Deep within the forest, three figures crept forward cautiously as they spoke in hushed tones.

"Be careful, everyone. Up ahead is the territory of the Galechasing Flame-Thunder Beast. This ferocious beast is extremely powerful. It is proficient in both lightning and fire demonic arts, and its speed is unbelievably fast. We..."

The auras on the three of them were powerful, each of them nearly having reached the Grandmaster realm. Suddenly, the leader's gaze sharpened as he looked toward a burly figure ahead. The Galechasing Flame-Thunder Beast they had spent so long setting traps and ambushes for was now barely clinging to life, hanging limply in the hand of an ordinary-looking man.

"You can have it."

Lin Zheyu smiled and tossed the beast's corpse over to them.

With his powerful perception, Lin Zheyu had long since overheard their conversation. After spending so much time in the Chaotic Star Sea without managing to find Shi Weiping, he had instead gained a much deeper understanding of the customs and way of life here.

Compared to Great Wei, this place resembled the cultivation world he had once imagined far more closely. The leading man caught the Galechasing Flame-Thunder Beast, only to be forced several steps backward by the tremendous force behind it.

After steadying himself, he hurriedly expressed his thanks. "Thank you, Senior! Many thanks, Senior!"

Lin Zheyu merely smiled and paid the three cultivators no further attention. While the Chaotic Star Sea was filled with experts, there were only a handful who were truly powerful. He had already realized that, with his peak Foundation Establishment realm strength, almost rivaling the Golden Core realm, he could practically roam unhindered throughout the Chaotic Star Sea.

He stepped forward, and the land beneath his feet seemed to contract. In only a few strides, his figure vanished from sight.

The three men exchanged glances, all of them subconsciously swallowing as they stared blankly at one another.

The bearded man on the right slapped his thigh in regret and said, "Damn it, I forgot to ask him to take me as a disciple!"

The leader said with a somewhat despondent expression, "Forget it. At your age, nobody would accept you anyway. And besides, the yao will inside our bodies has already corroded us too deeply. Our path forward was cut off long ago."

Fortune and disaster often came hand in hand. The dense spiritual qi of the Chaotic Star Sea granted them physiques far stronger than those in Great Wei, along with much faster cultivation speeds. Yet at the same time, the demonic qi intertwined within that spiritual qi constantly eroded them without pause.

If one possessed extraordinary talent and was discovered early by a powerful sect or faction, taken in as a disciple, and allowed to cultivate within a grotto heaven realm, it was still possible to cleanse the demonic will from one's body. But at their age, after cultivating for so many years already, such a possibility was practically nonexistent.

Within the mountains and forests, a green blur darted rapidly through the terrain. Lin Zheyu casually toyed with the tracking compass as he wandered aimlessly across the sea, waiting for the latest location update.

Shi Weiping was simply too slippery. After spending over a month in the Chaotic Star Sea, constantly chasing the compass's signals from place to place, Lin Zheyu still had not managed to catch him.

Shi Weiping probably has some kind of dharma artifact on him that can conceal his aura.

Only that possibility could explain how Shi Weiping had managed to remain at large for so long.

"There it is!" Lin Zheyu's expression shifted as he stared at the new location appearing on the compass.

After locking onto the position, delight flashed through his eyes. This time, he refused to believe the other party could still escape. The location shown on the compass was extremely close, only a little over ten kilometers away.

At full speed, Lin Zheyu covered the distance in barely over ten seconds. Vast blood qi erupted from his body as his figure blurred. Activating the Earth Shrinking Technique secret art with all his might, his speed surged to the absolute limit. In the blink of an eye, he accelerated to an astonishing thirty times the speed of sound.

"Not here... Not here either... Impossible. At such close range, he still managed to escape? Don't tell me that guy is even faster than me?"

Lin Zheyu spread out his powerful perception, searching for Shi Weiping's aura.

Yet no matter how hard he searched, he could not find even the slightest trace of the other party. Gradually, thoughts of giving up began to surface in Lin Zheyu's mind.

I'll keep expanding the search range. I'll give it another half month. If I still can't find this guy by then, I'm abandoning the mission.

His figure flickered as he continuously expanded the scope of his search. After checking several locations in succession, he arrived at a small island spanning over a dozen kilometers in radius. The spiritual qi on this island was far denser than in surrounding areas, and both defensive formations and large-scale spirit-purifying formations had been set up across the island.

"There are cultivators stationed on this island..."

Lin Zheyu hovered above the sea outside the island, his brows knitting slightly.

If the island's master proved too powerful, he would have no choice but to give up. Offending a powerful cultivator over a single mission simply was not worth the risk. His perception spread outward. Although Lin Zheyu's knowledge of formations was shallow, his martial cultivation realm and immense strength still allowed him to discern quite a few things.

It's only an ordinary defensive formation. The methods are quite refined, but the one who set up the formation lacks sufficient strength, so they can only rely on intricate techniques and special methods to enhance the formation's power. Looks like the master of this island probably is not all that strong.

He weighed the matter in his mind. If he truly wanted to break the formation, the fourth saber of the Seven Absolute Sabers unleashed at full power would be enough to shatter it with ease. Under normal circumstances, formations used to envelop islands and protect cave dwellings were always stronger than their creator's own strength. Otherwise, there would be little point in setting them up.

Setting up a formation that he himself could destroy in a single strike would simply be a waste of time, energy, and spirit stones. Which meant the island master's strength was most likely below his own.

