Deep within the Black Wind Mountain Range, ancient trees towered into the sky, vines coiled like pythons, and sunlight filtered through layer upon layer of branches and leaves, casting mottled, shattered flecks of light across the ground.
The air was thick with the damp, fishy scent of rotting leaves and soil, occasionally mingled with the faint roars of beasts from afar, adding even more savagery and danger to the place.
Lin Feng was like a shadow without substance, silently lying in ambush within the shadow cast by the gnarled roots of a giant tree that would have taken several people to encircle.
The Breath Concealment Art operated at full force. His aura had nearly vanished completely, even his heartbeat slowing to a state close to hibernation, perfectly blending him into his surroundings.
Like the calmest of hunters, his gaze passed through the gaps in the bushes and locked onto a five-man mercenary squad carefully searching a hundred meters ahead.
The squad wore matching Blood Wolf insignias. They were members of the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group, the very people he had avoided from afar before.
Weapons in hand, their wary eyes carried an unconcealable greed. Clearly, they had come for the massive bounty of fifty thousand spirit crystals.
"Damn it, where the hell is that brat hiding? We've searched for three days and haven't even seen a single hair!" a man with a scar on his face muttered impatiently.
"Shut up, Scarface! Do you think fifty thousand spirit crystals are that easy to get? Even the big shots from the Shadow Kill Pavilion suffered losses. That brat is slippery as an eel!" The captain was a steady-faced middle-aged man, a Late Stage Martial Artist.
"Stay sharp and search carefully! The moment you find a trail, send the signal. Don't even think