Chapter 811: Tracking

Linggui Island was planted full of peach trees, the blossoms blooming all year round. The island’s protective array was tied to the peach forest, a blend of illusion and killing force, formidable in its power.

Whenever Senior Qingzhu gave lectures, visitors were permitted to step onto the island, but only as far as the outer beaches.

Senior Qingzhu resided deep within the peach forest, and no one had ever seen his true face.

These details were what Qin Sang had learned from Sect Leader Wu.

On the way to Bamen Island, Qin Sang draped his cloak over his head, changing his appearance. The enemy who had defeated Senior Qingzhu was someone who could crush him like an ant.

Yet Qin Sang was unwilling to simply leave. For reasons he could not explain, he felt things were not so simple.

Senior Qingzhu had found the teleportation array but, at the last moment, gave up on returning to the Small Cold Domain. This time, not long after Seven-Kill Hall opened, Senior Qingzhu, who had hidden for two centuries, was found by his enemy and attacked.

There was a thread linking these events in the unseen. The killer might not even have been an old enemy!

It could have been that Senior Qingzhu, through one careless act, had let someone uncover a secret.

At the same time, Qin Sang thought back to when he fell from the Sky Tower, only to awaken on the Witch God Continent.

Was it truly the barrier within Seven-Kill Hall that had shifted me away?

He felt as though there was a vast whirlpool around him, one that had yet to draw him in, so he could not yet feel the crashing waves, just like the present sea, shrouded in mist.

He had a premonition that if he followed in Senior Qingzhu’s footsteps to seek out the teleportation array, one day he too would be caught in that whirlpool. A chill ran down his spine. At the very least, he needed to learn the identity of Senior Qingzhu’s foe, so he would know whom to guard against.

After flying for some time, Qin Sang saw the outline of Bamen Island through the fog.

He did not rush to land, instead veering off toward Linggui Island.

Circling past Bamen Island, he flew some distance until a spread of reefs and islets appeared ahead, all deserted. Beyond them lay Linggui Island.

Qin Sang swept back and forth above the sea a few times before he realised the sea-facing part of Linggui Island had been completely shattered, leaving only the foundations submerged beneath the waves.

***

Though small, Bamen Island had everything one might need, and it was not small by any means.

According to Sect Leader Wu, apart from the Hanhai Sect, there were dozens of powers here, tangled and entrenched.

The island’s city housed both cultivators and mortals, with few restrictions.

Qin Sang landed on the island, travelling for a time over mountains and ridges before spotting a city built within a basin. Since Sect Leader Wu had not witnessed the battle of Senior Qingzhu, Qin Sang would have to seek someone in the city who had.

Disguising himself as a Foundation Building cultivator, he slipped easily into the city.

The storm had just passed, and sea fog cloaked the island, leaving the streets sparsely populated. Yet after passing through several streets and reaching the cultivators’ market, the air grew lively.

This was the largest market in the surrounding seas.

Qin Sang wandered through it, occasionally stepping into shops to buy small odds and ends, all the while casually bringing up the Linggui Island Master. He eventually found a shopkeeper who had lived through the battle.

The old man, also at the Foundation Building Realm, was aged and had no hope of breaking through.

"That year, I happened to be returning from visiting a friend. I was close to Bamen Island when I heard a thunderous crash. Turning my head, I saw the sky above Linggui Island filled with rosy light, waves towering to the heavens. The shockwaves even reached here, churning the tides..."

The old shopkeeper’s eyes grew distant with memory. "I thought some wondrous treasure had emerged and flew toward the glow. To my surprise, it was Linggui Island under attack. Both sides were terrifying experts. Even from a distance, we nearly lost our lives. I glimpsed a few figures in the glow, surrounding Linggui Island.

"Yet despite being besieged, the battle lasted half a day, proof we had long underestimated the island master’s strength. He was at least a Spiritual Infant grandmaster. Afterward, all the major powers, including Hanhai Sect, were thankful they had never provoked him."

The old man sighed in regret. "To think, a Spiritual Infant grandmaster lived in seclusion beside us for two centuries, unknown to all. Such fate was at arm’s length, yet no one seized it. Had I known, I would have knelt on that beach every day to show my sincerity."

Qin Sang sat across from him, piecing together the scene from his words.

At the end of the battle, someone laughed wildly within the glow.

When the array broke and Linggui Island was destroyed, no one was seen to escape.

The attackers, after destroying the island, departed at leisure. By the time onlookers drew near, the island lay beneath the sea.

"Did Senior Qingzhu really die?"

Hearing confirmation from the old man, Qin Sang felt a strange unreality. The senior he most admired was not Dongyang Bo or any other Spiritual Infant grandmaster, but Wandering Man and Qingzhu.

Though they had never met, Qin Sang had often heard tales of him.

They both cultivated the

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

. Qin Sang knew well the agony Qingzhu had endured without the Jade Buddha’s protection.

Yet he had split his primordial spirit, endured, and astonished all, becoming the fastest to reach the Core Formation Realm in Shaohua Mountain’s history.

Even with an incomplete art, he had not given up, creating two killing symbols of his own and reaching the peak of the late stage.

For the sake of a woman, he had split mountains and slain enemies in their lairs, then been forced into exile, a true swordsman who lived and died by passion and vengeance.

Who would not revere such a matchless sword cultivator?

Yet he had died quietly, beaten down by many.

Leaving the shop, Qin Sang gazed toward where Linggui Island once lay, lamenting the fickleness of fate.

He had found no clue to the killers’ identities. Those men had come only for Senior Qingzhu, destroyed the island, and left without troubling others.

Qin Sang thought to approach some local powers. He might yet uncover something.

As he walked the street, turning over where to go, his gaze flickered. Without a change of expression, he slipped into an alley, then headed straight out of the city.

Once he was gone, two figures emerged, trailing after him.

One was tall, the other short, both in Daoist robes patterned with wave-like designs. They followed him beyond the gates, saw him accelerate into the mountains, and exchanged glances. "After him."

"Junior Brother, have you confirmed who he is?" the tall one asked using voice transmission.

The shorter one shook his head. "No. I asked some shopkeepers. He claims to be an outsider wanting to be a disciple under the Linggui Island Master. That is ancient history. From his aura, I would guess he just broke through to the Foundation Building Realm, not one of those our master told us to watch. No need to report. Let us just kill him and make a fortune."

"Hmm? He is faster than I thought."

They chased him into the dense forest, only to realise in surprise that he had vanished.

Then a calm voice sounded behind them. "Were the two of you looking for me?"