Chapter 20: Tracking

The sect entrance.

When Chu Fan appeared here with four disciples, the first thing he saw was a figure radiating hostility.

In stark contrast to Chen Qianchi’s bright, fire-like red, the young girl before him had short, dark red hair.

A mask covered her face, revealing only the area from her eyes upward.

Her frame was slender but not short, reaching roughly to Chu Fan’s chest.

The girl’s gaze was cold, projecting a sense of isolation that pushed everyone away at all times.

No, rather than saying she pushed people away…

It was more like Chu Fan didn’t exist in her eyes at all.

Even though Chu Fan stood directly in front of her, she continued to face an empty direction.

“Hello, I am the Profound Sky Sect’s Law Enforcement Elder, Chu Fan.”

Chu Fan instinctively reached out his hand.

However, the masked girl ignored him.

She didn’t even give him a direct glance, instead reaching out to draw characters in the air with her finger.

[Ye Liuli.]

Seeing this, Chu Fan frowned slightly.

“Your eyes…”

The girl gave a slight nod, her eyes devoid of any emotion.

Chu Fan sighed and turned his back to Ye Liuli.

“Come, I will take you to familiarize yourself with the sect.”

Ye Liuli nodded.

As they walked, Su Xiaotang, who was beside Chu Fan, suddenly began to mutter curiously to herself.

“What’s wrong with her eyes?”

“I don’t know. They don’t look like they have any problems,” Chen Qianchi said, puzzled.

At that moment, Lin Anlan explained from the side, “Her eyeballs are clearly undamaged, yet they cannot reflect light. It must be a congenital defect.”

Hearing this, Chu Fan shook his head as if he couldn’t bear the thought.

“No, those are prosthetic eyes installed after her original ones were forcibly removed.”

“What!? Why would anyone do that!?”

Su Xiaotang was so shocked that a cold sweat broke out over her body.

“That is a unique technique of the Snake Scorpion Palace. It allows assassins to see more clearly in the darkness than in the light, but the price is that they are blind to everything during the day.”

“Then why did Master say she can’t see? Can’t she see right now?”

Chu Fan shook his head.

“The structure of those eyes is very specific. Like a snake, they can only see the body temperature of living things to ensure the target’s absolute death, but they cannot perceive a single color.”

“Then why doesn’t she speak? Why does she use charms to communicate with Master?”

“That is also a method of the Snake Scorpion Palace. They removed her vocal organs to ensure she remains silent while executing missions.”

“Can they really sacrifice everything… just for a mission…”

Su Xiaotang said, her heart aching.

“And those burn marks seeping from the edges of her mask—underneath that mask is likely a face that has been completely destroyed.”

“How could this be…”

Lin Anlan couldn’t help but feel pained as well.

“This is the Snake Scorpion Palace’s standard operating procedure. Anyone like this is a death soldier of the palace. Their bodies are also filled with a volatile poison. Their life or death can be decided by a single thought from the Palace Master.”

“How cruel…” Chen Qianchi growled, her fists clenched.

Seeing everyone’s reactions, Shen Yuying, who had remained silent the whole time, actually smiled.

“If you ask me, why are you Junior Sisters worrying so much?”

“Senior Sister?”

“She has nothing to do with us. For you to be so sentimental, isn’t it like bringing someone else’s coffin into your own home to cry over it?”

“This…”

“Besides, she doesn’t seem to care about it herself. Isn’t our grief here just an unnecessary gesture?”

As soon as Shen Yuying spoke, the others felt their moods brighten significantly.

Seeing this, Chu Fan smiled slightly and reached out to gently pat Shen Yuying’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Yuying.”

Shen Yuying turned back and smiled.

“Sharing Master’s worries is a wife’s duty.”

Hearing this, Chu Fan’s eyebrows shot up.

“Uh… what did you just say?”

“This disciple said that sharing Master’s worries is a disciple’s duty.”

“Alright…”

Chu Fan rubbed his head, wondering if he was too tired lately.

