Start with a red name

After exploring Huangwei Island, Geng Xuan discovered that it was not easy to sneak in using conventional methods.

While there aren't sentry posts everywhere around Huangwei Island, making it completely impenetrable, the island isn't entirely surrounded by guards.

However, whether he wanted to find a blind spot to sneak into the island, or to take advantage of others' inattention to quietly capture a sentry on duty and replace his identity without making a sound, he could not do it.

Once he does this, it won't be long before at least ten pairs of eyes notice the anomaly from different directions.

Meticulous planning is certainly one aspect.

It's the afternoon of the ninth day of the lunar month. According to Dong Guan's original plan, it would only be two or three days before these people set off south.

Dong Guan had been preparing for months and accumulating experience for years, waiting for this final push. No one who still wanted to follow him would dare to mess things up at this moment.

On the other hand, Huangwei Island was too small, while the number of troops gathered on the island at that moment was too large.

In this environment, it would naturally be very difficult for him to sneak into the island.

At this point, the safer approach is to remain submerged in the water until nightfall, then find the weakest point in the defenses and, with astonishing speed—nearly 100 meters per second—slip into the island.

Under the cover of night, Geng Xuan was confident that he could successfully infiltrate the place without alerting anyone.

However, after careful consideration, Geng Xuan personally rejected the proposal.

In his view, a 90% chance of success was still too low and not safe enough.

Moreover, the purpose of taking action first was to make more preparations before Tie Lang, Ruan Ruizhe, and others arrived with their large forces.

If I simply stay underwater and wait until dark before taking action, the significance of this mission will be greatly diminished.

A quick circuit around the island provided a comprehensive understanding of Huangwei Island's outline, combined with information provided by Ruan Ruizhe.

Although he had never seen it in person, this created an image of "Huangwei Island" in Geng Xuan's mind.

While he cannot guarantee 100% clarity, Geng Xuan believes that the accuracy rate is over 95%.

What's particularly special is that this "Huangwei Island" that he generated in his mind not only has a clear and complete outer outline, but its interior is also marked with many "dummy points".

These virtual points are not real; they are "auxiliary coordinate points" that he created.

These dotted dots, spaced 100 meters apart horizontally and vertically, are densely packed, covering the entire area of ​​"Huangwei Island" in his mind.

In other words, the outline of "Huangwei Island," which he personally explored, was generated on a grid with a vertical and horizontal spacing of 100 meters.

Because of the "Earth Travel Technique," Geng Xuan possesses an extremely powerful spatial awareness.

Within a certain distance, as long as he has a known and definite target in his mind and knows its relative relationship with his current location, he can always accurately and timely grasp the relative position between himself and the target location, even if he is in an underground environment the whole way.

To do this, the prerequisite is that the destination is "known" and "definite," and that he has seen it with his own eyes.

But this is clearly not in line with the current situation.

Therefore, Geng Xuan combined some of his previous life's experience and placed the outer outline of "Huangwei Island," which he had personally explored and confirmed to be correct, on a grid of "virtual points" with a spacing of 100 meters in both directions.

For him, each "virtual point" is equivalent to a "known point" or a "definite point".

Because Huangwei Island itself is not very large, and given his confidence in his abilities, Geng Xuan believes that the error of these "virtual points" will not exceed one meter at most.

With such a mental image, it can be guaranteed that even if Geng Xuan walks with his eyes closed, he will not lose his sense of direction.

Being able to accurately know one's location on "Huangwei Island".

After completing these preparations, Geng Xuan looked at the special "Huangwei Island" map in his mind and crawled into a narrow crevice leading to the island from a distance of about ten meters above the water.

The deeper you go, the narrower the fissure becomes.

dark.

secluded.

In such an environment, Geng Xuan could only control his thoughts, his vigorous blood and energy, and his weak heartbeat, which were intentionally controlled.

At this moment, it felt as if there was nothing else besides myself.

This is an environment that would suffocate an ordinary person.

Especially after Geng Xuan had gone forward several dozen meters, the narrow gap completely blocked his body, making it impossible for him to even turn around.

