Chapter 24: Desert City! Are you here to cause trouble on purpose?

In the golden desert, a city of loess stands tall, its walls colored by the earth. At the city gates, an endless stream of people comes and goes. Among them, most of the men go bare-chested, while the women cover only their most private areas with cloth, boldly exposing their waists and long legs to the light.

Unlike the reserved style of Wutan City, there is a distinct contrast here; the swaying of waists as they walk carries a unique, exotic charm. Hun Cang withdrew his gaze and looked above the city gate, where two large, pale-red characters were carved into the wall.

"Mo City..." Hun Cang murmured, a tone of anticipation in his voice.

After leaving the Xiao family, he had immediately returned to the Hall of Souls in the Jia Ma Empire, originally expecting that Hun Xiaoqiang and the others would have been able to scout out news of the Heavenly Flame. However, the results left Hun Cang deeply disappointed. Thus, he decided to rely on himself. According to the original trajectory of events, there was indeed a Heavenly Flame hidden within the Tagor Desert.

Ranked nineteenth: the Green Lotus Core Flame.

Information regarding the specific location of this flame was obtained by Xiao Yan from the Ice Emperor, Hai Bodong. Consequently, Hun Cang headed straight for Mo City.

"If I remember correctly, this should be the shop..." Standing before a doorway with a sign reading "Gu Tu," Hun Cang lifted his leg and stepped inside.

The shop was not particularly spacious, but the light from two moonstones was enough to clearly see the merchandise within. There were almost no customers, and business seemed rather bleak. Behind the counter, an old man sat with his head bowed, a pen in his hand. Judging by the movement of the pen, he appeared to be drafting something like a map. The old man had a full head of silver hair and a somewhat hunched posture; however, the steady, powerful grip he maintained on his pen suggested he was not an ordinary man in his twilight years.

"What are you looking to buy?" The old man stopped writing, looked up at the young man who had been staring at him, and asked with a frown.

"Just looking around." Hun Cang averted his gaze and began flipping through items on the shelves.

The old man’s frown deepened, and he said coldly, "Be careful. If you break anything, can you afford to pay for it?"

Hun Cang ignored him, continuing to rummage through the goods on his own, a flash of disappointment in his eyes. The Child of Destiny truly lived up to his reputation. Xiao Yan could simply browse the shop and find a map fragment related to the Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame, yet after Hun Cang searched the entire place, nothing seemed remotely significant.

This was clearly not right.

"Kid, I don’t think you’re here to buy anything. You’re here to stir up trouble, aren't you?" The old man slammed his pen onto the counter with a loud thud.

Usually, when a customer entered, they would ask the owner or staff directly what they wanted. Who would just rummage through the shop's inventory and turn everything into a mess? The old man narrowed his eyes, a dangerous light flickering within them as he stared intently at the young man standing in the center of the shop.

"I am indeed not here to buy anything." Hun Cang smiled. Watching the anger slowly rise on the old man's face, he continued unhurriedly, "I am here to find someone."

"Then you’ve come to the wrong place. There is no one else here but me," the old man said coldly.

Hun Cang smiled calmly. "Not necessarily. What if the person I'm looking for is you, old sir?"

"Who would go out of their way to look for a decrepit old man..." The old man offered a cold, mocking smile.

Beneath the counter, out of Hun Cang's sight, a frigid chill seemed to overflow, causing a thin layer of frost to form on the floor and the wooden boards. It was important to note that outside the shop, the sun was scorching, and the air was distorted by the intense heat. Hun Cang lowered his gaze slightly, as if he could see through the wooden counter to the scene behind it. This caused the cold expression on the old man’s face to grow even more severe.

"What exactly do you want?" the old man asked again, his tone ice-cold.

Hun Cang raised his gaze, looking at the old man who seemed ready to explode at any moment, the corners of his mouth curling upward. "I already told you, I am here to find someone... I am looking for someone known as the Ice Emperor..."

*Crack!*

The moment the words "Ice Emperor" left Hun Cang's lips, an immense amount of cold energy surged from behind the counter. The shop’s front doors slammed shut without anyone needing to push them. Deprived of sunlight, the room grew dim, illuminated only by the light of the moonstones.

The once-hunched old man suddenly erupted with a cold, tyrannical aura that expanded in all directions.

"It seems I have found the right place," Hun Cang muttered to himself, watching the surging, frigid energy with a calm expression.

A chill appeared on the old man's aged face. "Whatever your reason may be, since you have discovered my secret, for the sake of continuing my reclusive life, I have no choice but to send you to your death."

"To think the Ice Emperor would have a worse temper than those who play with fire," Hun Cang couldn't help but retort. He stomped his foot, and a surge of black mist poured from his body, forming a circle with a one-meter radius around him. The frigid energy, upon touching this black mist, could no longer penetrate it.

The old man was slightly stunned, then gritted his teeth. "No wonder you dared to come alone—you have something to rely on! However, I haven't lived for so many years for nothing."

Before he could finish, he channeled even more intense cold. The room was instantly filled with white mist, and visibility plummeted to less than a meter.

"As expected of a former top-ten Dou Huang expert. You've still got some tricks," Hun Cang said, unperturbed. He reached out with interest to touch the mist, and a biting chill traveled to his fingertips. As the cold touched his skin, it seeped in, attempting to drill deeper into his flesh and meridians. Hun Cang mobilized his power, and the chill was quickly extinguished.

"Though my power is not what it was at its peak, I am not someone a greenhorn like you can handle." Sensing Hun Cang's movements within the mist, the old man moved like lightning, rushing out from behind the counter. His hands were curled into claws, his fingertips covered in ice crystals, and he lunged for Hun Cang's throat with a whistling sound of oppressive wind. If this strike connected, it would at the very least pierce his throat, and at worst, snap his neck.

Just as the old man was filled with confidence, a fist emerged from the mist in front of him without warning.

"What?!" The old man was shocked. He had no time to dodge and collided head-on with the fist, only to be sent flying backward with even greater speed.

*How could he have detected my movements?*

The old man's face was filled with shock. The white mist was a Dou Technique he had cultivated, designed to block the five senses while allowing him to sense every move of others through the fluctuations within the fog.

"Impossible! It must be a coincidence!" The old man scrambled to his feet. He quickly formed hand seals, and countless frigid wisps of energy manifested into dozens of spiraling ice needles.

"Go!" At the old man's low shout, the ice needles shot toward Hun Cang’s position with a sharp, piercing sound.

After this strike, just as the old man was about to catch his breath, the white mist in front of him churned violently, and a human silhouette emerged. Then, a fist appeared once more, striking the old man’s other eye, for which he had no defense.

"How is this possible?!"

As the old man flew backward, he let out a cry of sheer disbelief.