The noise of Ninepeak City—the hawkers, the clatter of carts, the murmur of cultivators, it all fell away as his attention locked onto the pitch-black halo above his own head.

  His eyes narrowed, dread creeping in his heart as he knew exactly what a black halo meant.

  He swallowed and focused on it.

  The world lurched as the vision manifested.

  ——

  He was climbing the mountain path back to the sect, stone steps climbing upward between tall cliffs. Night had crept in, and lanterns glowing faintly along the side of the road lit the way. His body was exhausted, but his mind was racing on the best ways to use this new cheat power.

  A voice stopped him halfway up the stairs.

  "Junior Brother."

  He turned.

  A cultivator stepped out from behind a spirit pine, smiling like an old friend. He recognised the guy at once. It was the man from the auction. The one who would have bought the spatial ring if not for his interference.

  He had given no thought to this guy beforehand. Which seemed to be a mistake in hindsight.

  Stopping him like this, in the middle of the road at night with no one around, made the man's intentions clear.

  But then the situation worsened.

  He wasn't alone.

  Four familiar figures emerged from the shadows, lazy grins spread across their faces.

  Shu Wen. And his dogs.

  They fanned out with practiced ease, cutting off the path uphill, downhill, and to either side. Like men who had done this many times to many other disciples before him.

  "It's funny how we keep meeting like this," Shu Wen said, an amused smile on his face.

  "Aye. It's almost like we're fated/" the first lackey jeered.

  "Fated indeed. I thought we took all his spirit stones this morning. But look at him—he clearly had more hidden away," the second added. "No doubt he was just waiting to hand them over to us, right, Brother Wen?"

  "Such a kind-hearted junior brother we have," the third chimed in.

  "Indeed." The man from the auction finally spoke. "When I saw him at the auction house, buying something I wanted for myself, I immediately thought of you, Brother Wen. I hope you'll take everything he has—and leave the spatial ring to me."

  "I'll decide what to do with the ring once I've taken a look inside," Shu Wen said mildly. Li Yuan took some satisfaction in the way the snitch's expression curdled.

  That satisfaction vanished the next moment as Shu Wen turned to him.

  "Now. Hand over everything you have. And by everything, I mean everything."

  He swallowed and tossed the spatial ring over to Shu Wen. Losing it hurt—but with his power, he knew he could recover in time. There was no need for him to risk his life over such an item.

  Alas, it seemed that Shu Wen had no intention of sparing him because as soon as he got his hands on the Spatial ring, he spoke up. "Silence him."

  Li Yuan ran. But he was only at the third stage of Qi Condensation, while the lackeys were at the fifth, with Shu Wen being even stronger than them.

  He didn't get far.

  In fact, he didn't even make it five steps.

  Something hot slammed into his spine and burst out through his stomach. The ground rushed up to meet him and his vision went white.

  ——

  The vision shattered.

  He staggered where he stood, his breath short and sharp while his hands shook.

  Not from fear but from rage.

  His nails bit into his palms hard enough to draw blood, but the pain barely registered. The vision replayed itself in his mind—every step, every word, every movement.

  He had done everything they had asked for. Given them what they wanted. And in return, they decided to kill him.

  He gritted his teen in anger even as a bitter laugh scraped its way out of his throat.

  Part of him wanted to take a different route up the mountain. Or stay in the city for the night. But he knew it wouldn't work.

  That snitch clearly understood the spatial ring's true value—or at least suspected it was far more valuable than it appeared. That could be the only reason that bastard targeted him in the first place, going so far as to call Shu Wen and his lackeys to ambush him.

  Even if he tried to run, it would change nothing. The snitch would simply find another chance—or call in more reinforcements and strike elsewhere.

  'No. I'll have deal with them tonight. Turn their ambush against them while they still think I'm weak and vulnerable,' he thought. 'But how?'

  Then an idea struck.

  He veered off the main street and slipped into a narrow alley wedged between a pill shop and a shuttered talisman store.

  The lantern light didn't reach this far, leaving the alley drowned in darkness.

  Good.

  He leaned back against the wall and exhaled slowly, forcing his breathing to steady and his mind to calm. Only then did he pull the spatial ring from his sleeve.

