Chapter 49: Trail

In the jungle, Li Fei moved silently.

Relying on the Ten Thousand Blood Pearl, he saw through the maze array left by the Anshen Sect and silently followed their main force, having tracked them in the jungle for over four hours.

Two hours ago, the main force had set up another maze array at a fork in the road located on high ground. They did this to prevent the first maze array from failing to 'trap' anyone. If someone was truly still tracking from behind, they would inevitably have to follow to this high ground and come to this fork, otherwise, they wouldn't know which way the Anshen Sect went next.

In this way, the second maze array would certainly be effective.

Li Fei was not worried about the other side's caution; instead, he was somewhat happy, because the other side doing this precisely showed that the maze array was their best anti-tracking method; otherwise, there was no need to waste precious array-setting materials.

He could silently break the other side's maze array, so the probability of being discovered by them next would be very low.

Actually, he had no tracking experience. If the other side only had a dozen people, he would have certainly lost them long ago, but fortunately, the other side had over a hundred people, leaving enough traces that even if he hung far behind, he wouldn't lose them.

Li Fei followed from afar like this, while leaving marks on the trees along the way.

By this time, the sky had completely darkened, and large drops of rain began to fall.

Luoshan was always rainy; after this heavy rain, the traces left by the Anshen Sect in the mountains and forests would disappear completely, and it would be almost impossible for those who came later to track them.

"It really rained."

Ahead, Zhao Yu looked up at the heavy rain falling from the sky and revealed a satisfied smile.

Many of the followers under his command were hunters from Luoshan who could predict the weather. Before this operation, they had told him very firmly that there would definitely be heavy rain in these two days.

"Everyone rest in place, pay attention to waterproofing the firearms and ammunition, and arrange for people to stand guard on the perimeter."

Zhao Yu put on the bamboo hat and coir raincoat prepared in advance and ordered the team to rest in place.

The jungle at night was pitch black, and now with heavy rain, it was impossible to light torches. Walking on mountain roads in the dark was a very dangerous thing and easily caused non-combat attrition, so the team had to stop.

Fortunately, this heavy rain was more favorable to the Anshen Sect.

After the order was given, the Anshen Sect members took out the bamboo hats and coir raincoats prepared in advance one after another and found places to sit and rest.

Li Fei, who was following far behind, was soon soaked all over by the heavy rain.

However, he had practiced martial arts for many years, and his Tiangang Tyrant Body had already reached a small success; getting rained on wasn't enough to make him unable to hold on.

"No torches lit, they must have stopped."

Li Fei found a large tree to shelter from the rain and also stopped, not intending to continue getting closer.

He would rather lose them—at worst, he would have made this trip in vain—than get too close and be discovered.

Subsequently, he took out the medicine bottle he carried with him, took two Embryo-Nurturing Pills, and practiced the Tiangang One-Qi Stance in the heavy rain, carrying out today's embryo-nurturing training.

Boom!

A bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the dark jungle for an instant.

In the heavy rain, the youth stood with a firm gaze and calm composure, as if silently greeting this world.

"How is it? Can you find them?"

Huang Weiguang, with graying hair, asked a young man wearing a dark blue robe with an anxious look in his eyes.

The other side held a talisman paper that had just burned out, and wisps of blue smoke still lingered at his fingertips.

He was a mage from the Sifa Academy, sent to assist in tracking the whereabouts of the Anshen Sect.

"No, too much time has passed, the distance is too far, and the other side has an instrument on them that interferes with tracking sorcery; I can't find them anymore."

This Sifa Academy mage shook his head and said in a cold voice.

There indeed existed sorcery that could track others, but this type of sorcery was not omnipotent; otherwise, the Sifa Academy could have found the Anshen Sect's lair long ago and wouldn't have had to wait for people to report it.

Factors such as the distance and time would have a great impact on this type of tracking sorcery, not to mention that the Anshen Sect also had its own mages to interfere.

Huang Weiguang looked up at the pouring rain falling from the sky and sighed.

The reactions of the Inspectorate, the Zhige Academy, and the Sifa Academy had been fast enough, sending people into the mountains overnight.

Unfortunately, the Sifa Academy mage still couldn't track the Anshen Sect's trail, and now that this heavy rain had fallen, tracking in these vast mountains had become extremely difficult.

"Go to the stronghold below to stay temporarily."

Huang Weiguang helplessly gave the order.

With heavy rain and it being night, the team couldn't enter the mountains to search and could only stop and wait for the rain to stop.

The heavy rain lasted all night.

The next morning, the rain gradually stopped. Huang Weiguang, who hadn't slept all night, immediately ordered everyone to move and enter the mountains to look for traces.

But in fact, the vast majority of people knew clearly that after last night's heavy rain, it was almost impossible to find any traces anymore.

However, Inspectorate Chief Huang Weiguang was watching the scene himself, so no inspector dared to slack off, and they were all searching with full effort.

Among the inspectors present, Li Lei was just as anxious as Huang Weiguang.

After receiving the order, he immediately led his team up the hillside and began a carpet search, hoping to find useful traces.

Over an hour later, Li Lei, who was responsible for searching on the southern hillside, suddenly received news that traces seemed to have been discovered in the jungle on the western side.

He immediately ran toward that side.

The maze array the Anshen Sect had left here earlier had already failed, and after being washed by the heavy rain, there wasn't a single trace left.

"How is it? What did you find?!"

Li Lei pushed through the crowd anxiously and expectantly and ran over.

Besides Huang Weiguang, Hao Yi, with a stern expression, was also here.

Hao Yi had also rushed here overnight. After he arrived, he went straight to find Huang Weiguang. Now the two were standing together, looking like they should have known each other before.

Li Lei couldn't care about greeting Hao Yi and asked Huang Weiguang directly:

"Chief, what did you find?"

Huang Weiguang pulled him over and pointed to the trunk of a large tree:

"You come and look at this."

Li Lei leaned in to look and was stunned.

On the trunk of this large tree was carved a triangular symbol, with the sharpest corner pointing horizontally to one side; this was a marking symbol commonly used by the Inspectorate.

"Was it left by the brothers in the Inspectorate?"

Li Lei asked subconsciously.

But he quickly denied it himself, because everyone from the First Brigade who participated in the operation yesterday, except for the few who died, had all returned.

Of the Martial Arts Hall's Grade A students, except for those who died, only Li Fei had not returned.

"Was it Xiao Fei?!"

Li Lei widened his eyes, thinking of this only possibility.

"Did you teach your son this knowledge before?"

Huang Weiguang's gaze was like a torch, staring fixedly at Li Lei.

Li Lei recalled the past; he often told Li Fei and Li Tianyu about his experiences in investigating cases, and among them was the mention of this kind of marking symbol used by the Inspectorate.

"I told him about it!"

Li Lei said somewhat excitedly.

"Then it must have been left by him!"

A glow finally appeared on Huang Weiguang's face.

He turned around and gave orders with vigor and resolution:

"Everyone follow this symbol to find them. Our Inspectorate's child is still tracking them; the Anshen Sect won't be able to run!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 50 =====