On this visit to the Dragon-Slaying Treasure, Pan Long also tied up two loose ends from the last treasure hunt.
The first was finding out how that hunt had ended.
He had left early, and Wen Chao had transported him dozens of miles away. From there, he had headed straight north without returning to Qiaonan Town. He had made no stops on his way back and had barely asked about news from the Martial World. How had that vast treasure hunt ended? He had no idea.
"I don't know much about what happened outside the treasure," Wen Chao said, "but inside, the righteous and evil factions ended up fighting. There were two main reasons: a flying sword and a Four Symbols Truth-Returning Pill. The sword was tremendously powerful, while the pill could greatly improve an Innate Master's chances of reaching the Return to the Natural State. Both sides fought fiercely over them, and many people died."
"Who ended up with them?" Pan Long asked.
"An expert traveling alone took the flying sword. He looked like a disciple of the Iron Bone Line from the southwestern Demonic Path. He was wounded after seizing it and fled; I don't know what happened afterward. The Four Symbols Truth-Returning Pill fell into the hands of the Great Xia Imperial Court. They had an expert among them who practiced Formless Ghost Shadow and had reached the Body-to-Shadow Transformation stage. After taking the Elixir, he slipped into someone else's shadow. No one but his own people knew he was there."
Pan Long thought for a moment. "Was that lone expert short and skinny, like a monkey?"
"That's right. You know him?"
"Barely. I can't say we're friends."
"Good. Better that you aren't," Wen Chao said. "From what I saw, someone else had him completely caught in