160: Chapter 160: The inability to find anything is irrefutable evidence!

On the outskirts of the Yuheng Mountain Range, the night was thick and impenetrable.

This was the peripheral area of the Qianlong Su Family's Sect-protecting Formation.

The Heavenly Dao of The Great World was extremely stable; as the mountain breeze swept through the towering ancient trees, it made only a very faint rustling sound.

Eighteen near-invisible, faint black shadows were creeping extremely slowly toward Zizhu Peak, hugging the shadows of the ground.

Taixu Immortal Palace, the eighteen Heavenly Stems of the Shadow Guards.

These eighteen individuals were all at the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul Stage Late Stage!

They were absolute dead soldiers that Patriarch Tailing had spent tens of thousands of years of effort to cultivate, using the most top-tier concealment techniques of the Taixu Immortal Palace and massive amounts of resources.

Each person wore a costly "Heavenly Silkworm Faceless Garment," which could perfectly block Primordial Spirit detection and Qi leakage.

Never mind infiltrating a newly risen Family; even if they were sent to spy on those first-class, established Sects, it had always been like entering an empty land.

But tonight.

This group of the top spies in The Great World met their career—and life's—final Waterloo in this small Yuheng Mountain Range.

And they died in an extremely absurd and stifling manner.

To ensure there were no mistakes, the eighteen were divided into three groups, approaching from three different directions in a triangular Formation.

Group A, consisting of six people, was responsible for infiltrating from the mountain stream on the east side.

The terrain here was low-lying and was year-round filled with a layer of ordinary illusion mist meant to guard against low-level Yao Beasts.

For a great Cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage Late Stage, this kind of low-level illusion Formation could be walked through with eyes closed.

The leader, Jia-1, made a gesture, and the six held their breath, filing into the mist.

They had barely walked thirty zhang.

At the back of the team, the top-grade warm jade pendant that Jia-6 kept in his bosom to stabilize his Heart-Nature shattered without warning.

Not only did it shatter, but a trace of the remnant soul of an ancient heart-bewitching Yao Beast sealed at the core of the jade pendant, due to being too old and the Seal having aged, happened to break free at this very moment!

This remnant soul, neither deviating nor missing, drilled directly into Jia-6's Sea of Consciousness!

Under normal circumstances, Jia-6 would only need to circulate his true energy to suppress it within half a breath.

But at this moment, he was in an extremely tense state of stealth, with his Sea of Consciousness entirely used to maintain the concealment technique.

With the remnant soul entering his body, illusions arose in abundance.

In Jia-6's eyes, the five companions walking in front instantly turned into five Nine Nether evil ghosts with blood-splattered maws wide open!

"Die!"

Without a shred of hesitation, Jia-6 immediately unleashed the life-bound poison needle hidden under his tongue, shooting it frantically toward the nearest Jia-5.

"Are you crazy?!"

Jia-5 was pierced through his protective true energy by the poison needle, and the potent poison took effect instantly.

He didn't even have time to cry out a warning; out of a near-death instinct to counterattack, he backhanded a Yin thunder at Jia-6's chest.

This blow completely blew the lid off the pot.

Within the illusion mist, Spiritual Qi fluctuated violently.

The remaining four thought they had encountered an extremely terrifying ambush; in the thick fog where visibility was less than three feet, they all unleashed their most powerful killing moves to protect themselves.

No one went to investigate the truth, and no one went to verify identities.

Under the extremely subtle interference of the Heavenly Dao Law, their rationality was compressed to the extreme, and suspicion and fear were amplified a hundredfold.

In a mere ten breaths.

After a series of dull explosions, the east side mountain stream returned to deathly silence.

The six members of Group A had fought with all their might and perished together.

Their corpses were riddled with holes, tightly gripping their companions' necks.

...

South side cliff.

The six members of Group B were stuck to the branches of an inverted ten-thousand-year-old ancient pine like geckos.

They had just avoided the sight of a Su Family mountain patrol squad, their concealment techniques running to a flawless degree.

