4: Chapter 4 Killing with Eyes and the Terrified Enforcement Hall
"Boom!"
A tooth-aching loud bang tore through the silence of the deep night.
The heavy gates of the Scripture Pavilion, under the impact of a violent burst of spiritual power, exploded into a shower of wood splinters.
Amidst the flying wood fragments, seven or eight figures entered in single file.
They wore dark black brocade robes with standard-issue long swords hanging at their waists; they were Disciples of the Enforcement Hall.
Each had a cold and stern expression, surrounded by an aura of Killing Intent, and the lighting Magical Artifacts in their hands illuminated the dim first-floor hall as if it were broad daylight.
"Enforcement Hall business! Unrelated persons, put your hands behind your heads and squat down!"
The leading youth shouted sharply; he had high cheekbones and a sharp gaze, scanning the scene with the oppressive feeling of a predator inspecting its prey.
This person was an elite Disciple of the Enforcement Hall, Song Qingfeng, with a cultivation level of Foundation Establishment Early Stage.
Li Mo was currently curled up in a corner behind the counter.
He held that bald-haired broom tightly in his arms, his body controlled perfectly to exhibit the uncontrollable, violent trembling of a Mortal facing transcendent power.
"My... My Lord, this small one is just a floor sweeper, I don't know anything!"
His voice carried a sob, and his face was written with the natural fear and awe towards Cultivators.
However, beneath his lowered eyelids, his pupils were as calm as a ten-thousand-year-old deep pool, rapidly analyzing the situation before him.
The [Reading the Room] trait was operating at full power.
"The leader, Foundation Establishment Early Stage, spiritual power fluctuations are urgent and restless, a sign of being eager to achieve merit."
"The two people on his left, Qi Refining ninth level, expressions are tense, fingers always hooked on their sword hilts, in a state of high alert."
"Their search has no clear target; they are just conducting a wide-net style screening based on the residual aura of the Forbidden Ground's Formation fluctuations."
Li Mo's heart settled slightly.
Without concrete evidence, and with his seamless "trash" disguise, this group would likely not waste time on a Servant.
As for Squeak, that little thing was even cleverer than him.
As soon as the footsteps sounded, it used its miraculous burrowing skill to slip deep into the ground beneath the Scripture Pavilion's foundation.
That was its home turf; even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator's Divine Sense would find it impossible to easily scan a Treasure-Seeking Rat that was deliberately suppressing its aura.
Song Qingfeng's cold gaze swept across the entire hall.
"Search!"
"After that thief triggered the Forbidden Ground Formation, their aura disappeared near here; they must still be hiding here!"
"Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, find them for me!"
"Yes!"
The Disciples took their orders and scattered, their movements extremely rough.
They rummaged through cabinets and drawers, countless books were arrogantly thrown onto the floor, and bookshelves groaned under the strain of being pushed around.
Li Mo watched this scene, his heart bleeding.
These are all my damn "experience packs"!
But he didn't dare move a muscle, continuing to play the part of a shivering quail.
Soon, a Disciple walked over to the pile of discarded books in the corner.
That was exactly where Squeak had dug out the bamboo slip.
The Disciple casually brushed aside the clutter with his scabbard, exposing a slightly loose floorboard.
"Senior Brother Song! There's an anomaly here!"
The loud shout caused Li Mo's heart to instantly leap into his throat.
Although the bamboo slip had turned to ash, the Yin baleful Qi it carried when it was unearthed might not have fully dissipated.
Song Qingfeng's figure flashed, appearing in the corner like a ghost.
He squatted down, reached out, and lightly wiped the floorboard, his fingertip staining with a trace of imperceptible ash.
He brought his fingertip to his nose and sniffed.
"This is..."
Song Qingfeng's brow instantly furrowed.
A cold, obscure aura, as if from an ancient tomb, entered his nostrils.
This was definitely not left by a Righteous Path Cultivation Technique, but rather seemed like the residual Death Qi of something long decayed and extinguished.
He suddenly turned his head, his gaze like two physical beams, nailing themselves onto Li Mo not far away.
"You!"
Song Qingfeng took a step out, instantly closing in on Li Mo.
The pressure of the Foundation Establishment Stage crashed down without reservation; the air became viscous, as if it were going to crush Li Mo's bones inch by inch.
"This floorboard, did you move it? What happened here just now? Speak the truth!"
"If there is a single word of falsehood, I will perform a Soul Search on you right now!"
Soul Search!
These two words were like a death knell tolling in Li Mo's heart.
The most vicious torture in the Cultivation World; at best, one becomes an idiot, and at worst, their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.
In the line between life and death, the Longevity Body within Li Mo instinctively locked away all life force and secrets.
