Chapter 401 - 384: Planning 2
This meant he needed an absolutely safe environment, rich in Spiritual Qi, and free from any disturbances.
The Mozhou Spirit Vein was the best choice. Although the Spirit-Nurturing trait of the Spirit Vein had become permanent, the control rights for the Spirit Vein itself were still usable.
There were still many things to prepare: auxiliary Spirit Medicines, an Array to stabilize his Dantian, and a sufficient supply of restorative pills.
Li Yuan prioritized these tasks in his mind, then got up, walked to the table, and poured a cup of cold tea.
The passive effect of his "Ghostly Stealth" was always active. The Demonic Qi pressure of his Golden Core Stage was firmly suppressed by the trait. From an external perspective, he still had the aura of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Any detection methods from those at the same level or lower could not penetrate this disguise.
Li Yuan felt that hiding his cultivation was far better than not. The Demon Qi Golden Core was a secondary concern, as he could hide it anyway.
But for an unaffiliated Golden Core Cultivator to suddenly appear at a critical time like this would draw far too much attention.
The appearance of a Golden Core Cultivator in Liangzhou would trigger a chain reaction. Both the Primordial Yang Sect and the Evil Slaying Sect would react immediately. His current identity was that of the marketplace supervisor, a cover he couldn’t easily blow.
Night fell, and it was just past midnight.
An extremely faint knock came from the courtyard gate—three short, one long.
Li Yuan opened the door. Chen Yi was standing outside, his face even more weary than the last time.
"Come in."
The two sat down inside. Chen Yi skipped the tea and spoke directly.
"The Celestial Peak Sect has sent another five Late-stage Foundation Establishment disciples to the outpost. Counting the ones from before, their numbers at the outpost have already surpassed our own elite forces."
Li Yuan said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
"They’ve started getting involved in commanding the exploration teams." Chen Yi’s voice was very low. "Not advising, but directly interfering. This afternoon, a Late-stage Foundation Establishment disciple from the Celestial Peak Sect led a team into the underground tunnels on the east side of the Ghost Mist Forest. Our men were assigned to provide support on the periphery."
"What’s the Sect leadership’s stance?"
"Tacit approval." Chen Yi spat out the two words, a bitter twist to his lips. "A Golden Core Elder said it himself. The Celestial Peak Sect are allies, and we are to cooperate fully."
A Nascent Soul Grand Sect brought over a dozen elite Late-stage Foundation Establishment disciples to station at your outpost—how could you dare not cooperate?
Chen Yi was silent for a few breaths, then added another sentence.
"One more thing. The consumption of supplies at the outpost has doubled. The demand for pills and Talismans alone has increased by sixty percent. The Sect wants the marketplace to continue increasing the supply."
"No problem," Li Yuan agreed readily. "Have Ji Wenchuan send the list over tomorrow. I’ll have everything ready within three days."
Chen Yi nodded and stood up. He paused as he reached the door.
"Li Yuan, the situation is changing quickly. You should make plans for yourself, too."
After the door closed, the stone house returned to silence.
The Celestial Peak Sect’s infiltration was faster than expected. From the initial two teams to garrisoning the outpost, and then to directly commanding exploration operations—it had all happened in just over half a month. The Primordial Yang Sect was being progressively marginalized on its own territory.
For Li Yuan, this was both pressure and cover. With all parties focused on the conflict deep within the Ghost Mist Forest, the marketplace in the rear had become the safest corner.
Li Yuan sat cross-legged on the rush mat again, closed his eyes, and activated Dark Evil Insight.
After reaching the Golden Core Stage, his perceptual accuracy and range had multiplied, and the coverage of Dark Evil Insight’s passive surveillance network had expanded to a terrifying degree. He didn’t even need to probe deliberately; any hidden Demonic Qi harmonics in the void would be automatically captured and tagged as soon as they entered his monitoring range.
After about the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn, an extremely faint tremor of Demonic Qi came from the northeast.
An encrypted message. The frequency matched the internal communications of the Dark Abyss Association that he had intercepted before.
With a flicker of his Divine Sense, he instantly locked onto the signal’s source and precisely sliced into the Demonic Qi harmonic. The strength of his Golden Core Stage Divine Sense made the decryption process much faster than before. In less than half an incense stick’s time, the information was fully restored.
Two directives.
First: The treasure retrieval team has departed from the northern stronghold in the Ghost Mist Forest, heading toward the Stone Wilderness in Mozhou via the underground tunnels. The target is the original storage location of the Demon Qi Pill Platform’s core, stone chamber designated Jia-Three. The team consists of one Late-stage Foundation Establishment leader and four Mid-stage Foundation Establishment members.
