Refining the Mountains and Rivers

The perimeter continued to shrink, inching closer to the center of the small world fragment. The search area was shrinking, yet the search was not going any faster. In fact, it was becoming evidently slower.

The World of Darkness and Mysterious Clan formed an alliance, gathering a large number of people to help lock down the small world fragment and started to conduct a thorough search, strongly believing that the person controlling the Inextinguishable Flame was still here.

There would be less and less space for the culprit to hide in as time passed.

Both forces were even more alert now that they were reaching closer to the center of the small world fragment, knowing that the culprit could attack them anytime now.

For someone to be able to hide from the World of Darkness and Mysterious Clan…haha, it was impossible to even think about.

With such a thorough search, if the culprit still managed to escape, these cultivators would be extremely furious.

The culprit is not here…not here…he's not here either…

It was an unlucky day for the creatures in this small world fragment; they were all seized and killed in a violent manner.

Other than these cullings, there was virtually no movement elsewhere at all.

To prevent either side from covering up the truth or from getting ahead of the other clan, the cultivators from both sides were randomly arranged around the boundary. Cultivators from both the World of Darkness and Mysterious Clan would supervise the search together.

Yet, there was zero discovery!

Li Zhouyi sighed deeply. In front of him, there was a shallow valley covered in thick fog. That was the center of the small world fragment; would the culprit be hiding there? Did the culprit know that his chance of escaping would drop as time passed?

The valley was small enough for the cultivators of both clans to cover every corner. If something was to happen, they would be prepared. It was an inescapable net. There was no way the culprit could escape this time! As someone who could create twenty-one puppets to hide his aura, would he really be so dumb to hide here?

Li Zhouyi felt uneasy, thinking back to a time not long ago, when the last Inextinguishable Flame that was found here had suddenly disappeared. Would there be any surprises this time?

Pui, pui, pui!

No, there would not be any surprises this time. Definitely not. They had already surrounded this area; it was impossible for the culprit to escape. He must be in this part of the small world fragment, he must be.

That's right, I must not be flustered!

Yet, as time passed, Li Zhouyi started to panic.

The fog that shrouded the valley just now had already been dissipated by the cultivators from both clans, offering him a panoramic view of the valley. Yet, all he could see was a few trees and a field of grass. Other than that, there was nothing…nothing…nothing at all.

Li Zhouyi suddenly felt giddy. If he was not a physically strong person, he would already have collapsed onto the ground.

Impossible, this is impossible!

He never would've thought that the person who had obtained the Inextinguishable Flame had already perished shortly after the search had begun. That's right, it was the 'Scaredy Bird' who had thought it was going to die. Its instincts had been right.

Li Zhouyi turned to look at Number 327, whose gaze was dark as well. Number 327 had sacrificed a significant number of people from his clan for this search: two members of the Mysterious Clan had been unlucky and fell into the Death Stream. It was all for naught. How could they accept such a result?

"Go in and continue searching!"

Li Zhouyi clenched his jaw. "You guys have to go in too."

It was the last place left to search, which also meant that it was their last hope of finding the Inextinguishable Flame. The two groups of cultivators that had entered the valley searched every nook and cranny, careful not to miss any spot.

However, the valley was not that big, and since many people had joined the search, it was not long before they had thoroughly searched the place. The trees were uprooted and the grass was turned, causing the terrain to look so disorderly as if it had been plowed hundreds of times.

This was the reality…there was indeed nothing here. Nothing at all!

The air had gone quiet again.

The Mysterious Clan felt like they had expended too much of their efforts and gained nothing in return. It was unacceptable.

Li Zhouyi was in despair. At that moment, he just wanted his life to end.

In addition to all his mistakes in the past, he could not find the Inextinguishable Flame as well. He knew he would be in for a miserable time the moment he returned to the West Desolate.

At this point, let's praise the unbreakable spirit and willpower of our beloved Li Zhouyi.

Because in an instant, Li Zhouyi's dispirited eyes lit up.

Even though the cultivators from the World of Darkness and Mysterious Clan had gone into the valley to conduct the search, there were still some cultivators that were left behind to keep a lookout for rogue cultivators and to catch the culprit just in case there had been a loophole for him to escape.