They hadn't even disturbed the dew on the leaves.

Just then, high in the sky, a Sky-Patrolling Spirit Crane raised by the Su Family flew by leisurely.

This Spirit Crane had been greedy yesterday and had stolen a "Truth-Breaking Vermilion Fruit" that was about to ripen in the back mountain herb garden.

The fruit's medicinal power was too strong, and the Spirit Crane's stomach couldn't fully digest it at all.

And so.

In mid-air, the Spirit Crane naturally dropped a lump of indigestible excrement.

This lump of excrement, carrying extremely dense Truth-Breaking medicinal power and a sour, heavy gravity, fell straight down.

Neither deviating nor missing.

It landed exactly on the head of the leader, Yi-1!

"Plop!"

A crisp, strange sound.

The residual medicinal power of the Truth-Breaking Vermilion Fruit instantly exploded within this drop of excrement, plastering directly onto the Formation eye of Yi-1's Heavenly Silkworm Faceless Garment!

The concealment effect of the Faceless Garment disintegrated instantly, and the Formation veins reversed directly due to contamination by the foreign object!

That was not the most fatal part.

The most fatal part was that Yi-1 was carrying three "Nine Heavens Gangfire Thunder" talismans used for saving his life.

This kind of thunder talisman was extremely sensitive to Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

The Spiritual Qi turbulence generated by the reversal of the Faceless Garment Formation directly detonated the thunder talismans!

"Boom—!!!"

A blinding, huge fireball exploded on the cliff.

The six members of Group B didn't even manage to emit a cry of surprise; they were instantly blown into flying ash by the three top-tier thunder talismans detonated at close range.

They died extremely cleanly.

...

Finally, there was Group C on the west side.

This group was personally led by the leader of the Heavenly Stems and acted with the utmost caution.

They had already successfully bypassed the outer Formation and were less than a hundred zhang away from the core mountain-protecting Formation of Zizhu Peak.

The leader crouched behind a bush, his gaze fixed intently on the Formation light screen in front.

"This Formation has the aura of a Void Refining level killing Formation; do not touch it, follow the earth veins..."

He was transmitting his voice to the five subordinates behind him.

Suddenly.

The rock slab under his feet, which he had been standing on for a full quarter of an hour and was originally as hard as iron,

had long since fractured internally due to a very ordinary underground micro-tremor last night.

Just at the moment the leader prepared to exert force to move forward, the rock slab completely shattered!

The leader slipped.

This slip caused his movement to deform.

The top-grade concealment jade talisman tied to his waist struck hard against the sharp edge of a protruding Geng Metal Ore next to him.

"Click."

The jade talisman shattered.

Not only did it shatter, but the Nascent Soul Stage Spiritual Qi released during the shattering slammed straight into the mountain-protecting killing Formation ahead, which even Su Yu dared not touch lightly.

That was a Void Refining level killing intent personally laid out by Old Ancestor Tianshu!

"Hum—"

Above Zizhu Peak, ten thousand streaks of extremely murderous Sword Qi instantly lit up.

The leader only felt his scalp tingle; he didn't even have time to think about turning around and running.

"Shhh shhh shhh shhh!"

Ten thousand swords pierced his heart.

The six members of Group C were instantly ground into a pool of red and white sludge by the Sword Qi.

Even their Primordial Spirits were completely erased by the Sword Intent.

From infiltration to total annihilation.

Less than half an hour.

These eighteen top-tier spies of The Great World hadn't even seen Su Yu's shadow, nor had they even touched the threshold of Zizhu Peak.

They were played to death by a series of accidents that could be described as child's play, yet were extremely fatal.

...

Central Region, Taixu Immortal Palace.

Inside the purple-gold palace, sandalwood incense curled.

Patriarch Tailing sat cross-legged on a Formation Plate carved from Divine Stone, his eyelids slightly lowered.

In front of him, eighteen life tablets were floating.

