The night in the ancient forest was by no means peaceful; rather, it was alive with a myriad of sounds. But tonight, all those natural noises were completely drowned out by a chaotic, blood-soaked symphony erupting from the valley of death.
The roars of Demonic Tigers, the howls of wild wolves, the furious bellows of Iron-skinned Demonic Boars, and the ear-piercing shrieks of Ghost-faced Macaques... all blended together, forming a cacophony of chaos that forced even the weakest creatures of the forest to cower deep within their dens. The pungent stench of fresh blood, mixed with the sickening smell of viscera and that bizarre, stimulating aroma, permeated the air, transforming the valley into a life-and-death gladiatorial arena.
Dozens of demonic beasts, driven mad by their hunting instincts and the inciting scent, tore into one another as they fought over the three Black-veined Hound carcasses. A Black-striped Demonic Tiger had barely clamped its jaws onto the hind leg of a hound when a massive Demonic Python suddenly plunged from the canopy above, tightly coiling around it. A pack of grey wolves was just about to charge into the fray when a Demonic Boar, the size of a boulder, rammed into them, sending them flying in all directions. The stage Tran Kien had set was far more brutal than any slaughter orchestrated by men.
By the stream, Xich Vu's patience had reached its absolute limit. Two full days had passed without a single shred of news. The profound silence from his prey made him feel as though he was being blatantly mocked.
"REPORT!"
A Black Panther Guard sprinted frantically from the direction of the valley. He was splattered with streaks of blood that did not belong to him, his face a portrait of sheer terror. "Com... Commander! The valley... There's an anomaly in the valley! Countless demonic beasts are slaughtering each other there!"
Xich Vu shot to his feet, an ominous premonition surging in his heart. Without a word, his figure darted forward like a black arrow. The Black Panther Guards hastily scrambled to keep up. When they neared the valley, the sight before them left even these men—veterans long accustomed to blood and death—utterly dumbfounded. The stench of gore assaulted their nostrils, so thick it induced nausea. Savage roars and the sound of flesh being torn apart echoed ceaselessly.
"What... what the hell is going on here?" one guard muttered in sheer horror.
But Xich Vu paid no heed to the war of the beasts. His gaze, as sharp as a dagger, swept across the chaotic landscape before locking onto a single point. Hanging from a branch right at the valley's entrance, gently swaying under the moonlight, was a silver object.
It was the collar of the alpha Black-veined Hound.
In that very moment, Xich Vu understood everything.
He had been played. It was the most painful, humiliating deception of his entire life. There was no fear. There was no exhausted prey cowering in a cave. It had all been an act. A play meticulously calculated down to the smallest detail. From using the hounds' corpses as bait, to deploying the strange aroma to incite the demonic beasts, right down to deliberately hanging the collar there to provoke him. That little brat hadn't just slipped through his net; he had borrowed the very hand of nature to forge an even grander trap—a trap of pure chaos to blind them all and pave the way for his own escape.
"AH... AH... AHHH!!!"
Xich Vu threw his head back and unleashed a long, resentment-filled roar toward the heavens. His roar carried a powerful surge of inner Qi, causing even the frenzied, warring demonic beasts to involuntarily pause for a fraction of a second. The killing intent radiating from his body was so dense it almost materialized into corporeal form. He had lost. He had been thoroughly defeated in a game of chess where he had assumed he was the one moving the pieces.
"RETREAT!!!" Xich Vu ground out, forcing each word through his teeth. He was not foolish enough to throw himself into a meaningless meat grinder with a horde of frenzied demonic beasts. "Transmit my orders to Black Crow and Blood Hand! Abandon the main exits! Scour every single hidden trail leading out of this forest! There is no way he has gone far! At all costs, find him for me!"
He had still not given up. His humiliation had twisted into a dark obsession, a madness born of sheer stubbornness.
Meanwhile, at the northwestern edge of the forest, over ten miles away from the chaotic valley, a figure quietly stepped out from the shadows of the ancient canopy. The silver moonlight illuminated Tran Kien's youthful yet extraordinarily calm face. He had made it out.
He did not show the slightest hint of joy. He merely stood there, silently listening to the faint, distant roars echoing from afar. He knew his play had been a success. But he also knew the danger was far from over. A wounded beast is always the most dangerous. After this defeat, Xich Vu would undoubtedly become even more maddened and infinitely more cautious.
Tran Kien did not leave immediately. He sat down and retrieved a few river pebbles he had gathered earlier. He carefully arranged them on a flat stone right at the edge of the forest. He did not arrange them into an arrow or any explicit sign. He arranged them into a chess formation. It was an incredibly simple endgame scenario: One side had only a besieged General left. The other side only needed a single Pawn to cross the river to deliver a checkmate and end the game.
This was his final move in this forest. A final message sent to Xich Vu. A silent declaration: In this game of chess, you have lost.
Leaving the board behind, Tran Kien stood up and gazed out at the desolate expanse stretching out beneath the moonlight before him. This was the Nameless Stone Wasteland. A land of gravel, howling winds, and profound silence. It was his rendezvous point with the Myriad Treasures Merchant Caravan.
He took a deep breath of the crisp night air. The hunt in the ancient forest had ended. A new, far more arduous journey awaited him ahead. Gripping the hilt of his longblade tightly, his small yet resolute figure took its first steps into the desolate wasteland.