Traces of a Transmigrator

Night, black as ink, blanketed the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Only scattered shafts of moonlight slipped through the leaves, casting mottled patches of light and shadow on the ground like spilled fragments of silver.

After leaving the Wolf Head Mercenary Group Camp, Xiao Yan did not hurry down the mountain. Instead, he circled into a dense forest behind the camp. Leaning against a thick ancient tree, he closed his eyes. His Emperor Realm Soul spread outward like a tide as he carefully sifted through the information he had just gathered.

The Otherworlder's soul fluctuations had completely dissipated. He could not have been any deader. Yet Xiao Yan felt that things were not quite so simple. According to the fragmented memories he had read earlier, this Otherworlder had not been alone. He seemed to have mentioned "others like him," though the details were unclear.

"I have to find whatever other traces he left behind." Xiao Yan opened his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing through them. Leaving any potential wild card unchecked went against his principle of "extreme caution."

He steadied his breathing and concealed his presence, slipping toward the area where the Otherworlder might have been active in those memories, like a shadow melting into the darkness.

The probing range of his Emperor Realm Soul was vast, and its perception was exceptionally precise. He could clearly distinguish the traces left by different creatures, and could even judge whether someone had passed through days earlier from how loose the soil was.

An hour later, he stopped at the entrance to a hidden cave.

The cave was extremely well concealed, its entrance screened by thick vines. Without sweeping it with his spiritual sense, he would never have found it. The weeds around the entrance showed signs of being trampled, and the lingering aura matched that of the Otherworlder at the Wolf Head Mercenary Group Camp exactly.

"So it was here after all." Understanding flickered in Xiao Yan's eyes. This must have been the Otherworlder's secret hideout.

He did not enter immediately. First, he circled the cave's surroundings to investigate. Only after confirming there were no traps or ambushes did he part the vines and step inside.

The cave was not particularly deep, extending a little over a hundred feet. Its interior was dry, and the air carried a faint musty smell and... a hint of something that did not belong to this world.

Xiao Yan's gaze swept swiftly across the cave. A pile of dry grass in one corner looked like a makeshift bed; a few gnawed beast bones lay scattered on the ground. What drew his attention most, however, were several objects resting on a flat rock just inside the entrance.

One was a palm-sized black rectangle with a smooth surface and strange markings along its edges. Xiao Yan recognized it as a "cell phone," a communications device that had been extremely common in the world he had lived in before transmigrating. Judging by its design, though, it seemed rather old.

Beside the phone sat a dented metal can, printed with colorful designs and a word he recognized—"cola."

There was also a transparent plastic bag containing a white powder. Xiao Yan swept it with his spiritual sense, detecting the energy fluctuations within, and raised his brows slightly. Was this "powdered milk"?

This guy actually brought so many modern items with him, Xiao Yan thought, puzzled. As far as he knew, the items Otherworlders could bring over were usually extremely limited, mostly the clothes they wore or small things they carried on their person. Someone arriving with a phone, cola, and even powdered milk was a rare case.

He stepped forward and carefully picked up the phone. Its screen was black; clearly, its battery had long since died. He tried pressing the buttons on its side a few times, but there was no response.

"Looks like it's completely useless." He shook his head, put down the phone, and picked up the cola can. It was empty. When he shook it, only a little residual liquid remained inside.

Just then, his gaze landed on a crack in the rock. Something seemed to be wedged inside.

He reached out and pried it free, discovering a folded scrap of paper.

When he unfolded it, he found writing made with some kind of black charcoal pencil. The handwriting was messy, as though it had been scrawled in haste.

"...It's been three months since I came to this damned place. Thank god I'm hard to kill and haven't been eaten by magical beasts. Dou Qi? Cultivation? This shit goes against human nature! Phones and computers are still the best..."

"...Finally met someone 'in the know.' That guy said he could help me contact the 'organization,' as long as I helped him get information on the 'Purifying Lotus Demon Flame'... Purifying Lotus Demon Flame? Sounds pretty powerful. Can it match a nuclear bomb?"

"...Those idiots in the Wolf Head Mercenary Group are so easy to fool. A few made-up lines about 'future technology' were enough to bluff them. Once I get the Mo Family's payment, I'll find a way to ditch them..."

"...That Xiao Yan is a transmigrator too? No, he doesn't quite feel like one... His aura is strange, like he belongs to this world, but something about him seems off... Whatever. I'll follow the 'organization's' instructions first and see if I can win him over. If not..."

The writing stopped abruptly there, as though he had been interrupted halfway through or encountered an emergency.

As Xiao Yan stared at the note, his expression gradually grew grave.

"Organization?" he repeated quietly, his brows tightly furrowed. "So there really were others behind this Otherworlder. And their target was actually the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame?"

The Purifying Lotus Demon Flame was third on the Heavenly Flame Ranking. Its power was boundless, and it was shrouded in mystery. This so-called "organization" knew it existed and even wanted to lay hands on it. Their capabilities were probably not to be underestimated.

What concerned him even more was the line, "That Xiao Yan is an Otherworlder too?" Apparently, this Otherworlder had actually begun to suspect him.

Did my behavior at the camp just now put him on his guard? Xiao Yan wondered. Or does this "organization" know something about me?

That put him on alert. He had always thought he had concealed himself well, yet an ordinary Otherworlder had noticed something unusual about him.

He folded the note again and put it away. It was currently his only lead on the "organization," and he had to preserve it carefully.

Then he thoroughly searched the entire cave again, hoping to find more clues.

Deep inside the pile of dry grass, he found something wrapped in oilcloth. Opening it revealed a thread-bound old book with no writing on its cover.

He opened the book. Its pages were yellowed, and the contents had been written with a brush. The handwriting was elegant, evidently a woman's work.

