Chapter 796: For What?

The Purple-Winged Heavenly Beast flew extremely fast, covering over a thousand li in no time.

In the towering and continuous Hongyuan Mountain Range, a massive peak was shrouded in clouds and mist. The sun shone upon it, reflecting a riot of colors. From afar, spiritual energy surged, and various birds and beasts flew within, like a fairyland.

"This is Cloud Mist Ridge!"

Recalling Luo Qiqi's introduction, Zhang Xuan's gaze turned solemn.

Before even approaching, he could feel the rich spiritual energy of this mountain range, as if a natural spirit-gathering array stood within. Needless to say, such a treasure land must be home to countless powerful spirit beasts.

"Hurry!"

Knowing that Wei Changfeng might be in danger, Zhang Xuan did not pause at all. Soon he reached the foot of the mountain. The Heavenly Beast, as if sensing something terrifying, refused to fly further. He had no choice but to leave it there and ascend the mountain alone.

"Eye of Insight!"

Activating the Red Dust Heaven-Stepping Step, he floated in midair, looking around for traces.

Cloud Mist Ridge spanned hundreds of kilometers, extremely vast, and with clouds and mist everywhere, visibility was low. Without direction, searching randomly would take a year to find anyone.

If he couldn't even find the person, how could he rescue him?

"Hmm? No traces left?"

After scanning around and finding nothing, Zhang Xuan frowned.

Logically, since the other party had only been gone less than a day, as long as traces remained, the Eye of Insight would surely find them. But after careful observation, there were no traces at all. What was going on?

"Wei Changfeng must have deliberately erased them..."

After thinking, Zhang Xuan understood.

Entering a mountain range with many sacred beasts, leaving traces would easily get them discovered and tracked, leading to danger.

Wei Changfeng surely knew this and deliberately erased his traces, sneaking up the mountain to avoid the eyes and ears of the sacred beasts and to better conceal himself for safety.

"How do I find him now?" Zhang Xuan frowned.

He had thought that as long as the other left traces, he could find him easily with the Eye of Insight. But with nothing, how could he search?

In such a vast mountain range, blindly searching would not only fail to rescue the person but might even trap himself.

"Right!"

Just as he was troubled, his spirit stirred, and a football-sized beehive appeared in his palm.

The Thousand Ant Beehive!

When it came to finding people, objects, or reporting information, this creature was definitely better than him.

Whoosh!

The Thousand Ant Queen appeared before him. In just a few days, the entire beast had shrunk significantly, its body twisted like a fried dough cake.

"What happened to you?" It had seemed normal before; how did it become like this?

The Thousand Ant Queen rolled its eyes.

How I became like this—don't you have any idea?

Stuffing that huge Purple Sun Beast into my little nest, I was squeezed into this shape! If not for my luck, I might have died long ago!

Roar!

Though frustrated, it dared not complain and only let out a low growl.

"Alright, I'm letting you out to help me explore Cloud Mist Ridge. I need to find someone!"

Knowing there was no time to dwell on this, Zhang Xuan didn't say more and waved his hand.

He was proficient in ancient beast language and could communicate with it without any barrier.

Soon, the Thousand Ant Queen understood his meaning, nodded, and shook in place, spitting out a ball.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The ball grew as it caught the wind. After a moment, a buzzing sound came, and countless thousand ants flew out, silently dispersing in all directions.

"Master, there are no human traces nearby!"

After a few minutes, the Thousand Ant Queen said.

"None?" Zhang Xuan frowned. "Continue searching up the mountain, and also check the situation of the sacred beasts around. Once found, report the range in advance!"

Even if there were many sacred beasts here, they must have their own territories. Knowing them in advance and avoiding them should not pose too much danger.

"Yes!"

The Thousand Ant Queen nodded and contacted the thousand ants through a special method.

"Ascend the mountain!"

Soon, the Thousand Ant Queen reported the distribution of nearby spirit beasts, and Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.

At the foot of the mountain, the highest cultivation was only the Void Step realm, with no sacred beasts.

Knowing this, he found a safe route in advance and, with the Thousand Ant Queen, quietly flew up the mountain.

"Master, there seem to be traces of a battle ahead..."

After advancing for a while, the Thousand Ant Queen transmitted a message.

"Any corpses?" Zhang Xuan looked over.

"No human corpses!" Knowing what he was worried about, the Thousand Ant Queen nodded.

"Take me to see!" Zhang Xuan's expression turned serious.

"Alright!" The Thousand Ant Queen pointed the direction, and Zhang Xuan flew quietly. Before long, he indeed saw traces of a battle.

The Eye of Clarity twitched as he observed carefully.

"Probably five or six shichen ago..."

"He should have been fighting three Cyan Sound Beasts. This type of spirit beast, though only at the Return to Unity realm and not strong, has a very keen nose. They must have caught his scent, tracked him down, and left him no escape, so he had to strike."

"These Cyan Sound Beasts were all killed by him with a single blow. But the last one let out a roar before dying, and in his haste, Wei Changfeng crushed its skull! Though he killed them, the Cyan Sound Beast's cry was loud and must have alerted many other spirit beasts."

