Chương 227: Chapter 116: Shen Zui's Scheme, Traces Exposed

Jindong Lake. Reyn sat cross-legged atop a large, weather-worn bluestone by the edge of the tranquil water. His breath was slow, deep, and rhythmic, his eyes kept half-closed in deep composure, and his countenance remained utterly calm, like a mirror reflecting an unruffled pond. Whenever the nearby cultivators of the Mu Family happened to cast their glances in his direction, their expressions immediately turned to ones of profound reverence and lingering apprehension.

They consciously made wide detours around the perimeter of the stone, not daring to disturb him in the slightest. As time drifted by, the presence of passersby in this secluded corner thinned out until the entire clearing fell into an absolute, serene silence. Yet, right at this quiet moment, a soft splash broke the stillness of the water's surface—hua-la—followed by the faint, momentary flicker of an escape light. In the next breath, a shadowy human figure materialized directly onto the bluestone.

Reyn slowly opened his eyes, revealing a pair of dark, unperturbed pupils. Not a single trace of surprise showed on his countenance as he said in an even, indifferent tone, "You are late, Fellow Daoist." Upon hearing those words, Shen Zui offered a slight, leisurely smile and responded softly, "Before taking my leave, I had to quietly dispose of a Mu Family cultivator who stumbled into my path. It delayed me for a short moment, but it shouldn't pose any significant issue."

"The Space-Shattering Spirit Feather—have you completely finished refining it, Fellow Daoist?" A fleeting light glimmered in Reyn's eyes, and rather than lingering on the dead guard, he cut straight to the core of the matter. Shen Zui let out a faint, quiet laugh. With a gentle pat on his spatial storage bag, he pulled out a small, exquisite silver bell-shaped artifact that shimmered with delicate metallic lusters.

"You need only activate this artifact, Fellow Daoist, and it will thoroughly mask and suppress the energetic fluctuations of that tracking mark on your body. So long as you flee beyond three thousand li from this location, that old ghost Mu will no longer be able to sense your whereabouts." Reyn looked closely at the silver Space-Shattering Spirit Feather resting in the man's palm.

He fell into a brief moment of silent deliberation before speaking up: "If it is permissible, I would prefer to exchange for the secondary Space-Shattering Spirit Feather you still retain in your possession. I wonder if you would be willing to make such a trade, Fellow Daoist?" Hearing this request, Shen Zui merely smiled, his expression devoid of any shock or offense.

"You are indeed as meticulous and cautious as I anticipated, Fellow Daoist. If you wish to make the swap, there is naturally no problem whatsoever." As he spoke, he reached into his inner robes and produced another Space-Shattering Spirit Feather, willingly exchanging it with Reyn without a single murmur of complaint. Seeing how smoothly the exchange went, Reyn felt a weight lift slightly from his chest.

He cupped his hands together in a formal gesture of gratitude and said, "Today's matter concerns life and death, so I ask that you do not take my overcautious nature to heart. Should destiny allow us to meet again in the future, I will surely offer you a bountiful reward in return for your assistance."

"Heh-heh, seeing as the pact between the two of us has been fulfilled, how each of us escapes from here on out will depend entirely on our own individual capabilities." Shen Zui returned the cupped-hands salutation, his eyes narrowing slightly as he added, "Take care, Fellow Daoist. I shall take my leave first. Until we meet again!" The moment his voice faded, every shred of aura radiating from his body vanished without a trace.

Like a dead piece of floating timber, he slipped silently into the cold waters of Jindong Lake without creating even a ripple. Within a few short breaths, his figure drifted along the undercurrents and completely disappeared from sight.

"The Space-Shattering Spirit Feather is finally in my hands. Now, it is time for me to begin my own flight," Reyn murmured in a hushed whisper, a cold and ruthless glint sweeping across his face.