  In his palm, it looked laughably ordinary.

  A dull silver band. Even wealthy mortals wouldn't give it a second glance, and even cultivators could use Qi Sensing would see nothing more than a basic spatial ring.

  In fact, when he probed it with his qi, he found a space no larger than five cubic meters—barely enough to store a spirit beast corpse. But he knew its true value.

  He stared at it, jaw tight with anticipation. Then, with practiced ease, he bit his thumb. Blood welled up, and he pressed it to the ring along with a trace of his Qi.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Nothing happened at first.

  Then the ring drank it all.

  A sharp sting shot up his arm as the blood vanished into the metal. His consciousness lurched, yanked forward as if by a hook.

  The world folded, and the cramped five cubic meters of storage space vanished.

  His awareness exploded outward as space unfolded in layer after layer. The false interior peeled away, revealing something far greater beneath it.

  Mountains rose in the distance, rivers carved long and winding paths through wide valleys, and vast green forests stretched from horizon to horizon.

  A land at least fifty cubic miles in size spread before his senses. And at its very center lay a small lake.

  Even though he had known what to expect, his breath still caught when he focused on it.

  The water glowed faintly, saturated as it was with condensed spiritual energy. Qi rolled off its surface in slow, steady waves, soaking into the surrounding land.

  A spirit lake.

  More precisely, a low-grade, first-stage spirit lake—one that could produce a few hundred spirit stones' worth of output each year.

  It wasn't the find of the century. His own clan possessed a dozen such lakes, along with two mid-grade, first-stage spirit lakes within their territory.

  But what lay along the shoreline was what truly caught his attention.

  Spirit stones were scattered across the banks like gravel. Small piles. Large clusters. Some half-buried in the mud, others stacked together in large piles.

  One look was enough to tell him there were tens of thousands of spirit stones scattered along the lake's banks.

  The ring must have been ownerless for decades. All those years, the spirit lake had kept producing stones, and with no one to harvest them, they had simply piled up.

  He let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, followed by a quiet, disbelieving laugh.

  He withdrew his consciousness from the ring, and the alley snapping back into place around him. The spatial ring suddenly felt far heavier in his hand.

  He had never held that much wealth in his life.

  He closed his fingers around the ring and exhaled.

  With this, he could buy pills. Talismans. Poison. Formation tools. Maybe even an offensive artefact or two. Enough to prepare traps. Enough to turn the ambush upon the ambushers.

  He pushed himself off the wall and slipped the ring back into his sleeve.

  A faint smile tugged at his lips.

  'This time, I'll be the one waiting.'

  —————

  The night air grew thinner as he climbed the mountain path. Spirit pines lined the road, their needles whispering softly in the wind. Lanterns hung at measured intervals, casting long shadows across the stone steps.

  Then a voice slid out from between those shadows.

  "Junior Brother."

  His steps faltered—just a fraction too slow, just convincingly enough.

  He turned.

  The man from the auction stepped out from behind a spirit pine with a polite expression. Exactly where the vision had placed him. The same angle, the same faint curl of satisfaction at the corner of his mouth.

  Then the others appeared.

  Shu Wen stepped out first, hands folded behind his back, posture relaxed. A moment later, his three lackeys emerged from the darkness, spreading out as they closed in.

  Five of them in total.

  His heart hammered against his ribs. Good. It was time.

  His eyes widened in exaggerated panic, his breath hitching as an expression of fear crept onto his face. He took an instinctive step back, shoulders tensing as if he were weighing his chances.

  Then, before they could completely circle him, he turned and ran.

  "Catch him!" Shu Wen snapped.

  Footsteps thundered behind him almost at once, closing the distance quickly despite his head start.

  Li Yuan sprinted down the path, robes snapping against his legs. He could feel them drawing closer with every step. He wasn't going to outrun them.

  But he already knew that.

  His hand slipped into his sleeve and came out with a strip of paper that had cost him two spirit stones.

  He slapped the talisman against his chest. The paper was already warm with stored qi. He poured his energy into it and activated it without hesitation.

  The Swiftfoot Talisman ignited.

