29: Chapter 29 Drifting Thoughts

Halfway through the Chen hour, the beast-kin merchant left his stall as usual.

His pace was steady and unhurried; on the surface, he appeared to be strolling through the market, but Liu Ruyan noticed his route deliberately avoided crowded areas, consistently sticking to relatively secluded alleys.

His right hand was slightly curled inside his sleeve, his fingertips occasionally hooking lightly into the air; he was releasing some form of weak spiritual power detection, like a spider constantly testing the vibrations on its web.

The Phantom Assassin's concealment ability allowed Liu Ruyan to blend perfectly into the surrounding environment.

Her footsteps synchronized with the other pedestrians in the market, and her breathing frequency was lowered to merge with the surrounding airflow; her grey-brown short outfit was like a layer of flowing shadow in the dappled light and shade of the alley.

She maintained a distance of about thirty steps from the beast-kin merchant—neither too far nor too near—just outside the range of his spiritual power detection.

The beast-kin merchant passed through three alleys, turned two corners, and finally arrived at the southeast corner of the market.

He stopped in front of an abandoned stall, looked left and right, and after confirming that no one around was paying attention, he headed straight toward the ancient savage tree carved with Shadow Clan Spirit Runes.

His right hand pressed onto a slightly darker section of vine on the tree trunk, and the Spirit Rune at the base of the vine flickered.

Then, a gap silently split open on the ancient tree's trunk.

The gap was only one person wide, pitch black and bottomless. The beast-kin merchant leaned forward slightly, preparing to walk into the gap, and just then, Liu Ruyan caught a glimpse of the inside.

It was not a tree hollow. It was a staircase leading underground, with the walls on both sides carved with unique Shadow Clan Spirit Runes; the Spirit Runes emitted a faint purple light, like a tunnel leading to the netherworld.

Deep in the staircase, a brighter light could be vaguely seen—not natural light, but the light emitted by some kind of spiritual array.

The beast-kin merchant turned sideways and walked into the gap, and the tree trunk closed silently behind him, like a swallowing mouth.

Standing in the shadows thirty steps away, the phoenix eyes of Liu Ruyan, like two precision mirrors, recorded everything completely.

The Shadow Clan had a stronghold beneath the Myriad Races Market.

This was not simple intelligence gathering; this was an organized, systematic intelligence channel with infrastructure.

The beast-kin merchant was just one link in this channel, and at the end of the channel was some core organization of the Shadow Clan.

The name Ying Wuyue surfaced in the mind of Liu Ruyan once again.

She took a deep breath, organized everything she had observed in her mind, and then silently retreated to the main street of the market.

She needed more information. What was inside that underground stronghold? How many Shadow Clan members were there? What information about the transmigrators were they collecting? Where was this intelligence ultimately being sent?

But today was not the time for deep investigation.

She had already obtained the most important intelligence: the Shadow Clan had an underground stronghold at the Myriad Races Market and was systematically collecting information on transmigrators.

This intelligence was a hundred times more important than the traces of the spy discovered yesterday; it meant that the Shadow Clan's surveillance of transmigrators was not an impulsive act, but a long-term, organized operation.

Liu Ruyan lingered in the market for another hour, supplementing some information she could use: the distribution of other tribes in the Central Wasteland Region, the levels of Savage Beasts in the depths of the Savage Beast Forest, and the trading rules and opening cycles of the market.

Then she set off to return to Bright Camp.

On the way back, the pace of Liu Ruyan was much slower than when she came.

It was not because of exhaustion; the constitution of a Phantom Assassin far exceeded that of an ordinary person, and a one-hour forced march was merely a warm-up for her.

What had slowed down was her heart.

She walked alone among the canopy of the Savage Beast Forest, her grey-brown short outfit like a layer of flowing shadow in the dappled light and shade of the forest.

The afternoon sun spilled down through the gaps in the canopy, casting fragmented spots of light; occasionally, a beam of light passed through the edge of her hood, illuminating half of her face—willow-leaf eyebrows, phoenix eyes, lips like painted vermilion; the features of this oriental classical beauty were as exquisite as a fine brush painting.

But the expression on that painting at this moment was not her usual indifference, but a rare, solemn look tinged with a bit of unease.

