Splitting the Forces, Two Paths

When only a few members of the Fire Qilin Tribe remained inside the tent, Hao Nhien turned his gaze toward Lanh Hoa.

"You and I will take a separate route. We need to return to the Fire Qilin Tribe's territory as quickly as possible. With only the two of us, we can travel much faster than the main group, but there is no need to push ourselves to the limit just to save a few days."

Lanh Hoa stepped forward.

"This subordinate understands."

At the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment, Lanh Hoa was capable of carrying both of them by sword flight for certain stretches of the journey. They would adjust their method of travel according to the terrain and circumstances, avoiding unnecessary consumption of spiritual power.

Hoa Linh Nhi still looked somewhat worried when she heard this.

"You're going alone, just the two of you?"

"Fewer people means we can move faster," Hao Nhien replied. "Our goal is to find the Fire Qilin Tribe, not to fight our way there. If we can avoid beasts, we avoid them. If there are people we do not need to meet, we do not meet them."

Lanh Hoa also said, "I know the routes well. Young lady, there is no need to worry."

Hao Nhien then gave Luu Thanh another reminder.

"When you approach Tam Thành, go ahead by yourself and deliver the letter first. Until you receive City Lord Lieu's reply, do not bring the entire group too close to the city."

The smile disappeared from Luu Thanh's face.

"This subordinate understands."

There was no need to say much more. The important arrangements had already been made clear.

The next morning, Hao Nhien and Lanh Hoa left the oasis before the sun rose high.

For the first several hours, the two mainly traveled on foot. Lanh Hoa was familiar with the terrain of the Western Wastes, allowing them to avoid most areas of sinking sand, valleys where poisonous gases tended to gather, and the major caravan routes. Only when they encountered especially difficult terrain or needed to cross a dangerous region quickly would he bring out the ancient Fire-aligned sword and carry them by sword flight for a stretch.

With only two people and no heavy baggage, their speed was still far greater than that of an ordinary caravan.

By the second night, after many hours of continuous spiritual-power circulation, Hao Nhien finally chose a concealed area between two rocky dunes to rest.

He summoned the Cave Dwelling form. Lanh Hoa had seen this artifact before and showed no surprise. The two quickly entered, leaving the wind and sand outside.

The Wood spiritual qi inside was still far denser than in the outside world. After absorbing the residual spiritual qi from the ruins of the Heavenly Spirit Merchant Association, the sense of vitality within had also become more distinct. It could not instantly restore Hao Nhien's spiritual power, but the stable environment and dense Wood spiritual qi allowed his meridians and body to recover more efficiently after long hours of high-speed travel.

After more than an hour of regulating his breathing, Hao Nhien opened his eyes.

Lanh Hoa had also just finished cultivating.

"Our current speed is faster than I expected," Lanh Hoa said. "If nothing major happens along the way, we should be able to shorten the journey considerably."

Hao Nhien nodded.

"But there is no need to push harder. Arriving a few days earlier means nothing if we reach our destination exhausted."

"Duong Quang may already have begun making his move."

"Possibly. But he has only just taken control of the Forward City, and we disrupted his gathering in front of tens of thousands of people. At least for a short time, he cannot commit all his forces to chasing us."

Hao Nhien rose to his feet.

"Our objective has not changed. Avoid unnecessary trouble and return to the Fire Qilin Tribe as quickly as possible."

The two left the Cave Dwelling and continued on their way.

At the same time, in Tam Thành.

The eastern medical ward was still thick with the scent of medicine that afternoon.

A beast-hunting team had recently returned with several wounded men. In one of the inner rooms, Tieu Lan was treating a man's arm, which had been torn nearly to the bone. The bleeding had already been stopped, but dark-red patches still surrounded the wound, traces of Fire poison left by the beast's claws.

She washed around the injury with a medicinal solution, carefully removed the grains of sand still lodged inside, and then checked how the poisoned flesh was reacting. Her movements could not yet be called truly practiced, but her hands were far steadier than before.

An older medical cultivator standing nearby reminded her, "Don't add any more antidote. This amount is enough."

Tieu Lan immediately stopped.

"Yes."

She switched to Hemostatic Powder, treated the edges of the wound, and carefully bandaged the man's arm. By the time she finished, a thin layer of sweat had formed across her forehead.

The injured man cupped his hands in thanks before leaving.

Tieu Lan lowered her head and began cleaning the bloodstained instruments. Not long ago, merely seeing an injury that severe would have been enough to make her hands tremble. The smell of blood still made her uncomfortable now, but her movements no longer slipped out of control.

She had just carried the basin of dirty water outside when she saw a familiar figure standing beneath the corridor.

"Sister Quan Nha!"

Quan Nha had just finished a short period of secluded cultivation. Her aura had not risen enough for her to enter a new realm, but it was clearly more stable than before, and the fluctuations of her Charm affinity were now far better restrained.

