Chapter 449 - 422: Permanizing Trace Tracking

Chapter 449: Chapter 422: Permanizing Trace Tracking

After returning to the market district, Li Yuan handled restocking for Yuanming Studio. At the same time, he listened to Ji Wenchuan report an anomaly: the Weapon Pavilion had seen a recent surge in customers, with Cultivators from the Celestial Peak Sect frequently coming and going.

After finishing his business in the market district, Li Yuan picked up the Spirit Detective Talisman he had previously placed near the furrier’s shop. He extended his Divine Sense into it and quickly read the wave data stored inside.

Continuous wave transmission, constant frequency, no segmentation. ’A standard characteristic of the Abyss Sect’s outer circle.’

This was not the first time Li Yuan had pursued this lead. The previous two times, he had uncovered rendezvous patterns on the outskirts of Skeleton Ridge and deep within the Ghost Mist Forest, but he had only ever found the lowest rungs of the operation. The person truly in control of the entire supply chain remained hidden in the shadows.

’This time, the new echo from the south is very likely that shadow.’

That night, Li Yuan left the market district and used the Earth Escape Technique to travel stealthily to a location a mile and a half outside the south gate.

The echo recorded by the Spirit Detective Talisman originated from a low-lying area covered in shrubs. Li Yuan didn’t approach rashly. Instead, he stopped underground over three hundred yards away and spread the sensory net of his Dark Evil Insight toward the low ground.

’No one on the surface.’

But beneath a bluestone slab, half-buried in the dirt in the center of the low-lying area, there was an extremely faint remnant of an Array.

The Array’s structure was extremely simple, with only two Array Hub nodes. Its function was to store and relay communication signals. This was an auxiliary facility for a supply point, specifically designed to receive messages from lower-level strongholds, temporarily store them, and then forward them to a higher level.

’The supply point itself has no permanent personnel.’

Judging from the decay of the Spiritual Power remaining in the Array, the last time someone had come to maintain this relay node was two days ago. After the maintainer left, the Array entered an automatic, low-power operational mode.

Li Yuan lurked on the periphery for a while, confirming that this relay node was unmanned and only received messages from the furrier’s shop at set times.

The next afternoon, someone finally arrived.

’Late-stage Foundation Establishment.’

The Concealment method for this aura was far more sophisticated than any of the Abyss Sect’s outer circle members he had encountered before. The man’s aura was suppressed to its absolute limit. If not for the thirty percent range amplification from his Dark Evil Insight combined with his spirit-detecting senses, he might not have even noticed him.

The newcomer stopped for a moment at the edge of the supply point, seemingly to confirm that his surroundings were clear.

Li Yuan remained perfectly still.

After about ten minutes, the aura descended into the low-lying area.

A Cultivator in a dark gray short shirt flipped open the bluestone slab, squatted down, and activated the relay Array with an extremely brief pulse of Demonic Qi. He extracted all the message data stored in the Array Hub in one go, then injected a fresh batch of Spiritual Power for maintenance.

The entire process took no more than twenty breaths.

After finishing, the Cultivator in the dark gray shirt replaced the bluestone slab, rose, and sped away to the northeast.

Li Yuan waited until the man was clear of the supply point’s vicinity before silently emerging from the ground.

The Trace Pursuit ability quietly activated in his equipment slot. The white entry for "Trace Pursuit" became active, adding a special filter to his vision.

An extremely faint, grayish-blue trail of Spiritual Power appeared in the air, winding in the direction the dark-gray-shirted Cultivator had gone.

Li Yuan followed.

He didn’t get too close, always maintaining a distance of more than six hundred yards. His Earth Escape Technique carried him silently through the ground, while his Dark Evil Insight sensory net remained locked onto the suppressed Late-stage Foundation Establishment aura ahead.

The man’s anti-tracking awareness was strong. He changed direction three times along the way and twice released brief pulses of his aura to check for tails. Each time, Li Yuan sensed the probes in advance and completely submerged his own aura deep into the rock strata before the pulse reached him.

After a pursuit of about twelve miles, the terrain began to change.

The Spiritual Qi concentration dropped sharply.

’The edge of a Spiritless District.’

In the borderlands between Liangzhou and Jingzhou, there was a long, narrow gray corridor. It was flanked by rolling, low-lying hills, with a dry riverbed almost devoid of Spiritual Qi running down the middle. Among Loose Cultivators, this corridor had a rather unpleasant name: the Gray Road.

