Chapter 1135: The Most Cunning Hunter

What a break!

Xu Xiaoshou took a single step and flashed out of the Hall of Iniquity ruins. Luckily, this time there were no obstacles, unlike last time when a madman blocked the maze passage and, upon landing, started a fight and achieved Sainthood.

"Calm down; I need to sort out the situation!"

The battle situation had undergone an unexpected, earth-shattering change, one that Xu Xiaoshou had never anticipated.

After exiting the Hall of Iniquity and landing back within the walls of the Sin Hall maze, Xu Xiaoshou watched with a chill down his spine as Rao Yaoyao, enduring the Saint Tribulation, relentlessly chased Grandfather Han like a mad dog across the sky. With flashes of fire and lightning, she successively broke through various obstacles in the Sin Hall before finally disappearing into the horizon.

"This is too crazy!""When did Rao Yaoyao become like this?""She's truly like a lunatic!"But it must be said, this fighting style perfectly suits her as a Sword Immortal... No, perhaps soon, she should be called a Sword Saint. Xu Xiaoshou didn't believe for a moment that Rao would fail to achieve Sainthood.

"She's not the key right now. I need to review everything that happened in the Hall of Iniquity and see if I missed any details."Xu Xiaoshou tried hard to gather his thoughts and focus on himself. In his vanished state, he successfully transitioned from a peripheral figure in the battle to an irrelevant bystander, escaping all attention. But this didn't mean he was safe.What if he missed a step, and then Grandfather Han and Rao Yaoyao both ended up targeting him?

"First, I need to communicate with Grandfather Han. According to Rao Yaoyao, this 'Weasel of Frigid Heavens' came from the inner island of the Void Island, most likely a pawn of Ba Zun'an, though there's a small chance he isn't.""Regardless, now that I know this, I must risk my life to try and communicate with him. If we can eventually cooperate or even use him... well, definitely not now. It's uncertain whether Grandfather Han can escape Rao Yaoyao's Saint Tribulation, even though he's good at escaping. And no, I certainly can't be the one to communicate; I'll leave that to my Second True Body later."

In a single breath, Xu Xiaoshou settled the matter of Grandfather Han, and his attention returned to the maze passage behind him, which had closed and vanished.This meant the only passage to the Hall of Iniquity, and back from it to the Sin Hall maze, was gone.Xu Xiaoshou had emerged almost immediately after Grandfather Han and Rao Yaoyao's chase, only diverging in their escape directions.After he came out, he deliberately waited for a while, but unfortunately, he didn't see anyone else emerge.

"Is Night Owl dead?""Otherwise, why wouldn't she come out?""She shouldn't be dead... It was just a Saint Tribulation. I'm fine, and she looked seriously injured, but she must have life-saving trump cards. She absolutely can't be dead!""So, she must have already come out. But why didn't I see her? When did she emerge?"

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes darted around, and he instinctively scrutinized himself.There was no trace of possession, no danger alert in his information panel, nor had Night Owl transformed into a ghost to tail him, perpetually in his blind spot, no matter if he turned his head.

"Trouble..."No matter how crazy or chaotic things were on the surface, Xu Xiaoshou wasn't afraid, even if it involved a long-distance chase with a Half-Saint.What he feared most were those who, like himself, used the chaos to vanish into the shadows, taking advantage of the confusion to guide the situation's development.The Chief of the Dark Division truly lived up to her title; he had disappeared, and she had also gone dark.

"What a sinister and disgusting ability!"Muttering a curse, Xu Xiaoshou decided to stop thinking about it. After all, he was in a vanished state; Night Owl couldn't possibly still be tracking him, right?He then meticulously recalled the details in the Hall of Iniquity that he had set aside due to various reasons—perhaps the tense situation, perhaps his own subjective feelings.From start to finish, not missing a single thing.After all, dealing with such clever people, one misstep could lead to death and ruin.

"My identity shouldn't be exposed. Chen Tan played his part well, but there's one place I must be wary of... When I first entered the Hall of Iniquity, I grabbed Night Owl's hand. That was the only physical contact.""I have 'Concealment', and it was my first time entering the hall. Under a stress response, a normal person's first choice would be to resist, not to infiltrate the opponent's body with spiritual energy to observe them—that would be suicidal... And I didn't sense Night Owl doing anything of the sort.""And judging by Night Owl's subsequent reactions, she didn't recognize me, and my information panel gave no alerts..."

