Qin Yuan watched all of this without much emotion.
The Qin Family had its hierarchy.
Its geniuses.
Its pride.
Its internal pressure.
None of that mattered to him right now.
He had not come here to greet anyone.
He had not come here to prove anything.
He had come for opportunity.
The question was how to get in.
The threshold itself was not a door.
It was a distortion in the air near the hollow’s center, where three broken formation pillars leaned toward one another like dead fingers. Black-green mist rolled in slow circles between them. Every few breaths, the space inside the mist flashed with a faint watery light.
Several groups had already sent scouts in.
None had returned quickly.
That made the crowd restless.
A Spirit Master from a registered exploration company cursed under his breath.
“How long does it take to confirm a path?”
An Arcane Master beside him adjusted her glasses and looked at a hovering mana-screen.
“Longer when the path is full of beasts.”
“Cute. Very helpful.”
“I try.”
Another expert stepped forward.
“We’ll send another scout team. Small group. Fast entry. Confirm terrain, beast density, and whether the first team is dead or delayed.”
A few people exchanged looks.
Nobody volunteered immediately.
Then a rough-looking Spirit Master with a scar across his mouth clicked his tongue.
“Fine. I’ll lead.”
He turned back and pointed at several people.
“You, you, and you. Also those two in the same uniforms. You’re small enough to run if things go bad.”
The two he pointed at wore identical gray-green scout uniforms with hoods and face coverings.
Their bodies were hidden under loose clothes.
Their auras were strange.
Qin Yuan’s eyes narrowed slightly.
To ordinary senses, they seemed like 8th layer Opening cultivators.
Not powerful enough to threaten Masters.
Strong enough to be useful scouts.
But Qin Yuan’s Spirit Sense had reached a level where the disguise felt imperfect.
Off.
Not wrong in an obvious way.
Not a bad concealment.
Actually, it was impressive.
They had nearly managed to perfectly mask their aura to make it seem far stronger than it really was.
But beneath that layer, Qin Yuan sensed something else.
6th layer Spirit Opening.
Probably both of them.
He could not clearly tell if they were men or women because of the coverings, but their body shapes, breath rhythm, and aura flow gave him faint impressions.
One sharp and restless.
One controlled and cautious.
The scar-mouthed Spirit Master looked at them.
“You two. Names?”
The restless one lifted a hand. “Uh, temporary scouts.”
The cautious one immediately elbowed him.
The Spirit Master stared.
“That was not a name.”
The cautious one spoke, voice slightly lowered and distorted by a small voice-changing talisman.
“Registered under East Ridge auxiliary scouting batch. We can move quietly and map formations.”
The Spirit Master narrowed his eyes.
“Useful?”
“Very,” she said.
The restless one added, “Extremely. Honestly, suspiciously useful.”
Another elbow hit his ribs.
He coughed.
Qin Yuan’s expression did not change.
But internally, he made a note.
Interesting.
The Spirit Master seemed too impatient to care.
“Fine. Stay close. If you die, die quietly. I hate loud scouts.”
The restless one muttered, “Great leadership style.”
The cautious one hissed, “Stop talking.”
Qin Yuan waited.
The scout group moved toward the threshold.
Master-level and Origin-level experts watched from a distance, but only casually.
They were not paying too much attention.
To them, this was merely another scouting group.
Useful if they returned.
Replaceable if they died.
Qin Yuan’s chance appeared.
As the group crossed the threshold, he moved.
Maximum stealth.
Maximum speed.
Windless Sky Veil Art wrapped around his body, mystifying his body with wind.
Silent Movement erased his steps.
Breath Control turned his breathing into nothing.
Wind Flow Perception found the exact shifting gap between bodies.
Flash Meridian Burst pushed his speed forward without explosive aura.
He flowed seamlessly between them.
Right under the eyes of Master-level and Origin-level experts.
For a terrifying instant, Qin Yuan felt an Origin-level gaze drift near him.
His body almost stopped.
Then the wind shifted.
He shifted with it.
The gaze passed over him.
Not locking.
Not catching.
Not noticing.
Qin Yuan slipped through the threshold.
On the other side, the world changed.
The air became colder.
Heavier.
Wet.
