Just as Nu Ba was about to leap down to investigate, Feng Miaojun extended her hand to stop her: “No need.” With those words, she closed her eyes.

It was not yet evening, and the sky was still bright. After Feng Miaojun closed her eyes, the scene before her transformed completely.

Mountains, trees, and the camp all disappeared, leaving only darkness within a twenty-li radius. Against this solid-colored backdrop, flames of different colors and intensities began to light up one after another.

These were the soul flames of intelligent beings!

In her spiritual perception, she filtered out all external appearances, focusing only on tracking living creatures.

She overlooked the physical bodies of all beings present, concentrating solely on the movements of their souls.

The most numerous and constantly moving flames were pale, nearly transparent ones belonging to the soldiers below. No matter how physically strong mortals appeared, their souls remained weak.

Several soul flames were chasing after the Molong beasts, their colors varying in depth, representing different levels of soul resilience.

These belonged to cultivators.

Hmm, she also sensed Zhao Tang. He did not appear as aggressive as the Yan King, yet from her “perspective,” his soul flame was deep in color and considerably intense, indicating his profound cultivation—even surpassing that of Zhao Yun from years past.

Naturally, none of these were her focus.

Feng Miaojun thought for a moment, further expanding her spiritual perception to encompass all movement within a fifty-li radius.

She had identified at a glance that the explosive gu worms had caused the devastation in the Yan military camp. Having used them extensively herself, she knew many varieties of explosive gu had been cultivated, with the most convenient type even having timing capabilities, meaning the perpetrator might have already left the scene.

However, she had arrived at Storm Island not long ago, and the Yan soldiers had only been loading and unloading supplies for a few hours. To maximize effect, the perpetrator would have waited until the supplies were mostly transferred before placing the explosive gu, indicating they had left only recently.

Most importantly, after going to such lengths to infiltrate the Yan military camp and set up such sabotage, wouldn’t they surely hide nearby to admire their handiwork and observe the results?

She suddenly opened her eyes: “There!” She pointed toward the southwest.

Storm Island was sparsely populated, and she was pointing toward a vast expanse of forest.

Among the thousands of souls she saw rushing about near the camp, only one soul flame stood alone several li away. After pausing briefly, it began racing away without looking back!

“Them?” Nu Ba glanced at Zhao Tang and the others.

“Ignore them.” Feng Miaojun signaled several New Xia cultivators to follow as she strode toward the southwest. Her purpose in coming to the southern lands was certainly not as simple as delivering supplies to Yan.

Amidst the chaos, their movements went unnoticed. By the time Zhao Tang had the situation under control and returned to find the Queen, where would Her Majesty be?

How could others match the speed of Feng Miaojun and Nu Ba? Within a few leaps, they were several li away, leaving the New Xia cultivators far behind.

The forest ahead was deserted, with no night birds startled into flight.

Feng Miaojun’s lips curled into a cold smile. Without her soul technique, she would never have detected someone moving swiftly ahead.

Impressive! That fellow wasn’t running on the ground at all, but was burrowing underground!

This earth-travel technique was remarkably accomplished, surely not a supernatural ability acquired through cultivation. The person likely realized they were being pursued, as their underground path was deliberately confusing, trying to shake off their pursuers.

For cultivators, tracking by the five senses alone would be difficult. Unfortunately for the fugitive, their soul flame burned as brightly as a lamp in the darkness, too conspicuous to possibly lose track of.

She suddenly sprang upward gracefully, landing on a small tree. From her storage ring, she retrieved a chain spear, which with a slight shake, stretched taut like a straight-shafted tasseled spear.

Both ends of the chain bore curved barbs that glinted coldly.

She threw the chain spear as if it were a pole spear, and without even a sound of air being cut, it plunged straight into the ground.

This was followed immediately by an “Ah—” of agony.

The chain spear had impaled someone.

With a slight curl of her lips, she pulled forcefully, ignoring the struggles of the person underground, and violently dragged them to the surface, pinning them against the treetop!

No fisherman could be more efficient than she.

The person she had speared was short in stature with a disproportionately large head but small eyes. The chain spear’s barbs had pierced through his shoulder, firmly embedded in his muscle.

As he grimaced in pain, Feng Miaojun smiled with delight: “Yan Qing, long time no see.”

She recognized this demon, who served the Wei Kingdom. Years ago, when she attended to Yun Ya, she had encountered him several times and knew that this male’s true form was a tunneling mouse demon, also known as a mole spirit, with two hundred years of cultivation. Though not especially skilled in combat, he excelled at digging tunnels and concealing his aura.

His fighting abilities were mediocre, but for covert operations like placing explosive gu in the Yan camp, he was unmatched in stealth. Feng Miaojun’s gaze swept across the dark forest, thinking silently that once this creature entered the mountains, he would be like a fish in water, coming and going without a trace.

“You… the Queen of New Xia!” Yan Qing trembled with pain, gritting his teeth. “New Xia secretly colluding with the Yan Kingdom… I only regret that the State Preceptor didn’t kill you back then…”

Before he could finish, Feng Miaojun cut him off: “Where is Yun Ya?”

The light in her eyes was too intense to look at directly. Yan Qing avoided her gaze, sneering: “The State Preceptor is perfectly safe. You’ll be disappointed!”

“Good that you know.” Feng Miaojun showed no irritation. With fingers spread wide, she suddenly pressed her palm against his forehead.

Yan Qing felt a tremendous pain assault his heart as if she had pierced his skull and was stirring his brain. This time he couldn’t even scream, just making “hoarse, hoarse” sounds from his throat before losing consciousness.

Nu Ba stood beneath the tree: “Did you find him?” The mole demon had earth-burrowing abilities, so during interrogation, Feng Miaojun naturally wouldn’t let him touch the ground, lest he escape.

Feng Miaojun smiled slightly: “The great State Preceptor Yun is indeed nearby.” She withdrew her delicate hand, her fingertips unstained by even a drop of blood. She had just used a soul-searching technique to extract Yan Qing’s memories, though her method was so brutally direct that the process was rather unpleasant for the recipient.

The reason she had exchanged a few words with him first was because demons lived longer than humans and had more complex memories. By mentioning Yun Ya, Yan Qing’s mind would inevitably recall relevant matters, making it easier for Feng Miaojun to extract these specific memories when she acted.

“Nearby?” Nu Ba was stunned. “Isn’t he at Xianlong Mountain?” The Yan King had rushed to Xianlong Mountain to capture Yun Ya, yet the main target was nearby.

Come to think of it, Xianlong Mountain wasn’t far from here.

Familiar with Yun Ya’s temperament, Feng Miaojun wasn’t surprised: “To recuperate, the safest place is right under the enemy’s nose. By hiding nearby, Yun Ya can also monitor Yan’s movements.” She shook the demon in her hand. “This fellow was just too stupid to dare bomb the Yan camp.”