High above, the moon shone bright among sparse stars.
Everything bathed in the moonlight's heavenly frost seemed draped in silver gauze. Two hazy figures raced through the dense woods: Pu Hui and Gao Yihua of the Dao Registry Bureau.
Several years earlier, when Li Ling had happened upon Yin Changming, he had met them once.
Flying low, the two conversed through voice transmissions. "We've confirmed that he intends to head north to Cloud Province and find somewhere to settle, but he hasn't moved as fast as we have. Enough men have already been assembled along the border. Once we lock onto the Dragon Vein's aura, we can begin the hunt.
"The higher-ups want him taken alive if possible. But someone who could seize that treasure with so many powerful enemies watching him like tigers certainly won't be easy to handle. I wouldn't count on it."
"Of course. We're the ones doing the actual work. Naturally, decisions in the field should be ours to make."
Their words betrayed considerable dissatisfaction with their superiors' orders.
Their opponent was clearly an expert at concealment. After finally tracking him down, the proper course was to use everything they had to kill him. Talking about taking him alive was easy when you weren't the one bearing the burden.
As far as Pu Hui and Gao Yihua knew, he was an exceedingly mysterious, nameless expert. Even the Three Sects knew nothing of his background.
Without their means of tracking the Dragon Vein and going straight to the root of the matter, he might well have escaped this time.
This was unprecedented since the Dao Registry Bureau's establishment. No matter how powerful an expert was, his movements always left traces. By following the vine to the melon, they could track anyone down; nobody could truly come and