Chinese professors at the Wizarding Academy

The violent explosion caught the gray-robed men completely off guard; it was far too sudden.

"This scene feels strangely familiar..."

As the dark purple aura leaked out, the black-robed wizards instantly dodged away!

Strange phenomena occurred in the places where these auras passed...

The once black and hard earth suddenly became soft, as if it had turned into a swamp in an instant, and the withered trees next to it, which had been lifeless, suddenly sprouted green leaves.

Suddenly, the black stone beside it gleamed with a metallic silver color...

The entire scene appeared chaotic and completely disordered. Changes came suddenly, and wherever the dark purple aura appeared, it became noticeably different from the outside.

"Source material..."

After the explosion, Gu Chen quickly ran backwards. Suddenly, his keen ears caught the whispers of the gray-robed man…

"Hmm, something doesn't sound quite right..."

"That tone is off."

"!"

Gu Chen ran as fast as he could, when suddenly he felt an immense sense of threat rushing towards him!

"Whoosh whoosh!"

He ducked sharply, dodging the nails flying from behind, but these nails were clearly different from the ones from before!

Gu Chen looked back, but it seemed that the nails weren't aimed at him...

"wrong!"

He immediately dismissed the idea.

The target wasn't him, but it was also him, because the purpose of those nails wasn't to hit him directly!

The nails fell into the soil in front of them, and then began to emit a transparent beam of light into the sky. Although it had no color, a sense of incongruity in the space was clearly visible.

These beams of light connected, and then Gu Chen felt the space around him begin to change.

The scene before me seems to have changed?

"Damn, this is a protective barrier!"

The area affected by his chaotic power was completely sealed off by the nail, looking like a giant bubble from the inside out.

It seems the other side has already sealed off this area, and the outside world has no way of knowing what's happening inside!

"...If my guess is correct, these grey-robed men chasing me are not from the Antinoya family..."

"Rather than being surrounded and killed here, I might as well try a fight to the death!"

"Stir up the water!"

The situation on the field didn't look good, and Gu Chen seemed to be in dire straits.

It seems there's no way to escape, but how can we give up so easily?

Gu Chen quickly combined the conclusions he had deduced earlier and then made his choice!

That means making a big fuss!

"These nails were just fired... there must still be loopholes in the barrier."

Gu Chen looked closely and saw that the Star Observation Technique was in operation. Then, as he expected, he discovered a loophole!

The space there doesn't yet have that eerie, bubbly feeling!

Okay, let's do it again!

Gu Chen raised his right arm again, unleashing a burst of dark purple energy!

The target wasn't any person, nor the tent, nor any patrolling guards.

Instead, they were in several corners inside the camp where flammable materials were stored.

Gu Chen had seen it during the reconnaissance, after all, he had also broken through the second level of visual deflection and could see the situation in the camp with the naked eye.

He had memorized one particular corner, because it was piled high with magic scrolls, fuel barrels, and some sparkling crystals…

What else is there to say, bro? The original plan was to use it to cause chaos for infiltration, or to create some noise if the infiltration failed so that it could help me escape.

Although the situation is complicated now, infiltration is clearly impossible, so let's muddy the waters and make things complicated.

The magic flowed extremely fast, speeding along the magic path optimized by Gu Chen, and finally crashed directly into the corner piled with supplies.

Clearly, an extremely unstable magical force collided with a flammable and explosive crystal, a magic scroll, that contained a large amount of magical energy...

That will definitely lead to some rather artistic situations.

explosion!

Inside the oil drum, a raging flame suddenly rose up, bursting and continuously boiling the lamp oil, emitting thick black smoke with a burnt smell!

Almost simultaneously, because Gu Chen directly released his aura, rather than following a stable attack path, it was scattered like a shower of petals. As a result, several other wisps of aura collided with two other small supply points. These points contained many disposable magic scrolls, which would explode if they encountered unstable magic and were destroyed directly...

boom!

boom!

boom!

A few seconds later, screams erupted throughout the camp.

