After the three great families tore off the mask with Prince Huo and Commander Ding, their route of travel became much more aggressive. Along the way, they no longer avoided any formation mechanisms—anything that blocked their path was simply destroyed.
This approach undoubtedly improved their efficiency greatly.
However, this crude method could also easily alert their prey.
"Fellow Daoists Xuan Zan and Xue Yi, please hear me out." After about an hour, Kuang Han seemed to feel that this approach was a bit too simplistic. He immediately reached out to the other two great families, and the three families gathered together once more.
"Fellow Daoist Kuang Han, what are your thoughts?" Xue Yi asked.
"I've been thinking about what Commander Ding said. Though that old man's attitude was terrible, his words weren't without reason. This forsaken place really might be an ancient heritage forbidden zone. Charging in like this with our numbers, we probably can't afford too many casualties."
The eight great families had brought only elites for their visit to Huichun Island Domain, but not many of them. Each family—senior members, young geniuses, and personal guards included—only had a few dozen people. The three families together amounted to just over a hundred.
For these hundred-plus people to conduct a carpet search across the vast Black Nightmare Mountain Range was clearly beyond their capability. Their coverage simply wasn't strong enough.
The previous carpet search had worked because they had the elites of Huichun Island Domain, along with the elites of Winterend Island and the elites of Winterend Island's various major powers. More manpower meant greater advantage. Now that their numbers had plummeted, trying to use the same search method was clearly unrealistic.
"Fellow Daoist makes a good point. We're indeed stretched thin when it comes to manpower. And these two little thieves seem extremely cunning. After all this time, we haven't found a single trace?"
"Indeed. I can't help but wonder whether we've made a wrong judgment—what if the so-called culprit doesn't even exist?"
Kuang Han's eyebrows shot up. "Impossible! The killer definitely exists."
Xuan Zan also nodded. "The person who impersonated Xuan Rui must be the killer. Someone saw him flee into this Black Nightmare Mountain Range—could he really vanish into thin air?"
Xue Yi nodded. "Fine, what do you two think we should do now?"
"For now, we can no longer act out of self-interest. We need to bring out our real abilities," Kuang Han said coldly. "I have a secret tracking technique that is very taxing on divine sense. It can capture all faint divine sense fluctuations within a thousand-li radius. This technique cannot be maintained for long, so I'll need you two to assist."
"Oh?" Xuan Zan was immediately interested. "How can we assist?"
"I'll maintain the technique continuously, but you two need to keep channeling your divine sense for me to use. The three of us supplying divine sense in rotation will allow the technique to be maintained without interruption. As long as we lock onto their whereabouts—after all, they're ultimately just an Emperor realm cultivator. Even if they possess Heavenly Domain strength, how could they withstand a pursuit by so many of us?"
Their biggest challenge right now wasn't killing the opponent, but tracking them down. If they could track them, killing an Emperor realm young man would be no different from killing a chicken. The difficulty lay in the fact that after so many days, they still couldn't pinpoint the opponent's location.
Xuan Zan and Xue Yi exchanged a glance, clearly also weighing this problem. After a moment, the two seemed to make up their minds and both nodded.
"Fellow Daoist Kuang Han, let's proceed with your method. Are you sure this technique is reliable?"
Kuang Han said coldly, "If it weren't reliable, do you think I would waste my divine sense on a futile effort?"
Xuan Zan and Xue Yi thought about it and had to agree.
"Then please proceed with the secret technique, Fellow Daoist Kuang Han. We will definitely cooperate. Perhaps once the technique is activated, we'll find that kid's trail."
"Yes, yes. We'll trouble you, Fellow Daoist Kuang Han."
Kuang Han was clearly the most furious of them all. All three of his Kuang family geniuses had perished, and this was a matter he couldn't shirk from. He immediately sat cross-legged and began preparing the secret technique. Purple qi began emanating from his entire body, and around the crown of his head, waves of purple ripples circulated and continuously spread outward.
"Let's move out!"
Kuang Han suddenly stood up. Activating the technique didn't prevent him from continuing onward. "Let us clear the path and guard Fellow Daoist Kuang Han!" Seeing that Kuang Han had already activated his technique, Xue Yi and Xuan Zan couldn't be outdone and took the lead to clear the path ahead.
...
Jiang Chen sat cross-legged, and two hours passed quietly. Those two hours were remarkably peaceful—no disturbance, no danger. So smooth that even Jiang Chen found it somewhat surprising.
After two hours, Jiang Chen opened his eyes. After two days of extreme exertion, two hours of recovery had restored roughly seventy to eighty percent of his energy. In this state, Jiang Chen clearly felt he had recovered significantly.
"My pace over these past few days hasn't been fast, but this Black Nightmare Mountain Range spans tens of thousands of li. I should have covered nearly half the distance by now."
Jiang Chen surmised that he should be approaching the innermost depths of the Black Nightmare Mountain Range.