Genshin Impact: Demon God of Shura

"Your Majesty, enemy scouts have been spotted on the sea surface at the two o'clock position from the seawall. Should we take immediate action against them?"

The adjutant of the secret guards found Morax gazing at the horizon from a high point on the defensive line and respectfully reported.

Morax's gaze remained calm. He slightly raised his hand to signal his adjutant to remain composed, and then spoke in a steady voice:

"Let's hold back for now and carefully observe the scouts' movements. Perhaps this is just a probing move by the enemy. If we act rashly, we might fall into their trap."

"Your Majesty, I obey your command!"

The adjutant, having received the order, dared not slacken in the slightest and immediately went down to arrange for the guards to strengthen their surveillance of the scouts.

"The reaction wasn't too slow, but it was still too late."

Morax looked down at the Asura Guards who had begun their surveillance operation and commented in a low voice.

The base of the steel wall that forms the seawall is now largely complete. Even if the Ocean Alliance's army launches an attack now, it will be difficult to gain any advantage on the heavily fortified seawall.

As for having one's own demon god take action?

That depends on whether Gui Xiuli's Morax and Lan Tian's fists agree.

As expected, the scouts were immediately stunned by the towering seawall as soon as they surfaced.

The lead scout was the first to recover, muttering to himself:

"This... how is this possible? How did Gui Xiuli build such a strong defense line in just a few months?"

The scouts' original plan to go ashore and infiltrate Guixiuli City to gather intelligence was thwarted by the construction of the seawall.

"This... is unbelievable. Such a terrifying speed of infrastructure construction must be related to that Rock God."

The members behind the scout leader looked around at the span of the defensive line and commented.

"Damn it! It looks like this defensive line separating the coastline is almost finished. We, as the attackers, will be the ones on the defensive!"

A relatively calm scout made a rough deduction in his mind and gave his assessment with a grim expression.

Upon hearing this, the others also looked displeased.

After a moment of silence, the team leader's scout broke the silence:

"It seems we can't conduct simple reconnaissance here. Let's go ashore and see if there are any other places we can land."

Upon hearing this, the others nodded in response and then gently landed at the base of a sea cliff.

After the headcount was completed and found to be correct, the scouts, except for a few lookouts, surrounded the leader.

"This is a map of Guixiuli City and its surrounding terrain, painstakingly drawn by the spies we recently deployed."

The team leader took out a map with a waterproof wax coating and placed it on the reef in front of him.

Everyone crowded around and began to examine the map.

"Huh? Leader, why is there no map or marking of the Guixiuli inner city area?"

One of the scouts pointed to a blank area in the middle of the map that read "Guixiuli Inner City" and asked a question.

The team leader, looking helpless, shrugged and explained:

"According to the intelligence from our spies, aside from the fact that my temporary identity token disqualifies me from entering the inner city, the city gates and walls of the inner city are guarded by fully armed Asura Knights. There is absolutely no possibility of sneaking in!"

Upon hearing this, the people around frowned in unison, clearly beginning to feel apprehensive about the Asura Palace.

"Isn't there a way to create chaos and distract the city gate guards?"

One of the scouts raised a crucial question that was on everyone's mind.

"This is absolutely unacceptable."

However, before he could finish speaking, the scout in charge immediately shook his head in rejection.

"Hmm? What do you mean by that, team leader?"

Everyone looked at the team leader with puzzled expressions.

"If you, the holder of the temporary identity token, dare to cause trouble in Guixiuli, the next person to come after you... will be the ever-present Asura Shadow Guard!"

"What? Everywhere!? Are you kidding me... Ugh!"

Upon hearing this, one person cried out in alarm, but was quickly covered up by those around him and tumbled into a pile of rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

After the scouts keeping watch quickly hid behind the rocks, within ten seconds, the three Asura Knights emerged from the nearby treetops. After landing, they quickly got up and stood firm with a clean tactical roll.

The Knight's swift reaction and agility quickly made the group of people who were trying to peek back shrink back and not dare to utter a sound.

"Captain, we haven't found anything around here. Could it be one of our people passing by?"

Several rangers gripped their twin swords and surveyed their surroundings before asking the leader of the rangers, the knight commander, a question.

“This place is not on our or Qianyanjun’s patrol route, so team members will not linger here, much less make loud noises or other behaviors that would reveal their whereabouts.”

