Chapter 37: Shadows in Motion
The first light of dawn had not yet reached the Misty Shadow Mountains.
Han Feng remained beneath the ancient tree where he had stopped after escaping the Black Moon Sect.
He did not move.
He simply listened.
The forest was quiet.
No footsteps.
No spiritual fluctuations.
No pursuing cultivator.
Only the distant sound of wind moving through the trees.
After several minutes, Han Feng finally relaxed his guard.
He lowered his eyes toward his spatial ring.
The Celestial Fragment had returned to silence.
The Resonance Marker was still faintly warm.
And inside his consciousness, the effects of Dark Chaos Refinement remained.
Han Feng carefully circulated his Qi.
The energy in his meridians felt denser than before.
His foundation had indeed strengthened.
But there was a problem.
The technique was incomplete.
More importantly, the small experiment he had conducted beneath the Black Moon Sect had proven something dangerous.
Dark Chaos Refinement could draw upon the unstable energy beneath the mountains, but without a proper stabilizing medium, that energy would eventually place too much pressure on his meridians.
He could not continue cultivating it recklessly.
I need a catalyst.
Han Feng remembered the ancient records he had once read.
There was a material capable of balancing chaotic spiritual energy.
Dark Moonstone.
It was not a common cultivation resource.
According to the records, Dark Moonstone could absorb unstable spiritual energy and release it gradually, preventing violent fluctuations inside the cultivator's meridians.
It was precisely what Dark Chaos Refinement needed.
But there was a problem.
Dark Moonstone was extremely rare.
The records mentioned only one region where it had been found with any consistency.
The Ruins of Eternal Night.
Han Feng frowned.
The ruins were far from the Misty Shadow Mountains.
Even traveling without interruption would require more than ten days.
And the road passed through territories occupied by spirit beasts, wandering cultivators, and factions searching for ancient treasures.
Normally, Han Feng would have avoided such a dangerous journey.
But remaining near the Black Moon Sect was even more dangerous.
The elders had already discovered that someone had entered the ancient underground passages.
Even if they had not identified him yet, staying nearby would eventually expose him.
Han Feng made his decision.
He would leave the Misty Shadow Mountains.
But before departing, he needed to erase his trail.
Leaving the Mountains
Han Feng spent the next several hours moving through the forest.
He deliberately avoided the route he had taken while escaping the Black Moon Sect.
He crossed a shallow stream.
Walked across exposed rocks.
Passed through an area filled with the scent of several spirit beasts.
Then he changed direction again.
He occasionally released tiny traces of ordinary Qi, allowing them to linger briefly before dissipating.
They were not false identities.
They were simply meaningless traces.
If someone attempted to follow him using ordinary tracking techniques, they would find nothing useful.
By noon, Han Feng had left the deepest region of the Misty Shadow Mountains.
Only then did he change his appearance.
His clothing became that of an ordinary wandering cultivator.
His aura was suppressed to the level of a low-stage cultivator.
The Celestial Veil concealed the fluctuations that might reveal his true foundation.
Han Feng looked at his reflection in a stream.
He appeared completely ordinary.
That was exactly what he wanted.
He continued south.
For the next several days, nothing happened.
He avoided large settlements whenever possible and slept in abandoned caves or beneath trees.
Every night, he cultivated only briefly.
Dark Chaos Refinement was too unstable to use for long periods.
Instead, he focused on stabilizing his foundation.
His progress toward Rank 3 had slowed.
But he did not mind.
A weak foundation hidden behind a higher cultivation level was worthless.
He would rather advance slowly than damage his future.
On the fourth night, however, something changed.
Han Feng was resting inside a shallow cave when his eyes suddenly opened.
The Resonance Marker inside his spatial ring had become warm.
Not hot.
Warm.
As if reacting to something nearby.
Han Feng immediately became alert.
He extinguished the small flame beside him.
The cave fell into darkness.
He remained motionless.
Several breaths passed.
Then he sensed it.
A faint spiritual fluctuation.
Far outside the cave.
Someone was there.
Han Feng did not immediately assume they were enemies.
He waited.
The fluctuation moved.
Then stopped.
A second presence appeared.
Then a third.
Three people.
They were positioned carefully around the cave.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
They aren't ordinary travelers.
Their auras were suppressed.
Their positions were too deliberate.
They were surrounding the cave without approaching.
Han Feng quietly took out the Resonance Marker.
The black jade was slightly warmer than before.
His expression changed.
They're not tracking me directly.
They were tracking the marker.
Someone had discovered that the Resonance Marker was no longer inside the Misty Shadow Mountains.
And they were following its residual resonance.
Han Feng immediately understood.
The Black Moon Sect had not identified him.
But they knew someone had taken the marker.
And now they were trying to find whoever carried it.
That was far more troublesome.
Han Feng slowly returned the marker to his spatial ring.
He looked toward the cave entrance.
Three enemies.
Possibly more nearby.
He could not allow them to learn what he was carrying.
Han Feng quietly activated the Celestial Veil.
Then he released a faint thread of Qi toward the rear of the cave.
The spiritual fluctuation moved through a narrow crack in the rocks.
It was weak.
But enough to resemble the aura of someone attempting to escape.
The reaction outside was immediate.
One of the three cultivators moved.
Then another.
Han Feng waited.
The moment the eastern side became empty, he moved in the opposite direction.
He slipped through a narrow gap beneath the cave wall and emerged behind a cluster of rocks.
No one noticed.
He continued into the forest.
But he did not flee blindly.
Instead, he watched.
Three shadows entered the cave.
A low voice sounded.
"He's gone."
Another replied.
"The marker's resonance is still nearby."
Han Feng's expression became cold.
So they really were following the Resonance Marker.
