"I tried everything," Elyon said. "Used my darkness sense, tried qi residue tracking, and even got a bloodhound immortal talisman from a local formation master. But the trail just… ends."
Lin Mu frowned. "So they either teleported or were picked up mid-way."
"Exactly. But then, one of my more distant contacts—someone in the Black Market's outer ring—got a ping I'd left in case anything illegal flowed into the region."
He paused. "And something did."
Daoist Chu narrowed his eyes. "What kind of something?"
"A shipment of Human Blood Essence Crystals."
Meng Bai visibly flinched. "That's not just illegal. That's… borderline taboo." He had learned enough under Lin Mu to know what they were.
Lin Mu's gaze darkened slightly. "Where?"
"That's the problem," Elyon said. "I can't get the exact location. The contact is willing to trade the info, but not for Immortal stones or crystals."
"Then what?"