In the last half hour.

These eighteen life tablets representing the most elite Heavenly Stems of the Shadow Guards.

One after another.

"Bang bang bang..."

Shattered cleanly.

No struggle, no call for help.

Patriarch Tailing slowly opened his eyes; in those eyes that resembled the deep starry sky, no waves of rage arose.

He did not smash the jade table in front of him, nor did he issue a thunderous decree to hold anyone accountable.

He just quietly stared at the shattered jade tablet debris on the floor.

Subsequently, Patriarch Tailing raised his right hand and tapped his fingertip lightly in the Void Realm.

An extremely obscure secret technique was activated, forcibly extracting the last few strands of vague Qi transmitted back before the life tablets shattered.

The images were extremely fragmented.

There were companions shrouded in illusion mist with hideous faces.

There was a lump of disgusting bird droppings falling from the sky.

There was the absurd moment of slipping and shattering the jade talisman.

Only, there were no traces of any powerful enemy attacking.

No Spiritual Qi fluctuations from any Formation being triggered in advance.

Nor was there the figure of that legendary Old Ancestor Tianshu, or Su Yu.

It was all f***ing accidents!

It was all f***ing coincidences!

If it were an ordinary Sect Master, seeing such a secret report, they would surely be so angry they would vomit blood, cursing these subordinates as useless fools for dying so stupidly.

But Patriarch Tailing was a Mahayana Stage titan who had lived for one hundred and sixty thousand years.

He knew the background of these eighteen people too well.

They were top-tier dead soldiers raised by the Taixu Immortal Palace through mountains of corpses and seas of blood; whether in concealment, Heart-Nature, or reaction, they were the absolute best in the Hunyuan Heavenly Domain.

They could never commit such a shockingly low-level mistake!

Much less could they all collectively lose their minds on the same day, in the same place!

Since it was not human stupidity.

Then it could only be... the will of Heaven!

Patriarch Tailing's breathing became extremely heavy at this moment.

In those eyes as calm as an ancient well, a flame of uncontrollable heat and wariness finally ignited.

"Good... good means."

Patriarch Tailing stared at the shattered jade on the floor, his voice low, revealing a bone-chilling coldness that saw through the essence.

"No powerful expert attacked, no Formation ambushed."

"Just because they went to investigate him, they were directly erased by the Laws of this world, extremely bluntly and extremely arrogantly!"

Patriarch Tailing slowly stood up, the pressure of the Mahayana Stage rippling slightly within the purple-gold palace.

He was completely convinced.

"When nothing can be investigated, that is the ironclad proof!"

"This kind of organized, completely unreasonable 'accidental death' is itself the most unsolvable killing trap!"

"This is also the most distinct signature of that Child of Luck!"

The Heavenly Secret Jade Letter that True Monarch Kurong had risked his life to send did not lie.

Not only did it not lie, the Fortune on this Su Yu was even more terrifying and exaggerated than what was described in the jade letter!

To be able to make the Heavenly Dao Laws of The Great World so recklessly enter the field to clear the way.

Such a fate, such luck.

If one could really refine him into a "fortune heaven-surpassing treasure" and carry him to resist the ethereal Ascension Great Tribulation...

Patriarch Tailing's hands clenched tightly.

He could wait no longer!

Originally, he still wanted to use gentle probing methods to figure out the details.

But now it seemed that to deal with such a son of the Heavenly Dao, any probing was just using human lives to fill the gap.

Moreover, since he could deduce this logic, those old undying ones in the Far North Ice Plains and the East Sea Abyss must also be able to see it!

Whoever acts first can seize the initiative!

"Pass down my decree!"

Patriarch Tailing's voice boomed out of the palace, shaking the entire Taixu Immortal Palace.

"Activate the 'Void-Shattering World-Breaking Boat'! Awaken the three sleeping Body Integration Stage Grand Elders!"

"Seal all information from our Sect!"

"Target, Northern Region, Yuheng Mountain!"

