Blood-Listening Tower

Qin Yiren fell silent for a moment after hearing this.

She had not expected such a thing. The two of them could be said to share some fate: both had received guidance from the Dharma King, and the treasure jade Xu Yan had sold to the Treasure Pavilion had circled around and ended up in Qin Yiren's hands.

In a sense, this calamity had fallen upon Qin Yiren's head as well.

She said, "Brother Xu, thank you for telling me all this. You mean the people hunting me are from Immortal Jade?"

"Most likely. The Primordial Yin Treasure Jade is extremely precious, an item of the Primordial Imperial Clan. Any disciple granted such an item must hold an extraordinary status within the Immortal Jade Sect." Xu Yan continued, "But based on what you said earlier, those pursuing you acted strangely and excelled at ambushes. That is not the Immortal Jade Sect's style. Besides, this is Divine Sect territory. They would not dare casually send disciples here to investigate this matter."

The Immortal Treasury was meant to select registered disciples for the Dragon Ridge Hundred Academies.

The Divine Sect acted with considerable tyranny. If disciples from other sects rashly entered and were discovered, their fate would be unimaginably miserable. They might even bring a catastrophe upon their own sect.

Qin Yiren drew a deep breath, her gaze icy. "Eight hundred spirit stones, and I bought myself trouble."

"What do you plan to do next?" Xu Yan asked solemnly.

If Xu Yan's deduction was correct, this matter had become rather complicated.

Qin Yiren's cultivation was not weak, yet she had still suffered grievous injuries. And those people liked to launch sneak attacks from the shadows, so their concealment arts must be exceptional. Who knew when they might suddenly strike you with a divine ability? Living every day on tenterhooks was no pleasant feeling.

"Something that has reached my hands—how could there be any reason to return it? What's more, I bought this item with spirit stones," Qin Yiren said evenly.

They did not dare seek an explanation from the Treasure Pavilion, merely because they feared the Dragon Ridge Hundred Academies and the Taiyuan Divine Sect. So they could only settle for the next best thing and try to reclaim the treasure jade from Qin Yiren.

At that, Xu Yan had Qin Yiren take out the Primordial Yin Treasure Jade.

The two carefully inspected it, but found no imprint of another person's divine sense.

Those pursuers had managed to find Qin Yiren within the vast Immortal Treasury and had followed her nearly all the way since the treasury opened, clinging like cowhide candy. Yet no one knew what method they had used.

"Brother Xu, are you sure you still want to travel with me?" Qin Yiren asked.

"Of course. So long as you do not mind me holding you back, Fellow Daoist," Xu Yan teased.

Qin Yiren pursed her lips. Some of the chill in her expression faded, and she smiled.

In her view, although Xu Yan's cultivation was somewhat weaker, the divine abilities of his Eight-Nine Profound Art were not weak in the slightest. His divine sense was also powerful, and during their previous time together, she had discovered that Xu Yan's attainments in Mystic Gate arts were extraordinary.

If they traveled together, he would clearly be a tremendous help. There was no question of anyone holding the other back.

The two emerged from underground.

Outside lay an enormous valley, a depression amid the great mountains.

It was deep in the night. Cold moonlight hung in the sky, while the wind howled through the mountains like ghosts crying and wolves howling, sending shivers down one's spine.

They decided to head first for Spirit-Sealing City in the central region.

Just then, the whistle of gold sounded from beyond the sky, descending toward Xu Yan.

As though in thought, Xu Yan reached out and caught it.

It was a Gold Whistle Talisman sent by Fang Che.

"Is Brother Xu well? We have arrived at Spirit-Sealing City and await Brother Xu's arrival. Then we shall set off together."

"All is well. I shall arrive before long."

Xu Yan gave a brief reply, then activated the Gold Whistle Talisman.

Seeing this, Qin Yiren casually asked, "A friend of Brother Xu's?"

Xu Yan nodded. "A group of independent cultivators I met. You know how it is—within this Immortal Treasury, disciples of great clans run wild and throw their weight around. If we independent cultivators do not band together, it will be difficult for us to make it out."

"Not every person from a great clan is like that." Qin Yiren curled her lips and casually remarked.

