A Breath of Vitality

At this moment, the man was darting from tree to tree, occasionally stopping to look around as if searching for something in the woods.

This person had no cultivation base at all, so he definitely wasn't the kidnapper who injured Tuantuan.

Could he be looking for a child?

Lin Xiao thought for a moment and stopped paying attention to him, beginning instead to search for clues in the forest.

The dense forest was vast. Lin Xiao spent some time searching through it all but found no clues.

Instead, he discovered some yamen runners who were also searching the area, along with a cultivator holding a compass and surveying the surroundings.

The cultivator's cultivation base seemed to be slightly higher than his own.

It seemed these people were also here to look for the missing children, right?

He hadn't expected the government office to actually be able to hire a Foundation Establishment cultivator for help.

Passing by these people, Lin Xiao continued his search.

Hearing what Tuantuan had said earlier, he thought it would be easy to find something once he arrived, but the reality was quite the opposite.

As dusk approached, Lin Xiao figured Yigao had probably already left the examination hall by now, yet he still had found nothing on his end.

However, he didn't head back just yet; he planned to stake out in the forest for the night.

Perhaps he might discover something at night.

Night fell.

As darkness descended, the light in the dense forest quickly faded. The lush canopy completely blocked out the bright moonlight, and the woods soon became so pitch-black that one couldn't even see their own fingers in front of them.

Of course, this wasn't a big problem for Lin Xiao.

But for ordinary people, this pitch-black environment was extremely unfriendly, so torches gradually lit up throughout the forest.

Standing on the branch of a large tree, Lin Xiao watched the yamen runners pass by him for the third time not far away, still empty-handed.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator walking at the front with the compass looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown.

The prefectural magistrate, dressed in his official uniform, was beside him, coaxing him with endless flattery, looking terrified that the cultivator might just quit on the spot.

Not long after they left, Lin Xiao once again spotted the very ordinary-looking man in martial attire whom he had seen in the woods earlier.

He was covered in sweat, his lips were cracked, and the dried sweat had left large white stains all over his dark shirt.

Yet, he was still tirelessly searching for something over and over again.

Lin Xiao thought for a moment and jumped down from the tree.

The anxious Guard Mo was startled by the black shadow that suddenly appeared before him. Fortunately, he had excellent eyesight; after a closer look, he realized the person in front of him was a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy.

For such a young boy to suddenly appear nearby in this dark, dense forest without him, a seasoned martial artist, noticing at all, it felt quite bizarre.

But as a guard, his psychological resilience was excellent. Although slightly shocked inwardly, he remained outwardly calm.

Who goes there!

Lin Xiao only replied:

Is the person you are looking for a child about my age?

Guard Mo was somewhat suspicious and surprised:

Why do you ask?

Lin Xiao highly approved of the man's caution, but at this moment, such caution wasn't helpful to him at all. Instead of answering, he just asked:

If you know the general location where your child disappeared, take me there. I might be able to save your child.

Hearing this, Guard Mo, who was initially a bit annoyed that the boy completely ignored his question, paused.

Earlier, the government officials also seemed to be looking for something in the forest. He had trailed them from a distance for a while, but seeing that they hadn't found anything either, he gave up on the idea of asking them for help.

Having been a guard for years, Guard Mo completely looked down on the capabilities of the government.

Moreover, he worried that if he reported it to the authorities, the yamen would inevitably require him to show various identification documents and register all sorts of nonsense, wasting precious time that should be spent searching for the young master.

Clearly, Guard Mo didn't know that these government officials were actually looking for a group of missing children.

It had to be said that Guard Mo was quite lucky; he had kept a good distance when tailing the government officials, and at the time, Jin Nanhuan was in a very irritable state and hadn't noticed Guard Mo trailing far behind.

Thinking about how this boy had suddenly appeared in the dense forest late at night and managed to get close without him noticing at all, Guard Mo felt a hint of hesitation.

Because he really had been searching for too long.

If something really happened to the young master, ten thousand deaths wouldn't be enough to atone for his failure!

After hesitating for a moment, he asked:

Why should I believe you?

Sensing his momentary hesitation and hearing him say this, Lin Xiao instantly had the answers to his previous questions.

No reason in particular, it's just that I'm also here to look for a child, and...

Saying that, Lin Xiao wasted no time and directly cast an Immobilization Spell on him before continuing:

I am a cultivator.

Guard Mo, who had practiced martial arts for years, found that he suddenly couldn't move a single muscle! After the initial shock passed, a glimmer of hope arose in his heart.

As soon as Lin Xiao released the Immobilization Spell, he decisively turned and walked in a certain direction.

This way!

He thought it through very clearly; he was just a mortal martial artist. Against a cultivator who could immobilize him at will, he was basically meat on the chopping block.

And this young cultivator only asked him to lead the way, stating it was to find a child.

So he felt the credibility was at least sixty percent.

As long as he could find the young master.

Even if it really put the young master in danger later... he would just fight to the death to protect him! Even if he had to die, as a guard, he must die before his master, rather than being separated from him without even knowing if he was safe.

When Guard Mo led Lin Xiao to a stop, they had arrived at the boundary between the dense forest and the mountains.

Of course, the boundary was just a term for the intersection of flatland and mountainous terrain; in reality, the forest spread across the entire mountain range.

Guard Mo pointed at the area and said to Lin Xiao:

When we passed by here earlier, we planned to take a short rest before entering the city. I was feeding the horses, and the young master said he wanted to go hunting. Without waiting for me, he immediately ran off. I hurriedly followed, but I never found him again.

As for his and his young master's horses, he had already led them to a hidden place when he noticed the government officials searching the forest.

Lin Xiao looked around the vicinity but didn't seem to notice anything unusual.

He walked forward a bit more.

This was considered an edge location. If he wanted to go hunting, he would definitely head further in...

Lin Xiao walked forward another hundred meters or so when suddenly, he seemed to sense a faint, barely-there aura emanating from somewhere.

It was just for a moment, and the next second, it suddenly disappeared.

But Lin Xiao felt deeply reassured.

It must be here!

Because he was absolutely certain that the aura just now was the life force of a living person!

And it was purified life force at that!

Ever since reaching Foundation Establishment, he had become highly proficient in using the second-tier Qi-Purifying Spell of the Purification Spell manual, and could even barely manage to use the third-tier Heart-Purifying Spell.

Because he could wield the Qi-Purifying Spell as easily as moving his own arm, it also made him extremely sensitive to these auras.

Therefore, he instantly determined that the faint wisp of aura just now was life force.