The scout group stumbled slightly as they entered.
The scar-mouthed Spirit Master turned his head sharply.
“Wait.”
His eyes swept the area.
“Did someone just—”
Qin Yuan was already gone.
A silent step.
Then another.
Then another.
He sped off in his own direction before the group leader could question anything.
The threshold interior was wider than it looked from outside.
Black-green mist covered the ground like diseased water vapor. Twisted trees grew from cracked stone, their roots wrapped around old formation lines. Somewhere beneath the earth, sealed water veins pulsed with an uneven rhythm.
Qin Yuan moved far ahead of the scouts.
Then stopped.
His Spirit Sense touched something massive.
He lowered his body behind a broken stone wall covered in moss.
Ahead of him was a large cave.
Its entrance yawned open at the base of a cliff, surrounded by black-green vines and old beast bones.
At the front of the cave lay monstrous bodies carrying the same pressure as Spirit Masters.
Beasts.
Not ordinary beasts.
One resembled a huge scaled ox with six curved horns, each horn covered in dark water patterns.
Another looked like a wolf, but its spine had bone plates rising like jagged armor, and mist leaked from its mouth with every breath.
A third beast was shaped like an ape, but its arms were too long, its fingers ended in stone claws, and one half of its face had been covered by black-green crystal.
Spirit Master-level pressure rolled from their bodies even while they rested.
There were also beasts with Arcane Master fluctuations.
Those were stranger.
A serpent coiled near a corpse, its scales marked with glowing runes that looked almost like natural spell circuits.
A bird with no feathers stood on a rock, its wings made of thin translucent membrane, mana gathering around it in quiet pulses.
Several beasts were eating corpses.
Some slept.
Some trailed around the cave mouth in slow, restless circles.
Qin Yuan’s gaze became colder.
The corpses were fresh.
The first scout groups?
Rogue cultivators?
Unlucky early arrivals?
Hard to say.
What mattered was the layout.
The beasts were guarding the cave.
Or being drawn to it.
Qin Yuan’s talents moved quietly in his mind.
Battlefield Observation.
Beast Handling.
Danger Perception.
Spirit Sense.
Wind Flow Perception.
Medicinal Structure Analysis.
Three-Path Medicinal Compatibility.
His eyes narrowed.
The air here carried more than beast scent.
There was medicinal power.
Bloodline fluctuation.
Old water vein energy.
And something else.
Something underground.
Calling.
Qin Yuan did not rush forward.
He was strong for his realm.
That did not mean he was suicidal.
Against ordinary Opening experts, he could kill.
Against these beasts?
A single mistake would turn him into another corpse at the cave entrance.
So he hid.
Skillfully.
Patiently.
He decided to wait for the scout group to arrive and see if some kind of opportunity appeared.
Qin Yuan stayed silent and focused, extending his Spirit Sense to its maximum range for any change in the environment.
The forest around the cave was not quiet.
It only pretended to be.
Leaves shook softly in the mountain wind. Thin mist flowed around the roots of ancient trees. Pale blue insects crawled across stone, their wings glowing whenever they touched the spiritual pressure leaking out from the cave.
But beneath all that, Qin Yuan could feel something wrong.
The air was too heavy.
Too tense.
It felt like a stretched thread, waiting for one careless touch before snapping.
His layered Spirit Sense spread outward like invisible silk. Ordinary Spirit Sense would only brush across trees, rocks, and the faint beast aura drifting from the cave. But Qin Yuan’s perception was far more detailed than that. Wind Flow Perception, Focused Perception, Spirit Sense, Danger Perception, and Calm Mind all worked together, separating meaningless movement from intentional movement.
Then he detected it.
Faint presences.
Several of them.
They were inching toward the front of the cave from a distance, moving slowly, carefully, and with enough discipline that they did not disturb the grass more than necessary.
Qin Yuan’s eyes remained calm.
There they are.
The scout group.
Their concealment was excellent.
If someone had only an ordinary Spirit Sense, these people would be impossible to detect. Their auras were folded so tightly that they blended into the surrounding spiritual mist. Even their footsteps barely caused vibration in the soil.
Qin Yuan doubted that even other Master-level experts could sense them from a far enough distance.
