Deep in the quiet night, the trees stood still and the wind had died. Beneath the silver moonlight, several dark figures darted low across the ground, sometimes straight ahead, sometimes winding around obstacles. Their steps were nimble, their eyes sharp as hawks. They were the three tracking Burche by its blood trail.
"Almost there. We're getting close to that thing," Kanni said, unable to contain his excitement.
At first, the blood on the ground had looked like drops of ink, each the size of an index finger and carrying a faint blue glow. Now the stains bloomed like flowers, thumb-sized and deep red. That meant Burche had fully reverted from its rampaging state, and its wounds were serious. In this condition, it could not get far.
Zeng Mu and Ma Linya could not hide the excitement on their faces either. All the worry they had carried since leaving Morgaya City had turned into nervous anticipation, settling into every step and every drop of blood.
The farther they went, the deeper they entered the darkness, and the closer together the flower-shaped bloodstains became. Eventually, only two or three steps separated them. After following the trail another hundred meters and climbing onto a stretch of embankment, the three finally spotted a blue glow in the distance.
It lay curled beneath a thick willow. Long, trailing willow leaves surrounded it like countless hands, stroking it with the same gentle softness as the night. The faint blue glow resembled a firefly magnified many times over, radiating the same quiet beauty.
"That's it," Kanni said through almost clenched teeth. This was the Burche they had been tracking.
As Zeng Mu watched the faint, flickering blue light, his hawklike eyes almost shone. Just as he was about to act, a figure flashed past in the distance,