"Exposed. ...Let them be exposed!" Gu Xiechen said softly. "The main force is advancing slowly through the dense forest. As long as we guard against raids by the elite vanguard and strikes from the air power, we'll manage. If we can just survive this period, we’ll have a chance. We cannot keep relocating; the brothers can’t take it anymore... Are all the explosives and grenades set up exactly as I instructed?" Ling Hu pulled out a remote control and tossed it to Gu Xiechen. "All the explosives and grenades have been planted at the specific spots you indicated." Gu Xiechen took the remote, carefully inquiring about the explosion points corresponding to the buttons on the device. Ling Hu knew this could not be treated lightly and quickly provided a thorough explanation to Gu Xiechen.

Crackling sound Gu Xiechen and Ling Hu's wrist communicators suddenly blared simultaneously, and a deep voice emerged from the receiver. "Hey, this is Game Control!" "Who are you?" Ling Hu's eyes snapped wide open. He hissed quietly, "Where is Little Gaia? Where is Little Gaia? Is this unfortunate little soul called Little Gaia?" The deep voice chuckled mockingly, "I snapped his neck. The taste of his blood... it’s quite sweet!" Ling Hu smashed his fist onto the communicator in a rage, but Gu Xiechen was already ascending into the sky.

Using several vines overhead for leverage, Gu Xiechen tore through layers of the vine-woven canopy with a gust of wind, rocketing to the top of a massive tree. His Daoist robes and ceremonial cloak rapidly shifted shape, quickly transforming into a Stealth Operative Model IV combat suit worn over his body. Gu Xiechen surveyed his surroundings. "Little Gaia’s post was on a small hill to the west. Little Gaia was a roving sentry, and he had seven hidden sentry points nearby. Since Little Gaia was killed and none of the seven hidden posts reported anything, it’s clear the entire western flank of the valley defenses has fallen." "Heh, I’m done on my side too!" A sickeningly sweet voice, sweet enough to curdle the stomach, chimed in through the communicator. "My dear Mr. Evil Dragon, can you hear my voice? All ninety-seven of your sentries to the east—I took them all down. Guess how I killed them? Hee hee, I won't tell you I ripped out their hearts!"

With the sentries on both the east and west sides of the valley neutralized, Gu Xiechen stood motionless on the treetop, all his essence and spirit compressed within his body, his mind utterly tranquil without the slightest ripple. Ling Hu was already issuing a rapid stream of orders below. All mercenaries in the valley still capable of fighting gripped their weapons tightly. Hiding in this valley for over a dozen hours was more than enough time to set up extensive ambushes. The Hell’s Angels Mercenary Corps employed highly paid special forces instructors, and under their direction, the valley’s dense woods were now riddled with deadly traps and mechanisms.

An aura of chilling death permeated the valley, and Gu Xiechen’s presence gradually merged with this killing intent. Silence followed on the communicator for a long moment, but Gu Xiechen seemed to perceive the attackers carefully probing their way into the valley.

Static crackle The communicator rang again, and a woman’s voice laughed coquettishly. "Oh, God, I’ve run into a little trouble. Assassination by stealth isn't really my forte. Why did I even make that bet with you guys? I’m three minutes late; I happily accept losing this hundred Federation Coins! Hee hee! Southern direction—all ninety-five sentries are dead!"

A massive roar erupted from the north, followed by a deep, resonant bellow echoing from afar. A booming shout came through the communicator. "Damn it! Why did I make a bet with you? Hmph, how could my physique possibly compare to yours?"

The sound of continuous gunfire, like popping beans, came from the north, but the shooting quickly subsided. Gu Xiechen’s body moved. He leaped down from the treetop, lightly stepping across several vines stretching northward as he sprinted toward the source of the gunfire. The battle boots evolved from his Cloud Boots kicked up two faint streaks of flowing light; Gu Xiechen’s speed rapidly approached the speed of sound. A faint halo surrounded his combat suit, yet despite moving at such a velocity, Gu Xiechen generated absolutely no rush of wind.

Fifteen seconds later, Gu Xiechen arrived in the northern woods where a fierce battle had just concluded. A powerfully built, ape-like man with white hair was violently swinging an iron club as thick as a washbasin, furiously beating a pile of mangled, unrecognizable flesh on the ground. Judging by the shredded pieces of clothing amidst the gore, everyone killed here belonged to the Hell’s Angels Mercenary Corps. This man, nearly two meters fifty tall, his nearly naked body bulging with muscle, maniacally hammered the heap of raw meat, sending blood and viscera spraying everywhere, turning the forest floor into a gruesome mess.

"You damn curs, why did you open fire after spotting me? Couldn't you have waited quietly for me to finish the job? You made me lose a thousand Federation Coins! You damn lapdogs!" The white-haired man muttered incessantly while wildly swinging his iron rod.

A wave of sweet, hot air rushed straight into Gu Xiechen’s throat. The Zhenqi inside him swelled, threatening to burst, and he let out a roar of pure fury. "You—die!"

