Midnight had passed, the world hushed.

  Lin Chen left his Outer Sect residence soundlessly and sped once more toward the back mountain waterfall.

  With the assessment imminent, common sense said he should conserve energy. But that cavesuspected to be a predecessor’s abodewas a thorn in his heart. Especially the jade slip in the stone chamber: a fleeting glimpse with Stellar Eye had made him feel its contents might relate to his father’s disappearance.

  “I have to investigate.”

  The moon was hidden; stars sparse. The mountain path was dark. But with Stellar Eye activated, everything was clear as day.

  In less than half an incense stick’s time, the waterfall’s rumble reached his ears.

  Lin Chen stopped by the pool, carefully observing. The waterfall at deep night seemed more ferocious, its impact stronger than in daylight. Deep in the pool, the leaking Chaos Qi’s fluctuations were also more pronounced.

  He didn’t hesitate; he dove in.

  Icy cold pierced his bones, but the Chaos Star Vortex automatically circulated, converting water?attribute Source Spirit Qi into protective energy. Lin Chen swam down like a fish, heading straight for the blue stone at the pool bottom.

  During the day, he’d noticed a hidden crack beneath that stone. Hurrying to seclude then, he hadn’t examined it closely. Now, with Stellar Eye probing fully, he discovered faint glowing halos emanating from deep within the crack.

  “A different realm indeed.”

  Lin Chen activated Star?shifting Steps. His form rippled like water, easily slipping into the crack.

  At first the crack was extremely narrow, barely allowing one person through. After advancing over ten zhang, it abruptly opened up.

  An underground space came into view.

  It wasn’t largeabout three zhang square. At its center stood a stone table with a stone stool. On the table lay a jade slip; beside it, an oil lamp long extinguished.

  The stone walls were carved full of stellar patterns, similar in style to those in the cliff?side cave earlier but more complex and refined. Especially one “Nine?star Alignment” diagram: nine star positions precise, faint formation fluctuations lingering.

  Lin Chen didn’t immediately take the jade slip. First he swept the entire space with Stellar Eye.

  No life aura; no mechanical traps. Only faint Chaos Qi seeped from deep in the stone walls, nourishing this underground abode.

  He walked to the stone table, his gaze falling on the jade slip.

  The slip was pale cyan, its surface fine with cracksclearly aged. On its body was carved a line of small characters: “Those who come after, if you see this, know the Azure Cloud secrets.”

  Lin Chen took a deep breath, reached out, and picked it up.

  It felt cool?warm, with an odd sense of affinity. He channeled a wisp of stellar power into it.

  Hum

  The jade slip glowed faintly; information flooded his mind like a tide.

  “I, Chu Xinghe, Outer Sect disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, Condensation Stage peak, trapped in this cave thirty years. Years ago, while investigating collusion between the Sect Master’s lineage and the demonic path, I was pursued, severely wounded, and fled here. I set up a concealment formation to cling to life.”

  “The Azure Cloud Sect is superficially a righteous?path leader; in truth, Sect Master Zhao Tianqiong long ago reached a secret agreement with the Netherworld Palace. The agreement has three parts: one, the Azure Cloud Sect annually provides a hundred Outer Sect disciples for the Netherworld Palace to cultivate demonic arts; two, the Netherworld Palace assists Zhao Tianqiong to break through to Divine Sea Realm, unifying the Azure Cloud Kingdom’s cultivation world; three, both sides jointly open Meteorite Valley to seize the Stellar Tower key.”

  “I once infiltrated the Sect Master’s secret chamber and saw a copy of the agreement. At the copy’s end were Zhao Tianqiong’s personal signature and the seal of ‘Shadow Wraith’, Valley Master of the Netherworld Palace’s Azure Cloud branch.”

  “I wished to make the evidence public, but the Sect is filled with spies. Law Enforcement Hall Elder Zhao WujiZhao Tianqiong’s clansmanalso executes the agreement. Outer Sect disciple disappearance cases, many relate to him.”

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  “My life soon ends; I leave this slip, hoping those who come after can expose the conspiracy and save the Azure Cloud Sect from peril. Additionally, the ‘Nine?star Alignment’ diagram on the stone wall is a small teleportation array, leading directly to the edge of the back mountain forbidden area. Activation method: with stellar power, sequentially light the nine stars in the order Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid, supplemented by Chaos Qi as guide.”

  “Be cautious! Be cautious!”

  The information cut off there.

  Lin Chen put down the jade slip, his heart surging with waves.

  The Sect Master colluding with the Netherworld Palace, sacrificing a hundred Outer Sect disciples annuallythis was darker than he’d imagined. Zhao Wuji was merely an executor; the true mastermind was the Azure Cloud Sect’s highest authority.

  And his father, Lin Xiaotian, disappeared ten years agocould it also be because he discovered this secret?

  He walked to the stone wall and carefully examined the “Nine?star Alignment” diagram.

  Stellar patterns inlaid with special ore; even after centuries, faint stellar light still flowed through them. Lin Chen tried channeling a wisp of stellar power into the “Dubhe” star.

  Hum!

  The Dubhe star lit with silver light.

  It worked!

  Following the order recorded in the jade slip, he sequentially lit Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Alkaid.

