Chapter 15: End of the Chase

'... Nuoding City!" Cheng Tian made up his mind about his destination, remembering that such a place was located in a relatively weaker region of Heaven Dou Empire.

Not only could Nuoding City be friendlier to him, but that was one of the few cities in Fasinuo Province that he knew of existence.

Fasinuo Province and the Balak Kingdom were the two closest territories to Cheng Tian's current location.

There were also a few cities nearby, but they were all in Star Lou Empire, a place Cheng Tian's predecessor did not know much about. On the other hand, even if the earthling had read Tang San's story, his knowledge of this state was not good either.

Considering this, he left Star Lou Empire out of his possibilities for the moment, heading towards one of those two border regions of that empire with Heaven Dou Empire.

Besides being where Soutuo City was located, the Balak Kingdom was also where Shrek Academy would eventually gain its first headquarters. However, this would still take years to happen if nothing intervened in the future, of course.

In any case, Balak Kingdom was much stronger than Fasinuo Province, this being the reason for Cheng Tian's choice.

As for Spirit City that he had considered, the home of the Spirit Hall was near the border of the Balak Kingdom, Fasinuo Province, and Star Lou Empire. But that place was too complicated for him, and he quickly disregarded the possibility of visiting Bibi Dong's likely location.

'Well, when I get to Nuoding City, I'll do some sightseeing...' Cheng Tian laughed but soon became more serious. 'Anyway, I'm no longer an academy student, so I'll have to find a way to earn coins!'

'The problem is that besides fighting, I don't know how to do anything!' His eyes widened as a dull smile formed on his lips.

'Never mind. Spirit masters are highly valued in this society. So, it probably won't be that hard to find some service...'

He continued walking westward, thinking about these possibilities that awaited him until he disappeared over the horizon.

...

A few hours later...

A group of four men passing through the northernmost outer areas of Star Dou Great Forest suddenly slowed their pace when one of them noticed something amiss on the ground.

"There is something nearby." A black-haired man with large white wings on his back and yellowish eyes like that of a bird said this aloud.

"Dai Zan, what's wrong? Do you see any trace from our fugitive?" The oldest of the four asked as he stopped beside a tree over 20 meters tall.

Dai Zan then said. "I am smelling blood, and I can see that further ahead, there is an area with several beasts amid a 'feast.'"

"This... Maybe a group of spirit masters hunting beasts lost the battle and became enemy food?" Another one there frowned as he looked at the elder.

"Hmm. It's not impossible. Spirit masters and beasts are natural enemies. We hunt them to strengthen our martial souls, but during a battle, they also have the chance to eliminate us."

"In the end, the victor absorbs the power of his enemy. It's not unfair."

"So what do we do, Senior Min?"

"Let's see the poor bastards who have fallen into this place. Although unlikely, there are always students or teachers from our Cryptid Academy hunting in these areas..." He said in a tone laden with seriousness.

"Yes, it won't hurt to see the place..." They all agreed until they carefully set off towards the area ahead.

After a few seconds, each of them reached the point where the destroyed criminal caravan was.

There they came across half a dozen hundred-year-old spirit beasts devouring the remnants of the bodies left behind by Cheng Tian.

Seeing the amount of dead in that group, the Cryptid Academy teachers looked at each other, feeling the strangeness of this situation.

Dai Zan said. "That group doesn't seem to have been defeated by spirit beasts."

"Yeah, there's no way a beast powerful enough for that would show up in this place. And with their numbers, beasts in the surrounding area would avoid them at all costs."

The elder noticed some details on the less destroyed bodies and said. "It looks like there was some kind of disagreement between these people. They fought among themselves before they died."

"Oh?" The three teachers looked more closely and soon realized that, indeed, that seemed to be the case.

But when one of them looked more carefully, he suddenly saw a body that the beasts in the surrounding area had not touched. Not only that, the physical state of that corpse looked much like that of Lin Long from days ago.

