"Everything is prepared. All that remains is the east wind."
After delivering the second half of the Poison Master's corpse to the Chu Yun gates, Xiao Lin didn't linger. He moved with the predatory grace of a high-level Dou Huang, heading straight for the heart of the conspiracy: the Black Rock Mountains.
This was the pivot point of his plan. To incite a "Tiger vs. Tiger" war without revealing his identity, he had to eliminate the witnesses first.
The Chu Yun commander was a Five-Star Dou Wang and a high-level Poison Master. In this world, a Poison Master who wasn't countered by Fire or Lightning could easily fight two stars above their level. Meanwhile, the traitor Moyai had recently reached Seven-Star Dou Wang thanks to a "down payment" from Chu Yun—a Grade 5 Dou Ling Pill.
If these two clashed, it would be a contest of raw power versus lethal tenacity. Xiao Lin's goal was simple: ensure they both bled until there was nothing left.
Xiao Lin reached the mountains long before Mu Chen and the slow-moving reinforcements. This was the beauty of his "split-up" strategy; he could operate with zero witnesses.
"The Black Rock Mountains... truly a perfect place for murder, plunder, and framing," Xiao Lin whispered as he surveyed the landscape.
The terrain lived up to its name. Jagged obsidian rocks glittered with a sickly, oily light under the moon. Gnarled, leafless trees clung to the cliffs like skeletal fingers, while venomous insects and serpents slithered through the cracks. The air was heavy with the stench of decay, punctuated by the shadows of vultures circling overhead. It was an unlucky place, a graveyard waiting for fresh tenants.
Using his Heavenly State Soul, Xiao Lin scanned the mountain. Within seconds, he picked up the ripples of life. Deep in the heart of the range, Nalan Jie's squad was pinned down, and surrounding them was the Chu Yun elite ambush team.
Xiao Lin didn't bother with stealth. He donned a set of black night-traveler robes, masked his face, and drew a simple longsword. He looked like the classic "mysterious antagonist"—a role he intended to play to perfection.
The Ambushers Ambushed
As Xiao Lin strolled into the Chu Yun perimeter, he was spotted immediately.
"Is that one of ours?" a Chu Yun soldier whispered, gripping his spear.
"Idiot, does he look like a Poison Master to you?" his companion hissed back. "He's an interloper. Signal the Leader!"
Within moments, the Chu Yun elite squad—hundreds of Da Dou Shis and nearly ten Dou Lings—converged on the path. At their head was an Eight-Star Dou Ling, a man whose aura was thick with the scent of swamp rot. This was a force capable of repelling a low-level Dou Wang.
The leader stared at the masked Xiao Lin, who was walking toward them with hands behind his back as if taking a stroll in a royal garden.
"I don't care who you are," the Eight-Star Dou Ling growled, waving his hand. "The moment you stepped into these mountains, you became a corpse. Surround him! Leave no witnesses!"
Xiao Lin chuckled, a dry, melodic sound that echoed off the black rocks. "And here I thought you'd stay hidden like rats. It's much easier this way."
The Star's Radiance
The Chu Yun elites didn't hesitate. They were seasoned killers who knew that in war, talk was cheap.
"Lotus of Toxic Bloom!" "Ten Thousand Poison Palm!" "Water Cloud Rupture!"
A barrage of elemental Dou Qi—mostly toxic and corrosive—erupted from the crowd. Hundreds of attacks converged on Xiao Lin's position, resulting in a deafening explosion that shook the mountain peaks. Rubble flew, and a massive cloud of dust and acrid smoke swallowed the path.
The Chu Yun soldiers began to lower their weapons, expecting to find a pile of melted meat. But as the smoke cleared, their triumphant grins froze.
Xiao Lin stood exactly where he had been. His black robes were pristine, not a single thread out of place. A faint, pulsing blue starlight shrouded his body, acting as an impenetrable celestial barrier.
The "Dust Cloud, No Damage" trope was in full effect.
The Eight-Star Dou Ling's pupils shrank to the size of needle points. To tank a concentrated barrage from ten Dou Lings and a hundred Da Dou Shis without moving an inch... this wasn't the strength of a Dou Ling.
"This... this is at least a High-Level Dou Wang... maybe even a..." The word Dou Huang died in his throat. It was too absurd to believe.
"Are you finished?" Xiao Lin's voice was light, but the killing intent behind it made the temperature drop twenty degrees. "My turn."
Xiao Lin raised his right hand. This time, he didn't hold back. He tapped into his true Dou Huang foundations.
"Great Stellar Seal!"
The sky above the Black Rock Mountains suddenly turned a deep, cosmic blue. A translucent palm, spanning over a hundred meters and glowing with the fury of a supernova, materialized in the clouds.
With a downward shove of Xiao Lin's hand, the celestial palm crashed into the earth.
BOOM!
The shockwave was cataclysmic. Everything within a hundred-meter radius—the rocks, the trees, and every single Chu Yun soldier except for the leader—was obliterated. The ground sank by over a meter, creating a perfect, glowing crater of star-scorched earth.
One strike. An entire elite regiment, erased.
