Previously in the Asura Field, Lu Ye had seen a high-reward bounty against Ma Bin in the Reward Hall, the bounty amounting to tens of millions of Asura Seals.

He just wasn’t sure whether this Ma Bin on the bounty was the same one he knew. Later he had wanted to ask the Sky Asura Race to help investigate, but Aqiduo’s authority on that side wasn’t enough, so they couldn’t check.

He hadn’t expected to hear Ma Bin’s name at this moment.

Could it be that senior from the former Nine Provinces?

The possibility was still very high. There might be no small number of people in this world called Ma Bin, but how many with that name would also have Sun Blaze cultivation?

Lu Ye steadied his mind and carefully sensed, but unfortunately the Sun Blaze auras colliding over there were extremely violent, and he couldn’t tell for the time being.

"Laughable. When you were being hunted down by me that day, why weren’t you this arrogant? Now that you have help, you dare to be so rampant? Charng Feng, you’d best pray you never end up alone, or sooner or later I’ll take your dog life!"

Another deep, powerful voice came, seemingly in response to the previous words.

Hearing this familiar voice, Lu Ye instantly knew that this Ma Bin was precisely that senior from the former Nine Provinces whom he had once met!

He had a rough grasp of this senior’s strength. Back on the All Phenomena Ocean, he had fought three alone, forcefully slaughtered one All Phenomena Sun Blaze, and in the end still escaped smoothly. Since then, the Sun Blaze governors of the All Phenomena Ocean had increased from three to five; one could say it was all forced by him.

Yet he didn’t know now who it was that was hunting him down, to actually make Ma Bin unwilling to clash head-on. From this, the pursuers were either numerous or extremely strong.

This senior really was... good at stirring up trouble.

Lu Ye felt helpless. He had no intention of intervening in a clash on the Sun Blaze level, and no way to intervene. Besides, Ma Bin had said back then that the former Nine Provinces had nothing to do with the present Nine Provinces, and that he didn’t intend to implicate the Nine Provinces of today in his affairs. That year he had arranged for someone to bring Lu Ye before him; after a round of questions, he confirmed the Nine Provinces still existed, and that was enough. He hadn’t even considered going back to the Nine Provinces for a look...

But although Lu Ye didn’t want to get involved, trouble nonetheless came looking for him.

The direction in which Ma Bin was fleeing was precisely the area where he was. Though he was already doing his utmost to get away, it was simply too late.

The powerful and chaotic Sun Blaze auras came closer and closer. Lu Ye sighed. Much as he was reluctant, he ultimately still had to activate the red talisman used for escape, otherwise once he was swept into such a battle, he would have no way to protect himself.

Just as he was about to do this, he suddenly felt a powerful Mental Consciousness sweep across him, and then that Mental Consciousness paused slightly on his body.

The next instant, the Sun Blaze aura that was rapidly pressing toward his area suddenly halted.

Ma Bin’s cold, harsh voice rang out: "Since you’re so eager to die, then I’ll grant your wish!"

Lu Ye’s heart jolted. When he turned to look, he saw a dazzling beam of light retracing its path back the way it had come, and in just three breaths, terrible shockwaves of battle came from that direction. Within a radius of several hundred thousand kilometers, the Void shook and churned.

Lu Ye didn’t look back again and continued fleeing. Only after he had run a long distance did he look back to observe. He could no longer see any sign of the clash over there; even the Yu Bo was faint to the extreme. This undoubtedly indicated that his side was temporarily safe.

He sighed inwardly, silently praying that Ma Bin would come out fine, otherwise he really would have harmed him this time.

That senior from the former Nine Provinces had clearly been fleeing, yet suddenly turned back to fight. The fundamental reason was that he had discovered Lu Ye’s existence!

Cultivators from the Nine Provinces all bore a brand left by the Heaven’s Augury Compass on their bodies, and Ma Bin had participated in the forging of the Heaven’s Augury Compass.

Back then on the All Phenomena Ocean, he had relied on this very thing to discover Lu Ye.

It was obviously the same this time.

The reason he turned back to kill was that he had sensed Lu Ye on his escape route. If he continued fleeing, he would inevitably implicate this junior from the Nine Provinces.

So he abandoned escape and turned to counterattack.

The two generations of Nine Provinces cultivators had never exchanged a word, yet in that instant when his Mental Consciousness paused to probe, Ma Bin made his decision; Lu Ye perceived the Insight behind it.

This whole matter was...

He had originally already planned to use the red talisman to leave here, but he hadn’t thought Ma Bin would make that kind of choice; he couldn’t help but feel some worry.

Still, thinking it over, Ma Bin’s strength was not weak. Since he dared to turn back and fight, there should be no danger to his life.

After pondering briefly, Lu Ye decided not to dwell on it. Given his current lack of strength, thinking more was useless. He flew on a bit farther, then opened the portal of the Small Flower World and released Yuk Yaorao again.

"Senior Brother, is everything alright now?" Yuk Yaorao asked.

Lu Ye slowly shook his head. "It’s fine now."

Yuk Yaorao gave him a curious look, keenly sensing that Lu Ye’s mood was low, but obediently did not ask more.

"Is that Lu Ye, Fellow Daoist Lu?" a voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

Lu Ye started. Before the voice came, he hadn’t sensed any abnormality around him. He hurriedly looked toward the source of the voice and at a glance saw two figures standing on a large Meteorite over there.

Both were women, their figures looking somewhat familiar. When he clearly saw their faces, Lu Ye couldn’t help but be surprised.

