1004: Chapter 103 Fifth-Tier Powerhouse - Mo Yun

Hei Ce struggled with all his might, his dark energy clashing wildly, but he was unable to shake the energy palm in the slightest.

Li Wuji didn't even spare him a glance, his gaze shifting toward the last Shadow Guard whose spirit had already collapsed.

With a flick of his finger, a tiny streak of Sword Gang shot through the air.

Just as the Shadow Guard thought of fleeing, the Sword Gang had already reached his brow.

The third Shadow Guard had fallen!

Only then did Li Wuji turn his gaze toward Hei Ce, who was imprisoned by the giant energy hand. Feeling several powerful auras rapidly approaching from the distant starry sky, he smiled slightly.

"As expected, the world outside is truly vast. I'll leave this thing with you for now."

As he spoke, a mass of pitch-black gas that seemed to come alive surged frantically toward Hei Ce, drilling into him through his mouth, nose, ears, and even his skin, vanishing without a trace in an instant.

Li Wuji released the unconscious Hei Ce, letting him plummet downward, while he himself vanished from the spot instantly.

At the very instant Li Wuji's figure vanished, the space where he had been located suddenly collapsed inward and shattered like fragile glass!

A pitch-black crack spanning hundreds of miles was forcibly torn open, and a violent torrent of energy poured out from it, instantly turning that area into a forbidden zone of destruction.

Star fragments, spatial turbulence, and even stray light were all ruthlessly swallowed and annihilated by this power.

This was no ordinary energy explosion; it contained a crushing force at the level of Law, a terrifying strike capable of easily wiping out an ordinary Rank Four Peak expert!

At the core of the energy turbulence, a figure slowly emerged.

This person wore the dark gold-patterned battle armor of a high-ranking general of the Black Cloud Empire. His face was cold, his eyes sharp as a hawk's, and he radiated a suffocating pressure. His aura had clearly surpassed the scope of Rank Four!

He was the Shadow Guard powerhouse who had torn through space to arrive immediately after receiving the highest distress signal—Mo Yun.

His cold gaze swept across the still-raging energy ruins, and his Divine Sense, like an invisible net, instantly covered the entire battlefield, carefully probing every trace of residual energy and spatial fluctuation.

"General, Captain Hei Ce has been found! His life aura is weak, but there is no immediate danger to his life!"

A following Shadow Guard expert discovered the rapidly falling Hei Ce in the distance and quickly brought him over.

Mo Yun turned his gaze to the unconscious Hei Ce, his brow furrowing slightly.

He extended a finger, a point of faint light glowing at the tip, and lightly tapped it on Hei Ce's brow.

A pure and powerful Rank Five Divine Sense, like the most precise probe, scanned every inch of Hei Ce's body with meticulous detail, from flesh and bone to energy meridians, and even the deepest level of his Sea of Consciousness.

However, that strange black gas Li Wuji had injected seemed to have completely merged with Hei Ce's life Origin, sharing the same source and essence as his Darkness Dao Mark, even simulating a near-perfect state of concealment.

In General Mo Yun's perception, besides the depletion and injuries caused by burning his essence blood, there were no traces of any external energy or Restriction within Hei Ce's body.

"Hmph, consider him lucky."

General Mo Yun withdrew his finger, his tone indifferent. "His body only has injuries from the backlash of his own power; no enemy schemes were found."

"It seems that thief was in too much of a hurry and didn't have time to do anything else."

He did not notice the hidden \"gift.\"

After all, Li Wuji's technique came from the Lord of Chaos. Given the subtlety and concealment of such methods, they were far beyond what an ordinary Rank Five powerhouse could discover.

Furthermore, the Darkness Dao Mark within Li Wuji were not weaker than theirs. Therefore, unless it was a veteran Rank Five powerhouse specializing in this Dao, it would be impossible to discover easily.

"My Lord, the other three team members... have all fallen in the line of duty."

Another Shadow Guard reported sorrowfully, his voice suppressed with anger.

Mo Yun looked at the three areas where only a bit of energy dust remained, his expression turning even colder.

Losing three elite Shadow Guards at once, especially near the Empire's core Star Domain, was extremely rare in history.

"To be able to kill three Rank Four Shadow Guards in such a short time and leave Hei Ce near death, this scoundrel's strength is definitely not that of an ordinary Rank Four."

"His residual aura is strange and difficult to trace back to its source..."

Thoughts raced through General Mo Yun's mind; the opponent's ruthlessness and strength made him wary.

"Pass down the order to raise the alert level of the Empire's borders and core Star Domains, increase patrols, and thoroughly investigate all suspicious individuals."

"Designate this incident as the 'Umbra Assassination Case' and pursue the murderer's whereabouts with all our might!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

General Mo Yun took one last look in the direction Li Wuji had disappeared. The space there was turbulent, and the clues had been almost completely erased.

He gave a cold snort, swept his sleeves, and took the unconscious Hei Ce and his subordinates with him, merging into the Void Realm and departing instantly.

The starry sky returned to dead silence once more, with only the spatial cracks that had not yet fully healed and the residual energy ripples silently recounting the brief and cruel battle that had just occurred.

However, no one knew that a "seed" had been quietly planted.

The unconscious Hei Ce seemed merely to be asleep, but the strange black gas hidden deep within his body was like a hibernating venomous snake, waiting for the moment to awaken and erupt.

Meanwhile, Li Wuji had already reached the edge of the Black Cloud Empire's core.

Standing atop a mountain on a desolate star, he gazed toward the Black Cloud Empire with a faint, indiscernible smile on his lips.

"Rank Five... truly extraordinary. However, the game has only just begun."

Before his voice faded, Li Wuji reached out and grabbed the air, producing a Humanoid Statue that looked like mutton-fat jade. Then, he separated a wisp of his Divine Soul and merged it into it.

In the next moment, the Humanoid Statue expanded with the wind, turning into a young man in just an instant.

His face was handsome, his long hair flowed like a waterfall, and his skin was fair, yet he wore a suit of black battle armor. His aura was as deep as an abyss, making him unforgettable at a glance.

His Realm had reached the Early Stage of Rank Four, and he possessed over a hundred thousand Darkness Dao Mark and tens of thousands of Shadow Dao Marks.

Li Wuji had learned from the combat and Divine Soul memories of Hei Ce and the other Shadow Guards that the Black Cloud Empire primarily cultivated the Dark Law and the Shadow Law.

It just so happened that Shadow also excelled in this area, so having these two types of Dao Marks would save him a lot of trouble in his upcoming actions.

Additionally, based on the characteristics of various saint relics he had previously encountered, he had gained much inspiration and insight, leading him to create many special items.

For instance, the Jade Pendant that could navigate and record planetary information, and this Humanoid Statue was one of them.

Its function was simple, acting as something similar to a Clone, yet slightly different.

After merging with the Divine Soul, it was like an independent individual; unless one's strength far exceeded it and they investigated intently, it was extremely difficult to discover.

However, because of this, the main body could not perceive everything about the other in real-time.

This had its pros and cons. The pro was that Li Wuji didn't have to worry about the main body being in danger or his tracks being traced back to expose himself. The con was that the time this statue could be maintained was limited, and it would only last for a shorter time once a battle began.

Li Wuji smiled slightly, his figure gradually blurring as he returned to the space he had created and began to Cultivate.

Meanwhile, the Clone outside set off toward the core of the Black Cloud Empire.