  Qi surged through his legs in a violent rush. The world lurched as his speed doubled—then surged again. The ground blurred beneath his feet, wind tearing at his robes as he shot forward.

  Behind him, curses erupted.

  "Damn it—!"

  "He had a talisman!"

  "Don't let him escape!"

  The distance widened. Not by much—just enough that they could keep chasing him without losing sight of him.

  After running for a while, he veered sharply off the main path and plunged into the trees to the right. Branches whipped at his face and snagged his robes, but he didn't slow.

  The lantern light vanished behind him, swallowed by the shadows of the forest.

  A moment later, he heard them crash into the trees after him without hesitation.

  A grim smile flickered across his face as he burst into a small clearing, heart pounding with anticipation.

  There.

  Beneath one of the larger trees lay a Tier One Formation Plate, its surface inlaid with dozens upon dozens of spirit stones, all ready to power it.

  He skidded to a halt and slammed his palm onto the plate, sending his qi into it.

  Qi surged outward from the Formation Plate as it activated. The dozens of Spirit Stones placed over it immediately turned into dust as the Formation Plate sucked in their energy as well.

  Formation flags buried throughout the area flared to life one after another, lines of light snapping into place like a tightening web.

  The Illusory Realm Formation activated, and the clearing abruptly vanished.

  Paths twisted. Distances warped. The forest folded in on itself, reflections bleeding into reflections until reality lost its meaning.

  That was what would happen to anyone trapped inside.

  For him—the master of the formation—everything within the formation was visible with crystal clarity.

  He straightened slowly, chest heaving as the last of the Swiftfoot Talisman's power burned out.

  Then he listened.

  The footsteps that had been chasing him moments ago came to an abrupt stop.

  "Where the hell—"

  "This isn't right—"

  "Is this a bloody formation?!"

  He wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a slow, steady breath.

  'Good,' he thought. 'Now…'

  It was his turn to hunt.

  —————

  Shu Wen couldn't see clearly.

  The forest had been dark when they entered it, but that had been natural darkness. This was something else entirely.

  'Formation,' he thought, jaw tightening with anger.

  How had that weakling gotten his hands on a formation? Or had one already existed here, with him simply luring them into it?

  He forced his breathing to steady and lifted his gaze. Between the branches, he spotted the moon. A fixed point. An anchor.

  Shu Wen ran toward it.

  His boots struck roots and stone, breath rasping in his ears as he drove qi through his legs. He ran hard, fast enough that his robe snapped behind him, fast enough that weaker disciples would have seen nothing but a blur go past them.

  Seconds passed. And then minutes as he continued running. But no matter how much he ran, the forest around him didn't change.

  "Dammit," he muttered, skidding to a halt, and realised that he'd arrived at the same place he'd been at when he first started running.

  Despite the moon not moving from its place, he'd been somehow been running around in circles.

  Footsteps crunched behind him.

  Shu Wen spun, sword already half drawn.

  Nothing.

  Only trees and dark shadows.

  Then the ground suddenly split open.

  Something crawled out of it and he squinted to take a proper look at it. It was a spirit beast, the likes of which he'd never seen before. It had too many limbs, and too many eyes, with a single mouth that stretched wide with rows upon rows of sharp gleaming teeth.

  He would be lying if he said that he didn't feel fear in that moment.

  The creature let out an unholy roar and lunged at him.

  Shu Wen moved without thinking as years worth of training took over.

  Steel flashed. His sword cleaved straight through the creature's torso. The body split cleanly in half—

  —and dissolved into smoke before it hit the ground.

  'Illusion.' He realised with a sigh of relief. Of course. Why had he feared that thing in the first place.

  Another monster rose. Then another. From between roots, from behind trunks, from the shadows themselves. They all lunged at him.

  Shu Wen cut them down methodically.

  Each strike was precise, with no wasted movement. His sword sang through the air, qi flaring along its edge as illusion after illusion dispersed into mist.

  His heartbeat slowed as he relaxed.

  'Is this all?' he thought, contempt creeping in. 'A cheap Tier-One illusion formation?'

  He stopped dodging.

  One of the monsters swiped at his ribs and dispersed into smoke. Another lunged for his throat. and passed straight through him without doing any damage. A third clamped its jaws around his arm and met a similar end.

