Nothing more happened that night.
Contrary to Xia Nan's expectations, after his silent warning, this adventuring party that had unexpectedly arrived at Grey Valley Village actually stopped causing trouble; there was hardly any movement throughout the entire night.
However, this did not change his decision.
After eating breakfast at Tom's house—happily drinking a bowl of steaming, sweet, and savory mushroom clear soup that Mrs. Janice had meticulously modified to suit his taste—he instructed young Leon to rest well at home and not wander into the forest for no reason.
Dressed neatly and fully armed, Xia Nan left the cottage and walked straight toward the village entrance.
He was in no rush to execute his previous plan. Instead, he found a concealed spot nearby with a wide field of vision and waited quietly.
Just as expected, after waiting in the depths of the dense forest brush for about twenty minutes, the figures of the four-person adventuring party appeared in his line of sight at the village entrance.
The scar-faced captain with a scimitar hanging from his waist, the tall ranger with a longbow on her back, a green-skinned half-orc hybrid, and a slightly bloated dwarf.
Every single one of them was there.
Compared to their dust-covered and irritable state from the previous night, a night's rest didn't seem to have restored them much.
Especially the burly green-skinned half-orc; while looking sullen, he kept glancing back at the village behind him every few steps, as if regretting that he hadn't been able to ravage the place.
Furthermore, the backpacks behind them were noticeably bulkier.
Inside was the grain the villagers used for wintering.
Perhaps the quantity wasn't immense, but he had no doubt that if they had been given a convenient carriage or some kind of spatial storage item, they would have cleared out the entire warehouse.
Xia Nan saw it all.
His pitch-black eyes appeared calm and lusterless, but in reality, a deep, eerie light was brewing within them.
He was not skilled at stealth, nor did he possess any related technical feats.
Fortunately, his experiences within the [Dream Weaving Corridor] terminal's [Fang Hunt] dream—specifically the memories of observing the winter wolf pack from a barbarian's perspective—had given him some experience, lifting him out of his original state of total ignorance.
He had gained a certain understanding of how to prowl and what aspects to pay attention to while doing so.
Combined with his outstanding perception, Xia Nan was able to maintain a considerable distance from the adventuring party. While minimizing the probability of being discovered, he could still follow closely behind without losing them.
Time gradually passed, and the group moved further and further away from the village.
"It's about time," Xia Nan thought.
Suddenly, he discovered that the trajectory of the adventuring party ahead was eerily overlapping with his own from yesterday.
Their direction was... Grey Valley?
Thoughts surged through his mind.
First, the primary thought that occurred to him: was the reason this adventuring party passed through the village because of Grey Valley?
Had they heard some news or accepted a related commission, coming here with "Grey Valley" as their destination?
If that were the case, they might possess more intelligence regarding Grey Valley than he did.
And if they had just happened to come here and were heading toward Grey Valley unknowingly...
That wouldn't be entirely without value to him either.
After all, Grey Valley was shrouded in mist and filled with unpredictable dangers. If a few people could scout the path ahead, it would be an absolute boon for Xia Nan, who had planned to venture deep inside alone today.
The "human mine-clearing method"—letting them take all the hits from the valley's dangers, while the potential rewards would inevitably fall into the pockets of the "oriole" waiting at the end.
As for whether the adventuring party might lose their nerve and retreat...
Based on Xia Nan's understanding of such adventurers, a suspected ancient ruin that could bring massive rewards—enough to retire immediately—would be enough to make these money-grubbing desperados rush in headlong, even if there were only a one percent chance.
Their subjective initiative would be maxed out; there was no need to worry.
And indeed, that was the case.
From Xia Nan's perspective, if the group had shown a hint of hesitation when they first arrived at Grey Valley and saw the strange environment filled with grey rocks...
Once they ventured cautiously inside and discovered the architectural ruins he had explored yesterday, only fanaticism remained on their faces.
"An old building! Ruins, it must be ruins! Gorg is going to be rich!"