Yet when he saw what it said, his pupils abruptly contracted.

The old book contained neither cultivation methods nor secret lore, but rather... "prophecies" about the future course of the Dou Qi Continent.

"...Three years from now, disaster will befall the Xiao Clan of Wutan City. Xiao Zhan will disappear, and Xiao Yan will leave home..."

"...In the Inner Academy of Jia Nan Academy, the Fallen Heart Flame will erupt. Xiao Yan will subdue the Heavenly Flame and establish the Xiao Gate..."

"...At the Central Plains Alchemist Grand Meeting, Xiao Yan will overpower all his rivals and claim the championship, making his name resound throughout the Central Plains..."

What was recorded there matched the original plot of Battle Through the Heavens in his memories with astonishing accuracy!

The account continued up to the appearance of the "Purifying Lotus Demon Flame." Beyond that, the contents became unclear, as though the pages had been soaked in water, leaving the writing difficult to decipher.

This is... the original plot? Towering waves surged through Xiao Yan's heart. This Otherworlder actually possessed an old book recording the original story?

That explained why he had so easily bluffed the Wolf Head Mercenary Group, and why he knew about the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. He had been acting with the script in his hands all along!

No. Xiao Yan quickly calmed down and noticed a flaw. The handwriting in this old book clearly belongs to someone from this world, and it seems quite old. How could a modern Otherworlder have a book like this?

Could it be... that the Otherworlder had not brought this book with him, but had found it in this world?

If so, the book's origins became even more intriguing. Who had written these prophecies? What was their purpose?

He carefully leafed through the old book again, hoping to find more clues. On its final page, he discovered a line of extremely small writing. It seemed to have been added later, and was entirely different from the elegant script before it. Instead, it somewhat resembled the messy handwriting on the note.

"...If I follow the 'plot,' I can find the way home? Is what the people from the 'organization' said really true? Xiao Yan... could he be a wild card?"

Seeing that line only deepened Xiao Yan's confusion.

The way home? This Otherworlder's goal had actually been to return home? And that "organization" seemed to have made him some kind of promise, prompting him to act according to the "plot."

"It looks like the waters of this 'organization' run deeper than I imagined." Xiao Yan closed the old book, carefully wrapped it in the oilcloth again, and tucked it into his herb basket.

This old book and that note were his most important clues for now.

He inspected the cave once more. Only after confirming that he had missed nothing did he turn to leave.

Just as he reached the entrance, his steps suddenly halted.

His spiritual sense swept across the ground outside the entrance. Beneath an inconspicuous pile of rubble, he detected a faint spatial fluctuation.

The fluctuation was exceptionally well hidden. Had his soul not reached the Emperor Realm, he would never have noticed it. Moreover, its nature bore some resemblance to both the Otherworlder's aura he had sensed earlier and the spatial fluctuations he himself had felt while transmigrating.

Is this... a trace of spatial transportation? Stirred by the thought, Xiao Yan crouched and carefully moved the rubble aside.

Beneath the rubble lay a palm-sized black crystal. Its surface was covered in intricate markings, and it emitted a faint glow along with that subtle spatial fluctuation.

"A Space Stone?" Xiao Yan recognized the mineral. Space Stones existed on the Dou Qi Continent too, but their spatial energy was nowhere near as pure as that of the one before him, and their markings were entirely different.

The markings on this black crystal looked more like... an artificially engraved formation?

He extended a finger and gently touched the crystal.

The instant his fingertip met it, the markings on its surface suddenly lit up. A faint beam shot from the crystal and struck the opposite rock wall, forming a blurred image.

The image resembled an emblem made of three interlocking rings. At their center was the silhouette of a head whose features could not be made out.

Is this... that "organization's" insignia? Xiao Yan's heart tightened.

Just then, the black crystal's light suddenly dimmed. The markings on its surface rapidly faded, until it lost its luster completely and became an ordinary black stone.

"Has its energy run out?" Xiao Yan picked up the stone and examined it carefully for a moment. The markings had vanished, and he could no longer sense any spatial fluctuations.

Apparently, this thing had been a token the Otherworlder used to contact the "organization." Xiao Yan's touch had just drained the last trace of its energy.

"Another dead end." Xiao Yan frowned slightly, but soon relaxed his brows.

At least he now knew that a mysterious "organization" existed, that it was connected to Otherworlders, and that its objectives involved Heavenly Flames such as the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame. It might even know about the existence of the "plot."

This undoubtedly increased the risks of his future actions, but it also made him more vigilant.

He put away the depleted black stone, then glanced at the cave, a cold gleam flashing through his eyes.

No traces could be left in this cave.

He waved a hand. A faint stream of Dou Qi—actually Dou Sheng power compressed to its utmost limit—flowed out soundlessly, sweeping up the dry grass, beast bones, and remnants of modern items inside the cave into a single pile.

Then he flicked a finger, sending a spark onto the heap.

Boom!

Flames sprang up instantly, devouring everything. Soon, everything inside the cave had turned to ash.

After finishing this, he went to the entrance and used Dou Qi to restore the surrounding vines to their original positions, concealing all traces of anyone having entered.

Only when all this was done did he turn and melt into the boundless night.

Under the moonlight, his figure looked especially solitary, yet his steps were unusually resolute.

The fog ahead was growing thicker, but the goals in his heart were becoming ever clearer.

Hide his strength, eliminate threats, advance the "plot," and, at the same time, uncover the truth behind that mysterious "organization."

He looked up at the waning moon on the horizon, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold smile.

"No matter who you are, if you dare stand in my way, you can only... die."

As his words fell, his figure vanished completely into the depths of the mountain forest. Only the rustling of leaves in the night breeze remained, as though nothing had ever happened.