"Fire!"

"Quick! There's smoke coming from over there!"

"It's an oil lamp barrel! Be careful, it might explode!"

"Magic Crystal!"

"Is it an enemy attack?"

"Gather, gather!"

The guards, wizards, and apprentices in the camp were instantly alerted, and they turned around in astonishment to look in the direction from which the thick smoke was rising.

One of the wizards, dressed in a dark red robe, hesitated for a moment, then roared at his apprentice:

"Activate the Active Reconnaissance Rune!"

The wizard in the dark red robe immediately activated his mental detection!

Why can't I feel anything?

No, the magic crystal shouldn't have exploded on its own, right?

He lowered his head and thought for a moment...

This must be an attack, and they must have used some method to conceal themselves!

He couldn't tell, but Lord Calcosa's active reconnaissance runes certainly could!

"quick!"

He yelled at his apprentice as he hurriedly ran towards the fire.

opportunity!

"The breach has been opened!"

Gu Chen's condition wasn't good at the moment; he had just been hit by a nail, but it wasn't a serious problem!

Because the barrier has been opened!

He collapsed to the ground, having just clearly felt a spatial distortion closely chasing the chaotic power he had released, trying to envelop it.

Fortunately, this actually helped him, because the camp didn't seem to realize what had attacked them...

The three gray-robed men suddenly vanished, disappearing without a trace. Gu Chen had scanned them several times with his spiritual sense but couldn't detect their presence anymore...

"It seems their main target is the Antinoya family's camp here..."

"A new force has emerged..."

Gu Chen lay on the ground for a while to recover, but did not act immediately. He pressed himself against the cold stone wall, held his breath, and listened carefully.

Faint noises could be heard in the distance, mainly shouts for firefighting and orders to maintain order, but no special alarms or search instructions.

"Fine, since they're not chasing me anymore, I'll just keep infiltrating."

"The use of chaotic vortexes has caused side effects..."

Gu Chen looked up at his arm. The Grip of Life and Death had turned slightly black, and the three forces of death within it were surging wildly.

"The Soul-Eating Death Aura can still be used, but it can no longer be sensed from a distance."

Gu Chen realized that he could no longer perceive things from a distance...

But since we've already come all this way, are we really going to just retreat?

Why not take advantage of the chaos in the camp and fish in troubled waters?

Although we don't know who the people who just arrived were, it doesn't really matter anymore. Since those gray-robed men have given up on their plans, we might as well hurry up and sneak in.

The chaos continued in the distance, while Gu Chen stood up and continued his stealthy advance.

Flames soared into the sky, and chaos reigned.

Before long, Gu Chen had silently crept to the edge of the camp.

"This is... a storage room?"

Because of the recent chaos, there were gaps in the camp's security, so Gu Chen was able to approach the camp more easily than before. He discovered that this was an exit resembling a storage room's dead corner, leading to a relatively secluded area inside the camp, close to the stables and the tent area for ordinary apprentices.

There weren't many people here, and most of them were distracted by the fire in the distance.

He quickly surveyed his surroundings, confirmed that it was temporarily safe, and hid himself behind several bundles of hay.

"Next, we'll have to cross the camp..."

The next plan is simple: cross half of the camp to reach the central tent area, where Chobeck is most likely located in the most heavily guarded position.

This is almost an impossible task.

But sometimes, the most dangerous place is precisely the blind spot in one's thinking.

Gu Chen's gaze fell on the slightly agitated packhorses in the nearby stable, and then on the gray apprentice cloaks scattered on the ground nearby, some of which had been dropped or hastily removed during the earlier commotion.

An adventurous plan took shape in his mind.

He quickly picked up a mud-stained apprentice's cloak, draped it over himself, and pulled up the hood to cover most of his face.

A few seconds later, he had a rough pitchfork covered in mud and a dirty leather rope that looked like it had been picked up and used to tie things up.

Then, he took a deep breath, adjusted his facial muscles, and made his expression look panicked, bewildered, and with a sense of responsibility that was eager to perform.

