"Keep up," I said sternly, addressing the ve, ensuring he maintained a close pace with us. We moved with swift precision, but without using any Qi to boost our speed. It was essential to remain undetected. We had no idea where the enemy might be hiding, and staying low-profile was our only defense in this unfamiliar and hostile territory. Every step had to be measured, every breath quiet.


    The ve, bound in his heavy chains, moved silently. His restraint wasn''t just physical—it was mental, ingrained deeply into his spirit. He knew better than to make a sound. After all, he understood perfectly that his fate was tightly linked to mine. If I were to die, so would he. His survival now depended entirely on keeping me alive. It was a twisted irony, and part of me—though a very small part—wondered if it was too much, this life of envement I had subjected him to. But only for a fleeting moment. After all, he had coveted what was never his to take.


    I wasn''t one to indulge in needless torture. I wasn''t a mindless killer, and even the Du Shen within me wasn''t entirely insane. But once someone dared to cross that line, to push against the boundaries of my patience, then retribution was swift and absolute. This ve was a living example of the fate that awaited those who dared to challenge me.


    Our pace through the dying forest remained unbroken for hours. The air was stale, thendscape a wastnd of decaying trees and barren soil. Aside from a few birds glimpsed in the distance and the asional insect crawling among the roots, there was no life here. It was unsettling. No rodents scurried through the underbrush, no demonic beasts lurked in the shadows. Just an eerie emptiness, the kind that made your skin crawl.


    "This is awfully quiet," Lawmented, his voice low but sharp. He was running beside me, keeping pace effortlessly. His eyes darted around, constantly on alert.


    "What did you expect?" I replied. "Thest known survivor left this twenty thousand years ago. The Rakshasa must have cleansed the ce, consuming everything in their path."


    It was confirmed by Tao Yang and thest fight between the Srous and the Rakshasa, they had to leave the entire on the Bastion, and it was a death sentence for anyone left behind.


    Law furrowed his brow, scanning the destendscape. "I guess… but where are they now? You''d think we''d have seen some sign of them by now."


    I couldn''t help but smile. "You really


    want


    to find out where they are?"


    Law grunted, half amused, half tense. "Not particrly. I was just hoping if we do run into them, it''ll be on


    our


    terms."


    "As long as we''re cautious, we won''t have to deal with them… unless we want to."


    We continued forward, the forest thinning ahead. The air grew colder, and the feeling of lifelessness deepened with every step. The thick foliage we had been weaving through began to part, revealing a vast, open in ahead. It stretched out into the distance, an endless field of tall, yellowing grass swaying gently in the breeze, extending as far as the eye could see.


    "Halt," Imanded, raising my hand. Everyone stopped immediately, their senses heightened.


    "What''s wrong?" Liang Yu asked, her gaze darting from the forest behind us to the open in in front.


    I gestured toward the small spiders—our scouts—that scurried across the ground ahead of us. "We''re catching up to the majority of the scouts. They''ll need to spread out further to scout ahead. We don''t want to walk into anything blindly."


    The spiders continued to sprint forward, their small metallic bodies disappearing into the tall grass, vanishing into the vast expanse ahead.


    "This is going to take a while," YuYu remarked, crossing her arms. "We''ll be stuck here for hours at this rate."


    "I know," I replied, my voice tinged with frustration. "But we can''t afford any mistakes. The scouts need to clear a path ahead, and the area up there is too exposed. That open field is a perfect ce for an ambush. We''ll be sitting ducks if we charge in."


    The group fell silent as we watched the spiders disappear into the horizon. The wind rustled the tall grass, creating a soft whisper that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Something about the ce felt wrong—


    too


    quiet,


    too


    open.


    "So," Liang Yu broke the silence, her tone curious, "since we have nothing to do but wait… what''s the deal with this ''old wife'' of yours?" She smirked, clearly enjoying the chance to poke at me.


    I sighed. "Why does that matter now?" I asked, but I knew she wouldn''t let it drop.


    "Because I''m curious," she replied, her eyes gleaming mischievously. "You always seem to be hiding things when ites to your past."


