The shopkeeper steadied himself and gave Xu Yuan a serious look, then pushed the box containing the Paper Strip toward him.
"Let's exchange contact details. We're on the same path. We should keep in touch."
So said the shopkeeper.
"Sure."
Xu Yuan readily added the shopkeeper's contact details, then took the box and left the shop.
Fresh lines of faintly glowing text appeared before his eyes:
"Warm-up mission for 'Stealing the Three Realms' now active:" "Seek Immortals and Ask the Way." "Mission description: What was severed long ago has long since vanished. But perhaps you stand the slightest chance of finding what no longer exists? Once you succeed, 'Stealing the Three Realms' will officially begin."
The mission description sounded deliberately cryptic. He had no idea what it meant.
But the shopkeeper's words had reminded him of something.
In this world...
Were there other cultivators like him?
Were there any Creation species?
This was Earth, his home.
If he could find others of his kind—
Xu Yuan flashed away, suddenly activating Heaven-Stealing and arriving ten thousand meters above the ground.
He searched Heaven and Earth with the senses of a Creation species, but saw only ordinary people everywhere.
Finding nothing, he unleashed all his Spiritual Power without concealing his Golden Core cultivation, sending its fluctuations in every direction. He waited a long time.
No one came.
There were no Monsters, either.
Should he try another city?
He vanished from the sky and appeared high above a major metropolis, where he again released the full force of his Spiritual Power.
This time, he even sent out the fluctuations of his Life Force.
He waited a long while longer.
Still nothing stirred.
Unwilling to give up, Xu Yuan visited the headquarters of several religions and tested them too.
There was nothing