The green-skinned half-orc struggled to lower his volume, almost roaring in ecstasy.
The iron-studded giant wooden club in his hand swung through the air, stirring the mist in waves.
The mountain dwarf, who was already incredibly greedy, behaved even worse. His short body was almost pressed against the ground, searching inch by inch for any treasures that might be hidden.
His concentration was so intense that he didn't even hear the questioning voice of Marcus, the captain of the Blood Blade squad, whom he usually feared.
It wasn't until Marcus kicked him hard, nearly sending the bloated, sturdy body flying and rolling twice across the stone-powdered ground, that he stood up and brushed off the dust as if nothing had happened.
In an extremely excited tone, he spoke
"This is absolutely not the architectural style of the Servia Kingdom!"
Greed was one thing, but the extreme pursuit of wealth had led this short man to acquire a great deal of related knowledge.
"While the main structure remains heavy and sturdy, the internal decorative patterns are exquisitely complex and gorgeous. The overlapping use of ironwork and wall carvings—this peculiar style, as far as I know, is rare across the entire Efara continent today."
"I suspect it's a creation left over from before the founding of the Servia Kingdom, or perhaps even from the ancient era."
"Moradin bless me, we... we're going to be rich!"
The dwarf's ecstatic words reached Marcus's ears, stirring waves in his heart.
Originally, this was just an ordinary journey, not even a commissioned quest.
Even that "Grey Valley Village" from last night had been discovered by accident while passing through the forest.
He hadn't expected to stumble upon such an unexpected windfall.
He couldn't help but marvel at his own good luck.
At the same time, he began to feel expectant regarding the ancient ruins mentioned by the dwarf "Stonebelly."
Danger certainly existed, but if they could bring out a few well-preserved, exquisite items that could prove their era of origin, those big-spending collectors would likely fight each other over them.
A single sale could yield a fortune that would normally take years of adventuring to earn.
Even if he didn't want to put in the effort to explore, simply listing the location information on an auction house would fetch a sky-high price.
And if he could actually find a precious ancient magic item, or even a combat technique inheritance...
Marcus's breathing quickened, and the gaze he cast upon his teammates became dangerous.
In contrast, the somewhat caustic ranger in the group appeared relatively calm, at least on the surface.
Amidst the cover of the strange mist, she caught a whiff of an untimely, bloody stench.
Frowning, her gaze instinctively shifted toward the direction of the scent.
Her expression froze.
"Careful!"
...
The four of them maintained a cautious formation, ready to fight at any moment.
Lying before them were several corpses of Axe-beak birds, their blood already drained.
Unanimously, these giant land-birds—whose hard, powerful beaks could even crush rock—all had empty spaces where their necks should be; their heads had vanished without a trace.
A few of them had obvious cutting wounds on their chests, thighs, and backs.
Running her fingertips lightly over the severed neck, the ranger "Sili" looked grave.
She no longer had the heart for sarcasm. Instead, in an incredibly serious tone, she explained her findings to her teammates, reconstructing the death scene of the Axe-beak birds
"There are no obvious traces around here, which means this fight ended very quickly. The attacker's strength far exceeds that of these Axe-beak birds."
"So what? Gorg could crush the heads of these big birds by himself!" the half-orc interrupted indignantly, gesturing with his iron club toward the corpses on the ground, as if contemplating where the best place to strike would be.
"Shut your hybrid mouth, which is filthier and stinkier than an ogre's cesspool, and listen to me!"
Forcing down her anger, Sili pointed to the stiff, motionless land-bird corpses and continued
"First, you've all seen the fatal wounds—they came from the neck, one hit, one kill."
"The wounds are flat and smooth, clearly cut by a sharp weapon; the movements were precise and clean."
Marcus listened carefully, placing himself in the attacker's perspective, wondering if he could have severed the heads of several Axe-beak birds as cleanly as this if he had faced them simultaneously.
But in the next second, Sili's discovery made him alert.
