Chapter 272 The Shrine, the Undead, and the Scorching Airflow

The night passed in silence.

To Xia Nan's surprise, after his silent warning, the adventurer squad that had stumbled into Ash Valley Village actually stayed in line. They made no moves the entire night.

However, this did nothing to change his decision.

He ate breakfast at Tom's house, happily downing a steaming, savory bowl of mushroom clear soup that Mrs. Janice had carefully tweaked to his taste. He told Young Leon to rest well at home and avoid wandering around the forest.

Fully geared and dressed, Xia Nan left the cabin and headed straight for the village entrance.

Instead of immediately proceeding with his previous plan, he found a hidden spot nearby with a wide field of view and quietly waited.

Just as expected, after he waited in the dense brush for about twenty minutes, the four figures of the adventurer squad appeared at the village entrance, walking into his line of sight.

Captain Scarface with a scimitar at his waist, the tall ranger with a longbow on her back, the green-skinned half-orc mongrel, and the slightly bloated dwarf.

Not a single one was missing.

Compared to their travel-worn and irritable state from last night, a night of rest didn't seem to have helped them recover much.

The burly green-skinned half-orc, in particular, looked incredibly sullen. He dragged his feet, constantly turning to stare back at the village with a look of reluctance, as if lamenting the fact that he hadn't been able to wreak havoc on the place.

The backpacks slung over their shoulders were also visibly bulkier.

Inside them were the villagers' winter food supplies.

The amount they took might not have been massive, but Xia Nan had no doubt that if they'd had a convenient carriage or some spatial storage item, they would have emptied the entire storehouse.

Xia Nan took it all in.

His dark eyes looked calm and lightless, but a profound glint was brewing deep within them.

He was not skilled at stealth, nor did he possess any related technique Feats.

Fortunately, his experiences in the [Fang Hunt] dreamscape from the [Dream Weaving Corridor] terminal had given him some practical knowledge. The memories of secretly observing the Winter Wolf pack from a Barbarian's perspective during the early stages had lifted him out of his initial ignorance.

He now had a solid understanding of how to move in stealth and what details to pay attention to while doing so.

Coupled with his outstanding Perception, this allowed Xia Nan to maintain a considerable distance from the adventurer squad. He minimized his chances of being discovered while still keeping a firm tail on them without losing track.

Time gradually passed, and the group strayed further and further away from the village.

'It's about time,' Xia Nan thought, but he suddenly realized that the adventurer squad's path ahead was bizarrely overlapping with his own route from yesterday.

Their destination was... Ash Valley?

Thoughts churned in his mind.

His first thought emerged immediately.

Did this adventurer squad pass through the village specifically because of Ash Valley?

Perhaps they had heard some news or accepted a related commission, coming here with "Ash Valley" as their main objective.

If that were true, they might possess more information about Ash Valley than he did.

But if they had merely stumbled upon this place by chance and were heading toward Ash Valley completely unaware...

That wouldn't be entirely useless to him either.

After all, Ash Valley was shrouded in mist and filled with unpredictable dangers. If a few people could scout ahead, it would absolutely be a good thing for Xia Nan, who had originally planned to delve deep into it alone today.

It was a human mine-clearing method. They would absorb all the dangers in the valley, and the potential rewards would inevitably fall into his pockets as he played the role of the predator waiting behind.

As for whether the adventurer squad might shrink back at the last minute...

He could only say that based on his understanding of such adventurers, a suspected ancient ruin capable of yielding enough wealth for early retirement—even with just a one percent chance of being true—was enough to make these greedy desperadoes charge in one after another.

Their initiative was absolutely maxed out; he had nothing to worry about.

And indeed, that was the case.

From Xia Nan's perspective, they clearly showed a hint of hesitation when they first arrived at Ash Valley and saw the bizarre environment covered in gray rocks.

But after they carefully ventured deeper and discovered the architectural ruins he had explored yesterday...

Nothing but fanaticism remained on their faces.

"Old buildings! Ruins, they must be ruins! Gorg is going to be rich!"

The green-skinned half-orc tried hard to keep his voice down, practically growling in wild ecstasy.

