Night lay heavy over the western district of Luo Kou Town. The salty sea breeze mingled with the stench of rotting refuse as it threaded through narrow, damp alleys. Han Li's figure melted into the shadows at a wall's corner like a phantom, his aura suppressed until he seemed no different from a stone. A barely perceptible wisp of dark silver fiend qi slowly withdrew into his fingertip. The last traces of life left in the short, stout traitor and his black-clad contact had vanished completely.
With a flick of his fingers, true fire burned away every trace, but Han Li did not leave immediately. Azure light flickered in his Profound Yin Spirit Eye as he surveyed the slums. An exceedingly faint yin fiend aura lingered in the air, sharing the same origin as the energy within the black-clad man, though it was far more diluted and impure. Clearly, the man had not come alone. This place was likely a secret contact point for the Black Skeleton Pirates.
His figure blurred, and he slipped soundlessly into the residence where the short, stout cultivator had stayed earlier. The courtyard was cluttered and smelled of mildew. Beneath the bed in the main room was a crude hidden compartment. Besides several dozen Lower-Grade Spirit Stones and a few bottles of low-tier pills, it contained a black iron token engraved with a skull-and-blade motif and several letters written in a special cipher.
Han Li picked up the token. It felt icy to the touch. Probing it with his spiritual sense, he detected a faint fluctuation from a restriction; it was probably proof of identity. He then picked up the letters. The cipher was too complex to decipher immediately, but the frequent appearance of words such as "Jade Conch," "Island Lord's Residence," and "goods" made