At last, it was over! Yu Ci exhaled slowly, his first thought to flee far away. Yet, a nagging doubt twined persistently around his heart: Had the reactions of those two been excessively intense?

Of course, that was putting it mildly. In truth, Yu Ci yearned to know what on earth could have provoked such an unprecedented clash between two True Immortals?

The one who hid the object was clearly the figure in the black robe, for only they would stash something in a river of magma. Moreover, this individual had been quite inventive, not placing it in any fixed location, but rather letting it drift along with the molten flow.

To others, this might seem like a fool's errand, but for someone who practiced the Core-Melting Fiery Prison Technique, the black-robed figure could access anything within the magma as easily as if it was in their own hands. What's more, they had set up the Molten Core Great Extinction Magnetic Light enchantment in the vicinity, likely triggered by fully lifting the object out of the magma river—exactly what Xia Shuanghe's puppet had attempted.

The Magma Lizard, on the other hand, seemed an unintended variable, having found a dwelling place and inadvertently revealing the location of the submerged item.

But what, exactly, was that thing?

Yu Ci hesitated for a moment, then steeled his mind, reaching out with his divine consciousness starlight. He had little hope left; given Xia Shuanghe's cultivation level and having been struck by the Molten Core Great Extinction Magnetic Light, not to mention being at the epicenter of the battlefield between two eternal True Immortals, it would be fortunate to retain even remnants.

Unexpectedly, there was a response. Yet it was vastly different from before, with a vague sensation in his five senses and telepathy. This... was not Xia Shuanghe!

The divine consciousness starlight that Yu Ci had placed on Xia Shuanghe had successfully parasitized deep within the Divine Soul, while this was clearly only a superficial attachment, a temporary dependency. Most crucially, common sense dictated that even if Xia Shuanghe was alive, he would be grievously wounded, on the brink of death, especially with the lethal damage from the Molten Core Great Extinction Magnetic Light not something that could be dispelled so quickly. However, the target Yu Ci sensed was clearly unharmed. On the contrary, Yu Ci could even feel the other's strong heartbeat and the formidable life force it conveyed.

As for the sudden shift in target, Yu Ci surmised that perhaps Xia Shuanghe had indeed perished, and the divine consciousness starlight that had been parasitizing his divine soul had broken free, spontaneously infesting another living being nearby.

But in the vicinity of the True Immortal Battlefield, ordinary living beings should have long been extinct. Even without this carnage, what living being could there be in the earth's strata, deep down for nearly a hundred miles?

That Magma Lizard? No, that's not right!

"Shall we go take a look?" This was Shadow Ghost's suggestion.

"Don't joke!" Yu Ci hastily refused, but then he realized that Shadow Ghost's words were a reminder mixed with sarcasm. In such a situation, with his current level of cultivation, he should be as far away as possible. Getting involved would only lead to the same calamity that had served as a dire warning before.

Without further ado, Yu Ci severed his connection with the divine consciousness starlight and turned to leave. In truth, whatever could cause such a reaction from two True Being Cultivators was difficult to identify, but he could still roughly guess the direction. The more he pondered, the more he knew he must keep his distance. He had not forgotten about the possibly real or fake Mysterious Nimbus Guide, still stored within the void created by the Cloud Tower Tree—the Underworld Secret Mansion was indeed a profound source of misfortune!

※※※

Yu Ci ran hundreds of miles in one breath, with Shadow Ghost always ready to remind him to choose the fastest route away from danger. By the time he stopped, he had no idea where he was, but he didn't care. He found a place to take shelter, made some brief arrangements, and then collapsed into sleep.

Due to the extraction of Innate Vital Energy, his injuries had healed by eighty to ninety percent. However, the damage that touched upon the very source of his vitality was still a hindrance. In the absence of a way to replenish his lifespan, there was no better method of recovery than natural sleep.

However, Yu Ci did not sleep peacefully, as he was continuously dreaming.

He seemed to be suspended in a vast space, where emptiness prevailed in all directions. Yet, inexplicably, images flickered in and out of existence, their movements too swift to track. As Yu Ci hovered between sleep and wakefulness, he could not hold onto the memories. Eventually, those images filled the void, then suddenly extinguished, turning into myriad streams of light. Instead of scattering, they converged towards the center of the void where Yu Ci was.

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Yu Ci was startled, and at that moment, he realized that he had lost his physical form. Floating in the void, "he" was actually a lotus seed tinged with a reddish hue within its yellow. Bathed in those streams of light, the seed slowly began to emit a faint golden glow, a sight of wondrous magic.

Was this a dream?

In his confused state, he sensed a voice echoing in his ears. Listening closely, he heard what seemed like a passage from a scripture:

"When the eon of calamity arrives, the Five Aggregates of Clinging, the Three Poisons in Full Blaze, the cycle of life and death continues with no end in sight; after the eon has passed, the Three Realms are interconnected, unobstructed by barriers, the Six Realms Unified, with no distinction between high and low, all muddled in the mud, struggling in vain. Only the children of the Buddha, the faithful, and those who generously give, will attain Nirvana and forever escape the perils of the threefold realm of existence..."

