Chapter 441: Hidden Master?

As night fell, a light rain began to drift down from the dark sky.

Several kilometers away from Cloud Sea Cliff, within a mountain forest, stood two figures—one tall and one short.

The tall, burly youth had rather disheveled hair and wore a necklace of Divine Power Beads around his neck, resembling the court beads worn by ancient ministers.

The number of beads was extraordinarily large!

In his hand, he also gripped a golden monk's staff; its craftsmanship was exceptionally exquisite, with large rings encircling smaller ones at the staff's head, occasionally emitting crisp, clear sounds.

"Jingle~ Clang~"

The burly youth, carrying the golden monk's staff, paced back and forth before a large tree, his expression thoroughly impatient.

Waves of irritable aura filled the surrounding area.

The shorter figure was a middle-aged woman; she wore a blade and a sword at her waist, and around her neck hung a similar necklace of Divine Power Beads, their quantity equally impressive!

Among the various-sized Divine Power Beads, one pearl, roughly the size of a ping-pong ball, stood out as particularly unique.

In the pitch-black surroundings, the woman's face was grim, her body tense, seemingly quite wary of the youth.

Just as she intended to speak, she suddenly heard a faint sound.

"Flap flap flap~"

That was the sound of a bird flapping its wings!

"Whoosh~" Energy surged in the woman's hand as she picked up a white feather, which emitted a glowing, pearly white light.

Borrowing this faint illumination, the young man and woman saw a pitch-black crow appear amidst the misty drizzle.

"Boss!" The black crow spoke in human language.

The burly youth, unable to contain his impatience, lifted his monk's staff and slammed the handle fiercely against the ground: "Well? Is this a sect? What kind of believers do they primarily have? Are there many of them?"

The youth fired off questions like a machine gun, leaving the black crow stammering.

"Damn you!" The youth suddenly lashed out, his large hand gripping the black crow fiercely as if intending to crush it, "Stop dawdling! Speak to me!"

The middle-aged woman's heart jumped in alarm; looking at the irritable youth beside her, she hastily let out a low shout: "Shi Shi Guangwei!"

The woman's low shout carried a powerful effect, refreshing the spirit and clearing the mind.

Only then did the youth named Shi Shi Guangwei release his grip.

The black crow immediately flew backward, then transformed into human form.

He was a middle-aged man; looking at Shi Shi Guangwei, his eyes held a trace of terror as he spoke submissively: "Subordinate saw no one; the fog on the mountain is too thick, subordinate dared not approach too closely to observe..."

"You have Wu Ying Ni! What are you afraid of?" Shi Shi Guangwei's suppressed fury instantly flared up again, "Who could possibly detect you?"

Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, the middle-aged man hastily said: "Boss, no one would dare to break through and advance alone by the seaside; there must be a faction on the mountain, at least a team."

"Do you want to die?" Shi Shi Guangwei laughed in extreme anger, strode forward, grabbed the man by his collar, and shook him violently, "Did I fucking need you to tell me this?

I'm asking you exactly how many people they have! What kind of believers are they primarily!"

"Gulp." The middle-aged man swallowed hard, his face deathly pale, straining to tilt his head backward.

Waves of terrifying aura pressed down on him until he could barely breathe; he hurriedly looked toward the woman beside him, his eyes filled with pleading.

The middle-aged woman finally spoke: "Scout again! Find out the defensive arrangements on the mountain, roughly how many people there are, and their strength level!"

"Shi Guangwei, let him go scout once more," the woman said, her tone becoming much gentler as she stepped forward and lightly tugged on Shi Shi Guangwei's arm.

Shi Shi Guangwei, brimming with rage, stared fiercely at the middle-aged man: "I'll give you one more chance! The last one! Get lost!"

The middle-aged man dared not make a sound; he immediately transformed back into a black crow and instantly entered an invisible state.

"Flap flap flap~"

The sound of flapping wings grew increasingly distant as the invisible black crow flew into the vast rainy night.

At the same time, atop Cloud Sea Cliff.

