The oldest leader slowly crouched beside the paw.
His eyes examined every detail of the severed limb, the texture of the scales, the exposed bone, the remnants of ice still clinging to the flesh.
Then he lightly touched one of the cracks in the scales.
The next instant, his eyes flashed with spiritual energy.
"Ice Qi."
The others imdiately approached, their own senses extending to feel what the old man had detected.
Even though the ice had completely lted days ago, traces of the energy that had created it were still present. Embedded within the beast’s flesh like lingering poison.
A cold and profound energy perated the paw.
"An extrely powerful ice technique... See how the ice penetrated the scales? It wasn’t rely a surface layer. It destroyed the internal structure of the limb before even freezing it."
Another leader deeply frowned, his eyes scanning the surrounding terrain as if searching for answers hidden in the shadows.
"Who the hell did this?"
His expression turned ugly, a mixture of frustration and sothing closer to wounded greed.
"He stole our prey."
The greed in his voice was not hidden even for a mont. The Five-Horned Lava Lizard was a walking treasure, scales, bones, blood, beast core. Every part was worth a fortune. And soone had taken it before they arrived.
The oldest leader remained silent while observing the surrounding terrain, his eyes analyzing every detail.
"The battle happened several days ago... Judging by the state of the residual ice and the amount of ash accumulated over the ruins, I estimate between five and six days."
"Whoever did this is probably already far away." He paused, thinking.
"But..." another leader narrowed his eyes, his expression confused.
"Who in this region, besides us, would have the strength to face a Five-Horned Lava Lizard alone?"
The question lingered in the air.
The four leaders were the only Spiritual Awakening Realm existences throughout the entire Red Smoke City region. Anyone capable of confronting a beast like that should, at the very least, have been known to them.
Silence.
No one answered.
Then, once again, the oldest leader seed to sense sothing. His spiritual senses detected a tiny vibration coming from a specific direction.
His head turned sharply.
The other three imdiately did the sa, their own senses extending in that direction.
Even though they could not see from that distance because of the volcanic smoke and the ash covering the sky, all of them could sense soone.
A presence standing still in that direction. Motionless. Watching.
And that presence... was weak compared to theirs. First stage of the Core Formation Realm. Insignificant, in theory.
"Let’s go." The old man said calmly.
Instantly, the four leaders advanced.
Behind them, hundreds of cultivators quickly followed, weapons ready, senses alert.
...
At the entrance of the small cave hidden among the volcanic rocks...
Kyrian remained standing silently.
His eyes calmly observed the distant group approaching closer and closer. Hundreds of silhouettes erging from the smoke like ghosts. He did not need spiritual senses to see them, his own eyes were more than enough.
He had already noticed the spiritual senses of the four leaders passing over his body several minutes ago, when they were still kiloters away.
And he also perfectly understood one thing.
Trying to escape without being seen was useless.
Not with four Spiritual Awakening Realm cultivators at the sa ti. They would cover every direction, their senses extending over an enormous area. Kyrian might be fast, but he was not faster than those four.
So Kyrian simply waited.
The hot wind blew against his partially burned clothes as he remained motionless before the cave entrance. His expression was neutral, his blue eyes fixed on the horizon.
Soon after...
The silhouettes finally erged through the volcanic smoke, at a distance where ordinary people could begin distinguishing shapes.
The four leaders were the first to appear, their imposing figures erging from the clouds of ash.
Behind them ca hundreds of cultivators and elders, marching in formation.
The instant the group saw Kyrian...
Several expressions changed.
So disciples frowned in confusion. Why was a young man standing there alone before a cave, wearing burned clothes?
Especially one person.
Pan Zheng.
His eyes widened instantly. His heart stopped for a second, or at least it felt that way.
"Kyrian...?"
His voice ca out almost as an incredulous whisper, so low that only those nearest to him could hear.
He had been absolutely certain Kyrian had died.
No. He had believed, deeply and painfully, that the boy had sacrificed himself to delay the lizard while everyone fled in desperation.
He had relived that mont hundreds of tis in his mind. The image of Kyrian remaining behind alone, facing sothing that should never have been faced.
But now...
Kyrian was there. Standing before them. Alive.
Although part of his robe was destroyed and burned, with superficial burns still visible on his arms, he seed practically unhard.
His eyes were clear.
His posture was straight.
Pan Zheng felt his heart race. A mixture of shock, relief, and disbelief exploded within him all at once.
’He survived.’
’How?’
anwhile, the four leaders coldly analyzed Kyrian.
First stage of the Core Formation Realm. Two leaders noticed his age, very young. Perhaps sixteen or seventeen years old.
All four imdiately realized there was sothing strange about him.
Two of them frowned upon sensing that Kyrian was both mortal and yet possessed cultivation.
That was strange.
Very strange.
Apparently, none of them knew about Innate Talents.
But none of them even considered the possibility that Kyrian had fought the lizard.
To them, Spiritual Awakening cultivators, the difference between the First Stage and the Peak of the Core Formation Realm was imnse. Practically an abyss. And the beast was even stronger than an ordinary human at the sa level because of its draconic bloodline.
A first-stage boy against a peak-stage beast? Ridiculous.
Still... his presence there was useful.
One of the leaders stepped forward. His presence seed to intensify slightly, filling the surrounding space.
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