Shi Chun's sneaky-like figure quietly slipped around, seized an opportunity, and after predicting the incoming person's route, crouched for a while, finally glimpsing the true visage of the incoming person through a gap in the bookshelf.

It was fine if he hadn't seen them, but upon catching a glimpse of those blood-red eyes, his heartstrings suddenly tightened to the extreme, immediately guessing that it was the Demon Path from Wu Shanshan's line in Forget Love Valley.

The last shred of hope in his heart was completely shattered.

Although tense before, he still thought there might be other possibilities, maybe he was just overthinking, yet upon seeing the blood-red eyes, he was completely certain they were indeed coming for him.

He also understood why the person could suddenly appear here—it must be due to the previous escape battle that provoked them to chase after him.

Knowing Wu Shanshan's tracking methods at the time, the price he paid to hunt Wu Shanshan was by no means small, to the extent of openly exposing the Secret Technique of having a Fifth-grade Body-Stabilizing Talisman, truly sparing no expense to cut off Wu Shanshan's tracking.

Now seeing this technique again, and the cultivation of this Demon Path visitor was far beyond Wu Shanshan's, clearly exceeding the Earth Immortal Level Demon Essence he had seen; it was evident that the problem could not be solved like when he killed Wu Shanshan.

Precisely because he had experienced Wu Shanshan's terrifying Tracking Technique, he realized that he might really be inescapable this time.

Thoughts of retreat already whirled in his mind, considering how to negotiate cooperation with the party after being captured, how to persuade them, as staying alive was paramount.

Of course, things after capture were as a last resort; he could not just surrender without a fight no matter what, finding every means to escape first.

He realized now why the opponent did not use magic to explore; they didn't need to, their Demon Eye could trace his tracks to find him.

Everything has pros and cons; the opponent abandoning the use of magic exploration meant it gave him a chance to fight back.

He quickly devised another escape plan; as long as he could slip away now, before they pursued out of the city, once he ran out of the city, alerting the City Guard to activate the grand array to seal Dazhi City might imprison the opponent for a while. Would they expose their identity to forcefully break out?

As long as he could trap them long enough, he might escape, because he knew the Tracking Technique had a time limit; once the traces he left disappeared, the Demon Eye would lose the tracking clue.

So the key was whether he could shake off the opponent now.

Thus, he circled around to lure the opponent away from the vicinity of the staircase and then quietly slipped towards the staircase.

Passing by a row of bookshelves, his eyes unintentionally glimpsed the words "Hai Guang" on a book, which suddenly sparked a flash of insight in his mind. His Bath Demon Skill's Green Qi could even contain the smoke after the Death Refusing Incense burn, and even the golden threads growing on corpses that could connect to the Netherworld; could it not contain the aura leaking from himself that the Demon Eye detected?

With the idea in mind, he acted immediately, operating the Green Qi Protection while slipping to the staircase, treading void steps downwards, and his form gradually disappeared at the staircase entrance.

Yet life is unpredictable, always with reason.

The gray-clothed person relying on Demon Eye tracking quickly noticed something was amiss; Shi Chun's circling qi traces confused him, meeting and interweaving circles over circles, all fresh traces, leaving even ghosts clueless as to which route to follow.

More strangely, after circling for a while, he still did not see any figure.

Sensing something amiss, he immediately crouched to the ground, face pressed to it, searching the target's feet through the gaps under the bookshelves.

He saw nothing.

Checked several spots, still found nothing.

The traces showed the target came up in a single path, with no trace of leaving.

Crucially, he didn't hear any leaving footsteps either, which was wrong—the traces left by the target showed so many circles; how could there be no footsteps?

He suddenly realized something was wrong, recalling the reminder he received before setting out, warning that the sneaky little thief was cunning and treacherous, not to be underestimated.

Could it be that he was about to fall into this pitfall too, the eagle blinded by the hen?

Awakening to the realization, he dared not act conservatively anymore, spreading his mana to probe up and down the floors.

Shi Chun, in his sneaky-like form, was treading void steps half a foot off the ground on the second floor, opting for a shortcut downstairs, through a sliding door, yet dared not make the slightest noise of opening the door, choosing caution over speed.

The Book Collection Pavilion had shortcuts too, and those slightly transparent windows tempted Shi Chun, the outside's free light seemed to beckon to him, suggesting he could jump out and escape through an open window.

Yet fearing to make any noise, he dared not push the window latch, daring not even to let his feet touch the ground, how could he dare to open a window latch to create a noise?

For fear of alerting the enemy—could he really escape by jumping first through a window?

No option left but to take a detour to the end of the partition wall.

Reaching the end, he naturally saw at the corridor end a blue-robed scholarly guest sitting by the bookshelf reading.

The blue-robed scholar initially hadn't noticed anyone approaching; he only looked up because something blocked the light from the window at the end of the aisle.

Seeing was believing; the unexpected sight left him stupefied, seeing a stealthily walking figure like a thief, floating on air.

What was surprising was seeing someone tread mid-air steps with no significant mana fluctuation, surprising that he hadn't noticed until close.

Shi Chun put a finger to his lips in a "shush" gesture, clasping his hands with repeated bows in a pleading manner, again gesturing silence with a creepy smile, the plea for silence was all too clear.

The biggest dunce could understand he was pleading not to make a sound.

The blue-robed scholar opened his mouth slightly, originally intending to speak, asking why he was acting so thievishly in the Book Collection Pavilion, playing such a highbrow game of stealing books?

Yet Shi Chun's actions forcibly blocked the words before they left his mouth.

His gaze slipped down, he's observant, directly locking onto Shi Chun's shoes, and carefully staring at them.

At the counter, the red-clothed woman who was propped up pretending to nap, her fingers gently stroking the ledger, curled the corners of her mouth into a slight smile.

