After noon, the sun began to slowly set.
Although it was only afternoon, the area where Chen Bugu was located gradually became dark and gloomy, almost indistinguishable from night.
As they continued eastward, crossing the last mountain, the surrounding trees gradually thinned out, and the several-hundred-meter-high sheer cliff easily came into their view.
The towering cliff blocked the sunlight, casting the final stretch of their journey completely into its shadow.
"We're almost there, but we can't go any further today."
Xing Yifu slowed his pace, timely reminding Chen Bugu.
Numerous Zaoyan Spiders and similar magical beasts resided on the cliff. Even setting aside their strength, these magical beasts held an unparalleled natural advantage in terms of terrain.
Once they chose to climb the cliff, they would have to reach the summit in one go.
However, without light, the difficulty of climbing would increase sharply.
In contrast, their current location was precisely the buffer zone between the hills and the cliff, with few magical beasts and an open view, making it a good place to rest.
"Mm, let's rest here. We'll make a full ascent at sunrise tomorrow," Chen Bugu nodded.
Xing Yifu had intended to explain why they couldn't continue their journey, but Chen Bugu's answer clearly indicated he already understood the reason.
Chen Bugu Ignited a bonfire, skewered the thawed beast meat with a short blade, and roasted it over the fire.
"You humans are truly interesting. Not only are your abilities bizarre, but you also seem to easily borrow the power of elements."
Chen Bugu slightly raised his head upon hearing this, glancing at Ailijia beside him.
"From what you're saying, is it difficult for other races to use elemental power?"
In Chen Bugu's impression, the Elf Clan was a very proud, even arrogant, race. They equally looked down on all other races, and thus were very exclusive.
It was precisely for this reason that Chen Bugu had almost no dealings with the Elf Clan in his previous life.
An anomaly like Ailijia, who was willing to mix with other races, was very rare. This might also be the reason she was ostracized within the Elf Clan.
"That's not entirely it. It's just that most other races' borrowing of elemental power comes from their racial talents, like the Dwarf's use of earth fire, or the Naga's control over water flow. That kind of fixed elemental power is imprinted in their racial bloodline."
"But we, the Elf Clan, are different. We understand elements, borrow elements, and control elements. We are the favored children of the elements by nature."
"The Elf Clan has almost produced controllers of all elements, and I, this genius, am a rare dual-element controller, seen only once in a century."
Ailijia proudly lifted her chin as she spoke.
"By the way, Ailijia, I wanted to ask, since the Elf Clan are the favored children of the elements, have there ever been Space-Time element controllers?"
"Space-Time? I have absolutely no impression of that. That's a bit interesting. Where did you hear about it?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it..."
Chen Bugu's second ability, 【Space-Time】, was clearly classified as an elemental type, yet when he used skills like "Bullet Time," he never felt the presence of the corresponding element, which he had never been able to understand.
He had intended to inquire about Space-Time element information from Ailijia, but perhaps Ailijia was too inexperienced, or perhaps her level wasn't high enough; in any case, she seemed unaware.
After the roasting was complete, Chen Bugu handed meat to Xing Yifu and Ailijia. However, Ailijia did not eat it; according to her, the Elf Clan disliked meat.
So, she took the roasted meat Chen Bugu handed her, sprinkled her special spices on it, and ultimately succeeded in gaining Amon's approval.
While Chen Bugu and the others were resting in place, a body was thrown down from the cliff not far away.
The body bounced and crashed against the cliff face, finally falling onto a huge spider web on the mountainside.
The spider web trembled, followed by seven or eight Zaoyan Spiders crawling out of holes in the cliff face. They quickly scurried to their delivered prey, using the corrosive mucus secreted from their mouthparts to dismember the already dead prey little by little, finally dragging the segmented pieces into their holes.
The eternal wind still blew across this cliff. Although the spider web, having lost its prey, was tattered and swaying in the wind, it would soon be fully repaired by the Zaoyan Spiders. No one would ever know what had happened here...
Huangmu Camp was located in the southwest corner of High Heaven City.
Although called a camp, its scale was no less than that of a typical small village.
A main road ran through the entire camp, with hundreds of stone and wooden houses, large and small, bizarre and varied, distributed on both sides of the main road.
And between the houses, countless narrow alleys spread out like the capillaries of this camp.
At this moment, Bai Ting and Ba Dou were quickly moving through these alleys.
"Han Badou, how is it?"
Bai Ting, wearing a slightly yellowed white shirt, followed closely behind Han Badou, frowning slightly as he spoke.
"No, can't find anything at all," Han Badou stopped, shaking his head helplessly.
Bai Ting remained silent for a moment, his eyes inadvertently sweeping over the end of the alley in an instant, then he looked at Han Badou and nodded.
"Understood. No matter what, let's go back first."
"Okay."
After speaking, the two changed direction. After a few turns, they arrived at the entrance of a stone house.
The stone house was simple, with a total area of no more than 20 square meters, but the stone walls were sturdy, enough to protect against wind and cold.
Lifting the curtain at the door, the two entered one after another.
Yan Kuan, Wang Bin, and the Lin Sisters were inside. Seeing the two return, they eagerly asked,
"Did you find him?"
Ba Dou shook his head.
"Han Badou, could there be any overlooked places in the camp?" Yan Kuan asked, unwilling to give up.
"No, the surveillance route was meticulously calculated by me. The entire camp is within the coverage area, but he still hasn't been found. Most likely, he's not in the camp," Han Badou replied.
"But we agreed on this time. He shouldn't be leaving the camp at this moment... Do you two have any ideas?" Yan Kuan looked at Bai Ting and Han Badou.
However, before Bai Ting and Han Badou could answer, Wang Bin, who was sitting on the ground, suddenly spoke.
"Something's wrong, it's too coincidental. He has no reason to miss the appointment. Ba Dou, when you were on surveillance just now, did you notice anyone suspicious?"
"Yes."
When Han Badou finished speaking, everyone except Bai Ting looked at him.
"Although that person was far away, he entered my surveillance range three times, and the locations of his three appearances were very far apart. It's clear he was following us. Given this situation, continuing to search won't yield any results, so we came back."
"Just as Wang Bin thought, someone is targeting us, but we can't yet confirm which team it is," Bai Ting added.
"If that's the case, are you still going tomorrow?"
Lin Lin was worried; she felt this was not a good sign.
The others, hearing this, could only look at Bai Ting, waiting for him to make a decision.
Bai Ting lowered his head in thought, then took a deep breath, raised his head again, met their gazes, and spoke with a firm tone.
"Go!"
