An Inescapable Haunting

"This is a magical artifact issued by the Blood God Palace to every assassin. It is called the Soul-Chasing Map. Its grade isn't high; it barely counts as a Spirit-grade artifact."

Artifact grades are divided into Mortal, Spirit, Law, True, Dao, Saint, and Emperor. Each grade is further divided into High, Mid, and Low tiers.

The Blood God Palace's Soul-Chasing Map is merely a Low-tier Spirit-grade artifact.

Yun Sangyi gently brushed her palm over the map, and the two glowing spots of spiritual energy on it disappeared.

She then took out a strand of black hair from her spatial ring and said to Mo Tianxiao, "This is your hair."

Yun Sangyi pinched off a piece of Mo Tianxiao's hair and placed it on the Soul-Chasing Map. Following an inexplicable fluctuation, Mo Tianxiao's hair vanished, and a glowing spot of spiritual energy immediately appeared on the map.

At the same time, Yun Sangyi plucked a strand of her own hair and placed it on the Soul-Chasing Map in the same way, thereby exposing her own location as well.

"The grade of the Soul-Chasing Map isn't high. This item is created by the Blood God Palace, and aside from their upper echelon, no one knows the method of its creation. As long as you possess the target's bodily tissues—such as hair, nails, skin, or flesh—it will display the target's location.

Of course, its effective range is limited to about one-fiftieth of the Eastern Domain. Beyond that range, it cannot detect the exact location."

Mo Tianxiao frowned deeply. Looking at this little gadget made him feel exceptionally uncomfortable. "This thing is truly disgusting."

One-fiftieth of the Eastern Domain was already an exaggeratedly large area.

"To think the Blood God Palace actually managed to get a hold of my hair without me noticing."

Mo Tianxiao didn't even realize when it had happened.

"The methods of the Blood God Palace are naturally not to be underestimated."

Yun Sangyi looked at Mo Tianxiao, her voice suddenly rising a few pitches.

"The last recorded location of the assassin who previously tried to kill you was in the Eastern Domain. I happened to be in the Eastern Domain as well, so I conveniently took up this mission. I had to search for a very long time before I finally locked onto your position."

"But as a result, you stayed completely motionless in the core area of the Immortal City for several years, leaving me with no opportunities to strike.

It wasn't until your location finally moved later on that I tracked you all the way here, eventually encountering you in Falling Cloud City."

"Calculating the time, almost ten years have passed since I received this mission. If I still fail to complete the mission within ten years, it will be considered a failure. At that time, the Blood God Palace will open up the mission permissions and raise the mission's difficulty grade.

When that happens, the assassins coming to kill you will be at least rank nine.

With two consecutive failures, the Blood God Palace might even directly raise your mission grade to rank ten."

As a rank eight assassin of the Blood God Palace, she was quite proficient in the assassination business.

Her standard method was to first gain the target's attention under the guise of a weak woman. Once the other party completely treated her as a friend—or as a vulnerable woman they could bully—she would bare her fangs and kill the target with lightning-fast, ruthless strikes.

Although this took a lot of time, her mission completion rate was extremely high. Since joining the Blood God Palace, she had accepted no fewer than twenty missions and still maintained a 100 percent completion rate.

But this time, her mission had obviously failed.

However, the thought that Mo Tianxiao would soon be targeted by even more formidable assassins brought her some joy.

That's what you get for bullying me. Let's see how you shake off the pursuit of those assassins then, unless you hide in the Hundred Thousand Mountains for the rest of your life.

Even then, Mo Tianxiao's assassination grade would continue to rise as time went on, until he was finally killed. If he kept hiding in places like the Hundred Thousand Mountains or the Demon Sect...

The assassins eventually sent to kill him might be at the Saint Realm, or even the Quasi-Emperor Realm.

After all, once the Blood God Palace accepted a mission, failure was absolutely not permitted.

"Sigh, my best friend, whenever I think about how you are going to die no matter what, my heart just aches."

The more Yun Sangyi thought about it, the happier she became. She couldn't help but reach out to stroke Mo Tianxiao's cheek, gazing at him affectionately as if she were genuinely saddened by her friend's impending doom. In reality, she was already laughing wickedly in her heart.

"Smack!"

Mo Tianxiao slapped away Yun Sangyi's slender hand, looking somewhat speechless.

"Is there any way to evade the tracking of the Soul-Chasing Map?" Mo Tianxiao asked.

If he could shake off the effects of the Soul-Chasing Map, his safety factor would increase significantly.

Otherwise, even if he hid in sparsely populated areas, he wouldn't have peace of mind. Who could guarantee there wasn't an assassin among the people around him?

He couldn't just run to a completely desolate place and stay there, right? That was unrealistic. Moreover, if he wanted to grow stronger, he had to go to populated areas, or even head toward powerful factions.

Otherwise, relying on solitary cultivation? He might cultivate until the day he died and still not necessarily break through to the Saint Realm.

Yun Sangyi pondered for a moment, then looked at him seriously. "Unfortunately, there isn't."

"The effect of this Soul-Chasing Map is very potent. Even though its grade is only at the Spirit tier, its efficacy far exceeds its rank. It can even track experts at the Saint Realm."

"As long as it has the target's bodily tissues, even if the target changes their appearance or conceals the aura of their divine soul, it can still lock onto them."

Looking at Mo Tianxiao's solemn expression, Yun Sangyi felt an urge to laugh.

"But you don't need to worry too much. From now on, you just need to ensure that your hair and other physical traces don't fall into the hands of the Blood God Palace. Then, hold out until they use up whatever bodily tissues of yours they have left. Maybe then you'll be safe."

"This is the solution your best friend thought up for you. You can try it with peace of mind."

Yun Sangyi's eyes curved into crescents. Seeing Mo Tianxiao remain silent, she felt even more elated inwardly.

"To tell you the truth, this Soul-Chasing Map tracks the divine soul. No matter how you conceal your aura, and regardless of whether your divine soul is weak or strong, as long as your divine soul hasn't been extinguished, it's impossible for you to escape its tracking."

"Your physical body and your divine soul are a match. Even if you discard this body and seize someone else's, the Blood God Palace can still use your original body to locate your divine soul."

As Yun Sangyi spoke, she gradually leaned closer to Mo Tianxiao until her face was less than a fist's width away from his. Her gaze remained fixed on his eyes, and her tone progressively became more playful.

"How is it? Are you scared? My good friend, you cannot escape..."

"Smack."

Mo Tianxiao suddenly reached out with both hands and ruthlessly squished Yun Sangyi's cheeks, mercilessly ravaging her oval face. "Are you telling me ghost stories? What do you mean I can't escape?"

"Rest assured, if I die, I will definitely turn into a vengeful ghost and come looking for you. I'll cling to you forever and torture you every single day."

"Do you think I'd be scared? When the time comes, I'll show some great mercy. For the sake of our friendship, I might consider letting you be my ghost servant. Doesn't that make you happy?"

Looking at the hint of a crazed smile on Yun Sangyi's face, Mo Tianxiao decisively let go.

"Go see a doctor when you have the chance. There is definitely something wrong with your mental state."

"Isn't that your fault?"

Yun Sangyi smiled cheerfully, not caring at all that she had become like this. It should be said that she was never a good, obedient girl to begin with; it was just that after being subjected to Mo Tianxiao's little disciplining, she had become a bit more unhinged.

Mo Tianxiao's expression returned to normal. After learning so much information about the Blood God Palace, he actually felt a bit more relaxed.

He looked at Yun Sangyi and said in a relaxed tone, "In other words, to break free from the effects of the Soul-Tracking Diagram, all one needs to do is alter their divine soul, right?"