Baiyun held the temporary armour the blacksmith tossed him, carefully strapping it to his body tightly. He nodded in satisfaction at the scent of pristine metal, feeling glad he cleansed it properly with well water and elixir last night.

  "Blindfold!" Gale's voice echoed from outside. "Are you done?"

  "I'm heading out right now!" Baiyun yelled back.

  Tsk... He had only spent a minute putting on the armour yet the kid was being so impatient. He grumbled inwardly as he pulled out a long mace. The blacksmith chased him away so quickly he had no chance to take a weapon, but luckily, Stone let him take one from the training room.

  He prodded the floor with the mace as he left the prison quarters. It would still serve perfectly fine as a walking stick, a vessel for him to extend divine touch.

  Outside, the shrill whistle of a flute rushed across the desolate sea of gravel, travelling far and wide. Inmates scowled as they marched out from the prison quarters alongside him; from above, they appeared almost like ants trailing out of a nest.

  Baiyun felt a massive hand pat his shoulder as he walked, and he turned to the two awaiting him.

  Stone was still dressed in his buddhist robes and ungeared; a luxury of the strong. Gale followed close behind in and shifted uncomfortably in his armour, an elaborate mail of coins linked tightly like fish scales. It seemed the kid failed to weasel out of the blacksmith's downgrade.

  Coin-mail was in theory much harder to make by hand than plate-mail, but Baiyun had no doubt the smith created an artefact that automated the process. He couldn't imagine such a lazy man linking coins by hand, and the smith had demonstrated incredible skill with mechanical artefacts.

  "Let's go." Stone said.

  Baiyun nodded, but glanced at the prison with divine touch for a moment.

  Without Rabbit by his side, he was unable to borrow its hearing and felt slightly uneasy. But at this point, it was far too late for him to head back to his room.

  It was not like him to be so careless; he should have brought Rabbit when Stone took him out for breakfast. Perhaps deep inside, he still had some lingering hesitation about dragging the poor animal into such a mess against its will.

  Baiyun shook his head inwardly. What was with that thought?

  He supposed it mattered not if there was a Core Shaper here to protect him. It felt almost strange for things to be so easy.

  Ahead of them, a large crowd of inmates gathered in orderly rows.

  Crow stood on a pedestal with crossed arms as her long hair fluttered in the wind. She glanced around, looking rather impatient as she waited. Songbird stood behind her and held his flute in silence.

  Baiyun thought she would speak when the last death soldiers arrived, but she continued to tap her feet. Several minutes passed this way, before she finally spoke.

  "Where is Hermit Crab?" she said with great displeasure. "He's the only one absent."

  "Hah. Dead and rotting in a ditch I presume." a gravelly voice said with mocking laughter. "He got greedy and dove into the ocean yesterday. I haven't seen the poor fool since."

  It was the poison alchemist from yesterday, draped head to toe in tattered cloth and tinged with a deadly medicinal scent.

  Stone seemed alarmed at the poisoner's words and began to shift about uneasily.

  "Huh? Why didn't you report such a thing sooner?" Crow frowned.

  The poisoner merely shrugged with a smile as the surrounding inmates whispered.

  "Tsk! He was supposed to repair my sword, I paid good money for that!"

  "Ah... I'll have to look for someone in town to repair my formation disk instead then. Urgh, those bastards always overcharge..."

  None of the inmates seemed to mourn Hermit, but there were plenty of irritated whispers.

  A repair specialist? Baiyun frowned, wondering why they would send such a man to the battlefield. It made no sense to send a supporter to the battlefield, as his death would only weaken the army.

  Crow frowned as the crowd of prisoners mumbled to each other.

  "Silence. If he isn't here, then we'll get on with the announcements." she said.

  At once, the prisoners shut their mouths despite their disgruntlement. It seemed she had quite the influence here.

  "As for you Cobra, we'll have to talk later tonight."

  "Haha. As you please." the poisoner chuckled.

