Yu Ci focused intently, but the carriage remained silent save for Bi Chao’s voice drifting through the air:
âThe only difference between you and me lies in the words âsincere effort.â The routine matters within the sect arenât difficultâit all depends on whether one applies oneself. Before coming here, I reviewed the files of everyone in the dock. When I interacted with Yu Ci, I did so with a public spirit and a results-oriented mindset. I made connections when needed, lowered my stance when necessary, and didnât look down on you just because our positions differ so greatly. If I can do that, why canât you?â
The luxurious carriage continued its journey, gradually pulling farther away from the Sky Rift Valley dock. Inside the quiet chamber, Yu Ci was stunned.
What a bold claim from Bi Chao!
He wasnât particularly surprised by her change in demeanor. If the envoy sent by the Rakshasa Sect to this region didnât show some edge, Yu Ci would have found it strange. How could such a sect become one of the elite sects in the world otherwise? What was truly odd wasâwho was Bi Chao talking to? That feeling…
Yu Ci listened more carefully, but just then, a distant roar echoed through the air. The sound waves carried far; even the Fish Dragon heard it inside the carriage, and Bi Chao clearly noticed it too.
âStop the carriage!â
At her command, the opulent vehicle immediately slowed and pulled to the roadside. There came the faint sounds of a curtain lifting and jade feet stepping to the groundâBi Chao had exited the carriage, though Yu Ci couldnât tell what she was up to.
Yu Ci quickly adjusted the star essence form within the Fish Dragonâs spirit and shifted to âvisual mode.â Vivid colors unfolded once again. As the image came into focus, Yu Ci âsawâ Bi Chao standing outside the carriage, gazing westward toward the horizon. After aligning the direction, he realized it was where the roars came fromâwhere birds and beasts had been agitated.
Bi Chao was interested in that too? Just as he was thinking this, he saw her nod at the incense servant. Then, astonishingly, both of them soared into the sky and headed in that direction.
Though separated by dozens of miles, Yu Ciâs heart tightened. Bi Chaoâs cultivation wasnât surprisingâit was only natural for a Core Refinement cultivator to fly with their magical artifact. But that incense servant? What was going on there?
Yu Ci wanted the Fish Dragon to follow, but after a quick reconsideration, he had the creature sneak behind the carriage curtain and peek inside. From the Fish Dragonâs perspective, Yu Ci once again confirmedâthere was no third person in the carriage!
He took a deep breath and commanded the Fish Dragon to ascend. The little guy was incredibly fast. Over the past two months, it had mostly recovered from the loss of its âInnate Qi of the Heavenly Dragon.â Although it hadnât regained its powerful instincts, its flight speed had recovered to nearly seventy or eighty percent.
However, due to the earlier delay, the sky was now emptyâBi Chao and the incense servant had already vanished. While the Fish Dragon was faster than the two, its sensing range was limited. Tracking a target under these conditions was simply out of the question.
Yu Ci had no choice but to let the Fish Dragon continue flying westward, hoping that the disturbance’s origin wasnât more than fifty miles away.
Unfortunately, things didnât go as he hoped. The incident had indeed occurred within fifty miles. There, the Fish Dragon once again caught sight of Bi Chao and the incense servant. But the area was already a messâtrees flattened, a few beast corpses scattered around. Whatever caused the destruction had already fled.
Bi Chao inspected the area briefly, seemingly discovered something, then flew westward again. In a blink, she was over fifty miles awayâbeyond the Fish Dragonâs sensing range. Yu Ci had no choice but to recall the creature and have it wait beside the carriage. Whatever happened over there, Bi Chao and the incense servant would eventually return, right?
After a while, someone did returnâbut it was only the incense servant. Bi Chao was nowhere to be seen.
âWhatâs going on?â
Puzzled, Yu Ci finally got a chance to observe the person more closely. The figure was cloaked in a large mantle that concealed their appearance and build, though they seemed rather tall. It wasn’t the Divine Map day, and the Fish Dragonâs sensing was limitedâso it couldnât penetrate the cloak.
Then again, even with the Divine Map, the incense servant clearly had Core Refinement cultivation. Just the mist of that level alone would render the Divine Map useless. It was better to use star essence vision nowâthough the field of view was limited, it still yielded some information.
These days, while studying the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror, Yu Ci increasingly felt that although the Divine Map had once been wondrous, it relied entirely on the mirrorâs power without any usable technique. Once the mirror changed, the Map would become completely useless. Now, even though the Divine Map was gone, the subsequent techniquesâlike spirit control over the mirror and star essence visionâwere far more practical.
If he continued down this path, thoroughly understanding the mirrorâs mystical core and reconstructing the Divine Map from that foundation wasnât out of the question.
That thought distracted him momentarily, and when he came back to his senses, he saw that the incense servant had somehow walked away from the carriage and was now strolling along the mountain road, following the wheel tracks.
Yu Ci felt something was off. Previously, the incense servant had moved only at Bi Chaoâs command, showing no extraneous behavior. After seeing this so many times, Yu Ci had nearly believed the rumorsâthat this person was a puppet. But now, seeing such human-like movement for the first time, the tiny doubt in his heart spread like a dark cloud.
