Morning mist wrapped around the mountain vapors, drifting into Dragon-Breaking Abyss. Ye Fan's boot soles crunched over the dew-dampened gravel, every step carrying the steady poise of an Inquiry Realm grandmaster from his past life. He could hear Qín Wǎnshuāng's breathing mingling with the sound of his own heartbeat—three parts lighter than an ordinary person's, the telltale sign of someone trained in the Breath-Slowing Technique. General Lǐ's Dark Iron Saber scabbard brushed against his waist, and the rustling sound hid an unsheathed murderous intent.
"Young Master Ye, there is a tea shed at the fork ahead," General Lǐ lowered his voice, spinning the Dark Iron Saber in his palm.
Ye Fan raised his eyes. True enough, a gray cloth shed floated in the mist. An old woman wearing a bamboo hat sat beneath the shed, adding water to a pottery kettle. His footsteps paused slightly—this mountain valley was remote, and a tea shed standing here was already suspicious. What was even more suspicious was that the old woman had a tabby cat curled up in her lap, the tip of its tail pointing directly at a recess in the left cliff face. That was a mark he had seen in the secret scrolls of the Nether Sect in his past life: a "Soul-Guiding Cat," used to point the way for accomplices.
Chapter 100