The middle-aged man stopped at the entrance of the ruined temple.
He then crouched down, pinched up a bit of ash and dirt from the ground, and brought it to his nose to sniff. His brow furrowed slightly.
He rose and walked into the temple, pausing for a moment where the snake demon had turned to ashes. He took a palm-sized bronze mirror from his robes, formed a hand seal, and murmured an incantation.
A faint green light spread across the mirror's surface, revealing lingering traces on the ground that could not be seen with the naked eye.
A moment later, he put away the bronze mirror, his expression turning rather grim.
"It is indeed the aura left behind by that traitor," he said in a low voice.
"He fought someone here, and... he died."
The two young men behind him both changed expression upon hearing this. "Dead? He stole the Mountain Lord's spirit plant and even abducted... and he just died? Can you detect any other auras?"
The middle-aged man shook his head.
"The aura cuts off here. I can't sense the spirit plant or their whereabouts. Whoever acted either has a method to conceal their aura, or... they have already gone far away."
He fell silent for a moment, then turned and walked out of the temple. A glint of coldness flashed through his eyes.
"Pursue them! No matter who killed him, the spirit plant must be recovered! If we fail to catch up and the Mountain Lord blames us, none of the three of us can bear that responsibility."
The three dark figures flickered and vanished into the mountain forest.
Shen Chu and the other two hurried onward.
The youth and the woman looked frail, but their stamina was not lacking.
In less than half a