Ahead, the crevice they had waded through to find their way here had come to an end.

The crack here completely closes up.

There was only one whole, solid rock.

However, Geng Xuan, who was here, felt no panic and had no intention of turning back.

He stretched out his hands and pressed them against the hard rock wall.

"To be honest, this is the correct way to use the 'Earth Travel Technique'," Geng Xuan thought to himself.

The force transformed into fine threads at the fingertips, seeping deep into the rock strata.

The specific structure, texture, and "weak points" of the rock strata were clearly presented in Geng Xuan's mind.

The hands pressed against the rock wall easily slipped inside, as if silently inserting into a piece of soft tofu.

Soon, the hard rock wall in front of him turned into soft mud, and Geng Xuan, like an incredibly slippery loach, slid into it with a "whoosh" and disappeared into the dark and desolate narrow crevice.

Aside from the continuous incorporation of stone dust into the water, making it increasingly turbid, a seemingly unremarkable rock wall was gradually eroded into a narrow hole, after which no further activity was detected.

Although the murky water is constantly spreading outwards, the rate of this spread slows down the further outwards it goes.

Before it got completely dark, even the tens of meters of crack area hadn't been filled.

Moreover, once the turbid water has spread to a certain extent, it stops expanding further. As the stone powder dissolved in the water spreads further and settles down, the water gradually becomes clear again.

……

Geng Xuan's figure moved like a loach deep underground.

Compared to "water travel," this "earth travel" is indeed excessively slow.

However, with Geng Xuan exerting his full strength, his speed was even better than that of an average person jogging.

This speed was enough for him to move freely underground in "Huangwei Island".

With the help of the special "grid map" in his mind, each "virtual point" serves as a coordinate guide, allowing Geng Xuan, who is "moving" underground, to always accurately grasp his current position.

After swimming nearly a kilometer at a depth of nearly ten meters underground in "Huangwei Island," Geng Xuan intentionally slowed down his "underground travel" to further reduce the impact he caused during the process.

Even if we were to ask Geng Xuan himself, he would say that he made very little noise during his "earth-walking" process.

However, Geng Xuan did not dare to underestimate the heroes of the world because of this.

If I were in their shoes, and I were to spread out my "Earth Listening Spider Web" at the Perfect Realm, I would still be able to detect any unusual movements.

As he slowed down and made less noise, Geng Xuan's body gradually began to "rise".

Finally, he was within two meters of the ground.

The "Earth-Listening Spider Web," at the level of perfection, has been quietly laid out by Geng Xuan, with him at its center.

At the same time, he also incorporated the power application techniques of the "Listening Hammer" into the strands of power that emanated from his body and seeped into the surrounding rock layers.

In this way, information from above ground continuously feeds into his mind.

"So many hoofbeats, yet not much noise, it must be... the stables up there?"

"...This is a campsite."

"There are two iron cavalry units, each the size of a hundred cavalry, currently engaged in a military exercise... it's quite intense."

"...There must be a large number of cultivators practicing in pairs up here..."

"..." Geng Xuan continued to "move" underground, gradually refining the information from all aspects.

It wasn't until he felt a faint warning from his body that Geng Xuan came to his senses.

"It's time to go up."

The Turtle Breathing Technique does not mean that he will stop breathing altogether.

Underwater, it's fine. As long as he breathes through his nasal passages as "body breathing," the problem will be solved. He can stay underwater like a fish without surfacing and there won't be any issues.

But it's different underground.

He could stay there for longer, but if he exceeded a certain limit, there was still a risk of suffocation.

Fortunately, after this exploration, Geng Xuan found a very suitable place to "emerge".

……

In Training Ground No. 16.

A group of cultivators were scattered throughout the area.

Or they might fight each other to the death.

Or it could be a group of people attacking one person together.

Or a few people, or even dozens of people, form a common battle formation to practice actual combat offense and defense.

Weapons clashed, fists and feet clashed, and as figures dodged and weaved, the ground pounded with each step.

