"Which direction?" Liu Feihu became extremely alert.

"In..." Zhang Xiu stared at the compass, his brows gradually furrowing.

The palm-sized compass was a special military item created by the Great Qian Empire, used for tracking, guiding directions, locating water sources, and finding areas with concentrated spiritual energy, among other purposes. Tracking, in particular, required the aid of a sensing secret technique to reach its optimal effect, a technique that the Black Armored Guards had all cultivated.

To make the tracking even more effective, a "tracking target" was needed.

The hair, blood, or personal belongings of the tracked person could all be used as the "tracking target."

The compass needle continued to spin, its vibrations intermittent, unstable. It showed no signs of stopping, indicating that the Ge brothers were indeed nearby, but due to some unknown reason, the compass couldn’t pinpoint their exact location.

"They may be carrying something that disrupts the sensory field. The readings are very unstable," Zhang Xiu said, looking up and exchanging a glance with Liu Feihu, both of them hesitating.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Xuan asked, noticing their dilemma.

"According to the Black Armored Guards' usual pursuit rules," Zhang Xiu explained to Jiang Xuan, "During a search, if we detect fugitives of the Ge brothers' level using the compass, we cannot approach directly. Once their position is confirmed, we must immediately inform others."

Jiang Xuan understood.

The problem now was that they knew the Ge brothers were nearby but couldn’t determine their exact location. Attempting to search within a few miles with just the three of them would be extremely dangerous.

But if they didn’t do anything and simply notified the others, it would take several hours for reinforcements to arrive. If the Ge brothers decided to leave during this time and their exact location wasn’t confirmed, they’d lose the trail entirely, and tracking them would be impossible.

"In the past six months, four teams of ours have encountered the Ge brothers. Two teams lost them because they didn’t have time to notify others, and two others got too close and were killed by the Ge brothers after being detected," Liu Feihu said, his face showing anger.

He and Zhang Xiu had been in the military for over ten years and were very close to the other Black Armored Guards.

"I’ll try!"

Jiang Xuan said without hesitation. He immediately sat down cross-legged and entered a state of deep concentration.

Thousand Threads Secret Art fully activated!

If there were any gods or demons present at that moment, they would sense Jiang Xuan's consciousness spreading like threads, expanding rapidly around him. The Thousand Threads Secret Art wasn’t suitable for sensing small objects, but as long as the target wasn’t too small, even from a great distance, it could be detected.

Liu Feihu and Zhang Xiu were stunned.

Though both of them knew Jiang Xuan possessed powerful sensing techniques, the military compass was incredibly powerful as well. Even if the target carried something that disrupted the sensory field, the compass could still sense it, though it would be unstable.

Without the aid of such sensory tools, relying only on the secret technique to search would be difficult to achieve better results than the military compass.

"I found them! Southwest, about four and a half miles away!" Jiang Xuan suddenly opened his eyes and said.

Both men’s faces showed shock.

Now wasn’t the time for discussion.

"I’ll contact them. You two stay here, keep an eye on them. Little Brother Jiang, make sure to monitor them closely. As soon as they start moving... Old Zhang, don’t forget to leave a mark," Zhang Xiu said.

"Don’t worry, Brother Zhang."

"Go quickly."

The target direction was to the southwest, so Zhang Xiu headed northeast, his body turning into an afterimage as he sprinted for at least five or six miles before stopping.

"We’re about ten miles away from the Ge brothers. We won’t disturb them."

Zhang Xiu reached a more open area in the forest, sat cross-legged, and formed hand seals. Then he placed the palm-sized compass into his palm, gently twisting it and fully channeling his innate energy into it.

Boom—

A unique aura shot from the compass through Zhang Xiu’s hands, soaring into the sky as if it was about to pierce through the heavens!

This aura would have been sensed by any other innate practitioners within several miles.

The release of the aura was passive; the Black Armored Guards didn’t want their communications to be detected by outsiders, but since their cultivation wasn’t high enough, long-distance communication had to be done this way.

480 miles to the east of Zhang Xiu’s location, in a valley within Black Mountain.

In a temporary camp of over a hundred people, there were more than twenty Black Armored Guards and around ninety tribesmen from the Jiang Clan, with several fire pits on the ground, large pots boiling with bone soup, the aroma filling the valley. Lunchtime was approaching.

In front of a large stone with an animal skin map laid out, several people were gathered.

