Along the road that followed, Xia Li and Qiu Fu did encounter members of the Manfolk.

  But each time, they successfully avoided them.

  After seeing the Manfolk with his own eyes, Xia Li found that, despite the possibility that they shared an origin with Earth's humanity, he felt no unexpected sense of kinship toward them.

  Every member of the Manfolk stood over three meters tall.

  They were broad-shouldered, thick-waisted, and powerfully built, wearing nothing but crude beast-hide skirts around their waists.

  Their bodies were undeniably strong and tough.

  But in contrast, their eyes carried a savage brutality that seemed to come straight from instinct, as if they might erupt into violence at any moment.

  After crossing the disputed line where fighting frequently broke out, they entered demon territory.

  The Manfolk that appeared on demon-controlled land were somewhat shorter. They wore clothing woven from hemp and grass, and they were far less aggressive than the Southern Manfolk.

  Qiu Fu could even lead Xia Li straight past their tribes in broad daylight.

  Xia Li studied those Northern Manfolk with interest.

  It seemed their level of civilization was indeed higher than that of the south.

  Unfortunately, it was only higher by a little.

  And as their way of life changed, the Northern and Southern Manfolk had already begun to diverge evolutionarily.

  "Did you notice it? The Southern and Northern Manfolk are both Manfolk, but after being separated for so long, they've already become different."

  Qiu Fu spoke up then. She had realized Xia Li was quite interested in the Manfolk, so along the journey she had said a great deal about them.

  "I noticed. So what does that prove?"

  Xia Li understood perfectly well, but he asked anyway because he wanted to hear how demonkind interpreted it.

  "The Manfolk possess another trait. They have an extraordinary level of adaptability to whatever patch of heaven and earth they inhabit."

  "Take demonkind, for example. A frost wolf would never go live in a volcano, and a firebird would never settle in snowy mountains."

  "But the Manfolk seem able to survive anywhere. And among them, the true great powers... the shamans..."

  "They are the ultimate expression of that adaptability. Manfolk who lived for generations near fire gave rise to fire shamans. Those who lived by water produced water shamans. Later there came wind shamans, earth shamans, and more..."

  "A shaman can completely command the power of the surrounding heaven and earth. That was why the ancient Manfolk were once called the Shaman race. But in some great war of unknown origin, the twelve leaders of the Shaman race all fell. Then heaven and earth changed once more, and the Shaman race degenerated into the Manfolk of today."

  As Qiu Fu recounted that ancient past, her eyes toward the Northern Manfolk were full of regret.

  The Manfolk had not only once prospered.

  At one point, they had ruled the world.

  But in Xia Li's eyes, all of that suggested a different interpretation.

  It seemed the Manfolk were not incapable of giving birth to civilization.

  Rather, the first civilization they had produced, the shamanic civilization, had frightened the immortals and gods badly enough to make them act.

  The primordial Manfolk had broken all techniques with brute force.

  The ancient Manfolk had then used all techniques to carry that same force further.

  Which directly explained why both humanity and demonkind now guarded so fiercely against any resurgence of the modern Manfolk.

  That made the struggle between humans and demons over Manzhou particularly interesting.

  Humans and demons were enemies, certainly.

  But were they mortal enemies?

  Those were two very different things.

  Ordinary enemies mostly clashed over interests and could still cooperate if needed.

  Mortal enemies would stop only when one side had been wiped from existence entirely.

  "That really is a terrifying kind of adaptability. Even if you threw them somewhere completely devoid of spiritual energy, they might still surprise the world."

  Xia Li spoke with layered meaning.

  "That shouldn't be possible. Without spirit, one is mortal. The gap between mortals and cultivators is simply too great. Without spiritual energy, there would be no divine abilities and no wondrous arts. People would be trapped in the struggle to survive."

  "There's nothing so bad about being trapped in survival. In the long run, maybe that's how one comes to understand the essence of life. First learn how to survive, then learn how to cultivate."