He must be hallucinating…

….

After finishing his work for the day, Chu Fan received Jun Lin’s permission to take his four disciples to a restaurant at the foot of the sect’s mountain.

Although he had ordered a table full of excellent dishes under the guise of relaxing, only one person was actually eating.

And who was that person?

It wasn’t hard to guess.

“Master? Senior and Junior Sisters? Why aren’t you guys eating? Man, this is delicious!”

Chu Fan ignored her, instead pretending to take a sip of wine while his gaze remained fixed on a table of guests behind them.

“Teacher…”

“Master…”

“Master…”

“Mm.”

“Huh? Why have you all turned into riddle-makers? But seriously, Master, this stuff feels great in my mouth! Munch munch!”

Ever since they entered the restaurant, Chu Fan had noticed that the guests at the innermost table had been watching them.

They looked like they had arrived early, but the steaming hot food on their table exposed everything.

They didn’t look like ordinary bandits, nor did this seem like a spur-of-the-moment action.

However, if they had been following them the whole time, Chu Fan truly didn’t understand why they chose to expose themselves now.

“Eat first. Don’t eat too much, and don’t alert the enemy.”

“Yes.”

….

“Waiter, the money is here.”

After placing several pieces of silver on the table, Chu Fan rose and led his disciples away.

Walking along the road in the evening dusk, Chu Fan suddenly formed a hand seal.

With a slight shift of his will, he vanished from the spot along with his disciples.

Within a few breaths, several men dressed in black ran over.

The leader of the group turned pale with shock.

“Where are they!?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Dammit! What if he really escapes!? How will we explain this to the Sect Master!?”

At that moment, a voice suddenly came from above their heads.

“Sect Master?”

The men in black looked up and found Chu Fan standing with everyone else 100 meters above them.

“It seems you belong to Jun Lin.”

The men in black remained silent, but their trembling eyes clearly showed that he had hit the mark.

Chu Fan’s pupils narrowed slightly, and a flash of killing intent appeared in his eyes.

Seeing this, Shen Yuying hastily bowed.

“Master, forgive my directness, but if they truly are Jun Lin’s people, then they likely mean us no harm. Master, please think twice—”

Pshhh

With a single strike to the throat, Chu Fan ended the lives of the men in black in the blink of an eye, even though each of them possessed cultivation at or above the Golden Core Realm.

After the kill, Chu Fan didn’t linger.

Leaving behind only a single sentence, he flew back toward the Profound Sky Sect at top speed on his sword.

“Dispose of the bodies.”

“Ah, Master! I’m coming with you!”

Seeing Chu Fan fly off, Shen Yuying had no intention of dealing with the corpses and immediately followed him.

“Hey! You sly fox! You’re not allowed to go alone!”

Chen Qianchi also leaped into the air.

“Teacher! Senior Sisters! Wait for me!”

When Lin Anlan, despite her cultivation being below the Profound Opening Realm, summoned a spirit sword from her storage ring and took flight, Chu Fan’s eyes were once again drawn to her.

Turning back, he noticed that although Lin Anlan’s speed was nowhere near Shen Yuying’s and she would surely be left far behind in a moment, her flight was exceptionally stable.

Moreover, she hadn’t even formed her core yet.

How solid was her foundation that she could achieve sword flight while only at the Foundation Establishment stage?

However, when the perspective shifted back to the ground, someone was stomping on the floor with a face full of dissatisfaction.

“A bunch of jerks!!! What do you mean by leaving me here alone!”

Looking at the field of corpses, Su Xiaotang grew more annoyed the longer she looked.

“Ugh! This young lady isn’t going to deal with it either! Whoever wants to handle it can handle it!”

With that, Su Xiaotang also took to her sword and flew off in the direction Chu Fan and the others had gone.

Only after Su Xiaotang and the rest had completely vanished did a figure wearing a hood and a cloak slowly appear.

With a wide sweep of his sleeve, the corpses on the ground, along with the bloodstains, vanished completely.