This move was still effective, reviving the young man's soul. Yu Ci laughed and said, "Wait here, hide well. If you are discovered, risk your life and jump down. With your robe, it would be quite difficult to fall to your death."
Ye Tu felt slightly reassured, but then thought of Yu Ci again. "What about you, uncle?"
"Me? I'm going to see if I can directly behead that Thief Monk!"
Ye Tu was taken aback, and Yu Ci ignored him. With a swift contraction and spring of his body, he moved like an agile mountain monkey, rushing up the slope of the cliff wall. In a few leaps, he completely disappeared into the mist.
Yu Ci was not mad or impulsive. He simply saw a glimmer of hope for victory, a chance so apparent that it tempted him to take risks.
Because he had the Divine Map.
Opening the Divine Map again, it was clear that during this period of time, the progress of the other party was not satisfactory. The Sky Rift Valley was filled with mist, greatly limiting visibility. Even if a Nature-Connecting Cultivator used Soul Sensing to reduce reliance on eyesight, there was always a limit.
Especially since the cliff was as smooth as a mirror, many places didn't even have a place to leverage. Add in the highly aggressive Birds of Prey, it was truly a perilous journey every step of the way. Unless one possessed a flying artifact or something like Yu Ci's Divine Bronze Mirror, entering deeper would only involve trial and error, exploration after exploration. Taking detours was only to be expected.
Yu Ci was lying on the cliff wall. His current location was about thirty feet to the right of the path that the three people must pass through on the slope. This was the result shown by the Divine Map, without any mistake.
Yu Ci's current position was an extremely steep cliff wall with no place to stand. But he quickly dug out a recess with the Jade Chisel in his hand. Thanks to Treasure Child and Young Master Ye, the Jade Chisel cut through stone like mud. After infusing True Qi, it became even more remarkable. The rubble fell down with a clatter, covered by the usual noise of Sky Rift Valley.
Only a Ghost-faced Monkey living nearby heard the noise and curiously poked its head out. Yu Ci moved as fast as lightning, grabbing its throat. Without waiting for it to struggle, he knocked it out with the Jade Chisel.
Holding the unconscious Ghost-faced Monkey in his hand, he thought for a moment and began drawing talismans. This took some time, but the progress of the three people above was even slower. Yu Ci leisurely finished drawing three talismans and sealed them in the Divine Bronze Mirror.
Then he concealed the Divine Map to avoid attracting the attention of the three people above. At this time, even without looking at the Divine Map, he could smell a scent mixed with the wind and fog of Sky Rift Valley that didn't belong there - it was Viper Monk and his companions' combined smell.
He chose to be downwind to effectively mask his scent. Because Yu Ci had a keen sense of smell beyond the ordinary, he was particularly cautious about similar abilities. Every time he lurked, he carefully concealed his aura, and thus his stealth skills improved day by day, which could be considered quite remarkable.
The distance between the two sides gradually closed, and the howling wind carried the conversation of the three people on the side. Viper Monk and his companions were careful in Sky Rift Valley, but they never expected that someone would have detected their movements in the depths of three thousand feet and set up an ambush in advance. As a result, they all shouted out in the midst of the wind and owl cries, afraid that others might not hear clearly.
"Elder Xu, how long is your 'x hair' tracking spell still in effect? Don't let it burn out before we reach our destination," said a man with coarse language and a carefree laugh. His voice was as casual as his demeanor, and Yu Ci immediately thought of the baby-faced Taoist.
The one who responded must be the balding middle-aged leader, his voice slightly hoarse, "It's still in effect for a while. This 'Finger Smoke Road' is a secret passed down in my Thousands Spirits Sect. With the hair of Ghost Beasts, tracking thousands of miles is just common practice. Now the question is whether your information is accurate or not..."
"The information jointly investigated by the Abbot and Mr. Ming Yue is certainly reliable," Viper Monk's familiar voice rang out. When he was calm, his slow and deliberate tone was like a cold, hissing snake. "The key lies not with us, but with you, Elder Xu. If you let the Ghost Beasts bewitch you, don't blame me and Lu Quan for not giving face."
