Chapter 1631: Shadow Manipulation (I)

Two years later.

In the heart of a black, sprawling mire, the ground was a treacherous expanse of silt and rising gas bubbles. Massive trees, stripped of all but a few withered leaves, rose from the muck like skeletal sentinels. These giants were draped in mud-slicked vines, and a dense, black miasma drifted between them, creating a scene reminiscent of an ancient graveyard.

In this region, the air was perpetually thick with a greenish-black haze that blotted out the sun, leaving the world in a state of eternal, sickly twilight.

Deep within the bog, various creatures lurked. Among them were the Black Zombies—undead with dark, oily skin that made them nearly impossible to grasp. While many were only comparable to Nascent Soul cultivators, the surrounding miasma granted them a home-field advantage. When forced into combat within the swamp, their prowess rivaled that of the Spirit Transformation realm.

Li Yan surveyed his surroundings with a cautious gaze. They had been navigating this swamp for seventeen days. Although they hadn’t ventured into its deepest reaches, they had already encountered White Zombies, creatures possessing strength equivalent to the Spirit Transformation realm.

Li Yan’s current squad consisted of eight members. They were led by a woman in the late stage of Spirit Transformation; Li Yan was merely a standard member of the group.

Their mission was to locate a specific Yin Vein belonging to the Mocha Palace. Intelligence suggested that the Mocha Palace was utilizing this vein to forge an army of Green-Haired Zombies. Once successfully refined, these creatures would be comparable to Void Refining cultivators, though the forced refinement meant they would never progress further in power.

Despite this limitation, the Green-Haired Zombies were said to be nearly invulnerable, their eponymous green fur resistant to both fire and water. Refining such beings was an arduous process, and the Moji Dao Sect estimated that the Mocha Palace could produce a squad of twenty at most.

However, even a squad of twenty would cause the Moji Dao Sect’s casualty rates to skyrocket. If such a force appeared, it might require the intervention of Body Integration experts to regain the upper hand.

Consequently, the high command had ordered the scouts to locate the vein within this region known as the Dark Domain Swamp. Because the Green-Haired Zombies required a high-grade Yin Vein, it was believed that only one such source existed here. The refinement process took at least eight hundred years, a timeframe the Mocha Palace was willing to endure. The Moji Dao Sect was equally determined to find and destroy it, rendering the enemy’s long-term efforts futile.

Li Yan’s squad was tasked with finding a branch of the Yin Vein. The main vein would undoubtedly be heavily guarded, and any attempt to probe it would likely lead to immediate exposure. Furthermore, the main vein was nestled in the deepest parts of the Dark Domain Swamp—a place where few scouts, if any, could hope to return from alive.

Li Yan surmised that once a branch was located, the Moji Dao Sect would deploy high-level experts to fight their way through to the source. Such a perilous task would require the simultaneous effort of several Void Refining cultivators.

Even on the outskirts of the Dark Domain Swamp, Li Yan and his companions faced constant danger. Despite their extreme caution, they had clashed with the swamp’s undead several times. Fortunately, these creatures spent most of their time in a state of hibernation, allowing the squad to eventually eliminate them.

However, the cost had been high: two dead and one injured. Such a casualty rate was staggering. The five remaining members were all nursing various wounds.

The Black Zombies in this region possessed significant intelligence. Li Yan’s squad had captured one for soul-searching, but they had gleaned nothing regarding the Yin Vein. While Li Yan appeared composed on the surface, his heart was heavy with a cold, simmering tension.

Two years ago, when he and Mu Guyue had arrived at the Beacon Camp overseen by Zhao Haiyang, they had initially been assigned to the same squad. Their missions back then, while dangerous, had been manageable for individuals of their experience.

Li Yan had spent his spare time frequenting the Mission Hall to review various postings. The Beacon Camp’s hall issued tasks of varying difficulty levels. These missions were available not only to the Beacon Camp scouts but also to soldiers from other military divisions.

Completing these tasks offered unparalleled rewards—far superior to the standard compensation for routine military assignments. Naturally, the richness of the rewards reflected the lethal nature of the tasks, with mortality rates often exceeding sixty percent.

Despite the risks, many adventurous cultivators were drawn to them. The Mission Hall occasionally offered rewards that were impossible to find elsewhere. Faced with such opportunities, few could resist.

However, these missions could only be undertaken during a soldier’s personal rest periods after completing their primary duties. Li Yan and Mu Guyue cared little for the rewards themselves; they were searching for missions related to Ghost Sound City. That was their primary goal for coming here.

