Chapter 441 – Lord Mu's Bag of Tricks

“Your assessment evaluates your thinking ability and adaptability. Just remain calm and composed, then act according to circumstances. I can’t give you too many specific suggestions on what to do.”

Before departure, Mu Yuan said to Rakshasa.

Naturally, lords cannot interfere during the assessment process.

The Warzone has its own evaluation system.

But… lords aren’t completely forbidden from taking action. If their generals encounter accidents or life-threatening crises, Mu Yuan would intervene when necessary.

A lowered evaluation is far less important than preserving lives.

Some powerful lords typically arrange several safety measures.

Mu Yuan felt quite reassured about Rakshasa.

Rakshasa possessed numerous survival techniques and had above-average intelligence. Even if encountering Soul Realm experts, he could calmly escape.

But Uta…

If Uta were teamed up with other generals, Mu Yuan wouldn’t be as worried – at least Uta would listen to advice.

But with Uta leading a team alone…

Mu Yuan felt somewhat anxious.

“Let’s stay here a few more days and leave after their assessment ends.”

“No problem.”

As for traveling, Dolai had no objections.

It was contemplating what local specialties to bring back for its companions – food, food, or maybe food?

Though the Great Warzone didn’t have particularly distinctive delicacies.

Mu Yuan figured since they were already here, he might as well try some training programs at the camp himself, including sandbox exercises.

As a three-star Pioneer Lord, he enjoyed significant discounts for his first few uses within a year – might as well take advantage.

Soon after,

Beep~ One-time consumption card

Mu Yuan found himself within the sandbox.

The next moment, his Mental Energy spread out, connecting all soldiers throughout the entire camp, forming the tightest possible integration.

A sacred mental network linked everyone, resonating as one becoming many.

He extended a finger.

“Armor Hardening.”

His armor shimmered with faint bone-like luster.

Around him, dozens of soldiers’ armor gleamed with the same bone-like quality.

Throughout the camp, hundreds upon thousands of soldiers’ armor all radiated with luster.

“Brilliant Blessing.” “Sharpness Imbuement.” “Water Guardian.” “Transcendent Energy.”

Beams of light shot skyward.

Lord Mu sat within the fortress, his perspective splitting into thirty-two fragments, meticulously observing everything inside and outside the camp.

His will transmitted commands.

“Team 32, positions 1-3, retreat three meters.”

“Team 64, positions 2, 4, 6, use Cyclone skill.”

“Team 12…”

Hundreds of seconds later, monster legends fell from high altitude, flesh giants froze to death before the City Walls, while Mu Yuan remained leisurely seated in the fortress, chin propped on hand, feeling rather bored.

“This sandbox exercise is still too simplistic.”

…

While Mu Yuan experimented with various training programs, Rakshasa had already taken his token to the recruitment area of Base Three.

This area was vast, occupying a full quarter of Base Three’s space.

Within, one could see waterfalls cascading, volcanoes erupting, and numerous magnificent structures.

「Fire Element Cultivation Pool (Special)」

「Dragon Eagle Nest (Special)」

「Saintess Monastery (Special)」

「Marksman Watchtower (Special)」

Surrounding these special Unit Buildings stood numerous elite troops awaiting deployment.”You are not yet an official commander of the Cold Valley Mountain Warzone, so you cannot use these Unit Buildings. Please select from the available units in the surrounding area.”

The officer inspected Rakshasa’s token and spoke, handing over a list of available units.

There were many types of units, numbering several dozen in total.

Some of them were familiar to Rakshasa, but nearly half he had never heard of.

However, each unit type came with brief descriptions of their Rank and skills, so Rakshasa had no trouble understanding them.

“Regardless of the mission, for me, units mainly serve an auxiliary role…”

Examinees like him could only lead a limited number of Fourth Order units, with a maximum of five.

But even with five—let alone thirty—Fourth Order units would provide little assistance in combat.

“Reconnaissance, communication, enemy obstruction…”

After a moment of contemplation, Rakshasa settled on three directions.

He began his selection.

Soon, he spotted a familiar skill name.

—”Vision Sharing.”

This reconnaissance skill of the Falcon Legion was one Rakshasa often used, and he well understood the advantages of an aerial overview.

Shortly after, Rakshasa encountered another familiar talent name.

—”Mental Link.”

—It allowed for long-distance command transmission, capable of connecting up to three individuals simultaneously, with a maximum range of 2,000 meters.

Rakshasa frowned slightly but eventually completed his selection of thirty units. He then boarded the aerial transport provided by the training camp and sped toward the mission location.

…

The grain-producing Treasure Land was situated at the center of three logistical bases, carved out by the warzone’s powerful experts during non-Crimson Mist surge periods.

Inside and outside the Treasure Land, numerous small towns had been established to manage and protect these valuable areas.

