Early the next morning, when the first wan yellow light barely pierced the clouds, Greenstone Valley already felt different. There were noticeably fewer cultivators on the streets, and those who remained mostly hurried along, their faces wary and watchful. At the valley entrance, the guards had been replaced by cultivators at the Golden Core Peak, their expressions solemn, as though facing a formidable enemy.
An invisible sense of oppression hung over the entire valley.
Ye Chen stood on the upper floor overlooking the inn's small courtyard, gazing into the distance from the railing. His eyes passed over rows of stone buildings and settled on the valley entrance. Through his dual pupils, he could faintly see an imposing, domineering aura slowly surging into the valley like a searing golden tide.
"They're here," he murmured.
Emperor Xuanwu appeared soundlessly beside him, a sharp gleam flashing through his cloudy old eyes. "A concentrated aura, carrying the pressure of someone long accustomed to command, and... the scent of blood. The Sacred Emperor Palace seems to follow a path combining kingly authority with tyrannical might. With killing intent concealed within, they're certainly no easy lot to deal with."
Ye Chen nodded slightly. He had sensed it too. The aura of the man leading the procession was not merely powerful; it carried the iron and blood of countless campaigns.
Soon, hoofbeats and heavy footsteps drew nearer, breaking the valley's silence.
A procession of twelve or thirteen people appeared at the far end of the main road leading from the valley entrance and slowly advanced.
At its head was a middle-aged general wearing dark gold armor adorned with coiling dragons, his face stern and his eyes as sharp as a hawk's. He sat astride an exceptionally magnificent crimson Horned Dragon Horse with a single horn on its head, an ancient-looking broadsword hanging at his waist. Though he kept his aura restrained, he naturally radiated a pressure that made hearts tremble. He was none other than the Golden-Armored General at the Spirit Transformation Late Stage.
Behind him followed ten fierce-looking guards in matching regulation silver armor, their cultivation ranging from the Nascent Soul Middle Stage to the late stage. Their steps were perfectly synchronized, their eyes cold as they scanned the cultivators on either side of the street, as though inspecting their own territory. At the rear followed two old men dressed as civil officials. Their cultivation was only at the Golden Core Realm, but their eyes were shrewd, and they constantly jotted things down.
The procession's arrival made the already oppressive street so silent that a falling pin could have been heard. Every cultivator instinctively lowered their head or stepped aside. None dared meet the Golden-Armored General's gaze, much less make a sound.
An inspector of the Sacred Emperor Palace! A representative of the Primordial Realm's rightful authority, wielding the power to grant life or decree death!
The procession headed at an unhurried pace toward the tallest building in the valley's center, the Many Treasures Pavilion. Clearly, it would serve as the inspector's temporary residence.
"Hmph. Quite the show they're putting on." Shi Meng had joined them upstairs at some point. Watching the procession swagger through the street below, he curled his lip. "They don't look half as imposing as any random patrol from our Ye Clan."
His words were not entirely empty boasting. The Ye Clan ruled over two thousand seven hundred great worlds, and its reserves were unfathomable. Even its most ordinary patrol guards possessed equipment, cultivation, and bearing far beyond anything this procession could match.
Ye Chen ignored Shi Meng's grumbling, his gaze remaining fixed on the Golden-Armored General. The man seemed to sense it. As he passed near Ye Chen's inn, his sharp eyes suddenly lifted, like two tangible beams of golden light piercing through space and shooting straight toward the upper floor!
The instant their gazes met, Ye Chen distinctly felt a sweep of divine sense carrying scrutiny, pressure, and a barely perceptible hint of probing curiosity.
Ye Chen's expression did not change. The primordial chaos purple qi within him circulated slightly, dissolving both the invisible pressure and the probing divine sense without a trace. He even gave the Golden-Armored General below a mild, distant smile.
A flicker of surprise and uncertainty crossed the Golden-Armored General's eyes. As a Spirit Transformation Late Stage cultivator, his divine sense was immensely powerful. A mere glance from him would likely leave an ordinary Nascent Soul Cultivator trembling in spirit, unable to remain composed. Yet that absurdly young-looking nobleman upstairs had not only remained untroubled, but had also dispelled his probing with such ease?
Moreover, the aura surrounding him... it was pure and profound, with a transcendent quality utterly out of place in this wasteland, or even the entire Primordial Realm.
This man... is no ordinary figure. The Golden-Armored General reached that conclusion instantly. He withdrew his gaze and paid no further attention, urging his mount onward. Yet Ye Chen's image had already been etched deep into his mind.
The procession receded into the distance, finally disappearing in the direction of the Many Treasures Pavilion.
The oppressive atmosphere in the streets did not disperse with it. Instead, it grew even heavier. The arrival of the Sacred Emperor Palace's inspector was like a massive boulder cast into a pool already roiling with hidden currents, leaving everyone uneasy.
"Young master, that fellow seems to have noticed us," Ye Yun said gravely, his hand resting on his sword hilt the whole time.
"It doesn't matter." Ye Chen turned and headed downstairs. "If he doesn't provoke us, we have no need to stir up trouble. But if he's too blind to know better..."
He left the rest unsaid, but his meaning was clear.
"Mo Yu," Ye Chen instructed, "keep a close watch on the Many Treasures Pavilion, especially the inspector's next moves."
"Yes," came Mo Yu's reply from the shadows.
"Xiao Shan, have you made any progress studying the fragment?"
Ye Xiaoshan hurried over from the corner, holding the fragment and the Black Iron Piece, excitement and confusion mingling on his face. "Young master, I have, but... it's gotten even stranger! Over the past two days, I've tried every method I could, including the techniques you taught me for awakening ancient objects. The resonance between them has indeed grown stronger, and sometimes those broken lines and symbols even appear on both at once. But I discovered... they don't seem to be pointing only toward each other!"
He pointed at a symbol on the fragment that had just faded, then at an extremely fine scratch along the edge of the Black Iron Piece. "Look. When the resonance reaches its strongest point, this symbol and this scratch light up together, and... they point northeast, beyond the valley! That seems to be... somewhere deeper within the Blood Skull Stronghold's lair!"
Ye Chen took the fragment and the Black Iron Piece and carefully sensed them. Sure enough, apart from their resonance with each other, there was an exceedingly faint guiding force, as fine as spider silk, pointing far to the northeast.
Deep within the Blood Skull Stronghold? Could there be a third piece there, or even more fragments?
The interest in Ye Chen's eyes deepened. The secret bound up with this Nameless Fragment seemed to be growing ever greater.
"Well done, Xiaoshan," Ye Chen praised him. "Keep studying them. See if you can pinpoint the location more precisely."
He already had a plan in mind. The Sacred Emperor Palace's inspector, the Blood Skull Stronghold, the mysterious fragments... these threads seemed to be slowly converging.
All he needed to do was watch how things unfolded, then muddy the waters completely at the right moment and seize the greatest possible gains.
He glanced toward the Many Treasures Pavilion, then looked northeast toward the Blood Skull Stronghold, a calm smile playing at his lips as though everything lay within his grasp.
The real show had only just begun.
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