Chapter 457 – Arrival at Xuanwu-41 Outpost, Demonic Movents
From atop the outpost walls, the Demon Suppression Guards on duty spotted the approaching group from afar and imdiately went on alert.
"Who goes there? Show your tokens!"
Zhong Baisheng and Wang Xing'an promptly held up their command tokens.
An outpost was not like a fortress.
Here in the Demon-Suppressing Sea—especially in the fourth layer where demonic activity ran rampant—precautions were everything.
Demons in this region were notorious for disguises and parasitic infiltration, sneaking into outposts undetected.
In fact, the Blood God Fortress had once briefly established an outpost here in the fourth layer.
But it was infiltrated by a disguised demon who sabotaged the defensive array from within.
All Demon Suppression Guards stationed there were killed. Not a single survivor remained.
Upon seeing the tokens, the guard's expression finally relaxed a little.
A mont later, the heavy gates of the outpost slowly cracked open.
"Form a line! Enter one by one! No drawing weapons, no circulating spiritual energy or blood qi!"
The Demon Suppression Guard shouted the instructions loudly.
"Understood," Zhong Baisheng, Wang Xing'an, and the rest voiced no objection.
Shen Mo, too, had no complaints.
This was a special place and warranted special treatnt.
It made perfect sense.
Nearly half an hour later, after the outpost's guards carefully examined every mber of Shen Mo's party, the tension visibly eased.
A deputy commander stepped forward and respectfully greeted Zhong Baisheng and Wang Xing'an.
"I'm Feng Cang. I once served under Commander Zhong. Greetings, Commander Zhong, Commander Wang. The situation here is delicate—I hope you'll understand."
Zhong Baisheng nodded with a warm smile.
Wang Xing'an laughed. "I'm not a commander anymore—just a deputy now."
He then gestured toward Shen Mo. "That one over there is the real commander now."
Everyone froze for a second.
Only then did they notice that Shen Mo had been surrounded by Zhong Baisheng, Wang Xing'an, and several elite Demon Suppression Guards as the central figure of the group.
There was even an unspoken reverence about the way they positioned themselves around him.
Wang Xing'an chuckled. "This is Shen Mo—the creator of the Fla Flood Dragon Cloudship and the Giant Flood Dragon Cloudship."
The outpost guards' eyes imdiately widened.
They stared at Shen Mo with visible amazent.
They had long heard of Shen Mo's na, but this was their first ti seeing him in person.
It was like a long-admired idol had suddenly appeared before their very eyes.
"Commander Shen! Thank you!"
One of the Demon Suppression Guards suddenly dropped to his knees and kowtowed several tis with loud thud thud thud, leaving Shen Mo montarily stunned.
Tears welled up in the soldier's eyes. "Commander Shen, my brother was stationed on the city wall that day fighting the demons. If not for the sudden arrival of your Fla Flood Dragon Cloudship, he'd be dead."
"You're a savior to my entire family!"
Before Shen Mo could reply, another guard's eyes reddened. "Commander Shen, I was on the wall that day too... I thought I was done for."
"Your Fla Flood Dragon Cloudship arrived in the nick of ti and drove the demons back. I survived because of you!"
Though the others didn't kneel, many looked at Shen Mo with deep gratitude.
A number of them had indeed fought on that wall—and it was only because of the eight Fla Flood Dragon Cloudships suddenly appearing in the sky that they'd made it out alive.
Shen Mo hurriedly stepped forward and helped the kneeling guards up. "It was simply my duty."
"Shen Mo? I didn't expect it to be you!" a pleasantly surprised voice called out.
Shen Mo turned toward the sound and saw two familiar figures.
Shi Dingyue!
Zhou Mingyi!
However, Li Heitan, Sun Kong, and Zhao Xin were nowhere to be seen.
Delighted, Shen Mo approached and stood with them.
"Where are Li Heitan and the others? Didn't they co?"
