On the second day, a plain-looking man walked out of the elevator, started a low-profile car amid a row of luxury vehicles in the "Zhen Sheng One" underground parking lot, and slowly drove towards the west of Zhen Sheng City.

The scenery outside the car window changed rapidly, the bustling urban area gradually became distant, replaced by verdant mountains and towering ancient city walls.

Soon, the vehicle stopped at the foot of the city wall. The man got out of the car, his gaze slightly focused, and walked toward the Spirit Master Association.

Due to the entanglement between the Demon Race and the Celestial Ladder Secret Realm, the entire association was bustling with people, and the air was filled with tension and anticipation.

Almost every corner had Spirit Masters gathered in small groups, either bragging about their achievements, exchanging experiences, or whispering discussions about possible team formations.

Disguised, Mu Shunying gently turned to the side, threaded his way through the crowd, and queued up at the reception.

"Hey, young man, are you also heading to Celestial Ladder Mountain?"

The voice from behind made Mu Shunying turn around to see a drunken old man standing there. His hair was white, his face etched with the marks of time, and his figure was thin and unremarkable, looking harmless. He held a bottle of beer in one hand, talking while taking swigs.

"..."

Mu Shunying didn't reply, simply turned his head away, but the old man continued to chatter behind him, recounting his glorious past in the wilderness—until he once took an arrow to the knee.

After talking for a while, possibly realizing Mu Shunying wasn't responding at all, the old man let out a beer burp and finally turned away.

Subsequently, Mu Shunying received a Spiritual Instrument Whistle from the staff and went to a large open space outside the association. He blew the whistle, and a level 39 Gale Eagle descended from the sky, carrying him westward.

And moments later.

Another larger-winged, obviously stronger Gale Eagle carried a young man, departing in the same direction.

...…

Calculating based on the normal cruising speed of this Gale Eagle provided by the Great Xia Spirit Master Association, it would take about three hours to reach the destination a thousand kilometers away.

Mu Shunying was quietly calculating his next actions in his mind.

Complete the exchange as soon as possible, obtain that Spirit Beast, return to Zhen Sheng City to sign the contract, and proceed with the next step of the cultivation plan.

The first phase of cultivation must be completed within three months, or time would run short.

While contemplating the future, Mu Shunying, sitting on the back of the Gale Eagle, for some reason… suddenly felt an unusual sensation welling up from the depths of his heart.

Frowning slightly, he took out a machine resembling a hearing aid from his pocket, put it on his ear, and infused his Spiritual Power into it.

It was a Tier Four reconnaissance-type Spiritual Artifact, capable of extending Spiritual Power into the surrounding Ether and rapidly spreading outward, with a specialized range, even reaching up to a ten-kilometer detection radius.

He closed his eyes, carefully experiencing the feedback brought by the Spiritual Artifact.

But…

No anomalies came from the feedback of the signal.

Besides a few flying Spirit Beasts and some Spirit Masters in different directions passing by in a hurry, there was nothing noteworthy.

—Am I being too sensitive?

Mu Shunying slightly relaxed, ceased infusing Spiritual Power.

Even with such a vast coverage, being a Four-Star Spirit Master with the aid of a Spiritual Artifact still felt quite a burden.

But there was still plenty of time on the journey, enough to recover.

?!

Mu Shunying's expression suddenly changed.

He suddenly felt a slight numbness in his body, his limbs somewhat weak.

No, it wasn't just his body.

Even his Spiritual Power began to gradually stagnate, as if the recent usage of Spiritual Power had exacerbated this reaction.

He could feel his Sea of Spirit starting to settle bit by bit, meanwhile, a sense of drowsiness gradually spread in his spirit.

Have I… been poisoned? At this altitude of several thousand meters?

When? Why is the Body-Protecting Spiritual Artifact not giving any warning or response?!

Without hesitation, Mu Shunying retrieved a Potion from the Body-Protecting Spiritual Artifact and gulped it down.

