Supreme Taming Authority

Chapter 85: Four Spirits Sect Traces, Discovery of the Spirit Sage Eye

By the time Xian Tiandi reached the edge of the northern mountain range proper, he could hold Spiritual Sight for two full minutes without strain.

The terrain changed dramatically here. The forest gave way to rocky highlands dotted with scrub brush and sparse grass. Jagged peaks rose in the distance, their tops dusted with snow despite the season. Deep ravines cut through the landscape, carved by ancient water flows that had long since dried up.

This was spirit beast territory. The sect’s influence didn’t extend this far. Out here, cultivators were just another predator competing for resources.

Xian Tiandi activated Spiritual Sight and surveyed the area.

The spiritual energy here was denser than in the forest below, but chaotic. It flowed in eddies and currents without clear direction, pooling in some areas and absent in others. Natural formation of the terrain, nothing unusual.

But then he saw something that made him stop.

A thin line of spiritual energy, perfectly straight, cutting across the natural flows like a scar. It was faint, almost invisible even with Spiritual Sight active. But it was there.

Artificial. Deliberate. A trace of human interference.

Xian Tiandi followed the line with his eyes. It ran from a rocky outcropping to the east, across the open ground, and disappeared into a ravine to the west. Perfectly geometric in a way that nature never was.

’Formation marker,’ he thought. ’Someone has been setting up arrays in this area.’

He moved closer, keeping low and using the terrain for cover. His concealment pills were still in his spatial ring. He’d save those for when he needed to approach more dangerous areas.

The rocky outcropping revealed more details as he examined it with Spiritual Sight active. Three more lines of spiritual energy extended from it in different directions, forming a triangular pattern. At the center of the triangle, a small formation array had been carved into the stone and filled with crushed spirit stones to provide power.

It was a basic monitoring formation. Not designed to attack or defend, just to detect movement in the area and transmit that information elsewhere.

Xian Tiandi crouched beside the formation and studied it carefully.

The craftsmanship was decent but not exceptional. An experienced formation master would have hidden it better, buried the energy lines deeper so they didn’t show even to enhanced perception. This was the work of someone competent but not expert.

The formation was also relatively new. The spiritual energy flowing through it still carried the sharp, fresh quality of recent activation. Days old at most, possibly less.

’Four Spirits Sect,’ Xian Tiandi thought. ’This is their work.’

In his past life, he had encountered countless Four Spirits Sect formations. He knew their style, their preferences, their standard patterns. This matched perfectly.

They were using monitoring formations to track spirit beast movements in the area. Which meant they were either controlling the beasts directly or observing them for some other purpose.

He needed more information.

Xian Tiandi carefully moved away from the formation without disturbing it. Alerting the enemy to his presence now would be counterproductive. Better to gather intelligence first, understand the full scope of their operation, and then decide on action.

He followed the spiritual energy line westward toward the ravine, using Spiritual Sight in regular intervals to track it. The technique was becoming easier with each use. The meridian pathways were adapting quickly, remembering patterns his body had once known.

Halfway to the ravine, something changed.

The spiritual energy line suddenly brightened, pulsing with increased power. The monitoring formation had detected something.

Xian Tiandi immediately dropped into a crouch behind a large boulder and activated a concealment pill. The pill dissolved on his tongue, releasing a bitter medicinal taste. His spiritual energy signature dimmed, becoming harder to detect from a distance.

He waited, perfectly still.

A spirit beast emerged from the ravine. It was a Stone Ridge Wolf, a common predator in these mountains. The wolf was large, easily the size of a horse, with gray fur that blended perfectly with the rocky terrain. Its cultivation was at the peak of Qi Refinement realm, just below the threshold of becoming a true spirit beast.

But something was wrong with it.

The wolf moved in a straight line, its gait mechanical and unnatural. Normal spirit beasts moved with the fluid grace of predators, constantly alert to their surroundings. This wolf walked like it was following invisible rails, its eyes focused on some distant point.

Xian Tiandi activated Spiritual Sight and examined the creature more closely.

Thin threads of spiritual energy wrapped around the wolf’s body, concentrated at its head and spine. The threads pulsed with a sickly purple light, completely different from the wolf’s natural spiritual energy.

Control threads. Someone was manipulating this spirit beast remotely.

The wolf passed within twenty meters of Xian Tiandi’s hiding spot without even glancing in his direction. It continued walking in that same mechanical manner, heading northeast toward another section of the mountain range.

Xian Tiandi watched it disappear into the distance, then carefully stood and continued toward the ravine.

Inside the ravine, he found more evidence. Claw marks on the stone walls, all at the same height and spacing. Disturbed earth where multiple spirit beasts had gathered but not fought, standing in organized rows rather than competing for territory.

And at the deepest point of the ravine, he found the control formation.

It was significantly more complex than the monitoring array. A circular pattern carved into the ravine floor, three meters in diameter, filled with intricate symbols and channels for spiritual energy flow. At the cardinal points, four spirit stones had been embedded, each one glowing with that same sickly purple light.

This was the source of the control threads.

Xian Tiandi crouched at the edge of the formation and activated Spiritual Sight, pushing the technique as hard as he dared. The meridian pathways in his eyes burned slightly from the strain, but he needed to see the details.

The formation’s structure became clearer. Energy flowed from the four spirit stones in complex patterns, weaving together at the center before extending outward as invisible threads. Those threads connected to spirit beasts across the entire northern mountain range, dozens of them, maybe more.

And at the very center of the formation, carved in smaller characters almost too small to read, was the mark of the Four Spirits Sect. The symbol of four sacred beasts arranged in a square, representing the sect’s core philosophy.

Confirmation.

Xian Tiandi released Spiritual Sight and sat back, thinking.