I Pick Up Talents on the Interstellar Battlefield - Chapter 412 - 357: Faceless Men and Human Puppet Golems

Chapter 412: Chapter 357: Faceless Men and Human Puppet Golems

When Qin Tian returned to the Chijin Battlegroup, the atmosphere within the camp was so heavy it seemed to wring out water, with anxiety written on everyone’s faces.

“Leader!”

“Leader!”

As Qin Tian’s figure appeared at the camp gate, the waiting crowd rushed up as if they had found their backbone.

“Leader, Li Qi he…” Shen Juan had just begun to report when Qin Tian raised his hand to interrupt, saying in a deep voice, “I already know.”

He had sensed something abnormal when he was in the Dark Demon Realm.

Li Qi was his original Night Demon Apostle, their bloodline connection like an invisible thread. Even across thousands of miles of the Demon Realm, he could clearly sense Li Qi’s bloodline suddenly sealed by a strange power, and within moments, the bloodline connection was completely severed.

Because of this, he returned as quickly as possible.

The arrival had taken half a day, but due to a breakthrough in Spiritual Energy, the return trip time was halved.

Poisonous Widow and Old Ghost had already conveyed the cause and effect to him through the Soul Seal. Standing atop the mountain, Qin Tian slightly flared his nostrils, the residual unfamiliar scent in the air intertwined with Li Qi’s Dark Energy trail, like an invisible roadmap precisely pointing to the direction of the four masked figures.

“I will bring Li Qi back. You guard the camp.”

Before the words had fully left his mouth, his figure transformed into a blur of black, abruptly vanishing from sight. No spatial fluctuations, no energy eruptions, just speed to the utmost, as if he had never existed.

“So fast…”

The crowd’s pupils contracted sharply, gasping in awe.

It was no divine ability of Void Shuttling, rather sheer speed driven by his flesh and bloodline, fast enough that even an afterimage couldn’t be captured, only the faint ripples of torn air remaining.

“The leader’s strength this time… has probably undergone earth-shattering changes,” Feng Xiaotian murmured, slowly loosening his grip on his sword hilt.

Initially, there was concern that Qin Tian’s solo action was too perilous—after all, the Blood Demon Cult’s notoriety was known to all, a terrifying force that has endured hundreds of years despite the Empire’s focused assaults.

But upon witnessing such speed, most of the group’s worries eased. Even if the leader encountered the Blood Demon Cult’s high-tier forces in an ambush, with such ghostly speed, retreating unscathed was not considered difficult.

“How long until the Hunt Team from headquarters arrives?” Old Ghost turned to look at Shen Juan.

Shen Juan immediately replied, “They’ve already set out and are passing through the Demonic Qi Passage, heading to the Infernal Demon Sea.”

“Too slow,” Lu Sheng frowned, “By the time they arrive, Li Qi would likely already be in trouble.”

The crowd nodded in silent agreement, but the Hunting Team couldn’t be blamed for this.

Everyone knew that traversing from the second layer of Demon Abyss through the Demonic Qi Passage to the first layer, and then rushing from the passage entrance to the Infernal Demon Sea, would take at least a day.

After all, not everyone has Leader Qin’s methods of spatial teleportation.

The hope of rescuing Li Qi ultimately rested on the leader’s shoulders.

……

The black line that Qin Tian had transformed into sped through the darkness. Initially, the trace of Li Qi and the masked figures in the air was still clear, guiding the direction like a distinct trajectory.

However, after pursuing over a hundred kilometers, the trace began to fade at an astonishing rate.

Qin Tian slightly raised an eyebrow, the once-clear scent now faint and indistinct, as if obscured by some special technique.

“Quite a few tricks,” Qin Tian’s eyes moved, realizing that the precise management of traces during high-speed movement indicated these four masked figures were undoubtedly seasoned hunters.

But they knew nothing of the terror of the Night Emperor Bloodline.

Qin Tian closed his eyes, his spiritual sense spreading like the most precise radar. After awakening the Night Emperor Bloodline, his perception ability had reached its peak — even if the other party erased the scent, the air molecules disturbed by Spiritual Energy still trembled slightly, and the occasional faint stir caused by Li Qi’s sealed bloodline did not escape his perception.

In his mind, countless seemingly chaotic pieces of information were rapidly weaving together. These fragments, seemingly unrelated and barely noticeable to ordinary people, were swiftly assembled by him into a crystal-clear tracking route.

“Want to erase traces completely? In front of me, you can’t achieve that.”

With deep-set eyes, Qin Tian had absolute confidence in his tracking skills, intended to be the foremost in the Empire, after awakening the Night Emperor Bloodline.

He adjusted his course, continuing the pursuit along the concealed trajectory, increasing his speed by another three points.

Crossing the dark lands eroded by Demonic Qi, passing over the raging corrosive liquid of hidden rivers, and soaring over jagged, spiked mountains… the hundreds of kilometers rapidly diminished beneath his feet.

As Qin Tian passed through a valley filled with a dead stillness, he halted abruptly in mid-air, a sharp gleam in his eyes.

Here it is.

The demonic qi within the valley was as thick as paste, sluggishly flowing over the ground, yet there was no sound of demons howling, not even the lowest-tier demonic insects in sight.

More strange was the faintly sweet and bloody scent mingled with the demonic qi, a meticulously concocted poison. It could silently seep through the skin, and even a Tier Five Spiritualist could suffer paralysis of the meridians or even death if inhaled carelessly.

The perfect blend of poison and demonic qi was hardly detectable unless one was a master poisoner.

Qin Tian’s spiritual sense swept across the surroundings like a searchlight, discovering numerous hidden warning devices among what seemed like natural scenery: the metallic sheen on the edge of certain withered leaves, nearly transparent threads in rock crevices, ice crystals condensing on the rock walls… These devices were expertly designed, their layouts hidden, yet carried obvious signs of human interference—certainly the handiwork of the Blood Demon Cult.