On the surface, however, he seemed completely broken by this pressure and the threat of "Soul Search," collapsing onto the ground and crying out incoherently:
"Lord, have mercy! Have mercy! Small... small one was just catching a rat here! A big rat crawled into a hole in the ground, and small one pried up the floorboard to catch it... that ash... that's just the ash from the fire-starting paper small one uses for cooking!"
"Catching a rat?"
The suspicion in Song Qingfeng's eyes grew stronger; he clearly didn't believe this full-of-holes explanation.
His gaze turned sharp, his patience exhausted.
Better to kill by mistake than to let a culprit go.
Since this Servant appeared at the most suspicious location, he would first cripple his cultivation and take him back to the Enforcement Hall dungeon; there would be plenty of ways to make him talk.
Song Qingfeng reached out, his five fingers forming a claw, bringing a sharp wind that tore through the air as he grabbed for Li Mo's throat.
Just as those cold fingers were less than three inches from Li Mo's throat, and Li Mo was already prepared to activate [Cloud-Flowing Steps] for a risky gamble—
He raised his head.
It was just this one look.
Li Mo met Song Qingfeng's gaze.
In an instant, in Song Qingfeng's field of vision, the cowering Servant disappeared.
In his place was a pair of eyes.
No, those weren't eyes.
It was a darkness vortex, indescribable by any language, deep to the extreme and slowly rotating.
There were no pupils, no whites of the eyes, only endless distortion and sinking.
An emotion that transcended understanding and fear seized his Divine Soul.
He felt that he was no longer a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, but a tiny, lowly summer insect, being indifferently... watched across endless time and space by an unspeakable thing awakened from ancient Chaos.
[Special Passive Trait Triggered: Unspeakable Gaze]
"Buzz—"
Song Qingfeng's brain went blank.
The Scripture Pavilion before his eyes instantly disintegrated, turning into a writhing abyss of flesh and blood.
In the darkness, billions of indescribable eyes quietly opened, and streaks of insane, malicious, and chaotic whispers did not pass through his ears but instead played crazily deep within his Soul.
"Ah!!!"
Song Qingfeng let out a shrill scream that didn't sound human.
The hand he reached toward Li Mo seemed to be hit by a branding iron and snapped back; his whole person, as if seeing an unspeakable ghost or god, scrambled backward until he crashed into and overturned an entire bookshelf with a "boom."
"Senior Brother?!"
This sudden turn of events scared all the Enforcement Hall Disciples witless, and they hurriedly gathered around.
"Senior Brother, what happened to you?"
Song Qingfeng panted heavily, cold sweat soaking his clothes in just a single breath.
He looked up at Li Mo in extreme terror, only to find the other party looking back with a blank and innocent expression, his gaze clear and foolish—where was any darkness vortex or flesh-and-blood abyss?
"I... I..."
Song Qingfeng swallowed hard, his heart still drumming crazily in his chest.
The terrifying experience just now was too real, so real that the Dao Heart he was so proud of was now covered in cracks, nearly collapsing.
Sinister!
This place is too damn sinister!
"Senior Brother, this person... do we still arrest him?" a Disciple asked cautiously.
Song Qingfeng's gaze touched Li Mo again, and his body instinctively shuddered.
Reason told him this was just a Mortal Servant without any spiritual power.
But his Divine Soul, his intuition, and every cell in his body were screaming frantically: Stay away from him! Get out! Now!
"Arrest what? Arrest who!"
Song Qingfeng roared with false bravado, trying to use the volume to cover his uncontrollable fear.
"A trash who catches rats, there isn't even a trace of spiritual power fluctuation on him! That thief must have used some kind of illusion and fled elsewhere! Don't waste time here, go search the back mountain!"
After saying that, he didn't want to stay for even another second, almost fleeing in a panic toward the door, his departing figure extremely pathetic.
The group of Enforcement Hall Disciples looked at each other in confusion, but although they didn't understand the situation at all, they could only quickly pack up and follow.
In the blink of an eye, the originally murderous Enforcement Hall crowd was gone.
Leaving behind only a mess on the floor and that broken gate that was still leaking wind.
Only after confirming that everyone's aura had faded into the distance did Li Mo slowly stand up from the ground.
He touched his face, then walked over to a nearby water basin and looked at his reflection in the water.
Ordinary and unremarkable, no anomalies whatsoever.
"Was that just now... [Unspeakable Gaze]?"
Stormy waves surged in Li Mo's heart.
He hadn't done anything himself and hadn't felt anything; he had simply and instinctively looked up at Song Qingfeng.
As a result, a Foundation Establishment expert was so scared that his Dao Heart nearly shattered?
This passive trait is simply too overbearing.
