Chapter 909: Storyteller Exposed

Within the core area of the Yunlun Mountains, the struggle for the Nine Dragon Veins was reaching a fever pitch.

It could be said that the Spirit Refiners who had managed to survive and reach the second stage of the trial were finding it impossible to remain uninvolved.

Whether through their own choices or the force of circumstances, everyone had been drawn into this chaotic situation.

However, there were always exceptions.

Among the participants in the Yunlun Mountains trial, a small group had not come for the trial itself, but for the Sky City.

These smugglers were completely uninterested in the trial's progress.

Their only focus was the rift leading to the void island high in the sky.

"When will it descend?"

Xu Xiaoshou's portrait clone, which had previously served as the storyteller, was also listlessly gazing at the distant void island.

The magnificent ancient city loomed over Dongtianwang City, its immense presence evident from just a corner.

After being unearthed and subsequently modified, the portrait clone no longer resembled the original storyteller.

Even the iconic red long skirt had been altered to a simple black and white.

The storyteller could not risk appearing openly in the Yunlun Mountains, as it would invite capture.

What Xu Xiaoshou desired was for the trial officials to stumble upon it unexpectedly, not for it to foolishly reveal itself and risk being recognized by Rao Yao Yao.

As it wandered through the wilderness, a faint spatial fluctuation suddenly appeared.

Xu Xiaoshou's spiritual sense instantly detected it.

In the past, such a subtle spatial ability might have gone unnoticed.

But after acquiring the spatial source stone and analyzing the alien domain from the perspective of spatial nodes, he could immediately confirm:

"A battle has occurred nearby—someone has opened a domain!"

A domain indicated the presence of a throne-level expert.

Which trial participant could possibly possess throne-level cultivation and dare to engage in battle in the Yunlun Mountains?

None whatsoever!

This must be a confrontation between smugglers and trial officials, happening in some concealed location.

"After waiting for half a day, it's finally happening..." Xu Xiaoshou thought with a sense of relief.

He quickly controlled the portrait clone, adopting an expression of extreme annoyance, and muttered softly:

"Why is there fighting everywhere? Can't a person get some peace?"

Then, as if desperate to avoid any trouble, it quickly hurried away.

Sensing that even a swift departure might be risky, the portrait clone paused, drew a spatial rift, and plunged into it, vanishing from sight.

The spatial rift was merely depicted.

The act of entering it was an illusion.

But its disappearance was genuine.

The purpose of the portrait clone ended there—after passively attracting the attention of the trial officials, it promptly vanished.

And once it disappeared, the spatial rift also faded away.

It was as if no one had ever been there.

Remotely manipulating the portrait clone, Xu Xiaoshou used its limited portrait spirit energy to wield the invisible brush, painting another scene of its surroundings—this was the only technique he had tested that the portrait clone could perform.

Beyond that, it possessed no combat capabilities whatsoever.

If it were approached or touched, the illusions would shatter instantly.

But by vanishing before contact, all that remained for observers was speculation and endless conjecture.

As for whether disappearing from such a distance might mean it went unnoticed, leading him to overthink and waste a portrait clone...

Xu Xiaoshou was not worried at all.

The Sheng Shen Hall had no fools!

One breath passed.

Two breaths.

In less than three breaths, the distant spatial fluctuation solidified into the form of a black domain, which then collapsed, revealing a black-clad enforcer carrying an unconscious person over his shoulder.

"Who was there?"

Shou Ye narrowed his eyes, the fierce aura from his recent battle still lingering as he scanned the spot where the "storyteller" had been.

Within a domain, only the domain master could perceive the outside world.

If one's control over the domain was weak and their focus was entirely on internal matters, the domain master would struggle to detect external events.

But Shou Ye was different.

The smuggler, even after reaching the throne level, was no match for him in a single exchange.

After quickly subduing the smuggler in a few moves and while interrogating him, Shou Ye noticed the subtle disturbance outside the domain.

A young man in a black and white skirt, clearly dressed as a trial participant, was wandering aimlessly in the wilderness.

This desolate place was far from the Nine Dragon Veins.

Logically, trial participants should not be here.

