While searching for The Vermilion Guild headquarters, Leaf Gray noticed something: the text colors inside the map were divided into four types: red, yellow, blue, and white.

Jade Market III was labeled in yellow font, while The Vermilion Guild was labeled in blue font.

From this, it seemed places labeled with blue font should belong to The Firmament Palace faction, red to The Ophidian Covenant, and yellow to neutral areas. As for white... Leaf Gray guessed those were unclaimed lands; most mountains and rivers were labeled with white font.

Looking at the entire Ten-Point Map, the red and blue labels interwove with each other, intricate and complex. If the map were compared to a chessboard, then the various headquarters labeled in red and blue were the pieces of the two factions. Years of conflict and entanglement had turned these pieces into two great dragons on the board, locked in a mutual struggle.

Leaf Gray wasn't truly integrated into this battlefield yet, but just from the layout of the factions' pieces on the map, he could sense the perilous nature of this faction conflict.

However, the grand scheme of things was temporarily irrelevant to him. He was just an unknown minor cultivator at Spirit Creek Level Two. Right now, he only wanted to hurry to The Vermilion Guild headquarters.

Consulting the battlefield Ten-Point Map, Leaf Gray carefully planned his route and gradually formed a plan.

The light at the cave entrance darkened. Leaf Gray looked up to see the big tiger stepping in. Evie emerged from the tiger's head and said cheerfully, "You haven't left?"

She had come once in the morning but didn't see Leaf Gray and thought he had already left.

"Preparing to leave. Something the matter?" Leaf Gray put away the Ten-Point Map. This item was crucial for his successful return to The Vermilion Guild headquarters and was also the most valuable item he currently possessed, so it naturally needed careful keeping.

"Want to talk to you." Evie floated forward and sat upright formally in front of Leaf Gray, her small face tense.

Leaf Gray didn't understand why this creature was adopting a negotiating posture. He frowned. "Talk about what?"

Evie said, "Where are you going after leaving here?"

"That's none of your business."

"Fine." Evie also knew her question was pointless. They weren't relatives or friends; their previous interactions hadn't been exactly pleasant. Their only cooperation was killing the fair-skinned man and Seraphina Vale. She had no standing to ask Leaf Gray's destination.

Seeing her conflicted expression, Leaf Gray said impatiently, "What is it exactly?"

Evie's expression grew even more conflicted. The big tiger stepped forward and nudged her back with its head. Evie gritted her teeth, looked at Leaf Gray, and said, "Can you take us with you?"

"What?" Leaf Gray wondered if he had misheard.

"Take us with you," Evie repeated.

"Reason?"

Evie said, "As you said before, killing that woman might lead the Providentia Merchant Alliance to track it back to us. This place is no longer safe, so we also need to leave here. But we don't know where to go."

"The battlefield is vast; you can go anywhere you want." Evie's proposal surprised Leaf Gray. He hadn't considered such a thing before, nor did he expect Evie to come to him with this.

"But... but you were the one who killed people. We didn't want to kill anyone." Evie looked wronged.

After returning yesterday, Evie suddenly realized: she and the big tiger were peacefully resting in their territory when Leaf Gray lured a cultivator over, asked them to help rob him, then quickly killed the person, and killed a Providentia Merchant Alliance member too...

From start to finish, they never fully understood what exactly happened. It was truly a case of 'trouble comes knocking while sitting at home'.

"You shared the spoils, didn't you?" Leaf Gray looked at her, perplexed. Since they killed together and shared the loot, naturally, they should share the risk.

Evie opened her mouth wide, somewhat speechless. Finally, she could only blurt out, "Why can't you take us with you?"

"You're too small!"

"Ah?" Evie stared blankly at Leaf Gray. It took her a good while to react. She crossed her arms over her chest, her face turning red. "Pervert!"

Heaven knows how a wraith spirit like her managed to blush.

Leaf Gray stood up and brushed off his pants. "Anything else? If not, I'm setting off. After we part this time, we might never meet again. I wish you all the best."

Evie couldn't figure out what her size had to do with Leaf Gray not taking them along. But seeing Leaf Gray really about to depart, she grew anxious too.

She wasn't a little girl who knew nothing. She had been a cultivator when alive, only becoming a wraith spirit transformed by the big tiger by chance after death. Although she had lost many memories because of it, she still remembered the cruelty of the cultivation world.

She and the big tiger acting like kings of the mountain might seem carefree, but in reality, they were treading on thin ice. Who knew when disaster might strike from the sky? With their and the big tiger's strength, they couldn't withstand it.

She had considered finding a cultivator to pledge allegiance to, but the cultivators she encountered in the outer circles had such low cultivation; how could she possibly be satisfied? Perhaps just after pledging allegiance, the person would sell out the big tiger.

Leaf Gray was different. This guy must be a disciple of some major sect; otherwise, he couldn't have so many talismans. Moreover, over the past two-plus months, Evie had watched Leaf Gray grow stronger bit by bit, his growth speed terrifying.

She felt that following Leaf Gray was a good choice. This guy seemed somewhat annoying, but he actually had his own set of principles when doing things. Take the loot collected yesterday, for example. If Leaf Gray wanted to keep it all for himself, she and the big tiger could do nothing about it, yet Leaf Gray insisted on splitting it equally with them.

All these reasons made Evie determined. Staying here was just waiting slowly for death; following Leaf Gray to venture out was the way forward.

That's why she came to talk to Leaf Gray.

As they passed each other, Leaf Gray felt his clothes being tugged. He turned to look; Evie was looking up at him pitifully, tears seemingly welling up in her eyes.

Leaf Gray remained unmoved. "Crying won't work on me!"

Evie continued to look at him like that.

They stood there staring at each other in a stalemate.

After a good while, Leaf Gray said with a headache, "I'll give you three sentences to convince me!"

Evie's eyes gained sparkle, as if she had already prepared her words. She quickly said, "You also know how low-level cultivators fear Amber. If you encounter enemies you can't defeat in the future, I can cooperate with Amber to intimidate them. It will definitely make those enemies back off knowing the difficulty."

Leaf Gray stroked his chin in thought and nodded. "Put that way, it does make some sense."

Encouraged, Evie spoke again: "Also, if you need to travel, you can ride Amber. It can save your energy, allowing you to maintain your condition to deal with sudden situations at any time. Besides, it runs very fast! If you are being chased, it can help you escape!"

"Will it obey me?" Leaf Gray looked at the big tiger.

He had experienced the big tiger's speed yesterday. When he went to chase Seraphina Vale, the big tiger clearly started later than him, yet it intercepted Seraphina Vale ahead. If the big tiger hadn't blocked Seraphina Vale's path, Leaf Gray would have had a much harder time catching up to her.

"Definitely will obey!" Evie nodded emphatically.

"And also, also..." Evie spoke urgently, 'also'-ing for a while without continuing, finally patting her own chest: "And me!"

"You?" Leaf Gray looked down at her.

"I can ambush others! Just like yesterday." Evie lifted her head and puffed out her chest.