In the eastern-central region of the cliff peak stood a towering tree.

The tree's trunk was thick, its branches lush and abundant.

Hidden within the dense foliage was a tall, slender figure; the woman's long braided hair wound once around her neck before draping down over her chest.

Xiang Xiang Luoying silently polished her divine bow, connecting her spirit with the divine weapon.

The Ashayi Sect possessed no night-vision techniques; ever since nightfall, Xiang Xiang Luoying had effectively become "blind."

Fortunately, divine weapons did not rely on eyes to observe the world; in the dark environment, the Colorful Bow could provide its master with some assistance.

However, Xiang Xiang Luoying did not rely entirely on the divine weapon.

As a Second-Rank God, Divine Divine Asha's sect techniques possessed astonishing power!

Xiang Xiang Luoying possessed a domain technique—Azure Dragon Sea Domain!

At this moment, with Xiang Xiang Luoying as the center point, within a radius of one hundred meters, countless tiny water droplets were continuously appearing and falling, disguising themselves as raindrops to blend into the rainy night.

Every single water droplet could collect intelligence information within the domain for Xiang Xiang Luoying and clearly feed it back to her.

In truth, the Divine Technique · Azure Dragon Sea Domain contained not only water droplets; small Azure Dragons also swam slowly within the domain.

The water droplets and the small Azure Dragons shared the same function, both capable of collecting intelligence within the domain and purifying any anomalies inside it; however, compared to the densely packed tiny water droplets, the small Azure Dragons offered superior purification effects.

At this moment, Xiang Xiang Luoying had not sent the small Azure Dragons out, but instead kept them crouching on the tree branches, hidden away.

After all, dragons swimming in the rain were far too conspicuous and easily detected.

"Hmm?"

While Xiang Xiang Luoying was bonding with her divine weapon, the hand gripping the bow handle suddenly tightened slightly.

Something happening?

What is that?

Xiang Xiang Luoying frowned slightly, closed her eyes tightly, and perceived carefully.

Through the continuously falling water droplets, the silhouette of a bird imprinted itself into her mind.

A bird?

The Saint Lingshan Realm appears teeming with life, but it is all an illusion; within the lush, verdant forests, there are no birds or beasts!

More critically, the Divine Weapon, the Colorful Bow, had not detected the bird's presence!

This meant the bird's concealment technique was astonishing, capable of hiding even its energy fluctuations.

How could this be possible?

Any believer, even without casting Divine Arts, would emit an aura fluctuation.

Xiang Xiang Luoying's mind raced, instantly arriving at an answer—Wu Ying Ni believers!

The Wu Ying Ni sect's Divine Art, Wu Ying Ni!

Before Fa Zai He Pin, this method could only make the caster invisible, unable to even hide their scent.

But Jiang Pin's Wu Ying Ni made Wu Ying Ni believers true masters of concealment, revealing not the slightest trace of aura or energy!

Pity that a Wu Ying Ni believer, who should have been unknown to gods and ghosts alike, encountered a Shen Jiang of the Ran Gate who knew all within the domain!

"Enemy attack!" Xiang Xiang Luoying shouted fiercely.

She kept her eyes tightly shut, drawing the bow and nocking an arrow with haste, following the bird-like outline traced by the fine water droplets.

"Ting!"

The bowstring vibrated.

The sudden sound stood out starkly in the rainy night!

The black crow, like a bird startled by the sound of a bowstring, filled its eyes with terror.

Discovered?!

The sound of the bowstring... is it a Divine Divine Asha believer?

The Wu Ying Ni believer, already trembling with fear, immediately lost composure, frantically flapping its wings to fly upward and escape the area.

A Tier Two Divine, a Divine Divine Asha believer, is absolutely beyond the Wu Ying Ni believer's ability to resist!

Facts proved the Wu Ying Ni believer should indeed panic!

A barrage of water arrows rushed forward, piercing through the misty drizzle to precisely locate the completely invisible crow.

