Star Martial Soaring Cloud

Lishan is indeed an ancient mountain range, lush and verdant, with magnificent waterfalls, like a scroll painting stretching out before you.

Towering ancient trees block out the sun, and thick vines coil around the trunks like giant pythons. A light mist hangs in the air, and sunlight filters through the gaps in the branches and leaves, forming beams of light that illuminate the dust particles dancing in the air.

Just a few steps after stepping out of the teleportation portal, a familiar, provocative gaze locked onto Wang Xiao.

"He's quite patient," Wang Xiao sighed inwardly. Ever since Ye Changtian challenged him from the top of Liangshan, he hadn't taken this opponent seriously.

Different road non-phase plan.

I've just finished a fierce battle, and the other side can't wait to jump out and provoke me—is this what they call a challenge?

Wang Xiaochao gave Gongbao Chicken a wink, and the two of them suddenly sped up, disappearing into the woods in a few leaps, silently hiding in a towering ancient tree.

Seeing that Ye Changtian had searched everywhere without success and finally left dejectedly, Kung Pao Chicken sneered: "Want to fight? Do you think we have no temper? With this level of skill, you shouldn't come out and embarrass yourself!" It wanted to say more, but was stopped by a look from Wang Xiao.

The unique cultivation methods of Seven Star Mountain had already honed his spiritual senses to an exceptionally sharp level. He clearly sensed that there was someone following Ye Changtian.

Before long, three men in black appeared where Ye Changtian had stood. This group was extremely professional in their tracking methods. They skillfully avoided any places in the forest where sunlight shone, remaining hidden in the shadows and making no sound.

They were agile and their disguise was flawless, no wonder they were able to deceive Ye Changtian's senses.

If Wang Xiaoling hadn't sensed something extraordinary about them and hadn't hidden herself in a high place beforehand, they probably wouldn't have been able to find their trail at all.

In the forest, the three advanced in a triangular formation, their coordination was exquisite. If any one of them was attacked, the other two could rush to his aid immediately, quickly forming an encirclement.

The three men did not show any anxiety about their target's disappearance. After searching carefully for a while, they gave up the pursuit.

Wang Xiao could tell from their eye contact that this group was planning to find their next target.

Watching the three figures heading west, Wang Xiao's eyes flashed with a cold light, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

After confirming that they had gone far away, he signaled Kung Pao Chicken to follow, and then slowly followed behind the three men in black, quietly beginning to counter-track them.

As the search deepened, Wang Xiao grew increasingly alarmed—he discovered that there were far more than just three men in black in the woods.

It is certain that they all come from the same organization, working in three-person teams, and are separately tracking multiple trial cultivators.

Their target wasn't any specific person, but rather seemed to be all the monks participating in the Lishan Trial.

Such a move is truly astonishing!

Realizing that things were getting increasingly wrong, Wang Xiao made a decisive move and took the initiative.

He spread his spiritual senses and, after confirming that he and the three men in black were the only ones in the area, immediately took action.

The figure moved like a ghost behind a person, raised his right hand and struck the back of the person's neck. The person fell straight down without even uttering a sound.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Xiao moved silently through the forest, and in a short while, the remaining two men in black were also ambushed by him and both fainted.

Wang Xiao and Kung Pao Chicken dragged the three to a secluded corner, intending to interrogate them carefully.

After searching them, the two were shocked to find that none of the three had any trial tokens on them—they were not trial participants at all!

"How could this be? Are they from the Xuanyuan family? But judging from their behavior, they don't seem like it at all. Without a token issued by the Xuanyuan family, how did they enter Lishan?" Wang Xiao frowned, the complexity of the matter seemed to far exceed his expectations.

"Kung Pao Chicken, that secret passage you told me about, it's not like everyone already knows about it, is it?" Wang Xiao did indeed possess a way to enter Lishan without using a teleportation array.

"Absolutely impossible!" Kung Pao Chicken exclaimed urgently. "I swear to God, only the two of us knew about that secret passage; there was no one else!"

After a thorough search, Wang Xiao still found nothing.

Left with no other option, he had to interrogate them directly.

Reaching out, Wang Xiao slapped one of the men in black awake, simultaneously sealing all of the man's major acupoints. He said in a deep voice, "You must answer my questions honestly! If you dare to lie or shout nonsense, I will kill you immediately! Don't even think about getting away with it. I will question your companions one by one later. If your answers differ even slightly, you can forget about seeing the sun tomorrow."

"Who sent you? What is your purpose in infiltrating Lishan? How many people have come in total?" Wang Xiao was immediately shrouded in suspicion upon entering Lishan and was eager to find out the truth.

"Kid, I think asking is pointless." Kung Pao Chicken looked the three of them up and down, his expression gradually becoming serious—he too had sensed something was wrong.

"What do you mean?" "Didn't you notice they can't speak at all? Look closely, their Adam's apples are all shattered. I bet their tongues were cut off long ago too!" Kung Pao Chicken said in a deep voice, "The person behind this has a huge hand, acting so ruthlessly and cruelly, it's truly terrifying."

"What?" Wang Xiao quickly pried open the mouths of the three men in black, and sure enough, it was just as Kung Pao Chicken had said.

He wanted to investigate further, but the awakened man in black suddenly foamed at the mouth, his face turned black instantly, and after a few "whooshes," he fell straight to the ground, lifeless.