Until now, they had not been alerted, which meant that there was no activity on the outer boundary and that no one had escaped at all. Just because they did not find anyone, it did not mean that the culprit did not exist. Maybe the culprit was using a very strong concealment spell, or maybe someone had not been careful while searching. The culprit could also have been set free by someone on purpose, after all, not everyone in the World of Darkness was aligned with him. There were many possibilities; it was not the time to completely give up yet.

Yes, this must be the case!

Letting out a deep sigh, Li Zhouyi roared, "Everyone, turn around and search outwards. Search every inch and every corner, the culprit must still be here!"

Everyone was aware of the sixth prince's situation; if he failed to retrieve the Inextinguishable Flame, it would be over for him. He was like a beast that had been forced into a corner, desperate and trigger-happy.

In such a situation, whatever the sixth prince said, goes. No one dared to rebuke him, or else they would definitely be killed. Only those who were sick of living would dare to go against him. Thus, the World of Darkness cultivators immediately heeded his words.

Number 327 felt slightly excited. The West Desolate's sixth prince indeed had a strong willpower. Number 327 began to believe what Number 418 had told him earlier…he had indeed underestimated the sixth prince.

Number 327 waved his hand and said, "Continue searching!"

The perimeter that shrunk previously now expanded again, albeit at a slower rate than before. Li Zhouyi walked around the area to supervise the searching process, stopping only to shout orders at the cultivators.

"Slower, go slower!"

"There, search that area carefully!"

"Dig into the ground and search every inch of this place!"

He refused to believe that the culprit could just disappear into thin air.

He combed the area, searching frantically, and he did find something - just a few, small creatures that had managed to hide deep into the ground, which helped them escape the initial search. Unfortunately they still failed to escape in the end, and died a violent death as well.

Yet, the main target of the search still could not be found.

When the search had gotten near the edge of the small world fragment, Li Zhouyi's eagerness started to wane. They searched once more and he had personally supervised the search this time; there were no slip-ups at all.

They had searched through almost the entire small world fragment. Li Zhouyi's heart was filled with despair, and he wondered if he should search it once more.

But it was clear to him that even if he had searched one more time, two more times, or even a hundred more times, the end result would be the same.

The air was silent, and everyone could tell how depressed the West Desolate's sixth prince was. Then, 'Border Cliff Saint' returned.

That's right, I'm sure you can tell from the quotation marks that something is wrong. The gist of it is that the real Border Cliff Saint had already been sent off by Qin Yu.

This 'Border Cliff Saint' was actually Qin Yu who had changed his appearance and sneaked in. He had thought about this before; once he had covered up the Inextinguishable Flame aura on his body, he would then try to get closer to the World of Darkness Clan to obtain their Inextinguishable Flame as well.

This was a great opportunity for him. It was all part of his plan, which was why he decided to put up with that punch from Border Cliff Saint. Even though he was not injured badly, it still hurt.

'Border Cliff Saint' was holding someone's bloody head in his hand, the head mangled beyond recognition. It was easy for the people here to assume that this head was likely Qin Yu's, since 'Border Cliff Saint' had returned, and Qin Yu had not.

Soaring Sky sighed softly. It was regrettable that that muscular man had died.

'Border Cliff Saint' gripped onto the head and squeezed tightly until it burst, like a red and ripe persimmon. Qin Yu then bowed to Li Zhouyi and said, "Your Highness, I've returned."

Li Zhouyi looked as if he had barely heard what Qin Yu had said, because he was not in the mood at all. He looked at the small world fragment in a daze, his whole body limp and lifeless.

Qin Yu thought to himself that in such a situation, if he were to suddenly attack Li Zhouyi, he could definitely burst his brains easily. However, it was merely a thought to himself that he very reluctantly dismissed.

It was never his intention to kill someone, much less someone who could not be killed in this small world. What Qin Yu really wanted was to obtain the Inextinguishable Flame from the World of Darkness.

The cogs were turning in his head, but the show had to go on. It was the basics of becoming an actor.

He was a 'Saint', but his words had been ignored. It damaged his reputation, and a bitter expression flashed across his eyes.

Saints were well-respected and highly-regarded in the West Desolate. They were always invited to the Desolate King's banquets.

The other Saint looked at him, and quickly gave him a side-eye to hint to him that the sixth prince was a loose cannon, and the slightest thing could set him off.

It seemed to this other Saint that 'Border Cliff Saint' would not live for very long, so it was no use to try and get through to him. If things went south, he might even be implicated.