"Over two whole hours, and we've searched the entire Chiyan Mountain, yet there's still no sign of him?"
Shi Yu, still dressed in red, had a grim expression on her face.
Before her stood eight or nine officers in monkey-faced military garb from the Zhou Qing army, who usually held power and ruled ruthlessly, but now, in front of Shi Yu, they were like pitiful, helpless little beasts, too afraid to even speak loudly.
"Lord Shi Yu, we've already commanded eight thousand soldiers to search the entire Chiyan Mountain multiple times, even the tree hollows, and we haven't missed anything. But it's as if the person vanished into thin air—there's no trace of him at all."
The red-faced Zhou Qing officer was sweating profusely, but since he held the highest military rank among them, he could only answer with an anxious tone.
"Could the murderer have slipped away?"
One of the smaller Zhou Qing officers, compared to the others, asked tentatively.
"Slipped away?"
Shi Yu's expression darkened further. "Are you telling me this murderer is some sort of spirit-controller? Can they fly?"
"After the incident, Zhong Lin activated the symbols set up at every mountain pass. Anything passing by would have been detected. Now, you're telling me the murderer escaped?"
The officers from the Zhou Qing kingdom fell silent, shuddering in fear.
"The symbols will lose their effect in another hour, so keep searching!"
Shi Yu's voice was cold and commanding. "If we can't find the murderer before the symbols fail and they escape, the blame will fall on Zhou Qing!"
The red-faced officer shuddered again, quickly responding before rushing off.
"Princess, we've already delayed mining for a long time. Perhaps you should focus on the task at hand instead of playing around?"
Zhong Lin looked helpless. Having this spoiled princess in charge of mining had turned out to be a significant mistake by their lord.
"I'm not playing."
Shi Yu glanced at Zhong Lin, her eyes scanning the surroundings. "I've searched Chiyan Mountain multiple times and still found nothing. It's as if this murderer has completely disappeared!"
Her voice grew even colder. "How dare they hide in front of me, Shi Yu! I'll find him, tear him into pieces, and bury him in that stinking swamp!"
She pointed to a small mud pit nearby, and Zhong Lin grew more resigned. This pampered princess was acting up again, her spoiled and stubborn nature coming to the forefront.
"Alright, alright, as the princess wishes. If we find this murderer, you can bury him in this foul-smelling swamp..." Zhong Lin's words suddenly halted as he thought, "Why does the mud pit here smell so foul? And the smell is almost identical to the one from two hours ago!"
His face showed a hint of suspicion. "Something's off."
Shi Yu fell silent when she heard Zhong Lin's interrupted speech. Just as she was about to inquire, she saw the grave expression on his face as his eyes shifted toward the nearby mud pit.
Shi Yu, no fool herself, had initially not paid much attention, but with Zhong Lin's look of focus, she immediately noticed something strange about the pit.
She exchanged a glance with Zhong Lin before walking toward the dark, murky pit.
The pit was identical to the one from earlier, foul-smelling and eerily still, like stagnant water.
Zhong Lin scratched his chin and opened his mouth as if to say something, when suddenly, two small symbols inside his eyes lit up. Two beams of spiritual light shot from his eyes and surged directly toward the pit!
The power of these two beams was immense. As they passed, the air evaporated into mist, and the void seemed to distort slightly.
The beams rushed toward the pit, and suddenly, the mud surged and coalesced into a humanoid figure. As the spiritual light was about to strike, the figure quickly transformed into black smoke, narrowly dodging the powerful beams, and fled into the distance!
"Transforming into dust?"
Zhong Lin's usually calm expression grew darker.
"Have you seen this technique before?"
"The Great Symbolic Library has a record of this technique. It's called the Dark Dust Manifestation Technique. It's not highly ranked, a secret technique of the Qing Fu family of Zhou Qing."
Shi Yu nodded and pointed at the ground, a symbol flashing between her brows. A mound of earth rose in front of the black smoke, forming a solid wall.
The black smoke seemed to ignore it and attempted to pass through the earthen wall using the power of its dust transformation.
But when the black smoke touched the wall, thick spiritual energy radiated from it, enveloping the entire wall and blocking the black smoke.
