Chapter 105: Shrouded Dragon Veil, Illusory Flow
Chirp, chirp, chirp!
The sharp cries of forest birds echoed through Dragonspire Forest, loud and brimming with life. Within the hidden cave, Su Tianhao slowly stirred from deep slumber, the scorching morning sun shining directly on his face. He raised a hand to shield his eyes, blinking against the light. Under the golden glare, his eyes gradually shimmered back to full clarity.
"Looks like I slept longer than I thought," he murmured, a faint smile spreading across his features. Judging by the height of the sun, it was already well past morning.
Aaah~
He let out a lazy yawn, stretching his limbs until the last traces of sleep melted away.
After stretching thoroughly, Su Tianhao sat up and rested his back against the cool cave wall. As his senses returned to full awareness, that was when he noticed it.
The stench.
Hmph.
He pinched his nose instinctively.
'What is that horrible smell?!' he thought, struggling to hold his breath.
He lowered his gaze—and found the answer immediately. His once-spotless azure robes were stained with dried sweat and black grime clinging stubbornly to his skin. Impurities expelled during his breakthrough to the 7th level, courtesy of the Supreme Dragon Essence Refinement Art. One step closer to the legendary Untainted Body.
A wry smile tugged at his lips. "Well... at least I smell like progress."
He rose to his feet, joints cracking faintly. With every movement, his muscles felt more defined, his frame sturdier—testament to both physical refinement and a solid step forward in cultivation.
Without hesitation, he retrieved a clean set of robes and a fresh towel from his storage pouch and began wiping off the grime, holding his breath the entire time until his face turned red from the effort.
"Phew..." he muttered after scrubbing clean and changing. "I could kill a beast with that stench alone."
Though clean, he still felt far from comfortable.
'Five days in this cave without food, water, or a proper bath...' he thought, brows furrowing.
The only reason he had survived without nourishment was the grade one fasting pills. He had taken one four days ago—refined by his physique to flawless quality, it had lasted two full days instead of one. Another followed two days ago. Today marked his fifth day in the cave, meaning last night the medicinal essence had finally run dry.
As if in confirmation—
Grrrr~
His stomach let out a rumble that echoed through the silent cave like the growl of a hungry beast. Su Tianhao smiled bitterly. He still had eight fasting pills remaining, but he had no desire to take them. After five days without a real meal, he wanted food—actual food.
"I really have to get out of this cave," he muttered.
But how?
The question pressed down on him like a boulder. If he encountered Blood Grin now, he would still be nothing but a lamb for the slaughter. His current strength simply wasn't enough.
He knew this. He accepted it. But he didn't surrender to it.
He sat back against the wall, eyes half-lidded, his analytical mind quietly spinning through possibilities.
Then it struck him.
'The Shrouded Dragon Veil!'
The thought hit like lightning splitting open a dark sky.
"Of course—how could I forget?" he murmured.
The Shrouded Dragon Veil was the concealment technique he had been cultivating. Like the Shadow-Splitting Flash, it progressed through five stages of mastery. But instead of forms, its internal progressions were called layers.
'Currently I'm only at Initial Mastery,' he thought, mind racing. 'If I can reach Small Success and unlock a new layer—something that masks my presence itself—I might be able to slip past Blood Grin's detection entirely.'
The hope that bloomed in his chest was real and grounded. The Shrouded Dragon Veil resonated deeply with his dragon heritage—the technique went far beyond hiding strength. At higher mastery it manipulated perception itself, allowing one to appear weak, harmless, or entirely mortal to any observer. At its peak, it was said one could blend into the world so completely as to become imperceptible to spiritual senses, domain perception, beast instincts, and even artifact detection.
The First Layer alone—Silent Pulse—was already formidable enough to conceal his cultivation from those not one major realm above the Great Divide. During the Su Jian match, not even the Su family's higher-ups had been able to see through him.
'If the first layer is already that powerful... the second should be capable of far more.'
He had neglected the Shrouded Dragon Veil in his focus on other techniques—leaving it as the lowest-level technique in his arsenal. It was time to correct that.
Without further hesitation, he settled into perfect lotus position, closed his eyes, and shut off his external senses.
His consciousness sank inward immediately. The moment he thought of the technique, it revealed itself before he could even search—
Shrouded Dragon Veil.
The name appeared in his consciousness like ink blooming through water—sudden, fluid, impossible to miss. As if it had been waiting for him.