Yu Ci observed through the Fish Dragon, trying to gather more details. But the incense servant seemed to be deliberately messing with himâafter walking a dozen steps, she suddenly turned and leaped onto the carriage shaft like a ghost. The four Cloud-Treading Beasts in front, highly intelligent, immediately started moving again. The carriage rumbled over mountains, continuing eastward.
They werenât waiting for Bi Chao?
The series of twists left Yu Ciâs head spinning. He had the Fish Dragon tail the carriage a bit farther, but once it passed the fifty-mile mark, he still hadnât gleaned any new information.
Back in the stone chamber at the dock, Yu Ci closed his eyes and pondered for a while before standing up. So far, things hadnât involved him too deeply, so he wasnât anxiousâbut he still had to do something.
With his plan settled, he left the room and went to the central formation to find Yan Hao.
At the Sky Rift Valley dock, the highest status belonged to the Eldersâbut they only cared about their research and rarely took part in practical affairs. The one with the highest cultivation was Zhou Hu, but he mainly protected the Elders. Zhao Xiqiao didnât countâhe was an outsider. When it came to actual operations at the dock, Yan Hao, who had managed the cloud shuttles earlier, was the one in charge.
Yan Hao was an honest man, not talkative, but meticulous. He kept the dockâs affairs in perfect order. Although Yu Ci was from the Rifting Earth Sect and technically came to help, giving him a superior position, he still made a habit of informing Yan Hao when heading out for anything serious like patrol duty.
Just like nowâhe found Yan Hao in the formation hub and said seriously, âThere seems to be demonic beast activity outside. Iâm going to check it outâIâll be back soon.â
Yan Hao was short and honest-looking. Upon hearing this, he scratched his head, a troubled expression on his face. âBrother Yu, you already went out once this morningâŚâ
âThis isnât a hunt.â
Yu Ci shook his head, seeing that Yan Hao had misunderstood. He explained that both he and Bi Chao had heard a strange sound earlierâthough he skipped over everything that came after.
When Yan Hao heard that even a master from the Mysterious Moon Sect had called it demonic beast activity, his face turned grave. âScattered demonic beasts are fine, but if itâs a coordinated group and they crash into the mooring formation, thatâll be trouble.â
During the previous chaos at the Sky Rift Valley, this dockâjust two thousand miles from the valleyâhad already been affected. Though the personnel had escaped unharmed, the formation used to dock and receive cloud shuttles was damaged in the battles and took quite a bit of effort to repair.
âExactly why I need to check it out.â
Yu Ci was merely giving notice. Though he bore responsibility at the dock, he had full autonomy. Even the Elders could only rely on seniorityâthey had no real authority to restrain him, and Yan Hao certainly didnât either. Watching Yu Ci walk away, the honest man wanted to stop him but ultimately scratched his head and went to inform the Elders.
By the time Yu Ci emerged from the passage, the sky had darkened. Without delay, he oriented himself and flew into the depths of the forest. Ahead, the tiny Fish Dragon darted through the undergrowth like a scout, relaying everything it saw along the way.
After traveling about thirty miles, Yu Ci reached the original site of the disturbance. He had already seen it through the Fish Dragon earlier, but standing here in person, the details were clearer. This wasnât just some random beast brawl.
Scattered limbs reeked of blood, yet no other animals came to enjoy the free meal. That was because lingering auras remained hereâincluding those of several extremely dangerous fierce beasts and even a faint, acrid stench of demonic energy.
These mixed scents wouldnât be recognizable to most, but Yu Ciâs sense of smell was abnormally sharp. Heâd lived in the Sky Rift Valley for a long time and had survived the valleyâs upheaval, giving him firsthand experience with both fierce beasts and demons.
Of course, with so much time passed, identifying each individual beast or demon from these lingering smells was impossible. What Yu Ci could do, though, was trace the shifting of the scents to deduce which direction the beasts and demons had gone. Fortunately, the violent group from earlier hadnât bothered to hide their tracksâtraces of battle and movement were plainly visible.
It didnât take Yu Ci long to sketch out several general paths. One of them matched the route Bi Chao had chosen. If he wanted to be lazy, he couldâve just followed that. But now, as someone responsible for patrolsâthough no one from He Qing or Yu Zhou to the Elders actually seemed to take that responsibility seriouslyâhe had to be thorough.
Instead of moving, he had the Fish Dragonâwhich was as fast as a Void Stepping cultivatorâdash along each of the potential paths to scout them out. Combining the scents with the physical traces left in the forest, Yu Ci deduced the movements of a few strong beasts and demons.
Fierce beasts had fled south. Demons had gone north. And to the westâŚ
Why had such a dangerous group suddenly gathered here and fought each other?
In the end, he still chose the same western path Bi Chao had taken. The Fish Dragon once again flew ahead as a scout. Although its sensing range was only three meters, its incredible speed made up for that limitation. Yu Ci had near-complete awareness of everything on the path ahead.
About twenty miles farther, they passed the point where the Fish Dragon had originally turned back. Yu Ci suddenly slowed, red light flickering in his palmâthe Pure Yang Talisman Sword had already appeared in his hand.
A moment later, in the pitch-black forest, a cold wind rose.