Qi-Concealing Spirit-Isolating Array

"Pfft!"

The female cultivator spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, her aura instantly becoming feeble.

"Senior, every word I have said is true, absolutely no deception..."

Before she could finish, her body could no longer support itself. She collapsed directly onto the ground, coughing up several more mouthfuls of blood mixed with unidentifiable fragments of internal organs.

Seeing that her life was hanging by a thread, Xiu Jun suddenly appeared before her, blocking the terrifying pressure emanating from Wu Ren.

"Wu Ren, enough! This is a disciple of my Profound Yin Cult. You have no right to claim her life as you please."

Wu Ren snapped furiously, "My grandson's storage bag is in her possession! His death is almost certainly tied to her. Hand her over to me. I must uncover how my grandson died!"

Xiu Jun shook his head. "She is a disciple of my Profound Yin Cult. I cannot hand her over to you."

On the ground, a trace of relief flickered across the female cultivator's pained and terrified face. In this critical moment, the sect was still willing to shield her from being bullied by an external powerhouse.

However, her relief lasted only a brief moment.

Wu Ren suddenly flicked his wrist, sending an object flying straight toward Xiu Jun.

Xiu Jun caught it, a barely perceptible gleam of joy passing through his eyes before he calmly slipped it into his storage ring.

Seeing Xiu Jun accept the item, Wu Ren knew the man had agreed to hand the female cultivator over to his disposal. He shot out a strand of Magic Power to bind her, then carried her up into the high sky, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

The remaining twelve disciples of the Profound Yin Cult watched the female cultivator being carried away, their eyes filled with the bitter grief of seeing their own inevitable fate reflected in hers.

They had risked life and limb in the secret realm. Though they all had their own motives, the vast majority of their gains had been handed over to the sect.

They never expected that after surviving the bloody battles of the secret realm, she would be sold like a mere commodity by their own Golden Core ancestor to an external powerhouse.

Perhaps this was one of the costs of joining the demonic path. There was never anyone trustworthy by your side. In the eyes of the sect ancestors, low-level cultivators were nothing more than merchandise waiting to be sold at the right price.

As long as the compensation was sufficient, they could be abandoned by the sect like worthless cargo at any moment.

Song Wen stared at the spot where Wu Ren and the female cultivator had vanished. Thinking of the torment she was bound to suffer next, a ripple of emotion stirred in his heart for a split second, only to instantly return to cold tranquility.

You actually dared to pick up a storage bag carelessly tossed onto the ground. If you weren't framed, who would be?

After Wu Ren's departure, the expressions of Xiu Jun, Xiang Qi, and Fairy Illusionary Feather turned deeply suspicious.

Not a single disciple from the three great sects had obtained any Heavenly Spirit Fruits or Jade Marrow Mushrooms?

This was far too unusual.

Driven by this suspicion, they began questioning their respective disciples, paying special attention to Song Wen and the other seven who were the last to emerge.

According to the cultivators who had exited earlier, a pseudo-Tier 2 Bronze Corpse had been guarding the exit. Logically speaking, given the weak strength of Song Wen and the others, they shouldn't have been able to break through its blockade.

Furthermore, there should have been over forty cultivators hiding near the exit at the end. Why did only eight of them make it out? Where did the others go?

Yet, these eight were entirely clueless. They only claimed that the Bronze Corpse had been mysteriously lured away, allowing them to seize the opportunity to escape. As for why the others hadn't fled with them, they knew absolutely nothing.

Realizing they could wring no information out of them, Xiu Jun, Xiang Qi, and Fairy Illusionary Feather personally inspected their respective disciples' storage bags. After confirming that no one had smuggled anything out, they hastily brought this expedition to the Withered Blood Secret Realm to a close.

In truth, within the Withered Blood Secret Realm, there were only three locations where Heavenly Spirit Fruits grew. They had been claimed by Ghost Patrol, Chou Li, and Wu Sui, respectively-and all of those fruits had ultimately fallen into Song Wen's hands.

As for the Jade Marrow Mushrooms in Falling Eagle Chasm, there had been three plants in total. One had been consumed by the Bronze Corpse, and the remaining two had been destroyed by Ghost Patrol.

Naturally, the three great sects had come away completely empty-handed.

By dusk that evening, Song Wen boarded a flying vessel and returned to the sect's main hall atop the peak of Corpse Demon Mountain.

Just like the day of their departure, a large crowd of disciples had gathered on the plaza outside the main hall.

Among them, some were there to welcome their close kin, but even more had come to see whether their enemies had died inside the secret realm.

Stepping off the flying vessel, Song Wen keenly spotted a familiar figure among the crowd.

Du Qiu!

The longer Song Wen stayed in the Corpse Demon Sect, the tighter Du Qiu's surveillance became. Recently, Song Wen had caught Du Qiu tailing him multiple times.

Ignoring Du Qiu entirely, Song Wen headed straight down the mountain. He did not return to his cave dwelling but made a direct line for the market town.

Du Qiu followed closely behind, trailing Song Wen into the market.

Song Wen navigated through the market streets, twisting and turning through several alleys before ducking into an inn.

Following from the rear, Du Qiu furrowed his brows, analyzing the situation inwardly.

"Ji Yin just returned alive from the secret realm. Instead of returning to his cave dwelling to recuperate, why did he come to the black market?"

Unable to make sense of it, Du Qiu stood outside the inn for a moment. Estimating that Song Wen had already entered the underground black market, he stepped into the inn, crossed the main lobby, and approached the thatched hut that served as the black market's entrance.

After the black market guards inspected his token, he entered the underground area, only to find that he had lost track of Song Wen.

Du Qiu didn't think too deeply on it, assuming Song Wen had utilized some kind of aura-concealing technique to hide his presence. Given the heavy foot traffic in the black market, it was temporarily difficult to pick him out.

Du Qiu positioned himself near the exit and waited for over two quarter-hours before Song Wen's figure finally reappeared.

Song Wen was wrapped in a black cloak that completely shrouded his form as he walked toward the exit. Had Du Qiu not been thoroughly familiar with his aura, he might genuinely have missed him.

Leaving the inn, Song Wen cast a sideways glance at Du Qiu, who was not far behind, and a faint smile played at the corners of his lips.

Just now, he had intentionally leaked a hint of his aura to draw Du Qiu's attention.

He had come to the black market to purchase a formation set. It was a Tier 2 formation, priced at a staggering sixteen thousand Spirit Stones.

The formation was called the Qi-Concealing Spirit-Isolating Array. Its utility was highly specific-it was designed solely to isolate an aura and prevent the leakage of spiritual energy.

It could neither be used against enemies nor aid in cultivation. To the vast majority of cultivators, it was a completely useless deployment.

However, according to the formation master who created it, its isolating capabilities were exceptionally potent. With the aid of this array to conceal one's presence, one could even evade the detection of a Golden Core cultivator.

Before entering the Withered Blood Secret Realm, Song Wen had used the black market as an intermediary to contact the formation master and agree on a price. However, his pockets had been empty at the time, and he couldn't produce enough Spirit Stones, so he had scheduled the transaction for after the secret realm expedition.

He had harvested over fifty storage bags inside the secret realm, which contained over sixty-five thousand Spirit Stones alone. Purchasing a formation set was naturally no longer an issue.

By the time Song Wen left the market town, the sky had turned pitch-black.

He did not head back to his cave dwelling but instead left the sect grounds, traveling toward the northwest.

Watching Song Wen's back gradually fade into the darkness, Du Qiu's eyes flickered with hesitation, unsure whether he should continue the pursuit.

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