"It is merely a suspicion, and truthfully, I hope I am wrong. But Mu Chen, look at the state of this war. If Marshal Moyai has indeed sold us out to the Chu Yun Empire, then the disasters of the past year finally make sense, don't they?"
Xiao Lin's voice was low, carrying a weight that seemed to press against the very air. During their journey to the front, he hadn't just been sitting on his horse; he had been dissecting every military report from the last twelve months.
The pattern was too clean. The Chu Yun Empire, defeated and humiliated six years ago, had suddenly regained its teeth. They struck with a surgical precision that suggested they weren't just fighting an army—they were reading its diary.
Xiao Lin wasn't the only one in the ranks with suspicions. Whispers of a "mole" had been circulating in the barracks for months. But no one—absolutely no one—dared to look toward the command tent.
The Intel family had been a pillar of the Jia Ma Empire for a century. Moyai himself had worn the Marshal's mantle for decades. To accuse him of treason was unthinkable. What could he possibly gain? Would the Chu Yun Empire give an outsider a higher status than the "Grand Marshal of a Nation"? It defied common sense.
Mu Chen, representing that common sense, gripped his reins tight. "Do you have proof?"
"Not yet," Xiao Lin replied, his eyes cold. "But I'm going to find it. If I'm right, Moyai will act immediately. He needs to inform Chu Yun that the second set of 'heirs' has left the camp so they can prepare the secondary ambush."
"And if he does nothing?"
"Then I am merely a paranoid man overthinking the wind. And frankly, Mu Chen, that would be the best possible outcome."
Mu Chen fell silent. He looked at the horizon, where the jagged peaks of the border sat like broken teeth against the sky.
If Moyai was a traitor, everything clicked into place. The sudden invasion. The "clairvoyant" maneuvers of the Chu Yun troops. And most damningly, the current situation: Nalan Jie—a rising star of the capital—sent into a "perfect" ambush, followed immediately by the two other most prominent heirs of the new generation sent to "rescue" him with a pitifully small force.
It was a systematic culling of the Jia Ma Empire's future.
"Hooo..." Mu Chen exhaled, his breath hitching. "I understand, Brother Xiao. Do what you must. If there's even a fraction of a percent that you're right, the consequences of ignoring it are terminal. I just hope to the heavens that you are wrong."
"I hope so too, Mu Chen. Now, listen closely. This is what I need you to do..."
Xiao Lin quickly outlined a plan that made Mu Chen's eyes flicker with a mix of fear and admiration.
"I'll do it," Mu Chen nodded. "I'll give you all the support I can."
"Then I leave the rest to you, Brother Mu."
"Take care, Xiao Lin. The weight on your shoulders is much heavier than mine."
The two shared a brief, meaningful look. In the crucible of this conspiracy, their relationship shifted from professional rivalry to a bond forged in mutual survival. Xiao Lin vanished into the underbrush, moving with the silent grace of a shadow, while Mu Chen signaled the thirty Da Dou Shis to continue.
However, as per Xiao Lin's instructions, Mu Chen began to lead the troops at a maddeningly slow pace.
Xiao Lin's reasoning was simple: If Nalan Jie was the bait, Chu Yun wouldn't kill him yet. You don't eat the worm if you're waiting for the big fish to bite. As long as Xiao Lin and Mu Chen hadn't "arrived" at the ambush site, Nalan Jie was technically safe. Delaying their arrival bought Xiao Lin the time he needed to catch the traitor red-handed.
While Mu Chen played the part of the "slow-moving reinforcement," Xiao Lin circled back toward the Jia Ma main camp.
Using his Heavenly State Soul and Four-Star Dou Huang cultivation, he became a ghost. He could have stood three feet away from a sentry, and they wouldn't have sensed a ripple in the air.
He didn't have to wait long.
Roughly two hours after their departure, a figure draped in a standard Jia Ma military cloak slipped out of a side gate of the encampment. The figure moved with practiced stealth, avoiding the main paths and sticking to the shadows of the ravines.
Xiao Lin's eyes narrowed into slits. Bingo.
He didn't strike immediately. He followed the figure for miles, maintaining a perfect distance. He needed to be sure. If this was just a scout or a messenger on a legitimate errand, he would be committing a grave error.
But as the figure approached the outskirts of the Chu Yun Empire's forward base—a place no lone Jia Ma soldier should be—the ambiguity vanished.
Just as the mysterious cloaked figure reached a small clearing within sight of the enemy watchtowers, a sudden, frigid pressure descended upon the area. The air seemed to crystallize.
Xiao Lin stepped out from behind a gnarled tree, blocking the path. His aura was suppressed, but the sheer coldness in his eyes was enough to make the mystery man's blood run cold.
"Beautiful night for a stroll," Xiao Lin said, his voice as sharp as a blade. "Care to tell me who you're delivering that message to?"
"General Xiao? Is that you?"
The mystery man from the Jia Ma camp recoiled, his voice cracking with genuine shock. He had calculated every variable of his escape, but the sudden appearance of Xiao Lin was a ghost story come to life.