The leading female knight shook her head, twirled her sword in a sharp flourish, and then her clear, somewhat measured voice rang out.

Upon hearing this, the scouts hiding behind the rocks not far away immediately tensed up, instinctively shrinking their necks, clenching their fists, or even breaking out in a cold sweat.

From the few words spoken by the knights, it is not difficult to deduce that the knights of the Asura Palace are a far more powerful and disciplined army than the Thousand Rock Army, and are far beyond what these lightly armed scouts can easily mess with.

Just as the scouts were preparing to fight to the death and use the opportunity to let the others on the periphery escape, a figure in the shadows slowly appeared in the distance, followed by a stern voice:

"Knight Commander, is there any situation here?"

Upon seeing the shadowy general of the Dark Guard, the knights all simultaneously saluted.

After the knight commander led the way in saluting, he reported to Shadow.

“Shadow General, we have detected unusual noises here, but we have not yet found the source. We are planning to expand the search area.”

The Knight Commander, with one fist clenched on his chest armor, reported truthfully.

Upon hearing this, Shadow glanced discreetly at the pile of rocks where the scouts were hiding, then nodded. He spoke casually, but in reality, he silently made a "hide and conceal" tactical hand gesture to the group in front of him.

"Recently, the defenses of Tianheng Mountain have been sparsely manned. If you have any free time, you might as well go there and lend a hand to help General Luo Xue relieve some of the pressure of guarding the area. Even though she is the deputy hall master of the Shura Hall, she still needs our help."

"Yes! I understand!"

The knights understood Shadow's gesture immediately and shouted in unison in coordination with the knight commander.

"Yes, go! Shura is with you!"

Shadow nodded with satisfaction, then glanced meaningfully at the pile of rocks beside him before bowing to the people in front of him.

"Asura is with you!"

As soon as they finished speaking, the knights launched the grappling hooks hidden in their bracers at the treetops and began to advance rapidly towards Tianheng Mountain.

As for Shadow, after watching the three leave, he turned and walked away, deliberately entering a stealth state as he went, concealing his figure from the horrified gazes of the scouts behind him, and disappearing into the moonlight.

The scouts who witnessed the whole thing held their breath for a full minute after the shadow left before they all gasped and wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads with lingering fear.

The scout who had just gasped in surprise swallowed hard and whispered to the team leader:

"Team leader, now I understand why you said the Asura Guards were everywhere. That disappearance technique they just used was terrifying enough..."

Even though he tried to appear calm, the scout's voice still trembled slightly.

The scout leader gave him a look that said, "You've never seen anything like this before," then, with trembling hands, he took out a map, looked at it, and, his voice also shaking, changed the subject:

"Tianheng Mountain is about three kilometers away from here as the crow flies. According to what that general just said, the defenses of Tianheng Mountain are currently depleted. I think this is a good opportunity to help them out. We can go to Tianheng Mountain and try our luck. Maybe we can cross the plains behind Tianheng Mountain and go straight to Guixiuli City!"

Hearing this, everyone was encouraged and began to get excited, nodding in agreement.

"But leader, didn't that general just say that the general Luo Xue stationed at the Tianheng Mountain defense line is also the deputy hall master of the Shura Hall? Can we just sneak over there?"

A scout timidly raised his hand and asked the leader.

Wow!

These words immediately dampened the enthusiasm of the crowd, who had just been stirred up. Every single one of them deflated instantly.

Upon hearing this, the team leader scout also became somewhat uncertain, and could only offer a few perfunctory words:

"We can't worry about that now, there's no better way. The defenses of Tianheng Mountain are weak, there might be an opportunity to take advantage of it. No matter how powerful that deputy hall master is, he can't be in charge of everything."

After having the two men deliver the information they had just gathered to the Ocean Alliance, the rest of the group quietly left their hiding place and followed the three Rangers toward Tianheng Mountain.

However, what they didn't know was that all of this was part of Morax and Blue Sky's plan.

The information that Shadow just "accidentally" revealed was actually given at Blue Sky's behest to deliberately mislead them.

Because the Spartan Legion under Luo Xue's command, stationed at the Tianheng Mountain defense line, is arguably the most formidable legion in terms of overall combat strength among all the Shura Hall legions.

Not long after the scouts left, Shadow and several guards slowly appeared where the group was gathered, their faces full of mockery.

"Welcome to Guixiuli, you rats who are lurking in the shadows."