"Quick, quick! Someone’s over there!"

"Is that Leng Feng? After him! He has a Top Grade Spirit Stone!"

"It’s Leng Feng? Quick, fire a Signal Flare to notify the others!"

BOOM... BOOM...!

In an instant, a clamor of shouts erupted behind Shen Haoran, mixed with the sound of exploding Signal Flares!

"Shit!" Shen Haoran couldn’t help but curse as he sensed the Martial Artists gathering behind him.

"Changmao, when you killed him, didn’t you know to cover his mouth? Now they’ve found us!" Shen Haoran snapped at Changmao, who was perched on his shoulder.

"I didn’t know this much trouble was waiting for you! You cut off our connection, so I couldn’t hear what you guys were talking about!" Changmao said, aggrieved.

"You..." ’It’s true, I can’t blame Changmao. I can only blame my own inexperience and immaturity!’

"Look, it’s Leng Feng! Over there!" Just as Shen Haoran was blaming himself, another wave of Martial Artists appeared up ahead and charged toward him!

Seeing this, Shen Haoran immediately changed direction and ran to the side!

’This is the middle ring of the Profound Spirit Mountain Range! You usually don’t see a single soul here. How can there be so many Martial Artists!’ Shen Haoran complained as he ran.

"It seems the allure of a Top Grade Spirit Stone is quite strong! But Shen the kid, what were you thinking back then, making up a nonexistent Top Grade Spirit Stone? You must be regretting it now!" Elder Yan teased.

"Elder Yan, this is no time for jokes! Can’t you hurry up and think of a way out of this?!" Shen Haoran said with a pained expression. ’If I’d known this would happen, I never would have made up that story about a Top Grade Spirit Stone!’

"A way out? Isn’t that simple? I could kill them all with a single fart!" Elder Yan snorted coldly.

Shen Haoran’s face lit up at his words, but his joy didn’t even last three seconds before Elder Yan continued, "But I won’t help you! Consider this part of your training. If you can’t even handle something like this, you’re not worthy of being the successor to the Chaos Divine Body!"

Of course. Shen Haoran knew Elder Yan wouldn’t be so kind.

"However, I can give you a hint. Don’t forget where you are!" Elder Yan chuckled, and then his form vanished.

’Where am I?’ Shen Haoran was puzzled by this statement.

"That’s right! I’m in the middle ring of the Profound Spirit Mountain Range!" Shen Haoran realized with a start. This place was teeming with Spirit Beasts. Tier One and Tier Two beasts were everywhere, there were plenty of Tier Three and Tier Four ones, and there were even Tier Five Spirit Beasts!

’Out here, I’m all alone, so it’s easy for me to escape the pursuit of Spirit Beasts. But it’s a different story for the Martial Artists and Blood Skull members chasing me. There are so many of them. Even if the Spirit Beasts can’t kill them all, they can at least slow them down!’

At this thought, Shen Haoran gave a sinister smile. "Heh heh, if you want to chase me, then come on!"

After that, Shen Haoran no longer avoided the Spirit Beasts. Instead, he made a point of running toward places where they congregated. In an instant, the entire middle ring of the Profound Spirit Mountain Range became extraordinarily lively, filled with the roars of Spirit Beasts and the agonized screams of human Martial Artists!

「 ... 」

"Bah! That Leng Feng is a treacherous, cunning bastard! He actually lured out the Spirit Beasts of the Profound Spirit Mountain Range to block us! If I get my hands on him, I’ll flay him alive and rip out his tendons!" Behind Shen Haoran’s trail, a Blood Skull member pulled his longsword from the body of a Tier Two Spirit Beast at his feet.

"Damn it. We’ve lost quite a few men dealing with these Spirit Beasts!" another companion said with a bitter smile.

They had originally thought that after finding Shen Haoran, they could easily capture him by coordinating with the Martial Artists from the town. They never expected Shen Haoran to use the mountain’s "native inhabitants" to hold them up. Not only did they fail to catch their target, but they also lost many of their own men in the chaos. It was a classic case of shooting oneself in the foot.

"Damn it, I can’t just swallow this! I’m going to make that kid pay a hundredfold!" the first member said viciously.

"Oh? And how would you like me to pay you back?" Just then, a soft voice sounded from behind the burly man.

