Chapter 199

"A super giant?"

Lin Hui took the strand of hair, rubbed it carefully, and found it extremely soft. He gripped it with both hands and pulled hard in opposite directions.

Creak.

The hair stretched taut under the force, but it simply would not break.

It’s a pity the Blood Seal is evolving right now. Otherwise, I could just appraise it and know exactly what this is.

Feeling a twinge of regret, he stowed the black hair away and looked at Xia Si.

"By the way, that 'super giant' you mentioned—how big is it, exactly?"

"Hmm… well, when it steps down, its footprint is about the size of our whole village," Xia Si said, gesturing with her hands. "The ones that usually pass by are big too, but none are like that one. Usually, they’re only about the size of a mountain."

"…Do you often have ‘big guys’ passing by here?" Lin Hui asked, feeling a bit numb.

"Not often. Maybe once a month or so," Xia Si replied after a moment’s thought.

That’s considered 'not often'...

Lin Hui was beginning to understand the reality of life in the Public Zone. He asked no further questions and led his newly accepted little disciple out of the burrow.

Before leaving, Xia Si was clearly reluctant to part with her hoarded food. It was only after Lin Hui assured her that there would be plenty more in the future that she carefully covered the entrance and stood up to follow him.

"Oh, right. You mentioned you learned a way to move by imitating a monster? Can you demonstrate it?" Lin Hui asked as they emerged.

"Sure," Xia Si nodded.

She looked at the surrounding gray fog and arched her body slightly.

Whoosh!

In the next second, she vanished from her spot, leaving only a shallow pit in the ground. Before Lin Hui could blink, her figure reappeared one meter behind him and to the side, half-crouched and panting slightly.

!!!?

Lin Hui had focused his perception on the entire process. Despite the many shocks he had experienced recently, he couldn't help but be shaken again.

In that instant, Xia Si had been like a soap bubble—popping into thin air and materializing instantly behind him. It wasn't physical movement in the traditional sense; it was a bizarre technique akin to short-distance teleportation.

The child, Xia Si, definitely harbored deep secrets.

He hadn't asked before, but how could an eight-year-old survive in such a hostile environment? How could she endure the daily terror of the Wall Faces and stack those heavy wooden buckets so neatly, all by herself? And she didn't even have Tranquil Incense to create a safe air cavity...

The anomalies were simply too numerous. No matter how one looked at it, Xia Si could not possibly be as normal as she appeared. That bizarre movement technique was undoubtedly just a glimpse of her true nature.

"What technique is this?" Lin Hui asked in a low voice, standing within the safety of his mist repulsion field while looking at Xia Si, who stood unharmed in the raw Mist.

"I don't know. I just watched how the monsters breathe. When I imitated them and learned it, I found I could enter a very comfortable state. In that state, as long as I leap forward and focus on a destination, I can get there," Xia Si explained simply.

"...Good..." Lin Hui felt that this exploration trip had truly not been in vain.

Judging from Tao Xuehai's current progress, there was a high probability he wouldn't be able to master anything beyond the Wild Wind Sword Technique. The subsequent top-tier sword techniques would require a disciple with truly high comprehension to inherit.

Of course, Lin Hui didn't care much about the legacy itself. But if he could cultivate a powerful deputy, many things would become much more convenient. It would serve as a safeguard for his own future.

"Master, was it okay?" Xia Si saw Lin Hui lost in thought and hurriedly prompted him.

"Very good. From your current performance, you are a genius. But my martial arts cannot be mastered by anyone who isn't a peerless genius. Being a genius is merely the threshold for you to learn my sword techniques. Remember to guard against arrogance and rashness," Lin Hui said calmly.

"Yes!"

"Alright, let's go back for now. I'll get you settled, and then we'll continue on the road later."

Lin Hui intended to explore further. He hadn't yet found the optimal area for a safe point. Just reaching this small village had yielded so much intelligence; the difference between the Mist Zone outside the Boundary Wall and the areas within was truly vast.

"How about this disciple leads the way for Master? Master need not worry about disciple's safety. Disciple is born with great strength and a strong body. It's very hard for me to die," Xia Si patted her chest and said seriously.

"Your body is strong? How strong can it be?" Lin Hui looked at her with amusement.

Bam!

In the next second, Xia Si slammed her head into the stone wall beside her.

With a loud crash, the stone wall fractured, sending stone powder and debris exploding from the jagged impact point. Xia Si's forehead, however, only turned slightly pale—completely undamaged.

"Disciple is invulnerable to blades and spears. When I was five, I even wrestled a monster to a standstill. That’s why, when I was little, Mom and Dad often said I wasn’t their real child—that they picked me up from outside. But disciple knows they were just teasing," Xia Si said solemnly.

"..."

Lin Hui really wanted to say: You probably really aren't their biological child. No human could wrestle a monster to a draw in the Public Zone at five years old.

The more he looked at her now, the more he felt that this second disciple was likely... not human at all. She was more like a monster larva in human form.

