Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 459 – Night Exploration

After nightfall, the women’s camp had completely lost the bustle of daytime.

Lin Fan lay on the animal-skin mattress, staring up at the tent ceiling with wide-open eyes.

Beside her, Hu Ya’s snoring sounded like thunder, wave after wave.

The two Collateral Dragonkin female soldiers across from her weren’t much better—one grinding her teeth, the other talking in her sleep.

But everyone was fully dressed, armor and weapons placed within arm’s reach.

The habit of military camp.

Even in sleep, you had to be ready to fight for your life at any moment.

Lin Fan waited for about two hours.

The footsteps of the last patrol guards in the camp gradually faded into the distance, and only scattered embers remained of the distant campfires.

Time to get to work.

She closed her eyes, and Mental Strength seeped out from between her brows.

Not spreading outward—a single thread.

Like fishing, one thin strand pierced down through the tent floor, extending through the soil in all directions.

She wasn’t the only seventh-level cultivator in White Bone Pass.

There were at least three or four seventh-level auras in the men’s camp, and Long Xiao himself was at the early seventh level.

If she unfolded her Omniscient Domain the way she had in Azurewood City, every expert within a thousand meters would detect it instantly.

But a Probe was different.

A strand of Mental Strength as thin as a hair, mixed into the Spirit Energy fluctuations of the underground rock layers, was about the same as background noise.

Unless someone deliberately scanned the underground, they wouldn’t perceive it at all.

The cost was low efficiency and limited coverage.

Like a blind man feeling an elephant—she could only test one direction at a time, slowly.

Lin Fan wasn’t in a hurry.

The first Mental Strength Probe went north.

Through the foundations beneath the men’s camp, through the compacted earth layer under the gravel roads.

Nothing.

Normal soil, normal ore.

Withdrawn.

The second went west.

It traveled about eight hundred meters before hitting a dense layer of rock wall.

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That was the outer wall foundation of White Bone Pass, over ten meters thick.

Withdrawn.

The third went south.

Four hundred meters.

Eight hundred meters.

The Probe struck an invisible wall.

Mental Strength shielding.

Lin Fan’s Probe felt like it had poked into a wad of cotton—pushed back slowly by a soft yet tenacious force.

Not an aggressive rebound, but a passive signal isolation.

She had seen this type of shielding before.

The main hall of Dragon Emperor Hall used something similar.

The difference was that the main hall’s shield was a thin layer meant to prevent eavesdropping.

This was different.

Judging by the resistance felt when the Probe was pushed back, the thickness of this shielded area… was at least a dozen meters.

Layer upon layer of wrapping.

What kind of place needed Mental Strength shielding this thick?

Storing classified documents? Not necessary.

Holding dangerous prisoners? Physical means would suffice.

Only one possibility remained.

There were large numbers of living organisms inside—living things that generated mental fluctuations.

An Artificial Magic Creature Breeding Farm.

A faint smile curved at the corner of Lin Fan’s mouth.

She didn’t push further.

The Probe stopped there. Forcing her way in would trigger the shield layer’s feedback mechanism and alert whoever had set up the formation.

The location was already locked.

South, eight hundred meters underground.

That was enough.

Lin Fan withdrew all her Mental Strength and turned over.

Hu Ya’s snoring had changed pitch, from deep and low to shrill, like the sound of a saw cutting through wood.

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“…”

Lin Fan reached into System Space, pulled out two earplugs, and stuffed them into her ears before closing her eyes.

There was real business tomorrow.

…

The morning horn blast pierced through the entire camp, even louder than Hu Ya’s snoring.

When Lin Fan opened her eyes, the tent was already empty.

Hu Ya had gotten up at some point, her mattress folded neatly, even the corners pressed flat.

Completely at odds with her rough-and-tumble appearance.

Lin Fan slipped on his cloth shoes and stepped out of the tent.

In the open ground of the women’s camp, over forty female warriors had already formed up in ranks.

Hu Ya stood at the very front, arms crossed, and jerked her chin at Lin Fan.

“Hurry up, we’re assembling.”

“What’s going on?” Lin Fan walked over and stood beside her.

“Long Xiao just came by with the notice—the Council of Elders’ people are arriving today. The whole camp is mustering to head to the main plaza and receive them.”

Lin Fan fastened the token at her waist.

“Who’s coming?”

“He didn’t say. Just that it’s someone at elder level.” Hu Ya lowered her voice. “Anyway, whoever it is, people like us should just stand in the back and keep our heads down.”

