Chapter 103: A Trace of Life

At this moment, the man was leaping from tree to tree, occasionally pausing to look around, as if searching for something in the forest.

This person had no spiritual power, so he certainly wasn't the one who injured Tuan Tuan. Could he be looking for the children?

Lin Xiao pondered for a moment and then stopped paying attention to him. He began searching the forest for any clues.

The dense forest was vast, and Lin Xiao spent quite a bit of time searching it thoroughly, but he found no significant leads.

Instead, he came across some constables who were also searching the area, as well as a cultivator holding a compass and surveying the surroundings.

The cultivator's spiritual level seemed higher than his own.

It seemed these people were also searching for the missing children.

Lin Xiao was surprised that the authorities had managed to enlist the help of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Passing by these people, Lin Xiao continued his search.

After hearing Tuan Tuan's description, he had thought it would be easy to find something once he arrived, but reality proved otherwise.

As evening approached, Lin Xiao estimated that Sun Yigao had already finished his exam and left the examination hall, yet he still had found nothing.

Despite this, he didn't return. He planned to stay in the forest overnight.

Perhaps he would discover something during the night.

Night fell.

As darkness descended, the light in the forest quickly dimmed. The thick canopy blocked out the moonlight almost completely, and soon the forest was pitch black, making it impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face.

Of course, this wasn't much of an issue for Lin Xiao.

However, for the ordinary people, the pitch-black environment was quite unfriendly, so torches began to flicker to life throughout the forest.

Perched on a large tree branch, Lin Xiao watched as the government officials passed by for the third time, still empty-handed.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator leading the group, holding the compass, looked on the verge of breaking down.

The prefect, dressed in his official robes, was by his side, soothing him with flattering words, clearly afraid that the cultivator might give up on the search.

Not long after they moved on, Lin Xiao once again spotted the ordinary-looking man in the tight-fitting clothes.

The man was drenched in sweat, his lips were chapped, and large white stains had formed on his dark shirt from the sweat, yet he continued his search tirelessly.

After a moment's thought, Lin Xiao jumped down from the tree.

The man, Mo, a guard deeply anxious, was startled by the sudden appearance of a shadow in front of him. However, his keen eyesight quickly revealed that it was merely a boy of around twelve or thirteen.

The sight of a child appearing so suddenly in this dark forest, without Mo, a trained martial artist, noticing at all, struck him as eerie.

But as a seasoned guard, Mo's psychological fortitude was strong. Despite his shock, he maintained a calm exterior.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

Lin Xiao simply replied, "Are you searching for a child around my age?"

Mo was suspicious. "Why do you ask?"

Lin Xiao appreciated the man's caution, but at this moment, such wariness wasn't helpful to him. He didn't answer the question and instead asked, "If you know where your child went missing, take me there. I might be able to save them."

Mo, initially irritated by the boy's refusal to answer his questions, hesitated upon hearing this.

Earlier, he had seen the authorities searching the forest, and had discreetly followed them from a distance. Seeing that they had found nothing, he had given up hope of seeking their help.

As a long-time guard, Mo held little regard for the capabilities of the government. He feared that reporting the incident would only result in bureaucratic delays, with endless paperwork and identity verification, which would waste precious time in searching for his young master.

Mo didn't know that the authorities were actually searching for a group of missing children.

He was also fortunate that, due to his distance and timing, the frustrated Foundation Establishment cultivator, Jin Nanhuan, had not noticed him tailing them.

Considering the boy standing before him, who had appeared so suddenly in the dark forest without him noticing at all, Mo hesitated. He had been searching for too long.

If something truly happened to his young master, he would be beyond redemption, even if he died a hundred times over.

After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "Why should I trust you?"

Sensing the man's momentary hesitation and hearing his question, Lin Xiao realized he now had all the answers he needed.

"You don't need to trust me," Lin Xiao replied. "I'm also here to find a child, and…"

He didn't waste any more words. Instead, he cast a paralyzing spell on Mo and said, "I'm a cultivator."

Mo, who had trained in martial arts for years, suddenly found himself completely immobilized! After the initial shock, a glimmer of hope appeared in his heart.

Once Lin Xiao released him from the spell, Mo decisively turned and began walking in a particular direction.

"This way!"

He had thought it through. As a mere mortal martial artist, he was powerless against a cultivator who could immobilize him at will.

The boy had only asked him to lead the way and had mentioned he was looking for a child. So Mo deemed the boy to be trustworthy, at least to a significant extent.

If they could find the young master, then even if the situation turned dangerous, Mo would do whatever it took to protect him. As a guard, his duty was to die before his master, not be separated from him, unable to even know his fate.

When Mo finally stopped, they had arrived at the border between the dense forest and the mountain range.

Of course, calling it a border was merely a way of distinguishing between flatland and mountainous terrain. In reality, the forest extended throughout the entire mountain range.

Pointing to the area, Mo explained, "We passed through here on our way to the city and planned to rest a bit before heading in. I was feeding the horses when the young master said he wanted to go hunting. Before I could react, he had already run off. I chased after him, but I couldn't find him."

As for their horses, Mo had hidden them after noticing the authorities searching the forest, fearing they would attract attention.

Lin Xiao surveyed the area but found nothing unusual.

He walked a bit further.

This was a border area, so if the young master wanted to hunt, he would have gone deeper into the forest…

Lin Xiao continued walking another hundred meters or so when he suddenly sensed a faint trace of energy coming from somewhere.

It was just a momentary sensation, and then it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

But Lin Xiao's heart was set.

It had to be here!

That faint energy he had just sensed was undeniably life force!

And it was purified!

Ever since reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, Lin Xiao had become adept at using the second level of the Purification Technique, the Qi Purification Technique, and had even begun to dabble in the third level, the Heart Purification Technique.

His proficiency with the Qi Purification Technique had made him particularly sensitive to these energies.

So he instantly recognized that the faint trace of energy he had just sensed was indeed life force.