“Has there still not been any word from Varus?”

“I’m afraid not my Lord.”

“It might be the nature of that storm, they might not be able to contact us from the outside until they return. I want someone to immediately inform me if Varus reaches out to us.”

“It will be done, my lord!”

A group of people dressed in noble-looking attire was talking with each other while someone was listening to their conversation. This person had melded himself with the nearby wall with the help of a concealing spiritual art.

‘They do seem more organized than the other group…’

Zhang Dong was sticking to the wall like a certain superhero. After getting through the magical barrier he arrived inside of the enemy camp. This area was shrouded by various illusory spells that made it look like plain rocks from the outside.

Yet when he managed to get inside he was greeted by a small fort that reminded him of old medieval castles. It had four towers with sentries that were monitoring the area as well as many other soldiers doing patrols. But while this magically inclined race of people could fool other cultivators with their mana-based spells, they were also susceptible to techniques using Qi.

One of these techniques was on display now as Zhang Dong was able to sneak in without being noticed. He was invisible to them, even if he moved there was no sound being produced, and keeping his breath still was something easily done by any average cultivator.

‘Their spells are effective against cultivators but they also don’t know how to counter spiritual techniques…’

This reminded him about the time he had infiltrated the vampire fortress. There he had failed with his infiltration attempt so this time around he was playing it safe. He could spend days in this spot without moving to gather information but the big question was if he should.

The other option would be to go for the man he was spying on. The person called Varus seemed to be the golden knight he had stuck into his medallion. Supposedly that person had infiltrated a flying ship which was probably the one that he saved.

From the conversations, they were having it seemed that they were gathering information. Varus was supposed to take over the ship along with its cargo. They wanted to inspect the higher quality wares that cultivators were using without announcing themselves to the world.

They were taking a more methodical way to this war of empires. It seemed they wanted to test the waters first before going into a full-blown exchange. This was a more expected way of doing this as they probably had no idea of knowing what martial masters from this empire were capable of.

‘But if they are just waiting for the right time to strike, then they aren't much better than the other guys, or perhaps there might be a chance to talk things out before more people die?’

He only had the merchant ship incident to go back to. There it seemed that these knights didn’t care much for the lives of the people there. It was clearly a hostile attack but due to his appearance, it ended prematurely if they actually killed all of the noncombatants after successfully capturing the ship was unknown to him.

‘Perhaps there is a possibility of reaching some kind of agreement with these people but if they don’t keep their word we’ll just be helping them fortify themselves here…’

Violence was not the only way to go around these things. If these magical knights could be reasoned with then perhaps if they gave up some land they could have peace. Yet the enemies could take a ceasefire agreement as an opportunity to build up their forces before launching an attack.

While contemplating the possibility of a diplomatic resolution he noticed that something was happening. A larger group of knights started heading into the middle of the fortress where a large pentagram was located. It was about thirty meters in diameter and quite similar to the one he found after the ship incident.

‘So that’s their teleportation spell… It has its own problems I see.’

At first he thought these people had superior transportation technology but now he wasn’t that sure. The magical circle started glowing but instead of a gate forming through which people could go through a large number of them appeared right in the middle.

This teleportation spell was in some ways inferior to the teleportation gates he used. It did teleport a large group of people in a flash yet it had a big disadvantage of not being able to continue. After the spell finished the group was there but no more could go through. Only after a cooldown period would other people be able to use it again. This was different for the gates he implemented in his sect through which others could continuously go through.

‘This variant does have its uses though, it doesn’t require that many materials and can be used in active combat, there is no danger of the gate being destroyed while people are going through it either…’

What appeared there were about fifty soldiers with a peculiar gray-robed man in the middle. He had a peculiar getup that reminded him of various wizards from popular media from his old world. That he was right in the middle also indicated that he was someone in a high position. The person that he was spying on and that was the commander of this fortress was quick to greet this Merlin look-alike.

“It’s a pleasure, Grand Wizard Argus.”

