They left the quarry valley before dawn.
Instructor Han dismantled the temporary sealing array, leaving only a concealed marker beneath the stone. To outsiders, the basin would appear unchanged.
Senior Qiao set a steady pace toward the eastern forest.
No one spoke unnecessarily.
The terrain gradually shifted from exposed rock to dense woodland. The spiritual density here was uneven — not rich, but fluctuating in subtle waves.
Lin Xuan noticed it first.
Not with his senses.
With the fragment.
A faint pull.
Not forward.
Downward.
He slowed half a step.
Xu Liang noticed immediately.
"You feel deviation again."
It wasn't a question this time.
Lin Xuan did not deny it. "The underground flow is stronger here."
Instructor Han paused and pressed a palm against the soil. A thin ripple of qi spread outward in a controlled circle.
Moments later, several faint lines appeared in his perception.
"…There is residual alignment beneath us," Han muttered. "But it's incomplete."
Senior Qiao scanned the tree line. "Signs of disturbance?"
One of the inner disciples knelt near a patch of broken moss.
"Three days old. At least two individuals passed through. Light steps. No obvious qi discharge."
Xu Liang stepped closer, studying the pattern of compression.
"Disciplined movement," he said quietly. "Not wandering cultivators."
Hollow Vein.
No one said it.
They didn't need to.
They continued for another two hours before the forest thinned slightly around a shallow depression in the ground.
It looked ordinary.
But the air above it felt compressed.
Instructor Han activated a detection array.
This time, the result was clearer.
A circular pattern emerged beneath the surface — incomplete, fractured at several intersections.
At its center was an empty cavity.
Not a crater.
A clean removal.
Lin Xuan felt the shard within him react again.
Stronger than before.
Recognition.
He stepped closer to the edge of the depression but did not enter.
"This node was extracted," Xu Liang said calmly. "Not destroyed."
Instructor Han nodded. "Precision removal. The surrounding structure was preserved."
Senior Qiao's expression hardened slightly. "Meaning they understand the network."
Not amateurs.
Not scavengers.
Systematic operators.
Lin Xuan crouched and extended a thin strand of qi downward.
He did not push.
He listened.
There it was again.
A directional trace.
Faint.
Leading further east.
But this time—
There was something else.
A minor instability.
Like a misaligned joint in a larger mechanism.
Xu Liang suddenly turned his head sharply toward the north ridge.
"Movement."
Everyone froze.
No panic.
Just readiness.
A faint fluctuation of qi flickered between the trees.
Then disappeared.
Senior Qiao raised two fingers — silent formation.
They spread into a controlled defensive pattern.
No one pursued.
Thirty breaths passed.
Nothing returned.
Xu Liang's gaze remained fixed on the tree line. "Observation. Not engagement."
Lin Xuan agreed.
If the opposing side understood the network, they would not reveal themselves carelessly.
Which meant—
They were likely mapping the same directional trace.
Senior Qiao lowered his hand.
"We proceed," he said quietly. "But from now on, assume we are being tracked."
No dramatic tension.
No shouting.
Just adjustment of risk assessment.
As they moved again, Lin Xuan kept his breathing steady.
The shard no longer merely reacted.
It aligned more clearly with the underground path.
Whatever lay at the end of this trace—
It was not a random node.
It was something closer to a structural junction.
And if Hollow Vein had already removed one node intact—
Then this was no longer just investigation.
It was a race.