Xu Xiaoshou chose to trust his own deductions.Otherwise, if Night Owl had been facing Chen Tan, knowing his true identity was Xu Xiaoshou, her behavior couldn't have been so calm.

"There's also one more thing...""Rao Yaoyao is the Ruler of the Red Robes of the Law. It's normal for her to know Grandfather Han's past. But I am merely Chen Tan. Why didn't she avoid me when she and Night Owl were explaining about Ghost Beasts?"

Xu Xiaoshou fell into deep thought; this was something he had noticed at the time.When Rao Yaoyao was speaking, Night Owl's expression clearly changed, but Rao Yaoyao remained unperturbed and revealed all the information about "Ghost Beasts."Ghost Beasts.Regarding Ghost Beasts, information about which everyone on the Saint Divine Continent kept silent, did Rao Yaoyao not mind a stranger knowing about it after arriving at Void Island?Or was she foolish, not realizing that Chen Tan was listening in while she spoke?

"She considered me her prey!" Xu Xiaoshou quickly found the answer."...Chen Tan displayed the 'Power of the Heretic God'. Even Night Owl was unwilling to easily attack Chen Tan, instead demanding the 'Godslaying Order'. Her intention was also for me to join the Saint Divine Palace.""Was it because Chen Tan was great, or handsome, and Night Owl couldn't bear to kill him?""No! The moment the 'aura of the Heretic God's power' emerged, Chen Tan was destined to fall into the hands of the Saint Divine Palace, because 'Ancestral Source Power' cannot be allowed to remain outside, not even its aura."

Reviewing the entire situation from a third-person perspective and adopting the stance of the Saint Divine Palace, Xu Xiaoshou found all explanations made sense.Night Owl and Rao Yaoyao both knew Chen Tan possessed the aura of the Heretic God's power, yet they didn't immediately move to seize the Godslaying Order, choosing instead to deal with Grandfather Han.That implied that Chen Tan, you are absolutely claimed by our Saint Divine Palace, whether now or in the future.The Godslaying Order being on you is equivalent to it being in the Saint Divine Palace's treasury, because you yourself are already on the treasury's register.After all, the aura of the Heretic God's power could never be left outside!

"So, Elder Evil cherished his life. After he obtained this secret art, no one around him knew about it.""Even his closest confidante, Granny Ghost, only had a slight idea, knowing he practiced some kind of southern region dark art, but not its true essence."

Xu Xiaoshou felt a tremor in his heart.But fortunately, it was Chen Tan who was being targeted, and it had nothing to do with him, Xu Xiaoshou, the Holy Slave.

And from deducing the outcome from the events, it wasn't hard to conclude that either Rao Yaoyao would immediately return after her battle with Grandfather Han to find Chen Tan by some means.

"Before Rao Yaoyao started fighting Grandfather Han, she specifically instructed Night Owl to keep an eye on Chen Tan—which means me!" Xu Xiaoshou's eyes suddenly narrowed, realizing the second meaning of that sentence."So after Grandfather Han's Ganges, Night Owl naturally vanished. She was already watching me. After the Saint Tribulation, was Night Owl further forced out a 'false image'? As if she was dying?""And even now, there's still no news of her?"

Recalling that he hadn't waited for Night Owl to emerge from the Hall of Iniquity, he had concluded that she had already come out.And based on his current deduction, Night Owl was very likely constantly watching him...

Xu Xiaoshou was suddenly filled with dread!He was currently in a vanished state; all traces of him in the world had been erased. Could she still track him then?

"Am I scaring myself?"Some absurd thoughts flashed through his mind, and Xu Xiaoshou wanted to dismiss them as unnecessary worries, but then he reconsidered...Teng Shanhai, a Chief of the Six Divisions, dying at Jiang Buyi's hands was understandable; he died due to his foolishness.Even Yi, entering the Inorganic Old Ancestor's trap, was so hard to kill. True, Yi was intelligent, but from a current perspective, Yi's abilities were not very suitable for combat.Even so, he lasted for so long, longer than most of the Grand Voids he knew.Taken individually, Yi was powerful, but within the Saint Divine Palace's Six Divisions, Yi was just an intelligence worker.The true combat power lay in the other four divisions apart from the Dao and Yi divisions, and among them, the Dark Division specialized in assassination!

