Chapter 77: Traces

In the jungle, Li Fei moved without a sound.

Relying on the Myriad Blood Bead to see through the maze formation left behind by the Peace-Seeking Sect, he had silently followed their main force and had already been tracking them in the jungle for over four hours.

Two hours ago, the main force of the opposing side had set up another maze formation at a fork in the road located on high ground. This was done to prevent anyone from not being "snared" by the first maze; if there were still people tracking from behind, they would inevitably have to follow up to this high ground and arrive at this fork, otherwise, there would be no way to know which way the Peace-Seeking Sect went next.

In this way, the second maze formation would certainly be able to serve its purpose.

Li Fei was not worried about the other side's caution; instead, he was somewhat pleased, because their doing so precisely indicated that the maze formation was their best anti-tracking method; otherwise, there would be no need to waste precious formation-setting materials.

Since he could silently break their maze formation, the probability of being discovered by them later was very low.

In truth, he had no experience in tracking. If the other side only had a dozen people, he would have certainly lost them long ago, but fortunately, the other side had hundreds of people, and the traces left behind were numerous enough that even if he hung far behind, he would not lose them.

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

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

Luoshan was naturally prone to rain; after this heavy downpour, the traces left by the Peace-Seeking Sect in the mountain forest would vanish completely, and it would be almost impossible for anyone coming later to track them.

"It really is raining."

Up ahead, Zhao Yu looked up at the heavy rain drifting from the sky, revealing a satisfied smile.

Among the sect members under his command were many hunters from Luoshan who could predict the weather; before this operation, they had told him with great certainty that there would definitely be heavy rain in these two days.

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

Zhao Yu draped the bamboo hat and straw raincoat he had prepared in advance over himself and ordered the team to rest in place.

The jungle at night was pitch black, and now that it was raining heavily, it was impossible to light torches. Walking mountain paths in the dark was a very dangerous matter and easily caused non-combat casualties, so the team had to stop.

Fortunately, this heavy rain was more favorable to the Peace-Seeking Sect.

After the order was given, the members of the Peace-Seeking Sect took out the bamboo hats and straw raincoats they had prepared in advance and found places to sit and rest.

Li Fei, who was following far behind, was quickly soaked through by the heavy rain.

However, he had practiced martial arts for many years, and his Heavenly Dipper Tyrant Body had already reached a minor success; being drenched in a rainstorm was not 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 the trail—at worst, this trip would be in vain—than get too close and be discovered.

Afterward, he took out the medicine bottle he carried with him, swallowed two Embryo-Nurturing Pills, and began practicing the Heavenly Dipper One-Qi Stance in the heavy rain, carrying out today's embryo-nurturing training.

Boom!

A flash of lightning streaked across, illuminating the dark jungle for an instant.

In the heavy rain, the youth's gaze was resolute, standing in his stance with composure, as if silently greeting this world.

"How is it? Can you track them?"

Huang Weiguang, with his graying hair, asked a young man wearing a deep blue robe with an anxious expression.

In the man's hand was a talisman paper that had just burned to ash, with wisps of blue smoke still lingering at his fingertips.

He was a mage from the Justice Academy, sent to assist in tracking the whereabouts of the Peace-Seeking Sect.

"It's no good. Too much time has passed, the distance is too great, and the other side also has ritual instruments that interfere with tracking techniques; I can't track them anymore."

This mage from the Justice Academy shook his head and said in a cold voice.

Techniques to track others did indeed exist, but such techniques were not omnipotent; otherwise, the Justice Academy would have long since found the Peace-Seeking Sect's lair and would not have had to wait for reports.

Factors such as the interval distance and time would have a great impact on such tracking techniques, not to mention that the Peace-Seeking 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 Stop-Conflict Academy, and the Justice Academy had been fast enough, sending people into the mountains overnight.

It was a pity that the Justice Academy's mage still could not track the traces of the Peace-Seeking Sect, and now that this heavy rain had fallen, tracking in these vast mountains had become extremely difficult.

"Go to the mountain stronghold below to stay temporarily."

Huang Weiguang helplessly issued the order.

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

The heavy rain fell for an entire night.

At dawn the next day, the rain gradually stopped. Huang Weiguang, who had not 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 the heavy rain last night, it was almost impossible to find any traces anymore.

However, with Chief Inspector Huang Weiguang watching the scene in person, no inspector dared to slack off, and all were searching with full effort.

Among the inspectors present, Li Lei was another person who felt as anxious as Huang Weiguang.

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

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

He immediately ran toward that side.

The maze formation the Peace-Seeking Sect had left here earlier had already become ineffective, and after being washed by the heavy rain, there was not a single trace left.

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

Li Lei, both anxious and expectant, pushed through the crowd and ran over.

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

Hao Yi had also rushed here overnight; after he arrived, he went straight to find Huang Weiguang, and now the two were standing together, looking as if they had known each other before.

Li Lei could not spare the time to greet Hao Yi and asked Huang Weiguang directly:

"Chief Inspector, what was found?"

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

"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 our brothers in the academy?"

Li Lei asked subconsciously.

But he quickly overruled himself, because all the people from the first large team who participated in the operation yesterday, except for the few who died, had all returned.

Among the top-tier students of the Martial Arts Hall, except for those who died, Li Fei was the only one who had not returned.

"Is it Xiao Fei?!"

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

"Did you teach your son this knowledge in the past?"

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 some of his own experiences in investigating cases, among which he had mentioned this kind of marking symbol used by the Inspectorate.

"I did tell him about it!"

Li Lei said somewhat excitedly.

"Then it must have been left by him!"

Huang Weiguang's face finally had some spirit.

He turned around and issued orders with vigorous and resolute action:

"Everyone follow this symbol to search; the child of our Inspectorate is still tracking, the Peace-Seeking Sect cannot run!"

(End of chapter)