As he was engrossed in listening, a loud scolding burst forth: "What devilish nonsense is this!"

It was the mental attack of Shadow Ghost that snapped Yu Ci back to alertness. He was jolted out of the dream, sitting up abruptly. All the strange phenomena dissipated, yet he felt something unusual in his sleeve. Upon inspection, a green light filled the air—it was the Divine Bronze Mirror responding.

"What's going on?" Shadow Ghost had noticed that Yu Ci's mind was somewhat disturbed and had jabbed him with a thought, but he was unclear about the specifics.

Yu Ci said nothing, closing his eyes again to sense carefully. After a long while, he exhaled deeply: "It's been planted."

"What do you mean?"

"The divine consciousness starlight has just been implanted deep within someone's Divine Soul... That person is also in a deep slumber, with the Blockage of the Six Senses, their identity still unknown."

"Wait, hold on, I can't make sense of what you're saying."

Shadow Ghost was genuinely perplexed, but Yu Ci was hardly faring any better. He could only recall and analyze bit by bit: "Xia Shuanghe must be dead; the Starlight that parasitized his Divine Soul has spontaneously transferred to the current target. Yet this target is now in a state of closed-off senses, completely oblivious. Even if the Starlight is deeply implanted, it cannot obtain any information. Instead, it's from his Hidden Consciousness that some fragmented memories have been gleaned, which are now forgotten, and then there's that scripture..."

"Scripture?" Shadow Ghost was aware of that; it was the very scripture that had reverberated in Yu Ci's Divine Soul, chanting spontaneously in a most eerie manner. Shadow Ghost, sensing something amiss, had swiftly roused Yu Ci. The memory of it was still vivid, "It seemed like a Buddhist scripture, but it was laced with all sorts of inexplicable elements, not of any benign origin."

Yu Ci hummed in acknowledgment, his brow furrowing slightly, "It's starting to move, at a rapid pace!"

Shadow Ghost shared the sensitivity to the Divine consciousness starlight and immediately said, "It's the speed of a True Immortal; it must have been taken away. Not by the man in the black robe, but by..."

In that moment, both recalled the fleeting glimpse of the oval object. Other than that, there seemed no other plausible explanation. Could it be that within that object, there lay a living being? Thinking back to those blurred memories, the previous excited reaction of Flying Fluorescence, and its original mission, Yu Ci pressed his lips together, a name stuck in his throat, ultimately unuttered.

But even if he didn't say it, could Shadow Ghost not guess? The latter, with a sinister tone, remarked, "This doesn't look good. If you didn't tie up loose ends back then, and that guy... what's his name? Right, Ethereal Rhinoceros Hermit wakes up and spills the beans to the man in the black robe or someone else, you're in for it!"

Ethereal Rhinoceros Hermit!

Pondering this name that should have been erased, Yu Ci remained silent for a long time. He couldn't believe it to be true, yet rationally, when all clues pointed to the same target, no matter how absurd, that undoubtedly became the answer.

As Shadow Ghost jabbed with that remark, his own worries were no less intense than the other's. His thoughts spun in circles before he finally suggested, "How about a complete makeover? Your identity as 'Soul Chaser' is a fabrication to begin with, and the real Yu Ci is nothing extraordinary. There are countless methods of Bone Morphing in this world. Strike first before anyone can pin you down..."

Yu Ci nodded slowly, "Strike first, indeed!"

"Hmm... Huh?" Shadow Ghost suddenly sensed something amiss. "What are you planning to do?"

Yu Ci flashed a toothy grin and stood up. "Since he hasn't woken up yet, there's no need for him to ever wake up again!"

Now, Yu Ci no longer needed to ponder why the Ethereal Rhinoceros Hermit hadn't died or why he was sealed within such a peculiar object. What he had to do was the most straightforward yet the most challenging task of all.

"Hey, have you lost your mind?" Shadow Ghost was horrified, feeling that Yu Ci's intellect had suddenly regressed to that of a three-year-old child. "No matter how you look at it, you absolutely have no chance to silence him by murder! At your level, sneak attacks, ambushes, they're useless against them!"

"With the Ethereal Rhinoceros Hermit around, any disguise would be equally futile."

Yu Ci thought deeper than Shadow Ghost. "You've seen the guy's mastery over intoxicating fragrances. Without a doubt, his cultivation focuses on that aspect. I'd bet with you that no matter how we change our appearance, if we can't alter our aura, we can't escape that man's pursuit."

This wasn't a baseless claim. Yu Ci had seen a myriad of tracking techniques in the tome that recorded the world's spices and their application methods. Their sophistication had amazed him at the time, but now, the thought made him anxious, like walking on a tightrope.

Having such an adversary was truly an unfortunate twist in one's life. Therefore, he had to erase him completely before the man "awoke"... At the very least, he had to accomplish this before the man could find him.

Fortunately, there was still one Divine consciousness starlight.

*******

I have also posted the following more chapters [All free]: https://www.readgates.com/article/74a39e