Through questioning, Qin Lu learned the cause of this battle.

The current Spirit Rice crisis had caused the price of demon beast meat to soar. Lu Anchen, having nothing to do these past few days, brought his brothers from the “Ruyi Gang” to East Head Ridge, intending to hunt some demon beasts to make a quick profit.

Unexpectedly, they encountered members of the Royal Dragon Gang here, with whom they already had a feud.

In the depths of the mountain forest, the two groups exchanged no words and immediately started fighting.

However, this time, because Lu Anchen hadn’t brought many people, several were quickly killed, plunging the entire situation into a desperate predicament.

Fortunately, Qin Lu happened to pass by at the most critical moment and saved them. Otherwise, all of them would likely have been buried here.

After the battle ended, several cultivators from the Ruyi Gang stepped forward to express their gratitude and respectfully handed over all valuable items retrieved from the ground to Qin Lu.

Since these people were all killed by Qin Lu, the spoils naturally belonged to him.

Seeing this, Qin Lu didn’t stand on ceremony. With a wave of his hand, he collected all these items.

In this battle, three cultivators from the Ruyi Gang had died. The remaining five couldn’t help but feel grief and sorrow.

After a while, under Lu Anchen’s arrangements, they began collecting their companions’ bodies for burial on the spot.

Finally, after placing an [Evil-Warding Talisman] on the grave mound, everyone left the area.

All five members of Lu Anchen’s group had sustained some injuries, so their walking speed wasn’t fast; they were merely moving at a brisk pace.

On the road.

Lu Anchen thought for a moment, leaned over, and asked, “Uncle Qin, what technique was that you used earlier? How could you release so many wind blades at once?”

Hearing the question, everyone present immediately pricked up their ears, pretending to listen casually.

Qin Lu thought for a moment and fabricated an answer. “It’s a minor spell I accidentally learned called ‘Wind Sweeps Away the Clouds’…”

“‘Wind Sweeps Away the Clouds’… I haven’t heard of that one…” Lu Anchen paused briefly before asking with eager anticipation in his eyes, “Uncle Qin, can you teach me that spell?”

“Ahem! This move… it can’t be taught. One can only comprehend it on their own,” Qin Lu evaded vaguely.

“Alright…” Lu Anchen sounded somewhat disappointed.

At that moment, Cao Yunxi from nearby came over and said with a smile.

“Brother Qin’s strength is truly unfathomable. If you go to participate in the market arena competition later, you’re sure to get a good ranking.”

“Arena competition…”

Qin Lu was momentarily taken aback as this matter flashed through his mind.

Back when he was street vending, he had heard Li Gui—the seller of those yellow books—mention it. If one were to speak of Wuji Market’s liveliest event, it would be the market arena competition held once every ten years.

At that time, disciples from various sects and Loose Cultivators from all over would come to Wuji Market to hold a martial arts competition. It was a major event famous far and wide.

Unconsciously, only two months remained until the competition officially began.

Qin Lu still didn’t understand much about the arena competition and immediately asked, “Roughly how many people participate in this competition?”

Cao Yunxi looked up thoughtfully before replying.

“The number should be quite large. First are the sect disciples of Wuji Sect itself. Then there are disciples from various Foundation Establishment sects under Wuji Sect’s banner. Add to that Loose Cultivators from other regions and Loose Cultivators from our area… there might be several hundred participants…”

“That many!” Qin Lu expressed slight surprise. “The rewards must be substantial, then?”

At this point, Lu Anchen glanced at Qin Lu and asked curiously, “This event is so lively. Haven’t you paid attention to it before, Uncle Qin?”

Qin Lu rubbed his nose and made up an excuse. “I’m not one for crowds usually. I used to love gambling before, so I’m not very familiar with this matter.”

“I see…”

Lu Anchen didn’t doubt him. After thinking for a moment, he explained, “This event is organized by Wuji Sect. The prizes are definitely excellent. For example, last time’s competition prize was…”

Lu Anchen began telling Qin Lu about the market arena competition. As they chatted, others nearby joined in the discussion as well.

The group of eight instantly became much livelier.

Chatting as they walked along the road, soon enough, the eight approached the edge of East Head Ridge.

But right at that moment, everyone suddenly caught a whiff of an extremely intense smell of blood.

Everyone exchanged glances and simultaneously quieted down.

They could all tell that this smell of blood wasn’t from ordinary animal blood; it was human blood!

“Let’s go take a look,” Lu Anchen said quietly.

Everyone carefully followed the scent as they slowly searched and quickly found its source.

Here, trees were shattered and fallen; blood stained the ground red; traces of fighting were everywhere.

And most shocking was that there were over ten corpses here; severed limbs and broken legs were scattered about. The entire scene was extremely bloody and brutal; the heavy metallic tang of blood lingered in the air.

“It seems today we weren’t the only ones encountering enemies…” Lu Anchen sighed with emotion.

Seeing this scene left Qin Lu momentarily speechless; he didn’t know what grudge these people had that led them to fight here, either.

“Brother Qin, look—these two should be from the market,” Cao Yunxi suddenly pointed at two specific corpses.

“You recognize them?” asked Qin Lu.

“Yes. I’ve seen them while street vending before. They usually had arrogant, domineering personalities, too. Moreover… they should belong to the Sunset Valley faction…”

“Another one of the four major powers…”

Qin Lu frowned slightly. Since the earlier encounter was between the Wei Family and Xuanyang Sect factions, and now seeing Sunset Valley cultivators dead here too—if he added the Green Mountain Sect, then it truly was a complete set for the four major powers!

“Their magical implements haven’t been picked up yet—what luck for us! Brothers—go search the bodies!”

Lu Anchen shouted excitedly. Behind him, several men immediately stepped forward, intending to pick up the scattered magical implements.

“Uh…”

Witnessing the scene, Qin Lu kept safety first in his mind. He moved, activating the [Heavenly Eye Technique], instantly enveloping his surroundings within a circle of light waves.

When the light waves reached a certain position, his eyes flashed sharply. He immediately drew out the [Rainbow Sword].

Someone was still hiding here!

“What’s wrong?”

Lu Anchen, standing beside him, reacted extremely quickly, also immediately drawing out his magical implement, his face full of alertness.

“Someone is hiding over here!”

Qin Lu moved, stomping the ground with a bang and charging toward that figure. This sudden change caused the Ruyi Gang members, who originally wanted to search the bodies, to immediately halt their steps, their faces stunned.

The Cao Yunxi couple reacted quite quickly, immediately following behind. Within a few breaths, they arrived at the concealed thicket and saw the hiding cultivator.

But he was not intentionally concealing himself—he had fallen unconscious instead. Covered in blood, his head broken open by a small wound bleeding continuously, his clothes tattered and ragged, his whole body leaned against a tree. One hand clutched his abdomen, barely breathing.

Seeing his face, Qin Lu revealed a surprised expression.

This was… Gu Can!