145: Chapter 145 Dangers Ahead: Who is the Prey and Who is the Bait?

His gaze was as calm as a deep pool, without a single ripple, as if what Qin Ruowei handed over was not a Jade Slip containing a choice of life and death, but an ordinary fallen leaf.

He did not rush to speak, his fingertips subconsciously rubbing the rough stone ring on his thumb. That warm, smooth touch could always help his mind find the most stable anchor in the most chaotic situations.

Qin Ruowei held her breath, staring intently at Lin Chen.

She could feel that although the Clan Chief before her only had the cultivation of the Golden Core Early Stage, the calmness and serenity emanating from his very bones were heavier than many Nascent Soul monsters she had seen, making one feel at ease involuntarily.

"Sect Master Tie Kuang's struggle before death, Cave Master Yue Ji's hidden murderous intent..." Lin Chen's voice was very soft, as if talking to himself, or perhaps conducting a final review of the entire chess game. "One wants me to live, one wants me to die. Or rather, one wants me to die in a different way."

He lifted his eyes and looked at Qin Ruowei: "Truth and falsehood are no longer important. What is important is that they both believe I will take that path."

Qin Ruowei's heart jolted, and she instantly understood Lin Chen's meaning.

This was no longer a simple issue of intelligence verification, but a trap of psychological maneuvering.

Regardless of whether the path Cave Master Yue Ji provided was a path of life or death, as long as Lin Chen stepped onto it, he would be walking into a battlefield preset by the enemy, handing over all initiative.

"I understand." The gravity in Qin Ruowei's eyes turned into clarity.

Lin Chen took a blank Jade Slip from his storage ring, his Divine Sense flickered, and he imprinted a message within it before handing it to Qin Ruowei.

The Jade Slip felt cool in her hand, with no spiritual power fluctuations, appearing extremely ordinary.

"Suspend all contact with Baicao Valley, and all dispatched scouts are to enter a state of silence. Keep this Jade Slip close to you." His tone was calm and resolute, leaving no room for discussion. "Three days from now, if there is no news from me, you are to crush it."

Qin Ruowei took the Jade Slip, clenching it tightly in her palm, and nodded heavily: "Yes!"

She did not ask what was inside the Jade Slip, nor did she ask why it was three days.

Every order from the Clan Chief must have deep meaning behind it; all she needed to do was execute it with the utmost precision.

Lin Chen's gaze drifted past her, toward the vibrant home within the valley in the morning light.

A moment later, he turned around and said indifferently to Lin Haoyu beside him: "Let's go."

"Yes, Father." Lin Haoyu had been standing quietly to the side the whole time. Only upon hearing the order did he bow in acknowledgment, his eyes devoid of any fear toward the unknown journey, filled only with complete trust in his father's decision.

A plain-looking, even somewhat old, flying Spirit Beast carriage quietly drove out of Black Wind Valley in the morning light.

Pulling the carriage were two second-rank Wind Feather Colts. This type of Spirit Beast excelled in endurance, but had mediocre speed; they were common everywhere in the cultivation world and would never attract anyone's attention.

Lin Chen did not choose any extravagant transport, bringing only Lin Haoyu. Both were dressed in ordinary green robes of a Loose Cultivator. Merging into the bustling main road, they were like a drop of water into a great river, untraceable.

Before leaving, through the gap in the carriage window, he looked back one last time at the pavilions appearing and disappearing in the mist within the valley, then his gaze became incomparably firm.

This trip was both attending a Hongmen Banquet and acting as a Dragon-slaying swordsman.

Five days later, the Spirit Beast carriage reached a desolate valley named "Soul-Severing Gorge."

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the cliffs on both sides of the gorge a strange blood-red, and the jagged, strange rocks cast clawing, toothy shadows on the ground.

The main road became extremely narrow here, allowing only one carriage to pass. The wind blew through the gorge, making a wailing sound, resembling the weeping of lonely souls.

Inside the carriage, the light was dim.

Lin Haoyu sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, circulating his Cultivation Technique. A faint, earthy-yellow halo surrounded him, his aura long and steady.

Lin Chen leaned against the other side, seemingly resting with his eyes closed, his breathing steady, as if he were fast asleep.

His right hand, resting on his knee, had its fingertips rhythmically and gently rubbing the stone ring on his thumb.

Everything appeared quiet and ordinary.

However, in this extreme silence, a shadow darker than the night seeped out from the deepest shadow in the corner of the carriage without any warning.

That shadow had no form, no aura, and did not even cause the slightest fluctuation of spiritual power.

It was like a drop of ink falling into a black dye vat, spreading and condensing silently, finally transforming into a human figure shrouded in black robes.

Shadow Erosion, the blade of the Ink Abyss walking in the darkness, had spent his whole life learning how to turn himself into a part of the environment.

