Panic gripped Yue Xing when he realized that a member of the Blood Wolf Gang was following him. However, he took a deep breath to calm himself down and regain his composure. Fear still plagued him, but it didn’t control him. He continued on his way, pretending as if he hadn’t noticed the demonic cultivator tailing him.

  Why was the demonic cultivator following him? It must’ve been because he was the only person who studied the bounty board. This must’ve aroused the demonic cultivator’s suspicion.

  As Yue Xing walked, he considered how to deal with his tail. Several ideas flitted through his mind, one after the other. First, he thought about killing the man right then and there. However, that would lead to even bigger trouble.

  While the cultivation world adhered to the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, it wasn’t the only law cultivators adhered to. Otherwise, society would break down. There were exceptions, of course, but those people existed outside of society.

  Murdering someone without a just cause was still forbidden. In this case, Yue Xing could prove that the man following him was a demonic cultivator. However, doing so would take time. Not only that, but it would attract attention to him that he didn’t want.

  Yue Xing didn’t know if the demonic cultivator had comrades. If he did, and Yue Xing caused a commotion, they might show up as well. That would make his situation even more difficult.

  Fleeing would only make Yue Xing look even more suspicious. Right now, the demonic cultivator was just following him. There was a chance that the demonic cultivator didn’t know anything. However, that would change if Yue Xing fled.

  What about killing the demonic cultivator in secret? That would work for a time. However, if the demonic cultivator had any comrades, they would grow suspicious after a while. Yue Xing and the Xu siblings would need to leave Rising Sun City before that happened.

  Yes, this seemed like the best plan. Lure the demonic cultivator to a secluded location and kill him, before leaving the city with a caravan. However, after giving it some more thought, Yue Xing decided to add one more step to the plan: soul scour the demonic cultivator.

  Soul scouring was a brutal practice where a cultivator ripped knowledge out of another being’s mind. They did this to learn about secret techniques, spells, and other knowledge they needed. However, this damaged the victim’s mind and soul. In severe cases, it even resulted in death.

  This was mitigated if the soul scourer had a much stronger soul than the victim, but there was always some kind of risk.

  Right now, Yue Xing was working with guesswork and incomplete information. He needed to find out more if he wanted to keep himself and the Xu siblings safe. Soul scouring the demonic cultivator would give him a better idea of what was going on.

  With that in mind, Yue Xing went about putting his plan into action. To keep the demonic cultivator’s eyes on him, he acted suspicious. He kept glancing over his shoulder, as if he feared being followed. At the same time, he continued observing the demonic cultivator with his soul sense. So far, his plan seemed to be working.

  Now, he just needed to find a secluded location. The problem was, he needed to remain within the city, just in case there were more members of the Blood Wolf Gang outside.

  Yue Xing searched around with his soul sense, until he found a suitable location nearby. It was a residential neighborhood. While Rising Sun City didn’t have any slums, this area came close. The buildings were in poor repair and there weren’t many people around. If Yue Xing lured the demonic cultivator into an alley, he’d be able to deal with him without too much issue.

  Action followed thought. Yue Xing continued to act like a man with something to hide, while luring the demonic cultivator to the chosen location. To avoid alerting his prey, Yue Xing didn’t head there right away. Instead, he meandered for a bit.

  After half an hour of this, Yue Xing arrived in the neighborhood. He took another look around, to make sure there weren’t any people nearby, before ducking into a nearby alley.

  Once Yue Xing was out of sight, he concealed his presence as best he could using his soul sense. It wasn’t as effective as the innate ability he would gain once he reached peak Qi Refining of the Soul Nourishing Sutra, but he had little other choice. Hopefully, it would be enough for this.

  A few moments after Yue Xing set up his ambush, the demonic cultivator rounded the corner and appeared. Yue Xing attacked him before he even had time to react. He grabbed the demonic cultivator and bashed his head into a nearby wall.

  The demonic cultivator was at peak Qi Refining, while Yue Xing was only at early Qi Refining. However, he was a body cultivator with surprise on his side. This gave him all the advantage he needed.

  One bash wasn’t enough to knock the demonic cultivator out, so Yue Xing bashed his head again. This time, the demonic cultivator fell unconscious and crumpled to the ground.

  This all took place within a matter of seconds.

  Yue Xing took a deep breath to calm his nerves, before he searched around to see if anyone had noticed the commotion. Nothing. He sighed with relief, before crouched down next to the demonic cultivator. He placed a hand on the demonic cultivator’s head and used his soul sense to scour his mind, making no attempt to be gentle.

  Yue Xing started with the demonic cultivator’s most recent memories. What he saw sent a chill down his spine.

  Li Zhanhao, the leader of the Blood Wolf Gang, already knew that he and the children were in Rising Sun City. He had sent four of his subordinates into the city to search for them. Worst of all, Li Zhanhao himself was waiting outside. This would make sneaking out of the area even more difficult, if not impossible.

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  Despite this, that situation wasn’t all bad. Li Zhanhao couldn’t enter the city itself due to the city lord’s presence. Not only that, but he didn’t know Yue Xing’s identity. This gave Yue Xing some leeway.

  If he wanted to escape with the children, he needed to find some way to drive away Li Zhanhao. Once that happened, Yue Xing would flee with the children and head towards the largest city nearby. Looking for a traveling caravan would take too long. Speed took priority.

  After thinking it over for a few moments, Yue Xing had an idea. If the city lord knew that Li Zhanhao was nearby, he would take action. While the city lord wouldn’t attack the Blood Wolf Gang at their hideout, that didn’t mean he would tolerate their presence near Rising Sun City.