He felt the familiar pull of deep resonance, the technique responding to his bloodline as naturally as breathing. He moved past the introduction, past the first layer—
---
Shrouded Dragon Veil — First Layer: Silent Pulse
Suppresses the rhythm and flow of internal Qi, rendering the user's cultivation unreadable to anyone not one major realm above the Great Divide.
---
He paused on it briefly, a quiet sigh of appreciation escaping him. Even now, reading through it again, the technique's power was not lost on him. Silent Pulse had performed exactly as promised—not a single soul at the Su family arena had been able to pierce it.
He pressed deeper, like a diver plunging into a bottomless ocean—drawn by mystery, pressure building with every depth reached.
Minutes passed as he studied carefully. Then the second layer revealed itself. Compared to the Shadow-Splitting Flash, it appeared considerably easier to grasp—but that was not a sign of weakness. It was the technique responding to him, alive with the resonance of his supreme dragon bloodline.
---
Shrouded Dragon Veil — Second Layer: Illusory Flow
Allows the user to feign a lower cultivation base or mimic the Qi fluctuations of an entirely different realm, effectively deceiving conventional detection methods. When mastered, the technique also enables subtle concealment of presence—bending perception itself to render the user overlooked or mistaken, even under close scrutiny.
Warning: Only effective against cultivators within or below the Great Divine. Ineffective against those in the Martial Lord Realm or above.
---
Su Tianhao's eyes snapped open.
Fake a lower cultivation base. Imitate the Qi fluctuations of an entirely different realm. Bend perception itself.
He read through it again, slowly, letting each ability settle.
Effective against those below the Martial Lord Realm?
'This is it.'
The excitement was contained but real. He didn't need to let it run—the technique itself was already everything he had hoped for. And with the resonance between the Shrouded Dragon Veil and his bloodline, mastering Illusory Flow was only a matter of time.
"Once I master this layer, the Shrouded Dragon Veil reaches Small Success," he murmured with quiet satisfaction. "One step closer to perfection."
He closed his eyes and dove back in—instinctive and serene, like a dragon returning to its sacred pool.
---
Hours passed. The sun climbed to its zenith, rays pouring down like molten gold, baking the treetops and flooding the cave mouth in soft glowing light. The morning birdsong had quieted, replaced by the distant hum of insects drifting lazily through the warm air. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves outside, carrying the earthy scent of sun-warmed soil and bark.
Within the cave, Su Tianhao's figure remained still as solid rock—expression devoid of emotion, long black ponytail flowing behind him like dark silk.
Then—
His composed expression broke. A warm smile brightened his features all at once, and his eyes snapped open carrying an unmistakable glint of satisfaction.
"Haha—the Shrouded Dragon Veil really is something else," he said, the smile remaining as he took in what he had just grasped. The cultivation insights from this session had exceeded even his expectations.
Illusory Flow was his. The Shrouded Dragon Veil had reached Small Success.
He closed his eyes once more, guiding his inner energy into an unnatural rhythm with precise control. Minutes passed. Then, gradually, his aura began to shift—subtle at first, then dramatically.
The spiritual fluctuations of a 7th level Martial Disciple receded like a tide drawn back into the ocean. His presence thinned, softened, twisted. Even to a trained eye, the Qi now radiating from Su Tianhao carried the feeble undulations of a mere 3rd level Martial Disciple—calm, harmless, completely unthreatening.
He could have masked his cultivation entirely using Silent Pulse—but he chose not to. A completely unreadable aura was, in its own way, a signature. Blood Grin had already witnessed that ability firsthand and coveted it. Using it would be giving himself away.
Appearing as a 3rd level Martial Disciple was far more deceptive. Even if Blood Grin sensed his Qi from a distance, he would dismiss it without a second glance—likely mistaking him for someone else entirely.
But Su Tianhao wasn't finished. As he extended his focus into the second layer, his very existence seemed to blur at the edges—like a heat mirage shimmering beneath blazing sun. His body remained perfectly still, yet he gave off the illusion of distance, like something glimpsed through rippling water.
If someone were to scan this cave with spiritual sense, they would hesitate. Perhaps dismiss it as empty space. Or mistake the presence within for something entirely unremarkable.
Su Tianhao opened his eyes, his smile deepening.
"This is more than hiding," he murmured softly. "This is misdirection."
He had not simply concealed himself.
His very identity had become imperceptible—his aura reshaped into that of a stranger. Unless someone knew him intimately, nothing about his presence could betray him.
He had become someone entirely new.