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  In Xia Li's view, survival was like a test.

  A shackle.

  The first instinct of all life.

  But if one did not remain satisfied with mere survival, and began seeking something beyond it...

  That was the first key to passing the test and unlocking the shackle.

  That key was wisdom.

  "So that's how you see it? That's... a fresh perspective."

  Qiu Fu fell into thought.

  After all, the methods Xia Li had used to save the white fox earlier had already seemed unbelievable to her.

  That heart of metal and iron had not been some spiritual treasure or magical artifact.

  The materials contained spirit, yes, but Qiu Fu could tell that even if they were replaced with mundane materials, the thing would still beat. Durability would be the only real difference.

  As they continued onward, they talked about heaven and earth, about demonkind, about humanity as seen through demon eyes, and about the Manfolk.

  Through Qiu Fu, Xia Li learned many things that had never been recorded in the local chronicles of Lingxu Cave Heaven, and would never have been recorded there in the first place.

  Seeing once truly was better than hearing a hundred times.

  Traveling ten thousand miles truly was better than reading ten thousand books.

  Xia Li felt that his understanding of the Profound World had deepened again.

  Only now was this vast and miraculous world beginning to open one of its mysterious corners to him.

  【Report. While cross-checking the database and compiling the chronology, I found something.】

  【If the information provided by this subject is reliable, then the Mountain Sea Scripture: Foundation Chapter can be regarded as a relic of shamanic civilization.】

  【Its cultivation method matches the descriptions of the Shaman race. Its core lies in containing heaven and earth, observing heaven and earth, learning from heaven and earth, and becoming heaven and earth.】

  【If we can find more relics of the Shaman race, I may be able to reverse-engineer the Mountain Sea Scripture: Foundation Chapter and obtain shamanic arts from it.】

  【At present, you have already achieved success in tempering your body with fire. It is recommended that you attempt the Zhurong Chapter.】

  The Heaven Chip reported its latest discovery.

  The Zhurong Chapter was one section of the Mountain Sea Scripture: Foundation Chapter.

  That scripture provided twelve methods for cultivating qi and blood. One first cultivated the general foundation, then specialized in a single path.

  Originally, Xia Li had wanted to cultivate the Qiangliang Chapter, since he had refined Lightning-Struck Wood before and had relatively high affinity with lightning.

  Unfortunately, the Mountain Sea Scripture was badly incomplete.

  Humanity had pieced together the Foundation Chapter only with the help of countless excavated Spirit Era ruins and the calculations of the Heavenly Dao Computer, and even then only barely.

  It was now used by Earth's major powers as a foundational cultivation method.

  From the looks of it, the Mountain Sea Scripture: Foundation Chapter likely had miraculous effects in compensating for congenital deficiencies.

  Otherwise, the major powers would never have recommended it as a base cultivation art.

  Another seven days passed before Xia Li realized it.

  At last, he reached Qiu Fu's tribe: a fox village built deep within a valley.

  Qiu Fu immediately took Xia Li to meet the clan leader.

  The fox clan leader was a great fox demon with the appearance of a gorgeous young woman, fox ears atop her head, and three tails flowing behind her.

  Her cultivation carried the pressure of Soul Transformation, yet as a fox demon, her gaze contained no oppressiveness at all. It was gentle as water, enough to make Xia Li instinctively want to draw closer.

  "So you're the benefactor who saved Hu Hufu and little Hu Ling? Many thanks, benefactor. May I ask what you seek by coming here?"

  By then, Xia Li had already brought the injured little white fox out from the Cave Heaven Gourd.

  She was now nestled in the fox clan leader's arms, acting spoiled.

  So the little white fox's name was Hu Ling.

  "I want information about Sunscorch Valley."

  Sunscorch Valley was the place where the Golden Crow had fallen.

  It was also the main objective of Xia Li's journey.

  Located in central Manzhou, it lay across the border between human and demon territory and was one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds between the two sides.