"It seems I can't just look people in the eye casually from now on," Li Mo warned himself inwardly.
In this world, being too conspicuous often meant a quick death. This passive "fear aura," while a life-saving divine skill, could also easily be seen by truly high-level Cultivators as a heresy or a Prodigy and be directly wiped out without question.
He sighed, picked up the broom, and began to clean up the mess.
When he reached the door, his gaze fell on a pale yellow paper talisman stuck to the broken door panel.
It was a search warrant posted by the Enforcement Hall.
It was stamped with the bright red seal of the Enforcement Hall, and a trace of faint spiritual power remained on it.
Out of professional instinct, Li Mo leaned in.
He discovered that this was not an ordinary notice, but was written with the Enforcement Hall's specialized "Culprit-Tracking Runes," which actually detailed professional knowledge like how to track suspects based on residual Spiritual Qi and how to identify disguised auras, and even included a short basic mantra for "Tracing Technique."
"Since it's already here, might as well read it."
Li Mo's eyes lit up as he stared at the search warrant, reading it seriously word by word.
Half a cup of tea's time later.
"Ding!"
[Host has completely read "Enforcement Hall Grade B Search Warrant (Including Tracing Technique Fragment)," extracting trait: Anti-Reconnaissance Instinct (White)]
[Trait Effect: You have gained a beast-like intuition toward malicious prying and tracking-type techniques. When someone tries to lock onto you through aura, footprints, Karma, etc., you will receive an early warning and instinctively know how to evade and cut off these tracks.]
"Good stuff!"
Li Mo was overjoyed.
It really was a case of someone providing a pillow just when he wanted to sleep.
With this trait, combined with the uniqueness of the Longevity Body, he was practically a walking, talking stealth unit.
"Squeak—"
A sneaky little gray head poked out from the hole in the floor.
Squeak looked around shiftily, and after confirming that the terrifying Foundation Establishment Cultivator was truly gone, it "whooshed" onto Li Mo's shoulder.
Its two front paws were holding high a piece of shining Ore newly dug from deep underground, looking like it was seeking credit: "See how amazing I am, hurry up and praise me."
Li Mo gave its head a flick, not in a good mood.
"Amazing my ass! I was almost killed by you, you dead rat!"
Although he was grumbling, Li Mo knew in his heart that if not for the strange bamboo slip this little thing dug up tonight, he might have really been forced to reveal his strength and flee for his life.
Wealth is found in danger; the ancients did not lie to me.
"It seems this Scripture Pavilion is not an absolutely safe house either."
Li Mo looked at the broken gate, the night wind blowing in and making the candle flames flicker.
He realized that as his and Squeak's ability to "cause trouble" grew stronger, simply "playing dead" was no longer enough.
He had to turn this Scripture Pavilion into a true iron fortress, an absolute safe Domain that even a Mahayana Stage old monster couldn't see through or investigate.
"Starting tomorrow, I won't just read books; I'll also learn Formations and Restrictions, and incidentally..."
Li Mo glanced at Squeak, who was holding the Ore and crunching on it.
"Give this rat some special training, otherwise I'll be screwed over by it sooner or later."
That night, Li Mo didn't sleep again.
Under the pretext of repairing the gate, he moved all the books on the first floor regarding architecture, mechanisms, and Basic Formations to his side.
The long night was endless, with only the sound of reading (inner voice) never ceasing.
And deep within Li Mo's Soul, which he himself hadn't noticed, as the contents of that strange bamboo slip were continuously digested, a seed named "Abyss" was quietly sprouting in his long-lived and undying Soul.
The next morning.
When the first ray of sunlight passed through the window lattice and shone into the Scripture Pavilion, the broken gate had been repaired to look brand new.
However, if a Formation Grandmaster were here, they would be horrified to discover that between the seemingly clumsy and rough wooden board joints, a very obscure, ancient Formation pattern, different from this world, was faintly flowing.
That was a "Conceptual Deception Formation" that Li Mo had cobbled together after reading the "Lu Ban Sutra" and "Basic Formations" all night, combined with his [Anti-Reconnaissance Instinct].
In the eyes of a Mortal, it was a door.
In a Cultivator's Divine Sense, it was a pile of rotten wood.
Only Li Mo himself knew that from today on, even if a fly flew through this door, its Soul would have to be scanned three times first.
"A new day starts with sweeping the floor."
Li Mo stretched and gave a bright smile to the rising sun.
Only deep within that smile, there was a trace of depth and composure that had never been there before.
Third year of longevity and immortality, Li Mo.
Qi Refining first level (outwardly declared).
Scripture Pavilion sweeping monk (internship period).
His great cause of staying low-key was steadily and firmly advancing.