He slightly hunched his back to make himself even less noticeable, then, dragging the pitchfork in his left hand, he walked out from behind the haystack and headed straight towards the fire.

Of course, that is, the center of the camp.

Gu Chen's detonation was cleverly placed; if you wanted to get there from the edge area, you would have to pass through the middle.

Under normal circumstances, there's a high probability that he would be interrogated, since what would a nobody like him be doing here if he had nothing better to do?

But right now, everyone is busy putting out the fire and doesn't have time to care about much else.

At least a ragged apprentice like you, who looks like a weakling, shouldn't be able to cause any trouble.

He looked like he was in a great hurry, but he wasn't actually going very fast; he maintained that pace as he walked past.

Gu Chen now looks exactly like a junior apprentice in the camp who was alarmed by the fire and was eager to get to his post or help.

A dirty cloak, tattered fabric, ill-fitting size, tools in hand, a panicked expression... a very simple disguise.

Due to the influence of the chaotic vortex, the veins on the Grip of Life and Death became dim and lifeless. Ironically, the aura was contained, and there was no need to deliberately hide it. It looked just like an ordinary arm.

Along the way, he encountered several campers hurrying by. Some glanced at him, but seeing his apprentice cloak and pitchfork, and noticing that he was heading towards the fire zone, they paid him no further attention.

Their attention was still largely drawn to the smoke and the obvious firelight in the distance.

Gu Chen's heart maintained a steady rhythm, as he had experienced too many unexpected events recently, so he didn't feel anything special.

However, his expression clearly showed... panic, completely like an apprentice who was afraid of disturbing an important person but had no choice but to do his work.

He kept walking. He could sense that the closer he got to the center, the tighter the security became. The scrutinizing gazes from the shadows increased, and the deathly aura in the air grew stronger and more oppressive.

But he didn't stop, nor did he show any abnormality. He even imitated the pace of an apprentice running past him.

Finally, he approached the core area.

The dark red tent in the center resembled a crouching behemoth, with four cold-blooded guards standing at the entrance, their sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.

The mental investigation revealed even worse news: there were two more pairs of mobile sentry teams patrolling around the tent...

We can't go any further.

Gu Chen suddenly paused, as if he remembered something, and turned to walk towards a simple shed next to him where feed and sundries were piled up, as if he were going there to get something.

He burrowed deeper into the shed, avoiding any possible line of sight.

"The resonance is very obvious..."

"They're most likely inside the tent."

At such close range, Gu Chen could clearly feel the resonance of the Soul-Eating Death Qi.

This conveys an obvious message: there is a very high probability that Joe Baker is inside.

Now about twenty meters away from the tent, the Star Gazing Technique clearly sensed a strong aura of death inside, with obvious characteristics of soul-corroding death energy.

"It's time to confirm."

Gu Chen's gaze swept across the storage shed, ensuring the safety of the environment.

Gu Chen's heart stirred. He raised his left hand again. With his previous experience, this time a thinner thread of soul-corroding death energy quietly emerged from the crack in the ground, following the shadow on the ground, and quietly extended towards the central tent.

The Death Threads are extremely sensitive to death magic, able to detect subtle magical vibrations and flows in the air. These vibrations sometimes carry faint information about sound, especially when someone is speaking inside the tent.

Gu Chen concentrated all his attention on the end of the silk thread, as if he had pressed his ear directly against the canvas of the tent.

The sounds from inside the tent came through indistinctly, as if through a veil.

"Where are the goods?" a voice rang out.

The voice was young and sharp, and it clearly carried a sense of anxiety, though it was deliberately suppressed.

Although he still sounded confident, Gu Chen could still sense a subtle weakness in him.

Joe Baker! He really is here, or at least his will or some remote means of monitoring is here.

"It's been checked. The seal is intact, and the magical reaction is stable."

The response was very low and somber...

"There was a problem with the reconnaissance rune just now; we suspect someone has infiltrated the camp."

"waste!"