Chapter 6000
The sunlight outside the hermitage was perfect, casting dappled shadows on the bamboo, but Kai and Ming Li seemed to blend into the gaps in the light and shadow, vanishing without a trace in an instant.
Lian Xing gazed in the direction they disappeared, silently praying.
Then she turned and solemnly said to Leopard Brother and Monkey, “Pack your things immediately and move to Safe House Number Two as instructed by the senior. Be quick and leave no trace.”
Kai and Ming Li moved at high speed through the complex streets and rooftops of Jade Immortal City like two invisible shadows.
They avoided all main roads and heavily patrolled areas, choosing instead quiet alleys, abandoned courtyards, and even underground drainage channels. Their movements were unpredictable, and their auras were concealed to the extreme.
As a member of the Ghost Clan, Ming Li was naturally skilled at concealment, and now he made his ghostly aura invisible, closely following behind Kai, once again marveling at Kai’s unfathomable stealth abilities.
About an incense stick later, the two silently approached the high wall on the west side of Jade Immortal Mansion.
This wasn’t the main entrance, so the guards were relatively weak, but faint defensive runes still flowed across the tall jade wall, and there were hidden sentries at intervals.
Kai didn’t choose to climb over the wall. He led Ming Li around to the base of a wall, where several ancient vines, their tendrils intertwined and covering almost half of the wall.
More importantly, Kai’s divine sense detected a long-abandoned, tiny pipe inside the wall, used to drain the residual spiritual spring water. Due to
years of neglect, most of its internal protective array had long since failed, and because it was so tiny and hidden, it hadn’t been covered by the routine maintenance array.
“Go in from here,”
Kai transmitted his voice, a flash of chaotic gray light appearing at his fingertips as he gently touched a brick hidden under the old vines.
The gray light penetrated, and several extremely faint “click” sounds came from inside the brick, as if an internal mechanism had been quietly opened.
Immediately afterward, a section of wall, about a foot square, silently caved in, revealing a dark opening just wide enough for one person to pass through sideways. A musty, damp smell wafted out.
Without hesitation, Kai slipped inside first, followed closely by Ming Li.
Once inside, Kai tapped a spot on the inside of the loose wall brick, and the opening silently returned to its original state, appearing identical to the surrounding walls from the outside.
Inside was a narrow, downward-sloping stone path covered in slippery moss, the air thick with a musty smell and a faint dampness.
The two descended several dozen feet along the path, where a fork in the road appeared.
Based on the markings on the Lianxing map and his own divine sense, Kai chose the left path—a deeper, more secluded passage, almost half-blocked by collapsed earth and rocks.
Like the most agile pangolins, they traversed the narrow, complex, and treacherous abandoned pipes and underground crevices.
In some places, the power of chaos was needed to subtly corrode the rusted iron fences blocking the way; in others, one had to carefully avoid fragments of ancient restrictions that still retained a faint trace of aggression.
Throughout the process, Kai demonstrated an astonishing insight and control over energy and structure, always finding the safest and fastest path.
Ming Li followed silently, his heart growing increasingly apprehensive.
This was far more than just superior strength; it required an immense wealth of experience and a frighteningly calm mind.
Just how many perilous situations had Kai endured to hone such abilities?
About an incense stick’s time later, a faint light and fresh air appeared ahead.
Kai stopped before an exit covered in weeds, his divine sense spreading outwards like flowing water.
Beyond the exit was a long-abandoned corner of a garden, the artificial hill crumbling, the pond dried up, and overgrown with weeds.
In the distance, the magnificent eaves of the Jade Immortal Mansion’s inner palace could be seen, but this place had clearly been forgotten for a long time.
“We’re already in the abandoned area outside the Hundred Flowers Garden,”
Kai transmitted his voice. “The Listening Pine Path is to the east. Go through this abandoned garden, then through a small bamboo grove. Fei Qingruo will have to take the Listening Pine Path when she comes from the Pure Heart Pavilion. Let’s go there in advance to make arrangements.”
The two floated out of the cave like ghosts, quickly disappearing into the shadows of the abandoned garden, and stealthily headed towards the Listening Pine Path.
The Listening Pine Path lived up to its name. A winding bluestone path was hidden among tall, dense ancient pine trees.
The pine trees were all as thick as several people could encircle, their age unknown, their branches strong and their needles like canopies, cutting sunlight into fine dappled patterns that dappled the moss-covered stone slabs.
The path was flanked by jagged rocks, adding to its winding and concealed nature. The place was exceptionally quiet; apart from the rustling of the wind through the pines, almost no other sound could be heard, and no one could be seen.
Kai quickly scanned his surroundings, his eyes sharp as lightning.
He chose a hollow at a bend in the path, flanked by tall artificial rocks and several exceptionally thick ancient pines, offering numerous blind spots, and the intertwined branches above created a natural hiding space.
“Ming Li, you hide behind that boulder, concealing all your presence. Don’t act without my signal.”
“Your task is, in case of any unexpected events, such as patrolling guards passing by, or Fei Qing’s guards trying to sound the alarm, you must immediately and discreetly stop them, creating chaos or misleading them to buy us time.”
Kai quickly assigned the task.
“Understood.”
Ming Li nodded, his figure flickering as he vanished into the shadow of the boulder like a wisp of smoke, his presence disappearing without a trace, as if no one had ever been there.
Kai himself leaped up, silently climbing a perfectly positioned ancient pine tree and hiding behind its dense needles.
From this angle, he could clearly see the area of about ten feet before and after the bend in the path below, yet remain extremely difficult for anyone below to detect.
Next came the patient waiting, and… the silent preparation.
Kai stretched out his hands, his fingertips simultaneously glowing with a barely perceptible chaotic gray light.
He drew lines in the air, and countless extremely fine gray threads shot out from his fingertips, merging into the surrounding air, pine needles, cracks in the rocks, and the ground.
He was setting up an array.