Chapter 350: Trail of Heaven Deceiving Pendant - 04

— A Few Days Later —

In the middle of nowhere, deep within the territory of the Vermilion Bird Province, stood an ancient temple that had long since fallen into ruin.

More than a century old, the temple had once been a place of worship. Its weathered stone surfaces bore the scars of time, with chipped walls marked by the traces of blades and spears. Its crumbling halls stood as silent witnesses to the passage of time and the tumultuous eras that had come and gone.

Now, it had become a bandit camp, occupied by a nameless group of outlaws who possessed little more than their rust-covered weapons and the clothes on their backs.

Or rather, it had been their camp.

The bandits were all dead.

Their corpses had already been thrown off the nearby cliff, leaving no bodies behind to attract unwanted attention. The once noisy compound had fallen into an eerie silence, broken only by the occasional gust of wind sweeping through the courtyard and the creaking of old wooden doors.

Despite its considerable size, the ancient temple was now occupied by only a handful of people.

Chu Li and his confidantes.

The man who had once attempted to have Mo Xingyao sell the Heaven-Deceiving Pendant through the Thousand Treasure Pavilion had become a fugitive hunted by countless cultivators.

He had narrowly escaped capture more times than he could count. Informants had betrayed him, bounty hunters had cornered him, and on several occasions, even powerful cultivators had nearly seized him.

Yet every time, he had somehow managed to escape.

Sometimes, an unexpected disturbance would draw his pursuers away at the last possible moment. Other times, a seemingly insignificant coincidence would open a path that should never have existed. Even when he found himself trapped with nowhere to run, some unforeseen event would turn the situation around.

It was almost as if fate itself were guiding him away from danger.

Whether that was a blessing or a curse, Chu Li couldn’t say. After surviving so many close calls, he had learned one thing... he could no longer afford to trust anyone carelessly.

The cultivation world was full of people willing to sell their own mothers for a handful of spirit stones, let alone betray a fugitive with a bounty on his head. Anyone could be an informant. Anyone could be an assassin in disguise. Even a seemingly harmless stranger might be waiting for the right opportunity to claim his head.

As a result, Chu Li had gathered only the people he trusted with his life.

His loyal undead warriors, whom he had raised from a young age, personally trained, and instilled with unwavering loyalty to him alone, formed the core of his trusted forces. Alongside them stood a small circle of trusted experts who had proven their loyalty time and again. These were his confidantes, the only people he could still rely on in a world where everyone seemed to be his enemy.

They had abandoned the cities, trading hubs, and bustling cultivation establishments where informants were everywhere. Instead, they had taken over this forgotten temple in the wilderness, eliminating the original occupants and throwing their bodies off the cliff to conceal their presence.

It wasn’t comfortable, and it certainly wasn’t safe in the long term.

But for now, this desolate corner of the Vermilion Bird Province offered something that had become exceedingly precious to Chu Li.

A place where he could catch his breath without wondering whether the person standing behind him was about to drive a blade through his back.

At least, that was what he hoped.

There was also someone who had helped him survive this ordeal: a mysterious woman in a hood who seemed to have a conflict with the Underworld Palace.

But in all honesty, if he hadn’t possessed a token from the Nether Dark Palace and presented it to one of their establishments, this ancient hidden force would never have offered him any help.

Both the Underworld Palace and the Nether Dark Palace were ancient hidden forces, but placing them in the same category was already a stretch.

It was like comparing some nameless sect to the number one sword sect, the Heavenly Sword Sect. Their power, manpower, and influence existed on entirely different levels.

Chu Li couldn’t expect the Nether Dark Palace to keep helping him just because he possessed a single token. His ancestor had obtained it through a favor granted so long ago that even the current leader of the Nether Dark Palace could no longer remember it.

After his people had secured the ancient temple as their hideout, Chu Li walked toward the mysterious hooded woman.

"Lady Nether, I must thank you for your help this time. Without you and your clan’s assistance, I would have already fallen into the hands of that demoness, Mo Xingyao!"

Chu Li declared with self-righteous indignation, as though his past association with the demonic cult and the enormous benefits he had gained from it were nothing but lies.

"There’s no need to thank me. This is simply my duty as the clan’s head."

"Even so, I still need to thank you, Lady Nether. If there’s anything you wish me to do, please feel free to tell me. I’ll do my best to help!" Chu Li said with a smile.