Upstairs, at the corner of a row of bookshelves, Shi Chun cupped his hands in silent gratitude to the scholar in a blue shirt, intending to turn around and slip away, but his wandering gaze was forcefully drawn back, and his bewildered eyes fixed on the Magic Source at the dantian area of the scholar.

Previously, when he was far away, he hadn't noticed. When the images from both eyes differ, if you don't focus on one side, you can't see it clearly. Now that he was closer, he suddenly felt something abnormal flash before his eyes.

It would be strange if it were normal; that vast and mighty Magic Source exceeded even those of the Demon Path upstairs.

What the hell? Shi Chun quivered with fear, thinking he saw wrong. Could you really encounter two of these at once?

He even forgot to escape, hastily rubbing his eyes with his hand, then closed his left eye, using only his right eye to look, and found he wasn't mistaken, which scared the color from his face.

He then thought it over and felt it wasn't right. Was it necessary to send two experts of this level just to deal with him?

Moreover, when he came earlier, his right eye had already probed, and this person arrived before him, so it's unlikely they would settle here waiting for him by anticipation.

The other person's eyes held an openness that hides nothing, along with a look of accidental surprise at the unexpected encounter. Looking at the way he handles books, typical for someone who frequently reads, Shi Chun suspected it really might be a coincidence.

Such incredible luck, truly remarkable.

The first thought that flashed through his mind was that it might be exploited, but he feared he couldn't afford to do so.

Time was of the essence, fleeing was the best strategy, so he fled in politeness first.

Being polite costs nothing. After silently thanking the other party again with cupped hands, he immediately turned to flee.

However, this brief delay caused him to fail in noticing the unusual move of the gray-clothed person upstairs in time with his right-eye superpower. When he raised his eyes to observe upstairs, it was already too late, as a wave of mana had swept down from above, hitting him.

This was bad, Shi Chun's face turned grim. He knew that once discovered by such an expert, it would be absolutely impossible to escape.

But as the saying goes, as long as there is a crack, he would never easily surrender in a dire situation.

He suddenly turned to look at the bystander who had just made him feel unworthy.

The scholar in a blue shirt holding a book was also hit by the wave of mana, lifted his gaze towards the upper floor, then dropped it back down, only to see the sneaky fellow twist in mid-air and instantly leap to him.

Shi Chun knelt down beside him with a thud, wearing a fawning smile, "What a good book, sir. You are undoubtedly a learned scholar. I felt a deep admiration at the first sight, what a pity we met so late..."

Though his mouth was all warm words, in reality, his eyes weren't on the book at all, probably not recognizing a single word, constantly darting elsewhere with his eyes.

The blue-shirted scholar saw this guy almost clinging to him and turned to stare at him, "A young student? How come you look older than I am? Do you know me?"

"..." Shi Chun blankly turned back, now recalling he had disguised with a beard. In panic, indeed some thoughtless words slipped out.

But there was no time for explanation. He hastily looked up, only to see a figure like a breeze assaulting their faces, instantly flashing in front of them, gazing down at them, with chilling blood-red eyes.

With one leg crossed, knee bent, and leaning by the bookshelf holding a book, the scholar in a blue shirt also looked up to stare at the person in front. Seeing the blood-red eyes, he faintly spoke, "Demon Eye."

Shi Chun tried his best to approach the blue-shirted scholar in a non-repulsive manner. He wasn't sure about anything else, but he knew this must be an expert. He wanted to act as though they were familiar for the Demon Path visitor to see.

When the first words out of the other's mouth mentioned "Demon Eye," he realized, indeed, this person was knowledgeable.

It also confirmed that the two weren't in cahoots, making him even keener to burrow into the man's embrace.

Like the red in his eyes, the gray-robed man's gazing glow quickly faded, seemingly not even seeing Shi Chun, staring steadfastly at the blue-shirted scholar, with apparent wonder and shock in his eyes, clearly not expecting to encounter him here.

The blue-shirted scholar figured something out and asked again, "You know me? An old acquaintance?"

The gray-clothed man's gaze finally landed on Shi Chun, who put on a playful look as soon as their eyes met.

"Don't know." The gray-clothed man replied, leaving the words behind, turned, and headed straight for a window with a swift stride.

Behind the counter in the hall, the red-clothed woman who was pretending to nap propped her head up with a cold smile at the corners of her mouth, seemingly idling with her finger drawing circles, suddenly planted it heavily on the ledger, thud!

The noisy chatter of disputes in the hall suddenly vanished, everyone seemingly immobilized by an immobilization charm.

The flowers and leaves swaying in the backyard instantly ceased their dance. Miss Dong Liangyi, who was working, was frozen mid-turn.

The hustle and bustle outside the courtyard on the streets, however, continued as if nothing had changed.

Behind the second-floor desk, upon hearing the sounds coming from the bookshelves, Dong Liangyu was about to rise for a look, but halted, bending down in a half-crouch, unable to move.

Leaning against the bookshelf, Shi Chun felt an immense force surging up from the floor, locking onto him alongside his physical form, faster than any immobilization charm, rendering him motionless in an instant, frightened greatly yet resisting was futile.

The gray-clothed man who had darted to the window, pushing it open with a palm, found it wouldn't open easily, alertly scanning around upon landing.

The blue-shirted scholar leisurely stood up beside the bookshelf, holding the scroll behind his back, "Since a Demon Path friend has come, letting you go so easily would be poor hospitality."

Seeing this, the gray-clothed man shot out his sleeve aggressively, trying to topple the bookshelf aside, yet though the wind rose, nothing moved, not a single page on the shelves stirred, startling him into an exclamation, "Drawing a prison on the ground!"

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