Ye Xuan sneered. In his past life, he had seen countless women like Wenqiao Mei, women who would do anything for personal gain.

No matter how beautiful such a woman was, in Ye Xuan’s eyes, she was no different from a whore.

After collecting the four people’s Storage Rings, Ye Xuan was just about to leave.

SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!

Four figures could be heard approaching from afar. It was Xia Qixi and her three companions, rushing over.

As soon as they arrived, they were greeted by a bloody, chaotic scene, and looks of utter horror appeared on their faces.

"What in the world happened here?"

Xia Qixi covered her mouth, her eyes filled with shock.

She had imagined many scenarios on her way here, but she never thought this would be the scene she would find.

’How long has it been? It can’t have been more than fifteen minutes, and Wenqiao Mei and the others are all dead?’

"Did you kill them?" one of the young men asked, his expression terrified. He looked at Ye Xuan as if he were looking at a demon.

"No, look at their wounds. They don’t look like they were made by a person. It seems like the work of Demon Beasts," another young man, noticing something was off, shouted.

"Could there be a powerful Demon Beast nearby?"

The group couldn’t help but look around in terror.

Although they were slightly stronger than Wenqiao Mei’s group from the Fire Crow Kingdom, the difference wasn’t huge. Otherwise, the two groups wouldn’t have considered teaming up. A Demon Beast capable of killing Wenqiao Mei’s party in such a short time would surely spell doom for them as well.

’What should we do now?’

The young men exchanged glances, and their eyes simultaneously fell upon Ye Xuan, a fierce glint flashing within them.

"Kid, hand over the Blue Star Grass Martial Soul," one of the young men ordered coldly.

"What, are you also here to fight for the Blue Star Grass Martial Soul?" Ye Xuan sneered.

’This world is full of people who don’t know when they’re courting death.’

When Ye Xuan sensed Xia Qixi’s group approaching, he had the Rock Direwolf and the other beasts hide. But if this new group was just like the one from the Fire Crow Kingdom, he wouldn’t mind giving them a taste of death.

But before the others could speak, Xia Qixi heard this and flew into a rage. "Bastards! What are you talking about?" she roared.

"Senior Sister, didn’t we come here to fight for the Blue Star Grass Martial Soul?"

The young men were stunned.

"Who told you we came here to fight for the Blue Star Grass Martial Soul? Now, back down, all of you!"

Xia Qixi’s face was livid. She cupped her fist toward Ye Xuan and said, "Ye Xuan, my junior brothers are a bit reckless. Please forgive them."

"Senior Sister, that Blue Star Grass Martial Soul is so important. Are we really going to give up on it?" one of the young men secretly sent to Xia Qixi via voice transmission, his tone anxious.

"If you have such thoughts again, don’t blame me for getting rough," Xia Qixi replied, genuinely furious now.

’These junior brothers have no sense at all.’ In the first place, Xia Qixi had never intended to steal Ye Xuan’s Blue Star Grass Martial Soul. But even if she had, any normal person would have been dissuaded by the scene before them.

But these junior brothers were just unbelievably stupid.

Hmm?

Suddenly, Ye Xuan, who was standing there, furrowed his brow. He looked toward a distant mountain range, as if he had sensed something.

"If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving. A word of advice: don’t follow me. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being merciless."

With those words, Ye Xuan quickly disappeared into the valley.

"What an arrogant brat," one of the young men said resentfully.

"Shut up! All of you are idiots."

Xia Qixi was so angry the veins on her forehead throbbed. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The young man remained unconvinced. "Senior Sister, we clearly could have captured that kid just now. Why didn’t we make a move? We’re all Soul Refiners. Surely you know how important a Blue Star Grass Martial Soul is to a kingdom. If we obtained it, I’m sure President Zhu Tianlan wouldn’t blame us."

"Capture him?" Xia Qixi sneered, her expression one of deep disappointment. "You think the few of you are enough to stop him?"

"Why not? That Ye Xuan looks to be only seventeen or eighteen. So what if his attainments in Soul Refining are profound? Which of the four of us isn’t stronger than him?"

"It’s precisely because of that kind of thinking that Wenqiao Mei and the others are all dead."

"Wenqiao Mei and her group were probably killed by Demon Beasts. What does that have to do with Ye Xuan?"

"Hmph." Xia Qixi gave a cold laugh. "It’s true that Wenqiao Mei’s group looks like they were killed by Demon Beasts. But think about it—what were they here for? They were hunting Ye Xuan. And the result? In such a short time, they all died, while Ye Xuan is still alive without a scratch on him. Do you think those Demon Beasts play favorites? That they would only attack the disciples from the Fire Crow Kingdom and not Ye Xuan?"

"Senior Sister, are you saying... Wenqiao Mei and the others were all killed by Ye Xuan?"

"I don’t know if Ye Xuan was the one who did it, but I’m certain their deaths are related to him."

It was true. Judging from the wounds, Wenqiao Mei’s group’s deaths did seem unrelated to Ye Xuan; they appeared to have been killed by powerful Demon Beasts.

But the bizarre scene allowed Xia Qixi to notice many things that were out of place.