Further out, there were garrison camps, similar in scale to those seen in sandbox exercises.

Rakshasa flew directly into White River Town and, presenting his mission token, met with a battalion commander from the town’s garrison patrol corps.

“Your Excellency Rakshasa.”

The battalion commander cupped his hands in salute. “This way, please. We’ve prepared some food and drink—we can discuss matters over the meal.”

Rakshasa studied the burly man before him and frowned slightly. “Time is short and the mission urgent. Let’s get straight to the point. There are suspicions of spies sent by the Monster Overlord here in White River Town, but… aren’t the auras of monsters completely different from ours? How do they conceal themselves?”

Monsters could indeed hide their auras to avoid detection.

But to disguise themselves as humans or living beings—that seemed far-fetched.

Rakshasa had never heard of such a thing.

The battalion commander explained, “It’s a type of monster called the Thousand-Faced One. These creatures were first discovered three years ago. They possess the ability to Devour living beings, transform into them, and read their memories.”

“This unique method of disguise allows Thousand-Faced Ones to exhibit characteristics identical to living beings, making them indistinguishable by aura.”

“However, the transformation of Thousand-Faced Ones is flawed. They remain monsters at their core and must periodically shed their current forms to seek new living beings to Devour and transform. Otherwise, their monstrous scent gradually becomes exposed.”

“Based on our estimates, this timeframe ranges between ten days to half a month.”The bearded captain paused and said, “During this period, there have been some disappearances in our White River Town. Just yesterday, we discovered a lifeless body with no facial features in the patrol guard regiment.”

The body was currently at the patrol guard regiment’s headquarters.

Rakshasa soon saw it.

The corpse’s face was completely smooth, lacking any features like eyes, nose, or mouth. Its face had been devoured.

Rakshasa fell into deep thought.

Even he could tell the situation wasn’t optimistic.

If this Thousand-Faced One was so powerful and bizarre, how could he possibly uncover them?

‘If it were the Lord, how would he think? Where would he start?’

After some thought, Rakshasa looked around. “Could this Thousand-Faced One… be within the patrol guard regiment itself?”

The bearded man was startled. “Your Excellency Rakshasa, all captain-level and above personnel in our patrol guard regiment have undergone special inspections to ensure they cannot be replaced, as have White River Town’s important officials. We suspect the Thousand-Faced One would replace someone of lower status who still has access to many affairs. You could start from that angle.”

After leaving the headquarters, Rakshasa circled both inside and outside White River Town, then dispatched three storm war falcons and dragon eagles with vision sharing capabilities to conduct repeated observations.

He found nothing.

The patrol guard regiment hadn’t been able to uncover the Thousand-Faced One after all this time—how could he possibly achieve results with just brief observation?

Moreover… he wasn’t familiar with White River Town. How could he detect any flaws within?

Rakshasa sank into contemplation.

After pondering for a long while, he still couldn’t find a way to break the deadlock.

He thought for a moment, then took out a brocade sack.

The brocade sack the Lord had given him before departure.

“I’ll try for two more hours. If I still can’t find any leads, I’ll take a look.”

…

Around the same time, in Deerwater Town.

Holy Light Sage Xi started with the patrol guard regiment. With a wave of their hand, glorious heavenly light descended, sizzling as it purified all filth.

Immediately, some professionals from the patrol guard regiment knelt and begged for mercy, admitting they shouldn’t have embezzled that batch of soul crystals last month.

But there was no trace of the Thousand-Faced One.

“Is it truly not here, or does my Holy Light purification have no effect on them?”

They thought it was more likely the latter.

They had heard some about the Thousand-Faced One’s reputation from their own Lord.

…

In some town.

Divine Martial Guard Rick: “Where are you, where are you? Ah, damn Thousand-Faced One, come out and fight your grandfather for three hundred rounds if you dare!”

…

In another town.

Dragonblood Knight Ironhand, through the shared vision of his dragon eagle, caught sight of a familiar figure.

“Is that Tianyuan Rakshasa? He’s here too?”

“Wait, could this spy mystery mission be a competitive task? If all the monster spies are uncovered by competitors, my assessment… would probably be a failure.”

“Dammit!”

“Devious training corps!”

Ironhand began to ponder—he needed to move faster.

…

In yet another town.

Behemoth Lord had compiled intelligence from over a dozen informants and circled several highly overlapping clues in red.

In his mind, a vague outline was beginning to form.

“Since the Thousand-Faced One excels at disguise, I have two approaches I can choose from.”

…

“Lure the snake out of its hole, or wait by the stump for the rabbit.”

Mu Yuan murmured.To avoid suspicion, Mu Yuan did not contact Rakshasa and instead gathered general information about the task on his own.

Thousand-Faced One.

“How could such a bizarre monster exist?”

“If a Thousand-Faced One infiltrates my Tianyuan Territory, how can I detect it immediately?”

