After settling Ruan Zhe's matter,
Zhao Xuan originally planned to leave this deserted island.
But—
After giving it some thought—
This was the Endless Sea.
This was an island in the Endless Sea.
What if there was a relic hidden here?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Zhao Xuan's heart instantly ignited with excitement.
He first spent some time hauling the small single-mast sailboat from the sea up onto the shore.
He carried it all the way into the forest before finally setting it down.
The reason was simple—he was worried that while exploring the island, the boat might be swept away by ocean currents.
After that,
Zhao Xuan began a thorough, meticulous search of the entire island.
The island wasn't large.
With the assistance of his Master-level Observation Haki, it took him less than two hours to comb through every inch of it.
As for the result…
Disappointing.
He failed to find any relic.
"Sigh… what a waste. Two hours for nothing."
Shaking his head, Zhao Xuan quickly headed toward the "southern" part of the island where he had hidden the boat.
Why was "south" in quotation marks?
Simple—
Because Zhao Xuan still hadn't figured out the actual directions yet.
…
As he walked—
Suddenly—
Crash! Crash! Rumble—
From ahead came a faint tremor.
It sounded like something massive was moving.
Zhao Xuan froze.
"?????"
His gaze immediately sharpened.
Because—
He was absolutely certain that along this route, he hadn't encountered any large creatures.
And he was equally sure that he had already carefully searched the direction from which that rumbling sound came.
Aside from a few mid-tier small land kings, there shouldn't have been any creature larger than a brown bear.
"There's a problem!!!"
Tap—tap!
Zhao Xuan kicked off the ground and sprinted forward.
Very soon, he saw it—
A gigantic land-king beast nearly ten meters tall, greedily devouring the lush trees on the island.
Clearly,
It was a herbivore.
Or rather—
A tree-eater?
"So that's it!"
Realization dawned on Zhao Xuan.
"No wonder parts of this island's forest were missing—this thing ate them."
"Then here's the real question…"
His eyes locked onto the enormous goat-shaped land king whose limbs floated in midair.
"Where did this thing come from? Did it fly in from somewhere else? No—no—that doesn't make sense."
Zhao Xuan shook his head.
"Judging by its aura, it's only a Sixth-Rank land king. A creature at that level daring to fly freely over the Endless Sea? That's suicide. Even Ninth-Rank Emperors don't casually fly here—the sky belongs to high-tier Sky Kings."
At that moment—
A bold thought surfaced in his mind.
"Could it be… this island actually does have a relic, but I just didn't find it? And that land king came out of the relic?"
For the next several minutes, Zhao Xuan stayed hidden at a distance, carefully observing the floating goat beast as it finished eating.
Half an hour later—
"It looks full."
Zhao Xuan clenched his fists, tension rising.
Because—
The moment of truth had arrived.
After feeding, the goat-like land king turned and flew westward.
Its speed was astonishing.
Zhao Xuan immediately gave chase.
Just as he reached a small hill on the island's western side—
The massive goat beast suddenly vanished from sight.
"I knew it!!!"
Zhao Xuan's eyes lit up as he slapped his thigh in excitement.
"I knew it didn't fly in from somewhere else! I knew it came from a relic! This island really does have one!"
He rushed forward to the spot where the beast disappeared.
"I definitely searched this place carefully earlier… did I miss something?"
Frowning, Zhao Xuan stared at the hill.
"Forget it. No point overthinking. If that beast vanished here, the relic entrance must be nearby. I'll just search again."
He pushed aside his doubts and began searching once more.
However—
Even after repeatedly sweeping the hill with Observation Haki—
He still found nothing.
"I refuse to believe this!"
Zhao Xuan's temper flared.
He searched again.
And again.
Nothing.
Staring at the bare hill, his brows furrowed deeply.
"There's no way—this place is tiny! Where could it possibly be hiding?!"
He took a deep breath and searched again.
An hour later—
"Damn it!"
Still empty-handed, Zhao Xuan cursed aloud.
"You're ruthless—hiding this well."
He exhaled deeply, shaking his head as dizziness from prolonged Observation Haki usage set in.
