"They claim you’ve been with Jiang Shu the whole time, and can testify to his innocence."

Yu Tianming gave a bitter smile. "I’m afraid no one will believe my words."

The Heavenly Snake was one of the Star Sky Giant Beasts, a race ranked in the upper middle tier. Yu Tianming’s mother was the Holy Daughter of the Heavenly Snake clan, her status exalted.

"It’s fine."

Zhan Tianqiong waved his hand as he spoke,

"At the very least, we can buy some time."

With that, he turned to Zhan Feng and the other and said, "You two will stay by Jiang Shu’s side for now. I’ll handle things outside."

Zhan Feng cupped his fists in agreement, quietly letting out a breath of relief.

What he feared was that some of the big shots in the alliance would throw Jiang Shu out to appease the situation. Now that Zhan Tianqiong had stepped up in support, that kind of thing wouldn’t happen.

Zhan Tianqiong gave a few more instructions, then hurriedly left.

He had to get news of the Doomsday Sect back to the War Alliance Headquarters before the situation deteriorated further.

As soon as Zhan Tianqiong left, Jiang Shu immediately sealed the Cave Mansion and activated the power of the Heart of Space.

Silver-blue ripples spread out from him as the center, forming a space Barrier that isolated inside from outside.

"Brother Jiang, you’re..."

Zhan Feng asked in some confusion.

Jiang Shu didn’t answer. He suddenly reached out and grabbed toward Zhan Feng’s chest.

The Power Dao condensed in his palm, and he actually drew out a wisp of dim gray aura from within Zhan Feng’s body.

"Ming Wuya’s tracking mark!" Yu Tianming’s serpent pupils abruptly contracted.

Zhan Feng’s face changed dramatically. He’d taken a few injuries in that brief clash with Ming Wuya, but Jiang Shu had already pulled out the Curse Power within them, and he himself had long since healed those wounds. He hadn’t expected there to still be a tracking mark hidden inside.

"He planted it when you two exchanged blows. If I hadn’t obtained the Heart of Space and become more sensitive in my perception of Dao, I wouldn’t have been able to sense the existence of this mark even now. This isn’t power that belongs to Ming Wuya. It should be something given to him by people of the Doomsday Sect."

"Our location is already exposed."

When Zhan Yun heard this, he instantly flew into a rage, snatched up the Bronze Battle Axe and said he was going to rush out of the Deep Space Sea to slaughter that bastard, but Jiang Shu stopped him.

"No need. He worked so hard to dump this black pot on our heads. He’ll naturally come back to look for us."

Reality was exactly that.

Ming Wuya had already relied on methods of the Netherworld Clan’s powerhouses to re-enter the Deep Space Sea.

In truth, the major forces’ experts from across the Cosmic didn’t want to completely offend the War Alliance and the Mechanical Clan, so they wanted to settle this matter within the Deep Space Sea, and not let those old-generation powerhouses personally intervene.

Ming Wuya stood upon a shattered fragment of space, his gray-white hemp robes fluttering without wind.

The Netherworld Clan’s signature corpse-pale face looked even gloomier at this moment. His pitch-black, pupil-less eyes stared fixedly at the wisp of gray mist mark in his palm that was gradually dispersing.

"The mark disappeared."

His voice sounded like two chunks of ice scraping against each other.

Behind him, the Golden Crow Clan prodigy Jin Yao suddenly stomped forward, the golden flames on his wings roaring to life with a "boom."

"What do you mean? Didn’t you say this tracking mark was absolutely foolproof?"

He had appeared to be heavily injured by Zhan Feng, but because Zhan Feng had scruples, he hadn’t used a killing blow. At this moment Jin Yao’s injuries were already healed.

It was just that his temperament couldn’t be changed; he was still as overbearing as ever, determined to play the vanguard.

Ming Wuya slowly turned around. A wisp of ghostly blue phosphorescence flashed through his pitch-black pupils. He didn’t become angry because of this, merely said calmly, "Zhan Feng is a young king of the War Alliance. There must be War Alliance experts by his side right now. It was likely a clone of Zhan Tianqiong that discovered the mark and dispelled it."

"Then what do we do now?"

The princess of the Sea Demon Clan swayed her scar-riddled fish tail, her voice as cold as a deep-sea undercurrent,

"We can’t just wander aimlessly around the Deep Space Sea, can we?"

The surrounding experts of the various clans were all talking at once, their questioning gazes stabbing toward Ming Wuya like blades.

