“Who dares to slaughter my Azure Mystic disciples?”

“The ambush was decisive. Silent. Ruthless.”

“And they were subjected to a Soul Search.”

Not far from Falling Rain Valley, Shi Siling stood over a row of corpses, her expression grave.

The anomaly in the valley, her Master’s severe injuries, the realization that the valley was a trap, and now the chaos at the Celestial Gate—event after event had struck with breathless speed. Only now did Shi Siling have a moment to investigate the massacre of the disciples stationed outside the valley.

But the deeper she dug, the colder her blood ran.

Azure Mystic had been determined to seize the Fated Chance. Her own personal disciple, Bian Yifei, had led the expedition. Yet, of the three hundred disciples sent, only ten had entered the valley. The rest had been ordered to return to the sect immediately.

They never made it home.

They were intercepted and butchered just miles from the valley exit.

The killers were terrifyingly efficient. The Azure Mystic disciples hadn’t even managed to put up a fight. Before they died, their souls had been forcibly scoured for information.

Worse, the killers had erased the sect’s tracking marks.

“To kill my disciples is one thing,” Shi Siling murmured, her eyes narrowing. “But to completely obliterate the Azure Mystic Soul Seals without leaving a trace… These people are not just powerful. They are intimately familiar with our methods.”

Azure Mystic placed protective seals on its inner disciples. Usually, if one was killed, the sect could use the seal to view the victim’s final moments. To erase it so cleanly required insider knowledge.

“We haven’t held the title of Sacred Land for long, but we are not weak. No ordinary faction would dare provoke us like this.”

“Could it be… another Sacred Land?”

Shi Siling’s pupils contracted.

To be targeted by a peerless power while her Master was critically injured was a nightmare scenario. A tightening noose.

Yet, one question gnawed at her.

“If another Sacred Land is behind this, what were they looking for? Why Soul Search mere Foundation Establishment disciples? They know nothing of our core secrets.”

She felt a massive, invisible net closing in on her sect. The air smelled of conspiracy.

Hum.

Suddenly, the spiritual pressure in the air shifted. Shi Siling turned her head sharply toward the valley.

“The Grand Formation has stopped. They are coming out.”

Without hesitation, she launched herself into the sky, streaking toward the valley entrance. She had lingered here for days, not just to investigate the murders, but to question the survivors. They were the only ones who knew the truth.

As she landed at the entrance, Shi Siling frowned.

Hundreds of eyes turned toward her. They were not friendly.

Elders from the Four Sects and Two Clans stared at her with undisguised hostility. The expedition had been a bloodbath. Half a month ago, 250 disciples had entered. Now, the waiting elders were anxious, fearing the worst.

Among the crowd, one group stood out.

The Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

Despite having a Nascent Soul expert leading them, they had retreated the moment the “Fated Chance” appeared, refusing to enter the danger zone. The other sects had mocked their cowardice, but now, looking at the grim faces of the other elders, the Pavilion seemed to be the only winner. They had suffered zero casualties.

“Here they come!”

“They’re coming out!”

Figures stumbled out of the misty passage. Shi Siling suppressed her anxiety and scanned the crowd, waiting for the familiar robes of Azure Mystic.

The atmosphere at the exit quickly turned from anticipation to grief.

“Father… your daughter failed you. I brought the Sha Clan disciples back, but we found nothing.”

“Martial Uncle! The Bibo Sect lost three Junior Sisters! We gained nothing. It is all Xueqing’s fault!”

“Master, the Baiqi Sect survived, but we return empty-handed. Please punish us.”

“Senior Brother Fan… he was murdered! We watched him die! Sob…”

Dejection hung over the valley entrance like a shroud.

Most of the survivors looked like they had been through hell for nothing. They had been threatened and enslaved by Azure Mystic disciples, swept away by black windstorms, and dumped into nests of Rain Ghosts. Not only did they fail to find the Fated Chance, but many had also been robbed of their own treasures.

Shi Siling ignored their wailing. Her face darkened with every passing second.

The Azure Mystic disciples… were not among them.

“Where are they?” she whispered.

Although Azure Mystic had sent only ten disciples inside, those ten were the cream of the crop—the strongest Foundation Establishment cultivators the sect had to offer. They were the future pillars of the sect. Their strength was absolute. They shouldn’t be the last to emerge.

She noticed the survivors casting strange, fearful glances in her direction.

“They’re out! The Pavilion is out!”

A cheer erupted from the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion camp.

Wan Xiaobei walked out first, her expression somber but dignified. Behind her, a full hundred people followed. They were battered, a few limping, but all hundred had returned alive.

Shi Siling glanced at them dismissively and looked past them into the tunnel.

Silence stretched.

The mist swirled emptily.

Of the 250 cultivators who entered, over 230 had returned. Only a dozen were missing.

And the entire Azure Mystic team was among the missing.

Wiped out?

“Halt!”

Seeing the various sects preparing to depart, Shi Siling’s voice rang out, icy and commanding. The pressure of a Half-Step Supreme Venerable slammed down, freezing everyone in place.

