When the first rays of dawn pierced through the window lattice, shining on the crude hand-drawn map on the table, the green light in Mo Fan's eyes (the look of someone driven mad by poverty) finally began to fade.
After an entire night of reviewing and calculating, he had to admit a cruel reality: that Feng Shui treasure spot at the bottom of Abandoned Sword Cliff had been completely stripped bare by him.
The Rotbone Ants on the periphery were extinct, the corpse-eating rats had relocated, even those highly toxic companion herbs had been uprooted and sold to the unscrupulous merchants at the market.
The outer area of the cliff bottom was now so clean you couldn't even find a fly. As for the deep mist zone? That was a forbidden zone of life—he wasn't tired of living yet and didn't want to become a snack for that blood-colored python.
"Need to find a new hunting ground."
Mo Fan's finger wandered across the map, finally stopping at an area marked in yellow.
Deep in the sect's back mountain—the Buffer Zone.
This place was different from the outer areas where menial laborers chopped wood, and also different from true primeval forest. This was a hunting ground specially demarcated by Azure Cloud Sect to train outer disciples.
Most of the beasts roaming inside were first-rank mid to late stage Spirit Beasts. Though dangerous, as long as one didn't foolishly venture deep, rarely would they encounter second-rank Spirit Beasts.
The former Lu Xiaoqi never dared set foot here, because there were not only man-eating Spirit Beasts, but also senior disciples more greedy than the beasts. A backgroundless, disabled menial laborer who walked in would most likely become a pile of unclaimed white bones.
"But now it's different."
Mo Fan turned back, looking at the tall figure standing in the shadows.
"Before, I didn't dare go because I feared my 'evil cultivator' identity of traveling with skeletons would be discovered—instant death upon exposure."
"But now..." Mo Fan's lips curved in a confident arc, "I have a 'cousin'."
The mountain forest at dawn, shrouded in mist.
Not choosing the crowded main road, Mo Fan led Mo Yan like two ghosts slipping into a back mountain trail.
To match today's "hunt," Mo Fan again changed into that distinctive outfit: bare-chested exposing bronze-colored muscles, lower body wearing durable coarse cloth pants, draped outside with that wild [ Shadow Leopard Cloak ], the massive leopard head hood covering half his face.
Following behind him, Mo Yan wore all black fitted clothing, carried a longsword on his back, wore on his face the [ Moon-Veiled Gauze ] mask projecting a stern middle-aged man's features, hands wearing leather gloves, wrapped head to toe tightly without exposing a sliver of bone.
The two walked one in front, one behind, silently traveling through the forest.
Shortly after entering the buffer zone, Mo Fan's keen [ Death Vision ] captured spiritual power fluctuations not far ahead.
"People."
Mo Fan's steps paused slightly, but he didn't hide. This was a public area—hiding would seem guilty. He adjusted his breathing, making his gaze more cold and arrogant, then walked straight forward.
There were three outer disciples traveling together.
Wearing Azure Cloud Sect's standard blue robes, identity jade tablets hanging at their waists, holding magical artifact longswords. Judging by cultivation, probably all around Qi Condensation third or fourth layer.
They were gathered around a freshly killed wild boar Spirit Beast skinning it. Hearing footsteps, the three immediately looked up alertly, hands pressed on sword hilts.
"Who?!"
The horse-faced disciple in the lead shouted sternly.
In places like the back mountain, killing and robbing wasn't uncommon. Especially during the sensitive period before the Grand Tournament, every Spirit Stone could trigger a murder case.
Mo Fan didn't speak.
He only coldly glanced at the three, his steps not pausing at all, as if seeing three roadside stones, walking straight past them on the side path.
This was psychological warfare.
The more indifferent you appeared, the more uncertain they became about your background.
"Stop!"
The horse-faced disciple was clearly angered by this disregard. As an official outer disciple, which menial laborer didn't bow and scrape when seeing them? This savage in beast pelts dared look at him with such eyes?
"Which peak are you from? You look unfamiliar."
The three scattered in a triangular formation, vaguely blocking Mo Fan's path. Though not directly attacking, that bullying oppressive feeling already assaulted them.
Mo Fan stopped.
He didn't answer, didn't even glance at the horse-faced disciple. He only slightly turned his head, speaking indifferently to the air behind him:
"Mo Yan, don't let them block the road. We need to hurry."
Before his words finished.
Mo Yan, who had been following behind Mo Fan like a shadow with no presence, suddenly moved.
It didn't draw the sword.
It only stepped forward, those leather-gloved hands slowly rising, pressing on the sword hilt behind its back.
Just this one step.
A cold, deathly silence, like wind blowing from a grave, instantly swept across a ten-meter radius.
That wasn't killing intent—it was pure death Qi.
But in those three outer disciples' eyes, this transformed into another kind of terrifying interpretation.
That silent black-clothed person, in this instant seemed to become ten-thousand-year-old unmelting ice.
No breathing, no heartbeat, those eyes revealed through the mask held none of the emotional fluctuations humans should have, only an indifference toward dead objects.
"This... this aura..."
The horse-faced disciple's complexion instantly paled. He felt like a venomous snake was watching him, that chill seeping from his bones making his sword-gripping hand tremble slightly.
"It's an expert who cultivated 'Cold Baleful Energy'!" a companion beside him said with a shaking voice, "And... look at his eyes, that deathly silence—how many people must he have killed to cultivate that!"
Fear came from the unknown, and also from overthinking.
In their view, this black-clothed person was definitely a ruthless character. That quality of treating human life as nothing couldn't be faked. And someone who could have such a ruthless person as a bodyguard—how deep must that "beast-pelt savage's" background be?
"Misunder... misunderstanding!"
The horse-faced disciple instantly cowered. He very sensibly retreated two steps, sheathed his longsword, face forcing out a smile uglier than crying, "This senior brother, since you're in a hurry, we won't disturb you. Please, please!"
The road-blocking formation instantly scattered, opening a wide path.
Mo Fan's lips under the hood curved slightly upward.
He still didn't speak, only reached to adjust his hood, leading Mo Yan, eyes straight ahead, walking through the middle of the three.
Not until the two figures disappeared deep into the dense forest did the three outer disciples breathe a sigh of relief as if exhausted.
"Damn, that scared me to death." The horse-faced disciple wiped cold sweat, "What's that black-clothed person's background? That instant just now, I felt he would really draw his sword and kill us."
"Stop asking, we can't afford to provoke such strange people. Quickly pack up and leave, today we didn't check the almanac before going out."
Deep in the dense forest.
After confirming no one was following, Mo Fan's tense shoulders finally relaxed.
"Phew..."
He let out a long breath, looking back at Mo Yan still maintaining its "aloof and deathly" state, couldn't help reaching out to pat its rock-hard shoulder.
"Well done, Mo Yan."
That scene just now wasn't merely a simple escape, but a critically important "stress test."
It proved the "Mo Yan" identity was absolutely legitimate in public settings, even possessing strong deterrent power. As long as Mo Yan didn't get injured and expose bones, in this cultivation world full of oddballs, no one would suspect this silent shell was actually a pile of dead bones.
They would only think this was an expert who cultivated some yin-cold cultivation method with a solitary personality.
"Since identity verification passed..."
Mo Fan turned around, looking at this lush, vitality-filled (Experience Points) primeval forest before him, the green light in his eyes lighting up again.