Old Yang's Trap

Everything happened in the blink of an eye—no one could have reacted in time, and even if they had, they couldn't have stopped it.

The moment Old Yang saw the tattoo emerge on Black Five's neck, he let out a sharp shout.

"Er Han, take them both and get out—now!"

Old Yang understood perfectly how to command efficiently in a crisis, especially with someone like Er Han: you had to give him clear orders, and his body would execute them before his brain even caught up.

Just like now—Er Han's face still held a look of shock and uncertainty, his eyes somewhat dazed.

But the instant he heard Old Yang's words, every muscle in his body tensed, his heart rate doubled in a sudden surge, and he ignited like kindling soaked in oil.

Without a thought, his body turned into a blur, grabbing the Village Chief and Yu Ziqing one under each arm, slamming his back against the door behind him and charging out of the room, facing away from the interior.

And the moment Old Yang shouted, all four limbs moved at once. His signature explosive leap carried him toward the exit, and at the same time, he flicked his tongue, spat out a piece of Black Stone from his mouth, and it landed squarely on Black Five.

By the time Black Five dropped dead to the ground, less than half a breath had passed, and there were no living people left inside the room.

At the one-breath mark, a rune appeared on Black Five's brow, and a faint, soul-shaking chant began to emanate—soft at first, like a mosquito's hum, then growing louder and louder.

Accompanying the chant, a ring of light spread from Black Five's brow like ripples on water, then, like a receding tide, it rolled back inward.

Just then, the Black Stone on Black Five's body was triggered by the rippling light. As the ring of light surged back, a massive cloud of black smoke poured out from the stone and merged into the rune on Black Five's brow.

With a soft pfft, the rune shattered, and the increasingly loud chant came to an abrupt halt.

The black smoke that had been drawn out shrank back into the Black Stone.

At the same time, deep in a mountain range, dense vegetation surrounded the area. Trees dozens of zhang tall were everywhere, their crowns fighting for sunlight, weaving together to fill every gap, turning the ground beneath into perpetual night.

Here stood a seven-story pagoda.

Below the pagoda, a man with sunken cheeks and tattoos covering his entire face stood on a platform, waving his arms and speaking passionately to a crowd below.

Suddenly, his expression shifted. He raised his right index finger and pressed it to his brow, and a rune materialized there.

Seeing his gesture, the crowd below, who had been listening intently, began to chant loudly. The waves of sound pressed outward but didn't travel far; instead, as the sound waves compressed, a soul-shaking power began to spread.

The tattooed man's face turned solemn, his eyes blazing with murderous intent.

A core member had leaked secrets that must not be leaked, triggering a forbidden technique and suffering immediate backlash.

He now needed to see who it was. Every rune was tied to a specific person—each one unique. He only had to sense it, and he would instantly know who had died from the backlash, and even see the surroundings.

At the same time, by harnessing the crowd's power and chanting the Dharma Canon, he might even be able to control those near the traitor who weren't too strong—or at least plant a seed in them if control wasn't possible.

The most important thing was to sense the nearby auras. At this moment, the traitor had leaked secrets. If he could capture the aura of those beside him, he might identify who they were, or at least narrow down a range—what kind of cultivation method produced such an aura.

He couldn't pinpoint it immediately, but the next time he encountered it, he would recognize it at once.

This was how they safeguarded their secrets, and it had never failed. That was why almost no one in the organization leaked what they shouldn't—even defectors kept certain things to themselves.

He had thought this connection would go smoothly and yield more information.

But the moment he linked, he detected a bizarre and uncanny power, charging in like an uninvited guest, violently shoving everything aside and being the first to reach his perception.

The tattooed man was decisive. He cut off the connection immediately, shattered the rune, and to be safe, even forcibly severed the strand of his own soul power that had touched it.

He let out a muffled groan, his face shifting between blue and green, and his sharp eyes dimmed slightly.

His soul had been damaged.

"A trap!"

He could no longer remember exactly what power the trap had used. The soul power that had touched that strand had been forcibly severed and allowed to self-immolate, dissipating without a trace.

All he could say was that it could be described in a few words: bizarre, domineering, and icy. Even if he encountered this power again, he wouldn't recognize it. From that single instant of contact, he knew the owner of that power was far stronger than him.

If the other party had the ability to trace back, and if he had left even a single mark, that person might have already locked onto his general location by now.

If that strong one came personally, within seven days, they might find this stronghold.

Fortunately, he had reacted quickly and decisively enough.

The tattooed man staggered and sat down on the ground, pulling out a purplish-black pill and swallowing it. His complexion improved slightly, but a damaged soul was not so easily healed.

The ring of light on Black Five came and went quickly.

A few breaths later, everything settled. While everyone was still in shock and uncertainty, Old Yang had already walked toward the Earthen Kiln.

The Village Chief waved his hand at the people who had gathered after hearing the commotion.

"Go back to sleep."

No one asked questions. At most, they took an extra glance to confirm everyone was safe, then turned and went back to sleep.