"Lord, we’ve searched this entire area, but Old Cliff Mountain doesn’t seem suitable for hiding anyone. If you ask me, we should move deeper. The Three-Gap Valley is the domain of the Tier 6 Wind-Tracking Leopard, and we can’t go there…" The leader of the Black Moon Tribe, "Meng Da," pointed at the map.

"Mm..." One of the vice-leaders of the Black Armored Guards, "Wu Zhiye," nodded repeatedly.

There were five such camps throughout Black Mountain, and each camp was no more than a thousand miles apart. This allowed them to ensure that if any group discovered a fugitive, they could receive reinforcements within a day.

"I think the next step we should take is..." Meng Da said cautiously, frequently glancing at Wu Zhiye’s face.

He knew that Wu Zhiye was no ordinary Black Armored Guard. He was one of the strongest in their ranks, said to be on the same level as the long-missing Jiang Hanfeng, having comprehended the Heaven and Man Force.

Boom—

Suddenly, the compass hanging from Wu Zhiye’s waist shook, emitting a strong aura and bright light.

He quickly picked up the compass and saw that the outermost ring had rotated, with the needle pointing to the number "two," and further inside, it pointed to "seventeen," with more rings indicating other directions and distances.

Wu Zhiye was overjoyed.

"Gather! Quickly! Drop everything! Danger level two—The Ge brothers! The seventeenth group found them! It’s Zhang Xiu and the others… Jiang Xuan is with them!" Wu Zhiye shouted to everyone around, suddenly realizing it was Jiang Xuan’s team.

"Hahaha! The Jiang Clan is good! They really found them!" Wu Zhiye laughed as he slapped Meng Da on the shoulder.

Meng Da, in his fifties, quickly waved his hands, looking nervous, "We dare not claim credit, we... we are just a tribe, servants, Jiang Xuan is the tribe leader, he is our great leader, it’s different..."

Meng Da felt that the people from the city had some prejudice, considering the tribe and the clan to be the same thing. It was a habit of speaking that way, but it was different. A tribesman calling themselves a member of the clan would be beheaded.

Wu Zhiye quickly gathered the twenty-four Black Armored Guards.

Every single one of them, without exception, was dispatched toward Zhang Xiu!

The terrain of Black Mountain was extremely complex, with high mountains and dense forests. The five hundred miles distance would be crossed by Zhang Xiu, who sent directional updates to Wu Zhiye every now and then to avoid the Black Armored Guard team going off-course.

"They should be roasting meat... eating lunch." Jiang Xuan opened his eyes again after sitting cross-legged and said.

"Over an hour now," Liu Feihu chewed on the tough jerky and said while eating, "The nearest camp should have set out a while ago. It's hard to say how far, but even if it’s seven or eight hundred miles, they’ll be here in a few hours."

"Those Ge brothers..." Jiang Xuan also bit into his jerky, about to say something but then stopped.

"What? Little Brother Jiang, you can say it," Liu Feihu urged.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about their strength." Jiang Xuan paused and said, "Three experts with Heaven and Man Force and perfect coordination... they’re that strong..."

"Yes, that strong... that’s why we’re being so cautious!" Liu Feihu sighed.

He didn’t know that Jiang Xuan hadn’t finished his sentence.

Jiang Xuan wasn’t sure whether he could defeat the Ge brothers. In the past six months, his rapid growth had never faced a truly powerful opponent, and he hadn’t felt much of a crisis. Especially after breaking through to the late-innate stage, he found it hard to gauge how strong he really was!

This was something that had never happened in the Jiang Clan’s history, so he had no one to compare himself to for reference.

But Jiang Xuan didn’t want to say anything about it. He wasn’t even sure himself.

If he said something now, people might either laugh at him or think he was too arrogant. It was better to stay quiet and wait for the Black Armored Guards to arrive. He felt that once it was safe enough, he could test himself.

In a small clearing next to a stream on a slope in the mountain valley, a place not too big, shielded from the wind, looked like a perfect spot for a picnic.

The third Ge brother, wearing animal pelts like a wild man, was eating roasted fish.

"Damn it, what is this? We killed the Chen family genius thinking the master would back us up, but the master went crazy. How long are we going to hide in these mountains?" The third Ge brother threw the roasted fish aside, cursing, then picked it up again.

"If it wasn’t for you getting slashed and leaving blood at the scene, would we have to hide in Black Mountain? Don’t complain," the second Ge brother, who looked even stronger, said.