He swung his iron-studded wooden club through the air, churning the mist.

The notoriously greedy mountain dwarf acted even worse. His short body was practically glued to the ground, searching inch by inch for any hidden treasures.

His attention was so intensely focused that he completely ignored the questioning voice of Marcus, the Bloodedge Squad captain he usually feared.

It wasn't until Marcus kicked him viciously—almost sending his stout, bloated body flying and making him roll twice across the stone-dust-covered ground—that he finally reacted.

He stood up, casually dusting off the stone powder as if nothing had happened, and spoke in an extremely excited tone:

"This is definitely not the architectural style of the Servia Kingdom!"

Greed was one thing, but his extreme pursuit of wealth had also led this short fellow to master a great deal of related knowledge.

"While the main structure remains heavy and solid, the interior decorative textures are incredibly complex and gorgeous. The overlapping use of ironwork and wall carvings—as far as I know, this bizarre style is rare across the entire Aifala Continent today."

"I suspect this is a creation left behind from before the founding of the Servia Kingdom, perhaps even from the ancient era."

"Moradin bless us, I... we're going to be rich!"

The dwarf's ecstatic words reached Marcus's ears, stirring waves in his heart.

This was supposed to be the most ordinary of journeys; it didn't even count as a commissioned quest.

Even their stop at Ash Valley Village last night had been a completely accidental discovery while passing through the forest.

He never expected they would stumble upon such an unexpected windfall.

He couldn't help but marvel at his own good luck.

At the same time, anticipation swelled in his heart regarding the ancient ruins mentioned by the dwarf, Stonebelly.

Danger certainly existed, but if they could bring out a few perfectly preserved, exquisite items that could prove their era of origin, those typically generous collectors would probably fight each other for them.

Selling off just one piece casually would yield a massive fortune that would normally take years of adventuring to earn.

If they really didn't want to expend the effort to explore it, just listing the location of this place at an auction house would fetch an astronomical price.

And if he truly managed to find a precious magic item from the ancient era, or even a combat technique inheritance...

Marcus's breathing involuntarily quickened, and the gaze he cast upon his teammates grew dangerous.

In contrast, the somewhat sharp-tongued ranger of the squad appeared much calmer, at least on the surface.

Through the cover of the strange mist, she smelled an untimely stench of blood.

Frowning, she subconsciously looked toward the source of the scent.

Her expression suddenly froze.

"Watch out!"

...

The group of four maintained a cautious, guarded posture, holding a formation ready for battle at any moment.

Lying in front of them were the drained corpses of several Axe Beaks.

Without exception, these massive flightless birds—whose hard, powerful beaks could shatter rocks—had nothing above their necks. Their heads had vanished completely.

A few of them had obvious slash wounds left on their chests, thighs, and backs.

Gently brushing her fingertips over the severed necks, the ranger, Ciri, wore a grave expression.

She had completely lost the mood for sarcasm. Instead, she explained her findings to her teammates in an incredibly serious tone, reconstructing the scene of the Axe Beaks' deaths before them:

"There are no obvious traces around here, which means the battle ended very quickly. The attacker's strength far exceeded these Axe Beaks."

"So what? Gorg could smash these big birds' heads in all by himself too!" the half-orc interrupted indignantly, gesturing at the corpses with his iron club as if considering the best place to strike.

"Shut your mongrel mouth—it's filthier than an ogre's cesspit! Listen to me!"

Forcibly suppressing her anger, Ciri pointed at the stiff, motionless flightless bird corpses on the ground and continued.

"First of all, you can all see their fatal wounds. They came from the neck—one strike to kill."

"The wounds are flat and smooth, clearly sliced by a sharp weapon. The movements were precise and clean."

Marcus listened carefully from the side, placing himself in the attacker's perspective. He wondered if he could decapitate these Axe Beaks as cleanly and efficiently if he were facing them all at once.

But a second later, Ciri's discovery instantly raised his guard.

"Here's the strangest part. Look closely at the positions where these Axe Beaks died."

"Only the one at the very front was facing the enemy."

