474: Chapter 474 Restless Moment

Ye Tian turned his head.

The Vulture hesitated for a moment, then spoke up: "In consideration of how straightforward you are, I will give you one more piece of information for free—several days ago, a group of mysterious people also arrived at the City of Buried Bones, and their target seems to be that altar as well."

That group of people wore uniform black robes, their Auras were cold and eerie, and their leader was an old man at the Sea Transformation Third Stage.

They were generous with their spending and purchased a large amount of supplies in the city; it looks like they are prepared to stay near the altar for a while."

The heart of Ye Tian stirred, and he immediately thought of the Nether Abyss.

"Thank you for the information." He cupped his hands, turned around, and left the small room with Shui Qingdie.

Walking out of the Blood Hand Arena, Shui Qingdie could not help but ask: "Junior Brother Ye, do you think those people in black robes could be from the Nether Abyss?"

"It is very possible." Ye Tian nodded. "And I suspect that the information they hold is even more than what the Vulture knows."

"Then what should we do?"

"They have many people and a large target, so they definitely are not as flexible as us when it comes to taking action," Ye Tian said slowly.

"We will stay put for now and observe their movements. Once they set off, we will follow far behind and let them scout the path ahead for us."

The eyes of Shui Qingdie lit up: "Is this called the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?"

The lips of Ye Tian curved slightly: "No."

"This is called letting them step on all the mines for us, and then we go over to pick the fruit."

Coming out of the Blood Hand Arena, the night was already deep.

Ye Tian and Shui Qingdie walked side by side on the street, neither fast nor slow.

"Junior Brother Ye, do you think those people in black robes have already set their sights on us?" Shui Qingdie asked in a low voice, her gaze scanning the surroundings vigilantly.

"It would be better if they did." Ye Tian rested his hands behind his head, his tone relaxed. "I was even worried they would not come looking for me."

Seeing his indifferent appearance, Shui Qingdie felt both helpless and impressed.

If it were anyone else, being targeted by a faction of the level of the Nether Abyss would have long since made them unable to sleep or eat, but he, on the other hand, was practically begging for them to come to his door.

The two turned into a small alley, preparing to take a shortcut back to the inn.

When they reached the middle of the alley, Ye Tian suddenly stopped his steps.

"What is wrong?" Shui Qingdie also stopped.

Ye Tian did not answer, just tilted his head slightly and looked into the darkness ahead.

At the end of the alley, a figure slowly walked out of the shadows.

It was a stooped old man who looked just like an old man one could see anywhere on the roadside, with no Aura fluctuations of a Cultivator on his body.

But Ye Tian narrowed his eyes slightly.

With his Hǎihǎi Five-Layer Divine Sense, he had not actually sensed the Aura of the other party in advance.

Either this old man was truly just an ordinary person, or... his cultivation was far above his own.

"Young man, wandering outside in the middle of the night is not safe."

"The City of Buried Bones is not like your Central Plains; the nights here will eat people."

Ye Tian looked at the old man and smiled faintly: "The old man is right. However, I have a bad habit: the more dangerous a place is, the more I like to stroll around."

The old man also laughed: "It is a good thing for a young man to have courage, but if the courage is too great, it is easy to shorten the life of one."

"Thank you for your concern." Ye Tian looked at the other party, his Aura not yielding in the slightest. "However, my life is tough, and it will not be shortened anytime soon."

The two stared at each other for a moment, and a subtle tension permeated the air.

Shui Qingdie stood behind Ye Tian, the palms of her hands slightly sweating.

Although she could not tell the depth of this old man, her instincts told her that this person was definitely not simple.

In the end, the old man shook his head and sighed: "There are some places that you should not go to."

"Listen to a word of advice from this old man: tomorrow, as soon as the sky brightens, leave the City of Buried Bones."

After finishing, he turned around, and with just one step, he disappeared into the depths of the alley.

Shui Qingdie finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly asked: "Junior Brother Ye, who was that old man?"

"I do not know." Ye Tian shook his head, but his gaze remained fixed on the direction where the old man disappeared. "But he should not be an enemy."

"How so?" Shui Qingdie did not understand why Ye Tian was so certain.

"Because if he were truly an enemy, he would have already made a move just now." Ye Tian withdrew his gaze, his tone flat. "He did not make a move, which means he either came to warn me, or..."

