Far From the Madding Crowd

About two days after the battle in the swamp.

Xu Yuan walked along the edge of the Dark Mountain Range, eventually crawling out of an inconspicuous cave.

Looking at the completely unfamiliar surroundings before him, Xu Yuan once again had no idea where he was. He had lost his sense of direction long ago during the chase and escape. For the past two days, all he had thought about was getting away from the swamp, away from that Foundation Establishment cultivator.

As for where he was, he truly had not given it any thought.

But for him now, where he was did not seem all that important.

After emerging from the Dark Mountain Range and traveling an unknown distance outward, the savage, dangerous scenery of the deep mountains, with its chaotic spiritual energy, finally vanished from sight. In its place lay stretches of gentle hills, and in the far distance, crisscrossing fields and curling smoke from cooking fires could be seen.

Clearly, he had arrived in the world of mortals.

Thanks to his unreasonably formidable physique, the injuries on his body had healed seventy or eighty percent while he traveled.

At the same time, because of that battle, his cultivation of life and essence had truly reached its absolute peak, arriving at the pinnacle of Qi Refinement in their respective senses.

Yet Xu Yuan was not flaunting himself in the slightest. Instead, his aura grew ever more restrained, like ancient jade covered in dust.

After changing into a washed-out coarse cloth outfit he had found in some abandoned shack, he transformed his Spirit Martial Weapon into an unremarkable ebony staff and hid away all his storage bags and conspicuous belongings.

At that moment, Xu Yuan looked like an ordinary young man, weathered between the brows yet lean and sturdy. Only