"Look!" Grace pointed at the spot. "Isn't this mine inside the Vermilion Kingdom? Right here... in Eastwood Forest."
"Mm-hmm." Evan Xiao replied.
"But where exactly is it? The scale of this map is huge, and just this little marker could mean a range of millions of miles. How do we pinpoint the location?"
Evan Xiao was amused by her confusion. He tapped her forehead and said, "Isn't it written right there?"
"Where does it say that?"
Evan Xiao pointed to a line of tiny characters below the marker.
It read: Dragon-Tiger Coordinates—Azure Dragon Horn 12, White Tiger Kang 21.
"Huh? What does that mean? Why can't I make sense of it?"
"It's a way to pinpoint the location using the stars."
"So... you can help me find it?"
Evan Xiao nodded, "I can. As long as we borrow Shannon's Divining Compass."
"Oh..." Grace looked at him. "Evan Xiao."
"Hmm?"
"I just realized—you seem to know everything."
Evan Xiao gave her a confident smile.
"Why is that?" Grace scrutinized him. "You're only a few years older than me, so how come you know so much?"
Evan Xiao: "Do you want the truth?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Because... I've actually lived for over a thousand years. You've only been around for a decade or so, and spent most of it in a tiny corner of the world. Of course your knowledge is limited."
"Pfft! Over a thousand years?"
"Yeah."
"Are you some kind of monster?"
Evan Xiao looked at her with a half-smile. "If I really am, would you still marry me?"
Grace answered without hesitation, "Of course!"
"You're not afraid?"
"You know what they say—dying under the peony is still a romantic way to go." Grace rested her chin in her hand, gazing at him with dreamy eyes. "You're so gorgeous, if you really are a thousand-year-old monster and eat me up, I'd die happy!"
Evan Xiao: "..."
They borrowed the Divining Compass from Shannon and rode together to Eastwood Forest.
Eastwood Forest was vast and endless; no one really knew how big it was.
Deep inside, it was a land without an owner.
However, in the parts of the forest near human settlements, the borders were clearly marked.
The place they went to was inside the Vermilion Kingdom's territory.
Shannon's Divining Compass really worked wonders. Before long, Evan Xiao had found the Dragon-Tiger Coordinates: Azure Dragon Horn 12, White Tiger Kang 21.
When they landed, they were surrounded by dense forest.
Some parts of the forest showed signs of having been scorched by fire.
As they walked, Grace was surprised to realize just how familiar this place was.
It was the very place where the Infernal Drake first appeared!
"It's here!" Grace exclaimed with delight. "Do you know what this place is?"
Evan Xiao nodded. "The birthplace of the Infernal Drake."
"I can't believe it's here!" Grace marveled. "This place is like my lucky spot! I got my Dimensional Bracelet here, the Infernal Drake Pill that cured my mom's Frostbane Poison, and even the Infernal Drake Pearl in my Celestial Sword—all from this very place!"
"None of this is a coincidence," Evan Xiao said. "It all started because there's a Spirit Jade mine here."
"What do you mean by that?"
"According to what you said, after Senior Luke Kee was fatally wounded, he left behind his legacy."
Grace nodded.
"That legacy included many arrays and barriers," Evan Xiao explained. "All of those require tremendous spiritual power. So he found this mine, used its energy, and completed his legacy. Later, when he was spent and couldn't leave, the legacy bracelet remained here—which makes perfect sense."
"Oh..." Grace seemed to picture Senior Luke Kee, wounded and coming here, finally resting in this very place.