With that thought, many of Lin Zheyu's concerns faded away. In the Chaotic Star Sea, so long as he did not recklessly provoke the most powerful factions or experts, he could practically move unhindered. Even if he accidentally offended a Golden Core realm cultivator, he was still confident he could escape with his astonishing speed.

With a thought, his powerful perception spread outward, enveloping the island's protective formation.

When Lin Zheyu searched for people, he did not rely on spiritual sense, but on a martial artist's perception instead. After the Seven Absolute Sabers advanced to the fifth stage, it had nearly exhausted the accumulation he had previously accumulated regarding spatial laws. Without the aid of rule fragments, trying to comprehend the power of rules through his own abilities at his current realm was akin to showing off one's axe skills before a master carpenter.

It was simply overestimating himself. Even if he used Origin Force, pouring vast amounts of it into the technique would likely only improve his saber techniques and saber intent. The actual growth in the power of rules contained within the saber art itself would remain minimal.

As a result, Lin Zheyu gave up on continuing to improve the Seven Absolute Sabers. Instead, every time he recovered from pushing past his limits with Origin Force, he invested it into the Spirit Martial Universe Secret Art—Beginner.

After spending another 4 units of Origin Force, Lin Zheyu's spirit and spiritual soul improved significantly once more. He was drawing closer and closer to the limits of the Foundation Establishment realm.

His spirit and spiritual soul naturally grew stronger, enhancing his perception. However, this did not translate into physical improvements. In contrast, physical growth offered a much clearer boost to martial cultivation perception.

His perception silently bypassed the island's grand protective formation and infiltrated the island itself. Within Lin Zheyu's perception, the entire island was laid bare before him like a naked woman without a shred of concealment.

Lin Zheyu smiled faintly and muttered softly to himself, "There's some skill here, but not much."

He could sense that the island's protective formation possessed anti-surveillance capabilities, though they were primarily designed to guard against spiritual sense. Against Lin Zheyu's unique perception, however, they offered almost no resistance.

At the center of the island stood a cave dwelling. Inside, two middle-aged men sat facing one another.

The man in green robes seated on the left asked curiously, "Did something happen to you, Fellow Shi? You look quite miserable."

He had known the other man for over a decade and understood his friend's abilities quite well.

"Ugh, I've had rotten luck. I got caught in the middle of an immortals' fight. Fellow Wu, are you sure that your Heaven-Deceiving Formation has no issues?" Shi Weiping asked somewhat anxiously.

After betraying the Martial Alliance, Shi Weiping had lived a life of constant hiding in order to evade their pursuit. Originally, with his cautious nature and numerous tricks, he had been extremely confident he could continue hiding until he grew powerful enough to no longer fear the Martial Alliance. Who would have thought his luck would be this terrible?

A few days ago, Shi Weiping estimated it was about time for the Martial Alliance to pinpoint his location again. He had already begun making preparations by setting up powerful concealment and teleportation formations. Yet who could have anticipated that the formations he painstakingly prepared over such a long time would be affected by a sudden battle between two Golden Core realm experts?

Shi Weiping was so furious that he wanted to curse out loud. But those were Golden Core realm cultivators. Not only could he not fight them, but he did not even dare complain for fear they might casually slap him to death. In the end, Shi Weiping could only force a smile and swallow his grievances whole.

"I wouldn't dare claim such praise. I merely comprehended a few superficial aspects from a fragmented copy of the Heaven-Deceiving Formation. I'm not worthy of such a title. Still, even if I only grasped a fraction of it, it is ultimately the Heaven-Deceiving Formation. Its power should not be underestimated. Concealing things from Golden Core realm cultivators is entirely manageable."

Wu Di waved his hand modestly, though pride was written all over his face.

Hearing that the formation could deceive even Golden Core cultivators, Shi Weiping finally let out a sigh of relief as he said, "Good, good. That's a relief. I truly owe you for helping me this time. Please accept this small token of my appreciation."

He took out a storage pouch from his robes and handed it over with a smile. Even if it was not the true Heaven-Deceiving Formation, activating it once still consumed an astonishing amount of resources, though Shi Weiping had paid for all of them himself. Still, he had accepted Wu Di's favor, so gratitude was due where it was due. Otherwise, if trouble came again in the future, the other party might not be so willing to help.

Wu Di inspected the contents of the storage pouch with his spiritual sense, then burst into hearty laughter. "Haha, Fellow Shi, you are too polite. It was only a trivial matter. With the friendship between us, something this small is hardly worth mentioning. If you run into trouble again in the future, feel free to come to Dust-Separation Island. So long as it is within my abilities, I, Wu Di, will definitely do everything I can to help."

"Haha..."

Shi Weiping laughed along as well, though a trace of pain flickered across his face. He was beginning to regret betraying the Martial Alliance. The gains he obtained back then had nearly been exhausted after so long spent hiding and fleeing.

A contemplative look appeared in Shi Weiping's eyes as he thought, Looks like I can only agree to that person's conditions now. But if I do that, getting away later will become troublesome...

He had already begun preparing a way out for himself and had even found one. Yet Shi Weiping remained unwilling in his heart. Once he chose that path, there would be no turning back. At that point, he might as well never have betrayed the Martial Alliance and simply remained there. But there was no medicine for regret in this world. Once the arrow left the bow, it could not be retrieved. Everything was already beyond recovery.