This Antitoxic Potion produced by the Protective Umbrella Company was prepared by Mu Shunying for extreme wilderness circumstances, capable of dispelling even the fierce poison of Tier Four Poison Element Magical Beasts. Initially, it indeed showed its effect as he clearly felt the situation improving, but soon the numb sensation surged back.

Is this… a poison capable of self-replicating and augmenting itself?

At this moment, Mu Shunying's heart began sinking bit by bit.

Without any hesitation, he took a syringe from the Spatial Spiritual Artifact and injected it into the Gale Eagle beneath him.

Meanwhile.

Twenty kilometers away.

On a massive Gale Eagle, Lin Guang sat with eyes closed, wearing a glove, tightly gripping a dark purple special Spiritual Artifact.

This bead was specially given to him by Li Kujie, containing a part of the body split from that Abyssal Rot Mud.

The poison, which makes the poisoned person's Spiritual Power and Energy go dormant, possesses quite peculiar traits.

Li Kujie designed it to maximize its self-replication ability and stealth capability, removing all destructive powers and after-effects, so that in a sufficiently long time, the Spirit Master's body, being much stronger than an ordinary human's, would naturally metabolize it, completely detoxifying.

Because of its excessively mild nature, it can directly be regarded as a very advanced side-effect-free sedative and tranquilizer, hence it wouldn't prematurely trigger a repulsion of Spiritual Power, generally hard to counter once discovered, gradually losing the ability to act.

Moreover, such a complete metabolism is also part of the design.

Unless fully detoxified, the poisoned body and Sea of Spirit, while metabolizing the toxin, will constantly emit a trace amount of special ethereal fluctuation.

And this ethereal fluctuation can be captured by Li Kujie's partner, then through this Spiritual Artifact, translate this directional sense into his Spiritual Power.

In Lin Guang's perception, there was a "light band" made of Poison Attribute Ether running across the endless sky, as distinct as a contrail left by an airplane. Even with over thirty kilometers between Mu Shunying and him, Lin Guang could easily catch up along this trail.

And the next moment, he suddenly felt that the light band in his perception began to lengthen, indicating that Mu Shunying's Gale Eagle had started accelerating.

—Finally realized he's been poisoned?

Lin Guang showed no surprise in his eyes.

Because this was all part of the plan.

The most important part of this operation was acting with deliberate calculations against an unaware target; seizing the initiative, then patiently trailing behind like a hunter waiting for the bleeding prey to lose its ability to fight.

Upon realizing his poisoning, as a veteran Four-Star Spirit Master, Mu Shunying would inevitably still retain a considerable extent of combat capability and the power to activate his Talents.

But…

In the sky, there is no point in burning the lifetime of his three Contracted Spirit Beasts to speed up the Gale Eagle, it's impossible to make it fly faster.

He can only make the Gale Eagle advance in overdrive through means like Potions.

And as time goes by, his combat ability will decrease sharply until he can't even activate his Talents, thus safeguarding his Spirit Beasts.

Then the next question is whether he has detected this tracker of his and which direction he will choose to continue flying?

Will he land directly on the ground, deploying Spirit Beasts to guard himself, or turn back to Zhen Sheng City, or choose to continue heading towards the original target?

Regardless, Lin Guang already had corresponding plans in place.

He used the whistle to send out a call, causing the Tier Four Gale Eagle beneath him, which still had strength in reserve, to accelerate again, beginning to directly pursue in the opponent's direction.

After about a dozen minutes, Lin Guang finally confirmed his destination.

For some reason, Mu Shunying was still headed in the same direction, towards the Zhen Sheng Forest's warning zone.

"Fine."

Lin Guang pressed his temple, gently speaking to the three partners in his mind: "We'll proceed according to the original plan when the time comes."

However, the next moment.

Clang— Clang— Clang—

Lin Guang raised an eyebrow, reaching into his pocket to retrieve an item.

It was a conch of a simple style, from which a light, melodious chime suddenly emitted.

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