Deep in the forest, three figures raced toward one another from different directions.
Xiao Han wore a brocade robe, his face sinister. The aura of the seventh stage of Meridian Opening circulated around him, pressing the shrubs along his path until they rustled.
He held a jade talisman glowing red.
Blood-colored patterns faintly flowed across its surface, pulsing slightly like a living thing.
"Senior Brother Xiao, over here."
Wang Yan slipped out from behind an ancient tree, a fawning smile on his face.
"I knew someone as capable as you would find me right away, Senior Brother Xiao."
Xiao Han merely gave him a cold glance without speaking.
Wang Yan paid it no mind and shamelessly continued, "Senior Brother Xiao, the mission Master gave me was to kill that Lin Shisan."
"Shut up."
Xiao Han cut him off coldly, his gaze sweeping deeper into the forest.
A moment later, a gray figure emerged from the darkness.
Ling Feng.
A Core Disciple of the Ling Household at the peak of the sixth stage of Meridian Opening, with one foot already in the Seventh Heaven.
His expression was stern and his gaze sharp as he glanced at the jade talisman in Xiao Han's hand. "Senior Brother Xiao, have you found him?"
"Not yet."
Xiao Han put away the jade talisman, the faintest trace of a sinister smile curling his lips.
"But soon."
"This Tracking Talisman is an ancestral treasure of my Xiao Household. As long as he's still inside the secret realm, he won't escape my grasp."
Ling Feng nodded and turned to Wang Yan. "Are you sure he's only at the third stage of Meridian Opening? That he isn't hiding his strength?"
"Absolutely."
Wang Yan thumped his chest in assurance. "During the Grand Examination, he was only at the eighth layer