His face paled, and his body tensed instinctively. He knew the intelligence: according to Marshal Moyai, the man standing before him was a Peak Nine-Star Dou Ling—the undisputed king beneath the Dou Wang realm. Against a mere Five-Star Dou Ling like himself, the math was simple and lethal.
The spy began to shuffle backward, his boots crunching softly on the dry earth. Xiao Lin, leaning casually against a jagged monolith, watched every micro-movement with the detached interest of a predator watching a cornered rat. He didn't move. He didn't need to. At this distance, the spy was already dead; he just hadn't realized it yet.
"And what might your name be, 'General'?" Xiao Lin asked, his voice smooth and conversational. "Strange... I spent plenty of time in the command tent, yet I don't recall seeing your face among the officers."
The spy swallowed hard, struggling to keep his breathing rhythmic. "General Xiao has been away from the front for six years. It's only natural you wouldn't recognize a mere personal attendant of the Great Marshal. I hardly deserve the title of General."
"An attendant? I see," Xiao Lin said, a thin, mocking smile playing on his lips. "But tell me, why is a humble attendant of our Great Marshal sprinting toward the Chu Yun encampment in the dead of night? Is it an errand of peace? Or perhaps..." Xiao Lin's voice dropped to a whisper that seemed to vibrate in the spy's very marrow. "...are you delivering a challenge of war on the Marshal's behalf?"
The spy flinched as if struck. He forced a jagged, awkward laugh. "Yes! Exactly! General Xiao and General Mu are leading a rescue mission, after all. The Marshal wants us to create a diversion on the main front to draw Chu Yun's attention away from your path. It's all part of the strategy!"
"Oh, is that so?" Xiao Lin's sarcasm was now a physical weight in the air. "How noble. And here I was, thinking the Marshal had sent you to hand-deliver our travel route to the enemy."
The spy's entire body went rigid. The mask of duty shattered. "General Xiao! How dare you! The Marshal has bled for this empire for decades! To utter such treasonous filth is a capital crime! When we return to the capital, the Emperor will have your head for such slander!"
He barked the words with righteous indignation, but his eyes were darting wildly, looking for a gap in the shadows. Xiao Lin sighed, bored with the theatrics.
"A stirring speech," Xiao Lin said, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. "In that case, allow me to deliver that 'challenge' for you. Consider it an apology for my... 'treasonous' tongue."
The spy's heart hammered against his ribs. Every step Xiao Lin took felt like a mountain collapsing toward him. The air around Xiao Lin didn't feel like Dou Qi; it felt like the cold, crushing vacuum of space.
"No... no need, General! I'm sure it was a slip of the tongue!" The spy's forehead was slick with cold sweat. His cloak was already damp, clinging to his back. "I won't tell the Marshal. I'll deliver the letter myself!"
Xiao Lin ignored him, closing the distance with predatory grace. "What? You don't trust me? Or are you truly planning to report me?"
"Wait! Stop!" The spy shrieked, his composure finally breaking as Xiao Lin crossed the ten-meter mark. "Fine! If you want it so badly, take it!"
He thrust his hand into his robes, appearing to pull out a scroll. Xiao Lin stopped, a faint, expectant smile on his face.
"Here! Catch!"
The spy's hand whipped out, but it wasn't a letter. He hurled a small, violet medicinal pill directly at Xiao Lin's face. Without waiting to see the result, the spy spun on his heel and bolted toward the Chu Yun watchtowers. He didn't need to kill Xiao Lin; he just needed to buy ten seconds of chaos to reach the enemy lines.
POP!
The pill detonated a meter in front of Xiao Lin, erupting into a thick, roiling cloud of toxic purple gas. It was a high-grade corrosive poison—the kind that could melt the lungs of a Dou Ling in seconds.
The Star-Faring Palm
"Poison? Hah. You truly underestimate me."
Xiao Lin didn't retreat. He didn't even hold his breath. To a Four-Star Dou Huang with a Heavenly State Soul, this "deadly" mist was nothing more than colorful smoke.
He reached out his right hand.
"Great Stellar Seal!"
With a low hum, the azure starlight in his palm expanded. A massive, translucent hand—flecked with the brilliance of a thousand distant suns—materialized in the air. With a casual flick of his wrist, the celestial palm swiped through the air.
The purple gas didn't just dissipate; it was utterly annihilated, crushed out of existence by the sheer pressure of the Star Dou Qi.
The fleeing spy looked back just in time to see the sky turn blue.
"What... what rank is that technique?!" his voice rose in a final, terrified wail.
The stellar palm didn't stop at the gas. It slammed into the spy like the hand of a god. There was no explosion, only the sound of a heavy weight meeting soft earth. The ground groaned, and when the starlight faded, the five-star Dou Ling was gone—pressed into the dirt, silenced forever in a single strike.
Xiao Lin lowered his hand, his expression cold. "One traitor down. Now, for the rest of the nest."