The Mysterious Map

Early the next morning, Chen Huang got up.

He went over to Xiao Shan's house and took a look. The fire in the stove had already gone out.

Tang Hao had a habit: the stove fire never went out, twenty-four hours a day. First, it was needed for smithing and had to be prepared in advance. Second, their home was close to the Back Mountain, where it was damp and chilly. Only a roaring stove could keep the house warm. This made Chen Huang sigh that Tang Hao really was a thoughtful, good father.

Xiao Shan was not some powerful Soul Master either. She was not much stronger than an ordinary person, so the cold, damp house was bad for her as well.

Now that the stove had gone out, there was only one explanation: Tang Hao had risen even earlier, and they had already left.

And just as Chen Huang had guessed, Tang Hao had set off early with Xiao Shan. He could have flown there and flown back, but that would have meant missing many things along the way.

Training his daughter was one of his goals in the first place. So he took her there on foot. When Xiao Shan could no longer walk, Tang Hao would simply carry her. He also wanted her to see the market town on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, broaden her horizons, and experience the treachery of human nature firsthand.

After discovering they were gone, Chen Huang slung a bundle over his back and prepared to set off as well. After all, he did not have a Storage Soul Tool, so this was the best he could do.

That was right, he had plans of his own too. His Soul Power was only a little above Level Four, still far from Level Five, let alone Level Ten. In any case, it was not yet time for him to obtain his First Soul Ring.

He had found a map tucked inside the cover of a travel journal in the library. The place recorded on it was near Sacred Soul Village, only a few kilometers away. For Chen Huang, that was a piece of cake.

That place was called the Fasino Mountain Range.

The Fasino Mountain Range was quite vast. Anyone unfamiliar with it might get lost among its peaks. But with this map, Chen Huang naturally was not afraid of losing his way. It was incredibly detailed, recording everything from mountain peaks to small rivers.

Before long, Chen Huang arrived at the closest point of the Fasino Mountain Range to Sacred Soul Village.

"Why is this a cliff?!" Chen Huang cried out at the sky.

He had just been praising how well-made the map was, yet this was all it amounted to.

He sincerely felt that maps from his previous life had been much better. Contour lines, cliffs, valleys, ridges—everything could be seen clearly. If he had known this place was a cliff, he would have taken a detour long ago.

"Wait, I think I might still be able to salvage this." Chen Huang muttered.

He opened the Chat Group and sent a message.

Loli Connoisseur: @Great Fat Sheep of the Ninja World, Tsunade sis, are you there?

Tsunade had been enjoying a soak in the hot springs when she suddenly heard, "Ding, you have one unread message."

"What's wrong? In the middle of the night?"

Time flowed differently in different worlds. The flow of time in Tsunade's world was fairly similar to Chen Huang's, but their clocks were still out of sync, so it happened to be nighttime on Tsunade's side.

Great Fat Sheep of the Ninja World: What's wrong?

Loli Connoisseur: It's complicated to explain. I'll just start a livestream.

Chen Huang immediately opened the livestream.

Tsunade entered the stream and saw that it was still daytime on Chen Huang's side. But she was no longer surprised by such strange phenomena.

On the light screen, Chen Huang pointed at the cliff ahead and said, "Tsunade sis, with the Chakra control technique from your world, would climbing this be easy?"

Great Fat Sheep of the Ninja World: So you want my Chakra control technique?

Tsunade had not uploaded that skill, because she had never considered whether such a technique could even be uploaded. That was why Chen Huang could not find it in the Mall.

Great Fat Sheep of the Ninja World: I knew it. You brat calls me sis whenever you need something, but calls me Tsunade when you don't. Honestly.

Chen Huang gave an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry, Tsunade sis. Didn't I already apologize? How about this: next time your little brother finds something that beautifies and preserves youth, I'll save it all for you, okay?"

Great Fat Sheep of the Ninja World: Save that sort of thing for your little girlfriend. Do you really think I need it?

Great Fat Sheep of the Ninja World: It's not that I won't give it to you. It's just that you can't climb this cliff that way.

Great Fat Sheep of the Ninja World: Look at the rock face. Even if you attach Chakra to your feet, you won't be able to go far, because the rock beneath your feet will crack apart on its own. It's heavily weathered already. So my advice is, if you want to get up there, take a detour.

Hundred Year Old Virgin: My Cloud Climbing Steps would be suitable for scaling this cliff, but you are young, little friend, and lack sufficient Internal Force. You cannot make it up. This old Daoist agrees with Tsunade—you should take a detour.

Once a group member started a livestream, the others naturally received a notification. So not only Zhang Sanfeng, but Yang Jian and Zephyr had entered the group stream as well. Everyone except Xiao Fugui.

Xiao Fugui's Hong Family Restaurant had not been open for long, and he had only a few hands working there. He had to handle nearly everything himself and was busy to death, so he had gone to sleep by now.

The other two shared roughly the same opinion.

Best Uncle in the Three Realms: What are you doing out there by yourself?

Chen Huang took out the map from his bundle and smiled. "For this. I'm here to hunt for treasure."

Chen Huang explained, "I found it tucked into the cover of a travel journal in my school's library. I discovered it a few days before the holiday."

"That travel journal recorded the various experiences of its author, Count Ye Ke. I looked him up. Before his death, Count Ye Ke was a Level 93 Titled Douluo."

"A travel journal written by a Titled Douluo naturally caught my interest."

Black Arm Zephyr: Like the sailing logs in my world, you want to see whether you can find some extraordinary places he once visited?

Chen Huang explained, "Actually, in the Douluo World, becoming a Titled Douluo is extremely difficult unless you have exceptional talent and an inheritance. This man was a Titled Douluo, yet he was only a count. That is the strangest part."

"After he became a Titled Douluo, the Heaven Dou Empire wanted to recruit him and offered him the rank of duke, but he refused. That isn't the point, though. His title of count shows that his family did not have much of an inheritance. That means he must have had some extraordinary encounter to become a Titled Douluo. It was only because the travel journal was so old that its cover had aged and cracked, allowing me to discover this map. If not for the map, I would never have read that travel journal."

"I suspect this map records the location where he encountered that opportunity."

Great Fat Sheep of the Ninja World: That's a bold guess. The possibility is high, but didn't the travel journal mention any extraordinary encounter?

Chen Huang said, "It didn't. The journal only had half its contents, recording events before he became a Soul Ancestor. But this map really is suspicious. It's nearby, so I came to take a look. There is nothing to lose, anyway."

Hundred Year Old Virgin: Little friend, this is far too dangerous. Doesn't your world have many Soul Beasts in the wilderness? What will you do if you encounter one?

Chen Huang's expression turned strange. He said, "I looked through a lot of books, and they all said there were hardly any Soul Beasts here. That's why I dared to come. But now that you mention it, it does seem a little strange. How could a mountain range this large have practically nothing in it? It doesn't quite add up."