New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 127 Greed Trapped Me
"Tell me, how many Heavenly Rank cultivators are currently stationed in [Cicada City]? Are all eleven present?"

After a moment's thought, Commander Zuo replied, "Within [Cicada City], the number of Heavenly Rank cultivators should not exceed seven. Unless a major crisis occurs, the maximum number that can be mobilized will not exceed three."

Tiger Demon was overjoyed upon hearing this, as the situation was much better than he had expected. He pressed for an explanation, asking, "What is the reason for this? Please explain."

“Survival in the underground world is not easy. Each insect city has its own industries and positioning. The larger the insect city, the more profit it generates. However, the expenses also increase, making it more difficult to maintain. Controlling the breeding of spirit insects at the bottom level is only the most basic industry. In addition, it is necessary to send out armed forces to expand outwards, mark and patrol territories, harvest and hunt, and clean up threats…”

"Furthermore, we need to arrange for strong individuals to open up underground trade routes, carrying resources to cooperate in trade with other insect cities and to trade with immortal sects to purchase cultivation necessities. At the same time, high-end combatants will also be hired to go out on missions. As far as I know, there should be 5 of them not in [Cicada City]. As for the Heavenly Rank experts who remain in Cicada City, especially the five supreme experts who control the 'Dream Hole', they usually go into seclusion periodically, escaping into nightmares to seek opportunities for breakthroughs."

"Unless something major happens, four of the five strongest individuals need to be stationed in the core area of ​​Cicada City, diverting their attention to control the 13 Dream Holes and maintain the energy interaction with the underground root array of Cicada City. This force is the most powerful, but it is the trump card that maintains the operation of Cicada City, and it cannot be used easily. Therefore, the highest force for maintaining the daily order of Cicada City is the three Heavenly Rank individuals."

After understanding his own situation, the Tiger Demon asked curiously, "If I were to attempt to break into the [Incinerator] or the [Alchemy Room], would the most dangerous situation only involve facing three Heavenly Rank experts?"

Commander Zuo couldn't understand where the new boss got the confidence to fight three Heavenly Realm experts by himself.
Do you know the significance of the [Heavenly Rank] in a home field? Especially since behind these three, there are four 'Supreme Powers' operating the [Dream Hole] to bless them with destiny.

No! If all three Heavenly Realm experts really do move together, then one of them will inevitably be an extremely powerful being. In that case, he is pessimistic about whether the new boss can leave [Cicada City] alive. At that time, he will only be able to inherit [Pastoral Village] with tears in his eyes and develop it into his own private property.

"Neither of the two targets I chose are the core hubs of [Cicada City]. As long as we don't attack the secluded cultivation sites of the five supreme experts, merely invading one of the two targets will not trigger the most dangerous situation. In fact, it will only draw out one Heavenly Rank expert. If the master's retreat speed is fast enough, or the process is discreet enough, even the Heavenly Rank expert may not be drawn out."

Commander Zuo answered sincerely. His entire plan, from beginning to end, never intended to provoke a Heavenly Rank official. Everything was planned around the [Earth-Rank Heist Standard]. The goal was to maximize profit while lowering the difficulty level by one rank.

Tiger Demon sensed the sincerity of its employees, but also felt somewhat underestimated. While it sought stability in this operation, this 'stability' was a conscious choice, not something bestowed upon it by others.

"Are you looking down on me? Do you think I can't escape unscathed from the rulers of [Cicada City], which is why you chose these two low-difficulty, low-value targets?"

Although Commander Zuo has never been online, he feels a deep sense of empathy and frustration when faced with xxn's unreasonable and nonsensical arguments. They don't reason at all, only talk about emotions.

So he replied helplessly, "That's not the case! It's just that my level is limited, and the most suitable detailed defense maps I can access and obtain are only these two locations. The core area of ​​[Cicada City] is entirely controlled by the direct descendants of the Cicada Clan, and even outsiders at the Heavenly Rank cannot access it. Besides, I am just an Earth Rank commander. What I have provided for the Lord is already the limit of my ability and the most valuable one."

Tiger Demon: "Alright, you pass. Where is your current patrol area? If I make a move, will it implicate you?"

“Whenever my lord takes action, he will inevitably leave a shadow. I was captured once before, so I will certainly be suspected. Whether the mission succeeds or not, I will voluntarily go into hiding. If there is a need for contact, my lord only needs to meet me in a dream. As for my patrol location, neither of the two targets is related to me, please take them yourself.”

As the mastermind behind the heist, Commander Zuo had already prepared enough escape routes and evidence to clear his name. But some fatal flaws cannot be erased. He brought in an eggplant, only to be retaliated against by a nightmare monster, and there was also an insider providing intelligence support... He had already been playing with fire.

Tiger Demon: "Which target do you think is more suitable?"

“Naturally, the [incinerator] is more valuable, easier to obtain, and easier to transport... It can even be used to hijack some core equipment and speed up the construction of the camp.”

Tiger Demon nodded: "Very good, I've decided to attack the [Medicine Shop]!"