"Assassination..."Xu Xiaoshou simply dared not equate Night Owl with Yi.How could someone focused on intelligence work be equated with an assassin in terms of combat power?Therefore, the vigilance required against Night Owl couldn't be less than that for Yi; it needed to be several times greater.

"If I approach it from this angle, it's highly likely that what I just thought isn't me scaring myself, but that everything truly is in motion...""Night Owl is watching me!"

His mind felt like it had exploded; Xu Xiaoshou felt that the scene he had witnessed in the Hall of Iniquity had returned.The woman, standing on the Necromancer Grandmaster's shoulder, hidden within a black cloak, suddenly raised her gaze. Following that, the three-legged black owl on her shoulder let out a startled cry, and the Death Owl Eye behind her, which drowned out all colors of the sky, opened with cold intensity.

A shiver went down Xu Xiaoshou's spine, and goosebumps erupted all over his body.He once again checked every possibly overlooked spot on his body, wondering if a raven feather was hidden somewhere, or if he had picked up the dangerous woman's aura.But there was nothing.Everything was normal, and his information panel showed no risk alerts.

Xu Xiaoshou's heart raced. Either he was overthinking things, or the situation was even more dire than he imagined!He wasn't an optimist. The moment he thought of "Dark Division," "assassin," and the "Three-Color Hunt Order"—something only obtainable by successfully assassinating a Half-Saint—he felt a surge of panic.Xu Xiaoshou's estimation of Night Owl's danger level rose by more than a notch.

He suddenly thought of something else.Night Owl possessed the "Power of Death God," an Ancestral Source Power similar to Teng Shanhai's "Power of Demon God." Ancestral Source Power was something only high-level Saint Emperors could comprehend.In other words, could Ancestral Source Power, to some extent, achieve effects only possible for Saint Emperor Power?

"So, is it possible that I've already been guided?"At that instant, within his Primal Core world, Xu Xiaoshou's Second True Body immediately grasped the Saint Emperor Dragon Scale, frantically sending out a barrage of thoughts."Interfere with all external guidance directed at Xu Xiaoshou and Chen Tan, preferably blocking and dispelling it... Interfere, interfere, interfere!"

Again and again.He didn't know if the Saint Emperor Dragon Scale's ability had truly activated, or if it was just a psychological effect, but Xu Xiaoshou felt his thoughts clear considerably.

"If I am now the hunted prey, and Night Owl is a hunter who has assassinated Half-Saints, then her greatest quality must be immense patience...""Damn it, she *is* incredibly patient! I spent an entire day in the Hall of Iniquity searching for a passage, and she just watched me. That was the look of a hunter watching its prey!"Recalling it now, Xu Xiaoshou's face turned a bit green. He tried hard to calm himself.

"To make such an incredibly patient hunter drop her guard and reveal herself, what do I need to do?"Soon, he had an answer.

"A dying bird will draw the hunter's final shot!" He was in a vanished state now, and Xu Xiaoshou felt... sensed... guessed that Night Owl couldn't see him.But just as Jiang Buyi could roughly pinpoint his general location using his Saint Domain, and the Storyteller could continuously narrow down the exiled space to find people through exhaustive methods...Xu Xiaoshou thought, someone as clever and eerie as Night Owl might have a special way to sense his presence. After all, this was a woman who wielded the "Power of Death God"!At this thought, Xu Xiaoshou felt he had to reveal himself.If he didn't lift his vanishing spell, if he didn't lure Night Owl out, with her in the dark and him in the light, Xu Xiaoshou would feel as if a thorn were in his back, perpetually uneasy.

"Go! Go! Go!"Running headlong in his vanished state, Xu Xiaoshou darted around aimlessly like a headless fly.After running for dozens of miles, completely losing his sense of direction within the maze, he finally stopped.