"That Lei Hong is crazy! Why is he looking for us? Their people are everywhere in the mountain. How long has it been?" The third Ge brother was fuming.

"Lei Hong isn’t looking for us, he’s looking for our master. We’re just caught in the middle. Damn it... the master’s gone mad and doesn’t even recognize us anymore, even wants to kill us. We’re not just running from the government; we have to run from our own people too. What is this mess?" The second Ge brother said, his anger rising.

"Enough, enough, you two don’t talk anymore!"

The eldest Ge brother, Ge Wuyi, glared at them. "Does talking about this solve anything? If you’re so frustrated, go find a few Black Armored Guards to kill, stop whining in front of me."

"Will killing them make you feel better? If I see them, I’ll dismember them!"

"Skin them and stuff them with straw for real satisfaction!"

The two continued mumbling, but then stopped, afraid of their older brother.

"You two... don’t rush. We’re in Black Mountain. They think we’re just hiding from the pursuit, but in fact, we’re here for this!" Ge Wuyi said, patting a black beast skin in his hand. "Once we find the Black Mountain Palace, who’s going to stop us?"

The second and third Ge brothers exchanged glances but didn’t respond.

When they first killed the Chen family genius for this piece of beast skin... It had been six months since they came to Black Mountain, and there were still no clues. They even began to doubt if it was truly connected to the Black Mountain Palace.

If it were, the Chen family should know about it, but they just treated it as an ancient artifact for study.

Ge Wuyi tucked the black beast skin into his clothes, took a couple of bites from the roasted fish, and suddenly seemed to remember something, "Old Third, did you release the Mist Snakes?"

"Just released, just released..." The third Ge brother jumped up, hurriedly opening a cage beside him, and saw four small snakes slither out, disappearing with a "swish."

The Mist Snakes, a type of poisonous creature, could also be used for early warning.

"You think you can do anything?" Ge Wuyi glared at him, "If the Black Armored Guards show up, we won’t even know how we die!"

The third Ge brother didn’t dare to argue and remained silent.

"Useless thing," Ge Wuyi muttered angrily.

"Alright, big brother, Old Third knows his mistake." The second Ge brother spoke up.

A cup of tea later.

Whoosh!

"Ssssss~~" A Mist Snake rushed back, coiling around the third Ge brother’s arm, flicking its tongue and shaking its head.

"There’s someone nearby!" The third Ge brother jumped to his feet.

"Ssssss~~"

"Two of them!"

"Ssssss~~"

"Black Armored Guards! Damn! The Black Armored Guards are nearby!" The third Ge brother, Ge Wuqi, who had been itching for a fight, shouted, "Just two of them? I’m going to kill them right now!"

"Wait!" Ge Wuyi stood up, "If we’re going, let’s all go together! Don’t split up!"

Under the shade of the towering trees.

To avoid detection, Jiang Xuan and Liu Feihu could only eat the tough jerky, which wasn’t bad since it had been roasted early in the morning.

After they finished eating.

"I’ll take another look," Jiang Xuan said, sitting down cross-legged to enter his sensing state again.

Just as he closed his eyes, he suddenly opened them wide and jumped up.

"Brother Liu, they’re coming towards us!" Jiang Xuan said.

"Huh?" Liu Feihu, who was chewing on his jerky, looked shocked. He quickly jumped up, spat out the jerky, and asked, "How far?"

"They’re already within three miles, coming straight at us. They must have discovered us." Jiang Xuan said.

"It’s over!" Liu Feihu immediately understood. There was no way to escape now.

The Ge brothers were professional assassins, and when it came to tracking, the Black Armored Guards might not even be better than them. Plus, they were at a higher cultivation level, faster, and there was no chance of outrunning them.

"We can’t let them find Old Zhang!" Liu Feihu gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with resolve. "Little Brother Jiang, you go first, I’ll lead them in another direction." He took a few steps but then seemed to remember something and pulled a pendant from his neck. "Little Brother Jiang, have someone give this to my wife."

The Black Armored Guards had a high death rate, and Liu Feihu had clearly prepared himself.

"Take it to her yourself. We’ll split up!" Jiang Xuan didn’t take the pendant, turning to dart into the forest, disappearing like an afterimage.

Boom!!!

A terrifying aura erupted from Jiang Xuan’s body, vast and heavy!

It was like a beacon, attracting any demon beasts and people within several miles.