248: Chapter 248 What did you see?

Luoxia City had no Golden Core Cultivator guarding it, but many clansmen and dispatched Disciples of Golden Core level powers were stationed within the city.

This border trade city wasn't particularly large, but the powers within were complex; over a dozen Sects and Families, and dozens of Loose Cultivator gangs each had their own backers, forming an intricate web where pulling one thread moved the whole.

But Duanmu Bei didn't bother to hide himself.

With his Golden Core cultivation, he swept directly over the city gates, not restraining his Spiritual Pressure in the slightest.

His ink-colored Daoist robe wrapped around the Golden Core level spiritual power fluctuations as he swept across the long street, causing the faces of the Cultivators doing business in the shops along the way to change simultaneously.

The Foundation Establishment Cultivators on duty at the city tower had trembling legs, not daring to utter a single word of questioning.

A Golden Core True Person had personally come to Luoxia City, and he looked unfriendly.

Every Cultivator in the city felt endangered; thirty percent of the shops closed, and the number of pedestrians on the street halved.

Only the people from the five powers remaining in the city knew why he had come.

A Golden Core True Person arriving just after the incident at Ten Thousand Snakes Valley meant, without a doubt, an Elder from the Xuanyin Sect had come to investigate.

When Duanmu Bei sought them out, those people were naturally eager to clear themselves of any involvement.

All fingers pointed to Su Chengyuan's group of Loose Cultivators of unknown origin; of course, they didn't know the backgrounds or names of Su Chengyuan and the others.

"Seventeen people in total: three at Foundation Establishment Peak, thirteen at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage, and one at Foundation Establishment Mid-stage."

"They never announced their names throughout, and it's unclear which power they belong to."

"Although we exchanged blows with your Sect's Disciples, everyone was safe and sound, with no casualties. This matter has nothing to do with us; we were also deceived..."

The Cultivators from the five powers described and drew the appearances of Su Chengyuan and the others after their disguise, and told Duanmu Bei all the information they knew, though it wasn't of much use.

Duanmu Bei collected these portraits and issued a wanted notice in Luoxia City, offering a large reward of Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Twenty thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones for each of the seventeen heads, and five thousand for valid clues.

Once the wanted notice was posted, the Loose Cultivators of Luoxia City scrambled to crowd in front of the notice wall to look.

Twenty thousand Spirit Stones per head was definitely a fortune.

Only...

Not a single person recognized the faces in the drawings.

Many Cultivators moved within a radius of hundreds of miles around Luoxia City, but no one had ever seen these seventeen faces.

Not only did the Loose Cultivators not recognize them, but even the well-informed brokers in the city couldn't find any matching identity information.

Furthermore, many Cultivators passed through the city, most of whom were strangers, making it impossible to check them one by one.

For instance, when Zhao Shan and the others appeared in the city, it was treated as a common occurrence, and since their numbers and cultivation levels didn't match the description, no one would make the connection.

Evidence was still needed; otherwise, a Demonic Path Cultivator like Duanmu Bei would surely grind anyone who spread false information to dust.

Moreover, everyone was afraid; that was a team of over a dozen Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and the power behind them was definitely not simple, so how would they dare to offend them.

The current situation was that no one in the city recognized them, meaning they hadn't entered the city, yet such a large group had suddenly appeared outside Ten Thousand Snakes Valley.

It was illogical, far too illogical.

Duanmu Bei had a vague bad premonition; the other party had most likely used disguise techniques.

While he was sitting cross-legged on the top floor of an inn in the city to clear his thoughts, a communication Jade Slip lit up.

The message came from that grey-robed Cultivator in the Xuanyin Sect, Revered Master Elder Meng, the Revered Master of the fifteen deceased Disciples.

"Senior Brother Duanmu, my fifteen Disciples died while performing a mission for you."

Elder Meng's voice was very somber, but even though he was in a very bad mood, he still didn't dare to vent his anger on Duanmu Bei.

"I just went to check the Tracing Formation Inscriptions on the Core Disciple Tokens; the images reflected in their final moments have been saved by me."

Duanmu Bei was stunned; he had almost forgotten about this.

Core Disciple Tokens had built-in Tracing Formation Inscriptions, and images from the few breaths before the holder's death would be automatically imprinted deep within the token.

