"Given that lord's status, it's indeed strange for him to care about a small family like the Xu family. Could there be some connection between them?"
Everyone present was puzzled.
After all, the person who had just left was a peak Nascent Soul stage cultivator, half a step away from the Soul Transformation stage.
The gap between the Xu family and him was far from ordinary!
"Perhaps the Xu family has a connection with the Qing Kingdom's empire? Don't forget, the Xu family fled from Qing Kingdom," an elder said, stroking his beard as if it were a serious matter.
"This is the only explanation. Otherwise, why would this envoy from the Qing Kingdom's royal family travel thousands of miles to Xu Kingdom?" another person echoed.
The crowd exchanged glances. Although this explanation was still far-fetched, they couldn't find a more reasonable one.
It was an astronomical feat for the Xu family to be connected with a half-step Soul Transformation stage expert.
However, they would never have imagined that this expert from the Qing Kingdom had no interest in the Xu family at all.
Black Rock City was surrounded by mountains, and the forest harbored many demonic beasts.
The most dangerous among them were the Beast Kings.
Beast Kings were generally in the Nascent Soul stage, possessing formidable physical bodies. Moreover, Beast Kings cooperated with each other, making them extremely difficult to deal with.
To maintain stability with the Beast Kings, Xu Kingdom had reached an agreement with them long ago: as long as the Beast Kings did not harm the surrounding human population, humans would not actively seek trouble and would not set up detection formations within the forest.
Because of this agreement, demonic beasts mostly stayed within the forest, and humans rarely ventured into it.
Of course, the agreement mainly restricted the higher echelons of Xu Kingdom and a few Beast Kings. For ordinary demonic beasts and cultivators, the agreement's effect was minimal.
Humans and demonic beasts belonged to different species, each desiring the flesh and blood of the other. Humans had dedicated hunting parties, and demonic beasts frequently attacked passing merchant caravans.
However, these conflicts were generally limited to cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage. The more powerful the cultivator, the less likely they were to rashly violate the agreement, thus maintaining a relatively peaceful relationship between humans and demonic beasts.
As the young cultivator stepped into the forest's periphery, a loud voice immediately stopped him.
"Halt, intruder!"
Following the voice was a terrifying killing intent.
This was the killing intent of a Nascent Soul stage expert. In an instant, the surrounding sky darkened.
The owner of this voice was the Beast King of the forest.
The young cultivator stopped.
"I am Wang Neng, a cultivator from Xu Kingdom. I have an urgent matter requiring me to enter the forest. I hope for your cooperation," the young cultivator said, cupping his fists.
"Impossible! Leave at once," the Beast King refused flatly.
Wang Neng's gaze turned cold. If this were Qing Kingdom, such a thing would never happen!
In Qing Kingdom, there was never any so-called agreement between demonic beasts and humans. Humans stood at the pinnacle of martial power, having always crushed demonic beasts unilaterally.
It was only in the weaker Xu Kingdom, to maintain domestic stability, that such an agreement was made with the demonic beasts.
Out of respect for the agreement between the two countries, Wang Neng did not wish to escalate the situation, so he continued:
"I have no intention of offending. I merely wish to find someone. Please assist me by keeping an eye out."
"Humans do not stay overnight. This is the rule," the Beast King said unceremoniously.
Wang Neng couldn't help but clench his fists.
What arrogance.
This was merely an early Nascent Soul stage demonic beast. In Qing Kingdom, he could easily kill it.
However, if he were to act in Xu Kingdom, it would incur the displeasure of the Xu Kingdom's royal family.
Wang Neng was not afraid of Xu Kingdom itself, but rather that within Qing Kingdom's court, there were many who were friendly towards Xu Kingdom. He did not want to give any malicious individuals an excuse to find fault.
Wang Neng gained nothing, but he did not leave.
Suddenly, countless streams of light shot out from his body.
The next moment, the streams of light landed on the periphery of the forest.
Where the light fell, small red flowers began to sprout.
"These are my thought avatars. I hope the Beast King will not destroy them carelessly," Wang Neng said calmly.
These small flowers were his thought avatars. With them, Wang Neng could perceive everything happening around the forest's perimeter, even from thousands of miles away.
"You may proceed!" the Beast King snorted. Although displeased, there was nothing he could do.
After completing this, Wang Neng finally left.
Wang Neng then stayed in Black Rock City for a few more days. Eventually, unable to wait for Lin Xiao Tian, he had to depart.
"Could it be that you've already died in the forest?" Wang Neng muttered to himself before leaving.
Little did he know that Lin Xiao Tian had plenty of experience surviving in the forest, and he was also in the Nascent Soul stage. Concealing himself from a Beast King of the same cultivation level was not a significant challenge.
With the Divine Concealment Technique combined with some herb for concealing his aura, even if Lin Xiao Tian stood before a demonic beast, as long as he didn't make a move, the beast would automatically overlook him.
As for the conversation between Wang Neng and the Beast King, Lin Xiao Tian had naturally overheard it.
From then on, Lin Xiao Tian remembered the name Wang Neng.
Of course, Lin Xiao Tian was unaware that Wang Neng was there to deal with him.
To maintain secrecy, Wang Neng never divulged any information about Lin Xiao Tian, and Lin Xiao Tian could only speculate.
While in the forest, Lin Xiao Tian began to decipher the spell on the identity token.
As an old enchanter who had studied spells for a hundred years, Lin Xiao Tian was confident he could create his own identity token.
However, the identity token was reinforced with multiple layers of different spells, so forging it would naturally take time.
Unbeknownst to him, three years had passed.
Fortunately, being in the Nascent Soul stage, Lin Xiao Tian had no issues with eating or drinking.
"It's time to test the results," Lin Xiao Tian murmured.
The new identity token was ready, but it needed practical application. Lin Xiao Tian had to go out.
For safety, Lin Xiao Tian infiltrated a hunting party.
At the time, the hunting party was being attacked by several Fierce Mountain Boars. Lin Xiao Tian, with his Qi Refining ninth-layer cultivation, saved them.
The captain of the hunting party was very grateful to Lin Xiao Tian and invited him to join their team. Lin Xiao Tian didn't answer but gestured with his hand.
"Mute?" Captain Wan Hao was taken aback.
Lin Xiao Tian showed no reaction.
At this moment, Lin Xiao Tian had not only disguised himself as a deaf-mute but had also completely changed his appearance.
To avoid drawing attention, his new appearance was utterly ordinary, the kind that would perfectly blend into a crowd the moment he entered it.
Wan Hao was delighted. The Fierce Mountain Boars were not his target for this trip; this was an unexpected bonus.
"Brother? What's your name?"
Wan Hao gestured, and Lin Xiao Tian guessed that he was asking for his identity. He then produced his identity token.
"Xu Hao!" Wan Hao read it out cooperatively.
Lin Xiao Tian didn't recognize the characters here. These characters were pieced together from the names of the three unfortunate cultivators from the original Xu family.
Seeing that Wan Hao had no unusual expression, Lin Xiao Tian inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Xu Hao, come with us?" Wan Hao gestured as he walked.
Lin Xiao Tian followed.