"The strangest point is this: look closely at the positions where these Axe-beak birds died."
"Only the one in the very front faced the enemy."
"The other four all had their heads cut off with their backs to the attacker, and there are gaps in their positions of death."
"What does this mean?"
"It means only the first Axe-beak bird dared to—or rather, didn't have time to react and—engaged in a frontal clash with the attacker."
"The remaining four didn't even have the courage to attack. Their first reaction upon realizing their companion was under attack... was to flee!"
"Whether it was because the enemy's displayed combat power was too exaggerated, causing these monsters to lose the will to fight back, or due to some kind of mental control effect, I don't know."
"But one thing is certain: there is currently another powerful adventurer who has discovered this valley and has beaten us to the exploration."
Hearing this, the image of the sharp figure who had briefly locked eyes with him in the crowd last night surfaced in Captain Marcus's mind.
Could it be him?
While he thought this, for the adventuring party as a whole, the possibility of another force mentioned by Sili brought alertness, but more so, it brought anger at being beaten to the punch and hostility toward a competitor for the ruins' treasures.
"The treasures are all Gorg's! Anyone who dares steal them, Gorg will crush their head!" the half-orc growled, the veins in his neck bulging like steel cables.
"Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and go inside, before someone loots everything!" The dwarf rubbed his palms together urgently like a fly, his two thick, short legs stamping in place, as if delaying for a single second would cost him dozens or hundreds of gold coins.
The ranger Sili remained silent after explaining her findings.
But given her personality, this silence already indicated her attitude.
They were all adventurers, more extreme than those cunning and crazed merchants, trading their lives for money.
When a sufficiently large profit was placed before them, the hidden dangers behind it were ignored.
Even Marcus only thought for a few seconds before giving the order for the team to remain vigilant, guarding against potential dangers while continuing to explore the depths of the valley.
From a considerable distance.
Seeing the group disappear into the depths of the mist after discovering the Axe-beak bird corpses, Xia Nan withdrew his right hand from the hilt of his sword.
In his eyes, the moment this adventuring party stepped into Grey Valley, they had lost any possibility of survival.
Given that both parties were hostile, he could not allow any of them to relay intelligence about Grey Valley to the outside world and link himself to the potential treasures within.
Silencing them was a necessity.
The only difference was a matter of timing.
If the party had decided to retreat after discovering the Axe-beak bird corpses he hadn't had time to dispose of yesterday, then it would have been time for him to act.
Now, since they intended to go deeper, they still had utility value to Xia Nan.
His emotionless black eyes shifted slightly. Xia Nan stepped forward, and his body vanished into the mist.
But soon, after only five or six minutes, he was forced to stop again.
Ahead, the party's path was blocked by a ruined altar.
The structure was less an altar and more like a giant shrine.
Only half of the massive statue's torso remained, hoisted high by a heavy, fortress-like base carved with complex and gorgeous patterns; two broken giant stone pillars, resembling ribs gnawed by a beast, were thrust diagonally into the rubble.
The statue, missing everything from the waist up, was too dilapidated to identify, but its identity as a "Goddess" could be inferred from the stone skirt that rippled and froze like light gauze and the bare toes lightly touching the base.
At the same time, accompanied by a strange, drowning-like "heh-heh" sound.
A shriveled figure, shrouded in a faded, stone-powder-stained coarse cloth cloak, was kneeling motionless to the west of the statue, hands clasped in devout prayer.
His head was bowed, the dry skin of his nape covered in deep wrinkles and stretched to the limit, making the jagged vertebrae beneath seem as if they might pierce through; the pair of arms extending from the cloak were as thin and ugly as specimens, the skin a lifeless dark purple.
A dried corpse.
Xia Nan judged it as such.
But in the next second, the blue-grade wooden sword named [Green Pine] behind him suddenly erupted, sending a surge of scorching air rushing up his neck and back.
In an instant, his alertness was pushed to the absolute maximum.