"Oh!"

The young man let out a long sigh of relief upon hearing Zheng-Fu's explanation.

"Or do you not believe my words?" Zheng-Fu noticed that the young man still had a hesitant and frightened expression, so he decided to tease him a little.

"No, Master! Not at all! I believe every word you say. And I'm willing to tell you everything I know!" The young man hurriedly waved his hands, denying any doubt. His hesitation was because he feared Zheng-Fu might take him to kill.

"Good! Now let's walk up to my house. Along the way, I'll keep asking you questions. You only need to answer them!" Zheng-Fu nodded in satisfaction before turning back and walking toward the top of the mountain, following the path that the chief and his group had taken earlier.

After walking up the mountain for a while, Zheng-Fu found bloodstains all over the ground at the halfway point, but there were no corpses or remains of human beings left. This meant the two purple-winged lions had already cleaned up. Zheng-Fu could not help but be surprised when he saw the belongings left behind. Whether weapons, clothes, or even dimensional rings and items, they were all piled up beside the path.

"They did such a good job! I'll definitely give them a big reward!" Zheng-Fu smiled pleasantly at how clever his purple-winged lions were. They only ate meat and left the rest, which was very strange for carnivorous monster beasts with a good digestive system.

"Chief!" For the young man, however, seeing these items made him feel very sad. Even though he did not have much of a relationship with this group, he had been working with them for a year. Naturally, he felt some pity and sadness.

"When one chooses to walk a dangerous path, one must be prepared for these things. No one can escape death. No matter how high a cultivator's level, they will die someday. It only depends on when their day of death will come!" Zheng-Fu knew that it was normal for everyone to feel sad when someone they knew died. He, too, had lost Jin-Tian, who was like a younger brother and best friend to him.

"I understand! Ever since choosing this path, I've always thought I'd die one day. But I don't want to die now. There are still many places I haven't seen, and many mysterious areas are waiting for me to discover!" The young man's expressions were full of various emotions after listening to Zheng-Fu's words. He spoke of his dream clearly—to become an explorer of unknown and undiscovered areas.

"That must be your dream. Then you probably have a map of all the areas the Heavenly Command Sect occupies, right?" Zheng-Fu suddenly remembered something after hearing the young man's dream. He knew that maps could be developed and modified to become more detailed if one explored new areas or bought updates from others. Zheng-Fu thought that this young man's map might have been updated significantly, and he thought of asking to see it.

"Yes, Master. I have the map Master mentioned. However, it's still not perfect. It's just a map of six-tenths of all areas!" The young man immediately took out his map and showed it to Zheng-Fu. He explained that his map was not much different from those of the common Heavenly Command Sect disciples. It was a map covering six-tenths of the sect's discovered areas.

"Six-tenths? How dare you say 'just' six-tenths? Did you know that the maps the Heavenly Command Sect's disciples receive cover only three-tenths of the discovered area? But yours covers six out of ten, and you still think it's less?" Zheng-Fu could not help but complain after hearing the young man's words. The map the young man showed had far more detail than his, possibly the most detailed version available.

"I didn't know. Normally, I spend all my time exploring these areas, and I joined the group because they often traveled to uncharted regions. If I traveled alone, I'd be eaten by monster beasts. For the past ten years, I've spent all my time surveying these areas that others ignore!" The young man was a little dazed at first. He wasn't sure if Zheng-Fu was telling the truth or deceiving him. But judging by Zheng-Fu's expression, he thought Zheng-Fu must be truthful, which made the young man feel quite proud.

"Well! You don't mind if I copy your map onto mine, right?" Zheng-Fu understood that the young man truly did not know. He didn't want to say much; all he wanted was the young man's map with the three additional discovered areas.

"That's all right, Master. If you want, you can copy it!" The young man answered without hesitation or concern.

"Mm!"

Wooooooooosh!!!