Jiang Shu’s Realm and combat strength were already among the strongest of their generation. The only reason they dared to so ostentatiously come question him was because they were relying on superiority in numbers.

This hastily assembled temporary alliance was fragile to begin with, held together only by some unknown depth of anger and their greed for the Heart of Space.

Now that the tracking had been cut off, the underlying conflicts immediately surfaced.

Ming Wuya’s fingers hidden in his sleeve tightened slightly, his joints giving off faint cracking sounds.

Yet nothing of this showed on his face. He merely pressed his hand down and said, "Everyone, please don’t be impatient."

"Though the mark has temporarily vanished, Jiang Shu can’t hide from us forever. The Deep Space Sea is about to close. He’ll have to come out."

"Easy for you to say!"

An ancient monster coldly laughed,

"Who knows if you’re playing some trick?"

"Don’t use us as your guns for your personal grudge with Zhan Feng!"

Phosphorescent flames abruptly flared in Ming Wuya’s eyes. At some unknown point, the Netherworld Bone Spear had already come to rest against that ancient monster’s throat.

"If you don’t believe me, you can leave right now."

The atmosphere instantly turned taut as a drawn bowstring.

He too was among the strongest of the ancient monsters. These people had questioned him over and over, making him deeply dissatisfied.

Seeing Ming Wuya enraged, someone immediately stepped forward to mediate.

"Fellow Daoists, this can’t be blamed on Brother Ming either. Didn’t we also locate the Wind Cloud Pride’s temporary foothold earlier, only to arrive a step too late?"

Ming Wuya, seeing someone give him a way out, drew back the Bone Spear, his voice returning to calm,

"Before the mark disappeared, the last direction it indicated was the Mirror Abyss. We might as well go there and wait."

Jin Yao snorted coldly. "Then we’ll believe you one more time."

"But if there’s still no news within three days, don’t blame my Golden Crow Clan for seeking another way!"

Ming Wuya turned his back to them, the corner of his lips hooked into an almost imperceptible cold smile.

He naturally wouldn’t tell these people that, in the final wisp of fluctuation the mark transmitted before disappearing, there had been a trace of abnormal Space Ripple.

He faintly felt that something was off, but he had to find where Zhan Feng’s group was.

The one he was targeting wasn’t Zhan Feng or Zhan Yun, but definitely that Jiang Shu who would be together with them.

The mission entrusted by that lord could not fail.

...

Three days later, on the outskirts of the Silent Abyss.

Ming Wuya’s eyes snapped open. The wisp of gray mist that had long since dissipated in his palm suddenly recondensed, forming a continuously pulsing triangular sigil.

"The mark has appeared again!"

His voice carried a suppressed excitement,

"In the direction of the Mirror Abyss, less than a hundred thousand li from us!"

Experts of the various clans immediately gathered when they heard this.

Jin Yao narrowed his eyes and questioned, "It won’t be some Blinding Technique again this time, will it?"

Ming Wuya didn’t answer. He only focused on sensing the fluctuations coming from the mark.

The sense of wrongness in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

Though the mark appeared identical to before on the surface, its internal fluctuation frequency had subtly changed, like a familiar tune whose rhythm had been rearranged.

"Go or don’t go, that’s up to you."

He put away the mark and turned to leave,

"But if you miss this chance, once Jiang Shu completely refines the Heart of Space, catching him will be difficult."

Those words pierced right into everyone’s soft spot.

In the end, their desire for the Heart of Space triumphed over their doubts, and experts of all clans followed along in succession.

As they went deeper, the surrounding space fragments began to arrange themselves in a bizarre, regular pattern, like a shattered mirror that had been meticulously reassembled. This was precisely the origin of the Mirror Abyss’s name.

The space here wasn’t chaotically broken, but maintained some kind of mysterious connection.

A Star Disc in the hands of a Supreme Genius from the Demon Luo Clan suddenly trembled violently. His expression changed slightly. "Careful, the Space Law here seems to have been—"

Before he could finish, a Genius at the very front suddenly let out a miserable scream.

The space fragment he stepped on flipped without any warning, cutting half his body into another spatial dimension.

The half of his body still outside convulsed violently, blood gushing out like a fountain.

Ming Wuya watched coldly, and only when that person died did he continue speaking.

"The Mirror Abyss’s spatial structure is unique. Be careful with everything. Don’t touch anything recklessly."

As he spoke, he secretly observed the mark in his palm.

The deeper they went into the Mirror Abyss, the more violently that mark pulsed, as if echoing something.