Traces

Li Fei moved through the jungle without making a sound.

Relying on the Myriad Blood Bead, he had seen through the Bewildering Array left behind by the Tranquil God Sect and silently caught up with their main force. He had already been tracking them through the jungle for more than four hours.

Two hours ago, the enemy's main force had set up another Bewildering Array at a fork on a highland. They had done so to prevent anyone from slipping through the first array. If someone really was following them from behind, they would inevitably have to climb up to this highland and reach the fork; otherwise, there would be no way to know which direction the Tranquil God Sect had taken next.

That way, the second Bewildering Array was certain to serve its purpose.

Li Fei was not worried by the enemy's caution. On the contrary, he was rather pleased, because their actions showed that the Bewildering Array was their best means of counter-tracking. Otherwise, there would have been no need to waste precious array materials.

Since he could silently break through their Bewildering Arrays, the odds of being discovered from here on would be very low.

In truth, he had little experience tracking people. If the enemy had only a dozen or so people, he would have lost them long ago. Fortunately, there were more than a hundred of them, leaving behind enough traces that even following far behind, he would not lose their trail.

Thus, Li Fei followed from a distance while leaving marks on the trees along the way.

By now, the sky had gone completely dark, and large drops of rain began to fall.

Luoshan was a rainy place to begin with. After this downpour, the traces the Tranquil God Sect had left in the mountains would vanish without a trace, making it nearly impossible for anyone who came later to track them.

"Just as expected, it's raining."

Up ahead, Zhao Yu looked up at the heavy rain falling from the sky and smiled in satisfaction.

Quite a few of the believers under his command were hunters from Luoshan. They could predict the weather, and before this operation, they had told him with complete certainty that there would be heavy rain over these two days.

"Everyone, rest where you are. Keep your firearms and ammunition dry, and arrange for people to stand guard around the perimeter."

Zhao Yu draped the bamboo hat and straw raincoat prepared in advance over himself and ordered the group to rest where they were.

The jungle at night was pitch-black. With the heavy rain now falling, they could not light torches, and walking mountain paths in the dark was dangerous. It could easily cause noncombat casualties, so they had no choice but to stop.

Fortunately, this heavy rain was even more advantageous to the Tranquil God Sect.

After the order was given, the people of the Tranquil God Sect took out their prepared bamboo hats and straw raincoats, then found places to sit and rest.

Following far behind, Li Fei was soon drenched from head to toe by the downpour.

However, he had practiced martial arts for many years, and his Heavenly Star Overlord Body had already reached Small Success. One rainstorm was not enough to bring him down.

"No torches. They should have stopped."

Li Fei found a large tree to shelter him from the rain and stopped as well, with no intention of moving closer.

He would rather lose the trail and make the trip for nothing than get too close and be discovered.

He then took out the medicine bottle he carried with him, swallowed two Embryo Nurturing Pills, and began practicing the Heavenly Constellation Stance in the pouring rain, carrying out that day's embryo-nurturing training.

Rumble!

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the dark jungle for an instant.

In the pouring rain, the young man stood steadily in his stance, his gaze resolute and his expression calm, as though he were silently greeting the heavens and earth.

"How is it? Can you find anything?"

Huang Weiguang, his hair grizzled white, asked a young man in a dark blue robe anxiously.

The other man held a piece of Talisman Paper that had just finished burning, wisps of green smoke still curling around his fingertips.

He was a mage from the Bureau of Impartial Justice, dispatched to assist in tracking down the Tranquil God Sect.

"No. Too much time has passed, and the distance is too great. Besides, they have a ritual on them that interferes with tracking spells. I can't find them."

The mage from the Bureau of Impartial Justice shook his head and spoke in a cold voice.

Spells capable of tracking others did exist, but they were not omnipotent. Otherwise, the Bureau of Impartial Justice would have found the Tranquil God Sect's lair long ago instead of waiting for someone to report it.

Distance, time, and other factors all greatly affected tracking spells, not to mention that the Tranquil God Sect had mages of its own to interfere with them.

Huang Weiguang looked up at the torrential rain pouring from the sky and let out a sigh.

The Overseeing Bureau, the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau, and the Bureau of Impartial Justice had reacted quickly enough, sending people into the mountains that very night.

Unfortunately, the mages from the Bureau of Impartial Justice still could not track down the Tranquil God Sect's trail. Once this downpour came, tracking them through these vast mountains became even more difficult.

"Go stay temporarily in the mountain village below."

Huang Weiguang issued the order helplessly.

With the heavy rain falling at night, the group could not enter the mountains to search. All they could do was stop and wait for the rain to end.

The heavy rain continued throughout the entire night.

It gradually stopped at dawn the next day. Huang Weiguang, who had not slept all night, immediately ordered everyone to get moving and search the mountains for traces.

But in truth, most of them knew perfectly well that after the previous night's downpour, it was nearly impossible to find any traces.

However, Chief Inspector Huang Weiguang was personally overseeing the scene. No Overseeing Bureau Inspector dared slack off, and everyone searched with all their might.

Among the Overseeing Bureau Inspectors present, Li Lei was just as anxious as Huang Weiguang.

After receiving his orders, he immediately led his team up the slope and began a carpet search, hoping to find some useful traces.

More than an hour later, Li Lei, who was searching the southern slope, suddenly received word that something seemed to have been found in the jungle to the west.

He immediately ran over.

The Bewildering Array the Tranquil God Sect had left here had already lost its effect. After being washed by the heavy rain, not the slightest trace remained.

"What is it? What did you find?!"

Li Lei pushed anxiously and expectantly through the crowd and ran over.

Besides Huang Weiguang, the stern-faced Hao Yi was here as well.

Hao Yi had also hurried here through the night. After arriving, he had gone straight to Huang Weiguang. The two were now standing together, and judging by their appearance, they seemed to have known each other before.

Li Lei had no time to greet Hao Yi and directly asked Huang Weiguang, "Chief Inspector, what did you find?"

Huang Weiguang grabbed him and pointed at the trunk of a large tree.

"Come take a look at this."

Li Lei leaned closer and froze.

A triangular symbol had been carved into the trunk. Its sharpest corner pointed horizontally to one side. It was a marking commonly used by the Overseeing Bureau.

"Was it left by one of our people?"

Li Lei asked instinctively.

But he quickly rejected the thought, because aside from the few who had died, everyone from the First Brigade who had participated in yesterday's operation had returned.

Among the Rank A Students from the Military Academy, only Li Fei had not returned, apart from those who had died.

"Xiao Fei?!"

Li Lei's eyes widened as he thought of the only possibility.

"Did you teach your son this knowledge before?"

Huang Weiguang's eyes were sharp as blades as he stared fixedly at Li Lei.

Li Lei recalled how he had often told Li Fei and Li Tianyu about cases he had investigated in the past. Those stories had included references to the marking symbols used by the Overseeing Bureau.

"I did!"

Li Lei answered excitedly.

"Then it must have been left by him!"

At last, Huang Weiguang's face lit up.

He turned around and issued orders with the force of thunder and lightning.

"Everyone, follow these symbol markings and search! Our Overseeing Bureau's child is still tracking them. The Tranquil God Sect won't get away!"