Placing the conch shell to his ear, Assistant Wang's voice sounded: "Luckily you haven't left the contact range yet, otherwise I would have to contact the director, and have him use the official seal on you to send a message."

Evidently, this conch shell that can't be put into a spatial spiritual artifact was bestowed to Lin Guang by Kong Guofeng. It was fused with True Intent and various spiritual materials by Kong Guofeng, making it difficult to judge its grade by normal spiritual artifact standards — it's like a simplified version of an artificial "Divine Object."

After all, Kong Guofeng even gave Lin Guang an "official seal," not providing him a means of communication would be inexcusable.

Lin Guang was not at all surprised by Assistant Wang's contact.

In fact, he knew very well that his whereabouts were transparent to the Education Bureau of Zhen Sheng City; surely, the True Man token would have the effect of confirming one's location.

He was still counting on this effect to back him up.

"What happened?" Lin Guang asked.

"Here's the situation: the Detection Bureau detected a reaction indicating a space barrier breach. After analyzing various data, it's determined to be a Tier Four demon race, located directly west of Zhen Sheng City, very close to your current direction."

"If it's not an extremely urgent matter, to be cautious, I suggest you postpone your trip until next time."

"..."

Just when he was supposed to track and wrap things up?

Is his luck really that bad?

This news made Lin Guang frown slightly.

The combat ability of the demon race individuals is certainly not weak within the same tier, and can even be quite formidable; differing species may have various troublesome special abilities.

Tier Four demon race entities are not small fry, but are enough to make the Great Xia official mobilize armies for scouting and elimination, especially if it's the peak of Tier Four, it's even more dangerous.

As a mere student, attempting to confront them is highly challenging.

However, after a brief moment of contemplation, he opened his mouth: "Tier Four demon race reaction?"

"I'll go take a look, try to help handle it."

"Demons that just crossed over are weakened due to rule conflict shaking stage. Even if I can't handle it, I can retreat safely and someone can be sent later to deal with it."

After a moment of silence, Assistant Wang without discouraging Lin Guang, knowing that Kong Guofeng had crafted another bronze bell for Lin Guang, just said: "I will report this matter to Director Kong. You're probably aware of the events at Celestial Ladder Mountain in these past few days, he's currently stationed at the secret realm entrance. Once faced with unavoidable dangers, use the bell directly."

"Understood, thank you for informing me."

"It's what I ought to do."

The communication ended here. Lin Guang put away the conch shell and continued proceeding along the direction provided by the spiritual artifact, then looked towards the ground.

And in his perception, the ribbon of light that represented Mu Shunying suddenly delineated a downward trajectory.

During the recent flight, this forest appeared vast and boundless, full of life, stretched over the undulating mountains with almost no gaps visible.

But after entering the alert zone and flying for a few minutes further, something suddenly caught his eye.

A huge, kilometer-long narrow black scar appeared on the ground, where towering trees were snapped, burnt into charcoal, rocks collapsed, and the ground was covered with cracked, glass-like crystals.

It's as if... an injury inflicted by flames upon the earth.

Lin Guang didn't hesitate, following the guidance of the ribbon of light, heading towards this scar.

...

On the back of the rapidly descending Gale Eagle, the handsome man gasped heavily, seemingly forcibly suppressing the weakness in his body: "Hu... hu... hu..."

Damn... damn it!

Why did they come after me!

Mu Shunying believes he hasn't provoked a life-and-death enemy. Even if there were such a person, they would likely use a deadly poison, but the poison in Mu Shunying only affects his spiritual power and talent usage.

He doesn't know how difficult this poison is to make, but there must be an extremely strong expert behind it.

Going to such lengths just to capture him alive?

Then there's only one answer.

The Spirit Alliance!

Damn, those fools from the Divine Heart Association, didn't they promise not to be exposed?!

If a force like the Spirit Alliance intends to capture me, there's no hope of escape... Maybe I should be a bit more accommodating, stop voluntarily, and hand over the Flame-Glow Night Cat?

No, given those lunatics' nature, they might even pressure me to dissolve all my spirit beast contracts, then everything will be lost!

My performance career, my beauty, my... everything!!!

As an overwhelming fear surged in his heart, a strong desire also erupted from within him.

I want to remain beautiful, remain dazzling forever!

I will not become a mere fleeting bloom!

In an instant, many solutions flashed through Mu Shunying's mind.

But first, he must return to Zhen Sheng City...

Mu Shunying was one hundred percent certain in his heart that even though no one had been detected tracking him before, since someone had already poisoned him, it meant there would inevitably be a next step.

He had to break the deadlock.