Lin Fan nodded and didn’t ask further.

First Company assembled quickly.

From the sounding of the horn to full muster, it took no more than a quarter of an hour.

Over three hundred people formed six columns and marched silently through the gravel path, merging into the martial plaza at the center of White Bone Pass.

Over three thousand people were already standing in formation.

Divided by company, First through Tenth, front to back—a dense, dark sea of figures.

Armor, leather, cloth—all kinds of equipment mixed together.

The races were even more varied, from dragon horns to beast ears to wings—everything imaginable.

But the scene was eerily quiet.

No one spoke. No one looked around.

Over three thousand pairs of eyes were all fixed on the raised platform at the northern end of the plaza.

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Long Xiao stood at the front of First Company, hands clasped behind his back, expression stern.

Beside him stood the commanders of the other nine companies—ten people in a line, each with a different aura, the weakest at early seventh rank.

Lin Fan stood in the middle-rear section of First Company, flanked by Hu Ya and Long Su.

She lifted her head slightly, her gaze passing over the dense sea of heads ahead, toward the platform.

The platform was built of white bone.

Not a metaphor. Actual bone.

Ribs, spines, and skulls of giant beasts were stacked layer upon layer into an altar three zhang high.

The bone surfaces had been polished smooth, gleaming with a pale, cold light under the morning sun.

White Bone Pass.

A name that lived up to itself.

“They’re here.” Two words squeezed out of Hu Ya’s throat.

Above the plaza, a gray-brown streak of light tore across the sky, so fast the naked eye caught only a blur.

The pressure descended.

Early eighth rank.

Lin Fan’s brow twitched.

The light landed on the platform, and a wave of force rippled outward. Several fifth-rank soldiers in the front rows went pale, gritting their teeth to hold their ground.

The gray-brown glow faded, revealing a gaunt figure.

An old man.

His frame was stooped, clad in a gray robe with sleeves so wide they nearly dragged along the ground.

His hair, gray-white and unkempt, hung loose. The skin on his face sagged, wrinkled like dried bark.

But his eyes were bright.

Golden vertical pupils, clouded yet gleaming with sharp light.

Fourth Elder.

Lin Fan recognized him.

The silent old man who always lurked in the shadows of the deliberation hall in Dragon Emperor Hall.

The coughs, the murky eyes, the barely-there presence.

But Lin Fan knew how dangerous he was.

Fourth Elder was the oldest member of the Council of Elders in Dragon Emperor Hall, and the highest in seniority.

He was an elder to Long Zhan and Long Xuan, and had served as the council’s arbiter for nearly a century.

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Early eighth-rank cultivation wasn’t top-tier within the council, but he had lived long enough, seen enough, and his methods were ruthless enough.

Lin Fan lowered her gaze, compressing her presence to the absolute minimum.

On the platform.

Fourth Elder stood still for a moment, then swept his gaze across the three thousand below.

That look was faint, like someone taking inventory of goods.

Behind him stood over a dozen Pureblood Dragon Clan guards, each at least at the peak of the sixth rank.

One of them, a black-armored guard, stepped forward and unrolled a beast-hide scroll.

“Everyone,” the Fourth Elder spoke.

His voice was hoarse, like two pieces of dry wood rubbing against each other.

But those two words reached the ears of every person in the square with perfect clarity.

“I am Long Junshan, sent by the Dragon Emperor Hall to oversee the entire army at White Bone Pass.”

The silence in the square deepened by another layer.

Long Junshan.

That name, on the Dragon Spirit Continent, represented the highest authority of the Pureblood Dragon Clan.

Hu Ya’s breath caught for a moment.

Long Su’s face paled two shades, her fingers tightening around the hem of her clothes.

Lin Fan stood among the crowd, his expression calm.

Long Junshan did not continue with formal pleasantries.

He drew a black command flag from his sleeve and planted it at the top of the White Bone altar.

The flag unfurled, embroidered with a golden dragon-head emblem.

The military command flag of the Dragon Emperor Hall.

“Within three days, the entire army will be reorganized,” Long Junshan said, withdrawing his hand back into his sleeve. “Three days from now, the formation opens.”

Three days.

The Dragon Clan was making their move ahead of schedule.

They planned to conquer all of Blue Star before the Rift fully expanded.

Something deep in Lin Fan’s pupils tightened slightly.

Three days.

The time left for her was even less than she had anticipated.