"Senior Min, look at that," One of them pointed with one of his fingers. "That person seems to have suffered the same fate as Lin Long!"

"Oh?" The oldest in that group ran close to Tian Heng's corpse, causing the beasts in the surrounding area to run away from him, a Spirit King.

At the same time, the man with wings on his back realized that Tian Heng was not the only one. There was another corpse with such characteristics in the surroundings. "Guys, there's another corpse like that!"

"That..."

"I wonder what happened in this place?"

"Evidently, this poor group stood in the way of the person we are looking for..." Senior Min resolutely said, sensing that this enemy was not ordinary. "I can't estimate this person's abilities, but this group had a Spirit Ancestor. So, we can judge this person's strength being at least in this cultivation range..."

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"Sigh!"

"It's not for nothing that the wretch managed to kill one of ours!"

"But why did this person kill our people? What about these people?"

"Good question..."

"I don't know..."

After some time talking, one of them questioned. "Senior Min, what about those devoured bodies? There's no way we can identify them in this situation, maybe..."

"I know what you mean." Senior Min closed his eyes momentarily. "You are thinking about the possibility that Cheng Tian died here, right?"

"Yes..."

"Well, it's not impossible. The enemy disappeared at the same time as him, so it's unlikely that he wasn't captured. That way, there's a good chance he died here."

"What a pity..."

The least in agreement with that idea then asked. "But why would anyone capture Cheng Tian? He had below-average talent and was completely mediocre in everything else. Even his problems weren't serious enough to make him stand out."

"Why would anyone try to kidnap such a person?"

"Sigh..."

"Meng Wu, don't underestimate anyone," Senior Min said in a disciplinarian tone. "Cheng Tian was an orphan, so we know nothing of his past. Who can assure you that he doesn't have a big secret?"

"Maybe even he didn't know..."

"Anyway, don't underestimate anyone, especially people you know nothing about."

"Senior..."

"Thanks for the teaching, Senior Min!"

"Hmmm, now let's take those two corpses with us. Maybe we can identify them and seek more answers."

"What about Cheng Tian?"

"If he didn't die here, he is already out of our reach. So, let's stop the search and declare him missing, presumed dead."

...

A few days later...

At this point in his journey, Cheng Tian had already crossed more than half of his way to Nuoding City and was currently in the Balak Kingdom, near that territory's border with Fasinuo Province.

In the days that had passed until here, he had traveled on foot at the beginning of his journey until he found a series of villages on his way. From then on, he did small jobs here and there, gathering enough coins to pay for his basic expenses.

At the same time, while traveling with merchants, doing their protection, or even helping travelers hunt down spirit beasts, he got transportation that accelerated his journey.

Besides that, he had improved his foundations considerably in the days since Gou He's death, having mastered a more significant portion of his strength.

He had not risen in his power, but he felt much more capable of dealing with opponents similar to those of his recent past. But he also understood a bit more about himself in this period.

For example, he concluded that his extraordinary power could help him raise the quality of his spirit rings and bones, considering his bodily limits. As such, he needs to find spirit bones and resources with the ability to affect his constitution so that he would have more possibilities to increase the age of his rings.

With that, such things had become his goals.

As much as absorbing enemies' powers was helpful, he had already realized it would not work in the long run. That's because the age of his rings would reach its limit before he could get new spirit rings. Thus, he would be unable to use this possibility.

He could sense this very well since he was only at level 32, and his first two rings were already at more than half their current maximum limit.

What did this mean?

Well, in his accounts, if he only relied on absorbing powers from others, he probably would not be able to reach level 40 before his rings and bone reached their limit.

In this case, only cultivating or getting external resources could help him raise his capabilities faster!

He had this in mind, and while traveling, he was paying attention to the possibilities on his way. But his focus at the moment was on finishing the task he was on and moving on to resolve this and other matters and Nuoding City.

...

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