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On the western side of the central zone, in a valley where rare herbs grew, three cultivators were fighting desperately against a Three-Eyed Fire Wolf. A middle-aged man dressed in the style of the Giant Sword Sect commanded a massive cyan greatsword, blocking most of the wolf's attacks, while an old man in a yellow robe and a young man in a gray Daoist robe flanked the beast from both sides, striking in coordination.
Before long, after taking a massive fireball head-on, the Giant Sword Sect disciple brought his sword down and severed the wolf's head in a single stroke. He then retrieved his greatsword and threw his head back in hearty laughter.
"Brother Meng truly possesses extraordinary magical power! To slay a Three-Eyed Fire Wolf with a single sword strike — worthy indeed of being a top disciple of the Giant Sword Sect!" The yellow-robed elder rushed over immediately, heaping flattery upon praise without the slightest blush.
Had Han Li been present, he would have recognized this old man as Xiang Zhili, the very same person who had once eagerly invited him to form some kind Weak Alliance. However, the young disciple who had been with him back then was nowhere to be seen — presumably they had been separated during teleportation.
"Heh heh! Without Brother Xiang and Daoist Li's assistance on the sidelines, how could I have succeeded so easily!" The black-robed middle-aged man holding the greatsword was actually quite modest.
"There's no need for Brother Meng to be so modest! Eradicating this monster beast — Brother Meng contributed the most. That goes without saying!" The other young Daoist, though not very old, spoke with neither servility nor arrogance, remarkably composed for his age.
The black-robed middle-aged man's face flickered with a brief smile upon hearing this, but he immediately offered a few more modest words.
"Speaking of which, those other fools still out there fighting each other really are stupid! If they knew that three people from three different sects could actually work together in harmony to slay beasts and gather herbs, I wonder if their jaws would drop!" The black-robed man abruptly changed the subject and made this remark.
"Exactly! This was all thanks to Brother Xiang's tireless efforts! If not for the way Brother Xiang analyzed everything so clearly and thoroughly for us, Brother Meng and I would probably still be at each other's throats!" The Daoist nodded in agreement repeatedly.
"You flatter me! You are both exceptionally clever people. I simply told the truth — there was never any reason for us to throw away our lives over things that had no chance of falling into our hands anyway. Instead of wasting time killing each other, we could sweep up every last rare herb outside the central zone! And when we work together, dealing with these monster beasts is as easy as pie!" Xiang Zhili grinned and waved off the praise with an oily tongue.
The other two exchanged a meaningful glance and burst into enthusiastic mutual flattery.
"Alright, let's hurry up and harvest the Fire Dragon Grass! We'll each take an equal share!" It was the black-robed man who spoke first, unable to contain himself. There was a note of urgency in his voice. With that, he walked toward the small red plants behind the fire wolf's carcass.
Xiang Zhili and the Daoist exchanged a significant, knowing smile, then agreed readily and followed after him.
Neither of them noticed that the black-robed man's face — turned away from them — suddenly twisted into a brief look of sinister malice, which vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
…
On the southern side of the central zone, in a place blanketed with yellow sand, a man and a woman — both disciples of the Crescent Moon Sect — were in a small area, ceaselessly stabbing Ice Spike spells into the sand from every angle, as though searching for something.
But after half a day, they had found nothing.
"That wretched girl — where on earth did she hide? Once I find her, I'll gouge out her eyes!" The female disciple was born with a stunningly beautiful face, but the words that came from her mouth were so vicious and cold that any man hearing them would feel a chill creep down his spine.
"Sister, we should really let it go! The time the sect set is almost up — if we don't leave soon, we'll be late!" The male disciple spoke timidly, and from the looks of it, he was rather afraid of this senior sister.
"Hmph! This is all your fault, you useless waste — you couldn't even watch over a girl at the tenth level of martial arts, and you let her slip right out from under our noses! If word got out, wouldn't everyone just laugh themselves to death at my reputation as one of the Crescent Moon Twins? Honestly, how could the sect have saddled me with a good-for-nothing like you as my cultivation partner!" The woman exploded in fury the moment the man spoke. She jabbed her finger at his nose and berated him until his face turned bright red, with nothing he could do about it.
That said, after glancing at the darkness of the sky, she still didn't dare continue the search. After all, delaying the sect's business was no small matter — even with her special status and powerful backers.