The night wind cut across the gravel beach like a knife, kicking up fine sand that stung the face.
The bonfire had burned down, leaving only a few dark red embers flickering in and out of existence among the Ashes.
Most people were asleep, curled up under tattered blankets or burlap sacks.
The sounds of snoring, grinding teeth, and a child's sleepy sobs mingled together, the only signs of life in the dead-silent Wilderness.
Li Yao was sleeping soundly, huddled behind a waist-high Stone.
Ian sat beside him, his back against the cold stone surface, his Iron Sword resting across his knees.
His eyes were half-closed as he used Meditation to substitute for sleep.
[Starlight Perception] spread out slowly from him like an invisible net.
Fifty meters... eighty meters... one hundred meters—his limit.
The flow of Energy within this range gradually became clear in his mind.
Most of it was dim and chaotic, like water mixed with mud.