As the two of them activated their maps, a light flashed on the parchments, and their maps appeared. Zheng-Fu's map began to change, adding new areas that had not been there before. When the light faded, Zheng-Fu's map was now replaced by a copy from the young man.

"Thank you very much! This is your reward!" Zheng-Fu was not someone who would take anything for free. So, he gave the young man a fist-sized Purple Heaven Crystal as a reward.

"Mas… Mas… Master! Isn't this the Purple Heaven Crystal? Plus, it's the size of a fist! Such a valuable thing, I cannot accept it, sir. I…"

"Anything that I have given to someone, I'll not take back. If you don't need it, throw it away!" Zheng-Fu knew that the young man wanted this Purple Heaven Crystal, but he did not dare to take it. Therefore, Zheng-Fu gave him an ultimatum.

"Thank you, Master, for your kindness!" When the young man heard that, he was delighted as if he had won the biggest lottery jackpot. Who would have thought that his decision not to follow his chief and surrender his map to this young man would allow him to obtain a fist-sized Purple Heaven Crystal? This one was worth as much as hundreds of thumb-sized Purple Heaven Crystals. So, he hurriedly thanked Zheng-Fu.

"Never mind! I hold the motto: 'Whoever's being nice to me, I, too, shall be nice to them; but whoever's being evil to me, I shall be evil back a hundred times.' When you gave me your precious map, I should repay you somehow!" Zheng-Fu tried to present a noble and respectable image through his great theatrical performances.

Zheng-Fu's words and gestures made this thin young man feel even more respect for Zheng-Fu. At first, he thought that Zheng-Fu had to be arrogant and headstrong and that he would definitely ignore the words of a small ant like him. Who would think that this young man, who was younger than him, would be so kind and merciful? Moreover, he was also formidable and commendable.

Twenty minutes passed...

Zheng-Fu and this poor young man finally reached the top of the mountain. The young man appeared to be panting strangely as if he were not a cultivator. Normally, a Divine King stage cultivator should not be this tired. But this young man was exhausted just from walking a few dozen li.

"Are you really a Divine King stage cultivator? Why are you panting like that?" Zheng-Fu could not help but wonder.

"I'm really a Divine King stage cultivator, sir. But I was poisoned by a Burned-heart Flame monster's venom while exploring the southern area of Heavenly Command Sect, sir. I need to use three parts of my energy to resist the poison all the time. And every day, I need to bear the burning pain in my chest because I need to stop the energy recovery process!" the young man immediately explained to Zheng-Fu why he was easily tired. This was because he had been poisoned by the Burned-heart Flame monster, causing him to use three parts of his total energy to resist the poison.

"Then why didn't you go to a doctor or to an apothecary and ask him to concoct an antidote for you?" Zheng-Fu nodded in understanding before asking why the young man didn't go to a doctor to have the poison removed.

"I've gone to see the doctors in Heavenly Command City. But they say this kind of poison is hard to remove unless someone with winter elemental energy helps me expel it. Otherwise, the Burned-heart Flame monster's innards must be used to concoct an antidote. But the Burned-heart Flame monster is a very strong ultimate Heavenly Foundation Building-stage monster. With my current energy level, I can't kill it. Or even the whole group of that chief can't kill it as well."

The young man went on to explain why he had not been cured yet: no doctor could cure this condition, and there were no medicinal pills used to treat this kind of poison.

"You are so pitiful! From what I've seen, you must have been suffering from this kind of poison for years, right? Otherwise, your body wouldn't look so skinny." Zheng-Fu felt some pity for the young man. If the young man had not been poisoned by this venom, his energy level would have been even higher. But that was not important; the young man's abilities were what Zheng-Fu was interested in.

"I'm well aware of my destiny. I only have a few more years to live. So, before I die, I want to explore as many unknown areas as possible. And if possible, I'd like to complete this map." The young man did not feel any regret about his fate. This condition increased his determination and motivation even more.

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