Deep into the Wilderness, Danger Lurked on Every Side

The following afternoon, the outline of the Shadowy Mountain Range finally appeared at the edge of their vision.

It was a range of rolling black mountains, like a giant beast crouched on the horizon. Dense fog shrouded the slopes, and even from dozens of miles away, they could feel the chill radiating from them. The sunlight seemed to deliberately avoid the area, while lead-gray clouds piled over the mountains year-round.

"That's the Shadowy Mountain Range." Sun Wanting stopped and pointed into the distance. "According to Zhou Ming's map, everything within thirty miles of the range falls into an 'abnormal zone.'"

Lin Fan followed the direction of her finger.

The forest at the foot of the mountains was an unnatural color. The leaves weren't green, but a grayish brown, as though something had drained the life from them. Birds occasionally burst from the trees, but their flight was erratic, as if they were fleeing something.

"The temperature's dropping," Bai Susu said softly. She held out her hand, palm up. "It's at least five degrees colder than before."

Indeed, the closer they got to the mountains, the chillier the air became. It wasn't the dry cold of winter, but a damp chill, carrying a rotting stench that seemed to seep into their bones.

Shadow returned from scouting ahead, his expression even graver than the day before.

"Five miles ahead, there are tracks from large numbers of Demonic Beasts," he reported. "They aren't just moving about randomly. It looks like...a migration. At least a hundred beasts of different kinds are all heading in the same direction—Cannibal Valley."

"A hundred?" Chen Dahu drew a sharp breath. "Aren't they afraid of attacking each other?"

"That's what's abnormal." Lin Fan's voice was low. "Normally, different kinds of Demonic Beasts would be wary of each other, or even fight. But beasts affected by Soul Power Crystals can temporarily suppress their instincts and gather around the source of the fluctuation."

He remembered the note in the black-robed man's booklet: a blood sacrifice of three thousand Demonic Beasts.

If there were already a hundred on the way, even more might have gathered in Cannibal Valley. The number three thousand was probably no exaggeration.

"We need to pick up the pace." Sun Wanting glanced at the sky. "We have to reach the outskirts of the mountains and make camp today. We'll enter the mountains first thing tomorrow morning. The night of the full moon is tomorrow night, so we only have a day and a half left."

The team set off again, but this time everyone was on high alert.

Once they entered the abnormal zone, the changes in the surroundings became even more obvious.

The trees grew in twisted shapes, with knot-like growths on their branches. The ground was soft and slippery, and every step left a deep print and released a faint stench of decay. The sickly-sweet, fishy smell in the air grew stronger; even with a Purifying Heart Pill in their mouths, they could still smell it faintly.

"Something's approaching," Shadow suddenly murmured. "Ahead and to the left, three hundred meters. There are...a lot."

Everyone immediately went into battle formation.

Chen Dahu raised his heavy shield to protect the flank. Sun Wanting drew both her blades, and Lin Fan tightened his grip on his sword. Bai Susu moved to the center, already holding numbing powder and healing medicine at the ready.

A few seconds later, a dense rustling came from the woods.

It wasn't the sound of footsteps, but of something scraping along the ground—a sound that set their teeth on edge.

Then they appeared.

They were a pack of Rotten Bone Lizards—2nd Tier Demonic Beasts, nearly two meters long, with gray-green skin coated in slime. Their eyes were cloudy yellow, and corrosive saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths. When it hit the ground, wisps of white smoke rose.

Even stranger, the Rotten Bone Lizards moved in perfect unison. More than a dozen lined up in two rows like a trained army, slowly advancing on the team. Their eyes were vacant. They had none of a predator's savagery, only the hollow stare of creatures under someone's control.

"They're being controlled," Lin Fan judged. "Watch out for their saliva and tails. They're poisonous."

The Rotten Bone Lizards stopped thirty meters away and lifted their heads in unison, opening their mouths.

"Spread out!" Sun Wanting shouted.

Almost at the same moment, more than a dozen streaks of dark green poison shot toward them like arrows.

Lin Fan threw himself to the side and rolled. The poison grazed his back and struck a tree trunk, eating a fist-sized hole into it before their eyes. Chen Dahu blocked the attack with his heavy shield. White smoke rose from its surface as the metal corroded into a patchwork of pockmarks.

"We can't just stand here and take it!" Lin Fan rose, his sword already drawn.

Gale Sword Technique—he hadn't yet reached Mastery Level, but at the peak of Minor Accomplishment, it already had considerable force.