She looked at the bloodstained water in Tieu Lan's hands.

"You're treating injuries now?"

Tieu Lan nodded.

"Several hunting teams have returned over the past few days. I've been helping here for a while."

Quan Nha looked at her hands.

"They don't shake anymore?"

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Tieu Lan paused briefly, then smiled.

"I'm still a little afraid, but they don't shake anymore."

"You've improved."

It was only a simple sentence, but Tieu Lan's eyes immediately brightened.

After washing her hands, she walked back toward the small courtyard with Quan Nha.

"How did your secluded cultivation go, Sister Quan Nha?"

"I made some progress in controlling my power, but not enough for a breakthrough."

Tieu Lan looked at her for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

Quan Nha noticed immediately.

"What are you smiling about?"

"I was only thinking that you just came out of seclusion, and before even asking how things are in Tam Thành, you came straight to find me."

"And?"

Tieu Lan tried to keep a serious expression.

"I thought your next question would be whether there was any news from Young Master yet."

Quan Nha's steps slowed slightly.

"He has been in the Western Wastes for quite some time. What is strange about asking how the mission is going?"

"I haven't even said anything, and you're already asking."

Quan Nha turned to look at her.

"Tieu Lan."

Tieu Lan immediately lowered her head, but the smile on her face remained.

"I'm only telling the truth."

Quan Nha reached over and lightly pinched her cheek before letting go.

"You've grown bold."

They walked a little farther before Tieu Lan spoke again on her own.

"There still isn't any new information. But Young Master promised he would return."

Quan Nha looked toward the west.

"Mm. He had better remember what he said."

Tieu Lan smiled softly.

"I think he remembers it even more clearly than we do."

This time Quan Nha did not answer. She simply continued walking beside Tieu Lan beneath the afternoon light.

Back in the Western Wastes, Hao Nhien and Lanh Hoa continued their journey.

After the first few days, they gradually found a more suitable rhythm. They no longer forced themselves to maintain their highest speed without pause, instead resting whenever their spiritual power fell too low before continuing onward. Lanh Hoa became increasingly familiar with controlling the ancient Fire-aligned sword, while Hao Nhien used his Spirit Wings to assist during the stretches where they were truly needed.

By the fifth day, Hao Nhien could feel his meridians beginning to heat up and his mind growing heavier from repeatedly using the Spirit Wings to assist their sword flight. Lanh Hoa glanced toward him several times, enough for Hao Nhien to know that his condition was becoming difficult to hide.

By sunset, the two slowed down and chose a narrow rocky cleft away from the main route to rest.

"This place has several possible escape routes, and we can see quite far from above. We'll rest properly before moving again."

Lanh Hoa nodded.

"All right."

After a full night of regulating his breathing inside the Cave Dwelling, Hao Nhien had almost completely recovered. The two also abandoned the idea of forcing their travel speed to the absolute limit. Moving quickly was important, but reaching the Fire Qilin Tribe with only half their fighting strength remaining would accomplish nothing.

Their journey became steadier over the following days.

They encountered no pursuers and no major battles, yet the very absence of trouble only made Hao Nhien less willing to lower his guard.

Near the tenth day after leaving Heavenly Eye Forward City, the two were traveling along a region of low rolling dunes when Lanh Hoa suddenly stopped.

Hao Nhien immediately looked toward him.

Lanh Hoa crouched beside a stone protruding only half a man's height above the sand and brushed away the thin layer covering its surface.

An old carving gradually appeared.

It was very small, consisting of three intersecting diagonal lines with a curved mark beneath them. An outsider might have mistaken it for an accidental scratch, but Lanh Hoa studied it for a long moment.

"A mark left by the Fire Qilin Tribe."

Hao Nhien stepped closer.

"How long ago?"

Lanh Hoa lightly touched the sand settled inside the carving, then examined the traces of wind erosion across the stone.

"The carving itself isn't recent, but the layer of sand covering it has been disturbed. Someone checked this mark within the last few days."

Hao Nhien's gaze immediately sharpened.

"That means someone from the Fire Qilin Tribe may have passed through this area recently."

"Very likely."

Lanh Hoa stood and looked toward the dunes to the southwest.

This was the first trace of the Fire Qilin tribesmen they had found since leaving Heavenly Eye Forward City.

Hao Nhien studied the mark for another moment before lifting his gaze toward the horizon.

The road back to the Fire Qilin Tribe seemed closer than Hao Nhien had expected, so the two of them spent a full day resting inside a stone cave hidden among the low mountains until their condition had nearly returned to its peak.

What surprised both Hao Nhien and Lanh Hoa was that, from the moment they left Heavenly Eye Forward City until now, even with the Fire Qilin Tribe no longer far away, they had still found no clear sign of pursuit.