Before Li Yan could find a suitable mission, however, he had been transferred out of his original squad. The order from above stated that his assistance was required for specific tasks. Li Yan had no choice but to comply; it was a military order. Once he had joined the Beacon Camp, he had no valid reason to object.

Thus, he began moving between various squads while Mu Guyue remained in their original unit. Initially, they believed that as an ‘assistant,’ Li Yan would return to his original post once the task was finished.

The reality, however, proved far different. The first mission Li Yan was assigned to was of such high difficulty that of the two late-stage Spirit Transformation leaders, one died and the other was severely wounded. The mission itself ultimately failed, with only three of the eight-man squad surviving.

The death rate was absurdly high. The survivors were Li Yan and another member, along with a vice-captain. Li Yan had also suffered significant injuries during a pursuit by a Void Refining cultivator from the enemy side.

After he recovered, Li Yan was repeatedly assigned to other squads, each time for missions with exceptionally high mortality rates. By the second time this happened, Li Yan became alert. A suspicious man by nature, he immediately sensed that someone was deliberately orchestrating these lethal assignments for him.

His squads were typically composed of late-stage Spirit Transformation cultivators, making his own cultivation level appear conspicuously low and out of place. This led his teammates to view him with strange, questioning looks, though they refrained from discussing anything outside of the mission.

During his downtime, Li Yan began a discreet investigation. The news he gathered only deepened his unease. He discovered that the squads he was being placed in were the notorious ‘Death-Wind’ squads of the Beacon Camp—units the average scout avoided at all costs.

Usually, after returning from a single mission, a Death-Wind squad was granted three times the rest period of a standard scout. Yet, Li Yan was being constantly ‘borrowed’ for different units under various pretexts. He had already cycled through three Death-Wind squads; the first two were still in the process of resting and replenishing their losses.

Before departing on this latest mission, Li Yan finally managed to meet with Mu Guyue. This was only possible because her squad had completed their mission early and returned half a day ahead of schedule. Since being transferred, Li Yan had noticed that whenever he returned, Mu Guyue’s squad was always away on a mission. They hadn’t seen each other in a long time.

As they met, before Li Yan could even voice his suspicions, he saw the cold, murderous intent on Mu Guyue’s face. She spoke first.

‘That man, Zhao Haiyang… he approached me with a proposal recently. Hmph!’

Mu Guyue spoke only a single sentence before stopping, ending with a cold, sharp snort.

‘Oh? What happened?’ Li Yan asked, noting the lethal edge in her voice. He set aside his own concerns for the moment, curious why she had mentioned Zhao Haiyang.

‘He wants me to serve as his secondary adjutant,’ Mu Guyue said, her refined features tight with suppressed rage. ‘That man… should be executed.’

She didn’t need to elaborate further. In her long journey of cultivation, she had encountered many such men. The moment they showed even a hint of their intentions, Mu Guyue knew exactly what they were after.

She was an exceptionally cold individual, possessing very few ties of affection or friendship. People like Ting Lan were rare exceptions—companions born of shared trials where they had saved each other’s lives. Aside from Mu Sha and Li Yan, there were very few people who held a place in her heart.

Consequently, whenever someone attempted to gain her favor through such ‘proposals,’ her first thought was always of slaughter. In this life, aside from Li Yan—the only man who had truly entered her heart—she would never allow another man to touch her.

At that moment, Li Yan understood. His expression instantly darkened as his mind began to race.

‘How did you respond?’

‘I told him plainly that you are my Dao companion and that I prefer to undertake missions with you. He told me to “consider it” and said I could inform him if I changed my mind.’

Mu Guyue’s voice was cool, yet it vibrated with lingering fury. She generally disliked announcing Li Yan as her Dao companion, and she had once told him they wouldn’t become true companions in the traditional sense. But in that moment, she had wanted the man to know she was already taken.

Despite her rage, she knew why they were here. They couldn’t afford to offend the man immediately. But her murderous intent had been sparked; she loathed anyone who looked at her with such desire and wished for nothing more than to kill them.

‘I see. That explains exactly why I came to find you today…’

Li Yan then quickly recounted his experiences over the past period and shared his final suspicions. As he spoke, Mu Guyue’s phoenix-like eyes shimmered with a dangerous light. She hadn’t realized that their clash with the Mocha Palace at the Southern Fangs Beacon Tower would lead to such a complicated mess.

When he finished, Mu Guyue clenched her teeth. ‘I tried to find you several times, but you were always away on missions. It seems if we hadn’t finished our task early this time, we still wouldn’t have met. What do we do now? The missions you’re being assigned are too dangerous. You can’t keep this up indefinitely; a single mistake will cost you your life.’