Little Mist's Identity

Xiao Ran had barely found his footing on Sword-Tempering Mountain when a notification popped up in the group chat, causing his brain to buzz with a strange, disorienting vertigo.

This dizziness stemmed from the momentary intersection between a distant reality and the one he currently inhabited.

It was as if the wife you had married in a video game had suddenly knocked on your front door.

They were truly a group of world-savers; their speed of action was enough to leave one stunned and bewildered.

Gazing at the sheer, wall-like cliffs and the inverted flora of Sword-Tempering Mountain, Xiao Ran felt a fleeting sense of the cruelty hidden within the world of the strong.

Little Mist—the name sounded so cute and endearing, and she spoke so sweetly in the chat, so why was her style of conduct so terrifying?

Xiao Ran thought to himself that if he had been outside the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array, he might have been wiped out by the Gray Mist without anyone ever knowing.

Back in the Ten Thousand Beasts Valley, the Sewing Needle Sword Art he had driven with Resonance Power hadn't truly broken the Gray Mist; he had merely used his flying sword to transmit the Resonance Power into the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array, triggering a reaction from the array. The Gray Mist had retreated only to avoid exposure.

Xiao Ran could no longer look at the cute nickname "Little Mist" the same way.

He also drew two lessons from this—

First, one must always bring Master along when going out.

Second, if Master was not by his side, he must ensure he had a balance of 100 Filial Piety Points, so that at a critical moment, he could bind the Black Ring to join the group and temporarily defect to the enemy to ensure his safety.

If I can't beat you, I'll join you.

The identity of Little Mist was also a mystery!

The fact that she could attack him while inside the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array without a care in the world meant that Little Mist herself must currently be within the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array.

The Black Horned Ewe Leather was a recipe Xiao Ran had devised himself; there was no possibility of an enemy lying in wait at the Ten Thousand Beasts Valley in advance. It had to be a spur-of-the-moment act.

From the time Xiao Ran left Hundred Herbs Peak for the Ten Thousand Beasts Valley, spoke with True Person Guiyan, and then found the Black Horned Ewe, only half an hour had passed.

During this time, he had only come into contact with three people.

Martial Aunt Yinyue.

True Person Guiyan.

Junior Sister Zhehui.

If Little Mist was not one of these three, then she must have been able to complete her layout in an extremely short time right under the nose of the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array.

If that were the case, her strength would be truly terrifying, and she would have to be intimately familiar with the Zongzhi Mountain Mountain-Guarding Grand Array!

Who exactly was she?

If Xiao Ran were to check the list of outsiders who had entered the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array in recent days and test them one by one, he might be able to uncover Little Mist's true identity.

But doing so would not only alert the enemy, but there was also a possibility that it would all be in vain.

Because there was another possibility—

Little Mist had been lurking in the sect all along!

In the chat, Little Mist had claimed to reside in a Small Country protected by Zongzhi Mountain, but that might just be a cover story to hide her true identity; it was not necessarily true.

If one really wanted to gather intelligence, rather than hiding in those Small Countries to catch a few stray words, it would be better to lurk directly inside Zongzhi Mountain to experience the news firsthand.

This caused the suspicion surrounding Martial Aunt Yinyue, True Person Guiyan, and Junior Sister Zhehui to rise slightly.

Martial Aunt Yinyue was the most suspicious of all.

First, she was powerful.

Second, as one of the four great elders, she was familiar with the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array.

Third, she knew that the Ten Thousand Beasts Valley would provide a Beast Hunting Jade Slip, yet she had given Xiao Ran her own Spirit Severing Realm jade slip in advance. This jade slip possessed immense Spiritual Pressure, which could precisely locate Xiao Ran's position, while simultaneously allowing the Spiritual Pressure of the Gray Mist to hide alongside it, making it difficult for the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array to detect.

It was indeed suspicious! But Xiao Ran felt that Martial Aunt Yinyue understood him too well—so well that they had even shared physical intimacy, deeper than the interactions he had with Master—so there was no need for her to go through the trouble of testing him.

Furthermore, while Master's brain was indeed lacking, her intuition was always spot on; there was no need for him to doubt someone whom Master trusted one hundred percent.

True Person Guiyan?

Junior Sister Zhehui?

Or was it someone else entirely?

Regarding the identity of Little Mist, Xiao Ran decided not to investigate deliberately, lest he alert the enemy and expose the whereabouts of the ring.

He would only keep a secret watch.

A moment later.

Someone in the group replied immediately.

Body Severing: What... is Resonance Power?

Gentleman: Heaven Tier, Myriad Resonance mental cultivation method. Legend has it that there are three tiers: Mortal Tier, Spirit Cultivation Tier, and Immortal Tier, also known as the first, second, and third tiers.

Body Severing: I know of the Myriad Resonance mental cultivation method.

The most active participants in the chat remained Little Mist, Gentleman, and Body Severing.

From their conversation, Xiao Ran could tell that Gentleman seemed to be a typical sycophant, infatuated with Body Severing; as soon as she appeared, he would immediately emerge.

And Body Severing seemed to be a rather cold goddess, paying little heed to Gentleman.

Xiao Ran guessed that this person named Gentleman was likely just an ugly guy in reality, with an image similar to Tieling Wu Yanzu or Wenzhou Liu Dehua.

Gentleman: Lingzhou Yue really knows how to play. There are fewer than ten Heaven Tier mental arts, cultivation methods, and sword arts left in the world today, yet the two of them, master and disciple, have mastered two.