He charged the lizard pack, his sword flashing like the wind.

His first strike slashed at the neck of the lizard in front. Rotten Bone Lizard hide was tough, but his blade was infused with essence energy and cut through its flesh with ease. The lizard's head rolled away. Rank, foul blood splashed out, and white smoke rose from the ground.

[Killed Rotten Bone Lizard (mid 2nd Tier): Proficiency +40]

[Gale Sword Technique proficiency +8]

[Combat Instinct proficiency +5]

The system notifications flashed by, but Lin Fan had no time to look closely.

The second and third lizards lunged at him at the same time, one on either side, their tails whipping toward his legs.

Lin Fan leaped up and touched the ground with his sword tip to propel himself higher. His body twisted in midair, and his blade traced an arc. Both lizards' tails were severed at the base, and they writhed in pain.

The instant he landed, he used Basic Footwork. His figure moved like a ghost, dodging the fourth lizard's bite before thrusting his sword into its eye and straight through its brain.

In a mere three breaths, four 2nd Tier Demonic Beasts were dead.

Elsewhere, Sun Wanting and Chen Dahu had also dealt with their opponents. Sun Wanting's twin blades spun like wheels, and wherever their gleam passed, severed limbs flew. Chen Dahu was simpler and more brutal: he smashed with his heavy shield, each blow carrying a thousand jin of force. The lizards he struck had their bones crushed to pieces.

Shadow didn't join the direct fighting. Instead, he circled the perimeter, focusing on lizards trying to spit poison. His short blade stabbed precisely into their throats, stopping them from spraying.

Bai Susu kept a close eye on the battle. Whenever someone risked being splashed by poison, she threw a handful of white powder—the neutralizing powder could temporarily suppress its corrosive effects.

The battle lasted fifteen minutes.

When Lin Fan beheaded the last Rotten Bone Lizard, the forest fell silent again—if one ignored the corpses covering the ground and the pungent stench.

"Clear the battlefield and leave quickly," Sun Wanting said, panting. "The smell of blood and poison will draw more things here."

They quickly gathered the Demonic Cores. The Rotten Bone Lizards' cores were dark green with gray markings on the surface, clearly contaminated. Lin Fan deliberately checked them with the system:

[Item: Rotten Bone Lizard Demonic Core (Contaminated)]

[Quality: Mortal Tier Mid Grade (Abnormal State)]

[Status: Contains a faint aura of evil. Direct absorption is not recommended.]

[Recommendation: Use after purification, or process as a material.]

"These cores are all contaminated," Lin Fan warned. "Keep them for now. Don't absorb them directly."

Chen Dahu nodded and put the cores into a specially made containment bag.

Just as they were preparing to leave, Shadow suddenly raised his hand. "Wait."

He crouched down and carefully examined one of the Rotten Bone Lizard corpses.

"What is it?" Lin Fan asked.

"Look here." Shadow pointed to the back of the lizard's neck.

There was a tiny wound there, not from the battle but an old one that had already healed. The skin around it was abnormally grayish white, and something could faintly be seen wriggling beneath it.

Lin Fan used his sword tip to pry open the skin.

A black needle, about half an inch long, was embedded inside. Its shaft was covered in runes so tiny they were almost invisible.

"A Control Needle." Sun Wanting's expression darkened. "The Shadow Society isn't just using the crystal's fluctuations to lure Demonic Beasts. They've also implanted Control Needles in certain key beasts to control them more precisely."

Bai Susu carefully pulled out the black needle with a pair of tweezers and examined it in her palm. "It's coated with a neurotoxin and tracking runes. That means...the Shadow Society may know where we are."

As soon as she finished speaking, a long wolf howl rang out in the distance.

It wasn't an ordinary howl. It had a certain rhythm to it, as though it were sending a signal.

A second howl followed, then a third, answering from different directions.

"We're surrounded." Shadow rose, short blade in hand. "There are a lot of them, at least thirty. And...one of them has a powerful aura. It could be 3rd Tier."

The pack appeared far sooner than they had expected.

They emerged from the shadows among the trees, their steps orderly and their eyes just as vacant. These were Shadow Wolves, upper 2nd Tier Demonic Beasts known for stealth and ambush. Their fur blended into the surroundings, making them nearly invisible in the shadows.

But now they weren't hiding. They were approaching openly, forming a perfect circle around the team.

Behind the pack, an especially huge Shadow Wolf slowly appeared.

