Chapter 592: Chapter 403: The Bane of Concealment

"Fellow Daoist Jin is right," the Dragon Demon Palace Master said with a smiling nod.

"Please, continue."

"So, the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s actions are related to our cooperation with Ghost Head Castle. This explains why he chose Foundation Establishment Influences closer to Ghost Head Castle’s territory. It’s a warning to them!"

As he spoke, the Dragon Demon Palace Master took out a map.

The center of the map showed the territory of their Dragon Demon Palace.

"Fellow Daoist Jin, if the mysterious Spirit Refiner strikes again, he will most likely target this area."

The Dragon Demon Palace Master pointed to the territory of a subordinate Foundation Establishment Influence, one that directly bordered Ghost Head Castle’s lands.

Jin Daolei listened, deep in thought.

Finally, deciding that the Dragon Demon Palace Master’s words made sense, he nodded.

"I will lie in ambush here and wait for the mysterious Spirit Refiner to appear," Jin Daolei stated his plan. "I’m eager to find out which is more masterful—his stealth techniques, or my Hawkeye."

There was a reason the Black Dragon Hall had sent Jin Daolei.

His overall strength ranking third among the Black Dragon Hall’s Elders was not the primary reason.

The main reason was his Hawkeye, which specialized in countering stealth techniques.

Many stealth techniques were useless before his eyes; there was simply nowhere to hide.

"The mysterious Spirit Refiner only reached Core Formation a few decades ago. There’s no way he can compare to you."

"Palace Master Han, are you implying that once the mysterious Spirit Refiner reaches the Peak of Core Formation, his stealth techniques will be able to evade my eyes?"

"Fellow Daoist Jin, you’ve misunderstood. That’s not what I meant at all," the Dragon Demon Palace Master hastily denied.

"So long as that’s not what you meant."

Jin Daolei gave the Dragon Demon Palace Master a long, meaningful look.

With their exchange of information concluded, the Dragon Demon Palace Master quickly departed.

Jin Daolei stared at the entrance of the cave, his thoughts unreadable. It was impossible to tell if he was thinking about the Dragon Demon Palace Master or the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

...

「The Qin Family’s territory, within the lands of the Dragon Demon Palace.」

As one of the Dragon Demon Palace’s subordinate Foundation Establishment Influences, the Qin Family’s overall strength was about average among its peers.

News that the mysterious Spirit Refiner had annihilated three Foundation Establishment Influences had spread.

The Demons of the Qin Family were panicked, but at the same time, they felt incredibly lucky.

The source of their panic was, of course, the mysterious Spirit Refiner—the stuff of their nightmares.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner’s abilities were too horrifying. They had no idea when they might end up like the other three Foundation Establishment Influences, dead at his hands.

They felt lucky because the mysterious Spirit Refiner hadn’t targeted them. Of the three influences that had been wiped out, the closest one was right next to their territory.

If the Spirit Refiner had decided to stop by on a whim, they would all be dead.

Today, Patriarch Qin had received a message from the Dragon Demon Palace.

The message informed him that he was to go out and receive someone today.

He was not to tell anyone else in the Qin Family about this matter.

So, he made an excuse to leave.

He had already been waiting for half a day at the location specified by the Dragon Demon Palace, but there was still no sign of anyone.

"You must be Patriarch Qin."

The voice startled Patriarch Qin.

He turned to see a middle-aged man whose gaze seemed to pierce through everything.

The middle-aged man was Jin Daolei, and at this moment, he was not concealing his aura.

Peak of Core Formation!

"And you are, Senior...?"

"You don’t need to know too much. You only need to know that I will be staying here for a while to wait for the mysterious Spirit Refiner. Also, no one in the Qin Family besides you can know of my presence."

"Yes, sir!"

Patriarch Qin nodded hastily.

’The Dragon Demon Palace doesn’t have any Demons at the Peak of Core Formation, let alone Late-stage Core Formation. So this middle-aged man must be from the Black Dragon Hall.’

’The Black Dragon Hall is a Nascent Soul Influence, an existence completely beyond the reach of our Qin Family.’

’An Elder at the Peak of Core Formation from the Black Dragon Hall staying with our Qin Family... this is a blessing from the heavens for us!’

’With this Peak Core Formation expert here, we won’t have to worry about the mysterious Spirit Refiner attacking us silently.’

Following Jin Daolei’s instructions, Patriarch Qin arranged for him to stay within the Qin Family’s residence.

And just as requested, only Patriarch Qin knew of his situation.

「Nearly half a month later.」

The Qin Family’s territory had become much more chaotic.

Conflicts of all sizes began to break out frequently.

Xue Ren was one of the reasons for this chaos.

After learning that his Sect Leader was operating here, Xue Ren had accepted a mission to do the same and came over.

’Only after succeeding in Foundation Establishment and becoming an Elder of the sect did he learn more about the Sect Leader’s deeds. He had never imagined that the mysterious Spirit Refiner the Demons spoke of was his own Sect Leader. He, too, had assumed it was another Cultivator from the Purple Mist Sect.’

In a small grove, Xue Ren lay in ambush, waiting for the right moment.

The opportunity might present itself, or it might not.

If he found nothing after a certain amount of time, he would leave.

’It actually showed up! My luck is pretty good!’

A fluctuation of Demon Power put Xue Ren on high alert.

It was the Demon Power fluctuation of an early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon—his target for this operation.

"Who’s there?"

The early-stage Foundation Establishment Demon had obviously discovered Xue Ren.

After reaching Foundation Establishment, Xue Ren, who saw his Sect Leader as his role model, had studied many stealth techniques.

However, his skills were still unrefined. He had been discovered before even getting into attack range.

"A Spirit Refiner, appearing in our Qin Family’s territory? You’re courting death!"

Seeing that the Spirit Refiner was also at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, the Qin Family Demon sent out a message for backup and then attacked directly.

It would be best if he could kill this early-stage Foundation Establishment Spirit Refiner by himself. If not, he could just wait for reinforcements.

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