Chapter 859: The Master of Concealment?

Night fell, and a light rain began to drift through the sky.

Several kilometers from Yunhai Cliff, in the mountain forest, two figures stood—one tall, one short.

The tall, muscular youth had messy hair and wore a necklace of Divine Power beads, resembling the court beads worn by ancient ministers.

There were an astonishing number of beads!

In his hand he held a golden monk's staff, its craftsmanship exquisitely detailed, with large rings nested within smaller ones, occasionally emitting crisp chimes.

"Dingling~ Danglang~"

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

Waves of volatile energy filled the surrounding air.

The shorter figure was a middle-aged woman, her waist adorned with a knife and a sword, and likewise wearing a necklace of Divine Power beads—also an impressive number.

Among the many beads, one was as large as a ping-pong ball, strikingly different from the rest.

In the pitch-black environment, the woman's face was grim, her body taut, clearly wary of the youth.

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

"Pupupu~"

The sound of bird wings flapping!

"Hu~" Energy surged in the woman's hand as she plucked a white feather, glowing with a soft white radiance.

With the dim light, the man and woman saw a black crow materialize through the misty rain.

"Boss!" the black crow spoke in human voice.

The burly youth, unable to wait, swung his monk's staff and slammed its butt hard against the ground: "Well? Is this a sect? Who are their followers? How many people?"

The youth fired off questions in rapid succession, leaving the black crow stammering.

"You fucking asshole!" The youth suddenly lunged, grabbing the crow with a massive hand as if to crush it, "What are you dragging your feet for? Talk!"

The middle-aged woman flinched, glancing at the furious youth, and snapped sharply: "Shi Guangwei!"

Her sharp command carried potent effect, instantly sharpening the mind and calming the spirit.

The youth named Shi Guangwei loosened his grip.

The black crow immediately flew backward and transformed into human form.

He was a middle-aged man, his eyes filled with fear as he stammered to Shi Guangwei: "I didn't see any people—the mist on the mountain is too thick. I dared not approach closely to observe."

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

The middle-aged man sensed danger and hurriedly said: "Boss, no one dares to break through alone by the sea. There must be a force on the mountain—at least a team."

"Do you want to die?" Shi Guangwei laughed bitterly with rage, stepped forward, and seized the man by the collar, shaking him violently, "Do you think I need you to tell me this?"

"I asked you how many people they have! What kind of believers are they?!"

"Gul." The middle-aged man swallowed hard, his face pale, leaning back as far as he could.

Terrifying pressure crushed his chest—he quickly turned to the woman beside him, his eyes pleading.

The middle-aged woman finally spoke: "Go again! Find out the mountain's defenses—how many people, what are their strengths!"

"Guangwei, let him scout again," the woman's tone softened, stepping forward and gently tugging Shi Guangwei's arm.

Shi Guangwei glared furiously at the middle-aged man: "I'm giving you one last chance! Last one! Go!"

The middle-aged man said nothing, instantly transformed back into a black crow, and vanished into invisibility.

"Pupupu~"

The sound of flapping wings faded into the distance as the invisible crow vanished into the endless rain-soaked night.

Meanwhile, atop Yunhai Cliff.

On the eastern-central ridge of the cliff stood a towering tree.

Its trunk was thick, its branches lush and dense.

Among the thick foliage hid a tall figure—a woman whose long braided hair curled once around her neck, then draped down her chest.

Luoying silently wiped her Divine Bow, attuning her spirit to the weapon.

The Asha Sect had no night-vision techniques; since nightfall, Luoying had become "blind."

Fortunately, Divine Weapons don't rely on eyes to perceive the world—in darkness, the Colorful Bow could offer her limited aid.

Yet Luoying did not wholly depend on the weapon.

As a Second-Rank God, the Asha Sect's Divine Art was astonishingly potent!

Luoying possessed a Domain Technique—Canglong Sea Region!

At this moment, centered on Luoying, hundreds of tiny water droplets continuously formed and fell, mimicking rain, blending seamlessly into the night shower.

Each droplet gathered intelligence from within the domain and fed it clearly back to her.

In truth, the Divine Art·Canglong Sea Region contained more than just droplets—small Canglong dragons also glided slowly within the domain.

The droplets and small Canglong dragons served the same purpose: gathering intelligence and purifying anomalies within the domain, though the Canglong dragons purified more effectively than the countless droplets.

At this moment, Luoying had not released the small Canglong dragons; she kept them resting on the branches, hidden.

After all, dragons swimming through rain were too conspicuous, easily detectable.

"Hmm?"

As Luoying was bonding with her Divine Bow, her grip on the bow's handle tightened slightly.

Something wrong?

What was that?

Luoying furrowed her brow, closed her eyes, and focused intently.

Through the falling droplets, the silhouette of a bird appeared in her mind.

A bird?

Shengling Mountain seemed alive and vibrant—but it was all illusion. The lush, green forests held no birds or beasts!