She thought of the entrance to that underground stronghold.

The gap where the tree trunk split open looked like an opened eye.

The purple light of the Spirit Runes surged out from the depths of the gap, like the breathing of some living creature.

The beast-kin merchant's back as he walked into the gap; his pace was without hesitation, clearly not his first time walking it.

How long had the Shadow Clan been operating beneath the Myriad Races Market?

How much information on transmigrators had they collected?

Information about the Bright Tribe—more than sixty young women, one Holy Light Warrior Chieftain, camp-level—had this information already reached the desk of Ying Wuyue?

The phoenix eyes of Liu Ruyan narrowed slightly, their smoky, misty luster becoming even deeper in the tree shadows.

Her right hand subconsciously gripped the short dagger at her waist, her knuckles turning slightly white from excessive force.

She rarely felt uneasy.

As a Phantom Assassin, her professional traits dictated that she walked in the shadows all year round, facing the most dangerous and unpredictable intelligence and assassination missions.

From the day she transmigrated and awakened her profession, she had been the Shadow Eye of the Bright Tribe, observing in the shadows, acting in the shadows, and guarding in the shadows.

She was accustomed to loneliness, accustomed to silence, and accustomed to suppressing all unease and fear in the deepest part of her heart, then resolving them one by one with cold rationality.

But today was different.

Today's unease did not come from the Shadow Clan's threat itself, but from a fact she was unwilling to admit: she was afraid that the Bright Tribe would be exposed.

She was afraid that Wang Sheng would be exposed.

Not Wang Sheng as the chieftain, but... Wang Sheng as that man.

The footsteps of Liu Ruyan paused for a moment.

She stood on the branch of a thick, ancient savage tree; the afternoon sun fell on her through the gaps in the canopy, outlining the silhouette of her grey-brown short outfit into a dappled silhouette of light and shadow.

The wind blew, lifting a corner of her hood and revealing half of her exquisitely painted face; her willow-leaf eyebrows were slightly furrowed, her phoenix eyes were like smoke, and her red lips were pressed into a line.

Her slender waist was easily encircled under the close-fitting cut of her short outfit, and above the waistline was an unexpectedly full curve; her long, fair legs extended from the hem of the short outfit, stepping on the tree trunk like two crescent moons gilded by the sunlight.

She was so beautiful that it didn't seem real, like a wash painting in the misty rain, visible but unreachable.

But the beauty was lost in a daze at this moment.

"...What am I thinking about?" Liu Ruyan whispered to herself, her voice carried away by the wind in the forest.

She shook her head, pushed those untimely thoughts back into the depths of her heart, and continued on her way.

But her speed was even slower.

When she returned to Bright Camp, it was already afternoon.

Liu Ruyan emerged from the periphery of the Savage Beast Forest and saw from afar the shimmering light of the silver-blue dome under the sun; the silver-blue dome of the Sanctuary Domain was like a huge crystal canopy, enveloping the entire camp.

The Lingxi River flowed through the camp, its water shimmering like broken gold under the afternoon sun; in the Spirit Fields by the river, Su Mengyao was squatting on the ridge, checking the growth of the Spirit Potato sprouts, her emerald green hair cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall.

Liu Ruyan did not go to the Spirit Fields to greet her, but headed straight for the Chiefs Tent.

The tent flap was half-lifted, and the voice of Shen Xun'er came from inside; she was discussing the planting plan for the Spirit Fields with other girls, her apricot eyes like two warm ambers in the afternoon light, her moon-white priestess robe shimmering with a soft silver-blue luster in the warm light of the fire pit.

"Shen Xun'er." Liu Ruyan's voice came from outside the tent flap, very soft, but Shen Xun'er immediately heard the unusual solemnity in her tone.

"Liu Ruyan? You're back?" Shen Xun'er put down the Spirit Field planning map in her hand and walked to the tent flap. "Wang Sheng has gone to the periphery of the Savage Beast Forest to cultivate; I will send someone to call him."

"No need." Liu Ruyan shook her head, the smoky, misty luster of her phoenix eyes appearing exceptionally deep in the afternoon sun. "I will wait for him to return."