Chapter 30: Stalking

Under the night sky, two black figures leaped over the walls of Laifu Inn and sped toward the northwest of Yongle Town.

After leaving the town, they did not stop, continuing to push into the woods toward the southeast. About three miles ahead of them, a figure could be vaguely seen.

The person wore a dark green long robe with wide sleeves and had a tall, thin build. He was not walking on the flat ground of the forest, but rather traversing the treetops. With his hands clasped behind his back, he moved as if taking a leisurely stroll, yet every single step covered more than ten meters, moving with extraordinary speed.

The two following behind were naturally Liang Yan and Tang Diexian. At this moment, they had both changed into black night-traveling clothes, trailing from a distance.

"I didn't expect a tiny place like Laifu Inn to actually have a cultivator," Tang Diexian remarked.

Liang Yan replied, "Mm. This person has already reached the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refinement. We must respond carefully and act according to the situation later."

Tang Diexian gave him a strange look. "I can't tell from your appearance—your cultivation isn't high, but your ability to probe others' realms is quite impressive! Strange, why can't I see through this person's cultivation?"

Liang Yan did not answer her question. Instead, he suddenly reached out a hand to stop her.

Knowing he must have a reason, Tang Diexian did not rush to ask. She stood still and waited for a moment, when she suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the trees above. She looked up and saw a centipede poking its head out from a tree trunk; a sinister black mist clung to its mouthparts, clearly indicating it was highly venomous.

"A spirit insect!" Tang Diexian gasped, then asked, "Have we been discovered?"

Liang Yan shook his head. "Not yet. He is just naturally cautious and likes to set traps along the way. We must be careful not to fall into his schemes."

Tang Diexian nodded, a strange look appearing in her eyes as she looked at Liang Yan. "This junior brother looks to have only the first level of Qi Refinement, yet his six senses are sharper than those of an ordinary fifth-level disciple."

Liang Yan spoke again, "Do you have any treasures on you that can conceal your aura?"

Tang Diexian was momentarily stunned, but she instinctively replied, "I do!" She then took a white jade Pi Xiu pendant from her storage bag and said, "This was bestowed upon me by my ancestor. It can prevent Qi Refinement cultivators of the same level from probing my realm."

"Good. From now on, keep this Pi Xiu pendant on you until we leave Yongle Town."

"Oh." Tang Diexian nodded and obediently placed the pendant around her neck. Although she did not know the purpose of this move, she knew Liang Yan was resourceful and trusted him deeply. Furthermore, having been born into a cultivation clan and trained within a sect since childhood, this was her first time descending the mountain for experience, leaving her completely ignorant of worldly matters. Throughout their journey, Liang Yan had handled both major and minor affairs for her, and she had unconsciously developed a habit of relying on and obeying him.

Seeing her put on the Pi Xiu pendant, Liang Yan noticed the fluctuations in her cultivation aura immediately weakened significantly, becoming intermittent and nearly non-existent. He nodded with satisfaction. Had he not possessed the "Rogue Skill" and been intentionally probing, it would have been impossible for him to discover she was a cultivator.

The two set off again, this time keeping a greater distance, trailing about four or five miles behind. With Liang Yan there, there was no risk of losing the target.

After walking for about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the tall, thin man suddenly stopped. Ahead was a wide cave entrance, from which a faint trace of spiritual energy could be sensed leaking out. After pausing at the entrance for a moment, he plunged inside.

"A spirit mine!" Tang Diexian exclaimed in surprise.

Liang Yan frowned. "It seems this place is a branch of the sect's spirit mine. Could this incident truly be related to cultivators?"

"What do we do now?"

Liang Yan smiled slightly. "No rush. Let's wait here like a hunter waiting for a rabbit. If there is anything we don't understand, we can just ask him directly when he comes out."

Tang Diexian nodded slightly. The two guarded the cave entrance for about an hour before a green shadow suddenly flew out of the mine—it was the tall, thin man they had been tracking.

He stood outside the cave holding an octagonal compass, looking utterly perplexed. He muttered to himself, "Could my calculations have been wrong all along?"

However, before he could perform another calculation, the compass in his hand suddenly began to spin wildly on its own. After a frantic rotation, the needle pointed fixedly toward the forest opposite them.

"Oh no!" Liang Yan cried out inwardly. The compass was pointing exactly toward their hiding spot.

Sure enough, the green-robed man's expression changed drastically. He stared intently in their direction and shouted, "Which fellow Daoist is hiding here?"

