Dawn had broken.
With the onset of severe winter, the nights had grown long. People had to adapt not only to the prolonged darkness but also to the extre cold. The bone-chilling, icy winds road freely in the night. Their pace was sharp, their movents agile. Every greeting from them was as swift as a sharp blade cutting across the face. In the beginning, it wasn’t painful or itchy, but by the ti one realized it, the pain that pierced their hearts would have them writhing in agony.
However, Igor and Kadi didn’t experience the cold of the night. They had the outstanding Hunter, Stan, with them. His rich hunting experience allowed them to manage the chilling greetings of the night wind effortlessly. The Roasted Cheese Grass that Stan shared with Igor and Kadi not only completed the task of filling up their stomachs before sleep but also provided them with a good amount of heat. They felt warm all over, as if they had just drunk alcohol. Even after the bonfire went out, they did not feel the chill in the cave.
If Stan hadn’t tugged on the Binding Beast Rope, Igor and Kadi would probably still be sleeping, enjoying the warmth provided by the Zhì Rou Grass.
"It’s dawn," Stan said. "We need to get moving."
Having interacted with Stan Sol over the course of the previous night, Igor had ford a fairly clear impression of him. All in all, this Sol brother didn’t appear to be a bad person in his eyes.
Kadi, on the other hand, was contemplating how to lure this troublemaker into the traps on the mountain.
However, their plan seed hard to implent right now. Stan Sol was leading the way while Kadi and Igor still trudged along behind him, their hands tied.
"Not eating breakfast is bad for your health," Igor called out from behind Stan. He had co to terms with his predicant. The misfortune had not fueled his despair or anger. Instead, it had cleared a bit of the confusion harbored in his heart. At least now he had a clear purpose to follow.
"We’ll eat after seeing the sun," Stan replied.
"Are you sure you can find Hustace? This mountain is vast. How would you know where he is?" Igor asked, concerned about things he didn’t know. To him, the unknowns of this world seed unreasonable.
"Initially, he didn’t know where you were or who you were either, and still, he found you. Now that he knows he’s looking for Hustace, do you think he can’t find him?" Kadi quietly replied. His response was much quicker compared to the night before.
"Your reasoning... seems sound..."
Stan, walking ahead, ignored their ramblings. He had to quicken his pace. The Exchange Beasts appearing on the mountain and the Illusion driving people away both hinted that the mountain would soon transition into another state. He couldn’t determine whether this impending change would be good or bad. However, he was sure that if he couldn’t find Hustace before it occurred, the situation would beco dire, regardless of the nature of the change. Retaking Hustace would be very difficult at that point. If the impending state was a peaceful occupation, then to retake Hustace, he would have to face a very powerful force. Conversely, if the state ant violent seizure, then reclaiming Hustace would beco wishful thinking, as Hustace would very likely have beco an Undead Soldier by then. Therefore, he absolutely had to find Hustace beforehand. Once he did, he could act accordingly. He was confident he could retreat with Hustace, both of them unhard.
Stan wasn’t the only person with such a mindset.
In the mountains, Baharo, still clueless after a night of hard work, was ditating. The clues he found were too weak and intermittent, preventing him from effectively utilizing his Secret Sensing Skills. Had it not been for the Invisibility Cloak, things would not have been so difficult. The Invisibility Cloak was indeed powerful, capable of hiding the wearer’s Spirit Power. Even the most skillful of Hunters could not conceal their Spirit Power completely, and the Stealth Ability mainly worked on physical bodies, making it very difficult to hide Spirit Power. But this cloak, offered by the Wizards to Rostov, was capable of hiding most of the wearer’s Spirit Power. Baharo couldn’t afford to be distracted. He had to concentrate and analyze the fragnted, residual clues; he could not let his title of "The Hound" be tarnished.
At this mont, as dawn was just breaking, Qi Liu and his small team were still deep in sleep, oblivious to the impending storm. However, thanks to Qi Liu’s earlier prediction, the impact of this storm on them would not be too great, provided they found Hustace first.
anwhile, Hustace was shivering with hunger, huddled within his cloak...
「At the foot of the mountain」
Milo, having finished his vigil, was quietly waiting for the sunrise.
This will be an extraordinary day, Milo thought. It had taken no small amount of ti to rush from the Imperial Capital, Xinbal, to this frontier land. Whether the difficulties he had faced on the road were worth it would be determined by the upcoming Alchemy Array.
"Sir," the Alchemist beside Milo bowed. This Alchemist was the second-ranked Wizard in the Alchemy Workshop, his position second only to Kuyi Tulan’s. "We are ready."
"Good. When the sun rises, we will start laying out the Alchemy Array."
Milo glanced at the sun striving to rise in the near distance. Thinking of the forthcoming storm, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of nostalgia. Over half of the twelve Seat Alchemists of the Kayne Empire’s Imperial Alchemy Workshop had now arrived at Guru Mountain. The last ti the Imperial Alchemy Workshop mobilized on such a large scale was during the previous Empire’s defense war. This ti, aside from themselves, no one knew why the Imperial Alchemy Workshop was making such a huge move to an obscure frontier area. Milo knew this expedition might stem from the Chief’s personal motives; he had risked bla from several high-ranking elders of the Imperial Alchemy Workshop to deploy seven Alchemists. This huge commotion was just to find the Great ntor, Guzan, who had been missing for a long ti. Guzan was also Milo’s ntor. The main reason Milo regarded Kuyi Tulan as his Chief was because they were disciples of the sa teacher. Therefore, when Kuyi Tulan was searching for their ntor at all costs, Milo was the first to support him. Even if the information provided by the Black Crow proved groundless, Kuyi Tulan and Milo would not pass up any chance to reunite with their ntor. They would rather make ten thousand mistakes than miss that single chance in ten thousand. This was Master Guzan’s philosophy. This philosophy was well passed down to his disciples, evident in their repeated persistence in Alchemy and their broad exploration in everyday affairs. Hopefully, the Black Crow’s information was reliable. There were indeed so traces of defective products on the mountain; an Exchange Beast that had scouted the mountain had brought back this ssage. Only Master Guzan would accept defective products, so the chance of seeing their ntor this ti was much greater than before. Sparrows, ants, rabbits, bats, field mice, owls—the six Alchemists who had joined this ti had full confidence in their Alchemy Exchange Beasts. Able to fly into the sky and burrow into the ground, these Exchange Beasts would comb through the entire mountain. At that ti, the entire mountain would be under the watchful eyes of the Alchemists; anyone’s every move would be influenced by these Exchange Beasts. This was the Alchemy Array: the Heaven and Earth Bind.
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