Crack, crack, crack With several sharp sounds, Gu Xiechen’s ten fingers, infused with immense Zhenqi, suddenly elongated by an inch at the knuckles. Large shards of ice burst from his fingertips. Gu Xiechen launched himself into the air, his claws viciously plunging toward the apex of the brute’s skull. "You killed my men, so I’ll kill you!" The enraged Gu Xiechen ceaselessly urged his Zhenqi, and wisps of white cold air continuously sprayed from the tips of his fingers. The forest humidity was high, and the cold air froze the water molecules in the air, causing dense white mist to instantly rise within several feet around him.

"Heh! You fell for it!" The white-haired man suddenly looked up, completely ignoring the fingers Gu Xiechen thrust toward his skull, and swung his massive club horizontally at Gu Xiechen’s waist. "My physique is harder than the strongest alloy, how could you possibly kill me..."

The ferocious grin on the thick-fleshed man's face suddenly froze. Gu Xiechen’s airborne body suddenly accelerated, and his ten fingers stabbed deep into the man's head. The intensely cold fingers sank completely into the flesh the white-haired man boasted was harder than hardened steel. With a snap, the terrifying cold immediately spread throughout the man’s body via his meridians. In the blink of an eye, the man’s body was frozen into a transparent block of white ice. His iron club was still three inches short of Gu Xiechen’s waist, but this short distance might as well have been the edge of the world—impossible to close.

"You killed my men, so I’ll kill you!" Gu Xiechen roared in a low voice, fierce sapphire-blue cold light flickering in his eyes. The Xue Po Divine Gang erupted from his fingertips. The frozen body of the white-haired man exploded into countless fragments with a deafening bang.

"Get out here!" The white-haired man claimed Gu Xiechen had been tricked, but Gu Xiechen had already sensed those lurking in the surrounding woods earlier. After eliminating the white-haired man with lightning speed, Gu Xiechen slashed his claws in a swift arc around his body, enveloping himself in a hazy layer of cold air. He immediately gathered his Zhenqi and roared with full force.

The sound wave rolled forth like hundreds of tigers roaring simultaneously atop a mountain. With the force of a single shout, the very dirt around Gu Xiechen churned and flipped up, lifting the top layer of earth within several yards by half a foot. The leaves of dozens of nearby trees rustled, scattering masses of foliage, as the sound wave rolled outward. Wherever it passed, bushes and tall grass were flattened—the sheer momentum was terrifying.

The dense forest fell utterly silent, as if all living things had been terrified into stillness by the might of Gu Xiechen’s shout.

A full ten seconds passed before nine young men and women appeared, all wearing Stealth Operative series combat suits, though clearly models far more advanced than the Model IV Gu Xiechen wore. Perhaps due to confidence in their own abilities, none of these youths wore helmets, leaving their faces bare just like Gu Xiechen. "Evil Dragon? Gu Xiechen?" A handsome young man with blond hair and blue eyes surveyed Gu Xiechen with arrogance. "It’s me!" Gu Xiechen pulled out the remote control Ling Hu had given him. "We are the Omega Unit!" the youth declared haughtily. "The Federal Military's strongest and most elite team! We heard... those five wastes like Ingeli were killed without putting up any resistance. To think they were World Masters! They truly disgraced the name of 'Omega'!" Gu Xiechen looked at the remote in his hand and smiled faintly. "Oh, if you aren't World Masters, are you perhaps stronger than them?" The youth nodded emphatically, confidently stating, "Even if Ingeli and the others used their World Power, they could only fight us to a draw!" Gesturing delicately at himself, the youth smiled. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am the captain of Division Three..." "I'm not interested in what your dad's surname is!" Gu Xiechen muttered under his breath, "Northern sentry post... this is the remote key for that!"

A stream of light flashed beneath his feet, and Gu Xiechen bounded upward over two hundred meters high in the spot, right before the nine young men and women watched in horror. They stared blankly, wondering if Gu Xiechen had been reincarnated as a jumper? Why could he jump so high?

Gu Xiechen did not give them time to ponder. He gently pressed a button on the remote. The tens of thousands of kilograms of high explosives and thousands of fragmentation grenades hidden nearby detonated simultaneously. Firelight engulfed the dense woods across a span of nearly a li, and the shockwave shot out for thousands of meters. The entire forest was razed to the ground in the explosion.

"Do you think I’m going to fight you head-on like an idiot?" Gu Xiechen’s body was carried hundreds of meters into the air by the blast wave and fire cloud generated by the explosion. He tumbled several times in the air, and leveraging the bright sunlight overhead, he clearly saw the movements in the forest over ten kilometers away. Over two hundred attack helicopters were roaring toward his position. Beneath the attack helicopters, more than ten thousand elite soldiers, propelled by personal flight units strapped to their backs, were streaking across the treetops toward him! "They actually arrived so fast! Wageli... I truly want to personally measure the circumference of your mother’s bust, you brat!" Gu Xiechen took a deep breath.

In the valley behind him were over twenty thousand of his subordinates who lacked heavy weaponry, and half of them were injured. Before him were nearly ten thousand of the Federal Expeditionary Force's most elite special operations troops, including at least a hundred Innate-level fighters! Gu Xiechen looked at the sun in the sky and suddenly let out a joyous shout toward the heavens! "Our Gu family has always been merchants, but sometimes, some things simply must be done!" He could almost hear the deep, kind voice of that aged elder again. Gu Xiechen spread his arms, and like a large bird, he rode the wind generated by the explosion toward the army of ten thousand. Facing ten thousand by himself—here I come!!!