Countermeasure

The reason he could pinpoint the target so accurately was that, at this moment, a lamp lit up on the crown of his head.

For Yu Ci, this sensation was very peculiar. With a mere thought, his forehead suddenly grew warm, as if light was surging, igniting a flame like a bean at the top of his head. It seemed as though a gust of wind would extinguish it, yet it continued to illuminate the void. The light, as if possessing sentience, focused on the target, and his entire vital energy adjusted to a state of readiness. If he didn't move, it was one thing, but if he did, it would be with the force of thunder.

The expressions of everyone opposite him changed.

The herb gatherers' expressions shifted not because of Yu Ci's sudden change in attitude, but because they suddenly felt that this fair-skinned young man, whose skin was even more delicate than a woman's, had suddenly grown an inch taller after turning around. His body also seemed to expand by a circle horizontally, as if he had inhaled a great deal of air, causing his refined features to appear somewhat ferocious. From this elevated position, he gazed down at them.

However, upon closer inspection, he was still the same person. He hadn't grown taller or become bulkier, nor did his face bear any fierce expression. Yet, the feeling emanating from him was one of unparalleled ferocity.

Among the herb gatherers, one man's legs suddenly went weak, and he simply sat down on the ground.

This was the person who had just harbored malicious intent. He was quite short and sturdy, fond of brawling. He had just taken advantage of the situation to gain some benefits, but he feared that after the fair-faced Daoist left, he would spread rumors everywhere, bringing disaster upon them. Therefore, he had secretly drawn his knife, preparing to signal his brothers to join him in finishing off this person.

Unexpectedly, before he could make any move, the fair-faced Daoist suddenly turned around, his gaze fixing directly on him. It was as sharp as a knife, piercing his heart as if gouging it out, and his entire chest cavity felt hollowed out! He couldn't catch his breath and almost suffocated.

With a companion falling to the ground, the remaining herb gatherers were also startled. At this moment, their individual thoughts became apparent. Some drew their swords directly, while others began to back away. Seven or eight people showed seven or eight different reactions, and the atmosphere in the forest instantly became extremely tense and chaotic. Of course, this was only true for a few of the herb gatherers.

Yu Ci couldn't help but chuckle at the reaction of this motley crew.

He was in a good mood. That glance was not intentional; it was a spontaneous reaction of his spirit and soul. The "lamp fire" that had just ignited was something he had never experienced during his previous cultivation, but it was closely related to his spirit and soul. It was very likely a unique change after achieving 통신, and he would need to study it carefully in the future.

He remained vigilant but still needed to resolve the immediate problem. Without further words, he, carrying the imposing aura that had terrified one person into paralysis, strode towards the direction of the corpse, arriving directly before it and squatting down to examine it.

None of the herb gatherers dared to make a move.

Even though Yu Ci considered himself quite courageous, his neck felt a slight chill upon seeing the condition of the corpse with his own eyes. The person's face had been smashed beyond recognition, and it wasn't just the face; from the head down, the entire upper body had few intact bones. With a slight touch, along with the skin and flesh, it felt brittle, clearly having been reduced to this state by an overwhelmingly powerful force.

From the posture of the corpse, he deduced that the person had been blasted away by immense strength, and he quickly identified the direction from which the person had flown.

Looking from his position, he indeed saw a pine tree snapped in half at the waist. It was only supported by the surrounding trees that it hadn't completely fallen. Through the gap of the broken tree, looking into the depths of the forest, he could vaguely imagine how this person beside him had been violently flung by a ferocious beast, snapping the pine tree, and finally falling here to meet his end.

At the same time, this resolved his earlier confusion. No wonder he hadn't found any traces of a fierce battle and felt that the scent of the ferocious beast was too faint; it turned out this wasn't the primary battlefield. The real battle was still in the depths of the forest.

Yu Ci noted the location and then looked down at the body again. What caught his attention was that although the person's clothing was quite disheveled after the fierce battle and the rummaging by these herb gatherers, when he lightly pinched the corner of the clothing, he couldn't speak to the quality of the material, but it felt both soft and resilient, suggesting it was valuable.