"I’m gonna make him..." The burly man trailed off, suddenly realizing something, and whipped his head around.

"Leng... Leng Feng!"

"SWISH!" The instant the burly man’s voice fell, a flash of Sword Light streaked past. His head flew into the air, and a spray of blood instantly splattered across his companion’s face!

The warm blood snapped the burly man’s companion back to his senses. He immediately reached into his robes, about to pull out a Signal Flare!

But Shen Haoran wasn’t about to give him the chance. The Soul-devouring Sword transformed into a sharp arrow, embedding itself right between the man’s eyebrows!

Looking at the lifeless Blood Skull member, Shen Haoran pulled out the Soul-devouring Sword and said coldly, "You’re just the first wave. If you want my life, you’d better be prepared to lose your own!"

With that, Shen Haoran’s figure vanished from the spot as he went to find other lone Blood Skull members. ’I’ve been herded like a duck for long enough. Now it’s time to collect some interest!’

At that moment, Shen Haoran became a shadow assassin in the jungle. Every lone Blood Skull member became a soul for his sword. At that moment, the roles of hunter and prey had officially been reversed!

As dusk fell, the descending darkness provided even better conditions for Shen Haoran’s assassinations. A dark and windy night—the perfect time for murder.

「 ... 」

Early the next morning, Xue Qinghe frowned deeply as he looked at the captains of the ten remaining teams. "Where are the captains of the Third, Seventh, Twelfth, and Fourteenth teams? Where are their men?"

Hearing Xue Qinghe’s question, the other captains looked at each other and shook their heads, indicating they hadn’t seen them.

Seeing their expressions, a sense of unease grew in Xue Qinghe’s heart. Then, as if he’d realized something, he cursed, "That damn Leng Feng! I really underestimated him!"

"Hmph, maybe your men are just trash. I told you his combat strength was impressive. Do you believe me now?" Lin Ziqing said casually, twirling a lock of her hair.

"Stop with the sarcastic remarks. If Leng Feng gets away, you can forget about getting the Top Grade Spirit Stone too!" Xue Qinghe shot Lin Ziqing a look and said coldly.

"Don’t worry, he won’t get away. I know where he is now!" Lin Ziqing gave a savage grin. A black centipede, terrifying to behold, shimmered in and out of sight near her ear.

"Hmph, you’d better be right!" Xue Qinghe snorted, then continued, "From now on, you’ll search in pairs of teams. The two teams in a pair must not be more than fifty meters apart. If anything happens, provide immediate support!"

"Yes, sir!" the Blood Skull members answered in unison, then plunged into the dense forest!

「 ... 」

In the mountain forest, Shen Haoran was pulling his Soul-devouring Sword from the body of a Blood Skull member. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Number thirty-six!" That night, Shen Haoran had become a grim reaper, cutting down thirty-six people.

’I haven’t seen a single lone Blood Skull member since this morning. It seems they’ve figured something out,’ Shen Haoran murmured, looking at the corpse on the ground.

’The other Martial Artists should have mostly retreated by now.’ Over the past day and night, Shen Haoran had exclusively targeted members of the Blood Skull. There was a reason for this. First, he had a grudge against the Blood Skull, so he certainly wouldn’t let them go. Second, it sent a message to the ordinary Loose Cultivators: ’My target is only the Blood Skull; this has nothing to do with other Martial Artists.’ After all, the number of ordinary Martial Artists was huge. Shen Haoran couldn’t possibly kill every single one of them—what would be the difference between him and a Demon then?

Furthermore, the chase over the past two days had yielded no benefits for them. On the contrary, they had suffered serious injuries from the Spirit Beasts. It was likely that a large number of Martial Artists had already retreated to the town.

Thinking of this, Shen Haoran let out a long breath. ’As long as the ordinary Martial Artists don’t interfere, I can wear down and kill every last Blood Skull member in this jungle!’

"CRACK!" Just as Shen Haoran was lost in thought, the sound of a breaking branch rang out.

’Someone’s here!’ Shen Haoran reacted instantly, hiding up in an ancient tree.

After concealing himself, Shen Haoran looked down. A moment later, several figures appeared in his line of sight. The one in the lead was none other than Xue Qinghe! But what surprised Shen Haoran was the person standing beside Xue Qinghe—Lin Ziqing, whom he had also met once before.

’It’s her!’