Hu Liena: Only Half an Hour Left

Pressing down on the humming jade box that sealed the Soul Ring, Qin Zhaoye used the cover of night to move from one hiding place to another among the mountains.

Only after he finally shook off the pursuers on the outskirts did he dart into a hidden cavern concealed by vines.

"They're right on my heels. I need to refine this Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring first."

The Soul Ring in the jade box kept humming, so Qin Zhaoye didn't dare delay. He sat down cross-legged and flicked open the box's copper clasp.

The pitch-dark Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring roared out and descended over his head!

Unhurried, he circulated the Ever-Bright Bamboo Slip Art, then refined the torrent of ten-thousand-year Soul Power into his body, inch by inch.

The barrier at the peak of level forty gave way, and his Soul Power rose to level forty-one!

A Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, dark as ancient ink, settled steadily beneath his feet.

The bronze scroll before him rustled, and a new blank, wordless page appeared after the existing ones.

"My fourth Soul Ring is complete!"

Qin Zhaoye opened his eyes and slowly ran a hand over the blank page. He already understood the ins and outs of his new Soul Skill.

"Fourth Soul Skill, Lost Text: it erases me from the current record for a few breaths. It's a trump card for keeping myself alive."

Before he had finished speaking, footsteps and the hum of a compass came from the mountain forest above the cavern.

On the hillside, a tracking Soul Tool specialist from the Spirit Hall Branch held a bronze tracking disk in both hands.

The disk's needle swung wildly, pointing straight at the valley where the cavern lay!

"Deacon, we've locked on! That Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring phenomenon just now must have come from the valley up ahead!"

The Branch deacon was overjoyed. "Hurry and pinpoint the location! Don't let him get away!"

In the treetops on the other side of the valley, the Night Owl Terrace's outer scouts also activated their detection Soul Skills.

Inside the cavern, Qin Zhaoye heard the approaching commotion outside and raised an eyebrow:

"I just got my fourth Soul Skill. You're perfect for testing what it can do."

He brushed his fingertips lightly over the blank page, and the fourth Soul Ring beneath his feet, dark as ancient ink, lit up.

"Fourth Soul Skill, Lost Text!"

The blank page trembled slightly, swallowing every trace of his presence.

For a few breaths, Qin Zhaoye vanished into thin air from the "current record" of this world!

On the hillside, the Branch deacon stared at the tracking disk. "Which cave entrance exactly? Give me the reading!"

The tracking Soul Tool specialist was just about to read it when the disk's needle stopped with a click and dropped straight to zero!

The dial's red glow went completely dark. It couldn't even detect the slightest residual trace.

"Huh? Why's it gone?!"

The old specialist patted the casing of the tracking disk, but the needle didn't budge.

The Night Owl Terrace scouts in the treetops also withdrew their detection Soul Power and rubbed their eyes.

The Soul Power fluctuations that had been perfectly clear a moment ago had been cut off at the root, as if they had never existed!

The Branch deacon stamped his feet in frustration. "What's going on? Is your piece of junk broken?!"

"That's impossible! I calibrated it before we left!"

Sweat poured down the tracking Soul Tool specialist's face. He pulled out a screwdriver, crouched on the ground, and dismantled the tracking disk right there.

He took apart and reassembled the Soul Tool gears several times, but the readings remained completely lifeless.

As every tracking effort in the real world came up empty, the live transcription on the Myriad Ages Douluo Group's public screen also turned into blank frames within those few breaths!

The flood of comments froze on the spot, then erupted in a sea of question marks.

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: ??? What's going on! Why did my screen go completely white?!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: No! I was only halfway through clipping my collection of legendary moments for posterity! Why did the updates stop?!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Look at the upper right corner. The timeline is still moving!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: So the person in the footage vanished from the live record himself!]

Inside the cavern, once the few breaths were up, the ancient-ink-colored Soul Ring dimmed, and Qin Zhaoye's figure reappeared.

He let out a breath of turbid Qi and said, "They can't lock onto me, detect me, or hit me. It really is a top-notch survival skill."

He closed the scroll and stood, weighing the cost:

"But it's limited to one use per battle, and while I'm hidden, it's purely defensive. I can't attack either."

After Qin Zhaoye figured out the limitations, he took advantage of the tracking disk's malfunction to slip away through the rear of the mountain.

The livestream automatically wrapped up as he left the ancient forest, but the descendants were still frantically spamming comments about the blank frames.

In the blink of an eye, Lan Xuanyu posted a lengthy research thread in the group on "the study of vanishing from history books."