Gritting his teeth, Mu Shunying took out a can of odor-eliminating spray from the spatial spiritual artifact and sprayed it on himself, then donned a gray-black cloak, making his figure somewhat illusory.

This was a Tier Four concealing spiritual artifact, sufficient to shield against most tracking methods. Mu Shunying had obtained it after extracting some information on certain Fenghai Province potion merchants from the mouth of a certain Great Xia official's wife, and then spending a hefty sum to exchange for it from the Divine Heart Association.

Having done all this, Mu Shunying blew the whistle again.

—Earlier, he had already issued the descent command with the whistle, and at this moment, the Gale Eagle had descended to about a hundred meters above the ground.

This time, the whistle was blown to give the Gale Eagle the command to "continue flying forward and ascend."

Whether it worked or not, he wanted to use the Gale Eagle's movements to confuse the people possibly tracking him.

As soon as the whistle sounded, Mu Shunying leaped off the bird's back, jumping from over a hundred meters high, landing amidst the forest.

In an instant, the strong wind made his clothes and cloak flap noisily, and his carefully managed hair became wild like a dance of demons, but he didn't mind at all.

He shouted, "Sibes!"

During the rapid descent, a slender, petite figure appeared beside Mu Shunying and wrapped around his arm—it was the Spirit Beast known as Venus' Snake with the spiritual attribute.

Its entire body shimmered with a pearlescent, dreamy charm. With a flick of its tail, four scales flew in different directions and fixed themselves in mid-air, forming a flexible film with pale pink energy.

[Heart Barrier].

Mu Shunying rolled over, landing back-first on the film. The film rapidly caved inwards, dramatically slowing his descent.

Just as the elasticity was about to reach its limit and the kinetic energy was almost depleted, Venus' Snake's eyes gleamed, and the film vanished in an instant,

with a swishing sound.

A physically exhausted Mu Shunying clumsily landed on the leaf-strewn ground. The Spirit Snow Leopard instantly appeared by his side. He took a couple of breaths, then immediately turned over and mounted it, then sped off in a certain direction.

He didn't sprint towards Zhen Sheng City, but instead let the Spirit Snow Leopard randomly change direction and continue into the warning zone.

The distance from here to Zhen Sheng City was more than a thousand kilometers—not close, yet not far, but as a leopard Spirit Beast, the Spirit Snow Leopard wasn't adept at long-distance pursuit, and more proficient in short bursts of explosive running.

He must first survive this current ordeal...

He had to find a place to wait for the toxin to lose its effect… Thankfully, the toxin seemed to have no lasting effects… Damn it, with his spiritual power dormant and his talent nearly unusable, how much longer would this last?

Mu Shunying forced his somewhat sluggish mind to continue thinking.

He had long considered that the Spirit Alliance might come after him, which is why he had made connections with a smuggler who had routes to the Federation Country. Also, the Spirit Alliance had obviously had their eyes on him but still waited until he left before they acted, indicating they still had some apprehension about the laws of Great Xia.

This meant that, as long as he could escape back into Zhen Sheng City, Mu Shunying could pretend to negotiate with the Spirit Alliance, while secretly planning to smuggle into the Federation Country with the help of a big shot he was backed by.

Although the aesthetics of Great Xia differ from those of the Federation Country, Mu Shunying was confident that his beauty was universally recognized around the world, and he would certainly be able to flourish there as well!

Of course, all this was contingent upon him escaping his current predicament.

He needed to quickly have the Spirit Snow Leopard take him to a safe and quiet place, until the effects of the toxin wore off.

Unconsciously, the Spirit Snow Leopard suddenly leaped out of the forest, taking him to a sharply distinct valley.

The left side of the valley was peaceful, with trees standing tall, mist lingering, and a silver river rushing between the mountains. Occasionally, a ray of sunlight pierced the mist, illuminating the clear, rushing river and casting a golden hue on the mountains.

But the opposite side of the valley seemed like another world entirely—those tall trees were all snapped and charred, rocks had collapsed, and there were vague remnants of high-temperature Fire Attribute Ether.

It seemed... some powerful being had once fought on that opposite side.

Clearly, this place had experienced a significant battle, and judging by the scale, it was at least a Tier Five conflict.

Thinking slightly, Mu Shunying recalled, this seemed to be the site where a Tier Five Demon Race arrived a month ago. According to official reports, it was exterminated by Tianmu, a True Man from the Eleventh Army.

But this was unimportant, as long as it wasn't the nest of some high-tier Spirit Beast...

Riding on the Spirit Snow Leopard, somewhat worn out from the frantic escape, Mu Shunying was thinking this.

He didn't notice that, in the forest behind him, a mass of dark "fog" was surging towards him.

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