“Did you hear that?”

“There is nothing there, we already took care of the prey.”

Two humanoid creatures were walking through a darkened corridor while looking around. One of them had a strange feeling that there was something following after them. Yet every time he looked back there was nothing but the wind. Their partner didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary which just made him more paranoid.

“We are almost at the temporary encampment. If you don’t want the dark mistress to devour our essence you better relax.”

The red-skinned man with bat wings on his back scoffed at the person next to him. After a smack to the back of his head, the two took flight after reaching a clearing. There in the distance, they could see something that looked like the remnants of a city.

“Now stay quiet and let me do the repo…”

While talking, the person that looked like a vampire from an old movie turned around. Within a second of him looking at the city, his partner was gone. At first, he thought that his comrade was performing some kind of joke but soon he found that there was something strange, he could not move.

His whole body felt like it was underwater but he could not move a muscle or utter a word. Then he noticed that there was some kind of strange thread of invisible energy there. It came from the cavern they just left and it continued to entangle itself over his entire body. Soon he wasn’t able to feel anything as his entire body went numb and he was yanked back into the cavern that he came from.

There he finally saw the being that was responsible for it all. It was a man with silver hair and a strange aura around himself. At this point in time, his hand was around his neck and he was lifted up as if he didn’t weigh anything. Even though the body that he was proud of was full of muscles and well over two meters it was easily being helped up as if he was a small child.

“You should have listened to your friend but not like you would have been able to flee…”

Soon the red vampire was turning to ash while the hand that was holding him discharged some strange energy. Before this being died he remembered the person that the Emperor was after yet why this person had ended up here was unknown to him.

“I guess I should do something about that killing intent…”

Zhang Dong stood over two piles of ash. These two scouts were discovered by him after he left the capital city of the sect of the supposed forge masters. This city had been left deserted with not even a soul remaining as these vampires had a taste for it.

The whole scene left a bad taste in his mouth. He knew that these creatures were soul vampires which would corrupt the essence of their victims. After fighting some of them he also realized that the souls that they generated were twisted and corrupt. Even him with his knowledge was unable to untangle them anymore. He could only absorb them into his soul core while purifying the evil energies that they were now composed of.

But the empty city was not the only strange occurrence in this underforge that he found. While the city showed a lot of battle damage and what looked like the main palace, the resources were not taken. When he was flying around to look for survivors he discovered the treasure that had been opened.

Where regular cultivators would quickly grab everything that they could get their hands on it, these red vampires for some reason didn’t. What they were after was slowly making sense. They always talked about something relating to a hunt, this was nothing more than a game for them. The leftover treasures didn’t matter, they only wished to kill strong enemies instead.

He could not let such an opportunity slip by, even though he felt bad about so many lives being taken he needed these resources. With the help of the replica storage medallion and his spatial rings, everything made its way into his possession. As he was able to take full buildings with him, the time he spent there wasn’t long. Afterward, he decided to go towards the large hole that was dug up. There he discovered the scouts flying around and probably searching for more prey.

‘Why did they stay here and not in the city…’

The capital had far more defenses than this smaller underground fortress where the vampires decided to stay. But seeing how they didn’t care about their cultivation materials or weapons perhaps they didn’t trust the city defenses either.

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‘Or they are just so confident in themselves that they don’t think they could lose? No that’s not it…’

Zhang Dong shook his head as these opponents he was going up against were somewhat peculiar. They never run away and always fought till they died. Perhaps it wasn’t fear of someone above them that was only driving them, maybe they just liked to battle an opponent that was their equal?

‘Also what were those two talking about, some kind of Mistress?’

There was more information that he needed to gather. While he could just attack the encampment that these invaders created it could somewhat wait. He was still angry about the massacre that took place but this was an important chance. Thus his form started to shift, what once used to be his face turned into something different and crimson.

Zhang Dong copied the appearance of the louder vampire from these two. After following them all the way here he had learned some of their mannerisms to help him in his next plan. It was time, to infiltrate this base and gather some information. He already knew that these people would not talk with him, they would rather die.

When he was this close there was no problem in measuring the number of invaders. This group had about three times as much when he compared it to the ones that attacked the Shadow Phantom Sect. Perhaps this was one of the main bases to which the troops would return later. If he managed to infiltrate them well he might be able to cause some serious damage.

‘They shouldn't be able to block out my teleportation feature and with the spirit stones I have gathered there won’t be a problem with escaping.’

With his spirit stones reserves renewed he would be able to easily escape if something bad happened. This place was also closer to his own territory which would lower the spirit stone costs even further. Thus after turning himself into a red vampire he was off to their camp.

The usual disguising technique was even able to modify his exterior to look like a demon but producing the scary-looking toothy mouth would not be possible. He would need to supplement this with some hypnosis and illusionary techniques but he was unsure if the soul suckers would be fooled.

“What took you so long and where is your brood brother?”

“Oh he wasn’t so lucky, he got ambushed…”

“Ambushed? Are there more prey out there?”

“Not anymore, I killed them all, they used some strange treasure. It was an unsatisfying hunt.”

Zhang Dong tried to emulate the speech pattern of the person that he took over. He wasn’t sure about the social hierarchy of these creatures but they did have some leaders like the one that he killed at the Shadow Phantom Sect grounds. The person that he was impersonating was someone that would be at the core formation level and on the bottom end of it.

“Yes, these outworlders are proving to bore the chiefs but there are ones that we need to look out for.”

“You mean… like the golden one?”

Zhang Dong prodded as by this point he knew what these invaders were calling him.

“Yes that one, the Emperor wants him, if we find him we will be rewarded greatly!”

“Ah yes, the reward…”

He just nodded in agreement as he didn’t want to prod too much. The info that he got from this guard was already enough and told him quite the story. Apparently, the leader was impressed by his performance at the northwest border. If this Emperor was on the level of the Azure Emperor still remained to be seen, perhaps there were multiple ones and they had some other leader altogether.

“What are you standing around, go make your report or the Mistress will have your head!”

“Yes, shouldn’t let the Mistress wait.”

With that, he removed himself from the entrance and headed inside. Going to this Mistress would probably not be the greatest idea. Being the leader and probably a nascent soul master level threat she might poke some holes in his story. The better option would be to just switch it up again.

Thus he slipped away into the shadows once more. This place was built into the wall and only the burning hot lava was illuminating it. These creatures certainly didn’t like light too much and could also see in the dark. None of them expected their base to be infiltrated this soon into the war effort though and just like the two before him another of the creatures was turned to dust.

From the scout, he switched into a guard that was patrolling the area. With his new appearance, he could now loiter around without anyone being too suspicious. The only problem was his old disguise, what would they do when the scout didn’t arrive to make the report?

‘Well, this will be a good chance to see how they operate.’

This place had been some kind of fort but like the main capital city, it was now devoid of any human presence. He could see some clothes scattered here and there but the insides were empty. If he wasn’t confident in his abilities this would have been a rather frightening experience. People just disappeared with no trace, devoured by some strange red invaders.

He went through some of the buildings which caused his rage to build up even more. These beings didn’t see them as anything more than animals, this was clear. They certainly had no problem in killing young children and the elderly.

Then suddenly as he was going through one of the empty buildings he heard a strange high-pitched sound that grated his ears. It made him peek out and look out into the distance to discover that the red invaders were gathering at a peculiar tower that was radiating red light.

‘Is it their Mistress? Did they figure out that the scouts had vanished?’

While the temporary enemy base was in an uproar he remained calm and collected. The empty building that he occupied gave out a faint golden light as a character that he etched on the wall disappeared.

“Well then… this energy signature feels higher than the rest…”