"Do you think I would be like that fool, stealing a Shooting Star Plate and thinking I'm invincible? That plate couldn't even deal with Jin Huan, let alone the Ghost Beasts below!" Elder Xu sneered coldly, "Or perhaps, am I wrong to defy the sect leader's orders and sneak down into the valley with you?"
Viper Monk snorted coldly, "Don't blame us for being nosy. The fact is that the Ghost Beasts' Divine Soul is too tempting for your Thousands Spirits Sect. Hu Ke is a prime example."
The Taoist Lu Quan coughed and interrupted Viper Monk's direct provocation with a hearty laugh, "Inviting you, Elder Xu, means Zheng De and I trust you... What we need now is patience. Finding the Ghost Beasts is just the beginning. We need to find a way to distract them, locate the treasure site, then we can think about what comes next!"
"The next thing may not be so straightforward. The young man from White Sun Mansion you mentioned has achieved Separate Consciousness & Thoughts at such a young age and should be quite famous in Sheer Cliff City. Yet I've never heard of him before. Could it be Jin Huan..."
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Lu Quan dismissed it with a wave of his hand, "Your Thousands Spirits Sect is so afraid of White Sun Mansion that you can link everything to them! This time Hu Ke stealing the Shooting Star Plate was completely unexpected. If it weren't for Zheng De and I being at the right place at the right time, and running into you, we wouldn't have known. Jin Huan may be powerful, but he's just a Golden Elixir Upper Level practitioner, not some omniscient immortal!"
The voices of the three men became clearer, revealing quite a bit of information. Yu Ci realized that the frequently mentioned Jin Huan was the Mansion Master of White Sun Mansion, a prominent figure in Sheer Cliff City. At the same time, he sneered inwardly.
He wasn't sure of the deeper reasons, but he was certain that the Taoist was lying.
What a coincidence it was when Thief Monk Zheng De launched a surprise attack. He didn't even get a clear look at what the Shooting Star Plate looked like before the Monk blurted it out. Who would believe that he didn't know in advance?
The Monk and the Taoist were suspicious, and Elder Xu wasn't a good person either. For an unseen "treasure", he colluded with outsiders and disobeyed orders to go down to the valley. Such a fool blinded by greed deserved to die!
At this moment, Elder Xu muttered, "Damn it, there's no way forward..."
Yu Ci squinted his eyes. When Elder Xu said this, the three of them were right above him. But if they wanted to go further down, the only place to land nearby was on the right path of Yu Ci. The temporary recess dug by Yu Ci was deep enough to hide him, and the strong wind blew from the right, so his scent wouldn't be exposed.
At the same time, he tried his best to converge his Divine Soul fluctuation. It was his first time doing this, but judging from the actual effect, it wasn't bad. At least, the three people above didn't notice.
It took them some time to find the correct path, then they carefully slid down. The so-called path was actually just one or two protrusions on the cliff wall, which could buffer and slow down their slide so they wouldn't slide all the way down. Of course, this was also a safe area where no ferocious beasts lurked.
Elder Xu was the first to slide past, with the wind, he swept past three feet away from Yu Ci. Yu Ci squinted his eyes and vaguely saw a wisp of smoke rising from Elder Xu's fingertips. The other party didn't even glance at him. Once he confirmed that there was still a way to continue downwards, Viper Monk and Lu Quan also slid down one after another.
At this moment, a dark shadow suddenly flew up from the cliff wall on the side and pounced towards Lu Quan.
The incident happened suddenly, but this baby-faced Taoist reacted swiftly. Without any gesture, countless silk-like Sword Energy shot out with a whooshing sound. The dark shadow seemed to be hit by a heavy hammer and fell backward, letting out a piercing scream. Then hundreds of blood lines sprayed out from its body, and its scream came to an abrupt end.
The broken corpse fell down, and all three people above could see clearly that it was a Ghost-faced Monkey.