  Should Yue Xing request a meeting with the city lord and tell him? No. That would take too long, and there was no guarantee that the city lord would even meet with him.

  Then another idea came to mind. There were three other demonic cultivators in Rising Sun City. What if Yue Xing used them to raise the alarm? Now that was more viable.

  Yue Xing scoured the demonic cultivator’s mind some more, before he retracted his spirit sense. With a cold glint in his eyes, he drew his sword and cut off the other man’s head. Afterwards, he looted the demonic cultivator’s storage pouch and used a spell to incinerate the body, erasing all traces.

  Yue Xing took another look around, before he left the area.

  Thanks to the memories Yue Xing scoured from the demonic cultivator, he knew what the other three members of the Blood Wolf Gang looked like and where they were looking. This made finding them rather easy. After giving it some thought, Yue Xing decided to go after the one in the most crowded area.

  It was a little after noon, so the sun was past its zenith.

  This demonic cultivator, another man, was in the large open-air market. Like his comrade, he was also in late Qi Refining and hid his demonic energy using a concealment technique.

  The demonic cultivator was pretending to peruse the stalls while looking around for the children. Yue Xing observed him from a distance for a bit, before heading in his direction. To avoid suspicion, he pretended to peruse the stalls as well.

  When Yue Xing passed by the demonic cultivator, he bumped into the other man.

  During his time in the Celestial Sword Sect, Yue Xing had encountered his fair share of arrogant young masters. He also read about several of them in the Book. Liu Chen also acted arrogant and entitled, especially in the latter half of his story.

  Yue Xing took inspiration from all of them for his upcoming performance.

  “Do you not have eyes?!” he said in a scornful tone. “How dare you bump into this young master? You must be courting death!”

  Yue Xing slapped the demonic cultivator across the face, not giving him a chance to react.

  “If you apologize and kowtow to me a hundred times, I might consider leaving your corpse intact.”

  A crowd started to form as people stopped and stared at the commotion. The demonic cultivator, still reeling from Yue Xing’s sudden actions, stood there with a shocked expression on his face.

  “Answer me!” Yue Xing demanded.

  He went in for another slap. However, the demonic cultivator had regained enough presence of mind to block it.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” the demonic cultivator demanded.

  However, Yue Xing acted as if he had been struck.

  “Help!” he cried out. “He’s trying to kill me!”

  At the same time, Yue Xing used his soul sense to pierce through the demonic cultivator’s concealment technique and shatter it. This had been the trickiest part of Yue Xing’s plan. While he knew several ways to use his soul sense, he was an amateur at all of them. However, his soul sense was strong enough to compensate for his lack of skill.

  The demonic cultivator’s concealment disappeared, exposing his true nature to everyone in the open-air market. His eyes widened with panic.

  “Demonic energy!”

  “That man is a demonic cultivator!”

  “How did he get into Rising Sun City?”

  “Who cares?” Yue Xing said in response to that last question. “Kill him!”

  With that, Yue Xing drew his sword and attacked the demonic cultivator. Given the difference in their realms, this should’ve been a more difficult battle. However, Yue Xing’s sudden attack had caught the demonic cultivator off guard. Not only that, but others in the market also attacked.

  The demonic cultivator died a swift death. He hadn’t even had a chance to draw his weapon before a multitude of attacks put him down.

  Despite the demonic cultivator’s sudden death, the people in the open-air market appeared uneasy. None of them had expected to see a demonic cultivator inside the city itself. Several of them were on the verge of panic.

  Yue Xing decided to use this to his advantage.

  “These demonic cultivators are bold enough to sneak into Rising Sun City right underneath the city lord’s nose,” he declared. “This man looks like he belongs to the Blood Wolf Gang.”

  The others, still reeling with shock, nodded in agreement. If any of them had stopped to think about it, they would’ve realized that Yue Xing’s words were nonsense. Other than his demonic energy, the demonic cultivator looked like a regular cultivator. That was how he managed to sneak into Rising Sun City in the first place.

  However, Yue Xing didn’t give them a chance to think about it.

  “What if there are more of them?” he said, stirring the crowd’s fears. “What if their leader is nearby? Maybe that was why this man was bold enough to sneak into the city. Quick! Spread the word! Warn the city lord that Li Zhanhao is nearby and sending his people into Rising Sun City!”

  The plan worked without issue. The demonic cultivator’s sudden appearance, combined with Yue Xing’s words, stirred the crowd into action.

  “I’ll go!”

  “We’ll join you!”

  “Hurry! Warn the city lord!”

  Soon, a small crowd of people was heading towards the city lord’s manor, crying out that Li Zhanhao was nearby. Yue Xing didn’t join them. Instead, he ducked into a nearby alley and fled the scene.

  Afterwards, Yue Xing made his way back to the inn. With any luck, the city lord would take action soon. Once that happened, Yue Xing would grab the children and flee the city. The Blood Wolf Gang would be too busy dealing with the city lord to bother with him.

  Even as that thought crossed Yue Xing’s mind, a voice rang out into the air.

  “Li Zhanhao, you despicable cur! How dare you send your dogs into my city?”

  Yue Xing felt a presence burst out of the city lord’s manor, before flying off into the distance.

  Perfect.

  With no time left to lose, Yue Xing ran towards the inn. When he arrived, he rushed up the stairs and into his room. However, after he opened the door, he froze in place.

  An icy claw gripped his heart.

  The room was empty.

  The children were gone.

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