"Huh. That's it? Did I accidentally hit him too hard?"
Xiao Lin dissipated the Great Stellar Seal, the lingering azure starlight fading from the air like dying embers. In the center of a fresh, jagged crater lay the mysterious messenger, facedown and motionless.
Xiao Lin hadn't even tapped into his Dou Huang reserves; he had restricted his output to that of a Nine-Star Dou Ling. However, a four-star gap is a chasm, and when reinforced by a Mid-Level Earth Tier technique, that chasm becomes an abyss.
In the Northwest Continent, most middle-tier empires considered High-Level Black Tier methods to be the pinnacle of power. The Yun Lan Sect and the Imperial Family of Jia Ma were prime examples. The Chu Yun Empire was slightly stronger, but they still operated within the same paradigm. To a soldier used to the "common" laws of Dou Qi, an Earth Tier technique wasn't just a move—it was a force of nature they had no framework to understand.
Crunch. Crunch.
Xiao Lin walked to the edge of the pit and nudged the body with the toe of his boot.
"Cough—urgh!"
The stimulus forced a violent convulsion. The spy heaved, spraying a mouthful of dark, visceral crimson onto the dirt. Flecks of internal organs were mixed in the gore. Even though he was technically alive, the man's combat capability had been deleted. If left alone, he wouldn't last thirty minutes before his shattered physiology gave up the ghost.
"Hey. You still in there? Can you speak?" Xiao Lin asked, looming over him like an indifferent deity.
"I... glargh..." Another fountain of blood and organ tissue cut him off.
Xiao Lin rubbed his chin, feeling a rare moment of awkwardness. I really thought I held back. I suppose I underestimated the Star Manual's destructive properties. If he hadn't managed to manifest that Dou Qi Armor at the last micro-second, he wouldn't be a person right now; he'd be a coat of paint on the rocks.
"Fine. It seems you won't be leaving any last words. A pity," Xiao Lin said. His face, however, remained as cold and unfeeling as the void. He didn't need the man's words; he only needed his presence.
Whether it was a final surge of spite or pure adrenaline, the dying man managed to hiss out a few jagged words through the froth of blood.
"Xie... Xie Shan... the Sect Leader... will not... let you... live..."
With those final, venomous syllables, the man—whose name Xiao Lin never even bothered to learn—collapsed and breathed his last.
The Logic of the Poison Master
Xiao Lin's eyes narrowed. "Xie Shan? If I recall, that's the leader of the Hall of a Thousand Scorpions (Wan Xie Men) in Chu Yun. Interesting. Why didn't he say 'Marshal Moyai won't let you live'? Why name a foreign Sect Leader?"
A realization struck him, and a slow, dangerous smile spread across his face.
"I see. This wasn't one of Moyai's loyalists. This was a plant from the Wan Xie Men. A Poison Master."
This revelation didn't scare Xiao Lin; it energized him. If his previous plan had a fifty-percent chance of success, the knowledge that this corpse belonged to a Chu Yun Poison Master pushed those odds to ninety percent. The remaining ten percent he left to the whims of fate.
It made perfect sense. A high-stakes treasonous plot like Moyai's required a secure line of communication. Moyai wouldn't trust his own subordinates—even his inner circle—with such a secret. If a loyalist got cold feet, Moyai would be executed for treason before the sun rose. By using a "liaison" from the Chu Yun Empire, he ensured that the person delivering the messages was just as invested in the betrayal as he was.
"So, you were a Poison Master from the Hall of a Thousand Scorpions," Xiao Lin mused, looking at the faint purple glow still clinging to the man's broken armor. "The purple toxic gas, the hidden pills... it all fits."
Xiao Lin didn't care about Xie Shan's threat. If the Sect Leader stayed in Chu Yun, he might live to see the original story begin. If he came for Xiao Lin, the "Empowered Ancestor" would ensure the man didn't live long enough to become a background character.
More importantly, this brief skirmish had revealed a hidden property of his Star Dou Qi. When the poison cloud had erupted, the starlight radiating from his palm had annihilated the toxins before they could even touch his skin.
In this world, attributes like Poison and Blood were outliers. They allowed users to fight above their level—unless they met their natural counters: Fire and Lightning. But now, Xiao Lin realized his Star Dou Qi possessed an "Absolute Purification" quality. It wasn't just elemental; it was celestial.
"An unexpected gift," Xiao Lin whispered. "But the mission remains."
He looked down at the corpse. To fulfill his next move, he needed to perform a gruesome task. He raised his hand, Star Dou Qi condensing into a blade-like edge of light. With a single, vertical stroke, he split the body perfectly in two.
It wasn't cruelty. It was a tactical necessity for the nightmare he was about to unleash on the Chu Yun encampment.