The Gray Road was one of the unofficial passages from Liangzhou to Jingzhou. Due to the thin Spiritual Qi, patrols from orthodox Sects rarely set foot there, making it a natural sanctuary for smugglers and shady factions.

After entering the Gray Road, the Cultivator in the dark gray shirt actually sped up, rushing northeast along the dry riverbed.

Li Yuan followed from within the sand and gravel layer at the bottom of the riverbed. The Gray Road’s geology was loose, and the faint vibrations produced by his Earth Escape Technique could easily be detected by a sharp Cultivator. He suppressed his Spiritual Power output to the bare minimum, sacrificing speed for silence.

After another six miles, the Cultivator in the dark gray shirt stopped at a bend in the riverbed.

At the bend was a stone bridge, half-buried in sand. Beneath it, in the arch of the bridge, another person was waiting.

Li Yuan stopped underground, nearly a thousand yards away, and compressed his senses into the narrowest possible cone to avoid detection.

The second person in the bridge’s arch had a much deeper aura. A scan with Dark Evil Insight captured a Demonic Qi concentration several times denser than that of the dark-gray-shirted Cultivator.

’Peak Late-stage Foundation Establishment. Almost half a step into the Golden Core realm.’

Their exchange was extremely brief. The Cultivator in the dark gray shirt handed over a storage pouch and received a smaller one in return. They didn’t even speak, only confirming the transaction with hand gestures before parting ways.

The Cultivator in the dark gray shirt returned the way he came, back toward Liangzhou. The second person from the bridge’s arch continued deeper into the northeast along the Gray Road, heading for Jingzhou.

A complete distribution route took shape in Li Yuan’s mind.

’Orders taken in the market district, relayed through a node, handed off on the Gray Road, and received in Jingzhou.’

’Compartmentalized at every level, making it extremely difficult to trace back to the source.’

’The contact from Jingzhou... that’s the real key, the node leading to the Abyss Sect itself.’

Li Yuan did not follow the second man.

He chose another direction.

Starting from the bend by the stone bridge, he followed the second man’s departed trajectory, using Trace Pursuit to capture his residual Spiritual Power trail.

The grayish-blue trail wound its way forward over the sand and gravel of the Gray Road. This person’s Escape Technique was more practiced than the dark-gray-shirted Cultivator’s; the residual amount of his Spiritual Power trail was smaller, and it dissipated faster. But the precision of Trace Pursuit was sufficient. Combined with the range amplification from his spirit-detecting senses, the trail, though faint, never broke.

About three miles later,

the terrain of the Gray Road changed from a flat, dry riverbed to uneven piles of gravel. A few clumps of dead shrubs grew in the gaps between the gravel piles; not even an insect or ant could be seen.

Above a gravel pile half a man’s height, the gray trail abruptly broke.

It didn’t fade away gradually; it was as if it had been severed by a pair of invisible scissors.

The target had used some sort of High-Tier Escape Technique here to instantly cross a great distance, completely breaking free of his tracking range.

Li Yuan stood beside the gravel pile, closing his eyes to sense the last trace of directionality at the point where the trail broke.

’Northeast by north.’

’It was the exact same direction the trail had vanished when I tracked that orthodox Golden Core Cultivator at Skeleton Ridge.’

A panel popped up before his eyes.

[Trace Pursuit (White) Permanence Conditions Met (3/3)]

Li Yuan didn’t hesitate.

"Make it permanent."

[Trace Pursuit (White) is now a Permanent Entry.]

The phantom image of a talisman flickered for a moment in the equipment slot, then dissolved into a point of white light that merged with his body. The slot was now free.

The change was instantaneous.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, and the world had a new, extremely subtle filter. Without any conscious effort, the residual Spiritual Power trails in the air now naturally appeared at the edges of his vision. On the surface of the gravel pile at his feet, the broken grayish-blue trail from before became even clearer. He could even discern a hint of a sinister, Cold Attribute mixed into the target’s Spiritual Power.

From now on, this passive ability to capture Spiritual Power trails would be with him for life.

Li Yuan took the Dark Demon Mirror from his storage pouch.

An eerie light flowed across the bronze mirror’s surface. Its face reflected not his own features, but a roiling mass of dark mist.

