Loa's figure became an elusive breeze within the scorching sulfurous mist.
He deployed the Gentle Breeze Brushes the Willow movement technique, propelling himself with exquisitely precise airflow control as he skimmed the ground stained yellow-white by sulfur. His gaze remained fixed on the fresh drag marks ahead, his heart beating steadily and powerfully in his chest, mingling vigilance with faint excitement.
The trail wound onward through a hollow encrusted with large sulfur crystals, skirted several small, bubbling hot springs, and finally vanished at the edge of a large hot spring over thirty meters across, roughly five hundred meters away.
Loa stopped behind a clump of charred-black, heat-resistant shrubs thirty paces from the spring, his presence almost blending into his surroundings. He narrowed his eyes and observed carefully.
The hot spring rippled gently as currents of heat surged from its depths. Milky-white vapor rose in wisps, carrying a strong smell of sulfur. The surface was calm, without any ripples from living creatures. The trail ended abruptly here, as though the creature had vanished into thin air, or... submerged beneath the water?
He waited patiently in concealment for nearly an hour, quietly spreading his Spiritual Force like a fine net to sense the faintest energy fluctuations in the air and any movement underwater. Apart from the constant warmth and sulfurous odor of the geothermal heat itself, there was nothing.
The trail's gone cold. Loa's heart sank slightly, but he was not discouraged.
At least he had narrowed down the target's general range-it was somewhere nearby. Earth Vein Lizards excelled at digging and hiding. Perhaps an entrance to an underground lair lay nearby, concealed by steam or sulfur deposits.
He withdrew silently and returned to his original temporary base, quickly gathering all his belongings and erasing the traces of his stay. Then he