I Pick Up Talents on the Interstellar Battlefield Chapter 638 - 482: Teasing, Celestial Concealment Technique (Part 3)

Zhuge Yu gave a faint nod, though an peculiar gleam flickered in his eyes. He recalled the occasion when Qin Tian first brought him and Dongfang Haoyue to witness the Ice Gate, with Lan present at that moment too.

Back then, Lan had managed to decipher the script on the ice pillars, and based on the recollections from the Ice Element, he closely resembled the Ice God Race of thousands of years prior, only surpassing them in striking appearance.

A few suspicions lingered in his thoughts, yet he refrained from voicing them outright.

"Qin Tian, before we locate Yuan Sheng, I need to deal with a minor issue first." Zhuge Yu declared.

"What trouble?"

Qin Tian inquired, "Do you require my assistance?"

Zhuge Yu shook his head, "No need, it’s merely a small matter."

Right after stepping into the ruins, everything appeared normal at first, but Asaki’s exact pinpointing of his location and casual shattering of the illusion array made it clear that someone had tampered with him.

Once in a secure spot, he promptly examined himself and discovered the issue without delay.

It appeared that sometime earlier, an utterly subtle mark had been placed upon his body.

This mark proved quite cunning, likely tough to erase right away, though concealing it posed no challenge—at least not for him.

Zhuge Yu lifted his hand to retrieve the bronze Array Plate, channeling Spiritual Energy gradually from his fingertips. The Eight Trigrams motifs on its surface flared with a cyan-golden glow, complex energy threads coursing across it like pulsing lifelines. In moments, a nearly invisible energy ripple emanated from the Array Plate, cloaking Zhuge Yu entirely—the first pulses wavered unsteadily like a flame in the breeze, but they soon steadied, enshrouding him in an imperceptible barrier that even muddled his presence.

Heavenly Secret Shielding Art

High-ranking mages from the Zhuge Family typically wield this skill.

These individuals peer into destiny and heavenly secrets, yet they suffer the repercussions of such divination.

To lessen those repercussions, Zhuge Clan forebears created the Heavenly Secret Shielding Art, which doesn’t fully nullify heaven’s secrets’ effects but diminishes them to a bearable degree.

Heavenly secrets operate in such ways, so a mere mark counts for little.

"Done!"

Zhuge Yu stored the Array Plate away.

Just then, astonishment surfaced in Qin Tian’s gaze; the mark he’d planted on Zhuge Yu had become utterly undetectable.

The arrays of the Zhuge Clan were indeed extraordinary.

"Very well, let’s head out to track down Yuan Sheng." With a sweeping gesture, Qin Tian summoned a Gate of Space ahead. Zhuge Yu and Taishi Feng entered first, while Qin Tian lingered at the rear.

Prior to stepping through the Gate of Space, a sly curve touched Qin Tian’s lips as he etched a few lines onto the ice rock.

…

At the same time, over the snowy plains, a streak of blood light shot forth like a released arrow, cutting through the relentless gale and blizzard.

Asaki sped ahead at full throttle, his blood-red battle sword quivering from the strain, its edge shimmering with crimson radiance, as though craving new slaughter.

Within his scarlet eyes, murderous intent nearly took form, locked onto the dim red glow from the blood-hidden jade pendant at his chest—the tracking sigil for Zhuge Yu.

"Qin Tian, Zhuge Yu…" Asaki’s voice rasped like a damaged bell, "This time, I’ll leave you no chance at all!"

As the gap narrowed, the red glow on the blood-hidden jade pendant sharpened; Asaki could already picture the panic and hopelessness on the trio’s faces upon his arrival. He pushed his velocity higher, blood mist boiling around him like molten rock.

Yet suddenly, the blood-hidden jade pendant flared erratically.

The steady red light faded swiftly like a guttering flame, vanishing entirely within seconds into a dull, inert black jade pendant.

"Hmm?!"

Asaki screeched to a stop, snatching the blood-hidden jade pendant, his ashen face turning storm-dark, ready to unleash a torrent.

"What happened?!" He bellowed, flooding it with wild Spiritual Energy, yet the pendant remained unresponsive. The mark on Zhuge Yu had evaporated completely!

"Impossible! This blood-hidden jade is a secret heirloom of my family—how could it malfunction?!"

Rage and incredulity blazed in Asaki’s eyes as he ground his teeth till they bled, veins bulging in his bloodshot stare, "It has to be Zhuge Yu’s trick!"

Without hesitation, he surged forward even swifter toward where the mark had last appeared.

Soon enough, he reached an area littered with ice rocks—this matched the final signal from the blood-hidden jade.

Asaki’s eyes scanned the ice rocks, when abruptly, a jagged marking on a huge ice rock seized his attention.

A rough sketch of a clown stood out, marked by jagged lines and clumsy artistry, but it captured perfectly the sneering, toothy grin of the clown, those bulging round eyes quietly ridiculing his utter failure.

That sloppy scrawl hit like a venom-tipped blade straight into Asaki’s chest, jeering at his endless chase that yielded nothing, mocking how he’d been utterly duped!

"Ahhhh—! Qin Tian! Zhuge Yu! I will kill you! I will definitely kill you!"

A savage bellow of fury ripped through the skies, brimming with bone-chilling murderous vibe, echoing endlessly over the frozen wasteland.

The raging blizzard persisted, with frozen shards battering his frame, as though they were piling on the ridicule of his shame and impotence.