Soon, he reached an analysis: this battle started quickly and ended even faster, lasting no long time. But when the battle began, the surge of spiritual energy effectively exposed their position, which would inevitably attract the attention of other spirit beasts, even sacred beasts.

If he wanted to go deeper, the trouble would be considerable.

"He went in that direction!"

After analyzing the battle, Zhang Xuan's eyes flickered. He found a faint trace left by Wei Changfeng and quickly pursued.

It had to be said, this master of the Spiritual Materials Pavilion was indeed clever. Knowing his whereabouts were exposed, he chose a narrow mountain path to climb upward.

Here there was only one road, making it difficult to ambush or surround him. Moreover, spirit beasts were huge while humans were relatively small, making it easier to hide.

However, there was also a major flaw: once discovered, he would be trapped in a cage, with no chance to escape.

Following the mountain path forward, he soon found many slain spirit beasts.

Return to Unity realm, Void Step realm, Cocoon Seal realm...

The levels of the spirit beasts grew higher, and the battles became more brutal. After walking a while, he actually saw a half-sage level one.

It was a Black-faced Iron Bear, its head cleaved open by a blade, dead on the spot.

"Half-sage level has appeared; from now on, they'll only get stronger!"

His expression grew increasingly grave.

Before even reaching the mountainside, he encountered a half-sage level beast. As more were slain, the sacred beasts attracted would become more formidable. Even if Wei Changfeng was a Saint Domain expert, he probably couldn't hold out much longer.

"Speed up!"

Afraid something might happen to the other, Zhang Xuan quickened his pace. Whether it was because the high-level spirit beasts and sacred beasts were drawn away by Wei Changfeng or for other reasons, and with the Thousand Ant Queen Bee's early warnings, he encountered no danger along the way.

But as he went deeper, his eyelids twitched more violently.

Soon, he stopped before a battle site.

The surrounding vegetation had been flattened by the battle's aftermath, stretching hundreds of meters with huge craters. Many rocks on the mountain path had been split in two or crushed to powder.

In short, the area was a mess.

"It's three Congealed Saint level Black-tailed Foxes!"

The Eye of Clarity shone as he analyzed the battle scene. Zhang Xuan's face was as dark as water.

Congealed Saint level Black-tailed Foxes, though not as strong as Wei Changfeng, were cunning and alert, skilled in ambush. Judging by the surrounding traces, Wei Changfeng was clearly injured.

Bending down, he picked up a piece of cloth from the ground, stained with blood.

"This is from about a shichen ago..."

His fists clenched.

Knowing he was getting closer to his newly recruited subordinate, he sped up and continued forward.

After not going far, he found another battle trace.

Even more intense. Two Saint Domain level spirit beasts lay on the ground, already dead, while a large beast's mouth held an arm, the blood still not dry.

"It's his arm!"

His brows jumped.

He recognized this arm—it was Wei Changfeng's.

Ambushed here by a Saint Domain level spirit beast, one arm was bitten off. Though he killed the opponent, his injuries were so severe that he probably couldn't go much further.

Looking around again, he found not only the arm left behind but blood everywhere. It seemed Wei Changfeng was gravely wounded.

"This guy... is he risking his life? If we really can't pick the Cloud Mist Flower, we can think of other ways..."

His face turned ugly.

He had already encountered a sacred beast of similar strength. Knowing he couldn't get past, why not give up? If the Cloud Mist Flower couldn't be found, they could think of other methods. Why risk his life?

He would die!

If a man died, what use was picking the Cloud Mist Flower?

Rushing forward, he walked another few hundred meters and saw a long sword embedded in the rock wall of the mountain path, dripping with fresh blood, likely from a freshly slain sacred beast.

Along the way, seeing many spirit beasts killed by the blade, Zhang Xuan already knew Wei Changfeng's weapon was a top-grade long sword. He hurried over and pulled it out.

"Broken?"

Drawing the sword, he found it had snapped in two, as if cut by some sharp object. The surrounding rocks were stained with blood, looking very grim.

A weapon was a martial artist's life. The sword was broken—what exactly had Wei Changfeng encountered?

Lowering his head and looking around, he swayed and picked up a thick strand of fur.

"Saint Domain First Layer Peak... Hong Yuan Beast's fur?"

His face was as black as a pot bottom.

Finding Hong Yuan Beast fur here meant... Wei Changfeng had encountered such a powerful sacred beast?

Wei Changfeng's own cultivation was only at Saint Domain First Layer mid-stage, not even late-stage. Facing a Saint Domain First Layer mid-stage sacred beast was already hard to overcome. Encountering a peak-level one... he couldn't resist at all!

Due to their size, same-level spirit beasts and sacred beasts were stronger in combat than same-level masters, let alone ordinary martial artists.

"He's truly in danger this time. It's hard for him to survive..."

He couldn't help but look ahead, filled with worry.

If he didn't want to charge forward, with his strength, he should be able to escape. Why had he suffered such heavy losses? For what?