Yet, in mere moments, the young man seemed to sense something amiss, drew a spatial rift, and escaped.

Who could detect the abnormality here?

Who could so effortlessly tear through space?

Shou Ye instantly realized this was another smuggler, and a formidable one at that. He quickly knocked out the smuggler inside the domain and emerged.

But it was too late.

The young man in the black and white skirt had already fled.

Shou Ye carried his captive to the spot where the young man had stood and probed with his spiritual sense, only to be surprised that not a trace of spatial fluctuation remained.

Normally, if someone fled through a spatial rift and he pursued closely, Shou Ye could track their general direction through the residual fluctuations.

Yet now, in just a few breaths, all spatial traces had vanished completely.

"Impressive!"

"That person can casually erase all spatial traces upon leaving?"

Shou Ye was both shocked and puzzled.

He felt he had stumbled upon a significant lead.

Such a feat was not something even a typical throne-level expert could achieve—perhaps not even a Dao Cutter.

He, Shou Ye, could not do it himself.

Tearing space was possible, but wiping away the traces afterward was beyond him.

Only someone with a certain mastery of spatial rules could accomplish that.

This individual who had detected his actions and slipped away invisibly must be a seasoned expert, bold enough to roam the Yunlun Mountains so brazenly... Shou Ye pondered.

"Who could it be?"

He paused, recalling the notice issued by the higher-ups the previous night.

The Sheng Shen Hall's leadership had reported that Tai Xu had died in the Yunlun Mountains, and everyone must be on high alert.

Shou Ye shivered involuntarily.

Could this ability be related to Tai Xu's death?

Regardless, any new discovery had to be reported immediately.

Shou Ye took out his special operations communication bead and, using his Tianji abilities, contacted the current controller of the Yunjing World—Yu Zhiwen.

At the spiritual mirror's main station, Yu Zhiwen had been awake all night.

This was the most grueling battle she had ever fought.

After a night of remote clashes with an unknown Tianji master, her mental energy was severely depleted, yet she could not rest and had to remain focused on all the spiritual mirror feeds.

Because the culprit behind Yi Si's death needed to be tracked down quickly, or they might escape for good.

A sudden buzz from the communication bead pulled her from her intense concentration. She took out a pill, swallowed it, and answered.

"Yu Zhiwen here, Elder Shou Ye. In core area number 163, I'll check the spiritual mirror recordings. There might be a new lead."

Yu Zhiwen perked up and responded promptly: "Understood."

With a hand seal, she quickly located the spiritual crystal feed for Shou Ye's position.

Zooming in on the image, the situation inside the domain was unclear, but outside, a conspicuously out-of-place man caught her eye.

"A black and white skirt?" Yu Zhiwen noted the distinctive features.

"Yes, that's him!" Shou Ye's voice came through. "If I'm not mistaken, this person is likely a smuggler, and probably entered without a trial jade pendant—through a void rift."

A void rift?

Yu Zhiwen was startled.

That implied at least Dao Cutter level strength—just to navigate the void rifts, pinpoint the Yunlun Mountains' spatial coordinates, and emerge.

Yu Zhiwen tried searching through the trial jade pendants for any spiritual mirror feed linked to this man in the black and white skirt...

Nothing came up.

"This person has no spiritual mirror feed and no trial jade pendant. He's almost certainly entered via a spatial rift." Yu Zhiwen grew cautious.

The appearance of such a powerful smuggler in the Yunlun Mountains without any prior trace was a major oversight on her part.

Shou Ye said: "Trace his previous movements. See where he came from. If he passed near area number 76, he could very well be one of the culprits."

Area number 76 was the former site of Xu Bang's camp and Yi Si's death location.

Yu Zhiwen immediately manipulated the spiritual mirror feed, centering on the man in the black and white skirt, expanding and rewinding the footage.

Time rewound...

The man's trail was traced back from Shou Ye's side to the moment he emerged from the earth.

The footage ended there.

Rewinding further yielded no information.

Yu Zhiwen was stunned.

Had this person appeared out of nowhere?

"Is something off?" Shou Ye asked, adding: "Send me a copy of the spiritual crystal footage."

