Chapter 4: Trap in the Mist
The Mist Forest was a twilight realm, its twisted trees shrouded in eternal fog, swallowing light and sound. The air hummed with beastly qi, roars echoing like lost souls. Lin Xuan crouched behind a gnarled root, his gray robes blending with shadows, his jet-black hair falling into his eyes. At the 2nd Layer of Qi Gathering, his cultivation was modest, but his cunning—forged as Mo Tianyin—made him deadly.
Black Talon's deathly qi pressed like a blade. Lin Xuan lured the 6th Layer Qi Transformation assassin here to protect Liu Yue, Luo Shuang, and Liu Yang. He inscribed a killing formation with demonic qi, its lines glowing like blood veins. Poison needles, crafted with silver-blue-tinted venom, lay hidden.
Black Talon emerged, a shadow in black robes, daggers pulsing with deathly qi. "Boy," he rasped, "hand over the Liu Clan's art, or die slowly."
Lin Xuan smirked. "Take it from my corpse." He triggered the formation, crimson chains snaking toward Black Talon's legs. The assassin's shadow qi sliced them, but a poison needle pierced his arm, slowing him. His daggers flashed, shadow blades tearing trees. Lin Xuan's Celestial Glide wove through, a blade grazing his shoulder. His Iron Body Art mitigated the wound, and he lunged with Tooth Dagger, tearing Black Talon's thigh, blood spraying.
Black Talon summoned a shadow clone, its dagger slashing. Lin Xuan used Energy Devour, siphoning qi, weakening the clone. His Tooth Dagger pierced the assassin's shoulder. Black Talon staggered, poison and blood loss taking their toll.
"You can't stop them," Black Talon gasped. "The Zhi Clan… backed by the Hei Clan. They want that art… don't know why it's special."
Lin Xuan's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"They think it's power," Black Talon coughed, laughing bitterly. "You're dead, boy." Lin Xuan ended him with Tooth Dagger, devouring his qi, pushing to the 3rd Layer of Qi Gathering.
Deeper in the forest, Lin Xuan found Spirit Bone Grass. A Lightning-Scaled Snake and Horned Bear fought, both at Qi Gathering's peak. He claimed their cores after their deaths, finding a cave with an Eclipse Sky Dragon egg and arm. Too weak to claim them, he sealed the cave with a formation. Returning to the inn, he refined pills with his hidden silver-blue flame, reserving one for Liu Yang.