No black-armored troops had appeared along the road, nor had they sensed any aura deliberately following them. The distant caravan routes remained normal, and the beasts in the surrounding region showed no signs of having been disturbed by a large group of cultivators. The desert ahead was so quiet that it almost seemed as though the disturbance in Heavenly Eye Forward City had never spread this far.

Lanh Hoa stood at the mouth of the cave for a while, watching the sandy road in the distance before turning back inside.

"Clan Head, perhaps we have been too cautious."

He thought for a moment before continuing.

"The Forward City is still under construction. The Heavenly Eye's forces must be scattered across many places. Duong Quang may not have enough men to stabilize the city while also sending a pursuit force this deep into Fire Qilin territory."

Lanh Hoa paused.

"It is also possible that he is paying more attention to the group Luu Thanh is leading toward Tam Thành."

Hao Nhien remained seated against the stone wall, his gaze directed outside.

"Possibly."

He had already prepared for the possibility that Duong Quang would send people after them. After what happened in the square, as long as Hao Nhien managed to return to Fire Qilin territory and begin gathering the tribesmen who had not followed Duong Long, the position Duong Quang was trying to establish within the Fire Qilin Tribe would inevitably be shaken.

But up to this point, nothing they had encountered resembled a pursuit.

Hao Nhien stood and brushed the dust from his robe.

"Whether he sent people or not, we cannot stop here just to find out. Fire Qilin territory is no longer far from here. We do not need to push our speed until we exhaust ourselves, but we still have to maintain a fast enough pace."

He looked at Lanh Hoa.

"If there really are pursuers, we need enough strength left to deal with them."

Lanh Hoa nodded.

"Understood."

The two left the stone cave.

Near midday, they encountered a caravan traveling in the opposite direction.

There were more than twenty people in the caravan, most of them wearing dust-covered cloaks and riding short desert horses. Several wagons followed behind, loaded with beast hides, dried medicinal herbs, and sacks of refined spirit sand. At a glance, they looked no different from the countless small caravans that regularly traveled between the tribes of the Western Wastes.

Lanh Hoa signaled Hao Nhien to slow down and stepped forward himself.

He cupped his hands.

"Brothers, I am Lanh Hoa. We have just returned from the Forward City and are heading back to our tribe to deliver news. Have you noticed anything unusual on the road ahead recently?"

The caravan leader was a dark-skinned, bearded middle-aged man with an easygoing manner. Hearing Lanh Hoa's question, he immediately laughed.

"Coming back from the Forward City? What a coincidence. We're headed there ourselves."

He lightly patted one of the wagons behind him.

"We're from the Sand Merchant Tribe. We heard the Forward City is short on all kinds of construction materials right now. Compressed sandstone, refined spirit sand, poison-resistant beast hides... everything can fetch a good price. If this trip goes smoothly, we should earn quite a few spirit stones."

Lanh Hoa nodded.

"Then there is nothing unusual ahead?"

"Nothing special that we saw."

The bearded man waved a hand.

"You can travel without worry. The road we just came through was fairly quiet."

As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and casually added:

"Ah, yesterday we did meet a group coming this way from the direction of the Forward City. They were moving in quite a hurry. Probably people from some tribe returning home to deliver news, just like you."

Hao Nhien, who had been standing behind Lanh Hoa, suddenly raised his eyes.

"From the Sandfire Tribe?"

The middle-aged man was briefly startled before shaking his head.

"No idea. They passed over us on flying swords so quickly that we barely had time to look before they were already gone."

He raised a hand and pointed toward the southwest.

"But that direction didn't seem to lead toward the Sandfire Tribe."

Hao Nhien's gaze changed immediately.

Lanh Hoa also looked in the direction the man had indicated.

Southwest.

Exactly the direction they were traveling.

The bearded man did not notice the subtle change between them and continued with a smile.

"Are you two in a hurry as well?"

Hao Nhien cupped his hands.

"Thank you for telling us. We do have something urgent to deal with, so we'll take our leave first."

Lanh Hoa also cupped his hands in thanks.

The Sand Merchant Tribe caravan thought nothing of it and continued pulling their wagons toward Heavenly Eye Forward City.

Only after the group disappeared behind a line of sand dunes did Hao Nhien turn toward Lanh Hoa.

"That does not sound like a coincidence."

Lanh Hoa nodded.

"I think so too."

He immediately summoned the ancient Fire-aligned sword and stepped onto it first, taking direct control of the flying sword. Hao Nhien stepped on behind him.

"Go."

Lanh Hoa gave a low shout.

The flying sword immediately shot toward the southwest.

If the group the merchants had seen had truly come from Heavenly Eye Forward City, then perhaps they were not pursuers following behind Hao Nhien and Lanh Hoa at all.

Perhaps they had already gone ahead.

And if their destination was also the Fire Qilin Tribe, then Hao Nhien might have far less time left than he had expected.