Wang Yuantong pursued him for at least a thousand miles, racing after the traces of Li Yun's lingering aura.
But the Icefield was vast and snowbound, its terrain complex and ever-changing. Li Yun had been exceptionally skilled at erasing his tracks, and within half a day, that faint trace of aura vanished into the endless snow, leaving Wang Yuantong with nothing to follow.
"Damn it!"
Wang Yuantong stopped before a frozen gorge. Staring at the snow around him without a single clue to guide him, he ground his teeth in fury. Even his aura as a Middle Sage wavered with anger.
He had never dreamed Li Yun could wind his way across the Icefield and leave him so utterly behind.
At that moment, Li Yun had circled back like a ghost. Rather than fleeing far away, he had slipped to within a hundred miles of Shattered Rift Gorge.
He found a secluded cave whose entrance lay buried beneath thick snow and icicles. From outside, nothing looked amiss.
Hidden there, Li Yun finally relaxed. Each day, he leisurely took prepared delicacies and fine wine from the Myriad Wonders World, savoring them in small bites and sips while watching the Transmission Herald's subordinates patrol the gorge through a crack in the cave. Now and then, he tilted his head to catch scraps of their conversation.
The Transmission Herald's subordinates were highly vigilant, but after so long on the Icefield, they had grown somewhat complacent. Every word of their patrol chatter and orders reached Li Yun's ears.
"His Excellency the Transmission Herald has ordered us to rotate patrols daily. We must secure the hundred-mile perimeter and let no suspicious person approach, especially those hunting groups from Carter City."
"I hear the convergence of fortune from the three lower planes has advanced another ten