Clues

The green-haired youth departed, taking the corpse from the ground with him. Not a single trace of blood remained.

Jin Qing sipped her tea, her eyes narrowing slightly as a sharp light flickered within their depths. She murmured to herself, "This is getting more and more interesting. Who exactly are you? And what kind of person..."

A long time passed.

She finished her tea, set down the cup, and stood up to pace away. Some things simply had to be made clear.

When subordinates handle matters, they rarely meet expectations.

........

In the slums of Nether Capital's outer city, Xu Xian pulled a few strings and spent a bit of coin to rent an independent, dilapidated courtyard from a local thug.

The courtyard wasn't large; it was even smaller than the residence of Wen Qingxue where he had stayed when he first went up the mountain, but fortunately, it was sufficient.

He set up formations around the courtyard. This time, he didn't use the Heaven-Sealing Trapping Formation. That thing was too expensive, and he needed to save where he could.

The main issue was that he was currently being watched by the other party using special means.

A Heaven-Sealing Trapping Formation wouldn't be very effective. Although the aura of the two eighth-rank greater demon kings had not reappeared since he had skewered the fellow who came to test him, he knew they were still there.

Currently, the highest-ranking individuals in the surrounding area were only at the third or fourth rank.

However, Xu Xian knew very well that the other party's eyes were still fixed on him.

Presently, there were only two ways to leave the Demon Abyss silently: either find the source and break the other party's surveillance methods, or come to an agreement with them.

Obviously.

Xu Xian could do neither of these for the time being.

Moreover, he couldn't leave yet. After all his effort, he hadn't achieved his goal. The Shadow Soul Stones in his hand, including those he had stolen, amounted to a mere forty thousand—a far cry from his expected one hundred million.

However.

While building the tower was important, his life was more so.

He still needed to make several preparations. Even if he was certain the other party wouldn't move against him in the short term, nothing was absolute.

What if?

As for the joke he told the little book spirit about using his senior brothers' names to intimidate them, that was even more nonsensical.

When he left, he hadn't told his senior brothers and sisters that he was coming to the Demon Abyss. Only Lu Yuan knew, and if he died here, Lu Yuan would likely follow soon after.

Then he would have died for nothing.

He could certainly take a gamble, but losing that bet meant losing his life.

He wasn't like that girl Tu Kongkong; gambling with his life would be foolish.

So...

He had to keep a trump card. He set up a teleportation array in the small courtyard and then left with the little book spirit, wandering aimlessly through Nether Capital. At one point, he even strolled to the base of the city wall, but he never showed any intention of leaving.

It was as if he were just window shopping.

Yet, in silence, he secretly planted formation anchors in various dark, deserted corners. If he encountered danger, a single thought would allow him to traverse through these teleportation arrays rapidly.

By then, if he managed to cultivate nether fire, he would go underwater to dig for stones and then reach the seventh stage. Afterward, he would take the water route from the bottom of the Nether Pool, following the Nether River out of the city and all the way to the end of the Nether Creek.

Nether water was impenetrable to the divine sense of all things. Once inside, no matter how heaven-reaching one's deduction, divination, or insight techniques were, they would ultimately be useless.

If he couldn't learn this nether fire...

No, Xu Xian had to learn it. Making money in the Demon Abyss was already hard enough, and now that he was being watched, if he couldn't learn it, he would truly be screwed.

The other party wouldn't give him much time—ten days, a month... or perhaps a bit longer. If the person they suspected to be behind him failed to appear, they would lose patience sooner or later.

There was no doubt about that.

Having planted nearly a hundred formation anchors in one go, Xu Xian secretly encouraged himself.

He hurried back to the dilapidated residence without stopping and began practicing the Lan family's heart method, attempting to control demon qi.

After several improvements by the little book spirit, Xu Xian could already sense the existence of demon qi when he operated the cultivation technique.

Even if the sensation was extremely faint, Xu Xian firmly believed that as long as he could sense it, he could control it.

Take it slow.

Seek speed through stability.

