The Nighttime Stalker

Bai Lan watched them finish collecting their items before finally speaking.

“By the way, does anyone know the location of Yellow Sand City?”

Her question made Ziyun and the others pause in surprise.

Anyone who had spent a long time on the first floor would definitely know the location of Yellow Sand City.

So Bai Lan’s question was rather strange.

“Huh? I… I know where it is.”

“Sister Bai, you’ve never been to Yellow Sand City?” Ziyun asked, confused.

Bai Lan shook her head.

She indeed did not possess the location of Yellow Sand City.

This made everyone even more puzzled.

After all, every one of them had it.

The so-called “location” of Yellow Sand City was actually a spiritual imprint.

It was a basic function of the Void Heaven Realm.

Once someone visited Yellow Sand City, their aura would leave an imprint there.

From that moment on, no matter where they were in the Yellow Sand Realm, they could sense the direction of the city.

“In that case, perfect.”

“I’m heading back to Yellow Sand City anyway.”

“If you want to go, Sister Bai, you can come with me,” Ziyun quickly said.

She didn’t question Bai Lan further.

There was no point.

What mattered was that Bai Lan had helped them earlier, and Ziyun could tell that Bai Lan was extraordinary.

After all, Bai Lan had single-handedly suppressed so many geniuses in the palace earlier.

That alone was enough reason for Ziyun to want to befriend her.

“Mm. Then I’ll trouble you,” Bai Lan replied.

She then looked toward An Xiao and the others.

“What about the rest of you?”

An Xiao and the others had only just come out of the secret realm.

They had no plans to return to Yellow Sand City yet.

So they declined.

“In that case, we’ll meet again someday,” Bai Lan said calmly.

An Xiao and the others nodded and soon left.

Only Bai Lan and Ziyun remained.

Ziyun was extremely curious about Bai Lan.

She really wanted to know which major faction Bai Lan belonged to in the outside world.

After the others left, Bai Lan followed Ziyun toward Yellow Sand City.

Along the way, Ziyun began asking questions.

Whether Bai Lan would answer them was another matter.

“Sister Bai, is the name and appearance you use here the same as in the outside world?” Ziyun asked curiously.

Bai Lan glanced at her.

Her eyes seemed to ask silently—

Why are you asking that?

Understanding Bai Lan’s expression, Ziyun hurriedly explained.

“Sister, please don’t misunderstand.”

“I don’t have any bad intentions.”

“I just feel like we might have some kind of fate.”

“Oh right, let me introduce myself first.”

“My name is Ye Ziyun.”

“I’m a disciple of Ziyun Palace in the Jiangling Domain.”

“My real age is fifteen.”

Ziyun openly revealed her background.

In the Void Heaven Realm, people who revealed their origins usually wanted to build a genuine friendship.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t share such personal information.

Xue Yue’s memories, however, were limited.

He had spent his entire life within the Snow Clan in the northern snowy region of the Eastern Continent.

He had never left the snowy lands.

Because of that, he was only familiar with factions comparable to the Snow Clan.

There were countless other forces he had never heard of.

The Eastern Continent was enormous.

It contained hundreds of regions, both large and small.

Each region was roughly comparable to two or three provinces on Earth.

In other words—

The Eastern Continent was far larger than China.

The snowy region alone was nearly half the size of China.

“Ziyun Palace?”

“I’m sorry… I don’t think I’ve heard of it before,” Bai Lan said after thinking for a moment.

Ye Ziyun wasn’t offended.

She simply shook her head.

“It’s normal.”

“The Eastern Continent is huge.”

“Even within Jiangling Domain, I don’t know every faction.”

“The appearance I use in the Void Heaven Realm is my real appearance.”

“My name is also real.”

“As for which faction I belong to… I can only say that the place I come from is very remote,” Bai Lan replied.

After all, Bai Lan was not truly a child.

She could not casually reveal her background like Ziyun had.

She knew very well that most of the trial-takers on the first floor were actually very young.

Although they appeared to be adults here, their real ages were usually under sixteen.

In fact, anyone older than twelve was already considered relatively old on the first floor.

Xue Yue had been only six or seven years old when he first entered Snow Moon Pavilion.

However, disciples from cultivation families were raised differently.

From childhood, they received special training and education.

Even so—

Most trial-takers on the first floor still had relatively simple and immature minds.

Only after reaching the second floor did people begin thinking more cautiously.

“Alright.”

“If Sister Bai ever visits Jiangling Domain, you can come find me at Ziyun Palace,” Ye Ziyun said.

Her voice carried a hint of disappointment.

In her view, Bai Lan’s unwillingness to reveal her background meant she didn’t trust her.

Of course, this was normal in the Void Heaven Realm.

If Ziyun hadn’t been so curious about Bai Lan, she wouldn’t have revealed her own background either.

“Ziyun, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you,” Bai Lan said softly.

“It’s just that on the first floor, everyone is young and relatively simple.”

“But once you reach the second floor, you’ll realize how dangerous it is to casually reveal your background.”

Ziyun froze.

She fell silent.

After that, she stopped asking about Bai Lan’s identity.

Guided by Ye Ziyun, the two continued traveling.

Along the way, they changed direction seven times.

This showed that the location of Yellow Sand City was constantly shifting.

Time slowly passed.

Throughout the journey, Ziyun tried many times to start conversations with Bai Lan.

But aside from necessary replies, Bai Lan rarely spoke.

Eventually, Ziyun stopped talking.

She realized Bai Lan simply wasn’t someone who enjoyed idle conversation.

However—

Things were not as peaceful as they seemed.

As they approached the area near Yellow Sand City, dusk gradually turned into night.

Neither of them planned to travel at night.

Traveling in the dark within the Yellow Sand Realm was extremely dangerous.

They were not in a hurry anyway.

But trouble still came.

And this trouble was something Bai Lan herself had attracted.

Along the way, they discovered a small oasis.

Finding such a place in the desert was considered very lucky.

Ziyun took out several formation flags and set them around the oasis.

Soon, a defensive formation was established.

With this formation active, they would be safe unless attacked by a Foundation Establishment beast or unless someone deliberately broke the formation.

Bai Lan also sat down to meditate.

What Ziyun didn’t know was that Bai Lan had been in a weakened state the entire journey.

She had simply been pretending to be fine.

Using Frigid Moon Divine Radiance earlier had consumed a large amount of her power.

That power was unique to the Chaos Body.

It could not be restored with spirit stones or pills.

They planned to rest here until dawn.

But in the middle of the night—

Something unexpected happened.

A figure appeared outside the oasis.

The person stood silently in the darkness.

Purple light glowed faintly from their eyes as they stared at the oasis.

“So I finally caught up.”

“Luckily I remembered her soul aura when our eyes met earlier.”

“Otherwise, I would never have found her.”

A gloomy female voice muttered softly.

The hoarse voice sounded very familiar.

Wasn’t this the Soul Clan woman they had encountered earlier?

She had actually tracked Bai Lan all the way here.