"The incomplete Heaven-Deceiving Formation can currently only cover this hall. Fellow Shi, it would be best not to leave this place. I still have matters to deal with, so I shall take my leave fir... Who dares intrude upon my... Not good!"

Just as Wu Di stood up to leave, he suddenly sensed a terrifying aura erupting from outside the island. A cold killing intent instantly surfaced on his face. With a thought, he prepared to activate the formation and kill the intruder. But in the very next moment, Wu Di felt the powerful formation he had painstakingly set up collapse before a single saber strike.

A Golden Core realm expert! Damn it, why would someone of this level target me... no, he was brought here by Fellow Shi!

Wu Di's thoughts raced, and he instantly understood the situation.

He turned toward Shi Weiping, his eyes filled with frenzied killing intent. Yet Wu Di had no thoughts of revenge at all. His figure flickered, and with a single thought, a surge of teleportation power instantly enveloped him.

Shi Weiping had likewise sensed that terrifying saber intent, and he shouted, "Fellow Wu, wait for me!"

No matter who the intruder was, whether they had come for him, for Wu Di, or whether he had simply suffered another bout of catastrophic luck and gotten caught in the crossfire yet again, Shi Weiping only had one thought in mind. Run. A terrifying pressure like this was far beyond anything he could withstand.

"Heh!"

Wu Di glanced at Shi Weiping rushing desperately toward him, a vicious grin of satisfaction spreading across his face. If not for this bastard, he would still be peacefully cultivating on the island and never would have been dragged into this mess. In the next instant, light flashed, and Wu Di vanished without a trace.

"Damn! Why is my luck always this terrible?"

Seeing this, Shi Weiping immediately changed direction and fled into the distance. In his view, there was a good chance the intruder was not targeting him at all. Even the incomplete Heaven-Deceiving Formation was not something ordinary Golden Core realm cultivators could see through. There was no way the Martial Alliance would dispatch such a terrifying expert solely to hunt him down.

"One of them escaped? Oh, it wasn't Shi Weiping? Then forget it."

Outside the island, above the surging sea, Lin Zheyu lifted his head and glanced several kilometers away. At the exact moment his saber shattered the formation, he had sensed spatial fluctuations coming from the island. Someone had activated a teleportation formation and escaped. However, after confirming that Shi Weiping's aura still remained on the island, he relaxed and abandoned any thoughts of pursuit.

Although Wu Di had used a special teleportation formation, the teleportation distance was not very far. If Lin Zheyu truly wanted to chase him down, it would have been easy.

His figure blurred as he shot toward the southeast side of the island. There, a burly figure was fleeing for dear life with every ounce of strength he had.

A faint layer of dim light enveloped Shi Weiping's body, suppressing his aura to the absolute minimum while concealing his presence entirely. Against ordinary cultivators, a moment of carelessness might truly have caused them to lose track of him.

Unfortunately for Shi Weiping, the one hunting him this time was Lin Zheyu. Even the incomplete Heaven-Deceiving Formation could not escape Lin Zheyu's perception, much less such a minor concealment technique.

Feeling the terrifying aura rapidly closing in from behind, Shi Weiping was overwhelmed with fear. "Damn it! He's actually coming for me! Who the hell is this guy?"

He simply could not understand why an expert of this level would target him. Had the Martial Alliance really become so powerful and well-staffed that they could dispatch someone like this just to deal with a mere Divine Repository realm cultivator like him?

"Don't kill me! I can tell you... Ahh!" Shi Weiping hurriedly transmitted a plea for mercy, but the person behind him remained completely unmoved.

A terrifying saber light swept through the air, its blade seeming capable of splitting the heavens themselves apart. In a single strike, Shi Weiping was cleaved into two halves. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Terror filled his eyes as his upper body slowly slid off to the side.

"As expected of a martial artist. Your vitality really is impressive."

Lin Zheyu descended beside Shi Weiping and smiled faintly as he watched the man continue struggling despite not yet being fully dead.

Shi Weiping forced himself to endure, staring fixedly at Lin Zheyu with intense unwillingness burning in his heart. "Y-You... Who exactly are you?"