"Good!" The hooded woman nodded. "Then give me back my clan token and don’t bother us again. Can you do that for me?"

The hooded woman spoke plainly, without the slightest attempt to soften her words, leaving Chu Li, who had hoped to establish a connection with her clan, at a loss for what to say next.

"This..." Chu Li was stunned.

It was true that once the token had been used, he had no right to keep it. However, the condition for using it was that he had to be saved, and now he was still stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no idea what to do next!

The hooded woman extended her hand, gesturing for Chu Li to return the token.

With no other choice, Chu Li maintained his fake smile, even as he inwardly wished he could tear this insolent woman to pieces! If she hadn’t been born with a golden spoon in her mouth, backed by one of the ancient hidden forces, she wouldn’t have achieved even half as much as he had!

With his smile still plastered across his face, Chu Li produced the token and handed it to her.

The woman accepted the token and examined it for a moment, checking whether it was genuine before nodding in satisfaction.

"Remember, don’t bother us again," she said before flying into the sky and disappearing over the horizon.

Only after the woman had vanished did the smile on Chu Li’s face disappear, leaving behind an expression filled with darkness and rage.

"Bitch!" Chu Li spat in anger.

In his entire life, only two women had ever humiliated him like this.

That whore, Mo Xingyao, who had sold herself to the highest bidder, the young master of the Underworld Palace!

And this bitch, who had been born with a golden spoon in her mouth!

If only he had been born with the same advantages they enjoyed, he would surely have become even more powerful and influential than either of them!

Even compared to Wei Chen, if he had been given the chance to become a young master of the Underworld Palace, he would have become far more powerful than him!

No! Even if he had started as nothing more than an outer disciple, he would surely have risen to become the young master and successor in no time!

At this moment, the sky brightened as a large screen appeared above the compound.

"What?" Chu Li stared at the screen in astonishment. This place wasn’t a city square, so why had a screen appeared here!?

Wait... Could it be because this place had once been the stronghold of a large bandit group? Even if the bandits themselves had been weak, their numbers had certainly been substantial. Was that why the screen had appeared here?

"Heh... Typical." Chu Li spat in disdain as he checked his U-Phone and saw the same special broadcast playing on it.

On the screen, Wei Chen appeared alongside a middle-aged man with a scholarly appearance and a calm, refined air.

Anyone who had attended Wei Chen’s wedding ceremony would know who this man was. He was the Lord of the Underworld, Wei Chen’s master and the patriarch of the Underworld Palace.

"Hello, folks! Long time no see! This is a very special broadcast, live from my master’s study!" Wei Chen said as he panned the camera around the room, giving everyone a look at their surroundings. Youqi, the secretary, and the Lord of the Underworld’s wife were also standing beside him.

"Hello," the Lord of the Underworld greeted everyone, neither haughtily nor humbly.

"Okay! Today, on this very special occasion, I have some very good news for everyone!" Wei Chen announced before the camera panned toward the Lord of the Underworld.

"On this auspicious occasion, the Underworld Palace will open up one hundred positions for outer disciples. Those who pass the screening will receive ample resources, as well as cultivation methods and techniques so exceptional that even the Immortal Realm would envy them."

"The resources you receive will depend on each individual’s contributions. However, since this proposal was brought to me by my disciple, Wei Chen, I will grant him ten additional positions to offer to anyone who meets the conditions he is about to announce."

With that, the camera panned back to Wei Chen.

"Okay! This is exciting, isn’t it? The conditions I’m about to announce aren’t something you can fulfill easily! All of you must have heard about the hunt for Chu Li from my wife, Mo Xingyao."

"So, let me be frank! Anyone who provides information that leads to Chu Li’s capture will receive a position as an outer disciple of the Underworld Palace! And let me tell you, the resources, cultivation methods, and techniques we possess are things that even the people in the major sects around here can only dream of!"

*Hmph! Using a bribe!? How naive! Wei Chen! No one on my side would fall for that!* Chu Li thought disdainfully.

"If you’re part of Chu Li’s group, we’ll also pardon all your crimes and protect you, as long as you provide information that leads to Chu Li’s arrest! We’ll pardon you for practically any crime, so long as it doesn’t conflict with the interests of the Underworld Palace!"

The moment Wei Chen said this, the experts keeping watch around the outer perimeter turned toward Chu Li. Their eyes gleamed with intense desire and greed.