A Little X-Ray Doesn't Count as Cheating

Having just finished reading the introduction to the Greedy Mouth talent, Zhou Yao heard a burst of clattering.

Yellow Wind Little Sage opened his huge mouth and, like a fountain, spat out the wind, sand, and debris he had swallowed in one gulp earlier.

Without mana to drive it, however, the sandstorm tornado had been reduced to nothing more than a gust of strong wind and a pile of yellow sand. The scraps crushed by the wind and sand were even harder to recognize in their original forms.

Looking at the living room, now a complete mess, Zhou Yao's mouth twitched.

It took Zhou Yao over an hour to clear the trash from the living room, and he even went upstairs and downstairs to apologize to his neighbors.

If he did not take the initiative to apologize in person, news would probably spread through the entire neighborhood within half a day that Zhou Yao had been visited by debt collectors who smashed and looted his home.

After wrapping everything up, Zhou Yao finally relaxed completely and examined Yellow Wind Little Sage's specific changes.

After advancing from Scavenger First Rank to Scavenger Second Rank, he had only gained an auxiliary talent, but Zhou Yao could clearly sense that the additional talent had multiplied Yellow Wind Little Sage's mana and physical strength.

As for the new Greedy Mouth talent, Zhou Yao gradually came to understand its effects.

Simply put, Greedy Mouth could sense the location of treasures to a certain extent. When actively cast, it could devour all things, but if the target was a living creature or worthless junk, it could only be swallowed temporarily and could not remain inside Greedy Mouth for long.

Only valuable Mythic Materials could be stored within Greedy Mouth.

Moreover, if the devoured target far surpassed Yellow Wind Little Sage in rank, it could even forcibly break free from Greedy Mouth.

Although it came with all sorts of limitations, as a Spiritual Dust-quality talent, it possessed crowd control, treasure hunting, and storage effects. Zhou Yao was already extremely satisfied.

In particular, the emergence of Greedy Mouth meant that Yellow Wind Little Sage could freely bring precious Mythic Materials out of the Celestial Circuit Realm.

Especially in the operations to come, this trait would prove even more effective.

"Next up, it's treasure-hunting time!"

Zhou Yao murmured softly as he controlled Yellow Wind Little Sage and stepped into the Mythic Invasion node.

Returning to that eerie forest, Yellow Wind Little Sage transformed into a light breeze and swiftly moved away from the Great Banyan Tree's vicinity.

Although two Scavenger Perfection experts had fought before the Great Banyan Tree earlier without triggering any abnormalities, Yellow Wind Little Sage had always felt uneasy when facing it. Every instinct in him urged him to get away from this place.

Trusting his instincts, Yellow Wind Little Sage decisively chose to follow his heart.

After traveling for over half an hour, Yellow Wind Little Sage finally left that eerie forest region and entered a mountain woodland.

The trees in this woodland cast deep shade, forming a stark contrast to the Deadwood Forest barely a hundred meters away. It was as though two separate regions had been forcibly stitched together.

Along the way, he had not discovered any traces of other Mythic Walkers.

"Is this new region simply too vast to encounter anyone in such a short time, or have the Four Great Megacorporations and the Yinshan Investigation Branch not yet dispatched Mythic Walker squads?"

The two possibilities flashed through his mind, but Yellow Wind Little Sage had no time to dwell on them.

Yellow Wind Little Sage stuck out his tongue and licked his gleaming buck teeth.

The instant his tongue touched the surface of his teeth, a strange sensation spread from his mouth. It was an indescribable yearning, as though every cell in his body were calling out for something precious.

Greedy Mouth's treasure-seeking ability was fully activated at that moment.

Yellow Wind Little Sage's senses instantly spread outward, covering an area of more than ten kilometers around him.

Within his perception, the aura of treasures existed in every direction. Those auras were like lamps, flashing with lights of different colors in the darkness.

Some were pale cyan, some bright gold, and some a deep purple. These colors did not represent the quality of the Mythic Materials, but their attribute traits.

In truth, Greedy Mouth, at only Spiritual Dust quality, could not determine the exact rank of Mythic Materials through perception alone. But that was already more than enough for Yellow Wind Little Sage.

Yellow Wind Little Sage had never imagined that he could sense the locations of treasures so clearly. Their auras formed a three-dimensional map in his mind, every point of light marked with its exact direction, distance, and even attributes.

"What's the difference between this and cheating?"

"Seeing through supplies doesn't count as cheating. I can finally be a treasure-hunting rat for once."

Without lingering too long on the sensation of his new ability, Yellow Wind Little Sage directly locked onto the nearest direction, roughly five kilometers to the northeast.

Having left that eerie forest, Yellow Wind Little Sage no longer concealed his speed. Riding the wind and sand through the mountain woods, he moved as swiftly as a streak of golden light.

After advancing, his body had become more agile, every movement light and precise. Under his command, the wind and sand formed a thin current of air around him, gently brushing aside branches and leaves without leaving a trace.

Before long, Yellow Wind Little Sage arrived at the first target location.

It was a rock wall covered in vines. The vines had long since died, clinging to the rock surface like strips of shriveled snakeskin.

Yellow Wind Little Sage's gaze fixed on a depression in the center of the rock wall. A skeleton sat cross-legged there, its bones covered in fine golden patterns.

The aura of the Mythic Material came from those golden patterns.

[Unknown Bloodline Essence

Quality: Spiritual Dust

Mythic Trait: Unknown

Description: Bloodline essence left behind from the Mythic Age, related to an unknown alien race. Refining it may grant an alien talent, but there is also a certain chance of being assimilated by myth.

(A living being was unwilling to vanish alongside myth, and thus chose to leave behind its bloodline, placing its hopes on one day returning through that bloodline. "Where are you, my worthy grandson destined to answer my call?")]

Upon seeing such a special Mythic Material, Yellow Wind Little Sage had initially found it quite novel. He had even considered whether he could keep it for his own use.

But after reading the description related to the Mythic Material, Yellow Wind Little Sage shuddered inwardly and realized something at the same time.

"Mythic Materials that can enter the market are mostly things whose origins have already been thoroughly investigated. Mythic Materials that appear in newly revealed regions like this will most likely be taken away by the major forces for research at the first opportunity, rather than circulated on the market. These Mythic Materials carry danger, but they also conceal opportunities."

With a trace of emotion, Yellow Wind Little Sage walked up to the skeleton.

Yellow Wind Little Sage's mana began to peel away the golden patterns remaining on the skeleton's surface, patterns that had not dried up even after thousands of years. They slowly gathered into a drop of golden blood.

The instant the blood took shape, a strange fragrance began to drift through the air. An allure that reached deep into the soul drove every living creature to swallow that drop of essence blood.

Excitement flashed in Yellow Wind Little Sage's eyes as Greedy Mouth swallowed it.