The Dawn of the New World

There were some particles floating around in the thick swamp air this night. And because of it there were no large beasts anywhere in sight.

Before the mission began, First had ordered Du Xun to spread the ashes of an Ether beast around the area. This was a very common tactic used by most human groups whenever they were in the wilderness. The ash from an Ether Beast contained a special type of pressure where it would make all weaker beasts feel uncomfortable and hence move away from an area.

Because even after death the might of a true Ether beast was undeniable.

Hao Xuan slowly followed the predetermined route to the enemy camp. First's team was just a few hundred meters away from him so they would be safe even if a beast attacked them, which was highly unlikely.

The enemy camp was one of the many 150+ meter tall trees scattered all along this area of the swamp. They had extremely thick trunks with a radius of at least 20 meters and could make great hiding spots.

This particular tree was located right next to a few more, making it blend into the surroundings.

"Stop!" Hao Xuan raised his fist, gesturing for the group to stop. They were about 70 meters away from the tree right now. Any closer and they would be out in the open.

The Kappa, who Hao Xuan had named Bo because he couldn't even pronounce his name in his own language, was standing in front of the tree with his arms behind his back.

Bo moved his head slightly to the right, in the direction of Hao Xuan, and nodded once. He then proceeded to knock 13 times on the tree trunk in front of him. Several seconds passed and Bo took a step forward and vanished 'into' the trunk.

'Illusion formation...' Hao Xuan thought inwardly.

All the other groups were located at a distance of a hundred to seventy meters away as well. The ones closest to the tree were Hao Xuan, First, Kuo, and the trio Hao Xuan trained with.

They all waited with bated breath as time passed extremely slowly. Even Hao Xuan was starting to have many strange thoughts. His heartbeat started increasing bit by bit, becoming quite restless.

About 40 minutes later the tree trunk rippled and three people walked out. The one in the front was Bo while the two behind him were anteater-like beasts with elongated snouts that were half the size of their bodies.

One of them turned towards Bo with a scowl, "You sure it's them?"

Bo nodded in return with a smug grin, "Yeah. I saw them myself. They're all there, ripe for plucking.

"Are you sure you can find their camp though?"

"Of course!" Bo pounded his chest proudly while leading the two beasts that were equivalent to level 9 Spirit realm cultivators straight towards First's party.

Hao Xuan watched on as the three of them reached a distance of 80 meters away from the tree trunk. The anteater beasts stopped in their tracks as their snouts moved up and down in the air.

"Something is wrong..." both of them looked left and right with deep frowns, sniffing the air.

First and Du Xun who were just a few meters away from them had a change of expressions. They looked at each other and nodded once, "Now!"

Hao Xuan got the signal as well and contacted Bo via the soul connection, "'Now'"

Bo's grin widened as a vicious expression appeared on his wrinkled face, he crossed his arms and all the water from the surroundings suddenly moved towards the anteaters, enclosing them inside like a bubble.

"YOU!"

Both anteaters turned around and looked at Bo, stupefied.

Du Xun took a step and with a single leap appeared above the water bubble. In his hand appeared a scythe longer than his own body.

The Anteaters raised their heads as soon as they heard the fluttering of clothes. Their eyes widened and an explosion went off in the surrounding water bubble as they released all of their Qi's. Their bodies started expanding but before anything else could happen, Du Xun brought his Scythe down.

It penetrated the water bubble with ease and came out of the other side in one smooth motion.

The bubble collapsed and the anteater's headless corpses fell down, coloring the swamp water red.

"Phew, that was close," Bo wiped beads of sweat from his forehead.

These two anteaters along with Bo were the three lieutenants under the Profound realm cultivator. And with the dead, the only one left in the camp to worry about was him.

Hao Xuan got out of cover and walked towards Bo. He smiled seeing the anteater's corpses.

"How many others are in there?"

"About four hundred or so. But they're all weaker than me," Bo replied while walking up to Hao Xuan with a sheepish smile, which made his face even more contorted, making him look quite...unsightly.

Hao Xuan took a step back by instinct, distancing himself from the smiling Kappa.

"Alright, so we go in then?" Hao Xuan looked at First for confirmation.

"No, let him go first and secure Third and Fourth, we will come in after," he gestured at Bo with his chin, "As soon as we enter, the Profound realm expert will detect our presence."

"Got it. You heard him, go," Hao Xuan ordered Bo who left after giving a small bow.

"Alright, get ready. Kill anything that moves, we're not taking any prisoners," First ordered.

All of them took out their weapons and walked up to the tree in three lines.