Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

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"Brother...is it really you?"

Li Yao's voice was still trembling, his hand, covered in mud and ash, hung in mid-air, wanting to touch it but not daring to.

Ian stepped forward and used his relatively clean sleeve to wipe the dirt off the boy's face.

"It's me." His voice wasn't loud, but every word was steady.

The surrounding crowd was still immersed in what had just happened.

In the blink of an eye, the three carrion beetles were pinned to the ground by the suddenly appearing young man.

The silver light on the sword tip had not yet faded, and the air was still filled with the foul, burnt smell of beetle fluids.

"Li Yao, do you recognize him?"

Chen Daoba walked over carrying a knife, the scars on his face looking particularly ferocious in the sunlight.

His gaze swept back and forth between Ian and Li Yao, finally settling on the iron sword in Ian's hand, which was still dripping black blood.

The silver light on the sword was slowly fading, but the residual ripples remained.

That was starlight energy, and it was manipulated with extreme precision, something that ordinary people could not achieve upon awakening.

"I never imagined he was of noble blood."

"He is my brother, Li Xing."

Li Yao moved forward, instinctively blocking Ian's path.

"Our family... used to live in Maple Leaf City."

"Maple Leaf City?" Scarface Chen narrowed his eyes. "The city fell last night, and not many managed to escape alive."

He took a step forward, his leather boot crushing half of a beetle's shell on the ground with a crisp "crack".

"Kid, who taught you that Starlight Guiding technique you just used?"

The air suddenly tensed up.

Several guards slowly surrounded them, their hands resting on the hilts of their swords.

Some people shrank back, but most people still craned their necks to see.

In this godforsaken place, the more capable fighters there are, the better the chance of survival.

Ian slowly stood up and pulled Li Yao behind him.

He could clearly sense that Chen Daoba's aura wasn't particularly strong; he was probably also in the late stage of awakening, just more composed than him.

If it really comes down to a fight, he could kill his opponent in just a few moves.

"I figured it out myself." His voice was calm, revealing no emotion.

"How can you survive when you're on the run if you don't know what you're doing?"

He had just taken a quick look and noticed that this fleeing group was carrying some food supplies.

Chen Daoba stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly grinned, revealing a set of blackened teeth.

"Alright, you've got the skills." He patted the scabbard at his waist.

"Since we're all family, that makes things easier. Our group is going to Blue Cave Mountain."

"We still have to travel two hundred li to the west to reach the nearest human settlement. We're short-handed along the way, especially someone as capable as you."

He paused, then changed the subject.

"However, every team has its own rules, and newcomers have to prove they are useful."

Ian looked at the other person without replying; it was nothing more than a little trick to show off his skills.

Scarface Chen pointed to the cave they had just been in.

"There might be beetle eggs or something else inside."

Go and investigate, clean it up thoroughly. If you can find a water source... the credit is yours.

A few low murmurs arose from the crowd.

"That hole almost killed Li Yao just now..."

"Boss Chen is testing him."

"What if there really is something big inside..."

Ian's eyes grew cold, revealing a hint of contempt.

"Are you teaching me how to do things?"

If it weren't for the scarcity of supplies in the wilderness, he would have killed the other man with a single sword strike.

Chen Daoba's expression changed, and he was about to get angry, but then he remembered Ian's fierce skills just now.

"Phew!" He took a deep breath. "I didn't mean that. I was just thinking about everyone's safety."

"Hmph!" Ian sneered, making no attempt to hide his contempt.

"I have an idea too. Let's go down and take a look together. We don't need anyone else, what do you think?"

Chen Daoba's face was gloomy, but he suppressed his killing intent.

"Haha, what courage! I'll go with you then, but we need more people for safety."

After saying that, he called over two of his men and turned to go to the cave entrance.

Ian's eyes were dark as he stared at his retreating figure without saying another word.

Li Yao panicked and grabbed Ian's arm.

"Brother, don't go! That cave is eerie; when I went in just now, I felt..."

"What do you feel?" Ian turned to look at him.

"I feel... something moving underground." Li Yao lowered his voice, his lips turning pale.

"Like a heartbeat, very slow, but very strong... and there's black slime on the rock face that smells like the decaying cracks."

Ian's eyes flickered, and he approached the cave.

The entrance to the cave was small, and it was pitch black inside, resembling a gaping mouth.

The beetle just crawled out from there, and there are still a few broken pieces of its shell scattered around the entrance.

[Starlight Perception] Spreads out silently.

The flow of energy in the air gradually became clear to him.

Most of the area was dark and cluttered, but deep inside that cave...

There was an unusually dense patch of dark red, foul energy, like a slowly writhing tumor.

Moreover, within a 50-meter radius of the cave, the energy veins beneath the ground exhibit a strange "root-like" distribution.

All the pathways point to one point.

"It's not a carrion beetle nest," Ian suddenly said.

Scarface Chen, standing nearby, frowned: "What did you say?"

"It's a hatchery for the young of the Corrupted Beasts."

Ian raised the tip of his sword and pointed it at a seemingly ordinary rocky slope on the side of the cave.