    I nced at her, then at the others. YuYu was listening quietly, but her curiosity was just as obvious. Law, on the other hand, was silent, though his expression hinted at mild interest.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Well, who am I?" I asked, tilting my head.


    "Shen Bao?" she ventured, though she didn''t soundpletely confident.


    "That''s part of who I am," I exined. "But there''s more to me than just Shen Bao. I''ve reimed memories of a life I had long forgotten. In the distant past, I was someone who challenged the heavens themselves in the Vast Expanse… and I failed I was Du Shen. When I returned, I became Shen Bao."


    "No wonder you got so powerful so fast," YuYu muttered, recalling how we first met, back when I was a broken old man, riddled with disease and misfortune. A man with a missing eye, a twisted foot, and a death sentence hanging over him.


    "The first time I saw you, I thought you were halfway in the grave," YuYu continued, a small smile tugging at her lips. "And now look at you—one of the strongest cultivators I''ve ever seen. It''s hard to believe, but I suppose it makes sense now."


    "It wasn''t easy," I admitted. "When I first met you, I had no memory of who I truly was. Every ounce of strength I gained was through sheer effort. As for Du Shen, well, I''m sure you''ve heard of the Poison God''s achievements…"


    Liang Yu scoffed yfully. "I''m sure most of those tales were exaggerated. They say the Poison God fought the Wind King and destroyed entires for a woman." She looked at me knowingly. "But now that I think about it, that doesn''t seem far-fetched when ites to you. You''d probably do the same."


    I smiled, though it was tinged with bitterness. "She was someone who helped me when I was at my weakest. But I didn''t make it in time to save her. I ended up ughtering an entire sect for her sake, but none of it mattered in the end."


    "Things of the past," I mumbled, my voice barely a whisper. The weight of those memories pressed down on me, but I shook them off. Dwelling on them wouldn''t help us now.


    "Shen Bao," Law''s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I turned to see him crouched over a bush, examining something.


    "What is it?" I asked, moving toward him.


    "You said this was uninhabited, right?"


    I frowned. "As far as we know, it is. Why?"


    Law held up something in his hand—a fragile, half-dposed flower bracelet. "Then what is this?"


    I took the bracelet from him, inspecting it closely. It was old, dried out, but still recognizable. It hadn''t been made too long ago. "This is interesting…" I murmured, scanning the area around us.


    "This means people might still live here," Meng Hao said, stepping closer. "Judging by the dposition, I''d say it was made a few weeks ago."


    Law nodded. "Two weeks, maybe less. Whoever made this is long gone, but they were here recently."


    I let out a frustrated sigh. "We can''t even use Divine Sense to track them. It would alert the Rakshasa."


    But then an idea came to me. I tapped themunication bracelet on my wrist. "Tao Yang," I called through the device.


    "Yes?" she responded immediately. From the background noise, I could tell she was still running.


    "You might want to adjust your course ande to our location. We''ve found signs of life here," I said.


    There was a brief pause. "Same here," Tao Yang replied. "It seems some of my people might still be alive on this."


    "Then we should meet up and investigate," I suggested.


    Before she could respond, a loud explosion echoed through my bracelet, followed by another.


    "It hasn''t even been a day…" I muttered under my breath, my irritation growing.


    "What''s going on over there?" I asked.


    "Nothing major," Tao Yang replied, her voice strained. Another explosion boomed in the background, even louder this time. "Just a small problem."


    "You do realize we''re on a


    stealth


    mission, right?" I said, gritting my teeth.


    "Yes, I''m aware of that," she replied, though her voice was cutting in and out as more explosions rocked the air around her.


    "Then why are things blowing up?"


    Tao Yang''s next words sent a chill down my spine. "Because the Queen is awake."


    The explosions in the distance grew louder, so loud that we could hear them even without the bracelet. I clenched my fists, a surge of adrenaline rushing through me.


    "I''m on my way," I said, already preparing to move.


    "I''d appreciate that!" Tao Yang''s voice crackled through the bracelet, followed by another barrage of explosions.