Mo City! Did You Come Here Just to Pick a Fight?

Amid the golden desert stood a city of yellow earth, its walls entirely earthen in color. A constant stream of people passed through the city gate.

Most of the men among them went bare-chested, while the women merely used cloth to cover their private areas, boldly exposing their waists and long legs to the sunlight.

It formed a stark contrast to Wutan City's reserved style. Their swaying waists as they walked carried a unique, exotic charm.

Hun Cang withdrew his gaze and looked above the city gate, where two huge pale-red characters had been carved into the wall.

"Mo City..." Hun Cang said expectantly.

After leaving the Xiao Family, he had immediately returned to the Soul Hall in the Jia Ma Empire, originally thinking Hun Xiaoqiang and the others would be able to uncover news of the Heavenly Flames.

However, the result greatly disappointed Hun Cang.

Thus, Hun Cang decided to rely on himself. Following the original plotline, there was indeed a Heavenly Flame within the Tagor Desert.

Ranked nineteenth: the Green Lotus Core Flame.

Xiao Yan had obtained information about this flame's precise location from the Ice Emperor, Hai Bodong.

That was why Hun Cang had come straight to Mo City.

"If I remembered correctly, it should be this shop..." Standing before a store with the sign "Gu Tu," Hun Cang lifted a leg and walked inside.

The shop was not particularly spacious. With the light of two moonlight stones, it was bright enough to clearly see the goods within.

There were hardly any customers in the shop, and business appeared rather quiet.

Behind the counter sat an old man with his head lowered, holding a pen in one hand. Judging from the motion of the pen, he seemed to be drawing something like a map.

The old man had a head full of silver hair and a somewhat stooped figure. Yet, judging by the steady strength of the fingers holding his pen, he did not seem like an ordinary elder in his twilight years.

"What do you want to buy?" The old man stopped writing, raised his head to look at the young man who had been staring at him, and frowned.

"Just looking around." Hun Cang shifted his gaze away and casually rummaged through the shelves.

The old man's brows furrowed even deeper as he coldly said, "Be careful. If you damage anything, can you afford to pay for it?"

Hun Cang ignored him and searched on his own for a while, disappointment flashing through his eyes.

The Child of Destiny truly lived up to his name.

Xiao Yan could casually browse this shop and find a fragment of a map related to the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame. Hun Cang had searched all around, and everything looked plausible.

That was clearly not right.

"Kid, I don't think you're here to buy anything. You came here deliberately to pick a fight, didn't you?" The old man heavily slammed his pen onto the counter, producing a sharp sound.

Ordinary customers who entered a shop would directly ask the owner or attendant what they wanted to buy. Who went around turning someone else's merchandise into a complete mess?

The old man narrowed his eyes slightly, a dangerous glint flickering within them as he stared fixedly at the young man standing in the middle of the shop.

"I really didn't come here to buy anything." Hun Cang smiled. Watching the anger gradually rise on the old man's face, he said unhurriedly, "I came looking for someone."

"Then you came to the wrong place. There's no one else here." The old man spoke coldly.

Hun Cang smiled calmly. "Not necessarily. What if the person I'm looking for is you, sir?"

"Who would go looking for a useless old man..." The old man revealed a cold smile.

Beneath the counter, where Hun Cang could not see, icy cold air seemed to seep out. A thin layer of frost formed across the floor and wooden boards.

Outside the shop, the blazing sun hung high, and even the air had warped beneath the scorching heat.

Hun Cang lowered his gaze slightly, as though he could see through the counter's wooden panels and glimpse the scene behind them.

The coldness on the old man's face grew increasingly grave.

"What exactly do you want?" the old man asked again, his tone incomparably cold.

Hun Cang raised his eyes and looked at the old man, who seemed ready to erupt at any moment. The corners of his lips lifted slightly. "I already said it. I came looking for someone... someone known as the Ice Emperor..."

Crack!

The instant the words "Ice Emperor" left Hun Cang's mouth, countless streams of frigid air surged out from behind the counter. The shop's doors closed on their own without anyone pushing them.

With the sunlight cut off and only the moonlight stones illuminating the room, the interior suddenly became dim.

At that moment, a cold and powerful aura burst from the formerly stooped old man and spread into the surroundings.

"Looks like I found the right place." Hun Cang seemed to be talking to himself as he calmly watched the surging cold aura.

A chill surfaced on the old man's aged face. "No matter your reason, since you know about me, and if I am to continue living in seclusion, then I can only ask you to die."

"You're clearly the Ice Emperor. Why is your temper more explosive than someone who plays with fire?" Hun Cang could not help complaining. He stomped his foot on the ground, and black mist surged from his body, forming a circle with a one-meter radius around him.

The cold aura could no longer break through once it came into contact with the layer of black mist.

The old man froze slightly at the sight, then gritted his teeth again. "No wonder you dared come here alone—you have some backing! But I haven't lived all these years for nothing."

Before his voice had faded, he summoned even denser cold energy. White mist instantly filled the room, reducing visibility to less than one meter.

"As expected of one of the former top ten Dou Emperors. You do have some skill." Hun Cang remained unhurried. With great interest, he even reached out to touch the mist, an icy chill returning through his fingertips.

The coldness seeped into his skin the moment it touched him, attempting to burrow deeper through his flesh and meridians.

Hun Cang mobilized his strength, and the coldness was quickly annihilated.

"Though my strength is no longer what it was at my peak, I am still not someone a brat like you can bully." Sensing Hun Cang's movements within the mist, the old man shot out from behind the counter like lightning.

His hands clawed through the air, his fingertips coated in ice crystals. Amid the shriek of a gale heavy with pressure, he shot straight for Hun Cang's throat.

If that strike landed, it would pierce his throat at best and snap his neck at worst.

Just as the old man brimmed with confidence, a fist suddenly thrust out of the mist ahead without warning.

"What?!" Startled, the old man had no time to dodge. He slammed head-on into it, then flew backward at an even greater speed.

How could he have detected my movements?

Shock filled the old man's face. The white mist was a combat technique he had cultivated; once unleashed, it could block the five senses. Yet through the fluctuations within the mist, he could perceive every movement of everyone else.

"Impossible. It must have been a coincidence!" The old man climbed back to his feet.

His hands rapidly formed seals before his chest. Countless frigid currents surged forth, condensing into several dozen spiraling ice spikes.

"Go!" With the old man's low shout, the ice spikes tore through the air with sharp whooshes, shooting toward where Hun Cang stood.

After launching the attack, the old man was just about to catch his breath when the white mist before him churned violently, revealing the outline of a human figure.

Then, another fist emerged and smashed into the old man's other unguarded eye socket.

"How is this possible?!"

As the old man flew backward, an incredulous cry burst from his mouth.