Second: The northern core stronghold in the Ghost Mist Forest has entered a level-two alert status and is gathering more peripheral Demon Cultivators. The reason is the recent loss of contact with multiple strongholds. The leadership believes the Primordial Yang Sect may have discovered the locations of some strongholds and has ordered a contraction of the defensive line to concentrate forces.
Li Yuan opened his eyes.
’So the Dark Abyss Association really did send people to Mozhou. Their target is the very stone cave where I took the Demon Qi Pill Platform’s core.’
’They’re going to come up empty.’
’I already took the treasure from the stone cave, and I resealed the three-layered nested Restriction just as it was after I broke it. When the Dark Abyss Association’s people arrive, they’ll either be stumped by the intact Restriction, or they’ll go through all the trouble of breaking it only to find it completely empty inside.’
’Either way, it will alert the Dark Abyss Association’s leadership. They’ll realize someone beat them to the treasure and will then launch a large-scale search in Mozhou.’
’But the search won’t turn up anything. Only I know about the Teleportation Array, and the settlement of the Xuan-You survivors is hidden deep underground. The Dark Abyss Association won’t find any clues anytime soon.’
’The second piece of intelligence is more valuable. The core strongholds are contracting and gathering their forces, which means the Dark Abyss Association is feeling the pressure. The destruction of Skeleton Valley and multiple peripheral strongholds has forced them to change their strategy from scattered searching to concentrated defense.’
’Concentrating their forces makes them a bigger target, but it also means their combat power is more densely packed.’
Li Yuan finished organizing the two pieces of intelligence, stored them in a blank jade slip, and put it away safely.
On the surface, he would continue to cooperate with the Sect’s supply demands and maintain his daily operations as the marketplace supervisor. In secret, he would lay his plans in advance, keeping a close watch on the Dark Abyss Association’s movements, especially toward Mozhou.
He would proceed on two fronts simultaneously.
In the latter half of the night, the marketplace fell completely silent.
Li Yuan walked out of his stone house and went to a patch of wasteland on the outskirts of the marketplace.
He fully activated "Ghostly Stealth," his figure melting into the night.
He wanted to test the true performance of this trait with his Golden Core Stage cultivation.
During his Foundation Establishment Stage, "Ghostly Stealth" already made him immune to detection Magic from those at his level or below. But back then, he didn’t have something like Golden Core pressure to hide. One of the most fundamental differences between a Golden Core Cultivator and a Foundation Establishment Cultivator was the Golden Core pressure that constantly emanated from them.
This pressure was an intrinsic attribute of the Golden Core itself, regardless of whether the Cultivator actively released it. As long as the Golden Core existed, the pressure existed. An ordinary Golden Core Cultivator, even if they deliberately restrained their aura, could not completely hide their realm from Cultivators of the same or a higher tier.
Li Yuan first restrained his entire aura, then used Dark Evil Insight to perform a reverse scan on himself.
In the perceptual feedback, his aura signature was suppressed to the absolute limit by "Ghostly Stealth." The Demonic Qi pressure of his Golden Core was reduced layer by layer, and the final aura level he projected landed squarely within the range of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.
Empowered by his Golden Core cultivation, the trait’s disguise was even more precise than during the Foundation Establishment Stage. The aura of Foundation Establishment Perfection was too close to the edge of the Golden Core Stage and would easily arouse suspicion. "Ghostly Stealth" automatically locked the disguise into a safer range.
Li Yuan then unleashed his Golden Core pressure at full power, observing the response speed of "Ghostly Stealth" as he did so.
The pressure had just rushed out of his Dantian, not yet even breaching the surface of his skin, when the trait’s effect enveloped it like a vast, invisible net, instantly forcing it back into the depths of his meridians. From the outside, no abnormal fluctuations had leaked out at all.
The response speed was absurdly fast, practically synchronous with the release of the Golden Core pressure.
The final test.
Li Yuan fully unfurled the passive sensory net of Dark Evil Insight, making no effort to rein it in, letting it extend in all directions to its maximum range.
The range of his Divine Sense at the Golden Core Stage had tripled, and the sensory distance of Dark Evil Insight had doubled on top of that. The combined effect of the two resulted in a passive surveillance network with a coverage area more than six times larger than when he was at the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Sitting in his stone house in the marketplace, the movements in more than half of the Ghost Mist Forest were clearly projected into his perception.
The points of light from the Spiritual Power of Demon Beasts scattered throughout the forest, the faint signals of the Primordial Yang Sect’s exploration teams deep underground, and even the suppressed Demonic Qi harmonics emanating from the hidden Dark Abyss Association Demon Cultivator strongholds on the northern fringe—all were caught in this great net.
Li Yuan retracted his perception and returned to the stone house.
His disguise was flawless. His passive surveillance covered more than half of the Ghost Mist Forest.
At the Golden Core Stage, "Ghostly Stealth" and Dark Evil Insight had become ridiculously powerful.