It stood nearly two meters at the shoulder and stretched over four meters from nose to tail. Its silver-gray fur gleamed like metal in the dim light. Most striking were its eyes: the left was a normal deep green, but the right was cloudy gray-white, with a tiny black speck in the pupil, as though something had been implanted there.

A 3rd Tier Demonic Beast, the Shadow Wolf King.

"This is bad." Sun Wanting gripped her twin blades. "A 3rd Tier Demonic Beast is equivalent to a 3rd Grade Martial Master, and this Wolf King has clearly been enhanced."

Lin Fan quickly assessed the situation.

Among the five of them, Sun Wanting was a 3rd Grade Martial Master, while he and Chen Dahu were 2nd Grade Martial Artists. Bai Susu was a 2nd Grade Martial Artist, but specialized in medicine. Shadow's strength was unknown, though he was probably around 3rd Grade.

Against more than thirty 2nd Tier Shadow Wolves and one 3rd Tier Wolf King, their chances were slim.

Especially since they had just come from another battle and had already spent some of their strength and essence energy.

"We can't fight them head-on," Lin Fan said quietly. "We need a chance to break through. Our goal is the Shadowy Mountain Range, not dying in a fight here."

"Agreed," Shadow said. "I'll hold off the Wolf King while you break through."

"You're going to fight the Wolf King alone?" Chen Dahu's eyes widened.

"I only need to hold it off, not kill it," Shadow said calmly. "I have a way to escape. The important thing is that you move fast. Once the pack closes in completely, it'll be hard to get out."

Sun Wanting took a deep breath. "All right. We'll do as Shadow says. Lin Fan, you and I will clear the way. Dahu, protect Susu in the middle. Shadow, the Wolf King is yours. Watch out for its right eye."

Their roles were clear. There was no time to hesitate.

The wolves began closing in.

"Charge!"

Sun Wanting moved first. Her twin blades became a silver whirlwind as she slashed at the three Shadow Wolves in front. One wolf lost its forelegs to the blades, and the other two retreated in panic.

Lin Fan followed close behind, his sword flashing like a waterfall.

He unleashed Gale Sword Technique with all his strength, pushing his sword speed to its limit. Every strike aimed precisely at a Shadow Wolf's weak points—its eyes, throat, and heart. His sword lacked the ferocity of Sun Wanting's blade work, but it was deadlier and more efficient.

[Killed Shadow Wolf (upper 2nd Tier): Proficiency +50]

[Gale Sword Technique proficiency +12]

[Killed Shadow Wolf (upper 2nd Tier): Proficiency +50]

[Gale Sword Technique proficiency +12]

The system notifications kept appearing, but Lin Fan had entered a strange state.

He saw only his sword, his enemies, and the next place he needed to strike. His body seemed to have a memory of its own. Every dodge and every strike came at just the right moment, without thought, guided entirely by instinct.

It was the result of years of cultivation, of reactions etched into his bones through countless repetitions.

In this state, his Gale Sword Technique proficiency grew rapidly.

1620/5000...1650/5000...1700/5000...

By then, Shadow had already engaged the Shadow Wolf King.

He didn't meet it head-on, instead using his speed to circle around it. His short blade darted out like a venomous snake's tongue, each strike aimed at the Wolf King's eyes, joints, or other weak points. The Wolf King roared again and again, smashing the ground with its claws, but it could never catch the slippery human.

But a 3rd Tier Demonic Beast was no ordinary opponent.

After a missed pounce, the Wolf King's right eye suddenly glowed gray.

Shadow's heart tightened. He retreated at full speed, but he was still a step too slow.

The gray light swept across his left arm. His arm guard instantly crumbled to powder, and his skin was left with a corrosive wound that went down to the bone.

"Watch its right eye!" Shadow shouted through the pain. "It's a corrosion ray!"

At his words, Lin Fan's heart clenched.

He looked at the Wolf King and saw the gray light gathering in its right eye again. It was clearly preparing to fire a second time.

He had to stop it!

"Sun Wanting, cover me!"

Lin Fan abruptly changed direction. Instead of pushing forward to break through, he charged at the Wolf King.

"Lin Fan, are you crazy?!" Chen Dahu cried.

But Lin Fan had already charged ahead.

He calculated the distance, his speed, and the Wolf King's habits. Countless pieces of data flowed through his mind—the battle information the system had recorded over time, all of it called up at once.

The Wolf King noticed the little human daring to charge at it and angrily opened its jaws, ready to tear him apart.