Someone in that group has a very good concealment item.
He shifted his Spirit Sense slightly, not touching them directly.
Touching too obviously might alert them.
He only observed the distortions around them.
The scout group stopped once they reached a distance where they could see the cave entrance.
There were twelve people in total.
One Spirit Master leader.
Several 9th layer Opening experts.
A few 8th layer Opening experts.
And two strange figures whose auras felt fake.
The Spirit Master leader stood at the front. He wore dark-gray combat robes reinforced with flexible alloy plates, the kind designed for wilderness scouting and sudden beast encounters. A flat, bronze talisman disc floated behind his left shoulder, releasing faint ripples that wrapped around the entire team.
So that’s the concealment item.
The leader narrowed his eyes as he observed the cave entrance.
The moment his gaze landed on the beasts gathered there, his expression sank.
“Damn it,” he cursed under his breath.
The others in the scout group clearly sensed the threat ahead. Even without directly facing the beasts, their bodies stiffened. Some swallowed. Some gripped weapons. One 8th layer expert’s breathing became unstable.
The Spirit Master leader stared for a few seconds longer, then slowly exhaled.
“Nope,” he muttered. “Absolutely not. We are not paid enough to walk into that.”
One 9th layer expert whispered, “Leader?”
“We’re turning back,” the Spirit Master leader said. “We report this as a Master-level disaster zone. Full squad required. Maybe two squads. Anyone who says we should investigate deeper can investigate with their own funeral money.”
A few people looked visibly relieved.
The Spirit Master leader lifted one hand, about to signal retreat.
Then he froze.
It happened so suddenly that Qin Yuan’s pupils slightly narrowed.
The leader’s body locked in place.
His face went pale white.
His eyes widened beyond belief.
An invisible deathly feeling crept over him like ice water pouring down his spine.
“MOVE!”
His roar tore through the forest.
No explanation.
No command structure.
Only raw instinct.
Spirit Qi gushed everywhere as the leader used a movement art, hurling himself to the right. His body blurred, leaving a cracked footprint in the ground.
The others confusedly shouted, but their instincts reacted a heartbeat later.
They all felt it.
Death.
“Move, move, move!”
“What the hell?!”
“Left! No, right—!”
People scrambled, flinging themselves across the ground.
The only ones who moved with true order were the two Qin Yuan had noticed earlier with the fake strange auras. They relied on each other perfectly. The young man grabbed the woman’s wrist while the woman’s compass flashed with a faint ring of light. They stepped at the same time, twisting sideways like they had practiced avoiding sudden attacks together hundreds of times.
Everything occurred in the span of four seconds.
And in the instant they all moved, a horrific claw smashed down.
BOOOOM!
The claw savagely slammed into the ground where the scout group had been standing.
Dirt exploded.
A shockwave erupted like a wild whirlwind, tearing outward in every direction. Cracks spread across the ground like black lightning. Grass was shredded to powder. Nearby trees bent, snapped, and flew backward as if struck by an invisible hammer.
The Spirit Master leader cursed as he raised his guard.
A technological advanced sword appeared in his hand with a metallic hiss. Its edge lit up with crimson formation lines, and flames burst out along the blade like compressed jets.
He crossed the burning sword in front of himself.
The shockwave smashed into him.
Bang!
His boots carved two deep trenches into the ground as he skidded meters back, the flames on his blade flickering violently.
The others were not as lucky.
Screams of terror erupted.
Some of the 9th layer Opening experts coughed blood as their bodies flew through the air, savagely struck by the shockwave. A woman crashed through a tree and landed with a broken arm. A saber-wielding man spun across the dirt, his chest armor cracked open.
The few 8th layer experts died before they hit the ground.
Their bodies were simply too weak.
Qin Yuan watched calmly from his hidden spot.
He had expected all of the Opening experts to die or at least become critically injured.
But to his slight surprise, the two experts with fake aura still managed to rely on each other.
The young man pulled out a spear covered in crackling lightning.
The young woman brought out a compass.
Lightning and formation light overlapped in front of them, barely forming a shield against the shockwave. They were still sent flying, but they did not become critically injured.
They rolled across the dirt, landed badly, then forced themselves upright with grim faces.