"Just you wait. I'll rest, recover fully, and then come back."
With that, Zhao Xuan waved his hand, opened the entrance to his Desert Relic, and stepped inside.
The moment he entered—
A streak of golden light shot over.
The big golden rat appeared before him.
"Ji-ji-ji-ji-ji!"
It stood about twenty to thirty meters away, chattering furiously—as if complaining that he had returned too late.
Zhao Xuan had no mood to deal with it.
He tossed a cactus flower petal onto the ground a few meters away, then consumed a pile of spiritual herbs and medicines, closing his eyes to recover his mental energy.
The golden rat waited cautiously before approaching and stuffing the cactus flower into its mouth.
Time passed quietly.
After a while, Zhao Xuan's mental energy recovered to about seventy or eighty percent.
He stood up abruptly.
With a thought, he opened the relic entrance and rushed back outside.
"Ji-ji-ji—"
The golden rat was about to say something—
Only to find Zhao Xuan already gone.
"Ji-ji-ji!!!"
It looked furious.
Liar!!!
You promised "next time"!
After squeaking angrily, it darted out through the still-open relic entrance.
…
Outside on the island.
Zhao Xuan stretched and took a deep breath, preparing for his fourth assault on the hidden relic.
Suddenly—
Something soft bumped into his back.
He turned around to see the golden rat waving its tiny paws at him, squeaking insistently.
Zhao Xuan immediately understood.
It was urging him to return to the Desert Relic and cooperate again like before.
"I don't have time right now," Zhao Xuan shook his head.
"I need to find a relic first. We'll talk afterward."
He ignored the rat and refocused on the hill.
"Fourth time's the charm. Let's do this."
Just as he was psyching himself up—
Something bumped his back again.
"What now?" Zhao Xuan turned.
"Ji-ji-ji-ji!"
The golden rat squeaked loudly, pointing at the hill and then patting its chest.
"…Really?" Zhao Xuan's eyes widened.
"Ji-ji! (Absolutely!)"
"If you can really help me find the relic entrance—"
Zhao Xuan pulled out a full sunflower.
"This is yours."
"Ji-ji?! (Really?!)"
"Absolutely."
"Ji-ji-ji-ji-ji! (Leave it to me!)"
A golden flash—
The rat instantly appeared atop the hill.
It circled once, then stopped at a patch of soil.
It waved its paw.
The air rippled.
A crack appeared in the relic's entrance.
"Holy hell!!!"
Zhao Xuan froze.
"Not even ten seconds?! I searched this place five times!"
The rat squeaked proudly.
Zhao Xuan snapped out of it and immediately tossed over the cactus flower.
The rat hugged it and inhaled deeply, bliss all over its face.
"I've got another cactus flower."
Zhao Xuan pulled one out.
"If you answer one question, it's yours too."
"Ji-ji! (Deal!)"
"How did you find the entrance? I passed here so many times and sensed nothing."
The rat created a spatial rift while gesturing wildly.
After several minutes—
Zhao Xuan's expression turned strange.
"You… smelled it? And the entrance was hidden in a folded space?"
"Ji-ji! (Yes!)"
Zhao Xuan's gaze grew dangerously enthusiastic.
Who could resist—
A treasure-seeking rat that could sniff out relics and pull entrances out of folded space?!
The rat instinctively backed away.
"Ji-ji! (What are you thinking?!)"
"Haha—nothing, nothing."
Zhao Xuan quickly threw over the sunflower.
The rat grabbed it and vanished into the Desert Relic.
Watching it leave, Zhao Xuan's smile slowly widened.
Then he burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! I've struck gold! With this treasure-seeking rat, relics will be effortless!"
His laughter echoed across the sky.
He didn't notice—
The golden rat had peeked out again, saw him laughing like a lunatic, shuddered in disgust, and retreated back inside.
Deep in the desert relic—
The rat hugged both cactus flowers, inhaled deeply.
"Phew…"
It swayed, then collapsed onto the sand—
Just like a cat on catnip.
Absolutely blissed out.
--------------------------------------------------
Read 30 Chapters ahead: [email protected] / KaiOynx