“What?” an elder from a minor sect snapped, though his voice trembled slightly. “Does Peak Master Shi think bullying us inside the valley wasn’t enough? You plan to bully us outside too?”

“Azure Mystic schemed against us, used our disciples as cannon fodder, and you still aren’t satisfied?”

“We admit we cannot compare to the immense resources of a Sacred Land, but do not push us too far! Even clay figurines have a temper!”

The crowd erupted in angry murmurs.

Shi Siling frowned deeply. “What nonsense are you spouting? I only want to know one thing: Where are the Azure Mystic disciples?”

“Azure Mystic disciples?” A voice from the crowd spat with venom. “They got what they deserved! Retribution found them!”

Shi Siling’s eyes flashed cold.

She raised her hand. Spiritual energy surged, forming a claw that snatched the speaker from the crowd and dragged him to her feet.

It was a disciple of the Golden Blade Sect.

“What did you say?” Shi Siling demanded, her aura pressing down on him like a mountain.

The disciple’s face was pale, terror written in his eyes, but rage gave him a backbone. He gritted his teeth and shouted, “I said your sect is wicked! You bullied us, enslaved the Three Sects and Two Clans, and schemed to kill my Senior Brother Fan! You deserved it! They all died inside!”

“Dead?”

Shi Siling felt a shockwave go through her mind. “How? Speak!”

The disciple laughed maniacally. “How? They killed each other! Infighting! Backstabbing! Your precious disciples tried to sacrifice us all, then turned on each other like rabid dogs!”

“Ten of them! Some died to the Rain Ghosts, some murdered by their own kin! The only one with a shred of humanity was Fellow Daoist Ding Daoan, and even he was dragged down by your sect’s filth!”

The disciple shouted the story for all to hear, exposing every ugly deed Azure Mystic had committed in the valley.

The crowd watched in silence, their anger palpable.

Suddenly, the disciple’s laughter cut off. His eyes rolled back, pupils dilating into emptiness.

Shi Siling had lost patience. She placed her hand on his skull.

Soul Search.

“Shi Siling! You go too far!”

The Golden Blade Sect elders drew their weapons, their faces purple with rage. “You plotted against our prodigies, and now you publicly Soul Search our disciple? This is an act of war!”

“Relax. I didn’t kill him.”

Shi Siling tossed the unconscious disciple back to his sect like a sack of garbage. She wiped her hand on her sleeve, her expression indifferent.

“Besides,” she said, her voice dripping with arrogance, “if I did kill him… what could you possibly do about it?”

The Golden Blade elders froze. They glared at her, teeth grinding, veins bulging, but not a single one dared to move.

They swallowed their rage. Against a Sacred Land—against her—they were powerless.

Shi Siling ignored them. She closed her eyes, sifting through the stolen memories.

Something is wrong.

Everything is wrong.

The Rain Ghosts… their behavior was unnatural. Ding Daoan’s sudden betrayal… illogical. And her own disciples, crippling each other and dying in such a chaotic manner? It didn’t make sense.

It felt orchestrated.

Suddenly, Shi Siling’s eyes snapped open. She turned her head slowly, her gaze locking onto the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion camp.

Specifically, she looked at the figure in the bamboo hat standing silently among them.

Him.

He is the most wrong of all.

“You,” Shi Siling said, her voice cutting through the noise. “Your name is Feng Bugui?”

The sudden attention startled the Pavilion members. They instinctively shifted to shield Gu Xiu.

Gu Xiu, however, remained calm. He stepped forward slightly.

“Yes.”

He felt Shi Siling’s Divine Sense crash against him, probing his body, trying to pierce into his Dantian Qi Sea.

It hit a wall.

“Why…” Shi Siling frowned, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. “Why can’t This Venerable see through your cultivation?”

Gu Xiu raised an eyebrow beneath the bamboo hat but remained silent.

He knew why. The Five Elements Immortal Gate Dao Platform separated Immortal from Mortal. His foundation was no longer something a mere mortal—even a Half-Step Supreme—could easily inspect.

Shi Siling stepped closer, the pressure intensifying.

“You are the one who defeated my disciple, Bian Yifei, in a single move?”

“Correct,” Gu Xiu nodded.

“Good.”

Shi Siling stared at him, her killing intent spiking.

“Then This Venerable commands you.”

“Use that move.”

“On me.”

The crowd gasped. A challenge? From a Peak Master to a loose cultivator?

Gu Xiu looked at her calmly. He shook his head.

“That move cannot harm Peak Master Shi.”

“Oh?”

Shi Siling raised an eyebrow, a cold, predatory smile touching her lips.

“Does that mean… you possess other means that can harm This Venerable?”

Gu Xiu did not answer.

“Hmph!”

Shi Siling snorted, her aura exploding outward, suppressing the entire valley entrance.

“If you are confident you can harm This Venerable, then unleash it! Do not hold back!”

“This Venerable wants to see…”

“Just how a bug like you intends to make a Supreme bleed!”