Even the various methods of the Great Warzone couldn’t uncover the Thousand-Faced One. Naturally, the reconnaissance tools of his Tianyuan Territory, such as the Reconnaissance Skyeye, would be equally ineffective.

Mu Yuan began to ponder.

This was preparing for a rainy day.

By drafting dozens of contingency plans in ordinary times, one wouldn’t be caught off guard in critical moments.

…

Deerwater Town.

Two figures arrived here silently.

One was Instructor Ice Fist, who narrowed his eyes slightly, and the other was Instructor Lie Feng, a top-tier Heaven-Earth Realm expert with a Blazing Domain.

Lie Feng was puzzled, “Why are we here, and why so stealthily? Surely we don’t need to personally oversee the recruits’ assessment task?”

They were busy individuals themselves, having only a few days to teach the recruits mandatory courses. There was no way they could babysit them during their assessment.

Ice Fist narrowed his eyes and said, “Weren’t you wondering earlier why I designed this spy mission as a competitive format?”

Lie Feng: “Wh-why?”

Instead of answering directly, Ice Fist continued, “The Thousand-Faced One is extremely bizarre and possesses the pinnacle of disguise abilities… or rather, it’s not disguise. They directly replace a specific person. Before exposure, they completely adopt that person’s behavioral logic, leaving no trace of suspicion.”

“If you were entirely replaced by a Thousand-Faced One, even if I stood face-to-face with you, I’d find it hard to detect anything amiss.”

“In such a scenario, do you think a group of recruits, even Legendary Realm recruits, could uncover the Thousand-Faced One? The harm and destructiveness the Thousand-Faced One poses to our Warzone far exceed that of one or two Legendary Realm experts. If not dealt with early, the entire region will be thrown into panic.”

Ice Fist went on, “I encouraged competition among them to muddy the waters. Only when the waters are murky can the perfectly hidden Thousand-Faced One be lured out.”

“From start to finish, I’ve been in charge of this mission to deal with the Thousand-Faced One.”

First, leveraging free manpower through the assessment task;

Second, creating competition to stir chaos and add some amusement;

Third, lying in wait and luring the enemy out—this was a threefold strategy.

Lie Feng widened his eyes, and after a long pause, he spat out fiercely, “You old schemer!”

…

White River Town.

Rakshasa, still unable to find many clues, took out a small brocade pouch from his storage ring.

He opened it.

Inside were not the expected 360 contingency plans but only a few brief hints.

“No matter if you’re in the Great Warzone or carrying out other tasks, always remember one thing: leverage your strengths, leverage what you have that others don’t.”

“What are your strengths? Combat power? That’s not it, or at least not entirely.”

“Your strengths lie in your three unique Epic Skills, the might of Epic Skills.”

What Epic Skills can accomplish is sometimes unique, even achieving things that those ten or a hundred times stronger than you cannot.

“My Epic abilities…”

Rakshasa murmured.

Three-Phase Body: Comprising the True Self, Good Body, and Evil Body, each with its own abilities, any of which can function as the original.

Slay Evil: He can perceive malevolent karma and eradicate it.

Fiendish Sea: Transforming into a sea of fiends, immortal and indestructible.Rakshasa began to form a line of thought.

What other functions could these three epic abilities serve, aside from combat prowess?

“Evil!”

“What constitutes evil?”

Those who commit evil deeds are evil, those who stand as enemies are evil, and those who are both enemies and bring harm are utterly wicked.

Suddenly, Rakshasa understood.

He transformed into a cloud of smoke and drifted swiftly to the top of the town’s watchtower.

Within the brownish haze, a pair of indifferent eyes materialized, gazing into the distance.

In his vision, the townspeople gradually lost their original colors, leaving only a dull, monochrome world of black and white.

Most of the patrolling warriors and soldiers following their captains were reduced to pale, hollow shells. They were mere pawns, devoid of even basic intelligence, and thus neither good nor evil existed within them.

The other professionals and Lords occasionally emitted faint wisps of black smoke.

The smoke was not dense, but it was present nonetheless.

These black tendrils gathered and intertwined mid-air, hanging suspended without dissipating.

Rakshasa frowned slightly.

“Not enough, still not enough.”

“I must observe a wider area.”

After a moment’s thought, he found a more expansive high ground and stationed several pawns around it as guards.

The next instant, Rakshasa transformed into the Fiendish Sea, the malevolent energy within him beginning to boil.

In his eyes.

The dead, dull, and lightless world rapidly expanded outward.

The black-and-white space continuously devoured heaven and earth.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of professionals transformed into symbols in his vision.

Black smoke drifted.

Eerie winds howled.

Evil karma seemed to roar among the clouds.

The monochrome tableau froze in place.

The drifting fiendish mist coalesced, and the blue-faced burly man opened his eyes, his gaze filled with menace.

(End of Chapter)