to their feet.

Even though the ambush caught them by surprise, all four of them were accomplished martial artists in their own right. It only took them a single instant to react and draw their own weapons in response.

However, being able to draw their weapons was one thing.

Being able to match their opponents' attack was another.

The demons only had an instant to prepare their defences, and that was simply not enough time to find the best response to the attack.

After all, they were also at a numbers disadvantage.

There were five attackers rushing against the four demons.

In order to defend themselves, the demons would require exceptional teamwork. Yet at this time, they were only able to react by pure instinct. And their most instinctive response was to face the nearest unmarked opponent that was heading for them.

By doing so, it naturally freed up an attacker to act as he pleased.

Clang-!

Four pairs of blades clashed at almost the exact same time. But at this time a fifth human attacker also pierced his spear towards one of the demon's skull.

With his weapon held down by another human martial artist, there was nothing else that the poor targeted demon could do.

His eyes grew wide in horror as the spearhead shot right towards his forehead!

Stab-!

The spearhead buried itself straight into the skull of its target, directly slicing into the brains beneath!

Taking it all in with his eyes, Lu Tianzi could not help but silently applaud the decisive attack.

In just the first wave of attack, one of the four demons had already been killed!

Now that it was left with three demons against five humans, there was no longer any doubt about the eventual outcome.

"Humans? How dare you?!" one of the demons roared in anger, driving the Slaughter Essence within him as he tried to push away his opponent's blade.

Unfortunately, the one facing him was actually the leader of the attacking team.

His opponent snorted in disdain before driving his Spiritual Essence in response.

At that very instant, the human martial artist's sword lit up in flames, dispelling the darkness of the night with an intense heat!

That was no ordinary fire either.

When the sword burst into flames, it also sent an explosive shockwave outwards, completely suppressing the Slaughter Essence of the demon martial artist.

In fact, it did not simply suppress him. The demon was completely blown away by the impact!

The disparity in strength between the two was just too big!

Bang-!

The demon was sent flying through the air and smashed into a tree behind him, finally falling to the ground as he convulsed in pain.

Every single demon was shocked by what they saw.

That just now was a combat skill that had put on full display the materialisation of Spiritual Essence, a feat that only Essence Condensation realm martial artists were capable of!

In the entire group of four demons, even the strongest was only an Advanced Essence Building realm martial artist.

Against an Essence Condensation realm opponent, even all four of them together might not be a match!

Scatter and run!

The remaining demons came to the same conclusion without even the need for voice conveyance.

At the exact same moment, both of them abandoned all hopes of counter attacking, choosing to retreat from battle instead. Even the third demon that was blown away earlier struggled to get up, trying to limp away from the scene.

However, how would it be that easy to escape from the human martial artists?

In the first place, the reason why they had concerted such a careful initial strike, meticulously surrounding the demon camp, was all because they did not want any demons to escape.

Otherwise, just the Essence Condensation martial artist alone would have sufficed in defeating them all!

Barely a few minutes had passed since the start of the attack, and the human martial artists had already left the area, leaving the corpses of the four demons in their wake.

Lu Tianzi took special note of the direction that the human martial artists moved off towards, before closing his eyes to process what just happened.

It seemed that the assault party was indeed acting as planned, carefully taking out any groups of demons that strayed out of the fortress.

At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before the leaders of Shadowfront Fortress realised something amiss and sent men out to investigate.

However, it would still take at least a few days' time for that to happen, and Lu Tianzi had no intention to wait that long.

Every day out in the wilds meant one more day of being exposed to danger!

It was not just the wild beasts, but he even had to look out for both the human and demon martial artists to prevent himself from being discovered. That placed him in the most precarious position of them all.

Lu Tianzi had seen for himself how insignificantly the demons thought of humans. Due to that very reason, the defences of the Shadowfront Fortress were mainly geared towards wild beasts.

And while the demons still had their guards down, it was the best chance for him to try and sneak into the fortress!

Otherwise, when the demons finally discovered the assault party's existence, they would definitely increase the security level around their perimeters.

As for the guards within Shadowfront Fortress itself, since Hu Yuanbo dared to call for such an operation, then his information that Nanbai Zhaoyu had left the fortress should not be off the mark.

This meant that the only Origin Core realm martial artist within the fortress was no longer present.

As for Essence Condensation realm martial artists, Lu Tianzi felt that even though he might not be able to emerge victorious, given his current strength that had already surpassed the Essence Building realm, he should still be able to escape with his life unless he were to really fall for a deep trap.

This was of the confidence that was ingrained into the very bones of a martial genius.

