Dragon's Origin

Chapter 688: Retaliation (Part 2)

At three different locations, Wang Sheng couldn't discern any pattern in their distribution, nor were they situated at the center of the inner core. Yet, all three were conspicuously excavating, suggesting each possessed some secret, unpublicized records passed down.

However, these three families were clearly not the Shi or Gan families. Judging by their approach, they were merely emulating the initial stages of the Shi and Gan families, constructing ice huts and digging tunnels underneath. They were far from employing the techniques used by the Shi and Gan families when jointly excavating the Peerless Treasure Trove, which involved breaking open vast expanses of ice.

It could only be said that these three families must have seen the relics near the Peerless Treasure Trove, or they wouldn't resort to such outdated methods. Unfortunately, unless they possessed abilities like Wang Sheng or had incredible luck, allowing them to dig at the right depth and location, they would merely spend a long time digging a tunnel.

Didn't the Shi and Gan families spend over a year digging in the inner core of the Thousand Absolutes Land with similar results?

Of course, they had only been here for a short time, a little over a month or two. At most, they would have visited the Peerless Treasure Trove relics and imitated what they saw, perhaps just finishing building the ice huts and breaking through the ice layer. The density of personnel indicated as much.

Wang Sheng observed from a distance without alarming the three families, opting to detour around them. What he was looking for now was the Xia family.

From the Xia family's perspective, killing Wang Sheng was a means to secure their interests, which they naturally deemed justifiable. However, from Wang Sheng's perspective, the Xia family had crossed a line. If he didn't teach them a profound lesson, other families would dare to use similar tactics against him, knowing he wouldn't retaliate. Could Wang Sheng tolerate such behavior?

Wang Sheng was absolutely certain that many members of the Xia family had already been placed on Mei'er's highly priced bounty list. In the previous series of assassinations by Divine Might Prison, over six hundred named experts from the Xia family had died. The family head was unharmed, but at least seven members of the elders' council had perished, which allowed the new faction in the Xia family to rise to power.

However, the new faction of the Xia family ultimately made an incredibly foolish decision. A common ailment among large families is believing that eliminating those who threaten their interests will solve everything. Unfortunately, Wang Sheng was not easily killed as they had hoped, so the Xia family had to be prepared for retaliation.

It must be said that Wang Sheng's own double ice hut design was truly ingenious, capable of securely locking human presence within the two layers, preventing it from leaking out. Even Wang Sheng, without relying on his combat awareness or exceptional hearing, and solely relying on his senses of smell and aura, would be unable to detect human presence inside the ice hut.

Fortunately, Wang Sheng's hearing was exceptionally keen. Even through the thick ice layer, he could detect movements beneath the ice. It would be truly difficult for an ordinary person to know if there were people inside the ice hut from such a distance.

Wang Sheng spent several days wandering around the core area of the Thousand Absolutes Land to pinpoint the locations of various families.

Within the inner core of the Thousand Absolutes Land, at least twenty super-class demon beasts had been released, although they were still trapped within the formation, no longer sealed inside ice mountains. These super-class demon beasts would trigger violent reactions if anyone passed within a few miles of them. Fortunately, Wang Sheng already knew the original locations of these demon beasts and carefully controlled the giant bear to avoid them without causing alarm.

The Xia family's location was near the center of the inner core, not exactly at the center, but not far from it. They also used a double-layered ice hut to conceal everyone's presence.

Even more ingeniously, less than two miles from their ice hut, a super-class demon beast had been released, trapped within a formation and unable to move. Any human expert entering the demon beast's sensory range would trigger a violent reaction. It could be said that the Xia family had cleverly found a natural alarm system for themselves.

Not only was it an alarm, but the aura of the super-class demon beast ensured that any expert entering this range would be greatly suppressed. At the very least, no one could attempt to target the Xia family through a surprise attack. The double-layered ice hut ensured that the Xia family's experts' aura would not alarm the super-class demon beast, a perfect arrangement.

This was also one of the key reasons why the Xia family, having entered more than a year earlier and secured a good location, had not been attacked by the families that came later.

Unable to launch a surprise attack, they could only rely on a frontal assault. With so many Xia family experts lying in wait, the experts who braved the pressure from the super-class demon beast to approach within a certain range would undoubtedly face a joint attack from the Xia family's experts.

The other families were helpless against the Xia family because of this. However, the Xia family's method gave the other families inspiration, and almost every family chose to arrange their excavation site in this manner after selecting it. Or rather, when choosing an excavation site, they would choose one near an ice mountain with a super-class demon beast.

Wang Sheng determined which family was the Xia family based on the movements of human experts he heard and the distribution of human experts detected by his combat awareness.

Apart from the Xia and Shi families, the other families were newcomers who had arrived less than two months ago and could not dig long tunnels, so their personnel were relatively concentrated. The Shi family would not use such a clumsy method of digging tunnels but would directly excavate the entire area. Therefore, the family that was digging tunnels with relatively dispersed personnel could only be the Xia family.

Eighty-six Legend rank experts, including twenty-two Legend peak experts, that was the Xia family's entire force within the Thousand Absolutes Land core.

The Xia family was very cautious, possibly because they felt they had a head start of more than a year, so they knew they were a target for everyone. Even with a super-class demon beast outside, they were still uneasy. Inside the ice hut, there were still three sentries.

Sensing the cautious vigilance of the three sentries, Wang Sheng was puzzled. How could they see the outside from within the double-layered ice hut? But then he quickly understood. Mirrors. With a simple arrangement of mirrors, calculating the angles of reflection, just like a periscope, they could allow the people inside to see the situation in certain directions outside.

This would not damage the structure of the double-layered ice hut. The human presence inside would be sealed and not leak out, and the super-class demon beast would not detect it. A very clever arrangement.

Unfortunately, this time the Xia family had encountered Wang Sheng, the Earth's ace sniper, a special forces warrior who was most skilled at infiltration and long-range sniping.

The Xia family had certainly received the warning from the family and had been on alert for almost a month, but Wang Sheng had not arrived, and they were already extremely anxious.

Fortunately, the people here were all experts and had sufficient patience. Knowing that Wang Sheng would return, they would not be afraid but would instead look forward to his arrival.