The moment he appeared, there was not a hint of hesitation; a three-inch short dagger appeared out of thin air in his hand.

The dagger body was pitch black, reflecting no light at all, with only a trace of ghostly blue light quenched on the edge, a radiance that seemed capable of freezing a person's Divine Soul.

His target was not Lin Chen, whose aura was as deep as an abyss, but the youth currently cultivating and completely unguarded—Lin Haoyu!

Capture the king to capture the bandits, kill the son to disturb the heart. This was the simplest and most effective strategy.

Shadow Erosion's movements were fast to the extreme; from appearance to the strike, the entire process was as smooth as flowing water, without stirring up a whisper of wind.

The ghostly blue dagger tip, wrapped in dead, silent murderous intent capable of piercing metal and stone, stabbed straight at Lin Haoyu's glabella.

At this moment, time seemed to stretch.

Lin Chen, sitting motionless, did not even open his eyes.

Just at the instant when the poison-quenched dagger was about to touch Lin Haoyu's skin, and the cold air attached to the dagger had already caused a layer of goosebumps to rise on Lin Haoyu's glabella—

A sudden change occurred!

"Hum!"

A low hum, like the heartbeat of the earth, resounded thunderously from beneath the Spirit Beast carriage.

The ground beneath the entire Spirit Beast carriage, without warning, instantly transformed into an earthy-yellow quagmire ten zhang in radius!

This quagmire was not ordinary mud and water; every earthy-yellow speck of light within it seemed to contain the weight of a mountain, radiating a heavy, viscous, and irresistible power of bearing and imprisonment.

"Thick Earth Bearing All Things" Domain, activate!

Shadow Erosion's lightning-fast figure, the instant he fell into this earthy-yellow Domain, suddenly came to a halt.

His speed and strange footwork, which he prided himself on, seemed to be gripped tightly by an invisible giant hand, instantly stripped away entirely.

An unimaginable, massive force squeezed in from all directions, making him feel as if he had fallen into ten thousand jin of glue; even the simple action of raising his arm became incredibly difficult, and he could not move an inch.

How is this possible!

Shadow Erosion's heart was churned with stormy waves!

He hadn't even noticed when the opponent had set up the Formation!

This was not a Formation at all, but a... Domain!

Golden Core Early Stage, how could he possibly comprehend the rudiment of a Domain?!

He no longer cared about assassinating Lin Haoyu; the spiritual power within his body burned crazily as he prepared to detonate a desperate Blood Escape secret technique to force his escape.

However, at this very moment!

"Swish—"

A cyan wind blade, sharp as a knife, tore through the air, arriving with a sharp whistling sound!

This wind blade was not attacking him personally, but was slashed with extreme trickiness at the only path of retreat he had prepared for his escape. The timing was masterful, as if it had long since seen through all his countermeasures.

The wind blade landed, exploding into a burst of fierce gale, kicking up dust to fill the sky.

Amidst the dust, a middle-aged Cultivator wearing a mysterious cyan standard Daoist robe, with a simple token engraved with the two characters "Sky Patrol" hanging at his waist, descended from the sky.

His figure was straight, his face resolute. He landed three zhang in front of the Spirit Beast carriage, his feet steadily treading on the edge of the "Thick Earth Bearing All Things" Domain, without letting the quagmire stain him in the slightest.

He did not even look at the trapped Shadow Erosion, but instead bowed toward the still-closed carriage, saying in a deep voice: "I am the Southern Region Inspector of the Sky Patrol Division, Inspector Feng Xingyun, ordered to come and escort Clan Chief Lin. It seems this journey is indeed not peaceful."

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!

Inspector Feng Xingyun frowned slightly, seemingly surprised that the opponent was so decisive, but his primary mission for this trip was to protect the person, so he did not pursue.

In a hidden mountain hollow a hundred miles away, Shadow Erosion's figure staggered into view. He clutched his chest, violently spat out a mouthful of black blood, his face pale as paper.

He did not hesitate to crush a black communication talisman.

Inside a distant, deep underground palace, the darkness above the altar squirmed like a living thing.

Before a figure completely shrouded in darkness, a rune quietly lit up in the Void Realm before it, then quickly extinguished.

"Inspector Feng Xingyun... The dog nose of the Sky Patrol Division is still as sharp as ever."

A low and hoarse laugh echoed in the underground palace, filled with playfulness and mockery.

"Very good, the bait has already lured out the fish I wanted to catch; this play has only just begun."

Inside Soul-Severing Gorge, beside the Spirit Beast carriage.

Inside the carriage, Lin Chen slowly opened his eyes.

In those deep eyes, there was not a ripple, as if the thrilling assassination and the subsequent twists and turns were just a boring farce.

His fingertips were still gently rubbing the rough stone ring, and a cold, sharp smile flashed across the corner of his mouth.