Yan Luo turned his head, casting his gaze in the direction from which the arrow had been shot, yet he saw no figure.

Squinting his eyes, Yan Luo grasped the arrow in his hand and started walking in that direction.

He didn't hear breathing, nor did he hear a heartbeat; could it be that the 'thing' that shot the arrow neither needed to breathe nor had a heart?

Or were these sounds simply being concealed?

Yan Luo lifted the arrow, drawing the tip across the tree trunk beside him to test its sharpness.

The arrow he held bore an uncanny resemblance to those on Blue Star; the arrowhead was Y-shaped, with barbs at the two front tips, seemingly designed not to kill prey but to restrict their movement.

Because the Y-shaped arrowhead wasn't suitable for piercing the flesh, it was honed to be particularly sharp; with a gentle swipe from Yan Luo, it sliced through the tree trunk.

Both the arrowhead and shaft were carved with many mysterious characters, and the fletching was meticulously trimmed to a beautiful neatness.

Yan Luo shifted his focus back to the arrowhead, and at that moment, he suddenly rolled on the ground, evading three swiftly approaching arrows.

Using his keen dynamic vision, he observed the arrowheads of those three arrows and noticed they had been replaced with spade-shaped tips, which could carve out substantial chunks of flesh upon hitting a living creature.

Arrows equipped with such arrowheads couldn't embed themselves in creatures, nor could they penetrate deeply into the body, but they could follow the motion of the creature, slicing its flesh as it moved.

It seemed the civilization behind the 'thing' shooting at him relied on bows as their primary means of long-range attack; otherwise, they would not have developed such sinister arrowheads.

Yan Luo remained silent, continuing to move in the direction from which the arrows were shot.

This time he confirmed even more that it wasn't an absence of living beings in that direction, but rather his senses were being deceived, unable to detect the other's presence.

It seemed like some magical effect, though he couldn't understand how this magic was manifesting.

Was it optical invisibility? Or the vanishing of presence?

Yan Luo seemed to be moving cautiously, even collecting the three spade-shaped arrows embedded in the ground and leaving scratches on tree trunks as he went.

Three minutes later, Yan Luo checked the scratches he had left and suddenly smiled.

It was like a ghostly maze; the archer was right under his nose without him realizing it—if not for his strong intuition, he'd probably have been captured or killed already.

Yan Luo pieced together a circle from the scratches on the tree trunks, and the almost perfect circular shape indicated that the 'center of gravity' hadn't changed—the person trying to ambush him had been standing all along.

Realizing this, Yan Luo stood outside the circle and drew a line perpendicular to the center with an arrow on the ground.

He then stood up, closed his eyes, and charged forward blindly.

His arms protected his face as he bent forward and charged, ignoring any sensations ahead, forging through them.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Several arrows pierced Yan Luo's arms but didn't penetrate through to his bones, caught instead by his muscles.

Yan Luo opened his eyes abruptly, seeing an androgynous 'Elf' wielding a short bow standing in front of him.

Despite having more combat methods than just archery, the Elf immediately drew a sharp sword from their back and slashed horizontally at Yan Luo.

As the sword swung, it glowed with a holy light, infused with a sacred power.

Yan Luo widened his eyes, realizing it was the same as what he saw in the illusionary palace!

Those illusions were likely projections from this world into the illusionary palace, so, inversely, could he have also been projected into this world?

Yan Luo didn't take the attack head-on; although his body could almost withstand cold-weapon strikes, the glowing sword might enhance the blade, making avoidance the wiser choice.

Suddenly, Yan Luo spread his legs, lowering his body as the gleaming sword swept above his head.

Then, Yan Luo used a grappling move, directly tripping the Elf.

He hoisted one of the Elf's legs onto his shoulder, pressing down against their torso while his left thumb jabbed into the Elf's sword-wielding armpit.

The Elf's arm trembled instantly, losing its strength, causing the delicate sword to fall.