  Cobra... Baiyun remembered hearing that name in town before on his way here in the carriage. Someone in the market helplessly complained he took all the "earth knobs". Perhaps the man had some infamy.

  "Now, continuing the announcements. Our Night Guard noted little beast activity last night, so we will send half our forces to exterminate the newly discovered den of Crawlers as planned. I will select several squads for the expedition, and the rest of you shall patrol as usual."

  Crow named several squadrons and separated the crowd. Baiyun quickly realised he wasn't part of the selected group, for better or worse.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "The roles have been chosen. Now go!" Crow said. "And remember as always, if you find any traces of the Faceless Giant, flee and report the incident at once!"

  A few grunts came from the inmates in response. Those tasked with extermination headed in the same direction, while the rest dispersed. The fastest of them took off in a blur, perhaps eager to gather spoils before others could.

  Quite the short announcement... Baiyun mused. He supposed if nothing, it was better than the ones that dragged on endlessly without reason. What exactly was that Faceless Giant Crow mentioned?

  "Stone, what is that Faceless Giant she mentioned?" Baiyun asked.

  "That... that isn't something you should worry about. And now isn't the time for this! Blindfold, Gale, stay close to me." Stone said grimly. "We need to chase down Cobra."

  "Un." Gale nodded.

  Baiyun frowned at his question being ignored but didn't complain. It seemed the poisoner had sped off ahead of them.

  He followed Stone as he led the way, prodding his mace into the sea of gravel as a walking stick. But it was not at all pleasant.

  The loose rock made the ground uneven and difficult to walk on, and there was even a dampness that squelched from the ocean water beneath. It even hampered divine touch, reducing his "sight" to only a range of 2 meters.

  It made him rather uncomfortable, but he still trudged onwards, listening for the footsteps of the two ahead.

  "There are a few cows up ahead. We'll have to route around them." Stone said suddenly.

  A slight ways into the distance, Baiyun heard large animals trudging across the gravel. Their heads were lowered as they mindlessly chewed on the stones beneath. Ah... it was one of the oddities Rabbit spotted previously.

  "Why are there cows here?" he asked.

  "They're not real cows. Just ignore them and stay at a distance." Stone answered.

  What was that even supposed to mean? Baiyun began to get irritated as he got the feeling Stone had no intention to answer him this time either.

  He suddenly remembered how he used to get annoyed by his disciples bombarding him with questions, and would shoo them away, telling them he would explain when the time came for it.

  ...Baiyun wasn't sure how to feel about getting a taste of his own medicine. As he sighed, Gale suddenly tugged on his robes.

  "Don't talk too much!" he whispered urgently. "It's not safe!"

  "Huh? Wasn't Crow announcing something loudly without issue earlier?" Baiyun had no idea what the kid was on about.

  "That was still far away enough to be safe. But we've already walked into the danger zone!" Gale whispered.

  Stone seemed to sweat a little and coughed at the sight of Gale acting like this.

  "Well, it isn't to that extent-" the monk began. "Ahem. I mean, yes, it's good to keep silent."

  Gale nodded happily at the affirmation, while Baiyun stood speechlessly.

  Whatever.

  Baiyun decided not to argue as he had already noticed several unexplained oddities at the border. He grumbled to himself that new recruits probably should be better briefed about such things before being sent here. The feeling of not understanding his surroundings was detestable.

  When he returned tonight, he would immediately search for books that detailed the dangers of the border. But he paused at the thought. Even with Unparalleled Insight... he would have no explanation for being able to read books while blind.

  Perhaps he would have to ask Crow or Stone for a briefing when he returned then. He couldn't imagine anyone else agreeing to help.

  They continued to trudge onwards uneventfully.

  "He should be around here somewhere..." Stone muttered. "Ah!"

  He suddenly perked up, turning to look at something far in the distance. His massive hands swept over Gale and Baiyun, grabbing them and tossing them on his shoulders. Before either of the two could complain, he took off in a sprint.

  "Gah!" Gale yelped.

  Stone bounded across the gravel with surprising speed despite his mass, with such grace and silence it was almost as if he was weightless.

