90 Grasslands

Xue Wei was unaware of how his mental state had changed from when he entered the purple mist to when he left it.

when he entered it, he had been hopeless and ready to give up everything, even to the point where he would not struggle if the army ever managed to catch him.

When he left, he was invigorated. He felt energized and his mental state was different. It was as if he had gained clarity in the short time he was in the purple mist, as if his mind was clearer now, and that he had put everything he had chased in the past behind him.

This was no small change. It was the same as taking everything he had wished for so far, all his goals and all the expectations he had of himself, and throwing it away.

He now understood that the most important thing was to be true to himself. What others meant and thought mattered not. Although he would be chased, he was not willing to let go, nor was he ready to plead forgiveness for having done nothing wrong.

As long as he was true to himself, he was able to stand tall. As long as he was true to himself, he would continue onwards.

The purple mist he had entered had recreated him. Not only had it entered his body and changed his body structure, innate talent, and meridians, it had also entered his mind and made him much more clear-headed.

As to what this purple mist was, Xue Wei did not know. He was certain it was some sort of natural phenomenon and that it was a rare treasure, but nothing more than that. It was not until later that he understood just how lucky he had truly been.

Leaving the meadow, Xue Wei looked back at the purple mist with a final, longing glance, but he knew that he was pressed for time. Since he could guess that he was from the town of Lingyun, others would be able to guess the same. The army would definitely deploy some of their forces around the remains of the city to keep a lookout for him.

As he left the meadow, he found a small dusty animal trail that traveled through the grasslands. This animal trail was clearly used by migrating beasts, Mortal and Fierce Beasts alike, but no such beasts showed themselves when he traversed it.

The grasslands had grass up to two meters tall. It was a dangerous area, and Xue Wei understood that he was in the Eastern Administrative Region of Heping.

The grassland was a large area of the Eastern Administrative Region of the Kingdom of Heping. This area was known as a danger zone because of the many beasts that lurked in the tall grass, but some still ventured through it.

Bandit groups were known to roam the areas as they could have some semblance of peace from being persecuted by the army here, and the only thing they had to worry about were the beasts.

Mercenaries would also roam the grasslands, in an attempt to hunt down beasts or look for treasures or herbs.

Xue Wei was not here for those purposes, but he quickly understood that it was a dangerous area. Although the beasts seemed to leave him alone, the humans were unlikely to give him the same courtesy, so he became increasingly alert.

He spread his spiritual energy to the limits to sense the surrounding areas, but he did not encounter anything. One has to know that the grasslands covered a large area. It was bordered on the south, west, and east by forests, and only the northern region was occupied by human civilization.

Because of this, most of the humans who entered were in the northern part of the grasslands, and Xue Wei had entered it from the south-eastern side.

He only had a few days ahead of him before he would be able to make it to the northern side of the area. Even so, he was still on high alert.

Previously, he had behaved brazenly and rushed. He had not thought things through, nor had he thought of the consequences, but now it had changed.

Every action had a counteraction, every single gesture would cause a reaction from others, and now that he had understood this, Xue Wei also understood that he had to be careful. He could not let anyone trick him again.

Xue Wei tentatively continued forward. He was careful and calm. Suddenly, after three days, his spiritual senses reached the first humans he had seen in a while.

It was a group of three. All of them were in the tall grass off the beaten path, lowered over a beast corpse.

Xue Wei wisely decided to enter the opposing side of the beast trail. He did what he could to avoid them, and he kept vigilant.

It was as if Xue Wei could see them, but it was impossible for him to hear what they said. It was clear that the three of them were engaged in a discussion. Xue Wei managed to get past them without being noticed.

Since then, Xue Wei encountered quite a few experts. Most of them he managed to avoid by taking a detour, but some of them were not that simple.

Xue Wei had to run away quite a few times. In those cases, he would enter the depths of the tall grass, not caring whether he would encounter a beast. While he had no qualms fearlessly hiding in the grass like this, those he encountered were not eager to follow him, condemning him dead from his risky tactic.

Almost everyone was eager to kill him. The bandits and the mercenaries alike. If he died in this desolate area devoid of human life, no one would investigate the cause of his death; rather it would be blamed on the beasts.

Since they could avoid responsibility, why not try to earn a bit of extra money from attacking humans and beasts alike?

Beast corpses contained much wealth, but so did humans. While the beasts had to be dismantled in order to be sold first, the humans were walking bags of money.