Realizing a sneak attack was hopeless, Liang Yan and his companion simply walked out from behind the trees. Seeing that Liang Yan was only at the first level of Qi Refinement, the green-robed man dismissed him entirely. However, the other young woman seemed to possess a treasure that made her cultivation unreadable, which made him hesitant to act rashly.

With his hands behind his back, he quickly performed hand seals while shouting, "Following us so sneakily—what are your intentions?"

Liang Yan had no intention of wasting words. He charged straight forward and threw a punch at the green-robed man.

The green-robed man hurriedly retreated, simultaneously swinging his wide sleeve. A streak of emerald light shot toward Liang Yan, which Liang Yan dodged by turning his head. To his surprise, the green light seemed to have eyes; after missing its target and hitting the ground, it went "Bang!" and bounced up, turning back toward Liang Yan.

Startled, Liang Yan kicked off the ground and sprinted up a nearby massive tree. The green light also changed direction, following him like a shadow.

"Watch out! That's a Green-Blood Snake! This person knows how to command spirit beasts!" Tang Diexian shouted urgently.

Prompted by her warning, Liang Yan looked back and saw that the green light was indeed a small, emerald-green snake, but it moved with such incredible speed that he hadn't noticed it before.

He exerted force with his feet, kicking off the tree trunk to flip through the air and land back on the ground. He then began to spin in place with extreme speed, forming a whirlwind in an instant—this was the "Rotation Method" from the "Mindless Method."

The Green-Blood Snake followed closely and lunged at the whirlwind, only to be sent flying with a "puchi" sound. Immediately after, a flash of sword light appeared; Tang Diexian had arrived with her Hundred Flower Sword, thrusting it toward the snake's vital spot.

Caught mid-air, the Green-Blood Snake had no way to dodge and was pierced through. However, before Tang Diexian could breathe a sigh of relief, the snake strangely split into two equal-sized snakes, which lunged at her with renewed vigor.

"Careful!" Liang Yan shouted, rushing forward and grabbing Tang Diexian's hand to pull her aside. He was still a step too slow; one of the Green-Blood Snakes grazed her arm, leaving a wound on her snow-white skin. Blood gushed out, instantly turning a bright emerald green.

Feeling a wave of dizziness, Tang Diexian hurriedly took a medicinal pill from her storage bag and swallowed it, while simultaneously circulating her spiritual energy to force the toxic blood out of her body.

"Are you alright?" Liang Yan asked with concern.

Tang Diexian shook her head. "The poison isn't deep; it's nothing serious. You be careful—this man is strange!"

Liang Yan nodded inwardly. He reached into his storage bag and pulled out a seven-foot-long pitch-black wooden staff, encircled by nine golden dragons that emitted faint dragon roars. It was the Nine Dragon Staff he had obtained from Yuan Ba. Over this period, he had long since erased Yuan Ba's imprint from it and refined it as his own.

Seeing the Green-Blood Snakes regrouping and lunging at them again, Liang Yan stepped in front of Tang Diexian, swinging the Nine Dragon Staff to smash down at the snake's head.

Liang Yan's physical strength was such that he rarely met an equal among cultivators of the same level. Previously, he had relied on bare hands, but with the Nine Dragon Staff, he was like a tiger with wings. This single strike smashed the entire Green-Blood Snake into a mist of blood. Feeling a surge of satisfaction, he swung again—*Bang!*—and the other snake was turned into a pile of meat paste.

However, before they could celebrate, the meat paste on the ground began to churn. Two small heads suddenly popped out and stretched rapidly—two more Green-Blood Snakes had emerged! Simultaneously, the blood mist in the air condensed rather than dissipating, rolling continuously until two more snakes lunged out.

Before they could even think, the four Green-Blood Snakes charged at once, forcing the two to meet them again. The bizarre part was that these snakes seemed immortal and inexhaustible; no matter how many times they were killed, they would split in two upon death and continue the fight.

Liang Yan and Tang Diexian fought back-to-back. Seeing the snakes multiplying, Liang Yan thought frantically for a strategy but had no clue.

Suddenly, Tang Diexian shouted loudly, "No! He isn't commanding beasts; he is an Illusionist!"

"An Illusionist?" Liang Yan was shocked. "You mean these are all illusions?"

"Yes, but not entirely. The path of illusion is a mix of truth and falsehood, designed to strike when the enemy is unprepared."