Shi Dingyue's eyes dimd slightly. "They're gone. Died in that great battle."
Shen Mo let out a quiet sigh.
Li Heitan and the other Demon Suppression Guards were simply too weak to take control of their own fates.
Had they survived that great battle, their outcos would have been completely different.
After all, those who made it through that battle were rewarded with massive amounts of military rit and experienced a sharp rise in strength.
Shi Dingyue sighed. "Life and death are ruled by fate. I've already visited their families."
He paused for a mont, then asked, "How's Heitan doing? Is he doing well in the armory?"
Shen Mo nodded and gave a brief overview of Li Heitan's recent situation.
Shi Dingyue was visibly relieved. "Following you to the armory really was the right path for Heitan."
Zhou Mingyi smiled. "Heitan always had a strong interest in crafting. That place suits him best."
After so lighthearted talk, the three grew familiar again.
Shi Dingyue and Zhou Mingyi were both pleased to find that Shen Mo had not grown arrogant despite his elevated status.
That ant Shen Mo was still the sa person at heart.
That night, a welco banquet was held at the Xuanwu-41 outpost.
"Xuanwu" indicated that the outpost was established by Xuanwu Fortress.
"Four" stood for the fourth layer.
"One" marked it as the first outpost on that layer.
Hence the na: Xuanwu-41.
During the banquet, Shen Mo roughly learned about the daily duties of the Demon Suppression Guards stationed at the outpost.
First was clearing the surrounding demonic soil.
Even though the outpost had been firmly established, the corrupted land continued to creep toward it at all tis.
Cleansing it was a must—second in priority only to defending the outpost.
Next was reconnaissance of the surrounding environnt.
If demon settlents or powerful demonized beasts were nearby, they could beco major threats.
Even occasional harassnt could make the lives of those inside the outpost miserable.
Thus, any nearby demon strongholds or major demon beasts had to be dealt with swiftly.
Then ca resource gathering.
Heavenly materials and earthly treasures required a great deal of rit to exchange for from the Dao Treasury.
But if found directly in the Demon-Suppressing Sea, they could be kept without cost.
This gave the guards a chance to earn large amounts of rit on their own.
After several rounds of drinking, the banquet was lively.
The entire outpost was thrilled to have soone like Shen Mo among them.
When it was over, Zhong Baisheng and Wang Xing'an personally led Shen Mo to the room prepared for him.
This room was located in the very heart of the outpost, directly adjacent to the core of the defensive array.
It was the safest place in the entire outpost.
Originally, it had belonged to Deputy Commander Feng Cang, who had been managing the outpost.
But now that Shen Mo was here, Feng Cang had vacated it without hesitation.
To either side of Shen Mo's room were the quarters of Zhong Baisheng and Wang Xing'an.
The aning was clear—he was under full protection.
After setting up various formations in his room, Shen Mo gradually drifted off to sleep.
The first night stationed at the outpost passed quietly.
...
"Venerable Five, Venerable Three asked to deliver a ssage. The three races have already built quite a few outposts on the fourth layer. It's about ti we uprooted them."
A demon with several writhing tentacles stood respectfully in front of An Wu.
An Wu gave a slight nod. "Tell An Mie I understand. He must fulfill his promise and dispatch elite true demons to attack the outposts on the third layer and sever their retreat."
"Yes. I will relay your words exactly." The demon bowed and left.
Soon after, orders from the third Grand Tianmo, An Mie, and the fifth Grand Tianmo, An Wu, were passed down to their elite forces.
Massive numbers of demons began to mobilize.
Led by Tianding true demon lords as the vanguard, with Jinding and Yinding true demon lords forming the backbone, they advanced toward the outposts on the third and fourth layers.
In the dark, damp, cavern-like stretches of the Demon-Suppressing Sea, a tidal wave of demonic forces surged.
Like black ink spilling across the deep, the demonic tide gathered and rushed toward the outposts built by the three allied races.
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