Viper Monk turned his head in mid-slide and praised loudly, "What a great Pick-eyebrow Sword! Brother Lu's one intention with a thousand threads has fully captured Mr. Ming Yue's essence... Be careful!"
Before he could finish saying the word "transmit", Monk suddenly changed color and warned instead.
A pure green sword blade silently emerged from the fog. The timing was just right. It was exactly when Lu Quan's stormy sword momentum subsided, an inevitable time for him to catch his breath, and also when his body slid to this area, in the worst situation where there was nothing to leverage except the smooth cliff wall behind him.
All the hairs on Lu Quan's body stood up. In the process of high-speed sliding, the green light of the sword blade in the fog twisted slightly, but the coldness was pressing directly on his fragile neck. The most frustrating thing was that there was no force from above, it was all from his sliding body!
He let out a strange cry, and finally, at this critical moment of life and death, he forcefully mustered a bit of strength. His back slammed into the cliff wall, and he threw himself forward to the side. Although this direction might lead him to fall into the abyss, it was also the best judgment to avoid the sword light.
His exertion was timely, but a chill still swept across his neck, followed by a damp sensation, clearly indicating an injury. Lu Quan paid no mind to these details. His body was already airborne, momentarily safe from the threat of the sword. Meanwhile, Viper Monk found a foothold below and was bouncing back upward.
At that moment, a humming noise erupted from behind. Viper Monk and Xu Elder shouted in unison, but they were a step too late.
Lu Quan let out a piercing scream, summoning his remaining Primordial Qi through the Secret Method. He forced the rapid-fire "Pick-eyebrow Sword" technique. The intangible yet substantial Sword Energy was about to envelop his entire body, but it was still a beat too slow. A jolt hit his back, and a biting cold invaded him. He groaned painfully as the emerging Sword Energy was abruptly pushed back into him. His meridians were thrown into disarray, and he couldn't hold back a mouthful of blood any longer.
"Follow up!" Xu Elder reacted quickly, releasing a pitch-black rope from his sleeve towards the direction of Lu Quan's fall, intending to pull him back. However, amidst the mist, Lu Quan turned his head to stare at the rope but remained motionless. Upon closer inspection, his eyes were filled with the aura of death!
"Seven Star Command, turn!"
The incantation pierced through the clouds and fog, reverberating in the ears of the trio. Xu Elder felt a jolt in his heart as he saw blood spurt from Lu Quan's seven orifices. The uncontrollable Sword Energy burst out from his body, riddling him with wounds akin to the Ghost-faced Monkey they had encountered earlier.
"It's not a sword, it's a talisman!" Viper Monk rushed upwards, seeing far clearer than Xu Elder. Upon witnessing the unusual detachment of the green blade, he cursed furiously, realizing that Lu Quan was utterly doomed.
This sudden transformation of sword into talisman, coupled with the unexpected changes that had occurred earlier, would have been inescapable for any one of them. Their misconception was the root cause: how could anyone possibly be in the deep area of more than three thousand feet below the Sky Rift Valley, let alone accurately track their movements and ambush them?
More importantly, who was this person?
The next moment, a dazzling flame provided the answer!
Yu Ci leaped out of the mist. After releasing the Seven Star Sword Talisman, he switched to the Nine Yang Talisman Sword. The unique flame ring appeared. Viper Monk's gaze passed over the glow of the Sword Technique to land on a face that twisted in recognition: "A junior from White Sun Mansion!"
In a shriek, his robe sleeves rolled up, unleashing an axe-like energy strike. Several points of green light flickered and disappeared; all his usual tactics had been employed.
Yu Ci's face was as impassive as iron, not moving an inch. He stepped on the nearly vertical cliff wall and faced the incoming axe energy and gloomy green light without slowing down. He rushed down, and with the momentum, his Nine Yang Talisman Sword pierced through the air and lunged forward.
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Fish Bone has the courage to face difficulties head-on, and I also gather my courage to say: clicks, favorites, I want them all!
I have also posted the following more chapters [All free] on: https://www.readgates.com/article/74a39e