Someone like this was not likely to be here to gather herbs!

With this thought, Yu Ci successively lifted the corpse's hands. As he expected, a ring was worn on the index finger of the person's left hand. It had slipped to the first knuckle. If he had arrived any later, this ring would have already become the spoils of war for these herb gatherers.

Yu Ci took it off. It had no ornamentation, but its style and feel were very familiar. Yes, this was a Storage Ring, exactly like the one on his own hand.

"Tsk, as expected, he's a cultivator."

He tossed the ring in his hand and stood up, intending to explain to the herb gatherers behind him. However, those people were at the peak of their tension. Seeing this, they mistook his intention as an attempt to silence them, letting out a unified cry and scattering in all directions, covering their heads.

With the ring still in his palm, Yu Ci was left standing there alone.

He was stunned for a moment, then chuckled wryly. In the end, wasn't this situation like him robbing them at the roadside?

However, he didn't care what image he projected in others' eyes. He settled his mind and focused his attention on the ring. He wanted to see what was inside and if there were any items that could prove the deceased's identity.

As soon as he willed it, the invisible "small hammer" struck.

There was a "clang" in his mind, but the "outer barrier" of the ring surprisingly couldn't be broken! Yu Ci was startled. He gripped it tightly and tried again, but the result was the same.

"Fake? It doesn't seem like it!" Yu Ci clearly felt that this ring contained a separate space, far from ordinary objects. However, its outer layer seemed to be covered with a light veil of mist, blocking the sharpness of his divine thought and making it difficult to penetrate.

"It's probably been enchanted."

The so-called enchantment was a passive triggering mechanism of talismans attached to an item. Yu Ci was not entirely unfamiliar with this technique. When he was in the Twin Immortals Sect, he had seen Purple Thunder and Crimson Yin use this method on secret rooms and important items, and he had also seen unfortunate souls who had triggered these enchantments and met a miserable end.

His memory of this magical technique was quite profound.

As it appeared now, the enchantment on the Storage Ring didn't seem as dangerous as those set by the Twin Immortals, but Yu Ci couldn't find a way to open it for the time being.

"Might as well keep it for now," Yu Ci thought. After a moment's consideration, he put the ring away. To his slight surprise, the Storage Ring couldn't enter a similar space; he had to place it elsewhere.

After doing all this, he followed the trajectory of the corpse's flight and the residual scent of the ferocious beast, slowly walking into the depths of the forest. In less than a moment, he arrived at the battlefield within.

The scene that greeted his eyes made him involuntarily widen his eyes, because what was presented before him was a blinding expanse of scorched earth.

This was truly scorched earth. Across an area of about an acre, no plant life remained. There was only residual warmth in the ashes. The rocks, half-exposed from the ground, seemed to have been baked brittle; with a light touch, they crumbled into a pile. In the center of the scorched earth was a hemispherical depression, not very deep, but along the edge of the depression, thousands of long, thin cracks spread out radially. The longest cracks had already extended beyond the scorched earth, deep into the forest.

This was the source of the strong scorching smell from outside.

Yu Ci walked over and first marveled at what kind of power could create such marks on the ground. More curiously, why hadn't he heard any sound of the impact that caused this situation while he was on the mountain earlier?

However, his eyes soon couldn't move away. On the ground around the edge of the depression, he saw very familiar patterns and structures. Although they were torn to shreds by thousands of cracks, he was certain they were definitely talisman patterns, and moreover, they belonged to one of the demon and ghost patterns he knew.

There were not only demon and ghost patterns on the ground. After careful examination, Yu Ci discovered that within a radius of about ten feet centered on the depression, the three major talisman pattern systems recorded in the "Shangqing Juxuan Xing Shu Mi Shou Fu Jing"—the Cloud Seal Thunder Script, the Dragon Script Phoenix Script, and the Demon and Ghost Patterns—could all be found in fragments. From this perspective, it looked like a giant jade talisman placed flat on the ground.