My Apocalypse Territory-Chapter 423 - 395 Stunned

Underground,

Tang Yu walked into a spacious stone chamber, over ten meters in height and more than five hundred square meters in area, yet it was eerily empty. Aside from some scattered marks on the floor that barely outlined a platform, there was nothing else.

It had all been cleared out.

He was just a step too late.

"Was this originally... a place to construct a space portal?"

Tang Yu speculated.

Speaking of the Alien Race, he was more familiar with the Skeleton Clan, who had exerted great effort to construct a space portal...

"Space portals and Abyssal Rifts... at least they seem different, and I haven’t seen any Alien Race emerging from the Abyssal Rifts. Could it be inferred that the Alien Race and the Demonized Beasts don’t inhabit the same planet? Or the same space?

There’s another possibility, that the Abyssal Rift only accommodates Demonized Beasts passing through, so the Alien Race needs to build their own portal? But the portal must also have limitations, likely limiting the number of individuals... no, more likely the strength. The more Transcendents who pass through, the more the space portal is destabilized. It either stabilizes over time or... the level of the portal must be increased."

Tang Yu stroked his chin, guessing various possibilities with his extensive knowledge.

"The Ghost Hand Clan’s portal could probably only accommodate Senior Transcendents..."

The existence of the Alien Race was ancient, and Tang Yu could only estimate as high as possible. The Skeleton Clan had Second Tier Transcendents, and maybe the Ghost Hand Clan did too, but they just couldn’t come over for now.

The materials and the array used to construct the portal had likely been taken away by the remaining Ghost Hand Clan elites... After all, from the time they killed a Transcendent to the discovery of this village, it had only been about ten minutes.

The Ghost Hand Clan also had means of communication.

But it was very rushed, and they didn’t manage a thorough cleanup, leaving behind traces that allowed him to infer some information.

"Having the materials, doesn’t that mean the Ghost Hand Clan can quickly reconstruct the space portal and continuously transport troops to Earth?"

That poses a significant risk.

The two escaped Ghost Hand Transcendents, most resentful of them, were definitely Green Shadow. Once they bring stronger beings, more Transcendents, they are likely to target their territory for revenge first.

But there was nothing to regret.

If they didn’t act this time, waiting for the Doomsday Cult to grow stronger, they would inevitably clash eventually, and by then, they might face more than just four Transcendent Strongmen.

This time, the Soul Crystals obtained could at least allow two more Transcendents to emerge in his territory. When the Ghost Hand Clan came knocking, who would have more Transcendents was still uncertain.

Tang Yu then calmed down.

At worst... if he couldn’t win, couldn’t he just run?

After searching several more important stone chambers haphazardly, many artefacts were overturned on the ground. It was apparent that the Ghost Hand Clan elites took only the most crucial items.

Some untransportable paper documents were thoroughly destroyed.

From this, it was clear they either didn’t have space equipment or it wasn’t large enough.

In plainspeak, they were broke.

But not leaving even a bit of spoils was a bit too much!

Fortunately, after some searching, in a secure place, he finally found something.

The long-desired Mother-child Communication Crystal Ball was found here.

One Crystal Ball (Mother), five Crystal Balls (Sub-balls). A set like this should not be all there was, more had likely been distributed, and perhaps it might still be possible to contact those who received the Sub-balls through the Mother Ball.

Additionally, there were some rune equipment, tools, etc., in the secure room. What he valued most were the dozen books on the shelf, written in the unique script of the Ghost Hand Clan. He couldn’t understand them yet, but that wasn’t a problem.

The remaining Source Crystals, materials, etc., Tang Yu didn’t even care to look, tossing them straight into the Space Backpack... The important books and the Mother-child Crystal Ball, however, were placed inside the Space Ring.

...

The underground passage always had a smell of blood, which made one frown.

Following the scent, Tang Yu came to a hall entrance where the smell of blood became intense, mixed with the stench of decay assaulting his senses.

What he saw made his brows furrow.

In the center of the stone chamber hall, a mountain of corpses piled up, reaching nearly ten meters high to the ceiling, with blood flowing and countless flies buzzing around. Some broken skulls rolled down from the mountain of corpses, crawled over with maggots, their eyes wide open.

He could vaguely make out the youthful faces, filled with terror and despair.

It was a Blood Sacrifice.

Those were the orphans abducted by the cult.

Tang Yu clenched his fist, a slash of Sword Qi swept across, cutting open several wounds on the captive elites of the Ghost Hand Clan, but not fatally.

They groaned in pain.

Investigation Corps, Fire Fierce Horse Cavalry Group, Lindong, and three other large Sanctuaries of the Alliance Army also finally reached the outskirts of the village.

Thousands of Awakeners launched a carpet-like search.

They snatched the most valuable spoils from the cult first, knowing full well its worth without objections.

But the rest still held some value.

Green Shadow ate meat, they drank soup.

Without these people from Lindong, eradicating hundreds of thousands of Advanced Demonized Beasts wouldn’t have been easy, Tang Yu was not stingy... provided they found valuable items.

According to Kong’s report, when the Alliance Army advanced this way, they also encountered some fleeing members of the Ghost Hand Clan. Some were killed, others captured, including a Strongman of the Thirteenth Layer, who was easily subdued by Yan Dingtian.

Those who ran towards the Alliance Army were probably not overlooked.

But those who escaped in other directions... Tang Yu did not expect the Corps from the various Sanctuaries could intercept all the elite members of the Ghost Hand Clan successfully. It was good enough if they weren’t annihilated.

Certainly, many had successfully escaped Crescent Mountain. Whether or not they contacted the Transcendent, these powerful individuals from the Ghost Hand Clan would undoubtedly trouble Tiannan Province for some time to come.

But this was a minor issue.

Missions could be issued for adventurers to handle, and perhaps even procure commission fees from other Sanctuaries.

How did that saying go,

Use others’ fat to water your own vegetables.

On the other side of Crescent Mountain.

Pingliang Sanctuary’s Army had self-destructed two precious Secret Treasures, lost several top Combat Powers, and about twenty Ninth Layer Peak masters. Pingliang Director, having recently advanced to the Tenth Layer of super Combat Power, was also seriously injured.

But they had finally defeated two Fourth Epoch Strongmen—one dead, one injured, the latter escaping.

Despite severe losses, Pingliang’s Army did not retreat but pressed deeper into Crescent Mountain.

"We suffered heavy losses to kill the cult’s upper echelon, if we leave now, won’t we lose our share of the spoils!" Pingliang Director said. "We must not only stay, but also locate the cult headquarters as soon as possible to make up for the losses."

"After all, facing our eighteen routes of the army, the high-end Combat Powers of the cult headquarters would definitely have emerged. As long as we find the cult headquarters first, the spoils will be ours. Even if other Sanctuaries inquire, we, Pingliang, have gravely weakened the cult, and there’s nothing unreasonable about it!"

Delving deeper into the search within Crescent Mountain.

Soon, Pingliang Director saw a small village in the distance.

Definitely not normal.

That had to be the cult headquarters!

He spurred his horse faster, yet did not rush straight in but lay low on higher ground to observe for a while.

In the distant village, figures were bustling, seemingly bustling lively.

"This cult has more people than we thought, a bit tricky..."

Pingliang Director muttered, then suddenly his eyes widened.

The more he looked, the more familiar the figures in the village seemed.

Weren’t those Combat Uniforms from some of the Sanctuaries among the eighteen routes of the Alliance Army?

Why did they look like they were in a revelry?!!

Pingliang Director was dumbfounded, unable to hold back a surge of blood that spewed from his mouth.

Why,

Every time,

was it different from what he had imagined?