Do you want to tempt yourself to storm the [Incinerator] and rob the more precious 'Insect Gold' to help you forge Heavenly Armor? I'll rob the pills instead, support and cultivate more potential newcomers, help them realize their cultivation dreams, and train reserve ghost servants.

After the conversation ended, Tiger Demon obtained the first-hand 'Cicada City Today' patrol and defense deployment map, and then disappeared into the shadows again, beginning to shuttle around.

With the help of an inside man and the added advantage of the [Shadow Dream Hole], everything was incredibly easy, not much different from how it had easily navigated in and out of the central city. In fact, because the lower city was a vast and empty subterranean world without a complex network of tunnels, the difficulty of infiltrating it was actually greatly reduced.

Before long, it arrived at the East District. Instead of rushing to attack the heavily guarded medicine shop, it bypassed a squad of guards and followed the shadows cast by the buildings, climbing all the way to the top of a conical tower to calculate the location of a suitable escape route.

Then, referring to the patrol schedule provided by Commander Zuo, he observed the security and magic array of the pill room. It was a cubic building with a palace-style archway entrance, but no windows, looking heavily guarded, like a sealed block of stone with a crack.

Even Zuo Fan was unaware of the specific layout and formation arrangement inside the building, leaving him to figure it out on his own.

With patience, he observed and waited until a patrol approached. Then, the Tiger Demon took a deep breath, merged back into the shadows, and quickly swam closer. He then blended into the shadow cast by a guard as he landed, and tried his best to conceal his aura.

The team ascended the steps and entered the arched portico. Four members then split off to hand over duties to the guards on duty. Once everything was finished, the Tiger Demon re-entered the new shadows and peered out from within the shadow layers to observe the projection of the 'defense array' onto the shadow layer.

The defense level of the pill room far exceeds that of the civilian warehouses in the central city. The magic array is set up in a unified whole, and even in the shadowy interlayer where it is located, you can see some reflections of energy circuits, like the shadows of twisted tree branches projected onto the wall.

Spicy Strip commented: "The interior walls of this building are incorporating a large number of roots, woven into an 'array' to create a cage, thus interfering with the large-scale defensive development of [Cicada City]. With my current data accumulation, I am completely unable to decipher it!"

Tiger Demon: "So?"

"Let's charge in! We're not suited for a technical approach. The Central District has already proven the King's burglary skills; now, it's time to show off our real burglary techniques!"

The Tiger Demon's expression turned serious. It hadn't expected to get stuck on the very first step after infiltrating. It had to admit, "The value of this world far surpasses that of the Western Crimson Realm." Then it activated its supernatural abilities [Claw + Inner Universe]. After several days of immersive passive training, the [Boss Template] received an epic-level enhancement. It didn't even know the extent to which it had been strengthened.
One could only sense that the skeletal armor was even thicker and more robust, possessing terrifying destructive and defensive capabilities even without the addition of spatial power. In particular, the impact from purely physical forces was so powerful that it was like a brick flying through the air.

This is probably an attribute inherited from the [Snake Demon]. According to Spicy Strips, unlike the 'Tiger Demon Spiritual Root' which leans towards the underworld, the Snake Demon sealed in the [Immortal Scripture] is mainly focused on 'giant size + power'.

By constantly devouring its prey, the serpent demon expands its body, defends itself with enormous and sturdy scales, and violently crushes and entangles with terrifying power. The power that the serpent demon's physical body can unleash is directly proportional to the strength of its [Inner Universe].

Now, all of this has been inherited by the Tiger Demon, allowing the Tiger Demon, who has lost the [Demon Aura Manipulation (Physical Enhancement)], to pick up a set of exoskeleton armor ([Claws]) to unleash its power once again.

As the exoskeleton underwent another round of optimization, its internal [Inner Universe] also slowly expanded under the nourishment of the Shadow Domain, completing a full replication of the [Sanctuary. Spatial Attribute Data].

Sharp, invisible spatial fluctuations swirled around the bone claws. The fully armed tiger demon, situated in the shadow layer with the [Shadow Dream Hole] floating behind it, swung out a claw, tearing a spatial rift straight from within the shadow dimension. At the same time, it shattered the defensive array of the pill room and opened a path between two different 'shadows'.

Inside the lower city, the perfectly integrated alchemy room remained unmoved, without a single crack or flaw. However, the defense alarm suddenly sounded, warning of an enemy invasion.

In the shadow world invisible to the naked eye, the Tiger Demon embedded the [Shadow Dream Hole] into the torn passage, connecting the independent shadow space inside the pill room with the Dream Hole and the external shadow layer. He then used the [Shadow Dream Hole] itself to jam the self-healing 'magic array'.

Without hesitation, the tiger demon transformed into a pool of shadowy slime and darted into the pill room. Then, it split into countless shadowy tentacles, connecting with eggplant-headed ghosts and shadowy demonic insects, rampaging and searching for pills.

Without needing to search, it confirmed that it was surrounded by numerous pills. Huge shelves surrounded it on all sides, each shelf displaying bottles of pills.

