The spiritual energy within the Mist Mountains was extremely dense, yet the place was utterly silent, with only the sound of his feet treading on the earth.
Looking around, everything was barren and bare, giving off a lifeless feeling, as though he had entered a dead zone, a Calamity Land.
He bent down and grabbed some soil, sensing the power contained within it. There was no vitality in the dirt; instead, it contained a chaotic power. Though this power was extremely faint, it was also extremely strong.
Faint meant that the power was nearly dissipated, while strong meant that its grade was exceedingly high. It was like gold dust mixed into the soil—there might be little of it, but that did not make it worthless.
"Ah..."
A miserable scream suddenly rang out in the distance, then quickly vanished.
He headed toward where the scream had come from and soon arrived at an area where there was only a corpse. The body was shriveled and appeared to have been dead for a long time, but his expression changed the moment he saw it.
That was because the corpse belonged to the richly dressed youth who had given them advice not long ago. The other party had been quite strong, yet he had died here in such a bizarre manner.
All of his life essence had been devoured, and there were no major signs of battle in the surroundings. Clearly, the fight had ended in an instant.
What an unlucky start. He had encountered something so strange right after entering the Mist Mountains, and a grave feeling arose in his heart.
"Eh? Is this a pattern? A Willow Tree pattern?"
Not far away stood a stone stele. There was nothing on it except for the image of a Willow Tree.
"Could it