330: Chapter 330 Tracking the Back Mountain

The night was deep, and there was no moon in the mountains, with only sparse starlight barely outlining the contours of the trees.

Ling Ye did not light a torch, nor did he use any lighting tools, relying solely on his experience fighting in the dark environments of the Star Gate World as he pursued in the direction where Jiang Li had disappeared.

His footsteps were very light, landing on his toes first to minimize sound—this was a habit etched into his muscle memory from countless stealth missions.

He did not expect to be able to catch up to Jiang Li.

That man could escape from the dungeon even with his cultivation sealed; he was clearly no ordinary person.

He only wanted to confirm one thing: whether the direction of Jiang Li's escape overlapped with the backup evacuation route he had agreed upon with Old Shi.

The small path in the back mountain was harder to traverse than he remembered.

The path that looked clear enough during the day became difficult to distinguish in the night, and several times he had to stop to reconfirm his direction by the starlight.

He walked for about half an hour and arrived before a familiar rock wall—this was already very close to the hidden cave discovered by Old Shi.

He stopped his footsteps and listened intently.

There were no footsteps, no breathing, no sound of clothes cutting through the wind.

All around him were only the rustling of the night wind through the leaves and the low chirping of unknown insects in the distance.

Jiang Li's presence had completely vanished, as if he had merged into the night itself.

Ling Ye stood under the rock wall for a moment without continuing further inside.

He turned around and returned along the original path.

Halfway back, he suddenly stopped—on the road ahead, there was a small patch of slightly darker marks.

He squatted down, touched it lightly with his finger, and brought it to his nose to smell.

Blood.

It still carried a faint, bloody scent; it must have been left recently.

Jiang Li was injured.

And the injury was not light—given his skills, if it were only a minor injury, he could easily have managed to leave no traces.

Leaving bloodstains meant he no longer had the energy to attend to such details.

Ling Ye stood up, looked at the direction the bloodstains extended, and then looked at the path leading to the cave.

The two paths converged not far ahead.

He did not hesitate for too long, turned around, and continued tracking along the direction of the bloodstains.

The bloodstains were intermittent; sometimes obvious, sometimes requiring careful searching to find the next drop.

Ling Ye tracked for about a mile, and the bloodstains disappeared before a steep slope.

He stood on the edge of the steep slope and looked down—below was a dense thicket of bushes, pitch black under the starlight, making it impossible to see what was inside.

He considered it for a moment, then did not go down, but turned and returned along the path he came from.

He had already confirmed a few things: first, Jiang Li had indeed fled to the back mountain and was seriously injured; second, the direction of his flight overlapped with the hidden area discovered by Old Shi; third, in Jiang Li's current state, he could not have fled too far and was very likely hiding in some corner nearby.

This information was already enough.

When he returned to his lodging, the sky had not yet brightened.

He silently pushed open the door, took off his outer garment, and lay back on the bed.

Wang Dazhuang in the next bed turned over, muttered a few words in his sleep, and sank back into a deep slumber.

Ling Ye closed his eyes but did not immediately fall asleep.

He replayed tonight's tracking route in his mind, recording the terrain along the way, potential hiding spots, and the escape paths Jiang Li might choose.

This person named Jiang Li might truly be useful.

But now was not the time to make contact.

Only when a person is pushed to their limit will their true colors be revealed, and only then will they develop enough trust in someone who extends a helping hand.