Inside the grand command tent of the Jia Ma Empire's frontline base, Great Marshal Intel Moyai stood before a massive topographical map. A bizarre, twisted smile played across his lips, lit by the flickering orange glow of nearby candles.
"As long as this plan succeeds, the High-Level Xuan Tier Qi Method will be mine. I will finally break through to the Dou Huang realm. Hai Po Dong... I will not let you and your Primer family trample over me forever!"
His low, jagged whispers filled the empty tent.
Moyai had become a mirror of Yun Shan from the original story—a man driven to the brink of insanity by a cultivation bottleneck. For a Peak Dou Wang, being stuck just inches away from the Emperor realm was a slow-acting poison for the soul. Years ago, he was a loyal shield of the Empire, but now? To attain that breakthrough, he was willing to burn the entire nation to the ground.
"Report! Great Marshal, something has happened!"
A frantic messenger burst into the tent, kneeling so hard his armor clattered against the floor. "A... a partial corpse has appeared at the camp gates! There is a letter pinned to the remains. General Wu dares not touch it and requests your immediate presence!"
"What?"
Moyai's heart gave a violent, sickening thud. A sudden, cold premonition washed over him, drenching his spine in sweat. "Lead the way! Now!"
Moyai sprinted toward the main gates, his Dou Qi surging with every step. When he arrived, a circle of soldiers stood back, their faces pale with horror. In the center of the clearing lay exactly half of a human body, sliced vertically with surgical precision.
"Marshal!" General Wu started to speak, but Moyai silenced him with a sharp wave of his hand.
Moyai's eyes locked onto the gore. His face went from pale to a deep, bruised purple. His fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. Although only half the body remained, he recognized the clothing and the faint, lingering scent of toxins.
This was his secret liaison—the Poison Master from the Chu Yun Empire who had left just hours ago to deliver the travel routes of Xiao Lin and Mu Chen.
Someone found out.
His first instinct was to flee—to abandon the army and defect to Chu Yun immediately. As a Dou Wang, he could always rebuild the Intel Clan elsewhere. But he forced the panic down, his decades of military discipline kicking in.
No... stay calm, he told himself, his eyes darting around. The liaison was killed in secret. If I don't admit to it, who can prove anything? The person who sent this back clearly wants something. They are testing me.
Moyai took a deep breath, smoothing his features into a mask of iron authority. "Was this letter moved?"
"No, Marshal!" General Wu replied quickly. "No one has touched the body or the letter since it appeared!"
"Good. Dispose of the remains immediately and double the patrols. Find the person who left this!"
Moyai snatched the blood-stained envelope and retreated to his tent. With trembling fingers, he tore it open.
"If you do not wish for your collaboration with the Chu Yun Empire to become public knowledge, meet me at the Black Rock Mountains tonight at the hour of the Rat (Midnight)."
Moyai let out a low, guttural growl. He crushed the parchment into a ball and vibrated his Dou Qi, incinerating the paper into fine grey ash.
"Bastard! Who is it? Who dares to threaten me?"
He knew he couldn't ignore it. Even if there was no direct evidence, a leak would trigger an Imperial investigation. If the Chu Yun Empire saw him as a liability, they might even cut him loose to save themselves. Their deal was simple: Moyai helps them win the war and liquidates the "new blood" of the Jia Ma Empire—the Xiao, Nalan, and Mu heirs—ensuring the nation's future is crippled. In exchange, he gets his Qi Method.
Moyai decided to go. He was a Dou Wang, after all. If this mysterious blackmailer was hiding in the shadows, it likely meant they weren't strong enough to face him directly.
"I hope your strength matches your greed," he hissed, his eyes flashing with murderous intent. "Because if it doesn't... you won't live to see the dawn."
What Moyai didn't realize was that the Black Rock Mountains—the designated meeting spot—was the exact location where Nalan Jie's squad was currently trapped. To Moyai, this choice of location was a calculated insult, a way for the blackmailer to say: I know exactly what you did to Nalan Jie.
While the Marshal sat in his tent fuming, Xiao Lin was miles away, finishing his gruesome delivery to the Chu Yun Empire's encampment.
He had left the other half of the Poison Master's corpse at their gates, along with a second letter. However, in the letter to the Chu Yun commanders, Xiao Lin had set the meeting time for thirty minutes later than the one he gave Moyai.
That thirty-minute window was the centerpiece of his masterstroke.
Xiao Lin stood atop a high ridge, looking down at the two rival camps. His Heavenly State Soul expanded, feeling the ripples of panic and anger he had just ignited.
"The bait is set," Xiao Lin whispered to the wind. "Now, let's see how well a traitor and a swarm of scorpions play together when they both think they're being betrayed."