[Equipped: Dark Demon Mirror (Complete)]

[Dark Demon Concealment (Blue) Active: Demonic Qi limit increased by thirty percent; Demonic Qi power increased by thirty percent.]

The moment the phantom image of the bronze mirror sank into his equipment slot, Li Yuan felt a jolt run through his body.

The surface of the Middle Grade Demon Qi Golden Core in his Dantian suddenly glowed with a profound, eerie light. His already incredibly dense Demonic Qi swelled once more under the enhancement of the Dark Demon Mirror’s entry. The Demonic Qi flowing through his meridians thickened by a full thirty percent, and the destructive power contained in every wisp surged accordingly.

Li Yuan clenched his fists.

His Profound Nether Killing Skill was currently at the Minor Achievement stage, still a considerable distance from Great Success. But with the Dark Demon Mirror in his slot, the efficiency of his Demonic Qi circulation while cultivating the Profound Nether Killing Skill would be continuously boosted, like having an accelerator for his sprint toward Great Success.

After packing up, Li Yuan did not return to the market district the way he came.

He turned south, traveled along the edge of the Gray Road for about six miles, and then veered into a desolate marshland.

The marsh was connected to a subterranean river, part of a sprawling network of waterways. He had traveled this dark river before when he made the Tide Scale Pill permanent, so he was already extremely familiar with the underwater terrain.

Li Yuan found an entrance to the subterranean river and slipped into the water.

The permanent entry for "Swift Water Escape" activated the moment he entered the water, creating an extremely high affinity between his body and the current. He swam deeper into the subterranean river, stabilized himself in a section about a hundred feet wide, and sat cross-legged on a flat rock at the bottom.

’Ice Seal Skill.’

This Tier Two Low Grade Water Magic was currently only at the entry level. The permanence condition for the Frost Armor required him to cultivate a Tier Two Water Magic to the Perfection stage, so he still had a long way to go.

But Li Yuan’s current circumstances were completely different from when he first learned this Magic.

The precision and operational efficiency of the Spiritual Power provided by his Golden Core Cultivation were overwhelming. "Water Vein Survey" increased his perception of Water Spiritual Power by thirty percent, "Water Flow Acceleration" increased the casting speed and power of his Water Magic by ten percent each, and "Swift Water Escape" further increased its power by another thirty percent. With several entries stacked together, each casting of his Ice Seal Skill was on a completely different level than that of an ordinary Cultivator.

In addition to the passive buffs from a series of permanent entries like "Spiritual Power Condensation," "Cultivation Technique Advancement," and "Comprehension Speed Boost," his cultivation speed was far beyond normal.

Li Yuan circulated the Spiritual Power in his body, guiding it along the meridian pathways for the Ice Seal Skill.

A chill emerged from his Dantian, condensing, compressing, and cooling as it flowed through his meridians. The cold water of the subterranean river and the frosty qi on the surface of his body created a natural resonant environment, making the conversion of Spiritual Power extremely efficient.

He extended his right hand, palm facing down.

A thin layer of ice spread out from his palm, instantly covering a three-foot area of water in front of him. The ice’s thickness, density, and rate of spread—every parameter was gradually optimized under his precise control.

He cast it again and again, each time faster, steadier, and more solid than the last.

Layers of ice formed on the rocks at the river bottom, only to be shattered by his Spiritual Power and then re-formed, over and over again.

Time flowed by quietly in the subterranean river.

When Li Yuan emerged from the water, several days and nights had already passed in the sky above the river’s entrance.

After circulating his Spiritual Power for a full cycle, the execution path for the Ice Seal Skill had become extremely smooth and stable. He had gone from entry-level to proficient on the second day, and the breakthrough from proficient to expert came naturally at the end of the third.

[Ice Seal Skill: Entry-level → Expert]

After reaching the Expert level in the Ice Seal Skill, the Magic’s control precision and condensation speed underwent a qualitative change. With a casual wave of his hand over the river’s surface, a translucent wall of ice, about six inches thick and hard as iron, rose from thin air.

Li Yuan suppressed his aura and wound his way back to the market district from the direction of the marsh.

It was dusk when he arrived back in the market district.

In his stone house, he sat cross-legged and circulated the Profound Nether Killing Skill for one full cycle. The effects of the Dark Demon Mirror’s entry were clearly perceptible in his meridians; the flow of Demonic Qi was much smoother, and the purity of the Demonic Qi that settled in his Dantian after each cycle was a notch higher than before.