The group re-entered the Earthen Kiln. The rune on Black Five's brow had vanished.

Everyone looked at Old Yang. He narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at Black Five on the ground.

"No need to worry. Someone planted a forbidden technique on him—a Silent Curse, or something similar. Now that he's revealed a secret he shouldn't have, he's suffered backlash. His soul is scattered, and he doesn't even have a chance to become a ghost.

And no one will know where he is, nor discover what happened here. The other side might not even know that Black Five is the one who died."

Old Yang explained to Yu Ziqing the general function of such forbidden techniques and the methods the people behind them used to track, then added.

"The Seventh Floor's base—where is it? It's never been found. A few times before, we thought we'd discovered it, but they were always abandoned outposts. Valuable intel is scarce."

"Because of the forbidden technique triggered by the secret, the one tracking just now must be extremely cautious and alert. At the slightest anomaly, he'll pull back immediately. He won't learn anything."

"What's more, if he's too careful, he might even suffer heavy backlash..."

Old Yang glanced at the black stone on the ground and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He gave Yu Ziqing a slight nudge of insight, and Yu Ziqing caught on at once, laughing like a pig being slaughtered.

Old Yang was just too wicked...

This black stone was a fragment of the Jade Tomb. Its owner must have been a top-tier powerhouse in life, but now it was nothing more than a shard of that tomb.

In this situation, it was perfect for scaring people.

The Seventh Floor's people simply wouldn't dare to gamble. Making someone who had planted a forbidden technique pay with their life to leak a secret was never a simple matter under normal circumstances.

If they won the gamble, at best they'd know who was nearby, but they couldn't retaliate immediately.

If they lost, their base would be exposed—then most likely, no, definitely, their whole family would ascend to heaven, and the base would be wiped out.

There were far too many people who wanted to eradicate them completely.

Including some clients who had once bought their intelligence.

Yu Ziqing thought it over. Putting himself in their shoes, he'd probably make the same call. In this situation, they simply couldn't afford to lose.

With Black Five's precedent in mind, when interrogating the Black Goat, Yu Ziqing already knew which questions he might not be able to ask.

As a demon beast, the Black Goat recovered a bit faster than Black Five. After half a dose of the antidote, it had already regained its senses.

The interrogation went smoothly. For some reason, after regaining its wits, the Black Goat showed no particular fear of the others, but when it saw Yu Ziqing, it was even more terrified than when it had been dazed. Its whole body was stiff, like a creature playing dead from fright.

Yu Ziqing took the information he'd gotten from Black Five's interrogation and asked it again in a scrambled order, even throwing in some questions cold in the middle and repeating them.

After half a day, the rust in the gap of the Rusted Sword flaked off again, completing the judgment, and Yu Ziqing confirmed there was likely no lying.

Feeling he'd asked enough, Yu Ziqing didn't plan to drag it out any longer and pressed on.

"Where is the Seventh Floor's base?"

The Black Goat's eyes were full of terror, its mouth trembling, but it still couldn't bring itself to speak.

Yu Ziqing shook his head slightly. It seemed this creature knew that speaking meant certain death.

"Dispose of it."

For a demon beast like this, whether from his own perspective or for the safety of himself and the village, it couldn't be kept.

Er Han was the one to act. He took a sharp blade and, like a butcher carving a goat, cleanly finished off the Black Goat. The process went unusually smoothly.

As the Black Goat neared death, it was clearly terrified, as if it wanted to do something, but its body remained stiff, unable to move at all. In the end, it stretched out its neck for the kill and breathed its last. Its eyes even seemed to carry a trace of relief and release.

As if dying this way was already the best outcome.

Yu Ziqing didn't quite understand, and Old Yang beside him was also a bit surprised.

"Did they eat too much Spirit-Confusing Medicine and rot their brains?"

"Probably. I saw it—the Spirit-Confusing Medicine I sprinkled was licked clean by them. They ate more of that than the Jinlan Mushrooms..."

Old Yang stared at the slain Black Goat for a while, pondering for a long time, but still couldn't find a way the Black Goat could have had a sliver of a chance to survive or send out a message under these circumstances.

Then he looked at Yu Ziqing, thoughtful.

"Dispose of the Black Goat's corpse. Also, it should have an inner core—I want it."

In the end, they dug out an inner core the size of a pinky finger, which Old Yang swallowed in one gulp. The Black Goat's corpse, along with the wooden basin that had caught its blood, was thrown into the locust tree forest at the village entrance.

The layer of fallen leaves was like quicksand, quickly devouring everything thrown in.

This time, however, the locust tree forest showed a slight change.

A thin layer of blood aura and black qi rose from the thick leaf litter, then dispersed through the entire forest, absorbed by the locust trees.

Some of the withered, gray leaves and flowers on the trees regained their vitality, and new shoots even sprouted from some branches. A chill wind materialized out of nowhere in the locust tree forest, stirring the hanging flowers into a rustling, indistinct murmur.

Thanks to Eighth-Level Pig Herder for the ten thousand point coin tip, and for the generous support.