The moon hung high, its sparse light barely piercing the oppressive gloom of the Black Rock Mountains. Above, crows and vultures circled like feathered omens, while the scuttle of low-level magic beasts echoed through the ravines. In this godforsaken wasteland, even the monsters struggled to find a meal; it was a place where life went to wither.
Xiao Lin stood deep within the mountain's heart. It was only now, peering through the darkness, that he understood why Nalan Jie's squad hadn't reacted to the slaughter of the Chu Yun elites.
"Miasma... and it's artificially concentrated," Xiao Lin murmured, staring at the swirling wall of violet-black fog that choked the deepest pass. "No wonder the Chu Yun ambushers were so confident. They didn't fear a pincer attack from Mu Chen's reinforcements because they turned this canyon into a one-way poison trap."
Even a Da Dou Shi would need to exhaust massive amounts of Dou Qi to maintain a protective armor while charging through that fog. If the Chu Yun troops attacked while Nalan Jie was mid-transit, his squad would be slaughtered in the mist. Staying put and waiting for a clear opening wasn't cowardice; it was the only logical choice.
Xiao Lin considered dispersing the miasma with a wave of his hand, but he hesitated. Better to let old Nalan suffer a bit longer, he thought with a flicker of dark humor. If I clear it now, he'll stumble into my stage before the main actors arrive. A little more waiting won't kill him.
As midnight approached, the silence of the mountains was broken by a soft, rhythmic whistling of air.
Back at the Jia Ma military camp, Great Marshal Intel Moyai had slipped out of his tent, draped in black night-traveler robes. To a Dou Wang, exiting a camp undetected was child's play, provided he returned before the dawn's first light.
"I want to see who has the gall to threaten me," Moyai hissed, his figure blurring as he shot toward the Black Rock Mountains.
But the moment he entered the canyon, his instincts—honed by decades of war—screamed in alarm. The perimeter was empty. No Chu Yun sentries, no hidden Poison Masters, not even a scout.
"What is this? Where are the Chu Yun elites? Did they abandon the plan?"
He pushed deeper, his confusion turning into a cold, simmering dread. He swiped a hand, effortlessly crushing a few low-level magic beasts that dared to snap at his heels, but his eyes were fixed on the path ahead. Then, the smell hit him.
"Blood?"
Moyai's nose twitched. The metallic tang of fresh slaughter was heavy in the air. He accelerated, a streak of dark energy, until he reached a massive clearing bathed in moonlight.
He stopped dead.
Before him lay a colossal, palm-shaped crater. The surrounding obsidian boulders had been ground into fine powder. Strewn across the star-scorched earth were the remains of the Chu Yun elite squad—or what was left of them. They weren't just dead; they had been hammered into the soil, flattened into the earth with such singular force that they looked like gruesome tapestries woven into the rock.
"How... how is this possible? Who did this?!"
Moyai's voice rose into a frantic, jagged roar. To an outsider, it would look like the Great Marshal of Jia Ma was grieving for his enemies. It was a pathetic, ironic sight.
In the shadows, Xiao Lin watched the Marshal's breakdown with a cold, analytical eye. He was counting the seconds. He knew Moyai wouldn't flee yet; the man's arrogance and his desperation for the Dou Huang Qi Method would keep him rooted to the spot. Moyai assumed he was dealing with a High-Level Dou Wang—someone he could still potentially kill or negotiate with. He never dreamed a Dou Huang was playing with him like a toy.
A quarter-hour passed. Then, Xiao Lin's Heavenly State Soul picked up a new ripple at the canyon's entrance.
A dark streak of toxic energy was approaching at high speed. It was Gui Zhu (Ghost Spider), the Five-Star Dou Wang commander of the Chu Yun forces.
"Finally," Xiao Lin whispered.
As the Ghost Spider commander neared the clearing, Xiao Lin moved. He didn't reveal himself. Instead, he flicked his wrist toward the unsuspecting Marshal Moyai.
A small, purple orb—flecked with azure starlight—shot through the air. This was the "Stigma" essence he had harvested from the self-detonating Eight-Star Dou Ling earlier.
Thwack.
The orb hit Moyai's back and shattered silently, drenching the Marshal in the concentrated, blood-scented mark of a Chu Yun Poison Master's killer.
