Chapter 2684: Chapter 2684: Soul-depriving Sun Crows

Serving as human race's headquarters in the Mountain Viewing Province, the Grand River Fortress was heavily guarded.

Following the arrival of more than five hundred people in the fortress, a dozen military guards intercepted them.

Pointing at the assemblage, a high-ranking officer exclaimed in a brusque tone, “You, follow me!”

Led by this guard, the group of over five hundred people entered a vast muster station.

“You guys wait here. Once you cross the red line, you will be killed!” the guard barked in a stern voice.

These people arrived at the Grand River Fortress after experiencing life and death conditions. They didn't expect to receive such treatment, and their faces filled with anger.

“Why?”

“We work for the human race!” “Are you holding us as prisoners?”

“This is sheer insult!”

“You want to stop us with just a red line?”

The crowd expressed their strong disgust.

Zen, who was just another face in the crowd, looked at the red line with a strange feeling.

It was indeed too much for the guard to treat the multitude this way.

The guard didn't care and continued to ignore them. He crossed the red line and left.

His abrupt action made these people more agitated. Two of them ignored the guard's words and marched across the red line.

When the two just crossed the red line, the Lofty Sword placed in the distance suddenly flashed a faint light, and an invisible force came straight toward the two rebels.

Everyone almost suffocated from the excessive force.

The expression on Zen's face changed. He automatically stepped back. But thinking of the warning earlier from the guard, he avoided passing the red line. He just approached its edge.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

The two who stepped out of the red line were cut into a few pieces by an invisible sword radiance.

More strangely, although the two of them were slashed several times, not a single drop of blood flowed out.

While the crowd looked stunned, something popped out from their heads. A couple of three-clawed black birds the size of a human fist darted out from their bodies. They flapped their wings and flew away.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Without any suspense, the invisible force acted once again and chopped these two small black birds.

“How did this happen?”

“When did these birds get into their heads?”

“I don't want to be like that!”

When everyone saw this scene, they suddenly appeared terrified. If birds were likewise present in their heads, people worried they would die one by one. ṞἈＮöΒƐ𝙎

Zen glanced at Gant out of instinct. Gant giggled at him and said in a relaxed tone, “Don't worry about me. I'm fine.”

“Okay. These strange, black birds possibly entered those people's heads when their flock hovered low and covered the entire group. It seemed like there were many of them,” Zen nodded.

He had already felt strange before this.

The rules of the Grand River Fortress were pretty rigid, and it was normal for them to perform a routine inspection on the outsiders. However, some people in the crowd clamored and encouraged all the others to walk out of the red line. Their actions simply courted death.

But most of them remained rational and didn't dare to cross the red line.

So the birds who entered into their heads used the two people to assess the situation. And the outcome came to no good.

The guard who had just left returned and sneered when he saw the severed bodies outside the red line. This was not the first incident that these birds did this. “For the sake of your security, I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to cooperate with me!” he announced in a loud voice so the people present could hear.

With that, he bowed down, and a few divine crystals appeared on his hand. He laid them onto a jade plate. After he had done that, a strange circle appeared on the ground within the area covered by the red line.

Some people in the crowd felt a little uneasy. They looked around in a panic.

More than a dozen people jumped up and wanted to fly away. They ended up like the first two victims. The moment they crossed the red line, they were killed by the invisible sword radiance of the Lofty Sword.

Their bodies were cut into pieces, but they did not shed any blood either. These people were infested with the strange birds.

Dozens of other people inside the red line became anxious like ants on a boiling hot pot. They ran about with their mouths making strange noises, which sounded like crows cawing.

Now even an idiot knew that these people were unusual, but to avoid suspicion, Zen and the others resolved not to kill these strange people.

As the red light on the muster station turned brighter, those people suddenly let out primordial screams and dropped to the ground, motionless.

Just then, the guard gave them a warm smile. He greeted Zen and the others, “Thank you all for your hard work. This time, the Sun Crow race ambushed us in our headquarters. It was indeed out of our expectation, and we lost so many warriors. It was our own negligence that led to this!”

As he spoke, a look of grief appeared on his face as he bowed deeply to the crowd.

“When did these strange birds get into their heads? Why didn't they notice it?” someone asked.

The guard took up a bird corpse and said, “There are more than fifty branches within the Sun Crow race, and they have different talents. The group of birds that attacked you first were the Self-exploding Sun Crows, and this one is called the Soul-depriving Sun Crow. These little creatures have caused us great trouble!”

The Soul-depriving Sun Crow could enter a human's head secretly. It could not only take away their full memory, but also devour the host's soul and blood.

Thirteen years ago, a Soul-depriving Sun Crow lurked in the body of a five-star Oneness Guard. It gave a wrong command on purpose, which led to the deaths of over three hundred Oneness Guards. The consequential losses were immeasurable.

From then on, the Oneness Guards became highly vigilant about the Soul-depriving Sun Crows. It was a routine for warriors like Zen, who entered the Grand River Fortress, to receive an inspection first.

“You can go and register over there,” the guard said as he pointed to the back.

Under the guidance of the guard, Zen and the others transferred to another place in the fortress. After registration, the guards in the fortress reviewed the information listed on their tokens.

“Are you from Dragon City?” The young man in charge of registration looked curiously at Zen.

Zen nodded and asked, “Yes, what's wrong?”

“Nothing,” the young man said with a grin. “You can wait over there. You will be tasked to help the Oneness Guards with the mission of guarding the Blue Cloud City. The Oneness Guards will take you there.”

The mission of guarding the Blue Cloud City relied mainly on the Oneness Guards, and every major assignment carried out by them was very dangerous. That was the reason why the young man thought it was uncommon for Zen, whose cultivation level was low, to take such a difficult task.

Mountain Viewing Province was not Dragon City. Competitions in Dragon City were cruel but not as much compared to those in Mountain Viewing Province. The latter was dangerous, and people dying was nothing new. This young man could even imagine the scene with Zen and Gant feeling scared to death as they went to the Blue Cloud City.

Besides Zen and Gant, eight more people were also waiting aside.

The tasks from the Oneness Guards were not assigned to the Dragon City alone, but also the various forces under the Oneness Sky Palace. These eight people obviously accepted the same duty as Zen did.

After they waited for an hour, a young man in military uniform rushed in.

A token hung around his waist. Two words “Oneness Guard” were written on the token. He was a Oneness Guard, apparently.

After taking a look at the crowd, the Oneness Guard fixed his eyes on Zen and Gant, and said disdainfully, “You two can leave now. You two are only in the first two stages of the Other Shore Realm. Why did you take this task? You are courting death. I don't want you to put a heavy burden on me.”