  Baiyun soon heard the sound of someone rummaging, accompanied by grotesque slicing sounds.

  "Cobra! I knew you would be here!" Stone shouted.

  "Hah. I should have known you would follow me." the raspy voice grumbled.

  Cobra was hunched over a pit of murky black poison, reaching his bare hand into them and pulling out the corpse of a 2 meter long giant salamanders. Within the pit were many more bodies; from how bloated and discoloured they were, it was evident they had been soaking for a good long while.

  Such a gaunt man lifting up massive corpses casually was a strange sight. He held a knife in his other hand and gutted them with such ease, it was if they were only palm-sized fish.

  Stone furrowed his eyebrows at the sight of organs spilling out, but he quickly composed himself. Somehow, Cobra seemed far more disturbed by the monk's presence.

  "I understand you don't like to be bothered." Stone said. "But after you mentioned how Hermit dove into the ocean, I naturally had to look for you."

  "Tsk."

  Cobra clicked his tongue in irritation as he let go of the giant corpse in his hand, letting it fall back into the poisoned pit. Baiyun hurriedly jumped backwards in fear of it splashing, but the water barely rippled. The poisoner seemed amused at the sight.

  "Hah. Sharp senses for a blind kid." Cobra said, before turning to Stone. "Fine, I'll take you to where he was. Just keep yourself in check."

  "Amitabha." Stone clasped his fists together in prayer. "Thank you for your help, benefactor."

  Cobra's pupils constricted as he hurriedly backed away, as if the words were poison to him.

  "Hahaha. Just my luck, huh?" the poisoner chuckled. "Follow me."

  Cobra walked quickly at the speed of a galloping horse, as if trying to lose the monk. But Stone easily kept pace even with the other two on his shoulders.

  "The scary guy is afraid of you?" Gale asked. "Did you punish him for doing something bad?"

  "Hahaha." Stone let out a forced laugh. "No such thing happened. He isn't a bad person."

  Baiyun frowned as he listened to them talk.

  Even after he was warned about needing to keep quiet, everyone was still brazenly chatting away! What was this favouritism? But he didn't feel like arguing just to ask about the Faceless Giant and cows they had long since passed, so he remained silent.

  A few minutes later, they stopped beside a distant shore. A lot of dead fish preserved by the tainted sea had accumulated, Cobra kicking them aside in annoyance.

  "Hermit dived here? What was he after?" Stone asked.

  "Look into the waters." Cobra said. "You'll find your answer."

  Stone frowned, putting down Gale and Baiyun. He reached into his bag and pulled out a ridiculous 2 meter long spyglass. Baiyun raised an eyebrow as the monk stuck the implement into the seawater and squinted into it, the water lighting up as its lens shone.

  What an over-specific and strange tool... it must be the work of the blacksmith.

  "I don't see anything... Ah!" Stone suddenly exclaimed. "There's something green glowing on the ocean floor!"

  "Hermit said it was a sign of abyss metal." Cobra said. "He told me not to report it unless he went missing. And hah, look where he is now! The greedy fool..."

  "Don't badmouth your allies, especially when they might be in danger." Stone sighed.

  He stared at the water with great reluctance, taking a deep breath to steel himself. He reached into his bag and put on glass goggles, strapping on an airtight rubber mask over his nose and mouth next. Cultivators above the Foundational stage did not need oxygen, so its only purpose was to prevent the accidental ingestion of tainted water.

  "I'll be back soon." Stone said in a muffled voice. "Cobra, please return to the complex with the children. Keep them safe."

  "Tsk. Fine."

  "Eh? You're leaving us with the scary man?" Gale said, glancing at Cobra worriedly.

  "I'm sorry." Stone said. "But don't worry. Cobra is a reliable ally despite his methods. And if he harms you, he'll have to answer to me."

  "Real unkind of you." Crow frowned.

  Stone laughed lightly at the man's reaction, then dove into the ocean with a great splash. He sunk with great speed much like his namesake, the waters stirring as he swam downwards.