Outer perimeter of the Border Wasteland.
The earth was a suffocating dark red, a hue stained by the blood of countless powerful beings that had never faded even after ages upon ages.
The wind howled as it swept through the sparse ancient trees, towering like mountains, producing strange sounds like the sobbing of vicious ghosts.
A dense, ancient aura permeated the air, weighing heavily upon the souls of every living being who set foot here.
Ye Xuan walked lightly, his azure robe swaying faintly in the breeze.
He strode with his hands behind his back, emitting no earth-shaking pressure. Yet the transcendent Dao aura around him, one with heaven and earth and impervious to all laws, drove away every strange presence within a hundred li.
Shi Hao followed close behind, his black hair spilling over his shoulders, resolute light flowing in his eyes as the Supreme Blood within him rumbled faintly.
The Witch, meanwhile, resembled a languid black swan. Her slender, water-snake waist swayed as a teasing curve touched her red lips, and she walked unhurriedly at Ye Xuan's side.
Ahead of them, the little white qilin was frolicking about.
This pure-blooded Ten Fiends cub was white as jade from head to toe, its crystalline scales gleaming with soft immortal light beneath the dim sky.
Its large eyes rolled incessantly. From time to time, it stopped to sniff the soil, or leaped atop a massive boulder to look around.
"Brother Ye, this little fellow seems to have sensed something," Shi Hao said softly. He could feel the little white qilin growing increasingly excited.
Ye Xuan nodded slightly, his gaze falling upon a valley ahead where jagged rocks pierced the sky. "It has sensed an aura woven into its destiny. Come, let's go meet an old acquaintance."
Before long, a group