“Lord Gregory, it is good to see you…”

They exchanged greetings while Zhang Dong looked from the distance. There was something off about that wizard though. He could not feel him out as easily as he could the other mages or magical knights in this area. The commander was a little bit stronger than the golden knight that he captured before but this old man felt like trouble.

“Actually… we have lost contact with Lord Varus…”

“You have? What aren’t you telling me?”

The commander seems to be hiding something from this grand wizard that he was talking with and it was obvious.

“P-percival was part of the group.”

“Do you mean to tell me that my apprentice has gone missing?”

The old man’s brows shot up while looking at the golden knight commander. While he was trying to explain himself Zhang Dong peeked into his medallion. In there he could see the suppressed prisoners trying to use their magic to get out of their cells. He didn’t actually kill anyone during the altercation so one of the mages was probably the one they were talking about.

‘Could it be that kid?’

While all of the mages there were mostly old shriveled up men there was one that was younger. His age was closer to thirty but he was at a similar level to everyone else which did align with the title of grand wizard apprentice.

“I don’t blame you, Lord Gregory, I’m sure my stupid apprentice probably forced you to send him out, that idiot is too hasty with everything.”

Argus gave out a sigh while also moving his hand to the side. Suddenly in his hand, a blue light appeared that expanded upwards to form a large wooden staff. With it in hand, he really started looking like a high level wizard.

“Don’t worry I’ll find that idiot and drag him back here, now give me some space.’

With the staff in his hand, he ordered the soldiers to move to the side while smacking the ground with his magic stick. This caused the floor to produce more blue light that bubbled upwards. This bubble started forming into an orb that produced an image of white mist.

“Hm…he is clearly alive but something is blocking my spell, are there people capable of shrouding spells?”

Zhang Dong started to get nervous now as the wizard continued with his chants. He had the knowledge of some protective spells that he was using now but it was all from that other world. Would they be enough to counter this grand wizard?

‘Even if he can get through the spell barrier, he shouldn’t be able to go around the protective formation that works on different laws… right?’

This was truly an interesting display as the man continued with various other chants some of which Zhang Dong was actually familiar with. But the more this continued the more nervous he became as there was a feeling of being discovered soon. The biggest problem was that he had cemented himself into this location and if he moved then discovery was imminent.

“I don’t know who this mage is but he will know the name of Argus!”

The wizard started looking mad as after attempting a few tracking spells he was unable to make the fog vanish from the magical orb that he produced. Yet he didn’t seem to be at the end of his ropes yet as various magical items appeared around him along with some talismans to aid his cause.

A tremendous amount of magical energy erupted from the spot he was standing in. The knights that were to the sides were quick to remove themselves from the vicinity as small arcs of magical lightning started to form. Soon enough to Zhang Dong’s shock the orb that was cloudy started clearing up and an image of the man he identified as Percival was shown.

“Hah, I see he is alive and in some kind of dungeon.”

The knights that were to the sides started cheering after hearing that the people they sent out were still alive. But the person that was the one that apprehended them was wondering if he needed to move out. If he acted quickly he would probably be able to take out this Argus with one move. The man’s mana capacity was truly enormous and it reminded him of the demon lord he faced off in the other world.

Yet he hesitated, for the time being, he was not sure if these people could be reasoned with. They were not the same as those who hunt hungry monsters that did all of this for pleasure. They were probably here to get resources and perhaps to explore and not to only conquer, perhaps there was still a way to talk things out.

“Now that I know that he is alive it will be a trifling matter to find his whereabouts!”

With a wave of his staff, the man pointed at the glowing crystal that quickly changed to the top view of this location.

“That’s strange… isn’t this where we are, did I make a mistake…”

The old man started conducting some experiments but with each new spell the location continued to be the same, it was right at the spot that Zhang Dong was hiding which was on one of the castle walls. Soon the wizard and the golden night were looking at the exact spot he was sticking to while squinting with their eyes.

‘Shit, I really suck at these infiltration missions…’