There are dozens of such training grounds on Huangwei Island.

This is both to keep everyone in a good state at all times and to expend everyone's energy so that they don't get bored and restless from being confined to this small place for too long.

The first group of members to gather here have been on the island for several months.

People came and went in succession.

Some come in groups of three or five, and leave in groups of many.

However, some came alone, and after feeling they had had enough, they left on their own.

There is no fixed rule.

Before leaving, everyone, covered in sweat, would go to the water room next to the training ground to take a good hot shower.

The bathhouse includes spacious rooms that can accommodate dozens of people bathing at the same time.

There are also individual bathrooms that are separated to allow people to shower in peace without worrying about being disturbed by others.

A man with a square face and early-stage Marrow Refining cultivation took a set of clean clothes of the right size from the door and stepped inside.

As I entered, I passed by a group of more than a dozen people.

The leader smiled and nodded slightly at him, to which he simply nodded back in response.

This person was of similar cultivation level to him, and they often sparred together on the training ground.

However, the other person is more outgoing and is always surrounded by a lot of people.

However, he has a rather solitary personality and doesn't like the noisy atmosphere or the feeling of having people following him around at all times.

Soon, he entered an empty bathroom.

close the door.

Set the clean clothes aside.

Then, he was about to take off his clothes, which were completely soaked with sweat.

Just then, he suddenly looked down.

Then, a scene that terrified him to the point of death forced its way into his field of vision.

Right beneath his feet, a hand suddenly grew out of thin air and grabbed his ankle.

The icy touch almost froze his soul into ice.

This horrifying scene made his heart stop beating and his breathing stop.

Such a horrifying scene made him immediately want to shout for help in an attempt to attract the attention of others.

But it's too late.

The subtle force spread from where his ankle was gripped, and had already permeated his entire body.

This force seemed weak and thin, but the immense force he claimed to possess was completely unable to mount any effective resistance.

The moment the two forces clashed, they were immediately routed.

When he tried to shout for help, he couldn't even open his mouth.

His body had become an "external object" that no longer belonged to him. He could only stand there blankly, watching as a naked figure suddenly sprang out from the ground.

The figure that sprang from underground ignored him and went straight to the pool next to him. After washing off the mud and dust, it calmly put on a clean set of clothes before slowly walking to his side.

When the strange figure that had sprung from underground stood before him, the man's face was filled with such intense terror that it seemed almost tangible.

Although it wasn't very clear, the person clearly looked different when he first emerged from underground.

But now, not only has her body become exactly like his, but even her facial features have become exactly the same as his.

Looking at the figure so close to him, staring back at him, he had the illusion that he was looking in a mirror.

……

"I have some questions for you. Can you answer them?" Geng Xuan asked.

Although the man in front of me couldn't hide his fear, when he said those words, his emotions revealed a resolute determination that even nine oxen couldn't sway.

He stared intently at Geng Xuan, as if to say, "Go ahead and kill me if you dare. You think you can pry my mouth open? No way!"

Perhaps, this is just a facade he's putting on.

With just a few simple techniques, this shell can be broken through.

Or perhaps, this person's willpower is truly extraordinary, and the physical pain and torment are not enough to shake or subdue him.

Fortunately, Geng Xuan didn't intend to do that.

Because he doesn't need the other party to actually cooperate in answering. As long as the questions are designed cleverly enough, he can simplify each question into a "multiple choice" with three options or even two options, or an even simpler "true or false" question.

The answer was already there the moment he posed the question.

……

A quarter of an hour later.

Anyway, Geng Xuan, who looked exactly like that, came out of the house.

Behind him, there was no blood or corpse.

It appears that nothing has been added or removed.

Only by digging several meters into the ground could one discover a corpse identical to his current one, fused with the earth.

As Geng Xuan walked out of the bathroom, he, like everyone else, threw his sweat-soaked, dirty clothes into a tall bamboo basket.

These things will be handled by specialists.

And so, without causing a ripple, Geng Xuan integrated into "Huangwei Island" and became a part of it. (End of Chapter)