But when Lin Fan was five meters away, he suddenly changed direction.

He didn't charge in a straight line, but curved around it.

The Wolf King turned its head on instinct, its right eye's gray light locking onto Lin Fan.

Now!

Lin Fan pushed off the ground and shot forward like an arrow—not ahead, but upward.

He leaped three meters into the air, his sword pointed down.

There was nothing fancy about this strike. It had only speed and precision.

Its target—the Wolf King's right eye.

The Wolf King sensed the danger and tried to shut its eye, but it was too late.

The sword point pierced the cloudy eyeball with a grating sound.

"AWOOOO—!!!"

A shrill wolf howl rang through the forest.

The Wolf King shook its head wildly, flinging Lin Fan away. He crashed hard into a tree, pain shooting through his ribs. At least two of them had broken.

But he had succeeded.

The Wolf King's right eye had been pierced. The gray light vanished, and blood mixed with black fluid spilled from its eye socket. It writhed in agony, crashing into several trees and knocking them over.

[Dealt heavy damage to a 3rd Tier Demonic Beast: Proficiency +300 (tier advantage bonus)]

[Gale Sword Technique proficiency +60]

[Gale Sword Technique level up: Minor Accomplishment → Mastery Level (0/10000)]

[Sword technique power increased by 20%, sword speed increased by 30%, essence energy consumption reduced by 15%]

[New trait learned: Sword Wind (attacks carry wind pressure, slightly disrupting an enemy's balance)]

He'd broken through!

At the brink of life and death, Lin Fan's Gale Sword Technique had finally reached Mastery Level.

He forced himself to his feet despite the pain, feeling the power surging through him. The breakthrough wasn't just a change in the numbers. It was a transformation—his understanding of the sword and his perception of the wind had both reached a new level.

"Lin Fan, move!"

Sun Wanting had already broken through a gap. Chen Dahu protected Bai Susu as they followed close behind. Shadow had also shaken off the wolves and was heading back to join them.

The Wolf King was badly wounded, but the pack was still there. And the commotion might have drawn something even more troublesome.

Lin Fan stopped fighting and turned to run.

The wolves tried to pursue them, but the Wolf King's injury threw their command system into disarray, and they no longer moved as one. A few Shadow Wolves gave chase, but Sun Wanting and Shadow dispatched them with ease.

The team burst through the encirclement and sprinted headlong toward the depths of the Shadowy Mountain Range.

They ran for ten miles. Only after confirming that the pack wasn't following did they stop in a secluded mountain hollow.

Everyone was covered in wounds.

Lin Fan had two broken ribs, and three deep claw marks on his left arm, each going down to the bone. Sun Wanting had taken a blow from a wolf's tail to the back, slightly dislocating her spine. Chen Dahu's shield was badly damaged, and the flesh at the base of both his thumbs had split open. Shadow's corrosive wound on his left arm needed urgent treatment. Bai Susu was the least injured, but she had spent a great deal of essence energy casting pain-relief spells for the others.

"Let me treat your wounds first." Bai Susu opened her medical kit and began preparing medicine.

She treated Shadow's corrosive wound first, rinsing it with a special solution, applying a healing salve, and bandaging it. Then she treated Lin Fan's ribs: setting them, securing them, and giving him medicine. After that came Sun Wanting's spine, which required precise manipulation to put it back in place.

The entire process lasted half an hour.

By the time they had dealt with the last person, darkness had completely fallen.

"We can't spend the night here," Shadow said through the pain. "The battle was too loud. The Shadow Society must have noticed. We have to keep moving—at least until we reach the complicated terrain of the Shadowy Mountain Range, where we might have a chance to hide."

Sun Wanting looked at Lin Fan. "Can you manage with your injuries?"

Lin Fan tried circulating the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Origin Art. Vital energy flowed through his wounds, bringing waves of stabbing pain, but it was bearable.

"I can." He nodded. "The broken bones have been set, so they won't affect my movement. The key is... we have to reach Cannibal Valley before the full moon."

According to the information in the black-robed man's booklet, the ritual would begin on the night of the full moon. There was a day and a half left, and time was so tight they had to count it by the hour.

"Then we keep going." Sun Wanting gritted her teeth and stood up. "But we can slow down and focus on staying hidden. The Shadow Society is definitely hunting for us now. We can't risk another large-scale battle."

They ate a little dried food, drank some water, and set off again.

This time, they were even more cautious.

