Treasure-hunting: Into the Unknown

'I wonder who is in trouble now, ' Zachary thought to himself. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from where he stood.

He reappeared behind a rock that overlooked a valley, where a fierce battle was underway. On one side stood a menacing Imperial Level martial beast. Zachary then turned to its opponent, and there he saw Joan, body covered with wounds. He surveyed the area, and saw that the alley was completely sealed, which meant that she no longer had a way to retreat.

'This stage should be the last one in her challenge. If she defeats this martial beast, she'll complete the training in this area and gain a ridiculous amount of strength and experience, ' he thought. He floated down and activated his Energy Perception Technique, he hurled three Ice Needles towards its direction.

All three shot through the air and impaled the martial beast, freezing it almost instantaneously.

"Joan, hurry! If you kill this martial beast, you'll no doubt reach the Imperial Level!" Zachary shouted, turning immediately to Joan.

Despite being covered with gashes and scrapes, Joan stretched out without hesitation and spun around quickly, rushing towards the martial beast not a second later.

"Nirvana!" she roared. As she pushed her martial energy to the limit, a beam of light surrounded her completely. Zachary looked on, dazzled by the radiance.

Bang!

With a deafening sound, red light spread across the area around a dozen-meter radius and almost immediately turned into a phoenix shadow. Without any resistance, the phoenix shadow completely devoured the martial beast.

It lay lifeless there on the ground, scorched all over, even long after the phoenix shadow had completely faded.

The red light that surrounded her body, however, remained intact. In fact, it seemed to shine even brighter, as if it had reached the limit and was on the verge of breaking through.

"That's all I can do. The rest is up to you!" Zachary said to her. He settled down at a safe distance and nodded once, as if signaling to her to proceed.

Joan sat on the ground with her legs crossed and closed her eyes. For a still second, there was complete silence. And then she opened her eyes, now bloodshot. She breathed laboriously, mouth open, as beads of sweat trickled down her cheeks, along the gashes on her skin. She struggled to keep still

you happen to know where your brother is?" Zachary asked calmly, as if nothing had happened between them.

"He...um, recently went out on a mission and will come back in around ten to fifteen days," Polly replied hesitantly.

"Oh, I see. Then how are you these days?" he asked casually.

"I'm fine." Polly nodded, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, since Pollard isn't coming back anytime soon, I'll take my leave. I will probably not be around when he returns, so can you please tell him about it for me?" Zachary said. He noticed Polly looking extremely embarrassed. He certainly didn't want to stay and make her feel even worse. Leaving her alone was the right thing to do. But when he was about to leave, Polly suddenly called out, "Please, Harley, wait a moment."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Zachary asked as he turned around to look back at Polly. She nodded gently and bit her lower lip, as if hesitating.

"Well, I would just like to ask why you chose the Xiao Clan, if I may ask," Polly added immediately. She wanted to ask him about it for a long time but never gathered enough courage until now.

"Because I think they're wonderful there!" Zachary tried to hide his half-hearted answer with failed enthusiasm.

"Don't lie to me. You have a grudge against the Xiao Clan's young master. What are you thinking, really?" Polly had been confused ever since she heard of Zachary's decision. She knew of his animosity against their young master, and so she was conflicted when he joined them instead of taking any form of revenge.