Even though the Elf was armored in leather, Yan Luo didn't strike them directly; instead, he engaged in ground combat, nullifying the Elf's advantage.

"￥%@￥**%*&*&!"

The Elf seemed to curse a barrage of crude words, yet Yan Luo didn't understand any of it, pressing them into a shameful position on the ground, rendering them immobile.

After about ten minutes of scolding, the Elf finally tired out, potentially realizing that Yan Luo couldn't understand their language, and stopped yelling.

Then, Yan Luo tentatively released one of the Elf's arms.

As soon as Yan Luo's right hand lifted, the Elf immediately punched towards Yan Luo's cheek.

While holding the Elf's arm to the ground, Yan Luo had felt their wrist and arms, confirming that their arm structure resembled that of Blue Star People, complete with tendons in their wrists.

Thus, the combat techniques for humans on Blue Star would work against this Elf as well.

Seeing the Elf being uncooperative, Yan Luo seized their wrist again, this time mercilessly dislocating their joints.

"Ah!!!"

Although the languages were entirely different, the Elf's scream sounded identical to that of Blue Star People.

Yan Luo dislocated the Elf's arm, shoulder, and knee joints, preventing them from any form of resistance, then hoisted the Elf, retrieving the delicate sword from the ground and holding it.

The slender, leaf-shaped ornate sword in Yan Luo's hand was used like a machete, hacking through any impassable areas as he advanced.

The Elf, slung over Yan Luo's shoulder, felt hopelessly defeated, tears, snot, and saliva streaked across their face.

Yan Luo wandered the forest for over ten hours, encountering many animals.

Those animals resembled mutated creatures familiar to Yan Luo, their appearances bizarre and grotesque.

He chose one that didn't seem too strange and whose raw meat was relatively palatable, skewering the collected meat of a goat-like creature with vines and bringing the Elf to his designated campsite.

A collapsed giant tree, hollowed by insects, provided perfect shelter from wind and rain.

Yan Luo cleared a space near the hollow, using flint collected along the way to ignite twigs and leaves, starting a bonfire.

The Elf was set aside, leaning against the withered tree, slightly regaining his spirit, observing Yan Luo's attire and appearance by the firelight.

He wore crystal glasses, his ears unlike the long ones of the Elves; his physique was tall, his clothes were form-fitting but tattered, occasionally outlining his muscular curves.

At this thought, the Elf's eyes widened.

This guy looked astonishingly like the legendary... 'Human'?

Oblivious to the Elf's thoughts, Yan Luo used branches to prop up a stone slab, grilling sliced goat meat on it.

After tasting a piece, Yan Luo found it acceptable; at least there wasn't too much gaminess, better than what he'd eaten in the Abyss.

Having eaten a few slices of the goat meat hot, Yan Luo used two branch-carved chopsticks to pick up a piece, offering it to the Elf.

After a moment of hesitation, the Elf actually opened his mouth to accept the meat.

However, as he chewed, the Elf frowned, unclear whether he disliked the goat meat or found the taste of the slice displeasing.

There was nothing to be done; Yan Luo had never learned wilderness survival, and the Abyss didn't provide an environment for wilderness survival experts to showcase their skills, let alone Yan Luo.

In the Abyss, Yan Luo mostly consumed portable food supplies.

Swallowing the goat meat with difficulty, the Elf looked at Yan Luo and unexpectedly started speaking to him.

Unfortunately, Yan Luo didn't understand a word he said.

He gestured to his ears, waved his hand, indicating his lack of comprehension.

If the Elf misunderstood his gestures... so be it; Yan Luo didn't mind.

After dinner, Yan Luo, unconcerned whether the Elf was full, dragged him into the tree hollow, curling up to rest with closed eyes inside.

Yan Luo dared not sleep too deeply; the place was rife with unknowns and looming danger. Should he sleep too soundly, he might never wake again.

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