Chapter 32: Night Exploration of the Sword Canon: The Tracking Talisman in the Medicine Pouch

Shen Yan placed the medicine bottle into the drawer, his fingers pausing for half a second on the edge of the cabinet.

The “Emotional Compatibility 87%” that had popped up on his Terminal when Ye Zhao handed him the medicine, her fingertip lightly brushing against his, was still lingering in his mind. He shook his head—this thing was just like Code; one misstep and it would blow up the furnace.

He pulled open the drawer, intending to find an empty spot for his phone, but the back of his hand brushed against a hard corner—it was a small cloth pouch lying beside the celadon bottle, the Medicine Pouch. He remembered Ye Zhao casually setting it down before she left, saying it contained backup medicinal herbs in case his injury tightened up at night.

Quite thoughtful.

But his Source Code Spiritual Root suddenly twitched.

Not pain, but a numbness akin to a pre-alert, like a program preloading before execution. He narrowed his eyes, staring at the Medicine Pouch, and discreetly pulled up his Terminal Interface:

【Embedded Tracking Spell Detected, Activation Interval: 120 seconds, Signal Encryption Level: Shadow Erosion Tier 3】

Shen Yan didn’t even blink.

He leisurely lifted the Medicine Pouch and placed it on the table, as if checking whether takeout had leaked. The cloth surface looked ordinary, but the stitching pattern on the inner layer was off—too uniform, like traces of Talisman ink that had been drawn and then washed away.

He tapped open his phone, called up a micro-spectrum Script, and scanned the Medicine Pouch.

Green text flooded the screen:

【Material Analysis: ‘Shadow Silkworm Silk’ supplied by the black market, commonly used for concealing Tracking Talismans】

【Energy Residue: Yin-attribute Spiritual Power residue commonly used by Xie Wujiu, Match Rate: 91.3%】

“Well, well,” Shen Yan murmured softly. “Delivering medicine with after-sales service included?”

He wasn’t in a hurry to dismantle it. Instead, he tucked his phone under his pillow, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his legs, as if waiting for a spoiler.

Three minutes later, a Notification Tone vibrated in his pocket:

【Signal Activating, Transmitting Coordinates】

Here it comes.

A smirk tugged at Shen Yan’s lips as he tapped the preset Program—”Reverse Beacon Injection · Decoy Version.”

The next second, the Talisman Paper inside the Medicine Pouch grew slightly warm and began transmitting Data. Only this time, what was being transmitted was a fabricated movement trajectory by Shen Yan: starting from the room, turning left to the kitchen, right to the bamboo forest behind the mountain, and finally stopping at the entrance of the Sword Sect’s library.

“You have entered the Forbidden Land area. Please leave immediately.” The System automatically simulated a mechanical Warning tone, even mimicking the intonation perfectly.

Just as he withdrew his hand, a soft chuckle came from outside the window.

“Quite the actor.”

Shen Yan looked up.

Xie Wujiu stood on a phoenix tree branch outside the courtyard wall, his black robes fluttering in the wind. He was shaking a folding fan, its ribs glowing with a dark red light, as if soaked in blood and dried.

“I was wondering how you dared to live alone in such a remote courtyard,” he said, snapping the fan shut and tapping it against his lips. “Turns out you came prepared.”

Shen Yan lazily propped himself up. “Standing so high up, aren’t you afraid the wind might throw out your back?”

“Afraid,” Xie Wujiu laughed. “That’s why I’ve been waiting for you to trip.”

“Rather than waiting for me to trip, you should take a look at yourself first.” Shen Yan suddenly raised his hand, his phone screen flashing as he Initiated the “High-Temperature Simulation Protocol.”

The Medicine Pouch let out a hiss as a wisp of blue smoke rose, followed by a muffled whoosh of combustion. The flames weren’t large, but they ignited precisely from the inner layer, instantly reducing the Talisman Paper to ashes.

A Popup Window appeared on the Terminal:

【Tracking Chain Broken, Reverse Tracing Failed—Target Used Relay Talisman Array】

“Tsk.” Xie Wujiu’s eyes turned cold. “Quick to destroy evidence.”