Divine Divine Asha Shen Fa, Liangye Jian Lian Tian Zhu!

"Pupu pu~~~"

The black crow flapped its wings frantically, its heart about to leap from its chest.

Yet no matter how fast it flew, it was not faster than the arrows!

"Sss!"

The crow, darting left and right, had its wing pierced by the lead arrow.

"Hoo~"

The invisible black crow finally leaked energy; it instantly broke free, leaving behind a substitute body in mid-air with a pierced wing.

Wu Ying Ni Shen Fa, Wu Ying Ti!

Xiang Xiang Luoying remained expressionless, ignoring the crow's desperate struggle, and instead searched for any other potential enemies.

Confidence stems from absolute strength!

Hai Pin Shen Fa, Liangye Jian Lian Tian Zhu, launched a total of 32 arrows in a single volley.

Not fewer than the Northern Wind sect's wind blades or the Liangye Jian Yi sect's flying swords!

Nor slower than the speed of blades and swords!

"Aaa~~~"

The Wu Ying Ni believer, panicked and at a loss, could not help but cry out.

The Divine Art, Liangye Jian Lian Tian Zhu, does not inherently possess an auto-tracking effect.

However, before Xiang Xiang Luoying shot, she covered the Colorful Bow with a layer of water-mist bow shadow—Zhen Hai Bow!

Arrows shot via the Divine Art, Zhen Hai Bow, possess an auto-tracking effect!

"Poo~ poo~ poo~"

The Wu Ying Ni believer frantically cast substitute-type techniques, leaving behind one silhouette after another in mid-air.

It looked very much like the afterimages left by players achieving perfect dodges in certain games.

Quite cool!

Pity those silhouettes were solid, real substitutes, meaning the caster consumed massive amounts of energy.

"Whoosh~ whoosh!"

The arrows, darting wildly, successively pierced and shattered one black crow after another.

"I surrender, don't kill me, I surren-urk."

The terrified plea for mercy cut off abruptly.

A water arrow pierced the black crow's skull!

The prerequisite for a Wu Ying Ni believer to cast the Divine Art, Wu Ying Ti, is that they must not have suffered a fatal wound.

And that arrow, piercing through the bird's head, directly severed any possibility of further struggle.

"Sss! Sss! Sss!"

Dozens of arrows flew back and forth, stabbing; the black crow did not even have the qualification to fall vertically.

It was stabbed, flying left and right, its corpse ruthlessly ravaged.

During this process, the black crow reverted to human form, its body covered in bloody holes!

"What happened?" Lu Ran arrived beneath the tree.

"A Wu Ying Ni believer came to investigate the situation; there must be enemies nearby!" Xiang Xiang Luoying's voice came from high up in the tree.

Countless water arrows shattered and dissipated, and a corpse riddled with holes fell, crashing heavily onto the ground.

"Which direction did he come from?"

"The east; he flew over from the sea."

Lu Ran swiftly flashed up into a tree, observing continuously, but alas, the world between heaven and earth was filled with thick fog, obscuring his vision.

His expression turned somewhat ugly, and he asked in a deep voice, "Are there any other enemies nearby?"

Is it really so difficult to advance peacefully within the Holy Lingshan Realm?

Xiang Xiang Luoying immediately responded, "None discovered for now, Sect Master. Shall I activate the Cang Dragon Sea Region and search everywhere?"

"Go. Report immediately if anything arises." Lu Ran's figure flashed again, and he stood beside the corpse.

He flipped his palm, summoning a clump of black mist into his hand.

Lie Hun Mo's Hun Mo Xie Fa: Soul Prison!

The souls that had been detained by the Pupil of the Death Realm were instantly intercepted.

"You... me... you all..." Upon the clump of black mist, a human face floated up, terrified out of its wits.

It was clear the man had not yet shaken off the terror of death.

Lu Ran looked at the trapped dead soul in his palm, his expression growing ever more gloomy:

"You certainly know how to pick your timing, don't you?"

Three updates today: 14:00, 18:00, 22:00.

(End of Chapter)