High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

Chapter 416: Chapter 416: Werewolf Camp

6:00 AM. Gray Rock Camp.

The crimson sky still hung low. Xu Wuyi stood at the camp’s exit, Su He and his four team members behind him, geared up and ready to go.

"Stronghold Seven is twelve kilometers to the southeast." Su He pulled up a holographic map and pointed to a red marker on it.

"According to intel updated last night, there are fifty-two Werewolf Warriors in the stronghold. Eight of them are War General Level, and there are two Priests. One specializes in fire-based sorcery, and the other excels at close-quarters combat."

The Werewolf Race calls those at the Innate level "Priests," largely because they focus their cultivation primarily on their Spirit.

They use their pure Spirit to manipulate the Heaven and Earth Energy, a technique known as "sorcery." However, this method of separating the Spirit from the body makes further advancement extremely difficult, which is one of the reasons why Divine Beings are so rare among the Werewolf Race.

Xu Wuyi listened quietly, his gaze falling on two other red markers on the map.

Stronghold Eight and Stronghold Nine were located to the northeast and southwest of Stronghold Seven, respectively, both about fifteen kilometers away.

If Stronghold Seven were attacked, reinforcements from the other two strongholds could arrive in as little as fifteen minutes.

"The Priests’ specific Levels?" Xu Wuyi asked.

"The Fire Priest is around Level 41, and the Close Combat Priest is Level 42," Su He replied. "This data was captured by scouts with an Energy Detector three days ago. The margin of error is no more than 0.5 Levels."

Xu Wuyi nodded.

Level 41 and Level 42 were quite good for the Initial Stage of the Innate realm. An ordinary Innate Martial Artist facing two Priests and eight War Generals would indeed need to be cautious.

But he was no ordinary Innate.

"Let’s go," Xu Wuyi said. Just two words.

The six of them left the camp, moving quickly toward the southeast.

Su He’s squad maintained a standard marching formation: Li Rui scouted two hundred meters ahead, Xie Yushan monitored for Energy fluctuations on the flank, Zhao Cheng and Chen Xiaoyu followed closely behind Xu Wuyi, and Su He coordinated from the center.

Xu Wuyi didn’t deliberately slow his pace.

His movements as he ran across the scorched earth seemed casual, yet each step precisely avoided the layers of ash, landing on relatively solid ground.

The dark gold Qi and Blood flowed smoothly within his body with almost no leakage.

This was the fine control an Innate Martial Artist had over their power.

For Martial Artists traveling at full speed, a twelve-kilometer distance would take no more than a quarter of an hour. But when they were still three kilometers from Stronghold Seven, Xu Wuyi signaled for the team to halt.

"Wait here," Xu Wuyi said to Su He. "If I give the signal to retreat, return to camp immediately. Don’t worry about me."

Su He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just nodded. "Understood."

Xu Wuyi turned and walked toward the stronghold alone.

Three kilometers. Two kilometers. One kilometer.

When the stronghold’s silhouette became clearly visible, Xu Wuyi stopped.

It was a fortress-like structure built from gray-black rock, covering an area roughly the size of two football fields.

A simple wall encircled the fortress. Atop it, wolf-headed flags of the Celestial Wolf Civilization fluttered silently against the crimson sky.

Werewolf Warriors patrolled the walls, but not many—only four groups of two, totaling eight. They clearly didn’t expect any human to dare attack alone.

Xu Wuyi closed his eyes.

In his sea of consciousness, the Dark Gold Mountain Body Heart Image slowly rotated, and the Golden Crow Illusion spread its wings. The Power of Heart Image rippled outward, instantly covering a forty-meter radius before continuing to expand.

Forty-five meters, fifty meters, fifty-five meters...

When his perception reached eighty meters, Xu Wuyi stopped. This was the maximum range he could maintain without revealing his position.

The situation inside the fortress gradually became clear.

Fifty-two life signatures. Two of them were exceptionally strong, like torches in the night. Those were the Priests.

Xu Wuyi opened his eyes, a flicker of dark gold light in their depths.

He didn’t choose to infiltrate. He didn’t use any tactics.

He simply walked, heading straight for the fortress’s main gate.

"Enemy attack—!"

The Werewolf Warriors on the wall finally spotted Xu Wuyi. A piercing alarm instantly blared throughout the stronghold.

Eight War General Level Werewolves charged out from within the fortress. They were massive—nearly half again the size of a regular warrior—and covered in rough Bone Armor, their weapons glowing with a faint green light.

Xu Wuyi didn’t break his stride.

When the first wave of War Generals was thirty meters away, he raised his right hand, splayed his fingers, and made a grasping motion at the air in front of him.

POP POP POP POP—!

Eight heads exploded at the same time.

There was no flash of fire, no loud bang, only the dull sound of rupturing flesh and spattering gore. The eight headless corpses kept their forward momentum for a few more steps before collapsing heavily to the ground.

The ordinary warriors on the wall were stunned.

They hadn’t even seen what happened, and their eight War Generals were already corpses.

"A... a human Innate!" a Werewolf finally realized, his voice filled with terror. "Quick, inform the Lord Priests!"

Xu Wuyi had already reached the wall.

He looked up at the panicked Werewolf Warriors on the ramparts, his expression as calm as if he were looking at a swarm of ants.

Then he lifted his foot and stomped down lightly.

BOOM—!

A ring of dark gold shockwaves spread out from the point of impact. The ground within a ten-meter radius sank abruptly, and the stone wall, like a cracker struck by a sledgehammer, instantly crumbled and collapsed.

Through the swirling dust, Xu Wuyi walked into the fortress proper.

Two powerful auras erupted from deep within the fortress—one searingly hot, the other heavy and solid.

"Human, you court death!"

A roar echoed as two figures shot out from the main building of the fortress.

The figure on the left was wreathed in crimson Flame, holding a burning bone staff—the Fire Priest. The figure on the right was tall and burly, his thick Bone Armor like a suit of plate mail, a War Axe in each hand—the Close Combat Priest.

The moment they appeared, they locked onto Xu Wuyi.

"Only one person?" Confusion flickered in the Fire Priest’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by killing intent. "It doesn’t matter who you are. You’re not leaving here alive today!"

He swung his bone staff, and three crimson fire snakes shot from its tip, weaving into a net in mid-air that descended upon Xu Wuyi.

At the same time, the Close Combat Priest pushed off with his legs, the ground cracking beneath him. He shot forward like a cannonball, his twin axes scissoring toward Xu Wuyi’s neck.

A very standard pincer attack.

Ranged suppression, close-quarters kill shot.

A week ago, Xu Wuyi might have had to take this seriously. But now—

Xu Wuyi stood his ground. He didn’t even draw his gun.

He raised his left hand and swiped casually at the descending net of fire.

HSSS—

The fire net split down the middle, its crimson flames rapidly extinguishing as if they had met their bane. The Fire Priest’s expression changed, but before he could react, Xu Wuyi’s right hand was already aimed at the charging Close Combat Priest.

His five fingers clenched into a fist.

The Close Combat Priest’s forward charge came to an abrupt halt.