From within the smoke, a pained cry echoed as the energy from the wall clung to the black mist like a disease, constantly invading its core.
The black smoke writhed and struggled in the air, twisting erratically, until the spiritual energy finally dissipated, and the smoke slowly settled into a humanoid shape.
Shi Yu and Zhong Lin turned to look at the figure. It was completely wrapped in green clothing and a face mask, making it impossible to discern any useful details.
"Who are you?"
Shi Yu's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Daring to mess with the mighty symbols of the Great Fu?"
The figure remained silent, its head swiveling around as if searching for an escape.
Shi Yu sneered, her hands pressed downward. Earth walls sprang up from all sides, trapping the three of them inside a dirt prison.
"Planning an escape route?"
Shi Yu's eyes sparkled with a hint of triumph. "I usually enjoy watching little rats scramble, but right now, I want to see your face and learn why you're trying to kill people from the Great Fu!"
Seeing the earthen walls surrounding them and the spiritual energy sealing them off, the green-clad figure stopped looking around. More black smoke poured out from behind it, enveloping the area.
A low growl echoed from within the smoke, and then, several demonic creatures with blue faces and sharp fangs emerged from the mist!
"Zhong Lin, are you seeing this?"
Shi Yu was intrigued. "This rat is actually trying to resist!"
As she spoke, her figure vanished in an instant, leaving only afterimages in the air.
The demonic creatures were struck by some invisible force before they could fully emerge from the smoke. They were shattered into wisps of black smoke, merging with the black mist behind the green figure.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of demonic creatures were gone.
The green figure, sensing the urgency, used its utmost power to detect Shi Yu's location, but failed to locate her.
In desperation, the Dark Dust Manifestation technique was pushed to its limit, and a large shield of black mist began to form. But before it could fully take shape, a delicate, slender hand reached out from the void.
It was as if the hand was gently caressing water as it softly landed on the black mist shield. The shield immediately dissipated, and the green figure's neck was effortlessly grasped by the hand.
"Gotcha!"
Shi Yu's eyes gleamed with sickening excitement. "I've thought of a hundred ways to deal with you!"
With a burst of spiritual energy from her jade hand, the green figure's clothes were instantly shredded into fragments, and beneath the mask, the face of a Zhou Qing person was revealed.
"Mm?"
Shi Yu froze for a moment. Beneath the clothes, it was a person from Zhou Qing?
Her brief hesitation caused the spiritual energy in her hand to falter slightly, giving the Zhou Qing person a moment to breathe. A surge of spiritual energy from the Great Snow Mountain erupted within him, invading his organs!
"Hmph!"
Zhong Lin let out a cold snort, his own spiritual energy flowing swiftly from his eyes and into the Zhou Qing person's body. The malicious energy was immediately dispelled, and the surrounding energy was sealed.
"You want to end it all?"
Zhong Lin's gaze flickered with mockery. "Want to protect your secrets? Or the mastermind behind this? In front of me, even if you want to die…"
A stream of black blood oozed from the Zhou Qing person's mouth, his eyes wide open as he slowly lost all vitality. His last gaze fell on Zhong Lin's face.
It was as if he was mocking Zhong Lin. "Do you think you can stop me from dying?"
Shi Yu carelessly tossed the body aside, disgusted. She wiped her hands with a handkerchief, her face as cold as ice.
"Using spiritual energy to force a self-destruction, but actually poisoning yourself with deadly toxins."
Her voice was devoid of emotion. "He was a death warrior."
Zhong Lin took a deep breath, trying to suppress his mounting anger. "Princess?"
Shi Yu raised her hand, forming a sharp blade of spiritual energy, which flew into the Zhou Qing person's body.
"This whole affair is filled with strange twists, but now that the murderer is dead and the trail's gone cold, we can only vent our anger on Zhou Qing."
Her eyes glinted with excitement and cruelty, as if anticipating the outcome. "Let's go. Let's pay Zhou Qing City a visit."
The two of them left, and a breeze swept across the Zhou Qing assassin's body, which gradually turned into small, scattered pieces of flesh, falling to the ground.
The blood inside seemed to have already dried up.