I transmigrated to a chaotic world and became the sole player.

As night deepened, the moonlight was obscured by thin clouds, making the mountains and forests even darker.

Lu Zhao concealed all his aura, his figure moving like a ghost, silently traversing the dense forest. Following the description given by the demonic sect disciple, he soon arrived at the outskirts of a secluded valley nestled between two low peaks.

The entrance to the valley was narrow and hidden by dense vines and rocks, making it extremely difficult to spot without prior knowledge. Lu Zhao did not rush in directly, but instead lurked in the shadow of an ancient tree several hundred feet away, fully activating the "Refining Spirit Technique" to condense his divine sense into threads, and cautiously probed into the valley.

Sure enough, at the entrance to the valley and in some key locations within the valley, there were simple concealment and alert formations. The formations were not of high grade, roughly equivalent to mid-grade first rank. They could only conceal auras and block low-level demonic beasts and mortals, and had limited effectiveness against Foundation Establishment cultivators. However, once triggered, the person who set up the formation would immediately know.

The valley wasn't large, with a small clearing in the center. Beside the clearing was a naturally formed cave, its entrance sealed by a thick iron fence engraved with restrictive runes that flickered with a faint, blood-red light. Inside the cave, shadowy figures, some sitting, some lying down, were mostly listless, showing signs of their spiritual energy being sealed—these were the abducted cultivators and mortals. Their expressions were numb, their eyes filled with despair and fear.

Outside the cave, a bonfire burned in the open space. Two early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, dressed in the robes of the Soul Devouring Demon Sect, sat around the fire. One was thin and gaunt, with sunken eyes, toying with a blood-red bone bead in his hand. The other was short and stout, devouring a half-cooked beast leg, his mouth dripping with oil. Both exuded a chilling aura, their eyes warily scanning their surroundings from time to time.

Lu Zhao observed carefully for a moment and found that the two demonic cultivators were quite cautious. Every so often, about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the gaunt cultivator would take out a communication talisman, chant a few words in a low voice, and then activate the talisman. The communication talisman would transform into a barely perceptible streak of blood-red light and fly towards the core battlefield of "Dragon Bone Hill," clearly reporting the "safety" of the area to "Ghost Bone Master" or someone else who was in charge of the grand formation at regular intervals.

"They're quite vigilant and report regularly... We must eliminate both of them simultaneously, without letting them issue any warnings or allowing communication to be interrupted and arouse suspicion." Lu Zhao quickly formulated a plan. A direct assault was not advisable; it would be too drastic. They had to wait for the right opportunity and strike decisively.

Time passed slowly. The short, fat man seemed to have finished eating the beast leg. He patted his belly, stood up, muttered something to the gaunt cultivator, and then swayed towards the other side of the valley, towards a dense thicket of bushes, seemingly to "relieve himself."

An opportunity! Lu Zhao's eyes narrowed.

Shortly after the short, stout man disappeared into the bushes, the gaunt cultivator had just finished sending a communication talisman and was focusing his attention on the direction in which the blood-red light formed by the talisman had vanished—

Lu Zhao made a move.

He didn't approach from the ground, as that would easily trigger the warning array. With a slight thought, the annihilating dragon energy within him, a fusion of the indomitable will of an ancient warrior and the earth's malevolent energy, quietly circulated, creating a mysterious resonance with the ground beneath his feet. This was a simple earth-escape technique he had initially mastered after fusing with the "Earthly Fiend Dragon Soul," which greatly enhanced his ability to sense and control the earth's malevolent energy, combined with his understanding of escape techniques. Lu Zhao named it "Earthly Fiend Escape."

His figure seemed to blend into the shadows, silently sinking into the ground beneath his feet, leaving only a faint, almost imperceptible earth elemental fluctuation. The next moment, his figure, like a ghost, "emerged" directly from a shadow within the valley, less than three zhang behind the gaunt cultivator! The entire process did not trigger any warning formations, nor did it even stir up a wisp of wind.

The gaunt cultivator seemed to sense something and suddenly turned around!

However, what greeted him was an extremely fast gray-gold finger wind!

"Pfft!"

The finger pierced his brow with unparalleled precision, and the annihilating dragon energy contained within it instantly erupted, not only destroying his brain and soul, but also eroding and annihilating the demonic energy, essence blood, and even the protective spiritual light that had just reacted within his body! He didn't even utter a sound; the horror that had just appeared in his eyes had completely frozen and dimmed, and his body slumped down.

Lu Zhao flashed to the spot where he had fallen, reached out to support the body, and gently laid it down to avoid making a sound. At the same time, his other hand swiftly grabbed the blood-red bone bead that was about to fall and the storage bag at his waist, his movements fluid and without the slightest hesitation.