In order to aim for the pinnacle of strength, a martial artist had to wholeheartedly believe in his own talent and ability – that he surpassed all others that came before him, as well as all that were to come after him.

Otherwise, what right would he have to tread on the path that others failed to conquer?

This pride of a genius might be seen by others as overconfidence, and it might even result in one or two setbacks for the martial artist.

However, without it, a martial artist would only be shackled by his own mentality, and his willpower would eventually waver before obstacles that stood in his path.

Every martial artist needed to be tempered by surpassing obstacles. But without a strong fortitude and a powerful will, it was impossible to advance far on the road of cultivation, not to mention reaching the pinnacle of strength.

Such a martial artist was doomed to mediocrity, fated to never rise above the rest.

Lu Tianzi naturally did not consider things on such a scale.

All he was concerned about was the present – about how he could benefit the most from the current situation.

After entering the Shadowfront Fortress, he would try to rob them of the resources that the demons had stored up. And that included the Essence Stones that they periodically used to trade with sacrifices from Ivory Rock City!

On top of that, even the resources that the demons used for their own Slaughter Essence system would be beneficial to him!

Lu Tianzi had initially intended to scour the surroundings of Shadowfront Fortress for any Essence Stone mines from which the demons were acquiring these Essence Stones.

But now the situation had changed.

The big scary boss of the Shadowfront Fortress had now left his home!

On top of that, with the human assault party around, they would be able to clear the surroundings of any demons that could pose a threat, providing a safer escape route for Lu TIanzi.

So why would he not make full use of this rare opportunity?

After having made his decision, Lu Tianzi did not immediately leave for Shadowfront Fortress.

In order to stand a higher chance of success, he needed to make sure that he was in his top condition.

For the past two days, Lu Tianzi had been continuously moving through the forest without much rest, and he could already feel his focus waning by now.

Thankfully, as a martial artist, Lu Tianzi did not have to sleep to recover his stamina. Otherwise, there was simply nowhere for him to rest in this wilderness. Unless he were to sleep in the tents that the demons had just set up, that is.

But doing so would almost be like asking to be discovered, thus he promptly decided against it.

After finding a safe spot in the trees, Lu Tianzi closed his eyes and entered a meditative state for a few hours.

When he finally opened his eyes once more, Lu Tianzi felt much more refreshed as compared to before, almost as though he was a non martial artist who had just slept soundly for a full night.

With his focus returning, Lu Tianzi was finally ready to carry out the next part of his plan!

After taking a last glance at the demon corpses on the ground that had already been looted by the previous group, Lu Tianzi took off once again.

He already knew where the Shadowfront Fortress was, and headed directly towards it.

The sun had not risen yet, and the forest was still shrouded in darkness.

Lu Tianzi did not know how guarded the sentries of Shadowfront Fortress were, and made sure to stay hidden in the shadows as he carefully made his way there.

The last thing he wanted was to be discovered before he even arrived at his destination!

The previous location was already relatively near to the fortress, and it did not take Lu Tianzi long before he got close enough to spot the towering walls in the distance.

Unlike Ivory Rock City which was strategically located atop a mountain so as to increase the ease of its own defence, the Shadowfront Fortress was constructed to serve an entirely different function.

Situated in between two tall mountains to its East and West, it was meant as a strategic checkpoint for the mighty Scarlet Moon Kingdom that stretched out to its South.

Though it did not completely block off the mountain pass, the Shadowfront Fortress was still able to act as the defensive gateway to the Scarlet Moon Kingdom, keeping them alerted of any movements from the wild beasts in the forest that might serve as a threat.

Its tall walls were jet black, reinforced with steel bars that were made to withstand attacks from any wild beasts. Spikes were also protruding from the walls at regular intervals, acting as deterrence for any beasts that might have any funny ideas.

Of course, that was only for the weaker beasts.

If a beast with strength at the Origin Core realm were to be triggered into attacking, then even these impressive looking walls would be shredded with a single blow!

Thankfully, such beasts were few and far between.

For those that do exist in the forest, they were prideful creatures that rarely bothered to aggress on others without first being provoked.

Lu Tianzi took his time to carefully observe the exterior of the Shadowfront Fortress, trying to find that one weak point from which he could strike.

He was not just randomly searching either.

When he made the Heaven's Oath with the demon previously, he had also learnt of a possible way to enter.

On top of that, he even roughly understood the layout within the Shadowfront Fortress itself!

Without all that information in his head, there was simply no way that he would even think about something as dangerous as sneaking into the Shadowfront Fortress!