"About three meters underground, there is an energy node that is taking shape."

Judging by this scale... in three to five days at most, a corrupted burrowing beast, at least in the late stage of awakening and possessing highly venomous glands, will emerge.

He paused, then looked at the open space where the troops were now encamped.

"And the place we're standing here now... is right in the impact zone when it broke through the ground."

Once it emerges, its first bite will be of the nearest piece of flesh.

After he finished speaking, all around him fell silent.

The guards looked at each other, some of them subconsciously looking down at the ground.

Scarface Chen's expression changed: "What makes you say that?"

"Based on this." Ian drew a shallow groove in the ground with the tip of his sword.

Then he pulled out the metal plate from his pocket; it was the one he had found in the ruins of the observation platform.

Tie Niu placed the metal plate by the ditch; the star pattern on it gleamed faintly in the dark red light of the sky.

"This is a positioning tablet left by ancient stargazers, which can show abnormal fluctuations in the surrounding earth vein energy."

Ian pressed his finger on the small hole in the center of the board, injecting a wisp of starlight energy.

hum...

The star trail patterns on the board actually glowed with an extremely faint silver light.

The light flowed and eventually converged into several intersecting lines.

One of the thick, dark red lines runs right through the area where the team is encamped, with the other end pointing deep into the cave.

"This thing..."

Scarface Chen leaned closer, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. "Where did you get this?"

"I found it on the road." Ian put away the metal plate.

"But the information above is correct. If you don't believe it, you can send someone to dig around the side of the cave."

Three meters down, we should be able to dig down to a layer of decay that hasn't fully hardened yet.

At this moment, an elderly man with a white beard stepped forward from the group, his body trembling.

He wore a faded gray robe and held a wooden cane with a small, dull crystal embedded in the top.

"Chief Chen, let this old man take a look."

The old man walked to the spot Ian had just pointed to, squatted down, and placed the crystal staff head on the ground.

He closed his eyes, his withered hand resting on the cane.

About half a minute later, the old man suddenly opened his eyes, his face deathly pale.

"Underground... there is indeed a pulse of corrupt energy! It's enormous, and it's... brewing!"

The crowd erupted in chaos.

"Get out of here! Quickly!"

"My God...we almost..."

"That kid is telling the truth!"

Panic spread like wildfire, and some people began packing their belongings and dragging their families away.

Scarface Chen was also terrified, his face turning ashen. He glanced at Ian with a hint of gratitude.

He raised his hand and shouted, "What's the panic! Everyone, pack your things immediately and retreat 500 meters to the west! Hurry!"

As soon as the order was given, the team sprang into action.

People shouldered their burdens, picked up their children, and stumbled westward.

The guards dispersed to maintain order, reprimanding those who tried to wander off in different directions.

In the chaos, Li Yao clung tightly to Ian's clothes, his face tense.

"Brother, how do you know all that...?"

He asked in a low voice, "And what about that board...?"

"I'll tell you later." Ian patted his head, but his gaze was fixed on Scarface Chen.

Chen the Scarface was whispering to a few of his confidants, quickly giving instructions.

He would glance at Ian every now and then, his eyes filled with complex emotions—warning, calculation, and a barely suppressed greed.

Ian knew he was safe for now, but trouble was yet to come.

By the time the team reached a relatively flat gravel beach, it was already dark.

The gray clouds hung very low, almost touching the ground.

On the distant horizon, several dark red bands of light undulated through the clouds like blood vessels.

That was the glow of energy overflowing from the depths of the corrupted cracks, and the only source of light in this world at night.

People gathered in several circles and lit small bonfires.

The fuel was dry thorns and rotten wood that had been collected; it crackled and emitted choking black smoke when burned.

Ian and Li Yao sat by a fire in the inner part of the room.

Even if something unexpected happens, there will be time to react.

Chen Daoba originally intended to assign them this spot on the outer perimeter.

Ian ignored him completely, his heart already filled with murderous intent towards Scarface Chen.

He took the small piece of hard bread that Li Yao handed him, broke it in half, and stuffed the slightly larger piece back into the boy's hand.

"eat."

"Brother, your injury hasn't healed yet..." Li Yao already knew that Ian was injured and wanted to push him back.

"Eat it when I tell you to."

Ian’s tone left no room for argument as he took a bite of the piece in his hand.

The bread was so hard it hurt your teeth, and it tasted bitter and astringent, but at least it filled your stomach.

Li Yao lowered his head, taking small bites of the biscuit, his eyes a little red.

The firelight illuminated his dirty face, revealing deep exhaustion and the disorientation of surviving a disaster.

"I thought you were dead," the boy said in a muffled voice.

"Last night was so chaotic... When I escaped, I saw that the direction we lived in... was all on fire."

Ian was silent for a few seconds, then reached out and put his arm around Ian's shoulder.

"I'm not that easy to die."

He paused, then added, "You must live well too."

Li Yao nodded vigorously and stuffed the last bite of the biscuit into his mouth.

They chewed very hard, as if they were struggling against something.