Hearing this, Xiao Ran realized that Master's Tidal Force Sword Art was also a Heaven Tier sword art. No wonder she could cheat her way through, counter-killing Wraiths and defeating Master Boyun despite the gap in their levels.

Body Severing: To what extent has he practiced the Resonance Heart Art?

Gentleman: Is this kid's cultivation level really only at the Qi Refining Realm?

Xiao Ran felt a bit curious. Up until now, no one in the group had asked how Little Mist managed to scout out this information.

It seemed that doing so would expose his identity, and not revealing one's true identity had already become an unspoken rule within the group.

Little Mist: I cannot be certain of his cultivation level, but his mastery of Resonance Power at the Mortal Realm is already perfect. The disciples within the sect keep their mouths shut about his affairs, but I suspect that with his decent Qi Refining cultivation combined with the Resonance Heart Art, it is possible he ambushed and severely wounded Eternity. Afterward, Eternity was forced into Wraith-transformation, seemingly attempting to possess his body, but unfortunately failed and was killed by the sect's higher-ups or the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array—this is the most reasonable inference I can make from the information currently known.

Heh.

Keep pretending, just keep pretending! Xiao Ran thought to himself. Given Little Mist's understanding of the Mountain-Guarding Grand Array, he must know that Ye Fan could not have been killed by the array... This guy was just putting on a show!

Body Severing: Then what about the whereabouts of the ring?

Gentleman: As everyone knows, the Black Salvation Ring automatically seeks its host. Ordinary people cannot see it, and even those of us who have already bound the ring cannot monitor or interfere with its destination.

Body Severing: I am asking if the ring could have been obtained by this Xiao Ran.

Gentleman: Even less likely. Once the Black Salvation Ring encounters a suitable host, it will forcibly bind to them; we do not have the power to choose.

Body Severing: That is you. If someone's soul is strong to a certain degree, perhaps they might have a different situation.

Little Mist: Do you mean a soul strong enough to perform Body Severing?

The group suddenly fell into a dead silence.

Xiao Ran felt a chill run down his spine.

What kind of immortals are these people? They even guessed that I used the System Space to forcibly hold the black ring? Fortunately, these people could never guess that he possessed a system, let alone that he could freeload on group messages without binding the black ring.

At this moment, someone broke the silence in the group.

Mad Hunt: Killing the savior is an unforgivable sin. If someone pays, this old man is willing to set aside his reputation in his busy schedule to go to Zongzhi Mountain and kill a junior.

Mad Hunt!

Xiao Ran suddenly remembered that there was a famous and extremely arrogant hunter in the Cultivation World, so arrogant that he actively hunted Wraiths, known as Mad Hunt.

It was said that Mad Hunt was one of the people with strength closest to the Nine Radiances in the current Cultivation World!

Besides hunting Wraiths, he occasionally accepted high-difficulty, high-reward assassination missions.

Daring to come to Zongzhi Mountain to kill someone—regardless of whether he was bluffing, this statement was arrogant beyond measure.

What was even more arrogant was that this guy used his nickname directly as his group handle!

Truly, anyone can be a savior...

These lunatics cannot be judged by common sense! Regardless, a person fears fame just as a pig fears being fat; Xiao Ran was famous now.

He decided to earn 200 Filial Piety Points as soon as possible: 100 to upgrade to the second stage of Resonance Power, and the other 100 to be kept for a life-or-death moment to bind the black ring and defect to the enemy.

In the Salvation Group, Mad Hunt's words did not result in an explosion of activity; instead, they made the atmosphere in the group even colder. Several previously lit names quickly turned gray...

Xiao Ran waited for a while, and seeing that no one spoke again, his divine sense withdrew from the black ring.

He was met by a tall, thin young man who had his eyes and ears sealed by iron rings, the sword-carved textures on which flickered with a dark red light.

"Junior Brother Xiao, Master has been waiting for a long time."

Asking for tips on Monday to boost the rankings! Extra chapters for Helmsman and above! Below is the list of tips from last week...

Wuduan 233-80000 (Accumulated Alliance Leader), White Bear Wants to Work Hard to Eat-20053 (Accumulated Hall Master), Sour Apple Jam-20000 (Accumulated Hall Master), Shan Shan is Very Cute-10000 (Accumulated Helmsman), norweather-10000 (Accumulated Helmsman), Void Masked Rider 01-10000 (Accumulated Helmsman), Nu Nu Jiang-12000 (Accumulated Helmsman), weyth-5000, Crimson Bed Sheet-5000, Nagase Yui-3000, w Floating Life Like a Dream w-3000, Sakuta is Fierce-3000, Anything is Fine-2330, Small House and Painting-2110, Mengqi IV-2003, 3595 Shinian-2000, Yunxi i-2000, Manager Eat-2000, Squirrel in the Dirt-2000, Rain Falling on Star Cup-2000, Passerby 2033-2000, Xifan Xun-2000, Entering Dream of Great Void-2000, Lang Still Drinks-2000, Dragon Skin QwQ-2000, Book Friend 20200903004626203-1000, Wang Erde-1000, Surname Mo Name Xun-1000, Lonely Peng-1000, Surname Mo Name Xun-1000, QJ Xiaozhi-1000, White Spirit Author Update Quickly-1000, Tearless Lazy Bug-1000, Six People 276-1000, Handsome Uncle is Me-1000, No Heart to Seek Books-1000, Xuanxi Han-1000, I Have No Money Left-1000...

Limited by space and statistical difficulty, only tips of 1000 points or more are posted here. Thank you to all book friends for your tips and votes of support!