  Shu Wen laughed.

  "Pathetic." He said, feeling a tad bit stupid for fearing these things in the first place. Once he gets his hands on that weakling, he'd make him pay for this insult.

  Another creature raised its claws again and he scoffed. As if he'd fall for such a basic illusion.

  The creature brought its claw down at him, and something bit deep into his shoulder. The pain was immediate as something tore through his muscle and bones.

  Shu Wen screamed, staggering backward as blood soaked through his robe.

  He stared at the wound, in stark disbelief.

  "That's—"

  The monster in front of him flickered.

  Its form wavered, then collapsed inward.

  A face replaced it.

  Sheng Chen. One of his three subordinates.

  The man's eyes were empty, unfocused, pupils blown wide as he swung his sword again with mechanical precision. He didn't even seem to see Shu Wen.

  "Wait—!" Shu Wen shouted, raising his blade too late.

  Another strike caught him in the side. Then another.

  "Die. Die you monster." Sheng Chen shouted while stabbing him again and again.

  He stumbled, and then fell over, vision blurring as blood poured freely through his wounds, slicking his hands and soaking into the forest floor underneath him.

  Around him, steel rang against steel.

  Shouts and screams echoed through the forests panicked, furious, terrified.

  "Stop! Why are you attacking me!"

  "Why won't you die?!"

  "Wait! I'll pay you!"

  Shu Wen collapsed onto his side, breath bubbling wetly from his lips. His strength bled out with every heartbeat.

  As his vision dimmed, the last thing he heard was the sound of his own men killing one another—lost, blind, and screaming inside the illusion he'd never taken seriously.

  Then, Shu Wen exhaled one last breath, and went still.

  —————

  Li Yuan cut the flow of qi, and the formation shut down at once. Lines of light snapped out one by one as the illusion bled away, the night returning to what it had been before—dark, but ordinary.

  Only then did he realize how tight his chest was.

  He let out a long breath, shoulders sagging as the tension finally drained away.

  'It worked,' he thought. 'It actually fucking worked. Thank god.'

  He moved through the tangled trees, boots crunching softly over broken branches and disturbed soil, following the scent of blood. It didn't take long for him to reach the scene of carnage, where nearly every one of those bastards lay dead.

  Nearly.

  One of Shu Wen's lackeys lay slumped against a tree trunk, half-buried in leaves. One leg was gone, torn below the ankle. A leg lay twisted at an unnatural angle, blood pooling beneath him.

  The man looked up as Li Yuan approached.

  Recognition flickered weakly in his eyes.

  "You… you think this is over?" the lackey rasped, lips trembling. "Senior Brother Shu Wen's family… they'll—"

  Li Yuan rolled his eyes.

  He didn't step closer. Instead, he reached into his sleeve and drew out a Lightning Talisman.

  Qi flowed. The talisman ignited with a sharp crack.

  A bolt of lightning tore through the air and punched straight through the man's forehead. The back of his skull exploded outward in a spray of bone and grey matter. His body jerked once, then went limp.

  Silence returned.

  He stood there a moment longer, breathing steadily, making sure nothing else moved. Then he exhaled again—this time in genuine relief.

  All five were dead.

  The formation had done more than he'd hoped. But then again, it damn well should have. He'd spent over three thousand spirit stones acquiring the plate, the flags, and the auxiliary components—and burned through another hundred just to keep it running long enough to finish the job.

  Every bit of it had been worth it.

  Without wasting time, he got to work.

  One corpse at a time, he stored them in his spatial ring, blood and broken limbs vanishing into the hidden world within. The formation plate followed, then each flag, carefully retrieved, checked, and stowed away.

  No evidence left behind.

  Finally, he crushed a Scent and Qi Concealment Talisman between his fingers. A faint, oily warmth spread over his skin as the lingering traces of his presence—blood, qi fluctuations, even emotional residue—were scrubbed away.

  Good.

  He didn't linger long after that. He turned and ran, vanishing into the darkness of the mountain path/

  Behind him, the forest fell silent once more, empty of witnesses.

  By morning, Shu Wen would simply be missing.

  And he… he would still be alive.