Although Tao Qianfang's token was thrown into the lava fissure and destroyed by Su Chengyuan, it wasn't thrown in before his death; the images would have been copied the moment those Disciples died.

"What did you see?"

Elder Meng's voice contained a bit more hatred, "A total of seventeen people ambushed and killed my Disciples. The leader has a Foundation Establishment Mid-stage cultivation and uses a supreme grade Magical Artifact longsword with wood-attribute spiritual power; his methods are experienced.

In addition, there are three at Foundation Establishment Peak and thirteen at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage. I have already transcribed all their information into a Jade Slip and will send it to you now."

Two segments of spiritual power images overflowed from the communication talisman one after another, forming pictures in sequence in Duanmu Bei's palm.

The first segment came from the token of a Disciple on sentry duty at the perimeter.

In the image, the Formation Flags were still operating, their grey spiritual light reflecting off the rocks at the bottom of the valley.

Four figures dropped from high up the rock wall, with Talismans leading the way: Earth-Cleaving, Soul-Shaking, Imprisonment, and Armor-Piercing—four layers stacked, precise and ruthless.

The five junior nephews on duty had almost no room to fight back; the one to the east fell first, with no more than three breaths between the Talisman hitting him and the Flying Sword piercing his chest.

Liu Feng reacted the fastest, his token's protective shield blocking the last two Talismans, but in the image, he could be seen turning and fleeing desperately toward the grey mist, his back looking pathetic.

Four people; the leader had a Foundation Establishment Mid-stage cultivation, used a Magical Artifact longsword, wood-attribute spiritual power, and used Sword Qi to transform into vines to lock people down. Combined with the suppression of many Talismans, he had many tricks, clearly backed by a major power.

The other three at Foundation Establishment Peak were equally swift and ruthless in their strikes, but there was nothing special about their Spells; they were all very common, generic types.

The image lasted for only a dozen breaths before cutting off; the owner of the token had already stopped breathing.

The second segment came from Tao Qianfang's token.

This segment was even shorter, only seven or eight breaths; in the image, the grey mist had already dissipated, and the valley floor was a complete mess.

Tao Qianfang was kneeling on one knee, blood gushing from his mouth, but his gaze was still scanning ahead, clearly seeing the people surrounding him; it was no longer just four.

Seventeen.

In addition to the four who appeared in the first segment, thirteen more figures had appeared.

All were at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage with various Magical Artifacts, closing in from all directions.

In the final two breaths of the image, a longsword hung over Tao Qianfang's neck; the leader's face was captured most clearly from this angle, and then everything went black.

All the information ended there; it couldn't be said to be useless, but it wasn't of much use either.

These two ambushes were the first time Su Chengyuan and the others had made a move in Ten Thousand Snakes Valley; they hadn't shown their faces in Luoxia City at all before.

The seventeen faces in the images didn't match any known Cultivators in the city.

However, comparing the two segments of images, some things could still be deduced.

In the first segment, only four people acted; they were extremely fast with clear division of labor, obviously the core combat strength.

The thirteen additional people in the second segment were reinforcements that arrived later, indicating that this group had been split into at least two batches from the beginning.

And after two consecutive high-intensity battles, the spiritual power circulation of the seventeen people remained steady, with no signs of instability or going out of control. However, the spiritual power endurance of Foundation Establishment Cultivators is limited; to achieve this, they either had spiritual power reserves far exceeding their peers or had consumed something good.

Duanmu Bei noted this suspicion in his heart.

Elder Meng's voice came from the communication talisman again: "Senior Brother Duanmu, since you are already pursuing them, please be sure to follow through to the end. I want those people to be buried with my Disciples."

Duanmu Bei said "alright"; even if not for those Disciples, he would definitely investigate to the end for his own Exotic Fire. How could he give up on a fifty-year plan just like that?

Now that he had a clue, Duanmu Bei naturally had no need to stay in the city any longer and returned to Ten Thousand Snakes Valley once more.

When those seventeen people left, each would more or less leave spiritual power traces in the air, especially when flying on artifacts; the friction between spiritual power and the air would form thin airflow prints high in the sky.

Most of these prints had already dissipated, but the general direction could still be discerned—tending toward the northeast after leaving the valley.