As a fish-belly white glow appeared on the horizon, thin morning mist already filled the northeastern woods of the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Xiao Yan trod over sodden, decaying leaves, "staggering" through the fog. His rusty sword brushed a few clinging blades of grass off his trouser leg, making him look utterly exhausted after a night of traveling.
"Black Wind Valley... it should be somewhere around here, right?" He wiped the dew from his face, his brows "knitted tightly," just the right amount of confusion in his eyes. "There's so much fog in this damned place, I can barely tell which way I'm going..."
[System notification: Target area "Black Wind Valley" is eight hundred zhang to the northeast. Current disguise conforms to settings.]
As the cold notification faded in his mind, Xiao Yan paused briefly, then resumed his "bewildered" demeanor, quietly adjusting his course.
After last night's "accident," the fighting between the Wolf Head Mercenary Group and the magical beasts should still be ongoing. It would not spread this far anytime soon. As for the Mo Family, after losing several skilled men, they were probably reconsidering their plans and would not show themselves rashly for now. That gave him precisely the time he needed to search for the fragment map of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame.
The purifying lotus demon flame ranked third on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. Its might was boundless, and it possessed the wondrous power to purify all things. When he had read the original story in his previous life, Xiao Yan had faced countless dangers to subdue this heavenly flame. Now, even a single fragment map had forced him to employ his emperor realm soul and spatial power, securing every step before advancing.
"Grr..."
A low beastly growl came from the fog ahead. Immediately afterward, two gray shadows bounded through the morning dew and blocked Xiao Yan's path. They were two Tier 2 magical beasts, Shadow Leopards, their fur blending into the mist. Only their eerie green pupils gleamed with murderous light. Clearly, they had marked him as their morning prey.
Xiao Yan's "reaction" was textbook—his body jerked backward, his face turned pale "instantly," and both hands instinctively gripped the rusty sword on his back. His voice "trembled." "L-leopards!"
The two Shadow Leopards exchanged a glance, as though mocking their prey's frailty. The one on the left moved first, pouncing like a phantom, its sharp claws whistling through the air straight toward Xiao Yan's throat.
"Ah!"
Xiao Yan gave a short cry of alarm and threw himself to the right in a "panic," moving so clumsily that he seemed to have slipped. Yet that apparently desperate roll just happened to evade the Shadow Leopard's attack. He even "accidentally" struck his elbow against a protruding rock and cried, "Ow!"
Thud!
The Shadow Leopard missed and struck a tree trunk with a dull impact.
Seeing this, the other Shadow Leopard growled and attacked from the side.
Xiao Yan dodged it by "scrambling and crawling," swinging his rusty sword "wildly." The blade scraped across the ground with a grating screech without so much as touching the Shadow Leopard's fur. He tried "with all his might" to stand, only for his "legs to give way" and send him sprawling again. He looked utterly pathetic.
This "desperate battle" lasted roughly the time it took an incense stick to burn.
When Xiao Yan "exhausted every ounce of his strength" and "just happened" to drive his rusty sword into one Shadow Leopard's belly, he slumped onto the wet ground as though completely drained. He gulped down breath after breath, his chest heaving violently. The cold sweat that "seeped" from his forehead mingled with the morning dew and trickled down his cheeks.
Seeing its companion fall, the other Shadow Leopard's eyes flashed with fear. After a moment's hesitation, it finally tucked its tail between its legs and darted into the thick fog, disappearing from sight.
"Phew... that scared me to death..." Xiao Yan sprawled on the ground, wiping the "cold sweat" from his forehead with his sleeve. His face was full of relief at surviving the ordeal, as though that fight had drained all his strength.
Only he knew that his emperor realm soul had precisely predicted every pounce those two Tier 2 magical beasts made. He could even clearly "see" the movements of their contracting muscles and the angles of their slashing claws. A single thought would have been enough to turn them to drifting ash.
But he could not.
[System notification: Disguised combat conforms to current cultivation realm settings. No warning triggered.] [Host detected eliminating a Tier 2 threat. Classified as "reasonable self-defense." No additional reward.]
Xiao Yan "rested" for a while before slowly getting up. He dragged the dead Shadow Leopard to the roadside and covered it loosely with vines—to prevent other mercenaries or hunters from noticing anything unusual. A boy at Dou Qi Third Stage killing a Tier 2 Shadow Leopard was already "abnormal" enough. If it looked too easy, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.
Once that was done, he brushed the dirt off his hands and continued toward Black Wind Valley.
As he ventured deeper, the mist gradually thinned, and the terrain ahead dipped into a long, narrow valley. Jagged rocks crowded its entrance, and gusts of chilling wind swept through it. This was Black Wind Valley.