"The other four had their heads chopped off with their backs turned to the attacker, and the locations where they died are staggered."

"What does this mean?"

"It means that only the first Axe Beak dared to—or rather, didn't react in time—and engaged the attacker head-on."

"The remaining four didn't even have the courage to attack. After realizing their companion was under attack, their first reaction... was to run!"

"I don't know if the enemy displayed such exaggerated combat power that these monsters lost all thought of fighting back, or if it was due to some kind of mind-control effect."

"But one thing is certain: another powerful adventurer has definitely discovered this valley and started exploring it before us."

Hearing this, an image surfaced in Marcus's mind: the sharp figure standing in the crowd last night, the one whose gaze had briefly locked with his before pulling away.

'Could it be him?' he thought.

He pondered this, but for the rest of the adventurer squad, the prospect of another faction appearing brought out a different reaction.

While they were vigilant, they were mostly filled with the anger of being beaten to the punch and a deep hostility toward anyone competing for the ruins' treasures.

"The treasures all belong to Gorg! Whoever dares to snatch them, Gorg will smash their head in!" the half-orc roared lowly, the veins bulging on his neck like steel cables.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry inside before someone loots everything!" the dwarf eagerly rubbed his hands together like a fly. His two thick, short legs stomped in place incessantly, as if delaying for even a second would cost him tens or hundreds of gold coins.

Ciri the ranger seemed to fall silent, keeping her mouth shut after explaining the findings on the scene.

However, given her personality, this silent action already made her stance completely clear.

After all, they were adventurers. They were even more extreme than those cunning, crazed merchants—they traded their lives for money.

When a sufficiently large benefit was placed in front of them, the hidden dangers behind it were conveniently ignored.

Even Marcus only thought about it for a few seconds before giving the order. He instructed his team members to stay alert and guard against any potential dangers as they continued their exploration deeper into the valley.

Quite a distance away.

Xia Nan watched the group disappear into the depths of the mist after discovering the Axe Beak corpses.

He finally withdrew his right hand from the hilt of his sword.

In his eyes, the moment they stepped into Ash Valley, this adventurer squad had lost all possibility of survival.

Given their hostile relationship, there was no way he could allow any of them to spread information about Ash Valley to the outside world, or let them link him to the potential treasures inside.

Silencing them was an absolute necessity.

The only difference was a matter of time.

If the squad had decided to retreat just now after finding the Axe Beak corpses he hadn't had time to deal with yesterday...

Then it would have been time for him to strike.

Right now, since they planned to venture deeper, they still had use value to Xia Nan.

His dark, emotionless eyes shifted slightly as Xia Nan stepped forward, his body melting into the mist alongside them.

But soon enough—just five or six minutes later—he was forced to halt his steps again.

Up ahead, the squad's path was blocked by a ruined altar.

The structure itself looked less like an altar and more like a colossal shrine.

Only the lower half of a massive statue remained, hoisted high by a heavy, fortress-like base adorned with complex and gorgeous carvings. On both sides, massive broken stone pillars jutted out diagonally from the rubble like ribs gnawed on by wild beasts.

The statue, missing everything from the waist up, was too dilapidated to identify. One could only discern its identity as a "Goddess" by the light, gauze-like stone skirt rippling down and the bare toes gently resting on the base.

At the same time, accompanied by a bizarre, drowning-like wheeze—

A shriveled figure, shrouded in a ruined, faded sackcloth cloak covered in stone dust, knelt motionlessly to the west of the stone statue. Its hands were clasped together in devout prayer.

Its head hung low, and the dry, deeply wrinkled skin on the back of its neck was pulled taut to the limit, making it look as if the jagged vertebrae underneath might pierce right through. The pair of arms protruding from the cloak were as slender and hideous as a preserved specimen, the skin a lifeless, dark purple.

A mummified corpse.

Xia Nan made this judgment.

But the very next second, the Blue-Grade Wooden Sword on his back, [Azure Pine]...

...suddenly erupted, sending a scorching airflow surging up the back of his neck.

It instantly cranked his internal vigilance to the absolute maximum.