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Research post is up! The ten-thousand-year fourth ring he just absorbed can directly erase his own existence!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: It can even fool the Group Hub's transcription for a few breaths. He's practically a living lost text from the history books!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: There should have been at least two tracking parties locked onto him outside just now. Those few blank breaths threw them all off.]

[Tang San: He can break every lock on his presence in a desperate situation. With that survival skill, the pursuers outside won't be able to stop him.]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Never mind that! I stitched the annihilation GIF from earlier together with those blank frames!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: "A collection of legendary moments: annihilation and vanishing into thin air" has officially ascended to godhood. Who's for it and who's against it!]

By then, Qin Zhaoye had returned to the new quarters at Perching Swan Academy via the underground waterway west of the city.

He changed out of his bloodstained clothes, sat back down at his desk, and opened the bronze scroll's settlement interface.

As the ring-hunting livestream post concluded, a golden statement popped up on the scroll.

[Golden statement: The topic of hunting a higher-level ring in the Ten-Thousand-Year Ancient Forest has concluded. The group owner has received 2,850 Talking Capital!]

Qin Zhaoye collected his share, drew some Talking Capital from his account, and sent a red envelope rain to the whole group.

Golden light poured across the public screen as thanks to the group members who had watched the battle.

[Group owner: The ancient forest ring-hunting record has now concluded. Here's a round of red envelopes to thank you all for watching.]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: The group owner is generous! I got a spiritual power nourishment voucher. Stayed up all night watching the stream and made a killing!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Thanks for the red envelope, group owner! Wait, look at the appendix that just appeared at the bottom of the livestream post!]

Following his prompt, everyone scrolled down and discovered that the Group Hub had appended a page transcribed from a real-world case file to the end of the livestream post.

It was the closing report the Spirit Hall Branch had submitted after struggling into the second half of the night and failing to find the slightest clue.

The cover read "Investigation into the Ancient Forest Phenomenon," and the result field contained just four words they had managed to squeeze out:

"No such person found."

The public screen fell silent for a moment, then was flooded with wild laughter.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Hahahaha! No such person found! Spirit Hall just personally endorsed his vanishing Soul Skill!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: I'm dying! One moment he vanished from the footage, and the next they stamped the case file "No such person found"!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: The tracking Soul Tool went to zero, and no trace of a living person's presence was left at the scene, so those were the only words they could write.]

In the new quarters, Qin Zhaoye watched the laughter and casually archived and sealed the dedicated ring-hunting post.

At the same time, the "Second Era special" preview post on the noticeboard jumped forward one slot with a ding.

The crimson countdown to recruiting a new member was growing shorter, and it drew everyone's attention at once.

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Brothers, we've finished watching the First Era ring hunt. The countdown for the Second Era, Peerless Tang Sect, is nearly up!]

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Come on, let's make some predictions before it starts. Who'll be the first person from Peerless Tang Sect to be drawn into the group?!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: @The Bystander Sees Clearly, Old Huo, it'll definitely start with someone you're closest to!]

[The Bystander Sees Clearly: ...Stop teasing me. Who the Group Hub draws is entirely up to fate.]

Before they could settle the argument, a group-wide notification leisurely popped up in the Group Hub's betting board:

"Betting reminder: The historical wager 'Will Tang Hao come out of retirement?' has yet to be settled. Betting remains open."

[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Oh, right! The Grandmaster followed the stone furnace coordinates deep into the mountains to find his dad. We'll know the answer soon!]

[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Before betting closes, I'm putting another wager on Tang Hao coming out of retirement! I'll sit back and wait for the Grandmaster to open the box!]

Deep in the mountain forest, Tang San, who was resting for the night, had also seen the betting reminder. He reached out and touched the leather scroll with the coordinates inside his robes.

[Tang San: I can reach the end of the coordinates by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.]

[Group owner: The betting board will remain open as usual. Once we have conclusive proof, the wager will be settled.]

After replying, Qin Zhaoye closed the bronze scroll. With level forty-one Soul Power constantly nourishing him from within, he slept especially soundly.

Early the next morning, a swift courier carriage bearing the Pope's Palace insignia stopped outside Perching Swan Academy.

The courier hurried into the new quarters with a sealed letter, then turned and left without even daring to drink a sip of water.

Qin Zhaoye broke the crimson-gold wax seal and drew out the formal document inside.

The Pope's great seal was stamped at the top, and a line of vermilion characters was written neatly in the procurement item field below:

"Rakshasa God deadlock: full-case assessment."