According to the clues provided by the system, the fragment map of the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame should be hidden somewhere on a concealed rock wall inside the valley.
Xiao Yan stood at the entrance and "hesitated" for a moment, a trace of "fear" appearing on his face, as though he dreaded the dangers lurking within. He "craned his head" to peer inside, then drew his neck back and muttered, "This place looks so scary... maybe I should just forget it..."
His mouth spoke of retreat, but his feet honestly carried him inside.
Black Wind Valley was even darker than the world outside. Its cliffs rose steeply on both sides as though sliced by a blade, their grotesque rocks jutting out menacingly. Wind passed through the valley with a sobbing sound, like ghosts wailing. Now and then, a few low-tier magical beasts startled by his footsteps darted into cracks in the rocks and vanished.
Xiao Yan maintained his cautious demeanor, "warily" surveying his surroundings while picking his way "with difficulty" through the scattered rocks. His emperor realm soul had already scanned the whole of Black Wind Valley, and he soon pinpointed his target—a rock wall covered in vines and moss midway through the valley.
The wall looked no different from the surrounding stone. Under the scrutiny of his soul power, however, he could clearly see faint patterns carved beneath the vines, vaguely forming the shape of a lotus.
The Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map was right there.
Xiao Yan "pretended" to trip over a stone and fell in front of the wall with a "cry of pain." He "struggled" to get up, but his hand "just happened" to press against the vines covering the rock.
"Huh?" He lowered his head in feigned surprise and looked at the vines. "What's this?"
He "curiously" reached out and pushed the vines aside, exposing the moss-covered wall behind them. After studying it "carefully" for a moment, he seemed to find nothing unusual and moved to pull the vines back into place.
Just then, his fingertip "inadvertently" brushed a protrusion on the wall—a crucial point in the fragment map.
Click...
A faint sound rang out, as though something had come loose.
Xiao Yan "jumped in fright" and hastily withdrew his hand, looking around warily. Only after seeing nothing unusual did he reach out "cautiously" again and feel around the wall.
He deliberately spent nearly two hours "laboriously" clearing the moss and vines from the wall, fully exposing the incomplete lotus design. The carving was extremely shallow, its lines ancient and simple. Without close scrutiny, it could easily have been mistaken for a naturally formed pattern.
"What is this? It looks like a flower..." Xiao Yan frowned. "Could it be some kind of treasure map?"
He "studied" it for ages without figuring anything out. Then he took a piece of charcoal from his pack and "clumsily" made a rubbing of the design on a sheet of coarse hemp paper he carried with him. Afterward, he "carefully" restored the wall, covering it again with vines and moss to ensure no trace of disturbance remained.
Once that was done, he carefully folded the hemp paper bearing the fragment map and tucked it inside his clothes. A little "excitement" and "nervousness" appeared on his face, as though he had discovered some tremendous secret.
"Whatever it is, I'll take it back first..." he muttered, turning to leave Black Wind Valley.
Just then, footsteps came from the valley entrance, accompanied by rough voices.
"Boss, I think I saw some kid enter Black Wind Valley just now. Should we go take a look?"
"What for? He's just some green brat. Probably got lost. If he dies in there, he deserves it. Let's hurry and find that shipment before another mercenary group beats us to it."
They're from the Wolf Head Mercenary Group!
Xiao Yan's "face" instantly turned deathly pale. He instinctively tried to hide, but in his "panic," his foot slipped and he fell behind a boulder that happened to conceal him perfectly.
He held his breath and peered through a gap between the rocks. Several men wearing the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's uniforms passed the valley entrance and headed deeper inside, apparently searching for something.
Only after they disappeared around a bend did Xiao Yan "let out a long breath of relief." Cold sweat "broke out" across his back as he scrambled out from behind the boulder and ran toward the valley entrance without looking back, as though an evil ghost were chasing him.
After running far from Black Wind Valley and confirming that he had completely left the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's trail behind, Xiao Yan finally slowed his steps.
He found a secluded cave and ducked inside.
Leaning against the cold rock wall, he took the hemp paper from inside his clothes and unfolded it.
The incomplete lotus design was clearly visible on the paper. It was indeed part of the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame Fragment Map.
Calm returned to Xiao Yan's eyes, and his fingertips lightly brushed the lines of the design.
"Purifying Lotus Demon Flame..." he murmured. "This is only the beginning."
He carefully put the hemp paper away and checked himself once more for any telltale traces. Only after ensuring that nothing was amiss did he don his "timid" mask again and leave the cave.
The sun had climbed higher, scattering the morning mist and illuminating the woodland paths.
With his pack on his back, Xiao Yan headed toward the Tagor Desert.
His next target: the green lotus core flame.
Within the shadows, his steps were firm and steady. Every footfall landed on a nexus of fate.
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