Chapter 494: Reconnaissance and the Unexpected

Several days later, Jie Ming lay concealed within a deep interlayer of phase space, like a shadow sunk to the bottom of water—utterly silent and traceless.

Through the hazy view filtered by the spatial membrane, a squad of wizards was passing overhead.

Fifteen fifth-ring wizards from the joint forces of Chaos Secret Cult and Tower of Annihilation flew in a strict search formation, led by a single sixth-ring wizard whose aura was noticeably heavier and more solid.

They did not employ large-scale detection sorcery. Instead, they swept every inch of space with a highly precise energy resonance field, missing even the subtlest anomalies in elemental flow.

“Tch! All this just because I killed three people?” Jie Ming muttered soundlessly within phase space. “These guys are acting like I poked a hornet’s nest.”

But deep down, he knew full well—he really had poked a hornet’s nest.

Ever since that earlier encounter, his position had effectively penetrated the alert perimeter surrounding the coalition camp.

The annihilation of that three-man patrol squad had clearly triggered some kind of alarm mechanism.

From that moment onward, the search density in this region had skyrocketed to a suffocating level.

Worse still, the quality of these searchers was terrifyingly high.

They weren’t just well-trained, tightly coordinated elites with solid individual combat power—nearly every few squads included a sixth-ring wizard commanding from the center, ready to provide immediate reinforcement at the first sign of trouble.

Several times, Jie Ming had nearly been detected by passing perception-specialized wizards simply because his phase-space transitions produced the tiniest spatial ripples.

He had been forced to change his concealment strategy entirely.

Right now, Jie Ming was deep inside a phase-space interlayer, relying on the computational power granted by the spiritual nature of the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror to multitask: while maintaining his position in phase space, he wove an outer “Spatial Stabilization” camouflage membrane around the boundary layer.

This wasn’t true spatial fortification; it merely simulated the characteristic fluctuation frequency of stabilized space, completely masking the subtle anomalies inherent to phase space itself.

From practical experience, the method Jie Ming had devised during sparring matches with his fellow disciples proved effective—but at the cost of movement speed reduced to a crawl.

In phase space, every phase shift required recalibrating the stabilization membrane; every movement had to avoid triggering chain reactions in the external spatial field.

On the other hand, this very density of searches had become the clearest guidepost.

“The denser the search teams… the closer to the core area.”

Like a spider cautiously creeping along the edge of a web, Jie Ming used visual estimation of the distribution density and frequency of external search squads to gradually piece together the approximate location of the coalition camp.

Several more days passed.

Maintaining his phase concealment, Jie Ming advanced forward with extreme caution over a considerable distance.

By now he could faintly sense that the “texture” of the space ahead had changed.

Not a visual change, but one at the level of laws.

The originally thin yet uniform spatial structure, beyond some invisible boundary ahead, had become as dense and unyielding as solidified crystal.

This was the effect of large-scale, high-grade spatial lockdown sorcery.

And the coverage was so vast, the structure so rigorous, that Jie Ming could tell from perception alone: there was absolutely no possibility of sneaking through unnoticed.

Any attempt at phase movement or spatial leap across that zone would be as laughable as trying to pierce steel plate with a feather—and it would instantly trigger every alarm.

Yet Jie Ming felt no discouragement. In the darkness of phase space, he merely curled his lips slightly.

“This is the place.”

To deploy spatial locks of such scale and flawlessness on the periphery was proof enough that what lay ahead was the core defensive ring of the coalition camp.

He didn’t need to actually break in. Confirming the camp’s precise location was already one of the most important objectives of this mission.

With this coordinate, the area he needed to search next shrank to “a relatively limited zone centered on the camp with a radius of roughly ten million kilometers.”

“Time to pull back.”

Jie Ming decisively turned and began withdrawing along his original path.

Everything appeared to be proceeding smoothly. All he needed now was to exit the enemy’s alert perimeter, then re-divide his search sectors based on the enemy camp’s coordinates.

However, just a few days later—after he had only managed to retreat a little over a thousand kilometers—the situation outside abruptly changed.

The originally methodical patrol squads suddenly erupted into chaos like an anthill struck by a stone!

Squad after squad abandoned their search formations and turned in unison, racing at full speed toward one specific direction.

“Someone else sneaked in?” Jie Ming reacted instantly. “And… they’ve been discovered.”

Immediately afterward, violent elemental fluctuations erupted from that distant direction—the booming of exploding flames, the shrieking of condensing frost, the crackling tear of thunder ripping space, and the dull, mountain-crashing thuds of heavy impacts.

Clearly a battle had broken out, and on no small scale.

Worse, as the fighting intensified, powerful waves of spatial sorcery began spreading outward.

Even from such a distance, the disturbance rippled through to the region where Jie Ming hid.

Under normal circumstances, such aftershocks would be nothing.

But right now, the “Spatial Stabilization” camouflage membrane he had woven to mask his phase space stood out like the only patch of unmoving ice on a rippling lake amid the chaotic spatial background—glaringly conspicuous.

Even more fatally, as vast numbers of wizards converged on the battle zone, the abnormally “stable” spatial block where Jie Ming hid was immediately noticed by a squad of fifth-ring wizards passing nearby.

“Over there! The spatial readings are wrong!” the squad leader barked sharply.

Without the slightest hesitation, all five wizards raised their hands in unison. Five beams of gray-white binding light wove together into a net that descended straight toward Jie Ming’s concealed position!

“Damn it! Spotted!”

Jie Ming’s heart tightened, but his movements did not falter in the least.

In the instant before the spatial lockdown net fell, he tore open the phase space. His figure burst abruptly from nothingness!

The moment he broke through phase space, the Spatial Slash generated by the rupture swept outward in the same motion.

A pitch-black line appeared from nowhere—as though it could swallow even light itself—and sliced with lethal precision across the neck of the wizard who had just raised the alarm.

Puff.

A head flew off, the expression of shock frozen on the face.

Even the soul had no time to escape; it was shredded by the chaotic currents trailing the Spatial Slash.

Before the corpse could fall, Jie Ming’s figure had already shot away in the opposite direction like a wraith!

“Enemy attack!!”

“Stop him!”

The remaining wizards roared in shock and fury. A storm of intercepting sorcery rained down.

Curse techniques, elemental bombardments, gravity swamps, psychic spikes… but Jie Ming ignored every offensive spell completely.

The Return to Ruins Armor shimmered faintly across his body. All attacks that struck it scattered like rain on glass, rippling briefly before dissipating without a trace.

Meanwhile, Great Void Step had been pushed to its absolute limit beneath his feet. His form dragged out streaks of afterimages as his speed shattered the sound barrier in an instant—yet bizarrely produced no sonic boom whatsoever. Every sound and energy fluctuation was absorbed and deflected by the concealment field inherent to Great Void Step.

As for fighting? Jie Ming had never had any such intention from the beginning.

Are you kidding?

This entire region was now swarming with enemy wizards. The slightest delay, and the next second could see dozens or even hundreds converging on him.

At that point, forget being a fifth-ring—even a peak sixth-ring would face nine deaths and one slim chance of survival when surrounded by an army.

So…

Run!

Run with everything he had!