The Vanishing Token, a Mortal Finds Treasure

Northeast of Xuanhu City.

The terrain was perilous, backed by the Ancient Wasteland that stretched for hundreds of millions of li. Vast and desolate, the area was harsh, where miasma intertwined with baleful subterranean energies to form a natural danger zone. Resources were scarce, and few people lived here.

Only wilderness tribes that had lived here for generations and grown accustomed to the harsh conditions, like tenacious moss, were scattered throughout relatively stable regions deep within the wasteland, struggling to survive.

At this moment, a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy was fleeing desperately through a jagged black stone forest on the plains. He was lean, his skin bronzed from years of wind and sun and covered in countless small scratches. His crude beast-hide clothes had long since been ripped in many places by thorns and sharp rocks, exposing firm muscles and bleeding wounds beneath.

He gasped for breath, every inhalation carrying the rusty stench of blood. His chest heaved violently like a broken bellows.

Not far behind him came a chilling roar, like metal scraping against metal.

A Bone Lizard over three zhang long was pursuing him madly. It resembled a gigantic lizard, its body covered in hard dark-brown bony armor, its four claws glinting with an eerie blue cold light. The beast's scarlet vertical pupils were locked onto the tiny prey ahead, while the drool dripping from its mouth was intensely corrosive, scorching the ground into hissing white smoke.

"Damn it! Why can't I shake it off?" Jing's heart sank to the bottom. He had merely wanted to venture deeper into this abandoned mining area to find better-quality Black Fiend Stones in exchange for cultivation resources.

Who would have thought he would be so unlucky? The abandoned mine, usually fairly safe, now had an adult Bone Lizard that had recently