At that moment, Zheng Li, still gripping the boy's wrist painfully, heard him cry out in terror, "Don't kill me! I didn't mean any harm!"
Zheng Li asked in an even voice, "Who are you?"
The boy didn't answer. He struggled, but when he realized Zheng Li's grip was astonishingly strong, he could only say plaintively, "I really didn't mean any harm. A while after night fell, I suddenly saw a ball of golden light hopping up and down in the distance in my village. I was curious about what it was, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye. I told my father, but he didn't believe me. He even scolded me, and then..."
"Then you waited until your family was asleep and sneaked out, hoping to find the golden light and prove to your father that you'd seen it, right?" Zheng Li interrupted, waving a hand.
The boy froze, then asked in surprise, "How did you know?!"
"But you couldn't find the golden light, so you noticed my tent and got curious. You wanted to come over and take a look, right?"
"How did you know?!" The boy's expression shifted from surprise to shock.
"Heh..." Zheng Li sneered. "Kid, do you think I'm that easy to fool? There isn't a single village anywhere nearby! At least make up a better excuse when you lie!"
He'd checked the map on his way here. There wasn't a single village along this path! Even the most remote settlements were marked on the mainland map. You never knew when a phoenix might rise from some patch of weeds, and Soul Masters and Soul Engineers were always scarce. Ordinary people still made up most of the continent's population.
Of course, there were secluded sects and clans. The Clear Sky Sect, which had