From where he was standing, Austin could see the old man pacing on the furthest hill. He looked like an ant, scurrying this way and
that, climbing towards the top of the hill. Austin activated the Dragon Lightness, and a few seconds later, he landed at the bottom
of the hill, below the old man.
The hill looked like a bowl which had been placed upside-down on the ground. It was wide and tall with fallen trees and shallow
holes in the ground to trip over. Austin was cognizant of these as he meandered up the hill.
The old man, who he recognized as the owner of a stall, was already halfway up the hill. His eyes were trained on the ground and
he was murmuring something. It appeared he was searching for something among the sand at his feet.
"What are you doing, old man?" Austin asked as he reached him.
The old man startled and spun to look at Austin who was standing casually with his hands behind his back.
"It's you, brat! Why are you here?"
The old man cast Austin an annoyed glance. Then he resumed searching for a treasure or something Austin couldn't even imagine.
"You recognized me? How?" Austin asked with his eye wide open in surprise. He paused to look down at his body.
From what he could see, he was still disguised. He had changed his looks using the human-skin mask and was pretending to be a
middle-aged man that looked nothing like himself. This was a clever and advanced trick and the old man shouldn't have been able
to identify him so easily.
The only explanation there could be was that the old man was a powerful cultivator.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt
'He must be very advanced. Not even a master of the Divine Bridge Realm could have recognizedso quickly, ' Austin thought.
"Your little trick won't fool me,"
the old man commented, rolling his eyes at Austin as he stood straight again.
Finally, he bent down again and picked up something from the ground. Austin moved to the side to see what it was but the old man
ignored him. He knelt and Austin saw that the object in his hand was a stone. Without a sound, the old man began painting on the
ground with it.
Austin watched as the painting unfolded but it was difficult to determine what it was of. There were many lines and dots and none
of them seemed to connect.
At last, the painting was finished and Austin had a chance to observe it closer. It appeared that the old man had created a
depiction of Purple Immortal's graveyard.
The dots that Austin had seen were plentiful. He slowly counted eighty one of them.
There were eighty one tombs in the graveyard and each dot must have represented one of them.
The old man stood and pressed his fingers together in thought. He began murmuring again and his eyes were fixated on something
in the distance that Austin couldn't see.
After a while, he started running towards to the other side of the hill. Austin still had no idea what he was doing.
After watching him for several minutes, Austin had deduced that this mysterious, old man was not a regular stall owner; he was
special and Austin needed to know why. So, he tailed after the old man.
Moments later, Austin caught up with him. He was surprised that the old man could move so fast. He stopped next to him and
looked down at a black cliff with withered grass.
Wind whistled around the cliff and blew with it the smell of death. Austin felt a chill run up and down his spine.
The old man appeared completely unfazed by the creepiness of the place. He muttered something again and flipped up his sleeve.
Immediately, the withered grass shot back into the ground and a tomb was revealed.
"I see! There you are!"
The old man laughed happily and clapped his hands together with joy. He turned to face Austin.
"Brat, the masters from the major sects and clans are going to break into Purple Immortal's tomb.
You might as well join them and steal streasures for yourself. Stop following me," he said firmly.
Austin felt like the old man was scolding him but he didn't care. He wanted to know what the old man's mission was.
Meanwhile, violent explosions were shaking the Purple Immortal's tomb. The surroundings, including the enormous mountains were
trembling from the force.
The graveyard was spread out over a large area. There were eighty one tombs there and the distance between each tomb was
exactly the same.
While the powerful cultivators were becoming nervous, Austin and the old man were too far away from the tomb to hear the
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmexplosions or feel the ground tremble.
Austin waited impatiently for the old man to do something. They were alone on the hill but that didn't mean they would be forever.
Sooner or later people searching for ways to get into the last tomb would find here.
"Old man, what are you thinking? Are you planning to fight me? You will have to if you wantto leave. This hill isn't your
property, and you have no right to kickout,"
Austin said assertively but he still took a step backward.
'This mysterious, old man might be a top master, ' he thought. 'l can't risk him getting the jump on me."
"You're assuming wrong. I'm not interested in fighting a brat. | have more important things to deal with.
But | don't want you to follow me. I'm going to a dangerous place. If you cwith me, you might lose your life there. Now leave if
you don't want to die down there,"
the old man responded as he gave Austin a glance filled with warning.
He didn't wait for Austin to answer or leave before he turned back to face the tomb. The old man took out an old dagger and held it
on top of his palm. As he pointed at the weapon with his other hand, it transformed into a light and hit the tombstone.
The tombstone emitted brilliant, white light and released a wave of energy, causing all the dirt and debris that had been on it to
fall away.
"Wow. It looks like there was a powerful array in the tombstone, ' Austin realized.
He stood silently as the old man's dagger continued to pummel the tombstone.