"Old ghost Mu, I truly hope you do not force my hand too far. Otherwise, even if I must perish here today, I will drag more than half of your Mu Family descendants into the grave alongside me!" As he uttered those chilling words, a green light flashed from his palm, instantly withdrawing his aura concealment token. He reached down to tap his spatial storage bag, retrieving a sweeping, pitch-black robe that he draped over his shoulders.

In the very next second, his silhouette dissolved into thin air, leaving behind no trace of his existence.... Half an hour later. Three hundred li away from the Mu Family estate, situated within a quiet and secluded mountain ravine, a trickling spring seeped slowly through a narrow fissure in the rock face. Over time, the clear, cool water accumulated at the base of the cliff, forming a pristine little pond surrounded by mossy rocks and lush foliage.

Yet right at this moment, a dark shadow suddenly burst out from the narrow rock fissure alongside the flowing current. With a loud splash, the shadow dropped straight into the pond, creating a burst of white foam and startling several wild waterfowl that had been quietly resting and drinking along the bank into frantic flight. Hua-la! The dark shadow submerged into the clear water, and its stiff, wood-like posture suddenly regained fluidity and vigor.

Parting the surface with powerful strokes, a dense, vibrant breath of life gradually surged out from within his frame.

"Hahaha! Hahahahaha! I, Shen Zui, have finally escaped from the clutches of that old monster!" Casting his gaze upon the boundless sky and the vast, open wilderness surrounding him, an unbridled expression of wild ecstasy flushed across Shen Zui's face. He threw his head back and laughed aloud toward the heavens, his voice echoing through the deserted ravine.

"Old ghost Mu, I swear to the heavens today that a time will surely come in the future when I return every single misery and humiliation I suffered these past few years back upon your Mu Clan tenfold—a hundredfold! Until that day comes, you had better stay alive and well for me!" But right in the middle of his triumphant declaration, the expression on his face abruptly turned dark and sinister.

A thread of gloomy, icy, and intensely tyrannical energy billowed out from his skin, making him appear like an entirely different person in the blink of an eye.

"Enough. This place is still far too close to the Mu Family territory. You had best leave at once, lest unexpected complications arise if you delay." In the very next heartbeat, his facial expression transformed once again, and his aura reverted back to its original state. However, his face had turned hideously pale and grim. He growled in a furious, dark tone, "I told you before that you are absolutely forbidden from taking control of my body!

Do you mean to burn the bridge after crossing it and turn against me the moment we escape the Mu Family?"

"Do not forget that I hold your Demon Heart Oath in my hands! If you dare harbor any treacherous intentions toward me, I will make absolute sure that you die without a burial place to call your own!" A brief, suffocating silence fell over the ravine. Then, Shen Zui's aura violently fluctuated once more. Dense, rolling waves of jet-black demonic energy seeped out from his pores, rapidly spreading from his head across his entire body like an invasive poison.

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"Hahaha! What a naive, laughable, lowly cultivator you are! Since this venerable demon dared to place a Demon Heart Oath into your fragile hands, do you truly think I would not possess a method to unravel it?"

"I originally intended to wait until we were completely far away before devouring your soul, but since you are so eager to seek your own death, this venerable demon shall fulfill your wish!" The moment those dark, reverberating words rang out, the jet-black mist enveloping his entire form twisted into dozens of vicious, snarling demonic serpents. With frantic ferocity, they burrowed deep into his flesh and meridians.

"Aaaghh! You despicable Demonic Spirit! Even if I must die today, don't think you will walk away unscathed! Demon Heart Oath—shatter! Shatter! Shatter for me!" Shen Zui let out a blood-curdling screech as his body collapsed onto the muddy ground, convulsing violently as he screamed out in desperate, enraged fury! As he forcibly ruptured the binding Demon Heart Oath, the Demonic Spirit possessing his inner body let out a muffled grunt of pain, and the swirling black mist around his exterior momentarily froze.

Yet in the very next instant, the darkness resumed its frenzy, clawing its way back into his flesh with even greater savagery!