"I'm lost myself. If Night Owl can still track me while I'm vanishing and teleporting, I'll literally eat shit live!" Xu Xiaoshou bet that this time, he was absolutely battling wits with thin air.He had conjured an invincible enemy in his mind, and the subsequent experiment would never yield a response.He was just betting on a "what if"...

He looked down to see his clothes were the tattered robes from the battle, but his internal injuries had been partially healed. Still, with the lingering aura of the Saint Tribulation, his wounds couldn't fully recover.Xu Xiaoshou gritted his teeth, used a sharp edge to make himself bleed all over, recreating the injuries he had sustained when escaping the Hall of Iniquity. Then, with a sweep, he dispelled his vanishing spell.

Thud!Somewhere in the maze walls, a bloodied figure crashed to the ground, his head hitting first, dragging forward for several feet before finally, covered in dust, he painstakingly leaned against the wall, propping up his battered body.Chen Tan's eyes were filled with terror, his pupils trembling, and his hands subtly shaking. Upon closer inspection, his eyelids were still twitching uncontrollably."Becoming a Saint! Sword Immortal Rao actually dared to achieve Sainthood here, and I'm barely holding on to my unique attribute...""Grandfather Han, that Weasel of Frigid Heavens, is actually a Ghost Beast..."Chen Tan muttered in a trembling whisper, pulled out a pill from his spatial ring, and swallowed it with difficulty. Only after calming down did he take a deep, heavy breath."Good thing..."His eyes scanned the surroundings, as if checking for any figures that might have followed him.Finding none, he lowered his gaze, his hand unconsciously rubbing his spatial ring, while his eyes slowly wandered, unfocused, as if deep in thought.

"Night Owl...""Godslaying Order...""Why... no, that's not right... it should be..."

More than fifteen minutes passed. Chen Tan shifted into several semi-reclined positions, yet he continued to mutter quietly from time to time.For over fifteen minutes of acting, Xu Xiaoshou performed to the absolute extreme, his "Perception" continuously searching for any possible auras, while also utilizing his information panel and the Saint Emperor Dragon Scale.But there was no one!A suspicion arose in him: perhaps he was just a big idiot, overthinking everything. If he told his junior sister about this, she'd laugh at him for a lifetime!But since he'd come this far, the act had to continue.Battling wits with thin air was always better than truly competing in patience with a real person.

At this point, the pill must have taken effect. Chen Tan barely regained his mobility, propped himself against the wall, and a slight smirk appeared on his lips."Anyway, with the Godslaying Order in hand, the next step is to find an exit and leave this damned place!"He scanned around, and seeing no outsiders or Void Attendants approaching, he cupped a handful of water from his spatial ring and vigorously scrubbed his face.He scrubbed so hard it was as if he intended not just to clean off the bloodstains and dust, but to rub his face raw.After quite a while, Chen Tan finally stopped, lowered his hands in the dim maze, and raised his head.

"Hmm, the identity of Chen Tan should be coming to an end. Who should I play next? Xu Xiaoshou? Night Owl?" Chen Tan mumbled, then casually pulled out a bronze mirror from his spatial ring and gently raised it.In the mirror, under the faint light, one could see a terrifying face that, after being washed, had no features at all, only a flat surface!This was Xu Xiaoshou's ultimate move: Transformation!He believed that if anyone was watching him, seeing Chen Tan muttering to himself after washing his face, and then, guided by the bronze mirror, taking a closer look to find his face had turned into such a ghostly sight, they should surely be scared half to death.Yes, and now the Sin Hall, with its unknown and terrifying environment, served as a backdrop.

The flat face twitched slightly, and a soft laugh emerged from an unknown source. Chen Tan kneaded his face, beginning to reshape it casually.At the same time, he focused his thoughts on the information panel, which had been silent throughout, wanting to see if this ultimate move could bring about any changes.

At one point, perhaps it was an illusion, Chen Tan's movements froze for a fraction of a second, but quickly returned to normal. After deciding on a direction, he continued to sculpt his face.His features hadn't yet appeared; otherwise, Chen Tan, who was essentially Xu Xiaoshou, would have felt exposed.The information panel moved!A message actually popped up!With absolutely no one else around!

"Received a horrified gaze, Passive Value, +1."