After taking down one of them, Lu Zhao didn't linger. His figure disappeared back into the shadows, like the most experienced assassin, stealthily heading towards the bushes where the short, fat man had vanished.

The short, fat man was unbuckling his belt, humming an off-key tune, completely unaware of his impending death.

Just as he finished relieving himself, fastened his belt, and turned to return—

The shadow beneath his feet suddenly began to writhe as if alive, instantly wrapping around his feet! A cold, deathly aura, imbued with the might of a dragon, seeped into his body through the shadow, causing him to stiffen and his spiritual energy to stagnate instantly!

"What..." He only managed to utter a muffled syllable before a gray-gold sword light, like lightning flashing in the darkness, pierced through the shadows of the trees behind him and precisely sliced ​​across his neck!

"Sizzle!"

The short, fat man's head flew high into the air, his face still showing confusion and astonishment. The headless corpse swayed and crashed to the ground, spraying blood, but most of it was blocked and evaporated by the barrier of annihilating dragon energy that Lu Zhao had set up beforehand, with only a small amount seeping into the soil.

Lu Zhao appeared, expressionless, and put away his storage bag. He then flicked out two balls of gray-gold flames, which quickly incinerated the two corpses, leaving no ashes behind and completely destroying all traces.

From the moment he made his move to the moment he dealt with the two men, it was all done cleanly and efficiently, without alerting anyone. Even the timed communication talisman was interrupted by the death of the gaunt cultivator, but there was still time before the next report, so it wouldn't arouse suspicion for the time being.

Lu Zhao quickly searched the vicinity of the two corpses (ashes) and found several tokens that controlled the valley's formation, as well as a simple map that marked parts of the "Dragon Bone Hill" and the locations of several formation nodes. This was probably used for their daily patrols.

After doing all this, Lu Zhao arrived at the cave sealed by the iron fence. The restrictions on the fence were useless to him, who was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. With a casual wave of his hand, the Annihilation Dragon Qi eroded and destroyed the restriction runes. With a forceful pull, the iron fence twisted and broke.

The hundred or so people inside the cave heard the commotion and looked up in alarm. They saw the unfamiliar Lu Zhao, as well as the demonic cultivators and the campfire that had disappeared in the open space behind him. At first, they were bewildered, but then their eyes blazed with unbelievable hope.

"Senior... Senior? You've come to save us?" An elderly man who looked older, though his spiritual power was sealed, asked in a trembling voice. He had the cultivation level of the late stage of Qi Refining and was one of the most powerful among the group.

"The demonic cultivators have been eliminated, you are free. This place is not safe to stay any longer, leave as soon as possible." Lu Zhao spoke succinctly, his gaze sweeping over the people in the cave. Most of them were ragged and looked haggard, some old and some young, some cultivators (the highest being late-stage Qi Refining, most being early- to mid-stage Qi Refining) and some ordinary people. At this moment, they were all very excited and struggled to their feet to express their gratitude.

"Thank you so much for saving my life, senior!"

"I will never forget your great kindness and virtue!"

Lu Zhao waved his hand, interrupting the crowd's gratitude, and asked in a deep voice, "Do you know what the Demonic Sect intends to do with you after abducting you? When will they make their move?"

The old man, who was at the late stage of Qi Refining, hurriedly replied, "Senior, those demons didn't say much when they captured us. But I vaguely heard the two guards talking, saying something about 'the Yin energy is strongest at midnight,' 'blood sacrifice to attract evil spirits,' and 'no mistakes allowed'... It seemed they planned to sacrifice all of us at midnight to activate some kind of grand formation!"

Midnight! Lu Zhao looked up at the sky. The moon was already high in the sky, and there was probably less than an hour left until midnight!

Time is of the essence!

Looking at the hundred or so mortals before him who had just escaped the jaws of death, but whose spiritual power was mostly sealed, whose bodies were weak, and whose steps were unsteady, Lu Zhao frowned slightly. Traveling with such a group of people through the perilous "Dragon Bone Wasteland" at night would make them too conspicuous and too slow, making them easy targets for the patrolling disciples of the Demonic Sect, or even more likely to be discovered by demonic beasts.

However, if left unattended, they will escape on their own and likely be discovered by the Demonic Sect before they get far, captured again, or killed by demonic beasts.

Should I leave alone and get away from this place of trouble as soon as possible?

Or should we try to lead these people to find a relatively safe route to evacuate?

Lu Zhao's gaze swept over the faces that were filled with the joy of surviving a disaster, yet also concealed a sense of confusion and fear about the future. In an instant, he made a decision.