Invincible: I Level Up In My Sleep

The Ghost Scout

The morning fog hung low over the frozen plains as the three hundred city guards of Ironcliff filed out of the massive iron gates. They were a ragtag assembly, but the dynamic had completely shifted. Dressed in the heavy, steel-plated armor harvested from the defeated Iron-Blood vanguard, their posture was rigid, their expressions hardened.

At the front of the column rode Fan Changyu on a white warhorse, her iron sword strapped tightly to her saddle. But every eye in the vanguard was fixed on the young man walking calmly on foot at the very center of the formation.

Yan Zheng didn't ride a horse. He walked with a steady, effortless stride that perfectly matched the pace of the galloping cavalry. With every step he took, his feet left deep, heavy prints in the thick snow, a testament to the crushing physical density of his upgraded Strength stat. Behind him, draped in their tattered black linens, the four Shadow Vanguards marched in eerie, flawless synchronization, completely silent.

"Your Highness," Fan Changyu slowed her horse down, aligning herself with his stride. "We will reach the mouth of the Black Wolf Pass in less than two hours. My scouts have reported that the main force of the Iron-Blood Tribe, led by Chieftain Ba Yan, has already set up a massive encampment just five kilometers behind the ridge."

"How many?" Yan Zheng asked, not even breaking his steady pace.

"Roughly eight thousand infantry and two thousand heavy cavalry," she replied, her brows furrowing. "They are heavily armored, and Ba Yan has brought three tribal Shamans who can manipulate earth and fire Qi. If they catch us in the open valley, their numbers will overwhelm us in minutes."

Yan Zheng turned the dark silver Ring of the Shadow Commander on his finger. A cold, calculating smile touched his lips. "They won't catch us in the open. In fact, they won't even see us coming."

Shadow One,Yan Zheng commanded internally, sending a mental pulse down the spiritual thread connecting him to his first summon. Advance into the pass. Blend with the terrain and find the Chieftain's command tent.

The Shadow-Guard marching directly behind his right shoulder didn't hesitate. In a split second, its physical form blurred, melting seamlessly into the long shadows cast by the adjacent pine trees. It vanished from the real world completely, moving at a terrifying velocity toward the mountains.

The guards surrounding Yan Zheng gasped, crossing themselves or gripping their weapons tighter. Even after seeing it twice, the ability of these dark warriors to step through reality was profoundly unsettling.

Fan Changyu watched the space where the shadow had just been, her heart hammering. "Your Highness, can your secret guard truly infiltrate a camp of ten thousand warriors undetected?"

"Watch," Yan Zheng said simply.

He closed his eyes halfway, activating the second passive ability of his rare crucible ring: Shadow Sync].

Instantly, Yan Zheng’s physical consciousness fractured. His normal vision faded into darkness, replaced by a jarring, grayscale perspective of the world. He was now looking through the eyes of Shadow One.

The wind howled with a deafening screech as the shadow sprinted up the near-vertical icy cliffs of the Black Wolf Pass. The terrain, which would have taken a seasoned mortal climber hours to navigate, was treated like a flat highway by the Level 3 Qi Refinement entity. It leaped from jagged rock to jagged rock with absolute, weightless agility, its tattered linen cloaking it perfectly against the gray winter sky.

Within twenty minutes, the shadow reached the highest peak overlooking the northern mouth of the pass.

Through the shadow's eyes, Yan Zheng looked down at the valley below. It was a terrifying sight. A massive, sprawling sea of leather tents and iron spikes stretched across the frozen plains. Thousands of muscular tribal warriors were sharpening their weapons around massive bonfires, their boisterous shouts and war drums echoing against the canyon walls.

Right at the center of the camp stood a colossal, fur-lined pavilion guarded by dozens of bronze-armored elites. Inside, a towering man with a heavily scarred face and a long mane of black hair sat on a throne made of bones, roaring at his subordinates.

*Chieftain Ba Yan. Level 18 Bronze Meridian Master.*

He is furious about Ba Tu's death,Yan Zheng analyzed, his mind operating at maximum efficiency due to his upgraded Spirit stat. He panned the shadow's vision across the camp, mapping out the supply lines, the animal pens holding the war beasts, and the exact positions of the three Shamans sitting cross-legged near a glowing cauldron of green spiritual flame.

*Ba Yan thinks he is invading a weak, defenseless kingdom,*

Yan Zheng thought, his lips curling into a dark, predatory grin back in his real body. *He has clustered his entire supply train at the narrow entrance of the camp, right beneath the loose shale cliffs of the pass. One heavy impact, and his food reserves will be buried under five thousand tons of ice and rock.*

Yan Zheng broke the connection, his eyes snapping open as his consciousness slammed back into his physical body.

Fan Changyu was staring at him, her breath shallow as she waited for his reaction. "Your Highness? Did you see anything?"

"I saw our victory," Yan Zheng rumbled, his voice carrying an unshakeable, absolute confidence that instantly infected every soldier within earshot.

He pointed toward the looming, jagged silhouette of the Black Wolf Pass just a mile ahead. "Changyu, split the men into three groups of one hundred. Instruct them to abandon all heavy shields and carry nothing but dry wood and oil barrels. We are going to trap ten thousand wolves in that pass, and I am going to light the fire.”