"Alright... then you lead the way..." Seeing Xia Si's face full of anticipation, Lin Hui had no choice but to nod.

"Okay! Where does Master want to go?" Xia Si's spirits lifted, eager to perform well.

"I want to find places with high monster density to assess the danger levels out here. Can you give me an introduction to the area?"

"That's simple. To find food these past two years, Disciple has roamed everywhere nearby. With Miyin Village as the center, to the south is the Tuyue Boundary Wall; to the north is the territory of the Rotting God Sect; walk east for a day, and you reach a massive area of ancient ruins—it's like a maze inside, very hard to walk out of. Finally, to the west, is the Jade Sea."

"Rotting God Sect? What sect is that? I've only heard of the Wanhua Sect and the Benevolent Heart Sect," Lin Hui asked.

"That is a wild sect illuminated by the corpse of the Rotting Goddess. My father once had contact with their people. That territory is very dangerous. The corpse of the Rotting Goddess is suspended in the sky by a giant net, releasing a green light that dispels the surrounding Mist. But without the Mist, that land—the air, soil, and water—is filled with the Rotting Goddess's toxins. If you don't have special resistance potions, you'll be eroded within an hour of entering, becoming a member of the Rotting God Sect, wandering that place as a madman," Xia Si answered with clear logic.

"You mean, the Rotting God Sect's territory is a Mist-Free Zone?" Lin Hui became interested.

"Yes, a very, very big Mist-Free Zone, full of all kinds of deadly poisons."

Lin Hui considered the gray Mist around him for a moment and decided to check out the labyrinth ruins in the east first. Perhaps he could find a suitable ruin there to establish a safe point.

…

Tuyue, Moon Tower.

The upper stratum of the cloud-piercing tower. The three-thousandth floor.

Atop the tower body, white as jade, sat a massive circular hall shaped like a mushroom cap. The hall was colossal—over a hundred meters high and several thousand meters in diameter. It was open on all four sides, allowing the fierce wind to howl through it freely.

In the center, a cylindrical membrane of white light isolated a sealed space within the hall.

Inside this space, a gigantic 3D projection floated in the air. It displayed a map of the entire Tuyue Inner City in realistic colors and contours. Like a massive sandbox, it presented the current status of the city and its population of over ten million.

Drifting around the floating map were eight human figures.

Each of the eight wore robes that fluttered like long skirts, trailing more than ten meters below them. Their faces were exquisitely perfect, without a single blemish. In the center of their brows, a diamond-shaped colored crystal released a faint, multicolored glow.

This was the Extreme Desire Heaven.

It was one of the two apex organizations, standing alongside the Taisu Primal Disk with a different division of labor. It was the highest authority among the Trueblood Nobles, a place only those at the Blood Ancestor realm were qualified to enter. These two organizations stood just beneath the Mistborn, ruling over the ten million inhabitants of Tuyue.

At the very bottom of this space, on the polished white floor tiles, a Trueblood Noble in a white robe with gold trim approached the direction of the eight Elders, led by a guard of the Black Army.

From a distance, the noblewoman looked up at the eight floating Elders, traces of awe flashing in her eyes.

She quietly tightened her grip on the document in her hand. This was a roster she had organized, containing information on more than half of the Benevolent Heart Sect's high-level members in Tuyue. As long as she delivered this intelligence to the Extreme Desire Heaven, the upper echelons would inevitably tilt massive resources toward her future.

When that time came... breaking through to the Palace Master realm would be nothing! She was destined to revitalize her family's decline and reshape the glory of her ancestors!

"The Third Elder you wish to see is currently in a meeting. It is estimated to take ten minutes. Please wait a moment," the Black Army guard said gently.

"Okay, no problem." The Trueblood Noble nodded.

Led by the guard, she went to a seating area by the wall and sat on one of the leather chairs to rest. A maid immediately served her a glass of fruit juice. The air was filled with faint, soft music, and a hazy, indescribable incense smoke relaxed her mood unconsciously.

Several minutes later, she finished the apple-plum juice. She looked up again at the eight great Elders in the distance. Those eight figures were landmarks, clearly visible to everyone who entered this holy place.

Still not finished.

She exhaled and prepared to ask for another drink.

"Are you the child from the Bai family?"

Suddenly, a magnetic male voice drifted from the right.

The Trueblood Noble turned her head. She saw a handsome man with short white hair, dressed in a pure white, form-fitting robe without any patterns. A point of colored crystal shone between his brows as he walked toward her with a smile.

"Bai Mingwei greets Lord Elder!"

The Trueblood Nobles' expression changed instantly. She quickly stood up and knelt on one knee to salute him.

She didn't recognize which Elder this was, but she recognized the materialized mind-spirit mark between his brows—the external manifestation of a Blood Ancestor's Blood Heart. Anyone with this mark in the Moon Tower was definitely a Blood Ancestor, and Blood Ancestors were almost exclusively Elders.

"Good child. I haven't seen you in ten years, and you've become beautiful again... truly cute."

The man walked closer and gently reached out to pinch Bai Mingwei's cheek.