Yu Zhiwen complied, transmitting it while replying: "It's strange. His path is erratic, like he has no destination—just mechanically walking, sometimes stopping motionless. He never appeared anywhere outside area 163; it's as if he popped out of the ground."

On the other end, Shou Ye frowned as he listened.

After reviewing the footage himself, he saw that the man in the black and white skirt acted just as Yu Zhiwen described—nothing unusual beyond his puppet-like movements.

But his presence alone was unusual.

"There has to be something wrong!"

The more Shou Ye examined him, the more suspicious he seemed.

What man in the world would wear a skirt, even a plain black and white one?

He was at least a Dao Cutter-level expert—he had his pride!

A Dao Cutter or higher, spotted not long after Yi Si's death, far from the battlefields but with the ability to smuggle through space...

Shou Ye racked his memory and thought of someone who might match.

"Oh, and he changed clothes!"

At that moment, Yu Zhiwen rewound the footage again and noticed that when the man emerged, his skirt's color seemed to change.

Not only that, his appearance appeared altered as well.

But the transition was too fast, blended with his emergence, making the footage blurry and uninformative.

"Send me the image." Shou Ye said urgently.

Yu Zhiwen immediately froze the frame at the clearest moment of his emergence and sent it over.

When Shou Ye received the image, the first thing that stood out was the striking red skirt.

His pupils contracted.

This red skirt might just be intelligence data to the younger generation like Yu Zhiwen, not immediately ringing any bells.

But Shou Ye had encountered it face-to-face in the Bai Ku...

The sacred slave, the storyteller!

Shou Ye took a deep breath, feeling a wave of shock.

Had he accidentally crossed paths with the storyteller? Was it coincidence?

No matter what, the situation was too significant for him and Yu Zhiwen to speculate alone.

It involved Tai Xu's death, and even if their suspicion of the sacred slave storyteller was only sixty or seventy percent likely, it had to be reported to Rao Yao Yao.

"Inform Sword Immortal Rao and forward this spiritual mirror footage. The suspect is tentatively the sacred slave storyteller. I discovered it—back in the Bai Ku, I even fought him hand-to-hand." Shou Ye laid out the key points to ensure it would be taken seriously.

Yu Zhiwen's heart skipped a beat.

The sacred slave storyteller?

Wasn't that one of the main suspects Rao Yao Yao had theorized for Yi Si's death?

"Got it!"

Yu Zhiwen didn't dare delay. She quickly compiled the information and sent it all to Senior Rao.

Then, she stared at the spiritual mirror footage, her expression turning dazed.

If it was the sacred slave storyteller, what was the point of this exposure?

From the footage, he had done nothing but wander aimlessly from emergence to encountering Shou Ye.

But that couldn't be right.

Such a major figure wandering the Yunlun Mountains—was he trying not to be noticed, not to be exposed?

"Something's off!"

Yu Zhiwen's thoughts deepened, and she spotted an anomaly.

The storyteller was indeed wandering, but every so often, he would stop, as if freezing in place—squatting or standing still, then looking up at the sky with no further action.

"It doesn't seem like the storyteller at all—more like a puppet..."

Yu Zhiwen was doubtful.

Wasn't this exactly what an unguided puppet would do?

But as the sacred slave storyteller, such reasoning didn't hold.

Moreover, the storyteller himself had entered the void island.

If this was his external avatar, would the spatial isolation between the two realms cause their connection to falter, leading to this behavior?

Yu Zhiwen didn't know how powerful the storyteller's external avatar was or if the separation would affect them mutually.

But given the storyteller's high status and strength, he shouldn't exhibit such symptoms, right?

"There must be another reason!"

Yu Zhiwen felt there was something here she hadn't grasped yet.

She waited for Rao Yao Yao's response.

Perhaps only the experienced Senior Rao could clarify it for her.

Just then, a strange sound echoed from the heavens above, like a demon howling in a hidden valley or a fierce wind wailing over twin peaks.

"Gurgle—"

The sound came from above.

Yu Zhiwen looked up, and her star-like pupils trembled violently.

Above, the void island rift, which had been eerily still, now gaped open like a massive maw ready to devour everything!