At least, she was not someone who enjoyed bullying the weak with her strength.

For this journey into the Dragon Ridge Immortal Treasury, Heavenly Capital City had intended to send people to protect her, but Qin Yiren had refused them all. She had come alone, bringing only a maidservant.

The two rode Mystic Qi, flying through the mountains beneath the night sky.

Before long, Xu Yan suddenly frowned.

He immediately stopped and landed atop a small hill. The Miaoyuan Edict emerged in his palm, and Xu Yan's divine sense spread outward like ripples, blanketing the land within seventy zhang.

"The aura is strange and cold. A Daoist passed through here at high speed not long ago," Xu Yan said cautiously.

"It is their aura. There is no mistake!"

Qin Yiren's expression immediately tightened as well. The surrounding mountains loomed in the night like savage monsters, made all the more terrifying beneath the cold moonlight.

Those auras were ghostly and furtive, enough to make one cover one's nose.

Xu Yan and Qin Yiren proceeded with utmost care, their nerves taut at every moment.

Perhaps those people deliberately enjoyed acting this way, intentionally leaving behind traces of their Dao arts. To cautious cultivators, this was simply torture, for they never knew when an attack might suddenly come.

Just as Xu Yan had expected.

The two flew eastward for another two hours. The sun could vaguely be seen rising dimly, yet there was not even a shadow of those people.

However, just as the two were beginning to relax—

All of a sudden, the aura of heaven and earth ahead to their right turned cold. Xu Yan noticed it at once, and the [Wondrous Method] Edict Script in his left palm also sensed an unusual air of danger.

Wondrous Method in his left hand, Fortune Edict in his right.

Xu Yan had yet to fully uncover the uses of these two Edict Scripts, but one thing was certain: Wondrous Method could seek out and break formations, discern the aura that stabilized heaven and earth, sensing every minute trace. Fortune Edict could naturally appraise and seek treasures.

"They're here. There are three of them!"

Xu Yan reacted swiftly. He grabbed Qin Yiren's slender arm and dove toward a small mountain below.

The moment they landed, Xu Yan used the Breath-Concealing Technique, gathering both his and Qin Yiren's auras until they were utterly clean, as though they had vanished from heaven and earth.

Before coming to the Dragon Spine Mountain Range, the original owner had often run his mouth, swaggering about and cheating people. Whenever his lies were exposed, he would flee. This was precisely the sort of art he excelled at, one he had long practiced to perfection.

The two hid within the forest.

Xu Yan could smell wisps of girlish fragrance from Qin Yiren's body. They stood so close that they were nearly pressed together, and her breathing sounded beside his ear.

Qin Yiren stared at Xu Yan with wide, beautiful eyes. Her slender arm was caught in his grasp, her entire body tense. Her cool gaze trembled faintly, like two pools of spring water.

She seemed to want to speak, yet stopped herself. She did not pull away.

Barely twenty breaths after they concealed themselves, three gray-robed Daoists arrived through the air from the distant horizon.

Their faces were pallid and expressionless, as if they were corpses.

Yet their presence was truly terrifying!

At least Pulse Opening eighth level.

The three gray-robed men exchanged glances, seeming somewhat puzzled. After scanning their surroundings, they departed again.

"It was them. Though their appearances and clothing were different, that Dao aura definitely came from the same source!" Qin Yiren said, her gaze trembling.

"Could they be cultivators from the Blood-Listening Tower?" Xu Yan asked thoughtfully.

"Blood-Listening Tower?" Qin Yiren frowned.

The original owner had not yet been at Dragon Spine Mountain last year. He had once helped a young master from a minor clan he encountered on the road with a divination. Later, the man discovered that he had been swindled. The young master had been so enraged that he declared he would hire people from the Blood-Listening Tower to hunt him down.

Xu Yan remembered it vividly, because that had been his biggest deal: he had cheated that young master out of a full ten high-grade spirit stones.

Later, people from the Blood-Listening Tower really had appeared in the city, terrifying the original owner into fleeing in panic. But those Blood-Listening Tower cultivators had not come for Xu Yan. Rather, the head of a prominent clan in the city had been assassinated.

But Xu Yan would never forget that aura. It had been the same as the three just now, enough to make one tremble.