A Chance to Escape

Before long, Yan and Xie Yue returned with firewood, while Ghostly's figure solidified at the cave entrance like smoke.

The bonfire burned brighter, driving away the chill of the forest night.

Xie Yue looked at Yue Guan. "Elder, what are the arrangements for tomorrow?"

Yue Guan opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing within them. "We'll continue deeper into the Mixed Zone in the direction Nana sensed. If we still haven't found a suitable target by noon tomorrow, we'll advance another five li toward the Core Zone."

"Deeper still?" Yan frowned tightly. "Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beasts inhabit the Core Zone. There may even be lord-class beings over fifty thousand years old. Isn't that too risky?"

From the shadows came Ghostly's hoarse voice, carrying the indifference and confidence unique to a Titled Douluo:

"It's nothing. So long as we do not enter the true Forbidden Land, Yue Guan and I are more than capable of keeping you safe."

The heart of the Mixed Zone, near the edge of the Forbidden Land...

Yu Tiancheng listened in silence, his heartbeat quietly accelerating.

Danger often came with opportunity. The Spirit Beasts there were stronger, the terrain more complicated, and the environment more chaotic... Perhaps that was the chance he had been waiting for.

The range of his "Void Flash" was limited. Before a Titled Douluo, a ten-meter teleportation was practically meaningless.

Unless there was chaos vast enough and sudden enough to disrupt, or even sever, a Titled Douluo's perception and lock-on in an instant.

Even a gap of one or two seconds would be enough for him to make a crucial move in the perilous depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.

A plan quietly took shape in his heart.

He needed to wait, to endure, and even more, he needed a perfect, fleeting opportunity.

The bonfire crackled, illuminating the people in the cave, each lost in their own thoughts.

"What is Little Brother Lin thinking about?" Hu Liena's voice suddenly rang out.

Yu Tiancheng came back to his senses and realized that everyone was looking at him.

His heart tightened, but he put on an embarrassed smile. "This junior was only thinking about how to protect myself if we encounter a Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beast tomorrow. After all, this junior's strength is low, and I fear becoming a burden to everyone."

"Don't worry." Hu Liena spoke gently. "If there is real danger, Elder Yue and Elder Ghostly will protect you. Besides..."

She paused, an unusual gleam flashing through her eyes. "I believe Little Brother Lin has his own means of staying alive, doesn't he?"

The words sounded like reassurance, but Yu Tiancheng heard another layer of meaning in them.

The night deepened.

Yue Guan and Ghostly took turns keeping watch, while the three members of the Golden Generation each found a place to rest.

Yu Tiancheng was arranged near the cave entrance—within the range of protection, but also convenient to monitor.

He leaned against the cave wall with his eyes closed, pretending to rest. In truth, his Spiritual Power was highly focused, sensing every trace of movement around him.

Time slowly passed.

Outside the cave, the night in the Star Dou Great Forest was far from quiet.

The distant roars of Spirit Beasts, the rustling of night winds through the treetops, and the chirping of some unknown insect intertwined into a nocturne belonging to the forest.

Around midnight.

Yu Tiancheng closed his eyes and repeatedly worked through every possible escape plan in his mind.

The timing for activating Void Flash, the choice of escape route, how to create chaos, how to interfere with pursuit...

Every detail required precise calculation.

And just as he was wholly focused on his thoughts, he failed to notice—

On the other side of the cave, Hu Liena, with her back to him, had not truly fallen asleep.

Her breathing was light and steady, as though she had sunk into dreams, yet the eyes slightly open in the shadows were as clear as a cold pool.

The dying embers of the bonfire reflected two faint points of light in her eyes, revealing the turbulent thoughts in her heart as well.

This "Lin Fan"... was far too strange.

His disguise was nearly perfect, and his responses were flawless, just like a young Spirit Master of ordinary birth who had happened to become involved with a group of powerful figures.

Yet it was precisely this "perfection" that gave Hu Liena an indescribable sense of dissonance.

He was too composed.

Facing the pressure of a Titled Douluo, facing her seemingly casual probes time and again, his reactions were always just right—respectful, cautious, carrying a perfectly measured hint of nervousness and admiration.

But could a young Spirit Master who had truly come from an ordinary background really maintain such a flawless performance at all times under such pressure?

Hu Liena did not believe it.

She had seen too many people. Fear could not be hidden, especially late at night, beside a bonfire, when one's mind was at its most relaxed.

Yet even this "Lin Fan" controlled the rhythm of his breathing perfectly while pretending to sleep.

That in itself was the greatest flaw.

Who exactly are you? Hu Liena silently asked in her heart.

A descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan? The heir of some hidden power? Or... something else?

She could not be certain.

But one thing she was certain of: this person was anything but simple. He had to be hiding secrets, secrets that might be connected to the family and force behind him, or perhaps even to his true identity in some subtle way.

Keeping him was the right choice.

No matter who he was, it was better to keep him in the group than let him vanish into the depths of the forest and become an uncontrollable variable.

As for tomorrow...

Hu Liena's fingertips unconsciously brushed lightly across the blanket beneath her.

Tomorrow, the group would venture into the heart of the Mixed Zone. It was fraught with danger, but it was also the perfect place to observe a person's true reactions.

Before genuine danger, even the most flawless disguise might reveal cracks.

She needed to see more. To see the choices he made at the brink of life and death, to see what he revealed instinctively.

By then, perhaps everything would have an answer.

Outside the cave, the night grew deeper.

From the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest came a faint, low, terrifying roar, as though some ancient existence was awakening.

The sound was extraordinarily distant, yet it carried a pressure that pierced the soul, making even the air within the cave seem to freeze for an instant.

Yue Guan and Ghostly opened their eyes almost simultaneously. They exchanged a look, each seeing the gravity in the other's gaze.

"That sound..." Yue Guan murmured.

"It came from very deep within." Ghostly's voice was hoarse and slow. "At least from the depths of the Core Zone, perhaps... even farther in."

The nights at the heart of the Mixed Zone had never been peaceful.

And tomorrow, when the sun rose, a crisis no one could foresee would be waiting for this group.

What they were heading toward might not be merely the territory of a Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beast.

The darkness before dawn was at its deepest.

Inside the cave, the campfire was about to burn out.

Five people, each harboring their own thoughts, waited amid this brief calm for the unknown tomorrow.

Yu Tiancheng was working out his escape plan, Hu Liena was waiting for the right moment to observe, the two Titled Douluo remained alert to the disturbances deep in the forest, while Yan and Xie Yue conserved their strength.

The gears of fate had already begun to turn faster.

And that ominous roar from deep within the forest was like an alarm sounded in advance, foretelling that the dangers ahead far exceeded everyone's expectations.