Wang Xiao then woke up two other people, and the situation was exactly the same; they all eventually died from the poison.

It turns out that they had deadly poison hidden in their teeth, and even if their meridians and acupoints were sealed, they could still bite off the poison and commit suicide within moments.

Wang Xiao was still unwilling to give up and continued to wander silently through the woods.

He firmly believed that he would eventually encounter one or two leaders or similar figures, and that the entire organization wouldn't be rendered mute.

But the result was a huge disappointment to him—he took down three groups of men in black, and the situation was the same in all of them; he didn't get any useful information at all.

This deepened his suspicions, and a chill crept up his spine. He dared not speculate on the terror of the mastermind behind it all.

These trackers are extremely patient and have all undergone rigorous training; each one is a top-notch tracker. What immense power and resources would be needed to cultivate such a team? Wang Xiao dared not even contemplate it.

"Who exactly is behind this?"

Just as Wang Xiao was interrogating the man in black, another man in black hurriedly ran into a pavilion in Lishan City.

Deep within this magnificent courtyard stands an exquisite pavilion. The pavilion is surrounded by lush green grass, vibrant flowers, and uniquely shaped rocks arranged in a pleasing manner.

A man stood by the window of the attic, his face hidden in the shadows, only his dark eyes shining brightly, revealing a hint of cruelty and cunning that sent chills down one's spine.

The man in black cautiously climbed to the top of the pavilion, then knelt down with a thud, trembling as he said, "Master, a trial participant saw through our plan and even took down three of our groups."

"Hmm?" A soft hum, though seemingly ordinary, terrified the kneeling man in black, who immediately collapsed to the ground, his clothes soaked with sweat, too afraid to even breathe.

"Let's make our move tonight." As soon as he finished speaking, the man by the window vanished into the darkness, as if he had never been there.

On the first day of the Lishan Trial, Wang Xiao was shrouded in doubt throughout.

As night fell, all the trial participants returned to Lishan City. The summer night sky was exceptionally clear, dotted with stars, and the moonlight was as clear as water, bathing the earth in its bright glow.

Alone in the courtyard, Wang Xiao gazed at the bright moon in the sky and fell into deep thought.

His daytime trip to Lishan yielded nothing except the discovery of a large number of mysterious men in black.

It was this group of elusive trackers who instilled a deep sense of dread in Wang Xiao.

He sent Kung Pao Chicken to investigate, but the result was shocking: none of the trackers returned to Lishan City—as the trial ended, they vanished without a trace, as if they had evaporated into thin air.

"This is really troublesome. I can clearly feel the sense of crisis, but I can't find the source. Just recalling their behavior during the day is enough to send chills down my spine."

The courtyard is quiet and serene, with a cool breeze, swaying bamboo shadows, and stone tables and wooden chairs casually placed, exuding a sense of leisure.

"Should we inform the Xuanyuan family about this?" Wang Xiao hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "No, what if these people are connected to the Xuanyuan family? Wouldn't I be walking into a trap? Let's find out their background first."

"ah--!"

A piercing scream suddenly tore through the night sky, filled with extreme pain and despair; clearly, someone was struggling to survive.

Wang Xiao moved and stepped out of the courtyard, only to find that the other cultivators had also come out of their residences, their faces full of doubt.

Fighting is strictly prohibited in Lishan City, a rule known to all. Moreover, the city is guarded day and night by knights from the Xuanyuan family. Who would dare to be so audacious?

Half an hour later, news spread throughout the city: a trial cultivator had been found dead in his own residence, assassinated!

The deceased had just successfully opened up the Sea of ​​Vital Energy in Lishan during the day, achieving a minor breakthrough, but was killed by someone who slit his throat with a single sword, and all his belongings were also stolen.

"What did you say? The deceased's vital energy was actually extracted?"

"Was it a vendetta? Could it be a feud stemming from a dispute over the Eight Elements Stones?"

Once inside the training grounds, the cultivators operated independently, and even those who formed alliances would never easily reveal their gains.

How could the assassin know so precisely that the deceased had just opened up his sea of ​​vital energy?

A thought suddenly flashed through Wang Xiao's mind: the assassin and the man in black during the day were probably in cahoots!

Their target is those cultivators who have just opened up their sea of ​​primordial energy!

The Sea of ​​Vital Energy is their true objective!

"The fox's tail has finally been revealed. It seems they have no connection with the Xuanyuan family." Wang Xiao sighed inwardly, feeling that the matter was becoming increasingly perplexing.

The cultivators who came to participate in the trial were at most at the Fish Leap Realm, but the murderer was able to kill a cultivator who had reached the Lesser Completion of the Fish Leap Realm with a single sword strike. How could such strength not be alarming?

"What happened? Who killed the deceased?" The soldiers of the Xuanyuan family quickly arrived and surrounded the deceased's residence.

Ignoring the Xuanyuan family's prohibition and assassinating a trial participant in a city is undoubtedly a slap in the face to the Xuanyuan family in front of everyone.

In the end, even Xuanyuan Hong was alarmed.

His face was ashen, clearly not expecting anyone to be so arrogant and domineering. His angry shouts, like rolling thunder, echoed throughout the entire city of Lishan: "Investigate! Investigate with all your might! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, find the culprit!"