Hundred Sects Tournament · Golden Core Finals (14)

Just as Lin Sheng and Wu He's minds reeled and their vigilance slackened for an instant—Zhou Wan's figure silently faded away.

It was neither an afterimage created by speed nor invisibility achieved through spellcraft. Rather, it was like a brush drenched in ink pausing lightly upon rice paper, its mark blending completely into the paper's grain, the play of light and shadow, until they became indistinguishable.

Her figure, aura, even her sense of presence, melded into the mottled snow shadows, swaying tree shade, and jagged outlines of strange rocks around her, leaving no trace behind.

By the time Lin Sheng and Wu He jolted back to their senses from the shock of having their secret exposed and tried to lock onto her again, there was already nothing left where she had stood.

What chilled them even more was that seeing through Murong Xing's "Heart-Disordering Art" had not brought the clarity they had expected.

The agitation, suspicion, and naked killing intent stirred and amplified by an invisible hand had not subsided. Instead, like a wildfire doused with oil, they burned ever more fiercely against the defenses of reason.

"It was you! You and she have been in this together all along!" Lin Sheng glared fixedly at Wu He, bloodshot veins spreading through his eyes.

"Heh, a thief crying thief!" Wu He sneered, an almost unprecedented frenzy written across his face.

The last foundation of their cooperation completely collapsed. Neither could spare attention for anything else. Amid roars and shrieks, vines writhed like enraged pythons, while the once more controlled gu insects—no longer disrupted by Zhou Wan—turned into poisonous miasma. They crashed together once again in the devastated woods and fought viciously.

Meanwhile, Zhou Wan, now one with the shadows and utterly devoid of aura, used the chaos as cover. Like a