The execution power of a Mahayana Stage Old Monster, at the moment the prey's value was confirmed, displayed the coldest and most decisive edge.

...

Yuheng Mountain, Zizhu Peak.

The afterglow of the sunset spilled onto the bamboo forest on the mountainside, gilding this treasure land brimming with Spiritual Qi with a faint layer of gold.

Su Yu stood on the edge of the cliff in the backyard.

The mountain breeze blew through his green robe, making it rustle.

He was not drinking tea, nor was he looking through Formation diagrams.

He stared intently at the distant horizon, his brows slightly furrowed, his right thumb unconsciously rubbing the knuckles of his index finger.

This was an instinctive tension.

Just half an hour ago.

His heart skipped a beat without warning.

It wasn't that his Cultivation Technique had gone wrong, nor was it a recurrence of an old injury.

But a feeling.

A feeling like thorns on his back, being stared at intently from billions of miles away by some extremely terrifying gaze!

This feeling, Su Yu was too familiar with it.

In his second life, on the eve of the Qingmu Su Clan where he resided being exterminated by a major power, he had this feeling.

In his fourth life, when that cross-boundary Void Refining Peak evil demon, the "Lord of the Abyss," turned its gaze toward the wasteland world, he also had this feeling!

This was the ultimate intuition he had honed through five lifetimes of struggling on the edge of life and death, using countless near-death experiences.

Fortune could help him turn bad luck into good.

But Fortune could not help him block the killing intent generated when a powerful enemy locked onto him!

"The storm is coming."

Su Yu murmured in a low voice.

The voice was very soft, but it carried an unquestionable certainty.

This killing intent was ten times, a hundred times heavier than when he was chased by five Body Integration Old Monsters in the Withered Spirit Wasteland back then!

Mahayana Stage.

Definitely Mahayana Stage!

And, it was highly likely there was more than one!

Su Yu's heart was as clear as a mirror.

The white light of that ancient teleportation Formation could block the eyes of Body Integration Stage, but it could definitely not block the long-age deductions of Mahayana Stage Old Monsters.

Since he had been targeted, it meant that the other party had completely confirmed his value.

There wasn't much time left.

Step-by-step planning was already too late.

He had to, before this catastrophic disaster arrived, completely solidify the last and toughest trump card in his hand!

Su Yu did not have any hesitation.

He turned around abruptly, his figure turning into a straight streak of cyan light, diving directly into the abyss ten thousand zhang beneath Zizhu Peak!

...

Deep underground, Spiritual slurry churned.

The purple-gold liquid Spiritual Qi here was so viscous it could barely flow.

The massive body of the Xuanming Turtle-Snake was still lying at the very bottom of the abyss.

Sensing Su Yu's extremely urgent aura approaching, the tortoise head slowly lifted, and a hint of doubt appeared in those weathered eyes.

"Your aura today is very chaotic."

The tortoise-snake's Divine Sense transmission sounded dully in the abyss.

"Something happened?"

Su Yu hovered above the spiritual slurry, not wasting a single word.

His right hand suddenly spread out, and cyan light exploded.

The wanxiang creation furnace suddenly appeared above his palm!

This mystic heaven spirit treasure, which had a trace of its sub-furnace Origin severed, now, under the cost-no-object mana drive of Su Yu, erupted with an unprecedentedly blinding cyan light.

The aura of creation was like a blinding sun, instantly illuminating the entire underground abyss.

"The Great Tribulation is coming."

Su Yu looked directly at the Xuanming Turtle-Snake, his voice cold to the extreme, without any of his usual casualness.

"A Mahayana Stage Old Monster has targeted me, and they may arrive at any time."

The snake head of the Xuanming Turtle-Snake suddenly stood up, and its scarlet vertical pupils instantly shrank into an extremely dangerous thin line.

Mahayana Stage!

This term, for an ancient Yao Beast like itself that had once suffered heavy damage from Mahayana Laws, was simply a nightmare engraved in its bone marrow!