“This isn’t evidence,” Shen Yan blew away the ashes. “It’s spam. Successfully unsubscribed, that’s all.”

Xie Wujiu stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly grinned: “Alright, you’re not panicking, so I won’t rush either.”

He flicked his fan, releasing a nearly invisible dust from its edge that scattered with the wind.

“We’ll play slowly.”

After speaking, his figure flickered and vanished into the shadows of the trees.

Shen Yan didn’t pursue. He knew that kind of relay Talisman Array was like a proxy Server—it couldn’t be traced to its source. But he hadn’t lost either—at least for now, the other party thought he was still near the library, which would keep them busy for a while.

He was about to stand and close the window when the door was abruptly pushed open.

Ye Zhao stood at the doorway, her silver hair slightly disheveled, clearly having hurried here. Her gaze swept over the ashes on the table, and she frowned: “What did you burn?”

“Trash,” Shen Yan answered casually.

She didn’t believe it, stepping forward a few paces, her eyes landing on his shoulder—the sleeve of the borrowed training robe was torn, the bloodstain already dried to a dark brown, but still seeping at the edges.

“You’re injured.”

Shen Yan instinctively retreated half a step: “A minor scrape, from the training grounds.”

Ye Zhao didn’t speak, directly reaching to lift his sleeve. Her movement was decisive, leaving no room for negotiation.

He wanted to evade, but her fingertip had already touched the wound. At that moment, his Source Code Spiritual Root abruptly trembled, and the Terminal automatically displayed a line of small text:

【Nervous system activity decreased by 0.7%, recommend checking for toxin residue】

Shen Yan’s heart skipped a beat, calmly swiping away the Interface.

But Ye Zhao had already sensed something wrong. A trace of Sword Qi shimmered at her fingertip, lightly brushing over the edge of the wound, her frown tightening: “This blood… flows too slowly, like something is holding it back.”

“Just overworked,” Shen Yan tugged his sleeve. “Been writing a lot of Code lately.”

“Don’t use those incomprehensible terms to fool me,” Ye Zhao looked up at him, moonlight shining into her pupils like frost blades unsheathed. “Did you already know the Medicine Pouch was problematic?”

Shen Yan remained silent for two seconds: “I knew someone wanted to monitor me.”

“So you just bore it yourself?”

“What else? Report it to the Stewards for investigation? They wouldn’t even bother installing surveillance Formations.” He smiled. “I can handle it.”

Ye Zhao stared at him, then after a moment, suddenly pressed her hand on his shoulder. The force wasn’t heavy, but carried an undeniable pressure.

“Don’t hide it from me next time.”

Shen Yan froze.

Her voice lowered slightly: “I don’t want to see you collapse before me for the third time.”

After speaking, she turned and left, her steps even more hurried than when she arrived.

The door was gently closed.

Shen Yan stood where he was, the pressure on his shoulder still lingering.

He glanced down at his Terminal, which had just refreshed with a new record:

【Environmental particle sampling completed, Detected trace amounts of ‘Stasis Vein Powder’, source path: external dust transmission】

He slowly sat back in his chair, opened his computer, and created a new Encryption document.

Title: Suspicious Item Traceability Record_No. 01: Medicine Pouch Positioning Talisman

In the notes section, he typed a line:

“Source path Anomaly, possibility of internal assistance not excluded.”

The wind outside the window ceased.

What he didn’t know was that the colorless dust released from Xie Wujiu’s fan edge had already settled into cracks in the ground, slowly seeping into the Earth Vein Spiritual Flow in corners untouched by moonlight.

And at the bottom of the Terminal Interface he had just closed, a line of extremely small text flashed:

【Nerve activity continues to decline, current value: 98.1%→97.4%】

Shen Yan rubbed his Temple, attributing it to staying up too late.

He stood to close the door, but as his hand touched the doorframe, he suddenly paused.

Under the old locust tree in the corner of the courtyard, a fallen leaf was slowly curling and blackening, as if licked by invisible flames.

He squinted for two seconds, then walked over and picked it up.

On the leaf’s veins, a faint trace of a rune floated—sharing the same origin as the Tracking Talisman in the medicine pouch.

(End of Chapter)