"Or what?"

"See if I am worth his move." Ye Tian smiled and continued walking forward. "However, it seems now that he perhaps feels I am not qualified yet."

Shui Qingdie listened, half-understanding, but still followed quickly.

When the two returned to the inn, it was already late at night.

In the inn lobby, there was only a one-armed innkeeper dozing off on the counter, and the wick in the oil lamp had already burned to a charred black.

Seeing Ye Tian and his companion return, the innkeeper lifted his eyelids, mumbled vaguely, "Hot water is on the stove," and then buried his head to sleep again.

Ye Tian and Shui Qingdie each returned to their rooms.

Closing the door, Ye Tian was in no rush to rest. Instead, he sat down by the bed and took out the map he bought from the Vulture from his Universe Ring, spreading it out on the table.

The location of the altar was slightly north of the center of the map, surrounded by several low hills, with a swamp on the east side and a rocky beach on the west side.

The map marked several possible routes with dashed lines, one of which bypassed the swamp; although the distance was longer, it was relatively safe.

And that red cross, which the Vulture had specifically warned about, was located in a valley in the northeast corner of the map, about half a day of journey from the main site of the altar.

"Red cross..." Ye Tian whispered to himself.

According to the Vulture, several batches of scouts he sent out had all gone missing in that vicinity.

There was either a powerful Restriction or a Yao Beast entrenched there, or... it was hiding some secret that it did not want to be discovered.

He pondered for a moment, then put away the map and blew out the oil lamp.

In the darkness, Ye Tian sat cross-legged and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

At the same time, on a roof opposite the inn, a slender figure was sitting on the tiles, her legs dangling in the air, swinging gently.

The moonlight spilled onto her, casting a beautiful silhouette; it was none other than Yun Zhiying.

She rested her chin in one hand, while the other hand played with a strand of black hair hanging over her shoulder, her gaze falling on the window of the room of Ye Tian with great interest.

"Little guy, the secrets on you are far more than you yourself know."

She murmured in a low voice, a smile curling at the corners of her lips, then stretched, and her figure dissipated into the moonlight.

...

The next morning, Ye Tian pushed open the window and swept his gaze across the street.

The street had few pedestrians, with only a few early-rising vendors setting up stalls, and some mercenaries who had not woken up from their hangovers slumped against the corners of walls; everything looked very calm.

But Ye Tian noticed some details.

At the steamed bun stall across the street, although the stall owner was busy with his hands, his gaze would glance toward the entrance of the inn from time to time.

A beggar was crouching under the eaves diagonally across; a broken bowl was placed in front of him, but his eyes were not staring at passersby to beg for money like other beggars, but were intentionally or unintentionally scanning the windows on the second floor of the inn.

And further away, at the window of a two-story teahouse, a figure flashed by, and the curtain swayed slightly.

"Heh, it is quite lively." The lips of Ye Tian curved slightly.

The Vulture was right last night; there were indeed quite a few people eyeing that altar.

And his performance of disabling Iron King Kong with one finger at the Blood Hand Arena yesterday had likely already attracted the attention of various factions.

Early this morning, these people could not wait to send out spies, wanting to find out his background.

However, Ye Tian did not care.

He turned and went downstairs, ordered two bowls of coarse wheat porridge and a few pancakes in the inn lobby, and ate a simple breakfast with Shui Qingdie.

The skills of the one-armed innkeeper were unexpectedly good; the pancakes were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the wheat porridge was thick and fragrant. In this godforsaken Northern Wasteland, it could already be considered a rare delicacy.

After eating, Ye Tian said to Shui Qingdie: "Let us go, let us stroll around."

"Stroll?" Shui Qingdie was stunned. "Are we not setting off for the altar?"

"What is the rush?" Ye Tian stood up and stretched. "Let those anxious people go first, and we can just follow slowly behind."

"We can just take this opportunity to see who else in the city is interested in us."

When he said this, his gaze swept over the entrance of the inn intentionally or unintentionally.

The steamed bun stall owner was pricking up his ears to eavesdrop, and seeing Ye Tian look over, he quickly lowered his head, pretending to organize the steamer.

Shui Qingdie also noticed the abnormality of the stall owner, understood in her heart, and did not ask any more questions.