Each row of shelves is covered with numerous roots that form a defensive layer. This is part of a magic array that draws energy from [Cicada City] through the roots to nourish the pills. It's not just a storage and protection method; it can also slowly improve the quality of the pills.

Inside this layer of root defense, on the surface of bottles of pills with shell-like patterns, there are talismans attached, which appear to be self-destruct devices.

It casually grabbed an eggplant-headed ghost, raised its paw and threw it at the shelf. The dense roots immediately drew in energy, unleashing true qi damage and repelling the eggplant-headed ghost.

The tiger demon swung its claw, feeling a slight resistance at its fingertips. With a little force, it cut through a tough layer of plastic wrap, severing the space where the shadows behind the roots were located.

With a sweep of its claws, the tiger seized an entire row of pill bottles. When it withdrew, the shelf and its surface roots appeared undamaged, but its original defensive formation had been broken, and a self-destruct program was faintly activated?
So it struck again, countless shadowy tentacles shooting out from between its tiger claws, weaving back and forth inside the shelves, coiling around bottles of pills like snakes, and then pulling them all into its shadow.

With a series of clattering and banging sounds, a shelf full of pills was swept into its shadow, and then fell into the [Shadow Dream Hole] connected to the shadow.

After a brief trial, it swung its claws repeatedly, tearing open row after row of shelves. One by one, the vengeful spirits were stuffed into the shelf space. With a squeeze, it injected shadow pollution, and these vengeful spirits sprayed out a large number of vines, sweeping down rows of pill bottles, which fell into the shadow of the tiger demon. On the other side, it actively opened the [Shadow Dream Hole], connecting with the [Nightmare] to unleash a suction force, drawing the pills into the shadow space, where they were then filtered and isolated by the barrier.

Every now and then, the Tiger Demon would overlook some of the shattered and self-destructing shelves, as well as those 'magic array roots' containing energy, and use them as fuel to inject fuel into the [Nightmare Dimension] and [Shadow Dream Hole].

In an instant, all that could be seen was a skeletal tiger demon writhing and dancing wildly in the alchemy room, violently tearing apart the magic array with each claw, stuffing its accomplices inside to sweep up the goods, then destroying the shelves as well, and sucking them into the shadows beneath its feet, leaving not a single scrap behind. Its eating manners were extremely unsightly, leaving a clean mess wherever it went.

Outside the alchemy room, a rapid alarm sounded, quickly attracting nearby patrol teams. Then, a commander at the peak of Earth Rank arrived at lightning speed and immediately activated the power of the magic array, attempting to completely seal off the alchemy room and imprison the intruder inside.

However, the existence of the [Shadow Dream Hole] blocked the unified magic array, just like throwing an alloy rod into a precise and complex mechanical structure and jamming the rotating gears, causing the entire system to stagnate.

The energy that originally drove the magic array was also rapidly poured into the [Shadow Dream Hole], causing the Nightmare Dimension to begin feeding back. However, the Tiger Demon did not actively absorb this power, but instead poured it into the bodies of the Eggplant Ghost and the Shadow Demon Insect, causing more efficient destruction and helping it plunder bottles of pills.

"Hurry! Hurry! People outside have already reacted! I can sense an even greater power gathering and descending!"

Little Spicy Strip, who also had control over the [Shadow Dream Hole], clearly sensed the changes in the outside world. The commander-level guards, with their limited authority, failed in their attempt to seal off and close the pill room; then, the true controller of [Cicada City] immediately sensed the internal changes.

Just like someone who experiences stomach cramps immediately rubs their abdomen to relieve it, the power that mobilized the entire [Cicada City] arrived quickly and gathered even faster, not at all as sluggish as Commander Zuo had described.

Spicy Strip suddenly screamed, "Holy crap, we're doomed! It's too late! The space in this pill room is sealed off. Boss, we're trapped here!"

The Tiger Demon remained silent, focusing solely on cutting through the magic array surrounding the shelves and frantically buying up the goods, ignoring the little spicy snack's screams and warnings.

Seeing that the outer space of the pill room had been forcibly sealed off, Spicy Strips said dejectedly, "Boss, were we too greedy? We didn't know when to stop, and that's why we're trapped?"

"If I run away after only a minute of shopping, wouldn't that be a wasted trip?" Tiger Demon wasn't too worried about his situation because the connection between the [Shadow Dream Hole] and the Nightmare Layer was still there, and he could still draw energy from the magic array and infuse it into the Nightmare Layer to exchange for energy.

It's just that our escape route has been cut off. We can always return to the Happy Home. What's there to panic about?
Spicy Strips understood this, so he calmed down and said, "Don't you think it would be more cost-effective for us to rob the [Burning Furnace]? Why not just hijack the [Insect Gold] and then make a leisurely retreat?"

"You won't have time to escape no matter which side you rob! When you're robbing, you have to be prepared to fight your way out. Once you've emptied this area, move on to the next cargo area!"

(End of this chapter)