Hearing Xia Qixi’s analysis, the young men broke out in a cold sweat. If their Senior Sister’s guess was correct, their fate would have been no different from the corpses on the ground.

Xia Qixi gazed in the direction Ye Xuan had disappeared, a peculiar light flashing in her eyes.

She had been puzzled about Ye Xuan traveling alone in the Floating Light Secret Realm, but now, she finally understood.

Ye Xuan dared to act this way because he was absolutely confident in his own abilities.

She sighed softly to herself, then led the young men away in another direction.

Back in the valley, Ye Xuan’s figure flew onward at high speed.

He was in a hurry to leave the valley, not because he feared Xia Qixi and her group, but because he had sensed a faint fluctuation from the mountain peaks ahead.

’This fluctuation seems to contain the power of fire. Could it be the Earth Fire that President Dongfang Yanyu mentioned?’

Ye Xuan’s eyes flickered. The source of the fluctuation was very close to the location President Dongfang Yanyu had marked on the map, which fueled his speculation.

He moved extremely fast, following the source of the fluctuation ever forward.

Several hours later, Ye Xuan arrived at the foot of a large mountain.

Once he reached the base of the mountain, the fiery power became even clearer.

Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and quickly hid behind a large rock.

RUMBLE!

Several Demon Beasts passed by him, surging up the high mountain.

’What’s going on?’

Ye Xuan frowned deeply. On his way here, his senses had picked up several such groups of Demon Beasts, leaving him deeply puzzled.

’Could it be that the thing on the mountain isn’t an Earth Fire?’

Earth Fire was a flame born of heaven and earth. It was an incredibly precious treasure to human Alchemists, but it didn’t hold that strong of an attraction for Demon Beasts.

Yet, all along the way, countless Demon Beasts had been converging on this peak. Clearly, there was something on the mountain that was extremely attractive to them.

"Whether it’s an Earth Fire or not, I have to go up and take a look."

Ye Xuan thought to himself. He certainly couldn’t let an opportunity like this pass him by.

Just as he was about to stand up, he sensed something again and quickly dropped back into hiding.

SWISH! SWISH!

Two figures stopped not far from Ye Xuan.

"President Ge Lihui, the behavior of these Demon Beasts seems rather unusual."

"To attract so many Demon Beasts, there must be something incredibly alluring on this mountain."

These were two old men, and their auras were astonishing. A sharp glint shone in their eyes as they surveyed the area.

"Could it be that some treasure has appeared on this mountain?"

"With such a powerful fire aura, it must be some kind of Fire Element treasure."

"Let’s go!"

The two old men exchanged a look, then shot forward and vanished from sight.

’So it’s President Ge Lihui and Elder Xuu Ke from Mu Zhen Country.’

Ye Xuan frowned upon seeing them. He recognized both men; they were the President and an Elder of the Soul Master Tower from Mu Zhen Country. Mu Zhen Country had received a few extra entry slots this time because of the genius, Zhou Liang.

’It seems the commotion from the Demon Beasts’ movements was quite large, attracting many powerful experts from the vicinity.’

Before Ye Xuan could stand up...

SWISH! SWISH!

...two more streaks of light suddenly came to a halt nearby.

It was the hook-nosed man from Dongsheng Kingdom, Ye Fanxing, and the genius from Mu Zhen Country, Zhou Liang.

"Zhou Liang, weren’t those your Mu Zhen Country’s President and Elder who just passed by?" Ye Fanxing said with a slight smile.

"What president?" Zhou Liang scoffed. "I only joined Mu Zhen Country for a spot in the Floating Light Assembly. Now that I have it, what does Mu Zhen Country have to do with me? Senior Brother, you must be joking."

"Haha," Ye Fanxing laughed. "The Martial Artists of the Thirteen Nations Alliance are all idiots. This Floating Light Secret Realm is full of treasures; it’s definitely no ordinary secret realm. When we get out and report this back to the sect, even though the four of us failed our sect mission, this discovery will be a great contribution."

"Hehe, you’re absolutely right, Senior Brother. Judging by the scale of this Floating Light Secret Realm, it has to be at least a mid-tier secret realm. It’s a complete waste for it to appear here in the Thirteen Nations Alliance."

"We should hurry up the mountain. To attract so many Demon Beasts and emit such a pure fire aura... if I’m not mistaken, there must be some kind of unique flame hidden here. Judging by its intensity, it’s very likely on the level of an Earth Fire."

"An Earth Fire! That’s a treasure even the sect elders would covet. If we can get our hands on it, we’ll have struck it rich."

"Let’s go!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Ye Fanxing and Zhou Liang shot forward and quickly vanished from sight.

’So those two really aren’t Martial Artists from our Thirteen Nations Alliance.’

A moment later, Ye Xuan emerged from behind the pile of rocks.

Seeing that so many Martial Artists had been drawn here, Ye Xuan didn’t dare to linger and disappeared onto the mountain.

The higher he went, the more frequently Demon Beasts appeared.

To avoid being exposed, Ye Xuan immediately sent the Rock Direwolf and the other three beasts ahead to scout.

Before long, the four beasts sent back the information they had gathered.

There was a mysterious cave on the mountain where many Demon Beasts were gathered, as if they were waiting for something to happen.