A third voice spoke.
"Don't kill the bearer unless necessary."
Han Feng stopped.
Unless necessary?
That sentence confirmed something.
They wanted the marker.
But they might also want information about whoever carried it.
Han Feng decided not to give them either.
The Ambush
Han Feng moved through the forest for several minutes before deliberately slowing down.
He wanted them to follow.
Not because he wanted a fight.
Because he wanted to learn who had sent them.
Three spiritual fluctuations gradually approached.
Han Feng climbed onto a thick tree branch and concealed his aura.
Below him, the three cultivators entered the clearing.
The leader was a tall man with a scar running from his left cheek to his jaw.
The other two were younger.
All three wore dark clothing.
But none carried the insignia of the Black Moon Sect.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
So they're not official sect disciples.
The scarred man looked around.
"The resonance stopped here."
One of the younger men frowned.
"Could he have noticed us?"
"Possibly."
The leader's hand moved toward his weapon.
"Then force him out."
Han Feng understood.
They had no intention of waiting.
He moved first.
A faint palm shadow appeared beneath the trees.
Spectral Void Palm.
The attack struck the ground between the three cultivators rather than their bodies.
The earth cracked.
Dust and fragments of stone exploded upward.
The three men immediately separated.
Han Feng appeared behind the youngest.
His palm struck the man's shoulder.
The force sent him crashing into a tree.
The man coughed blood but remained conscious.
Han Feng did not pursue him.
Instead, he turned toward the scarred leader.
A black blade flashed through the darkness.
Han Feng tilted his body.
The blade passed within inches of his chest.
Fast.
The scarred man did not attack again immediately.
He stared at Han Feng.
"You are not an ordinary wandering cultivator."
Han Feng remained silent.
The man's eyes moved toward Han Feng's spatial ring.
"The marker is with you."
So they knew.
Han Feng's expression became colder.
The leader suddenly threw something onto the ground.
A black thread spread across the clearing.
A tracking formation.
Han Feng recognized it immediately.
It was similar to the technique used by the enemy who had pursued him earlier in the mountains.
Someone is connecting these people to the same network.
Han Feng stepped backward.
The black thread moved toward him.
He released a tiny amount of Dual Chaos Larva energy.
Not enough to reveal his true cultivation.
Just enough to disrupt the formation's circulation.
The black thread flickered.
The leader's expression changed.
"What did you do?"
Han Feng did not answer.
He used Ghostly Shift.
His figure blurred.
The three cultivators lost sight of him.
A moment later, Han Feng appeared at the edge of the clearing.
He did not attack again.
Instead, he threw a small stone into the opposite direction.
The stone struck a tree.
The three cultivators instinctively turned toward the sound.
Han Feng disappeared into the forest.
By the time they realized the deception, he was already several hundred meters away.
The scarred man clenched his teeth.
"Don't chase."
One of the younger cultivators looked confused.
"Why?"
The leader stared at the broken tracking formation.
"Because whoever we're dealing with understands how we're tracking him."
He looked toward the darkness.
"And that means the person carrying the marker is not someone we can catch easily."
Far away, Han Feng heard none of this.
But he had already reached the same conclusion.
These people were not ordinary assassins.
They had been given information about the Resonance Marker.
That meant someone else knew about it.
Perhaps the Black Moon Sect.
Perhaps another faction.
Perhaps the same force that had been searching for the Celestial Pattern.
Han Feng did not know.
And he intended to keep it that way.
The Road to Eternal Night
The journey continued.
Days became weeks.
Han Feng avoided major roads and rarely stayed in the same place twice.
He crossed several small towns without entering their central districts.
He traveled through forests where spirit beasts hunted at night.
He crossed abandoned mountain passes and slept beneath rocky overhangs.
During the journey, he occasionally practiced the incomplete Dark Chaos Refinement.
Never for long.
Never enough to force an advancement.
But each attempt taught him more.
The chaotic energy could be refined.
His Dual Chaos Larva Gu could help separate the conflicting forces.
His Celestial Transmutation Gu could convert part of the unstable energy into usable Qi.
But neither could completely replace the missing stabilizing component.
He needed the Dark Moonstone.
Without it, attempting to break through to Rank 3 would be too dangerous.
By the twelfth day, the landscape began to change.
The forests became thinner.
The mountains became darker.
Even the spiritual energy in the air felt different.
Han Feng stopped on a ridge.
Far beyond him, a vast black mist covered the horizon.
The Ruins of Eternal Night.
He could finally see them.
The region looked nothing like an ordinary ruin.
Black mist rolled across the broken land.
Ancient stone structures rose from the ground like the bones of a dead civilization.
Cracks stretched across the earth.
No birds flew above it.
No insects could be heard.
Even the wind seemed reluctant to enter.
Han Feng stared at the ruins.
According to the records, Dark Moonstone could sometimes be found near the deeper sections of the ruins.
But those records also contained a warning.
Do not enter Eternal Night after sunset.
Han Feng looked toward the sky.
The sun was already beginning to descend.
He considered waiting until morning.
Then he noticed something.
A faint golden shimmer came from his spatial ring.
The Celestial Fragment.
Han Feng's expression changed.
The fragment had reacted to the ruins.
Not strongly.
But enough to notice.
The Resonance Marker remained warm as well.
Two ancient objects were responding to the same region.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
Perhaps his journey had brought him here for more than Dark Moonstone.
He tightened his grip around his spatial ring.
"I came here for the catalyst."
He looked toward the black mist.
"But I may have found another piece of the puzzle."
Han Feng stepped forward.
The moment his foot crossed the boundary of the Ruins of Eternal Night—
The world became silent.
The black mist rolled toward him.
And somewhere deep within the ruins...
Something opened its eyes.