Hou San had originally been an ordinary rogue cultivator.
But twenty days ago, his fate changed. While he was out killing monsters, one of them suddenly dropped a holy-grade secret manual: the Li Fire Forging Technique.
The result was only to be expected. The already fragile rogue cultivator team immediately fell into infighting, and its members slaughtered one another.
In the end, Hou San emerged victorious. The others were dead.
But he had never imagined that his companions would be so crazed. Even if they couldn't get anything for themselves, they absolutely wouldn't let him have it either. So the news quickly spread.
The news spread so fast that before he could even make it back to the safe zone, a group of people had surrounded him in these mountains. He'd been unable to return to the safe zone ever since.
Fortunately, he was also skilled in disguise and good at changing his appearance. Relying on his forgettable, nobody-in-particular presence, he had secretly infiltrated a team of rogue cultivators searching for the Li Fire Forging Technique.
Clearly, Hou San's plan had worked. He had slipped into the search party without anyone noticing, and the others had no idea he was among them.
That group, however, had been searching all over for remote places like caves and valleys. Naturally, they'd found nothing.
"Almost there. I'll be out of here soon."
Hou San suppressed his excitement. After spending twenty days with the team, he'd gotten to know its members well. With a few hints from him, they had gradually made their way to the outskirts of the mountain range.
All he had to do was find an excuse to slip away from the team, and he could escape without anyone noticing, break through the encirclement, and make it out alive.
Surely no