Chapter 396 - 366: Unusual Activity

Chapter 396: Chapter 366: Unusual Activity

An ordinary-looking middle-aged man stood up, his profound gaze fixed on the distance. The next moment, a knock sounded on his door.

"Guardian Envoy, urgent intelligence. We suspect the Sect Leader of the God-Worshiping Sect, Sikong Yue, has been spotted near Sitan City." A handsome young man pushed the door open, his expression grave as he reported to the middle-aged man inside.

The middle-aged man left the handsome youth waiting at the door, paying no mind to his anxious expression. After a moment, he finally spoke in an unhurried voice, "I am aware."

"I..."

"Understood."

The handsome youth hesitated, wanting to say more. He raised a hand, as if to emphasize the importance of the matter, but ultimately swallowed his words.

Finally, he could only turn away helplessly and respectfully close the door.

Not long after the handsome youth left, the middle-aged man’s figure suddenly blurred.

The scene shifted instantly. In the blink of an eye, he had appeared on a street corner.

He slowly walked over to a stall owner with a scruffy beard and said, "Old friend, I have to leave."

The scruffy-bearded stall owner, a cigarette dangling from his lips, glanced over lazily. "A big fish turned up?"

"A very big fish, indeed. Sikong Yue, the Sect Leader of the God-Worshiping Sect," the ordinary-looking middle-aged man said with a nod.

The scruffy-bearded stall owner sighed softly. "A shame we can’t catch this fish."

After a pause, he continued, "Hope I get a good haul over here."

"Don’t worry. The moment I’m gone, those vermin will definitely show themselves. They’ve been plotting for so long, they won’t give up." At this, the ordinary-looking middle-aged man smiled. "They wouldn’t dare make a move if I didn’t leave."

With that, he turned to leave. But just as he took his first step, he seemed to notice something and called out a clear reminder, "Oh, right, a friendly piece of advice: try not to swindle so much money from young men and women. You’ll get what’s coming to you."

The moment the words left his mouth, his figure abruptly vanished.

The next moment, a group of about seven or eight young people stormed over to the street corner. "Look! That old swindler is right there! He cheated me out of five thousand Federation Coins for a worthless wood carving!"

"You old bastard! How dare you scam my girl! Brothers, get him!" The leader, a ferocious-looking man who was shirtless and covered in dragon and phoenix tattoos, charged straight for the stall owner without another word.

"Darling, that old man didn’t just take my money, he took advantage of me, too," a scantily clad young woman with a face caked in makeup complained pitifully from beside the ferocious man.

"Slander! I’ll sue you for slander! You were the one who asked me to read your bones and tell your fortune!"

The scruffy-bearded stall owner skillfully rolled up his display cloth, slung the wooden carvings onto his back, and took off in a flash.

He was still muttering curses under his breath. "Xiao Yuyu, how dare you set me up! You blocked my Heaven and Earth Perception!"

While cursing, he had already shot off like a rabbit, covering a great distance.

The seven or eight delinquents, who were clearly just a bunch of petty thugs, could only watch helplessly as the distance between them grew, unable to do a thing.

...

Outside Mo Yuan City, a team of Adventurers was on the move.

A young man with a skinny, monkey-like build, who had been lagging at the rear, suddenly ran off a short distance, using an upset stomach as an excuse.

From within a thicket of bushes, the young man glanced around before lowering his voice and speaking into his watch. "Detected Legendary Level Spatial Energy fluctuation outside Mo Yuan City."

"It should be Xiao Yuyu’s Profound Void Demon Snake."

The moment the young man finished speaking, a deep, slightly hoarse voice suddenly emanated from the watch. "Proceed with the plan. Begin the operation."

...

On the White Bone Plain, within a Strange Wood Forest.

Li Qian’s group of five split up and began searching in five different directions.

Bai Bingbing surveyed her surroundings, then said with certainty, "This should be the place."

Lu Tianjiao frowned. "Bingbing, we’ve already scoured this area over and over, and there aren’t any unusual traces."

Li Qian thought for a moment before reminding them, "Perhaps it’s not about searching forward and back. We might need to consider up and down."

Hearing this, Bai Bingbing’s face flushed slightly, feeling as if Li Qian’s words held a hidden meaning. But she quickly caught his true drift and looked toward the ground. "You mean..."

Zhou Yuanhao understood Li Qian’s meaning as well. He immediately gave a command to the Earth Bear beside him. "Earth Bear, use the Earth Splitting Skill!"

Receiving Zhou Yuanhao’s command, the six-meter-tall Earth Bear let out a roar as its body began to pulse with an earthy yellow glow.

It raised its paws above its head, gathering a terrifying fluctuation of Energy, then slammed them down violently onto the ground.

BOOM—

The Earth Bear’s paws struck the ground with a deafening blast, kicking up clouds of dust.

When the dust settled, a fissure had appeared in the ground, ten meters long and about seven or eight meters deep.

Everyone immediately leaned over to look. They quickly spotted a stone staircase at the bottom of the fissure, which descended into the depths of the Underground.

"Just as expected! We were in the right place. There really are ruins here," Lu Tianjiao said, immediately looking at Bai Bingbing with praise in his voice.

"What’s the plan now?" Li Qian asked in a slow voice after glancing at the stairs at the bottom of the fissure.

Their group had five people in total. They couldn’t all go down; someone had to stay behind.

If something happened to the entrance, they would be in trouble.

"I suggest two people come down with me, and two people stay here on standby," Bai Bingbing said, voicing her idea after sweeping her gaze over the group.

It might have been his imagination, but Li Qian noticed her gaze seemed to linger on him for a moment longer than on the others.

Li Qian, who was only here to get some peace and quiet in the first place, volunteered without hesitation. "I’ll stay behind, then."

"Since this is an assessment arranged by the committee, the difficulty shouldn’t be too high. What’s more important is ensuring this location itself remains secure."

Li Qian casually made up an excuse. Lu Tianjiao, knowing his intentions, immediately chimed in, "Then I’ll go down with Bai Bingbing."

Almost the instant he finished speaking, Zhou Yuanhao also raised his hand, plunging the scene into an awkward silence.

Zhao Liuli was Bai Bingbing’s best friend and was definitely going down with her. Besides, she wasn’t entirely comfortable letting her be accompanied by two boys alone.

Li Qian saw her concern and waved his hand with a smile, proactively saying, "How about this? The four of you go down. I’ll be fine holding the fort up here by myself."

"Don’t worry, I can definitely guarantee that this place will be perfectly safe!"

As he spoke, he even patted his chest, striking a pose of utmost confidence.