"Hey, let me ask you something. Why did you betray the Martial Alliance back then?" Lin Zheyu asked curiously.

The Martial Alliance was a rather loose organization where members were free to come and go as they pleased. Leaving was never an issue. Only those who committed acts harmful to the Martial Alliance would draw its pursuit. Because of that, Lin Zheyu was extremely curious just how great the benefits had been for Shi Weiping to choose betrayal.

"The Martial Alliance... the Martial Alliance... Haha... so it really was the Martial Alliance!"

Shi Weiping did not answer Lin Zheyu's question. Upon learning that Lin Zheyu had been sent by the Martial Alliance to hunt him down, he suddenly burst into loud laughter toward the sky. His laughter was filled with regret, unwillingness, self-mockery, and countless other tangled emotions.

Lin Zheyu watched as Shi Weiping gradually lost all signs of life, then lightly shook his head and stored away the corpse. The man truly did possess some skill. If not for Lin Zheyu's martial cultivation perception being far stronger than ordinary spiritual sense, capturing him would not have been easy at all.

After putting away Shi Weiping's corpse, Lin Zheyu's expression shifted slightly, surprise appearing in his eyes. "Hm? This guy actually dares to come back?"

He had already pushed his martial cultivation perception to its limit, covering the entire surrounding area. Just moments ago, he discovered a sneaky figure quietly slipping back in under the cover of both dharma artifacts and the remnants of the island's formations.

So he really did come for that bastard! Damn it, just what kind of monster did Shi Pengming provoke? I've suffered a huge loss this time.

Wu Di felt as though his heart was bleeding.

Shi Pengming was the alias Shi Weiping used in the Chaotic Star Sea. Since his name was still on the Martial Alliance's wanted list, he did not dare use his real identity at all. Wu Di was a friend he had met while wandering the Chaotic Star Sea, a cultivator highly skilled in formations.

That item absolutely cannot fall into his hands. It's the work of my entire life. Shi Pengming, you bastard, you deserve to die. It's fine if you wanted to get yourself killed, but why drag me down with you?

Wu Di cursed furiously in his heart without end.

Carefully activating the remnants of the island's formations while coordinating them with the dharma artifacts on his body, Wu Di quietly crept toward a hidden area on the island.

"I came to this island for a little sightseeing. As the island master, you're not even going to come entertain your guest? Just where are you trying to run off to?"

Suddenly, a calm voice sounded from behind him. Wu Di, whose nerves had already been stretched taut, shuddered violently as icy chills shot straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull.

"S-Senior... I was discourteous. Please forgive my offense, Senior. Please follow me. I will immediately have spirit wine and dishes prepared..." Wu Di said while trembling from head to toe.

Lin Zheyu looked at Wu Di meaningfully as he said indifferently, "No need. Wherever you were planning to go just now, continue on."

"Y-Yes, Senior!"

Wu Di's entire body trembled at those words, his voice sounding on the verge of tears. Yet he did not dare resist in the slightest. Against a terrifying senior like this, resistance only meant death.

Just what kind of background does this senior have? He actually saw through my Heaven-Deceiving Formation... This is unbelievable! As Wu Di nervously led the way, thoughts continued surfacing uncontrollably in his mind.

To bypass his formations, pierce through the incomplete Heaven-Deceiving Formation, and detect Shi Weiping's presence... such perceptive ability was simply terrifying. Even peak Golden Core realm cultivators might not necessarily be capable of it.

In Wu Di's mind, Lin Zheyu's strength had already been elevated to an unprecedented level, at the very least above the peak Golden Core realm.

If Lin Zheyu knew what Wu Di was thinking, he would probably laugh out loud. Although his martial cultivation perception was powerful, it had not reached the level of competing with peak Golden Core realm cultivators. The real issue was simply that his martial cultivation perception was far too strange and fundamentally different from traditional spiritual sense.

Wu Di's mastery of formations was indeed extremely impressive when it came to blocking spiritual-sense surveillance. Unfortunately for him, against Lin Zheyu's perception, he was completely helpless.