Xie Zhaolin only said a single word, then found an inconspicuous mountain hollow nearby. It was a shallow, jagged depression in the rock face that offered a meager bit of shelter. She set up a simple concealment formation, the spiritual runes flickering briefly with a pale light before fading into the gray stone, and sat down cross-legged.
Ling Chuan heard her and, although doubts still lingered in his heart, he understood that blind searching wasn't a good strategy right now in this vast terrain. He glanced at her, said nothing more, and sat down some distance away. He began regulating his breath while recovering the spiritual energy he had expended during the earlier battle with the Nascent Soul elders.
Time slipped by quietly in the stagnant air of the secret realm. One day passed, then two, then three. In the blink of an eye, five days had gone by. The surroundings remained deathly still. Aside from the occasional low-level beast disturbed by the residual aura from the earlier battle, there was nothing unusual in the environment. Yu Xiaotang and the Hehuan Sect disciples seemed to have truly vanished from this vast, desolate realm.
Ling Chuan's patience slowly wore thin as the hours stretched on. On the evening of the sixth day, he finally couldn't hold back any longer. "How long are we going to wait like this?" He spoke up, his eyes searching the shadows for any sign of movement. "The Hehuan Sect people mightn't even be near here. They might have already regrouped with Yu Xiaotang, or hidden deeper inside." He worried that delays would only invite more trouble. He worried even more about Elder Han Ji and the safety of his fellow disciples. Waiting like this would only make their position more passive.
Xie Zhaolin still had her eyes closed. She sat perfectly motionless, as if she felt nothing about the long passage of time. The aura around her grew deeper and more unfathomable with each passing hour. "Not getting news is also a kind of news," she said lightly. Her voice sounded faint in the deepening dusk of the valley.
"What do you mean?" Ling Chuan asked, his expression confused. The instant his words fell, her eyes snapped open. She rose to her feet in one sharp, fluid motion. "Move." He froze at her sudden action, but she had already turned into a black shadow. She darted rapidly toward the southeast with clear, unwavering purpose. The two of them moved one after the other, cutting swiftly through the dim light and the jagged rocks of the terrain.
Her certainty came naturally from Yingsha. Their target was to kill Yu Xiaotang. To complete that mission, the professional killers would spare no effort searching for her and for anything connected to her.
Those exposed Hehuan Sect disciples were the best breakthrough point for their investigation. She had been waiting for them to find the target. These five days looked calm on the surface, but the undercurrents were fierce. Yingsha had likely already combed through the entire area. After losing Yu Xiaotang's Xi Tong concealment, no matter how careful they were, the Hehuan Sect disciples would inevitably leave traces.
The two moved fast across the wilderness. In less than half a day, they arrived at a canyon filled with strange, jagged stone formations that clawed at the sky.
"Here?" Ling Chuan frowned as he looked at the area known as the Bewildering Soul Rift Valley. This place was famous for its complex terrain and its natural maze-like barriers. Divine sense was heavily suppressed here by the ancient environment, making it an excellent hiding spot.
Xie Zhaolin didn't answer him. She only slowed her pace as they drew closer. "Found them," she sneered inwardly. "They really hid deep enough." But at the same time, a hint of surprise surfaced in her mind.
Yingsha's efficiency had been slower than she had expected for such a task. Logically speaking, without Yu Xiaotang's Xi Tong concealment, such a large group of Golden Core cultivators couldn't have hidden perfectly for five full days. Unless there was something else at play.
The two slipped silently into the depths of the rift valley. They stopped behind a massive weathered stone pillar that both blocked sight and concealed their figures from view. Several hundred zhang ahead lay a sunken area partially enclosed by huge natural boulders. It formed a relatively hidden space within the canyon. Ling Chuan and Xie Zhaolin focused their gaze on the clearing. "Twelve people. All Golden Core, and their condition is intact. Six late stage Golden Core, four mid stage, two early stage."
"That one is… Hua Wuying?" Xie Zhaolin's eyes paused on a late stage peak Golden Core female cultivator with the most solid aura. She remembered the woman well. Hua Wuying was a notorious battle fanatic with a temper like fire, someone who would fight at the slightest disagreement. She wasn't absolutely the type who could sit still quietly for long. "And the one beside her is also a troublemaker, best at sowing discord and stirring chaos," she thought, her doubts deepening.
How could these people be so obediently hidden here, for a full five days, without even Yingsha finding them immediately?
"Something wrong?" Ling Chuan noticed her silence and asked softly. "Too quiet," she said. "So quiet that it doesn't feel like them."
Under normal circumstances, even when ordered to stay put, a team in such a dangerous secret realm would still post guards nearby or send people to scout the perimeter. They might even explore the surroundings, hoping to find resources or clues.
As long as someone moved, it was hard to leave no trace at all. This was especially true under Yingsha's relentless, professional search. But these Hehuan Sect people had carried out the order to stay put to the extreme. They seemed to have truly holed up in their chosen hiding spot, not taking a single step out into the valley. No one was sent out. No exploration was done. Even necessary activity had been reduced to the bare minimum. It was as if they had completely merged with this dead canyon, becoming one with the stones and the heavy gray mist.
This almost unreasonable stillness had instead become a more advanced form of concealment. Most searches were based on movement, looking for activity traces, spiritual fluctuations, or artificial changes that clashed with the environment. When a group of living people stayed completely still in one place, suppressing all aura and compressing even daily activity to the limit, finding them became exponentially harder. This required not just concealment techniques, but absolute discipline and near-blind trust in orders.
"Was this Yu Xiaotang's command?" Xie Zhaolin was inwardly startled. To make a group of Golden Core cultivators this obedient, the girl's control over this team was even stronger than expected. Was it the authority granted by Xi Tong, or her own methods of command? Either way, it showed how troublesome Yu Xiaotang truly was.
"Yingsha's patience and methods are stronger than I thought." Five straight days of carpet searching, eliminating countless distractions and false leads, and finally locking onto this static area was no easy feat.
Ling Chuan saw it as well, his brows knitting tighter as he observed the silent camp. "They're completely holed up," he said in a low voice. "I was thinking of catching a lone patrol disciple, but now… that isn't going to work." Twelve Golden Core cultivators in full condition, six of them late stage, forming a defensive formation wasn't something they could simply charge head-on.
"If they won't move, then we force them to move," she said calmly. A hint of icy killing intent colored her voice. "Since they chose stillness, they should be prepared to bear the consequences of stillness."
With that, she took out a gray earthen jar from her storage bag. The jar was tightly sealed, but faint dark red patterns could be seen on its surface. They gave off an ominous, unsettling feeling in the dim light.
"This is…" Ling Chuan's gaze sharpened.
"An improved version of Yin Corrosion Mist."