To Moyai, it felt like nothing more than a stray gust of wind. But to the approaching Ghost Spider—a master of toxins—the Great Marshal of Jia Ma might as well have been screaming, "I am the one who slaughtered your men!"
The trap was shut. The east wind had arrived.
The moment the purple orb streaked through the air, Marshal Moyai reacted with the conditioned reflex of a veteran. He didn't hesitate, unleashing a palm strike fueled by his Seven-Star Dou Wang energy.
BOOM.
The orb shattered instantly under the force of the blow. However, instead of shrapnel, a thick, violet mist erupted, instantly enveloping Moyai in a swirling cloud of color.
Moyai's expression shifted from caution to alarm. Initially, he assumed it was a toxic smoke screen—a desperate gambit by the "hidden blackmailer." But as he reflexively inhaled a stray trace of the vapor and realized it held no lethality, his face turned as black as a scorched cauldron.
In that moment, Moyai actually wished it had been poison.
At the Dou Wang level, he could have forcibly purged toxins from his meridians with raw Dou Qi. But this was something far more insidious. As the Supreme Marshal who had spent decades warring with the Chu Yun Empire, he recognized the substance immediately. It was a Stigma—a concentrated tracking marker used by high-level Poison Masters.
Why? His mind raced in a frantic "brainstorm." Why would a Chu Yun Poison Master mark me? Do they not know of our secret pact? Or...
Moyai's eyes narrowed as he formulated the only "logical" explanation. It must be a rogue extremist. A Chu Yun patriot who doesn't know about the deal with the Royal Family. He wants to kill a Jia Ma Marshal to weaken the empire, unaware that I am their greatest asset!
He felt a surge of frustrated helplessness. How was he supposed to explain his innocence to a hidden assassin who viewed him as the ultimate enemy?
The Entrance of the Ghost Spider
Before Moyai could process his next move, the sound of whistling air tore through the silence behind him.
"Wait! We are not enemies!" Moyai roared, spinning on his heel and blurring out of the path of a jagged, dark energy strike.
The violet mist had mostly dissipated, but the "scent" was now etched into Moyai's very essence—a beacon that screamed "Killer" to any Poison Master nearby. The man who had attacked him was none other than the Chu Yun Commander—Gui Zhu (Ghost Spider).
Unlike Moyai, who was a high-ranking noble serving his crown, Ghost Spider was a literal slave-servant to the Chu Yun Royal Family. He was a Five-Star Dou Wang whose loyalty was absolute, and he was the primary contact for Moyai's betrayal.
However, the scene Ghost Spider walked into was a nightmare.
First, Moyai was dressed in black night-traveler robes, a classic disguise for a saboteur. Second, the entire elite Chu Yun squad—hundreds of men—lay pulverized in the dirt, their blood still warm. And third, Moyai was literally dripping with the Stigma of a fallen Chu Yun brother.
In Ghost Spider's mind, the evidence was an iron-clad verdict.
"Moyai?" Ghost Spider hissed, his voice vibrating with a murderous tremor. He ground his teeth so hard that a sliver of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
"Ghost Spider? Is that you?" Moyai shouted back, equally shocked. "Why did your people mark me? Is Chu Yun planning to burn the bridge now that the job is half-done? Are you trying to cheat me out of my Qi Method?"
Moyai looked at the corpses embedded in the ground and felt his own confusion grow. Wait... if they are trying to kill me, why did they slaughter their own men first? None of this makes sense!
But Ghost Spider was beyond logic. He saw the "Lao Liu" (crafty traitor) Moyai standing over the remains of his subordinates, marked as their murderer. To him, it was clear: Moyai had taken the "down payment," killed the witnesses to hide his tracks, and was now pretending to be confused.
"Moyai... you treacherous dog!" Ghost Spider's aura erupted, dark purple Dou Qi manifesting as a giant, spectral arachnid behind him. "You want me to pay for your 'loyalty'? I'll pay you in your own blood! Die, you two-faced snake!"
With a scream of rage, the Ghost Spider launched himself at the Marshal.
BOOM!
A titanic shockwave rippled through the Black Rock Mountains as the two Kings collided. High above on a hidden ridge, Xiao Lin watched the explosion of purple and gold energy with a satisfied smirk.
The trap was no longer ninety percent successful. It was a masterpiece in motion.