  With each star lit, the stone wall’s tremors intensified. When Alkaid lit, the entire diagram abruptly erupted with blinding radiance.

  Nine stars aligned; stellar lights interweaving, forming a swirling vortex on the stone wall.

  At the vortex’s center, Chaos Qi churned violently.

  Lin Chen was about to step in when he suddenly sensed abnormal fluctuations outside the abode.

  Someone was coming!

  He instantly suppressed his aura and flashed to hide behind the stone table’s shadow.

  Almost simultaneously, two figures squeezed in through the crack entrance.

  The leader was black?robed, sleeve embroidered with the Netherworld Palace emblem. The person behindsurprisinglywas Zhao Hu!

  Lin Chen’s pupils contracted.

  Zhao Hu wasn’t severely wounded and fleeing? How could he be together with Netherworld Palace people? And judging by his aura, he’d fully recovered, even grown stronger by several degrees.

  “Executive, this is the place.” Zhao Hu said respectfully. “During the day that waste secluded himself here; I secretly observed and noticed him looking at this crack several times when leaving. He might hide some secret.”

  The black?robed manthe Netherworld Palace Executivevoice raspy as a broken gong: “Search.”

  The two began probing the abode.

  Zhao Hu spotted the jade slip on the stone table and exclaimed, “There’s something here!”

  He reached to take it.

  But the black?robed man was faster; he snatched the jade slip and probed it with his divine sense.

  Moments later, the black?robed man erupted with murderous chill. “Chu Xinghe that traitor actually left a back?up!”

  “Executive, this jade slip”

  “Records the agreement between the Sect Master and the Holy Palace.” The black?robed man said coldly. “Though incomplete, if leaked, trouble will arise. Zhao Hu, you’ve earned merit.”

  Zhao Hu overjoyed: “To serve the Holy Palace is my honor.”

  “However” the black?robed man’s tone shifted, “you’ve also learned secrets you shouldn’t know.”

  Zhao Hu’s face changed drastically. “Executive, I’m loyal to the Holy Palace”

  “A dead man’s loyalty is most reliable.”

  The black?robed man raised his hand, palm condensing a mass of black demonic qi.

  Zhao Hu retreated in terror. “No! Deacon Zhao promised meas long as I cooperate, he’d spare my life”

  “Zhao Wuji? He can’t protect himself.” The black?robed man sneered. “If the agreement leaks, scapegoats are needed. You and your uncle are perfect.”

  Demonic qi surged out, heading straight for Zhao Hu.

  At this life?and?death critical moment, Zhao Hu erupted with all potential, desperately fleeing toward the crack entrance.

  But the black?robed man’s cultivation was at least Spiritual Light Realm; he was faster. Demonic qi followed like a shadow, about to engulf Zhao Hu.

  At this moment

  The Nine?star Alignment diagram on the stone wall suddenly blazed bright.

  The vortex accelerated spinning; powerful suction erupted.

  The black?robed man, caught off?guard, was pulled by the suction; his movement stalled.

  Zhao Hu seized the chance, burst out of the crack, and escaped into the pool.

  “Damn!” The black?robed man stabilized his form and glared at the stone wall. “How did this formation suddenly activate?”

  He sharply turned and looked toward the stone table direction.

  From the shadows, Lin Chen slowly walked out.

  “You!” The black?robed man’s pupils contracted. “You’ve been hiding here all along!”

  Lin Chen didn’t answer; his gaze fell on the vortex.

  Just now, when the black?robed man was about to kill Zhao Hu, he deliberately channeled a stream of Chaos Qi into the vortex, forcibly activating the teleportation array.

  Now the vortex was fully opened.

  “Trying to run?” The black?robed man saw his intent; demonic qi transformed into black chains, blocking the way.

  Lin Chen sneered, executed Star?shifting Steps, his figure phantom?like flashing past the chains, straight into the vortex.

  “Leave the jade slip!”

  The black?robed man roared, blasted out a full?power strike.

  But Lin Chen had already stepped into the vortex.

  Hum

  Starlight swallowed his form.

  At the last instant, he looked back at the black?robed man, imprinting the other’s appearance firmly in his mind.

  That was a middle?aged man with a sinister face, a hideous scar on his left cheek.

  “Scarface I’ll remember.”

  Starlight dissipated; the abode returned to silence.

  The black?robed man stood where he was, face iron?gray.

  The jade slip was taken away.

  The agreement content leaked.

  More troublesomethe one who activated the teleportation array was that Outer Sect waste they’d wanted to kill.

  “Lin Chen” he gritted his teeth. “You must die.”

  And now, Lin Chen was experiencing a peculiar teleportation process.

  Surrounded by a twisted starlight passage, his body wrapped in gentle force, speeding toward an unknown direction.

  He gripped the jade slip in his hand.

  Inside, it not only recorded the Azure Cloud Sect’s darkest secrets but might also hide clues to his father’s disappearance.

  “Back mountain forbidden area edge”

  According to the jade slip’s record, the teleportation array exit was there.

  And the forbidden areawas precisely the region his father had frequently entered ten years ago.

  Perhaps there lay the answers he sought.

  Starlight end; a point of brightness gradually expanded.

  Exitarrived.