Since he had hesitated over this matter for so long before, he needed to handle it quickly now. Otherwise, the longer he delayed, the less he knew how things would develop afterward.
Moreover, since Uchiha Hikaru had already made such a major decision, he was determined to carry it through. Otherwise, all the planning he had done for so long would have been wasted.
He also knew that since this rotten old man had told him so much, the man probably was not deceiving him. Even if he was, the worst outcome would be killing the old man and gaining nothing.
In the end, he would not lose anything anyway, so there was nothing wrong with doing it this way.
He would go down the mountain alone and see what was really going on. He did not think much of it; he was merely going down the mountain by himself to investigate.
To Uchiha Hikaru's great surprise, he had not walked for long before reaching the end of the mountain. He found it very strange. He had thought it would take him a long time to reach the end, but he had gotten there so easily.
Uchiha Hikaru felt there had to be some trick to it, though he could not be sure. After all, he had walked through mountains like this before; they simply had not seemed this short.
"You rotten old man, where are you? I've already reached the end of this mountain. There's no road left, but you still haven't appeared. Are you messing with me?"
Uchiha Hikaru intended to call out to the rotten old man this way and see where he was. The old man's voice had only come from the depths of the forest, while his figure remained nowhere in sight.
"Young man, don't