Morning light spilled across Dawn Manor.0

After depositing a vial of his own fourth rank blood in the black market ghost domain and handing it personally to Yan Yu, Li Yuan felt every last preparation was finally in place.5

Now he just had to decide how exactly to leave.0

Xue Ning fetched an old map and spread it across the table.0

Together they studied it and came up with two options—0

The first route was the straight shot. From Cloudpeak Province, Li Yuan could fly southeast into Hidden River Province without detouring through the war-torn Silkfloss Province. The land below was mostly wilderness. With steady flight and sensible caution, he would arrive in roughly half a month.0

The second route was taking the official road. Li Yuan would travel from Cloudpeak Province...0