29: Chapter 29: An After-Dinner Stroll Leads to an Encounter with a Golden Core Assassin!

This dark shadow was named "Shadow Killer".

From the Blood Fiend Sect, at the Middle Stage of the Golden Core Realm, he specialized in assassination.

His proudest achievement in life was using a poisoned dagger to end the life of a Late Stage Golden Core Body Cultivator.

This time, under the orders of his Sect Master, he had come to probe the true strength of the Taixuan Sect.

The so-called "Purple Qi Coming from the East for Thirty Thousand Miles," in Shadow Killer's view, was nothing more than a clumsy publicity stunt by a third-rate Sect at its wit's end.

He moved through the mountain forests of the Taixuan Sect with light, nimble footwork, not stirring up a single speck of dust.

Under the sweep of his Divine Sense, the Taixuan Sect's Mountain Protection Grand Array was full of weak nodes he could exploit.

The patrol routes of those Disciples were laughably rigid.

"Trash Sect."

Shadow Killer sneered inwardly, his figure transforming into a faint shadow that nearly merged with the night, drifting straight toward the back mountain.

His goal was clear—that mountain peak rumored to be miraculous, the one with the most abnormal Spiritual Qi: Changge Peak.

From afar, a mountain peak shrouded in thick clouds and mist came into view.

Shadow Killer's footsteps faltered.

His Divine Sense probed into the clouds and mist, but it was like a clay ox entering the sea, instantly dissolved and devoured by an invisible force.

This was definitely not an ordinary Formation!

Within the mist, a certain rhythm faintly circulated, one that made even his Golden Core cultivation feel a sense of trepidation.

"A Master?"

Shadow Killer put away all his contempt, his expression turning solemn as never before.

Perhaps the rumors were not entirely groundless.

He took a blood-colored Talisman from his bosom and stuck it to his chest.

The Talisman burned away silently, and his figure completely faded, his aura becoming indistinguishable from the withered, desolate air of the surrounding vegetation.

"Blood Concealment Talisman," a secret treasure of the Sect, could make him exist like air even under the Divine Sense of a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

This was his greatest reliance.

Fully prepared, he transformed into a nearly invisible blood-colored afterimage and plunged into the eerie, dense fog.

Meanwhile, at the summit of Changge Peak.

Su Changge had just come out of the secret chamber and was stealthily testing his newly acquired power in a bamboo grove clearing on the back mountain.

He had just achieved a Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Stage!

Although the [High-Risk Warning] popping up on the System panel made him terrified, he knew even more clearly that sitting and waiting for death was a dead end.

Only one's own power was the most real thing!

"Fly, fly, fly up!"

Su Changge silently chanted in his heart, mobilizing the Spiritual Qi within his body that was a hundred times thicker than before.

A buoyant force emerged from the soles of his feet.

His body swayed as it left the ground.

Three inches off the ground.

One foot off the ground.

"Hahaha! I'm flying!"

Su Changge was so excited his face flushed red, but as a result, his focus wavered, his Spiritual Qi became unstable, and with a "bang," he dove headfirst into the bamboo grove next to him, falling flat on his face.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft!"

He spat out the dirt and bamboo leaves from his mouth, crawled up looking disheveled, and was just about to try again.

But as soon as he looked up, his movements froze.

Right not far in front of him, in the dark shadows of the bamboo grove, stood a person, who knew when they had arrived.

A person dressed in black and masked, with only a pair of eyes exposed.

That outfit, that aura, was practically carving the words "I am an assassin" onto their face.

Su Changge's blood ran cold in that instant.

System warning...

Golden Core scout...

They really came!

His mind went blank, his body unable to move due to extreme fear, unable to even muster the slightest thought of running away.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Shadow Killer's shock was even greater than Su Changge's.

After infiltrating Changge Peak, he felt increasingly palpitations the further he walked.

The Spiritual Qi here was not only dense but also mixed with a kind of "Dao Rhyme" he could not understand; with every step forward, his Divine Soul felt like it was being crushed by an invisible mountain, heavy and unbearable.

He dared not go any deeper and was preparing to retreat.

But just at the moment he turned around, he saw a person.

A young man wearing coarse linen clothes stood up from the bamboo grove and brushed the dust off his body.

Shadow Killer was scared out of his wits!

How is that possible?!

How did he discover me?!

My "Blood Shadow Escape Technique"! My "Blood Concealment Talisman"! Even if the Sect Master came in person, it would be impossible for him to appear before me like this without me noticing!

What made Shadow Killer's scalp tingle the most was that when his Divine Sense swept over, the other person's body... was empty.

No Spiritual Qi.

No cultivation.

Nothing at all.

Like a bottomless void!

A Mortal?

No!

This is definitely not a Mortal!

This is a legendary Realm that he had only seen in the oldest records of his Sect!

Return to Simplicity!

Containing one's heaven-defying cultivation entirely within the body, without leaking a single bit, looking no different from a Mortal!

Shadow Killer's breathing stalled.

He looked at the young man's face, watched the action of brushing off the dust, and in his eyes, it was no longer pathetic, but a kind of ultimate ease and composure.

The other party... was waiting for me?

He had discovered me long ago!

That fall he just took, was it intentionally done for me to see? Was he using this method to issue a silent warning and show disdain toward me?!

Su Changge stood there blankly, staring at the dark shadow.

He was terrified.

Shadow Killer stood motionless, staring at Su Changge.

He dared not move.

In the bamboo grove, the evening breeze blew, the bamboo leaves rustling softly, yet making the dead silence seem all the more thrilling.

One was wailing internally: "What to do, what to do, I'm going to die, I'm going to die!"

The other was in a mental storm: "Who exactly is he? What does he want to do? What should I do?"

The two stared at each other, each raising a monstrous storm in their own hearts.