Xue Wei was a single person. His strength was only that of an Earth Warrior, even if he could fight equally with a fifth layer Earth Warrior, and maybe even remain undefeated against a sixth layer Earth Warrior if they were one on one. However, these mercenaries were all in groups, and they were all on average a fifth layer Earth Warrior or higher.

Fortunately, Xue Wei had the Forbidden Rush movement technique. Although he was slightly hindered by the large grass, he was still able to move faster than the other experts, and managed to flee for his life.

The closer and closer he got to the northern area, fewer people started attacking him, mainly because there were witnesses to see what was happening.

Xue Wei's face was hidden beneath the bamboo hat. Although some people found it peculiar and a little eccentric, no one questioned him.

Xue Wei left the grasslands and stepped into a dusty road. This road was filled with experts moving to and from the grasslands; there were caravans of apothecaries and herb gatherers who came from far away to harvest rare materials and herbs that were growing exclusively in the Grasslands.

There were not many rogue cultivators in the Kingdom of Heping. This was because every youngster was expected to spend ten years in the army. And when they finally ended their service in the army, they would become guards, mercenaries, or even become lords in the various towns.

Traveling the world alone was not something many experts did, so the sight of Xue Wei walking the streets alone while wearing his bamboo hat caused quite a few people to glance at him a few times before they continued onwards on their journey.

Xue Wei did not care at all about these people's attention that was on him. Instead, he continued to move further and further north.

He would stop in the smaller towns and villages and listen to all the gossip he could come across while paying a few silvers for a room overnight and some good food.

He never took the bamboo hat off while speaking with people. While many were curious as to why he wanted to hide his identity, many guessed he was hiding from someone or something, but no one truly wanted to figure out what exactly he was hiding.

The rumor about Xue Wei had not made it that far either, so no one had heard about the newfound Primordial Beast that should have appeared in the capital of the Kingdom of Heping.

"You fled quite far," a voice suddenly sounded leisurely from behind. Xue Wei could not help but sigh when he heard it. He knew this voice all too well.

"Haolong, what makes you think that you and your group is capable of stopping me if I wish to leave?" Xue Wei asked. Neither of them breached the subject of whether or not he was guilty.

Xue Wei had always considered Tie Haolong to be a smart person, and thus this person would also know that he was innocent. Anyone who could think for themselves had reached this conclusion, but his fate had been sealed by the commander who had lost his sanity after the fight.

"You should be proud. You are known as one of the most wanted Primordial Beasts within the entire Kingdom of Heping," Tie Haolong tried to joke, but the joke was rather dull, and no one laughed.

"Like the Ice Harpy has her nickname, you too have been given one; the Crimson Devil."

"We are the first group to head towards the cold north. Everyone else headed south since that is the direction the Ice Harpy went when she fled with you."

"But we will quickly be overtaken by the real Primordial Beast Hunters." Tie Haolong sighed. "There is a bounty on your head now. The Primordial Beast Hunters do not really care whether or not you are a real Primordial Beast. As long as they can make money from you, they will be happy."

Tie Haolong shook his head depressedly. "Well, we are incapable of capturing you," he said as he spread his arms helplessly. "We have intercepted you, but from here on we cannot do much else. You are the Crimson Devil, a bloodthirsty creature that will do anything to eradicate your enemies. If we make a move, we are likely to lose our little lives, and thus we will stay our hands."

Tie Haolong knew that their group was superior in numbers, but he, a third layer Earth Warrior, was the highest ranked in their group, .

They simply had no chance of defeating Xue Wei even if they tried to capture him, but from what Tie Haolong had said, Xue Wei could sense that he never had thoughts of doing such in the first place.

"We will report to our superior tomorrow that we saw you," he said after a bit of time. "But I cannot do more for you. Live well and leave the Kingdom of Heping as soon as you can!"

Xue Wei smiled wryly. He was not able to leave just yet, but he understood that he had to do so eventually. Now that he had run into Tie Haolong, his pursuers would know that he was going north and then it would be easy to guess where exactly he was heading towards.

As Tie Haolong had said, the Primordial Beast Hunters did not care about their target's circumstances. All they wanted was the bounty that had been placed on his head, and now they were starting to move.

The road ahead was no longer a safe or relaxed trip. It would be a trip fraught with danger, where the enemy was so overwhelmingly strong that Xue Wei had no chance to withstand it should he get caught.