"I see." Liang Yan understood. He had wondered why the green-robed cultivator hadn't attacked personally but had instead let them struggle with the snakes; he was secretly maintaining the illusion.

However, while he feared neither body cultivators nor spellcasters, he had very little experience with illusion arts and had never encountered them before. He couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.

At that moment, Tang Diexian whispered, "I have a way to break the illusion, but I need you to protect me." Without waiting for an answer, she tossed her Hundred Flower Sword into the air, stepped in a ritual pattern, and began chanting. Her right hand formed a sword gesture pointing toward the sky, while her left hand performed rapid seals in front of her chest.

Liang Yan said nothing more. Holding his staff with both hands, he exerted the full power of the "Mindless Method" to guard Tang Diexian. Although many snakes surrounded them, none could get close for the time being.

Tang Diexian's footsteps followed a celestial pattern; with every step she took, Liang Yan moved with her. Above their heads, the Hundred Flower Sword spun rapidly. After nine steps, the sword suddenly stopped, pointing directly at a treetop in the southeast.

"There!" Tang Diexian cried.

In truth, before she could even finish her shout, Liang Yan had already lunged out like a flying sword. He swung the Nine Dragon Staff in a wide arc. Just as Tang Diexian uttered the word "there," Liang Yan's strike landed.

With a dull *thud*, the green-robed man appeared beneath the Nine Dragon Staff, sent flying backward into a crater a few feet wide. The swarm of Green-Blood Snakes vanished instantly, except for one that fell to the ground and transformed into a crooked short sword, glowing with a faint, poisonous green light.

"So that's it!" Liang Yan thought. "The thousands of green snakes were illusions; only this one, transformed from the poison sword, could actually cause harm. It is truly difficult to defend against when one is caught in an illusion where truth and falsehood are blurred."

With this thought, Liang Yan walked up to the green-robed man and checked him carefully, finding that he was indeed dead beyond any doubt. He then took the man's storage bag and did a quick inventory, finding over a thousand spirit stones inside.

Without a second thought, he tossed the storage bag to Tang Diexian. She caught it and said irritably, "What kind of lady do you think I am? Do you think I care about your petty favors?"

Liang Yan knew her temperament and didn't mind. What he didn't know was that although Tang Diexian spoke like that, her heart was as sweet as honey.

*You little rogue, you actually have a conscience!* she thought to herself. She then rummaged through the bag, pulled out the octagonal compass, and tossed it to Liang Yan. "Here, this is a reward from this lady!"

Liang Yan caught it and smiled. "You are truly considerate of your subordinates, Miss."

Tang Diexian countered, "Of course. I just didn't expect you to be so audacious, having such cultivation yet deceiving me before. Hmph, once we get back, just wait until I—" Before she could finish, Liang Yan suddenly crouched down and pulled a jade pendant from the green-robed man's waist to examine it.

"Huh?" Tang Diexian leaned in curiously. It was a purple jade pendant engraved with intricate patterns, with a single character in the center: "One."

"What is this?"

"I don't know," Liang Yan said, shaking his head. "But this thing also has the effect of concealing one's cultivation."

Tang Diexian thought for a moment. "The connection between the sect and the local spirit mine was lost; this man must have been the one behind it. Now that he is dead, should we enter the mine to investigate?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Let me ask you: if he really did this, what was his goal?"

"His goal?" Tang Diexian, being exceptionally intelligent, immediately understood his meaning. "Right. If his goal was to seize the mine, he should have sent more men to mine it aggressively. Otherwise, after a year or two, the sect would surely become suspicious and send investigators. But right now, the spiritual energy in the mine is abundant, and it looks like very little has been mined..."

"That means he had another purpose in the mine that he hasn't achieved yet. Also, I should tell you: there is more than one cultivator in Yongle Town. I saw another one when we first arrived; he was also at the fifth level of Qi Refinement."

Tang Diexian was shocked. "Such a thing?"

Liang Yan nodded. "So you see, we might be facing an organized group of cultivators. The mine might have traps set by them. If we rush in now, we'll only alert them."

"Then what should we do?"

"For now, our only option is to wait and see."

Tang Diexian rolled her eyes. "Isn't that just a fancy way of saying you're going to do nothing?"

Liang Yan chuckled. "You don't realize it, but the stage in Yongle Town has already been set. The next step is for the actors to take the stage..."

(End of Chapter)