Principal Ren and his buddy

Right after Principal Ren's short meeting with Enigma, the old man clone of Meng Tian, he did not delay things any longer... he did come across the idea that the old man had some kind of a plan to make him go away from this place as part of an elaborate scheme. However, he still made up his mind to go over and take a look very fast and somehow the eyes of the old man did not seem to reveal any traces of schemes or lies... but absolute calmness filled with unparalleled confidence.

Principal Ren immediately made some small arrangements and swiftly left the school premises and flew away in the direction of the camp where Meng Tian and his school team were training in. It took him less than thirty minutes to reach that place and when he did so, he cast his spiritual sense in the entire student camp area and did not find any abnormalities anywhere. None of the cultivators stationed there could find his presence due to his unmatched cultivation level at the Martial General (Core Formation) Realm.

As he swept his spiritual sense, there was no sign of any attacks or disturbances in the region. He flew a little farther as he knew the rough area where the students will be during the first month of the training camp. After searching for several minutes, he found Meng Tian and his school team and only then did he finally had a sigh of relief. Once he was sure that nothing untoward could happen to the students present, he quietly left the camp area and flew in the direction given by Old Man Enigma.

After carefully flying for sometime, he came across a desolate area of sand area with black soil and traces of burnt forest cover, he stopped and started inspecting for a while. He was careful enough to not do anything and just observe due to his many experiences with enemy ambushes. Fortunately no amount of probing revealed anything of such kind and hence he landed on the sand and started observing the terrain that was devastated after a cruel and ruthless battle.

"It looks like a huge battle had taken place here... the spiritual energy fluctuations are too hard to miss. But from the information of that old man, this area was discovered by his friend and he was the one who killed all the Green Devil Cult members camping here. Well, the battle part is true alright but what about everything else. I need more information, but this place is just a dead land now. I wonder what kind of power level the guy had to kill in such a manner... he must be a monster..."

"Hey there Old Ren, looks like you found something interesting here. Care to give me some details... Damn!! What the hell happened in this place. Are you the one who did this? From your looks, that doesn't seem to be the case. Hahaha..."

A clean shaved smooth face and sharp jawed man, probably in his early thirties, was slowly gliding to the area where Principal Ren was currently standing. He had a weird smile on his face, teasing the Principal.

"Sigh... I can't believe you were the only one who was available to come here. This is just my bad luck. Don't you any other things to do at the headquarters?"

"Hehe... Hey, that's not fair. When I received word that something was going to happen to your precious students, I immediately rushed here to assist you. And now look at you... just complaining like a little kid. You should be glad that I'm here."

"You're the little kid... your entire family are little kids... Hmpf... Stop talking nonsense and have a look at this land area and tell me what you think."

"Alright, old pal... You have not changed a bit even now. Well, that's just sad. Anyway... the spiritual fluctuations are too chaotic in this place. There was definitely a huge battle that took place. However, all of the attacks landed simultaneously. This must have been a coordinated attack. And form the foot prints here, only one person walked out alive. However, he should have the ability to fly as there are no other indications of his movements otherwise. Looks like we have a core formation cultivator on the loose or worse. But the thing that confuses me the most is that why do all this? Is he only an enemy of the Green Devil Cult?"

"Hmm... I agree with your conjectures but I am still not sure a single person could unleash so many attacks corresponding to so many elements. He must have used some kind of treasure that could unleash such devastating attacks. But you are right, I have no clue if he could not be considered an enemy of the state."

"It's not like I'm going anywhere. Now tell me about this old man I kept hearing about on my way here. Is he really so amazing that even the great General Ren could not perceive him and even lost while trying to capture him?"

"Don't run off your mouth. If you had seen his eyes, you would know that I was completely helpless and even my elemental water sword was nullified with just the tap of his finger. Do you believe this... it was like he could kill me whenever he wished to and leave without being noticed. It was not a great feeling."

"Wow... it's been years since I have seen such emotion in your face. Is that fear... Alright, alright... I see the problem here. We have no choice but to give a clear report when we get back to the headquarters. Now, tell me everything that he told you... Don't leave out even his expressions..."

Principal Ren started narrating the entire meeting with Old Man Enigma with his colleague of unknown origins. After he finished, he could see that the clean shaved man was furrowing his brows so tight that even a small twig could be broken if placed in between them. He thought for a few minutes and sighed again.

"I can only make some deductions from what you've told me. It looks like this guy either has a cultivation level way higher than us or what I feel most likely is that he has an impressive stealth technique. This is because someone at the stage of your master or higher has no need to meddle in the affairs of the society anymore. They are completely focused on comprehending their own paths. So, it is unlikely that this old man was of the first category."

"Next suspicious part comes form his arrogant attitude towards you. If he really had a high cultivation level his aura alone could suffocate us. He only had to release a wisp of it for you to be obedient. But he did not do that instead gave a long winded speech about what should not be provoked and such. This is not the behaviour of people at higher cultivations. So, I am more inclined to the idea that he could be wearing a disguise and his age is not what it seems and maybe much younger."

"And finally, the so-called friend that had killed the bunch of Green Devil Cult members is also not an easy claim to be laid. From the energy fluctuations here, it is quite clear that the one who did it had definitely not acted for more than two to three hours. So, it is quite possible for this old man himself being the guy who killed these people and came to you to announce their plans. What I do not understand are his capabilities and skills. His cultivation level, disguise technique, and even his stealth technique... I have never seen any such skills available in our state..."

Principal Ren was clear of this guy's deduction abilities for a long time now and was not surprised much.. but he still had many thoughts to process. However, he did not delay things any further.

"We have to make sure no attacks happen on the student camps. According to the information, there are nineteen more enemy camps spread all over the country. It is going to be difficult to point out which student camps they are planning to attack. But the good thing is that the ones who died here did not seem to have time to contact other teams of their cult. It is safe to assume that they are still unaware of their plans being seen through."

The clean shaved man moved his head side to side and ignored Principal Ren's thoughts.

"Hey, don't think too much. We can just ask all the camps be alert. It's not like they are going to attack right away. And they will know that something had happened to one of their teams in some time. If they are not idiots, they would know that their operation is compromised. However, I agree that they can be fools and try to continue with their efforts but it is unlikely that their plans will remain the same."

While both of these people were talking about what action to take next, a tree that was nearby started shaking a bit due to the wind and something fell from its branches. Both of them immediately took their battle stances to attack anything that came their way.