He thought a moment, then stirred his Mana, bringing Yuk Yaorao to fly over. After landing on the Meteorite, he clasped his fists. "Fellow Daoist Walnut, Senior Nan Lian."

The two women over here were none other than Nan Lian and her disciple. Lu Ye hadn’t expected their fate to be so intertwined that they’d actually run into each other again here.

No wonder he hadn’t noticed anything earlier. With a Sun Blaze present, as long as she casually concealed herself, there was no way he could sense anything with his strength. If Walnut hadn’t spoken up first, he really wouldn’t have known there were people here.

Back when Lu Ye was charging up the Moon Jade Ranking, this master and disciple had made a huge profit off it, and Lu Ye also gained quite a lot. You could call it a win–win.

Later, according to the Asura Pact she’d signed with Lu Ye, Walnut gave him half the profits, all of it exchanged for treasures that could improve the quality of his Magic Source, while Nan Lian had taken the initiative to gift Lu Ye a piece of Green Moon Spirit Marrow.

"It really is Fellow Daoist Lu." Walnut looked genuinely happy.

Nan Lian also gave Lu Ye a slight nod, her expression warm and kind. "What a coincidence, we meet again."

"And this is..." Walnut looked at Yuk Yaorao, who was following behind Lu Ye, and for a moment couldn’t move her eyes away. A woman this seductive wasn’t common, and she was only at Constellation stage, yet now she was with Lu Ye. Her expression instantly turned ambiguous, looking like she "understood everything."

Yuk Yaorao’s cheeks flushed slightly red.

Lu Ye didn’t mind at all and just made a casual introduction.

While he was talking with Walnut, Nan Lian’s eyes gleamed as she raised her gaze to look into the distance.

Seeing this, Lu Ye’s expression moved. "Senior, how’s the battle over there?"

Looking at Nan Lian like this, she was definitely observing the Sun Blaze battle in the distance. She had Sun Blaze cultivation and seemed to have cultivated some kind of Pupil Skill as well. The reason she was standing here was clearly to watch the fight.

"It’s a fierce one." Nan Lian replied offhandedly.

And then nothing more...

Lu Ye was itching with curiosity. It wasn’t easy to run into a Sun Blaze spectator here, and it was even someone he knew, so of course he wanted to know how things were going on Ma Bin’s side. But he couldn’t show it, lest she see something off.

Just by using his toes to think, Lu Ye knew Ma Bin had a lot of enemies. If Nan Lian also had a grudge with Ma Bin and he showed any hint of being related to Ma Bin, that would be nothing good for him.

So he just made small talk with Walnut, on and off.

After quite a while, Nan Lian finally let out a sigh of amazement. "As expected of Green Demon King Ma Bin, he actually managed to break out of the encirclement!"

Lu Ye’s heart instantly settled!

Even though he’d already guessed that Ma Bin probably wasn’t in mortal danger, without being able to watch the fight himself, he had no idea how the battle was going. From Nan Lian’s words now, Ma Bin should be fine.

Trying his best to look purely curious, he spoke up. "Ma Bin? Senior, I saw a bounty in the Reward Hall targeting that name, could it be..."

Nan Lian said, "The Sun Blaze Ma Bin in the Asura Field—who else could it be but this one?"

"Is he very strong? I saw the bounty amount was really high."

"More than just strong. It’s said there are over twenty Sun Blaze cultivators who’ve died by his hand alone!" Nan Lian wore a look of ’better not provoke him.’ "Look at me, I’m also Sun Blaze, but if Ma Bin wanted to kill me, it probably wouldn’t be any harder than pinching a chick to death."

Lu Ye was dumbfounded. "Senior, you’re being too modest." He really hadn’t heard anyone talk about themselves like that before, key point being that Nan Lian was a Sun Blaze.

This woman really was open-minded.

Nan Lian smiled at him with narrowed eyes. "There are levels even within Sun Blaze. Take you for example: if a Moon Jade Early Stage stood in front of you provoking and insulting you, how long would it take you to kill him?"

Lu Ye thought about it. A Moon Jade Early Stage... it’d probably be a matter of one slash.

With that comparison, he instantly understood what Nan Lian meant.

He knew Ma Bin was strong, but he hadn’t expected him to be this strong!

Walnut was listening to the side, dumbstruck, and couldn’t help asking, "Master, we don’t have any grudge with this Ma Bin, right?"

Nan Lian snorted. "What grudge could we possibly have with him? Relax, your master’s not much in other aspects, but my network is quite broad. If we really do run into him one day, your master will kowtow to him and guarantee your life’s safe."

Walnut’s face darkened. "Master, please stop talking." She felt utterly embarrassed.

Lu Ye wanted to ask more about Ma Bin, but it really wasn’t convenient to speak up, so he could only hold it in.

Fortunately, Walnut was very curious. Even though she’d just told her master to stop, she still couldn’t help asking, "What heaven-defying, rage-inducing things did this Ma Bin do to make several Sun Blaze go after him?"

"They call him Green Demon King. Just from that title you can tell he’s a slaughterer through and through." Nan Lian clicked her tongue. "He often goes alone into different domains and ambushes the Sun Blaze of those domains. With him doing that, naturally there are plenty of people who want him dead."

"Why does he do that?"

"Obviously because of a grudge." Nan Lian waved her hand. "Don’t ask me what grudge exactly, I don’t know either. I only know this Green Demon King is very old. Back when I’d just started cultivation he was already Sun Blaze, rampaging around committing all kinds of evil. Now I’ve been Sun Blaze for a thousand years, and he’s still not dead!"

As she spoke, Nan Lian suddenly had a whimsical thought. "Is it that good people die young, while scourges live a thousand years?"