On the other side, Jin Qing was clad in a black robe, completely concealing her golden hair and demon horns.

She activated the bloodline divine ability of the heavenly demon race, Guixu, retracing the path Xu Xian had just taken. She would stop at every place where he had lingered.

She scrutinized every detail, unwilling to overlook even the slightest clue.

She stopped beneath a blood-colored tree, brushed aside the weeds and fallen leaves at its base, and detected a tiny formation anchor. Outside the anchor, a small concealment spell had been used for cover.

This kind of formation was very subtle. Ordinary demons, or even herself, would find it extremely difficult to discover if they didn't intentionally use their divine sense to probe.

She couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

"He truly is a genius with formations."

A formation within a formation, capable of being so stable and hidden, was not something an ordinary person could achieve.

To be able to set up more than one such formation silently and in such a short amount of time, this person's attainment in formations was definitely not low.

She didn't take the initiative to break the formation Xu Xian had left behind, fearing she might startle the snake.

Based on the intelligence and information she had received, this youth was meticulous and extremely alert.

Otherwise, why would the scene at the Yuelai Inn have played out? She couldn't believe it was that girl Chi Ji who had noticed.

Furthermore.

Knowing he was being watched, he still chose to stay, yet he had unknowingly planted formation anchors to leave himself an escape route.

This also proved that this person was not only alert and meticulous but also incredibly bold.

Now, even Jin Qing herself couldn't figure out or be certain if there was anyone behind this child, or if he had any connection to the person who had slashed that sword strike...

However, as she delved deeper into the investigation and insight of the formation before her, her brows knit tighter and tighter.

In her eyes, which were as deep as a cold pool in summer, a flash of shock and disbelief actually crossed.

"This formation?"

"How could it be..."

She murmured to herself. An extremely bold guess flashed through her mind, then began to spread uncontrollably.

Jin Qing stood up and slowly turned her head, looking beyond the outer city with eyes full of gravity.

"You aren't a demon?"

"I hope I'm just overthinking..."

The concealment spell before her didn't use the demon qi of the Demon Abyss, but rather retained the spiritual qi of the world outside.

In the eyes of the creatures from the world outside, the Demon Abyss was desolate and barren.

Not in the literal sense of the land's fertility, but in the lack of heaven and earth spiritual qi.

In the entire Demon Abyss, there wasn't a single ripple of spiritual qi, not even a single spirit vein or half a spirit mine.

However.

There was a lot of covert trade between the two sides. Shadow Soul Stones from the Demon Abyss could flow out, and spirit stones from the outside could also circulate in.

The difference was that Shadow Soul Stones were of great use to the creatures outside, but spirit stones could only be used as decorations in the Demon Abyss.

Furthermore, as time passed, the spiritual qi within them would be neutralized and swallowed by demon qi.

Still, the households of heavenly demons, and even some earthly demons, would possess them.

The youth called Bai Mang had returned from the Blazing Fortress; it wasn't strange for him to have spirit stones on him.

But for a demon to use spirit stones to set up a formation—and a human formation at that—was inconceivable.

"Could it be something learned from the Twelve Immortal Demon Caves..."

If so, then he truly was extraordinarily gifted.

She didn't dare to speak with absolute certainty because she had already realized the youth's extraordinary nature.

Extraordinary people were naturally capable of doing strange things and could even change an era.

Of course.

She didn't dismiss her own guess either. Among the four great races of humans, demons, spirits, and demons, there were always some people with means beyond the ordinary who could blend into the territory of others with truth in falsehood.

If she could do it, then naturally others could as well. Perhaps, he really wasn't a demon.

What if he was actually a peerless sword immortal who had used a special divine ability to mask his aura and hide his cultivation realm?

If that was the case, what was his purpose? Was it really just the Nether Gate?

Would the great catastrophe she had deduced descend ahead of schedule?

Countless guesses flashed by, followed by constant denials and arguments.

She guessed boldly and verified carefully.

"It seems I really must see for myself."