"Aah! Aaaghh!" Shen Zui released two final, agonizing wails before his voice gradually waned into a raspy whisper and vanished entirely. Meanwhile, the dark mist outside his physical shell grew increasingly dense, gradually condensing into a spherical cocoon as dark as ink, from which muffled, tyrannical roars of pain echoed at irregular intervals. A moment later, the pitch-black fog churned violently.

As if pulled by an irresistible, overpowering vortex from within, the entirety of the dark mist was rapidly drawn back into his body, dissipating into nothingness. Lying on the ground, Shen Zui's trembling frame slowly grew still. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, and a streak of sinister, ominous black energy flickered through his pupils before fading into the depths of his eyes.

"The aptitude of this physical vessel is quite decent. Before long, once this venerable demon emerges from that ancient battlefield, my cultivation level will surely recover by several fold. At that time, I shall return to the Mu Family to merge with my true main body. When that happens, smashing through the void to return to the Spirit Realm once more will be well within the realm of possibility!"

"Hahaha! Hahahahaha! You damned old ghost Mu! You would likely never dream that an avatar clone of this venerable demon has already broken free! To seal me within that array and force me to serve your beck and call for endless eras... When this demon returns, I will devour every last member of your Mu Family clan until nothing remains!" Having said this, Shen Zui pondered briefly, a strangely unsettling look spreading across his face.

"Reyn? Heheh, what an interesting little fellow. Although an avatar clone of this venerable demon has escaped the Mu Family, my main body still requires them to offer sacrifices to sustain its vitality. Therefore, my little friend... you must die."

"The Space-Shattering Spirit Feather can indeed mask my aura from being sensed, but since that tool was refined by my own hands, how could I not leave behind a secret trap of my own?" With these words spoken, he formed a complex, intricate hand seal with his fingers and instantly struck it out into the void. Having completed this task, he raised his gaze to briefly discern his bearings.

A flash of dark, shadowy light burst around his body, transforming him into a shooting beam of raven light that streaked across the sky, madly hurtling toward the horizon. …… At that exact moment, four hundred li away from the estate of the Mu Family, an emerald-green rainbow was tearing through the sky at blinding speed, hurtling frantically forward into the endless distance. Reyn let out a subtle breath of relief. At his current breakneck speed, it would take him less than half an hour to cover three thousand li.

Once he crossed that distance, even if that Mu old ghost possessed earth-shattering divine abilities, he would be completely incapable of tracking down his whereabouts! As long as Reyn remained alive for even a single day, the old monster would not dare to ruthlessly exterminate the Reyn Clan. Should Reyn survive, he could broadcast the Mu Family's despicable and abhorrent atrocities to the entire cultivation realm, sparking a tempestuous outrage that would shake the realm to its core.

No matter how formidable and dominant the Mu Family claimed to be, such a scandal would destroy their standing and make it nearly impossible for them to escape ruin! However, at that very second, Reyn's expression turned pale as death, shifting violently. Held tightly within his grip, the core of the Space-Shattering Spirit Feather—which had been emanating a soft, faint silver radiance that enveloped his entire figure—suddenly spiderwebbed with countless hairline fractures.

Before he could react, it shattered completely, slipping through his fingers as lifeless, dust-like fragments!

"Shen Zui! You actually dared to sabotage me!" Reyn's pupils constricted into pinpoint needles, his face instantly twisting with a wave of tyrannical, bloodthirsty killing intent.

"If I, Reyn, do not perish today, I swear on my soul that I will hunt you down and obliterate you from existence in the days to come!" With the destruction of the Space-Shattering Spirit Feather, the Mu Family Ancestor would instantly sense the disruption. Given the terrifying, boundless divine powers of a Nascent Soul cultivator, a distance of several hundred li was something he could bridge in a mere handful of breaths! A desperate, unhinged madness erupted in Reyn's eyes.