Though Shadow's left arm was injured, his scouting skills remained excellent. He chose a more concealed route—not any of the routes on Zhou Ming's map, but one he planned on the spot based on the terrain. It was a longer way around, but the route was lined with cliffs, dense forests, and caves, all suitable places to hide.

The Shadowy Mountain Range was even more dangerous at night.

The fog thickened until visibility was less than ten meters. The air's sickly-sweet smell was now mixed with a faint stench of decay, as if something were rotting in the darkness.

Occasionally, ghostly green lights flickered in the distance—the eyes of Demonic Beasts. Strangely, though, they didn't attack the group. They hurried along, all heading toward Cannibal Valley.

"They're 'making a pilgrimage,'" Lin Fan whispered. "They've been drawn by the ritual and are heading to the final sacrificial ground."

The realization weighed heavily on everyone.

A blood sacrifice of three thousand Demonic Beasts... If the Shadow Society really succeeded, what kind of being would they summon?

What, exactly, was the Abyssal Eye?

At midnight, the group found a natural cave and decided to rest there for two hours.

The cave wasn't deep, but its entrance was concealed and the inside was dry. Shadow set up warning traps at the entrance and scattered odor-masking powder, which would at least keep them safe for a little while.

They took turns keeping watch while the others hurried to meditate and recover.

Lin Fan sat just inside the cave entrance, circulating the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Origin Art to heal his injuries as he checked the Status Panel.

[Character: Lin Fan]

[Age: 16]

[Realm: 2nd Grade Martial Artist (Third Stage)]

[Vital Energy: 1200/2500 (Recovering)]

[Technique: Nine Revolutions Mysterious Origin Art, Second Revolution (Proficiency 500/1000)]

[Martial Skills: Basic Fist Technique (Mastered), Basic Sword Technique (Mastered), Gale Sword Technique (Mastered 0/10000), Iron Body Skill (Perfected)]

[Special: Gale Sword Intent (Beginner 1/1000)]

[Support Skills: Alchemy (Beginner 50/100), High Temperature Resistance (Beginner 5/100), Teamwork (Proficient 80/500)]

[Skill Points: 0]

[Storage Space: 1 cubic meter (0.9 used)]

Breaking through to mastery in the Gale Sword Technique had noticeably increased his strength. But it still wasn't enough to face the crisis ahead.

He needed to grow stronger.

He needed to break through to 3rd Grade Martial Master, cultivate the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Origin Art to a higher level, and... comprehend true sword intent.

But there wasn't enough time.

"Can't sleep?"

Sun Wanting's voice came from beside him. She was on the first watch and sat in the shadows by the cave entrance, gazing out at the heavy darkness.

"My wounds hurt a little." Lin Fan didn't tell her the truth.

Sun Wanting fell silent for a moment, then said, "Thank you for that strike earlier. If you hadn't badly wounded the wolf king, we might not have made it out."

"It was the right thing to do." Lin Fan shook his head. "We're teammates."

"Teammates..." Sun Wanting repeated the word, her voice distant. "My father used to say it all the time. He said that in the Wilderness, a teammate was someone you could trust with your back."

She paused. "Lin Fan, if... I mean, if we can't stop the Shadow Society this time, what will you do?"

Lin Fan didn't answer right away.

He looked at the fog billowing outside the cave and thought of Jiangnan City, of Xiaoyu, of the ordinary yet real life he'd left behind.

"There's no 'if.'" He spoke at last. "We have to stop them."

"Even if it costs you your life?"

"Even if it costs me my life."

Sun Wanting turned her head. In the dim light, her eyes shone startlingly bright.

"Good," she said. "Then together, we'll smash that damned ritual to pieces."

Two hours later, before dawn, the group set out again.

Shadow returned with bad news: while scouting, he had discovered new signs of black-robed activity. There were quite a few of them, and they were setting up some kind of detection formation. This meant the Shadow Society had begun a full-scale search, and the group's whereabouts could be exposed at any moment.

"We have to change routes." Shadow spread out Zhou Ming's map and traced a new path with his finger. "We'll go around to the northern side of the range, then approach Cannibal Valley from the back. It'll take half a day longer, but it should be safer."

"Then we'll take that route." Sun Wanting made the decision. "Safety first."

But just as they were preparing to change direction, a piercing scream suddenly rang out in the distance.

It was a human voice.

And... it sounded somewhat familiar.

Lin Fan's heart clenched.

Was that... Zhou Ming's voice?