bookbashuk Chapter 85 Question
Chapter 85 Question
Zhao Fan's gaze was fixed on the faint firelight in the valley, and he quickly made a mental calculation.
This place is more than a hundred miles away from the previous mountain pass. If those cultivators were heading west, this place would indeed be on their route.
However, the fire was not located at the foot of the mountain or by the roadside, but hidden deep in the valley. If he hadn't fallen from a high place, he would never have noticed it.
Is it a camp for the raiders? Or are there other cultivators spending the night here?
Zhao Fan hesitated for a moment before making a hasty approach. He first took out the Netherworld Mirror to activate his invisibility, then concealed his aura to the extreme before silently creeping towards the firelight.
The valley is not deep, but its location is quite secluded. The mountain walls on both sides are steep, and the entrance to the valley is narrow, accessible only by a small path strewn with rocks.
Zhao Fan slowly descended along the valley wall, each step taken in the shadow of the rocks, not daring to make a sound.
As he drew closer to the firelight, he finally saw the situation in the valley clearly.
At the bottom of the valley, there was a small, flat patch of sand, with a campfire burning in the center, its light illuminating an area of several feet around it. Two men sat by the fire, one about thirty years old, and the other looking younger, probably in his early twenties.
The two men were dressed in ordinary gray short-sleeved shirts, with storage bags hanging from their waists and two longswords beside them. They were talking in hushed tones, occasionally adding a couple of dry branches to the fire.
Zhao Fan focused his attention on sensing the auras of the two individuals—one at the fifth level of Qi Refining, and the other at the fourth level. Their cultivation levels weren't high, but they weren't low either.
He didn't reveal himself immediately, but continued to observe for a while. The two men appeared relaxed and showed no signs of wariness; two wild rabbits were roasting over the campfire, indicating they were resting there for the night.
Zhao Fan recognized these two men; they were from the Su family. The older one was called Su Ziyuan, and the younger one was called Su Zicheng.
"Fellow Daoists."
His voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet valley.
The two men by the campfire were startled at the same time, and instantly sprang to their feet, longswords already in hand, their eyes fixed on the direction Zhao Fan had walked out.
"Who goes there!"
The older man shouted sharply, his spiritual energy surging around him, ready to attack at any moment.
Zhao Fan did not continue to approach, but stopped more than ten feet away from the campfire.
"I am Zhao Fan. You two should know me, right?"
Upon hearing this, the two men were visibly taken aback. The younger one instinctively looked at the older one, while the older one sized Zhao Fan up and down, his wariness not entirely gone, but somewhat eased.
"You...you are Fellow Daoist Zhao Fan?"
After carefully examining the body and confirming that it was Zhao Fan, the two put away their swords.
Zhao Fan then approached and stood by the campfire. Su Mingcheng quickly made room for him and added a few more dry branches, making the firelight even brighter.
"Have you two discovered anything since you tracked us this far?"
Zhao Fan got straight to the point.
Su Ziyuan sighed and shook his head.
"To be honest, Fellow Daoist Zhao, we discovered traces of a battle yesterday and tracked it all the way to a mountain hollow where the cultivators had stayed."
"But after leaving the valley, the traces became fainter and fainter, and then they disappeared completely in this area."
"It's broken?"
Zhao Fan frowned slightly.
"Yes."
Su Zicheng took over the conversation, his face showing a hint of frustration.
"We've been searching around here all afternoon but haven't found any clues. It's getting dark, so we have no choice but to rest here for now and think of something else when it gets light."
After a moment of silence, Zhao Fan briefly recounted his findings from his investigation.
Upon hearing about the traces of a battle on the rocky beach, the campsite in the mountain valley, and the scraps of cloth and bloodstains along the way, the expressions on the two men's faces grew increasingly solemn.
"According to what Fellow Daoist Zhao said, Zixuan must have been kidnapped by a thief."
Su Ziyuan's voice was low and deep.
"After you arrived here, did you thoroughly search the surrounding area?"
he asks.
"Searched."
Su Zicheng smiled wryly.
"We scanned the ravines and forests within several miles with our divine sense, but there was nothing there. Those cultivators seemed to have vanished into thin air."
Zhao Fan pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered something. He took out his spirit beast pouch and released Xiao Er.
After landing, Xiao Er first shook its fur, then raised its head and twitched its nose slightly, as if it were identifying the scents in the air.
Zhao Fan squatted down and brought the piece of cloth he had picked up earlier to its nose.
"Waiter, look around and see if you can smell this."
The waiter sniffed the piece of cloth, then circled around a few times, keeping his nose close to the ground as he searched carefully.
Su Ziyuan and Su Zicheng were both stunned, but they didn't dare to make a sound to disturb them.
However, after circling around several times, the waiter finally returned to Zhao Fan's side and shook his head.
Zhao Fan's heart sank. Even Xiao Er's sense of smell couldn't detect it. It seemed that those cultivators had indeed tampered with things here, either by using some means to conceal their aura or by changing their direction.
He stood up and glanced around. The night was deep, and apart from the light of the campfire, the valley was filled with endless darkness.
"What are your plans for the future?"
Zhao Fan asked.
Su Ziyuan sighed.
"Tomorrow we'll search the surrounding area again. If we still don't find any clues, we'll have to go back to the Su family to report. Uncle San is waiting for news, and we can't stay here indefinitely."
Zhao Fan nodded, about to say something, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of the waiter's movements out of the corner of his eye.
The little creature had somehow wandered over to the campfire again, and was squatting there, tilting its head to look at the burning fire, its nostrils twitching slightly, as if it were somewhat confused.
Zhao Fan's heart skipped a beat, and following the waiter's gaze, he only saw a bonfire.
"Waiter?"
He called out softly.
The waiter glanced back at him, then turned back to stare at the fire, letting out a very soft whimper, as if there was something he couldn't understand.
Zhao Fan frowned slightly, stepped forward, squatted down, and reached out to pat the waiter's head.
"What's wrong?"
Xiao Er didn't respond, but just sniffed the air again, his gaze still fixed on the fire, his puzzled expression lingering.
Zhao Fan followed its gaze and carefully examined the fire. It seemed to be normal, but Xiao Er's reaction clearly indicated that he had sensed something.
He pondered for a moment, then stood up and looked at Su Ziyuan and the other person.
"Did you start this fire yourselves?"
"yes."
Su Zicheng nodded.
"We rested here after dark, and used some dry branches to start a fire. What's wrong?"
Zhao Fan didn't answer, but stared at the fire for a long time before finally shaking his head.
"It's nothing."
As he spoke, he put Xiao Er back into his spirit beast bag and sat down by the campfire.
"It's getting late, you two should rest first. If there are still no clues by tomorrow, I will have to go back and report to Fellow Daoist Su."
Su Ziyuan and Su Zicheng exchanged a glance. Although they felt that Zhao Fan's reaction was a bit strange, they didn't ask too many questions. They just nodded and each found a place to lie down by the fire.
The night wind blew through the valley, and the campfire flickered.
Zhao Fan sat cross-legged by the fire, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing, seemingly already in a meditative state. However, beneath his tightly closed eyelids, his thoughts remained restless.
The waiter's reaction... was definitely not without reason.
There must be something wrong with that fire.