Great Wilderness Poison Zone Outer Ring.
Lu Chen trod over rotting black mud and old, withered fallen leaves that carpeted the ground.
He held little A-Nan tightly protected against his chest.
Taking great strides in a direction where there was no path at all, he pressed ever deeper inside.
He had advanced less than three li into the edge of this deep Great Wilderness.
Then, from the crowns of the towering trees that blotted out the sky overhead, an exceptionally shrill screech of air being torn apart suddenly rang out.
Three dazzling blue streaks shot over, rapidly circling above the very tops of the dense canopy.
They were three great cultivators in blue robes, standing atop immortal flying swords.
These three blue-robed elites were the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage executive stewards of the Azure Firmament Sword Sect, responsible for the routine grand patrol around the entire outer ring of the poison zone.
They had been circling through the skies above this outer-ring forest all along. They had not seen the earthshaking commotion of the great battle at Bloodrock Market in Black Mud City, and knew nothing of what had truly happened there.
The patrol captain at the front gripped a palm-sized Spirit-Tracking Stone tightly in his hand.
This immortal stone, specially used to track the living aura of fugitives on the move, was now shaking wildly.
Its surface repeatedly flashed with blinding crimson alarm lights, bathing the faces of the three men in a scorching red glow.
The patrol captain glanced down at the Spirit-Tracking Stone and immediately bared his teeth.
He threw back his head and laughed coldly at the forest below.
"The red light is completely full!"
The captain pointed his thumb at the foul-smelling forest beneath them.
"No need to investigate further!"
"The one walking down there