Xiao Lin looked at the lone, shivering Eight-Star Dou Ling he had intentionally spared. The "Empowered Ancestor" had arrived, and he needed a messenger to carry his nightmare back to the world.
With a single, indifferent strike from Xiao Lin, the earth shook and the mountains groaned. Ten Dou Lings and a hundred Da Dou Shis—a force capable of pinning down even a veteran Dou Wang—perished as if they were nothing more than ants under a descending boot.
In the Northwest Continent, the power dynamics were clear: if a Dou Wang was a high-level powerhouse, a Dou Huang was a true sovereign of the skies, a being capable of deciding the fate of empires. Above them, the Dou Zong were mythical figures, rare as phoenix feathers and usually far removed from mundane wars. Thus, on this battlefield, Xiao Lin's Dou Huang strength was an absolute, crushing authority.
And the terrifying part? This wasn't even his full power. It was merely the casual flick of a sleeve from a sovereign of the stars.
The Desperation of a Poison Master
"How... how can this be?"
The lone survivor, the Eight-Star Dou Ling from the Chu Yun Empire, stood frozen amidst the red mist of his vaporized comrades. One strike. In a single heartbeat, his entire elite regiment had been deleted.
He knew then that his life was no longer his own. Looking at the masked figure standing amidst the starlight, he realized the gap wasn't a mountain—it was a galaxy. This mysterious interloper was at least a peak Dou Wang, more likely a Dou Huang.
But a Poison Master of the Chu Yun Empire never dies quietly.
If he couldn't survive, he would ensure his killer never knew peace. He reached into his robes with a trembling hand and pulled out a specially crafted, obsidian-colored pill, swallowing it without a second's hesitation.
This wasn't a power-up pill, nor was it a quick-acting suicide poison. He wasn't interested in a "heroic" death. This was a Stigma Pill. Its sole purpose was to saturate the user's blood and soul with a unique, indelible scent. To a normal person, it was odorless. But to a high-level Poison Master or a trained tracking beast, the killer would glow like a beacon in the dark.
This was why Chu Yun Poison Masters were feared across the continent. To kill one was to invite a swarm of vengeful vipers to your door. The "Stigma" would follow the killer to the ends of the earth.
He glared at Xiao Lin, his eyes bloodshot and filled with a frantic, dying malice. Even if I die, you will be hunted by every master of the Wan Xie Men!
The Trapped Stigma
What the Poison Master didn't know was that every twitch of his finger was being analyzed by Xiao Lin's Heavenly State Soul.
Xiao Lin wasn't just watching; he was encouraging it. Having lived twenty years in this world and fought countless skirmishes, he was intimately familiar with the "Mark of the Poison Master." In fact, it was the cornerstone of his plan.
Under his black mask, Xiao Lin's lips curved into a sharp, predatory grin. Go on. Don't disappoint me.
"Friend," the Eight-Star Dou Ling wheezed, his voice cracking with a mix of terror and feigned bravado. "I don't know who you are or what Jia Ma paid you, but I suggest you walk away. Even a Dou Huang cannot withstand the collective fury of the Chu Yun Empire!"
Xiao Lin tilted his head, his voice dripping with mockery. "And you think there is still room for negotiation? I just erased a hundred of your men. Do you truly believe your Empire would just wave me goodbye with a smile? Do you believe that, 'friend'?"
The Poison Master fell silent. He knew there was no path to peace. Whether he lived or died, this man was now a mortal enemy of Chu Yun.
"Nothing more to say?" Xiao Lin's tone turned frigid. "Then you may proceed to your grave."
"Curse you!" the spy screamed, his body beginning to bloat unnaturally. "Even a Dou Huang cannot dominate my fate! My brothers will feast on your marrow! Take my final curse to the underworld!"
The Celestial Capture
"Self-detonation?" Xiao Lin murmured, his expression as calm as a frozen lake.
A Dou Ling's self-detonation might give a Dou Wang a headache, but to a Dou Huang with a Heavenly State Soul, it was little more than a firecracker.
BOOM!
The Poison Master's body erupted in a violent explosion of jagged bone and toxic energy. A dense, violet mist saturated with the metallic scent of blood expanded rapidly, seeking to coat Xiao Lin and mark him forever.
As the purple fog reached out, a shimmering, azure starlight manifested around Xiao Lin's body. The Star Dou Qi acted like a celestial filter; the moment the "Stigma" mist touched the starlight, it was rebuffed, unable to find a single pore to enter.
Then, Xiao Lin reached out his hand.
A translucent, glowing palm materialized in the air, but it didn't strike. Instead, it cupped the air. With a clench of Xiao Lin's fingers, the hundred-meter palm began to compress. It acted like a high-pressure vacuum, sucking all the violet "Stigma" mist and the lingering essence of the Poison Master into its center.
Squeeeak—
The mist was compressed further and further until it solidified into a pulsating, purple orb the size of a fist, encased in a thin, crackling shell of blue starlight.
Xiao Lin caught the orb as it floated back to him, spinning it between his fingers like a toy.
"Halfway there," Xiao Lin whispered, his eyes flashing with a cold, brilliant light. "The bait is ready. Now, I just need the 'Great Marshal' and the 'Chu Yun General' to arrive for the final act."