Opening his mouth, he forcefully spewed out a massive spray of vital essence blood, letting out an earth-shattering roar: "Star-Chasing Demon Domain Art!" Pfft! The floating sphere of essence blood hung in mid-air for a microsecond before instantly exploding into a thick, crimson mist that thoroughly engulfed his body. In a flash of crimson light, his entire figure flickered and reappeared a hundred zhang away!

In rapid succession, his figure continued to blink across the horizon in consecutive spatial leaps, transforming into a desperate beam of blood-red light that tore madly through the sky. …… Deep within the Mu Family Estate, inside the Hall of Ten Thousand Longevities.

"Ancestor, you have already dispatched the voice-transmission jade slip. Why has that Reyn delayed for so long without showing up? Could it be that he sensed something amiss and has already fled?" Mu Yunshen's complexion shifted subtly as he spoke in a low, heavy voice. Hearing this, Mu Daguang knitted his brows slightly. He then shook his head and said with indifferent composure, "That is utterly impossible. Reyn's aura has already been marked by the Demonic Spirit.

If he were to stray more than a hundred li away from me, I would sense it in an instant..." But at that very instant, his face underwent a violent upheaval. A look of overwhelming shock and fury surged into his eyes, and he roared in thunderous rage, "Mu Sheng! If that boy manages to escape, you will become an eternal sinner of our Mu Family for a thousand generations!" Before the reverberations of his voice could fade, his figure vanished into thin air.

A terrifying, sky-shaking wave of spiritual pressure erupted violently from inside the Hall of Ten Thousand Longevities, instantly blanketing the entirety of the vast Mu Family Estate under its suffocating weight! Across the vast expanse of the Mu Family compounds, countess cultivators were abruptly jolted out of their meditative state by this horrific, overwhelming pressure.

Horror and bewilderment flushed their faces; none of them had any inkling of what could have transpired to cause their venerable Ancestor—a supreme figure who usually drifted like a divine dragon seen only in fleeting glimpses—to fly into such a catastrophic rage! Inside the secret chamber, Mu Yunshen's face turned pale. He lowered his head and growled in a bitter, raspy rumble, "Eldest Brother... how could you be so utterly foolish!" …… At the Mu Family Treasury, the scarred old man abruptly snapped his head up.

His single, solitary eye burst with a terrifyingly brilliant gleam of light. A moment later, he burst into a harsh, raspy fit of cackling laughter: "A'Zi, did you see that? The old monster has lost his temper!" Though he laughed aloud, his features were drenched in a profound, endless sorrow.

"This family is like a monstrous fiend, devouring others just to sustain its own wretched existence."

"Even though I lent him a helping hand, that little fellow still won't be able to escape. Just like your idiot brother back then... he won't escape!" …… Inside the Scripture Hall, Xing Tianxie and Ling You'er exchanged a quick glance, both catching the deep, undisguised anxiety flickering within each other's eyes.

"This... this might be the very reason Brother Reyn came here in the first place. But what kind of grand secret is hidden behind all of this?" A flicker of intense, complex emotion flashed across Ge Yucheng's face. He slowly lowered his head, letting out a faint, imperceptible sigh deep in his heart. If only you had heeded my advice back then, how could you have ended up in such a desperate plight... Today... I fear you are truly beyond salvation... …… Inside the Azure Jade Palace.

"Damn old monster! This deity is almost finished! Couldn't you just wait a little longer?!"

"Master! My bastard master! You must hold on no matter what! Whatever you do, don't lose your head!" …… High above the barren wilderness, Reyn looked back in sheer shock. Sensing the terrifying, sky-reaching aura rising rapidly behind him, a bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Yet, the escape light enveloping his body flared with relentless intensity as he pushed forward, continuing his frantic flight into the horizon!

Until the absolute final moment, he, Reyn, would never fold his hands and wait for death! And even if he were forced into a dead end with death as his only certainty, he would ensure that the Mu Family paid a devastating, blood-soaked price in return!