Chapter 501: Not So Simple

Unfortunately, Lu Sangjiu’s luck wasn’t that good. This person was not Ye Wucheng.

Lu Sangjiu couldn’t remember his name, but his face did look somewhat familiar.

It was the other man who spoke first, calling out her name. “Ah, it’s Mr. Lu. What a coincidence. Why don’t we travel together?”

The man had a kind smile and seemed quite good-natured.

But Lu Sangjiu remained cold, refusing without a moment’s hesitation. “That won’t be necessary. I prefer to travel alone.”

The man’s smile faltered for a moment. Before he could say anything else, Lu Sangjiu turned and left.

Before long, Lu Sangjiu realized that despite her clear rejection, the man apparently had no intention of giving up. He was following her from a distance, maintaining a leisurely pace.

This scene… felt a little familiar. ‘Isn’t this guy’s approach just like Lin Qiu’s back then?’

Just as she was considering using the same trick to shake him off, she suddenly heard a noise. Someone was approaching from another direction.

“That’s great! There are people over here!”

Lu Sangjiu heard the joyful surprise in someone’s voice. She looked over and, sure enough, saw a cultivator from the Fan Family.

‘Inside this Secret Realm, the Fan Family are probably the only ones happy to run into other people.’

This Fan Family cultivator was a young woman with a cute, doll-like face that Lu Sangjiu found vaguely familiar. Her name, she recalled, was Fan Xing.

Following behind her were two other cultivators, and one of them was none other than Ye Wucheng!

The moment she saw him, Lu Sangjiu suddenly felt her luck wasn’t so bad after all. ‘I can’t believe I’ve already run into my target, and he’s only the second person I’ve met!’

She’d been worried that meeting members of the Fan Family would restrict her freedom of movement, but that worry now vanished.

After all, teaming up with Yan Xue was secondary; her primary mission was Ye Wucheng.

His presence was enough for Lu Sangjiu to instantly cast all thoughts of Yan Xue aside.

Now, the man who had been following Lu Sangjiu for some unknown reason was also merged into this new team.

Lu Sangjiu then learned the man’s name: Li Qifeng.

The other male cultivator who had been with Fan Xing from the start was named Sun Rang.

After a brief conversation, Lu Sangjiu understood why Fan Xing had been so happy to see them.

It turned out that Fan Xing possessed a Compass that pointed toward places with dense Demonic Qi, and such places usually held great treasures.

Just a short while ago, her Compass had reacted strongly, suggesting something good was nearby.

So, she had teamed up with the two people she met along the way, and they had been following the Compass’s direction.

She had just been thinking that three people might not be enough when she ran into Lu Sangjiu and the other man.

Fan Xing was now overjoyed, declaring, “With the five of us, we’ll definitely be fine!”

“The place the Compass is pointing to isn’t far. Let’s hurry!”

And just like that, Lu Sangjiu joined the temporary team.

On one hand, she harbored ill intentions toward Ye Wucheng. On the other, she felt that Li Qifeng was no simple character either.

In short, trust was out of the question. It would be a victory if the team didn’t fall apart the minute they ran into danger.

Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any major dangers along the way. The occasional Magic Plants or Magic Beasts they came across were dealt with easily enough.

Soon, the group arrived at the mouth of a cave.

Fan Xing looked at her Compass, her face lit with joy. “This is it! I can feel the fluctuations of Demonic Qi from inside. There must be something good in there! Let’s hurry inside!”

As she spoke, she eagerly tried to enter, but Ye Wucheng held her back.

His eyes were calm as he said, “The situation inside is still unknown. It’s better if we’re all careful.”

As he spoke, he released one of his Demon Pets, sending it in first to scout the path.

A moment later, after presumably receiving feedback from his pet that there was no danger, he turned to Fan Xing and said, “We can go in now.”

Still, the group had some sense of solidarity. Not feeling right about letting Fan Xing go first, Sun Rang stepped forward. “I’ll go first.”

So, Sun Rang went first, followed by Fan Xing, then Ye Wucheng, with Lu Sangjiu in fourth and Li Qifeng taking up the rear.

The cave passage was rather narrow, not wide enough for two people to walk side by side, so they maintained their formation.

Lu Sangjiu kept a close watch on Ye Wucheng’s every move, hoping to understand him better. This would give her a greater chance of success when she eventually made her move.

Then she felt the person behind her observing her as well… ‘Damn it, what’s going on? Was his decision to follow me earlier not just on a whim?’

‘If he’d just gotten some random idea after seeing me, now that we’re in the same team, there’s no reason for him to keep staring at me, is there?’

‘Unless he’s after something I have, or his goal was clear from the start—just like I’m after Ye Wucheng, is he here to get revenge on me?’

As these thoughts raced through her mind, Lu Sangjiu didn’t dare to relax in the slightest. While observing the man in front, she also had to painstakingly watch the one behind her. She couldn’t afford to be distracted for even a moment.

As they walked on, a loud noise suddenly echoed from up ahead. Ye Wucheng’s expression changed, and he said urgently, “Twenty meters ahead, there’s an extremely powerful Magic Beast!”

His expression had changed because the Magic Beast he’d sent to scout ahead had been killed by a single swipe of a claw, with almost no chance to resist.

Although he and the Magic Beast had a master-servant contract, he was still somewhat affected by its death.

Hearing this, the group stopped in their tracks, all on high alert.

And sure enough, a Magic Beast suddenly appeared before them!

This Magic Beast was very small, about the size of an ordinary mongrel.

But the Demonic Qi emanating from its body was dense, a clear sign of its power.

The group had just gotten a clear look at its appearance when, before they could identify it, it shot forward with incredible speed and swiped its claw at the first person in line!

Its speed was so great that if not for Ye Wucheng’s prior warning, Sun Rang probably wouldn’t have been able to react in time.

Fortunately, having been forewarned, he managed to raise a defense just as the attack reached him.

Just then, Fan Xing’s joyful voice rang out. “It’s a Demon Patterned Beast! This is great! Legend says that wherever a Demon Patterned Beast appears, an Earth Fire Demon Lotus is sure to be found. No wonder the Demonic Qi here is so dense!”

Fortunately, the young woman wasn’t so unreliable as to only see the potential reward; she quickly came to her senses and pointed out its weakness.

“The Demon Patterned Beast’s weakness is its hind legs! If we can cripple them, its speed will be drastically reduced, and it won’t be a match for us!”

The instant her words fell, Ye Wucheng, who was behind her, launched a hidden weapon shaped like a black bead. It struck the Demon Patterned Beast’s hind leg dead-on and exploded, causing the beast to let out a piercing shriek!

Lu Sangjiu narrowed her eyes. ‘This Ye Wucheng really is something else. How can he be so accurate in a situation like this?’

‘And that bead is interesting, too. It seems to have some kind of hidden mechanism.’

‘All in all, this man is not to be trifled with. Taking him out without alerting the others is going to be difficult…’