More crucially, the Divine Bow·Colorful Bow had detected no trace of the bird!

This meant the bird's concealment technique was extraordinary—even its energy fluctuations were hidden.

How was this possible?

Every believer, even without activating Divine Art, emitted some energy signature.

Luoying's mind raced—and instantly reached the answer: Wu Crow Believers!

The Wu Crow Sect's Divine Art: Wu Ying Ni!

Before the River Rank, it only rendered the user invisible, failing to conceal even their scent.

But at River Rank, Wu Ying Ni turned Wu Crow believers into true masters of concealment—emitting not a single trace of energy or aura!

Unfortunately, the Wu Crow believer, meant to slip through unseen, had encountered a Ran Sect Divine General with complete domain awareness!

"Intruder!" Luoying shouted sharply.

Still with her eyes closed, she drew her bow and nocked an arrow, guided by the bird-shaped outline traced by the fine droplets.

"Deng!"

The bowstring vibrated.

The sudden sound was jarring in the rainy night.

The black crow, like a bird startled by a bowstring, its eyes wide with terror.

Detected?!

Was that sound from an Asha believer?

Already on edge, the Wu Crow believer panicked, flapping his wings wildly upward, desperate to flee.

A Second-Rank God's believer was no match for a Wu Crow believer!

The evidence proved the Wu Crow believer had every reason to panic!

A barrage of water arrows shot forth, piercing the misty rain with pinpoint accuracy, striking the completely invisible crow.

Asha Divine Art·Liantian Zhu!

"Pupupu~~~"

The black crow flapped frantically, heart pounding as if about to burst.

But no matter how fast it flew, the arrows were faster!

"Tsii!"

The darting crow was pierced through the wing by the lead arrow.

"Hu~"

The invisible black crow finally leaked energy, instantly shedding its body and leaving behind a wing-pierced decoy midair.

Wu Crow Divine Art·Wu Ying Ti!

Luoying's face remained expressionless; she ignored the dying crow and scanned for other possible enemies.

Confidence stems from absolute power!

The Sea Rank Divine Art·Liantian Zhu fired thirty-two arrows at once.

No fewer than the Wind Blades of the North Wind Sect or the flying swords of Jianyi Sect!

No slower than knives or swords!

"Aaah~~~"

The Wu Crow believer, panicked, cried out involuntarily.

The Divine Art·Liantian Zhu had no automatic tracking ability.

But before firing, Luoying had coated the Colorful Bow with a misty bow-shadow—Zhenhai Bow.

Arrows shot by the Divine Art: Sea-Subduing Bow possess an automatic tracking effect!

"Puff~ puff~ puff~"

The Witch Crow devotees frantically activated body-substitution techniques, leaving behind one after another phantom image in midair.

It looked just like the afterimages players leave behind in certain games when perfectly dodging.

So cool!

Too bad, those images were real, solid substitutes—meaning the caster had expended a massive amount of energy.

"Swoosh~ swoosh~!"

The rapid, darting arrows pierced through one black crow after another.

"I surrender, don't kill me, I surrender—"

The terrified plea cut off abruptly.

A water arrow pierced through the black crow's skull!

The prerequisite for activating the Divine Art: Witch Shadow Substitute is that the caster must not have suffered a fatal wound.

That arrow, which had pierced through the bird's head, instantly eliminated any possibility of further struggle.

"Sss! sss! sss!"

Dozens of arrows flew back and forth, leaving the black crows no chance to fall straight down.

They were flung violently sideways, their corpses mercilessly torn apart.

During this process, the black crows reverted to human form, their bodies riddled with blood-filled holes!

"What's going on?" Lu Ran arrived beneath the tree.

"A Witch Crow devotee came to investigate—there's likely an enemy nearby!" came Xiang Luoying's voice from high up in the tree.

Countless water arrows shattered and dissolved; a body riddled with holes plummeted down and crashed heavily to the ground.

"Which direction did he come from?"

"From the east, flying in from over the sea."

Lu Ran instantly teleported up into the tree, scanning constantly—but the sky and earth were thick with dense fog, obscuring all vision.

His expression darkened as he asked grimly: "Are there other enemies nearby?"

Is it really this hard to advance peacefully within the Sacred Spirit Mountain Realm?

Xiang Luoying immediately replied: "No others detected yet, Lord Lu. Should I patrol the Canglong Sea area?"

"Go. Report immediately if anything happens." Lu Ran flashed away again, standing beside the corpse.

He flipped his palm, summoning a cluster of black mist.

Soul-Shattering Demon Art: Soul Prison!

The soul seized by the Eyes of the Dead World was snatched away.

"You—I—you all…" A terrified human face emerged on the black mist.

Clearly, the man had not yet escaped the terror of death.

Lu Ran stared at the captive soul trapped in his palm, his expression growing darker:

"You picked a fine time, didn't you?"

Three updates today: 14, 18, 22.

(End of Chapter)