Chapter 388 - 302: Winds and Clouds Surging (2)

"We have to make a big show of this, so everyone in the Great Demon Palace knows."

Ding Ling nodded. "I’ll go do it now."

....

「Inside Mo Xuan Courtyard」

Han Yuan first inspected his room. After confirming there was nothing out of the ordinary, he put his luggage in the wardrobe.

"Han Yuan, something about the atmosphere here feels off," the Orange Cat said coolly as it lounged on the desk.

"This is the Demon Sect. It’d be stranger if it felt right."

"We’ll leave as soon as we get our hands on the subsequent parts of the Innate Great Demon Skill," Han Yuan said softly.

"Alright."

The Orange Cat nodded.

Suddenly, it turned its head toward the door. "I think someone’s knocking."

Han Yuan had heard the knocking as well and couldn’t help but smile. "There’s never a moment of peace."

’He was curious to see who had come looking for him.’

He left the room and walked toward the courtyard’s main gate.

He pushed it open.

A beautiful woman in a purple palace dress stood outside, followed by a dozen or so disciples from the Great Demon Palace. They carried large wooden chests that looked quite heavy.

"I’m Ding Ling. Greetings, Junior Brother Han," the beautiful woman asked with a smile.

"I don’t know you."

Han Yuan gave her a single glance, replied coldly, and slammed the door shut.

Ding Ling froze on the spot.

She never imagined Han Yuan would reject her so bluntly, let alone shut the door in her face.

Ding Ling’s temper instantly flared up.

But when she thought of Zheng Xi’s instructions, she could only suppress her anger.

Naturally, this made her harbor a grudge against Han Yuan.

"Let’s go!"

Ding Ling didn’t knock again.

Han Yuan’s attitude had said it all. Knocking again would seem too desperate.

The news of how Han Yuan had shut the door on her quickly spread throughout the Great Demon Palace.

Many disciples of the Great Demon Palace were amazed at Han Yuan’s audacity.

After all, everyone in the Great Demon Palace knew that, to some extent, Ding Ling represented Zheng Xi.

But when Ding Ling returned and told Zheng Xi about Han Yuan’s attitude, he didn’t get angry. He simply smiled. "It seems this fellow is smarter than we thought."

With the situation still unclear, what Han Yuan did was actually the best move.

"Then let’s just wait and see how things develop," Zheng Xi said softly.

He suddenly felt that what was to come in the Great Demon Palace would probably be even more exciting than he had imagined.

He was even starting to look forward to it.

「Late at night.」

Although the Great Demon Palace was perpetually dark, a disciple would announce the passing of every hour.

It was now the dead of night.

Han Yuan was in his room, sitting cross-legged in meditation.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear a strange sound from outside the courtyard.

The sound was faint, as if someone was talking.

Han Yuan opened his eyes.

He looked at the Orange Cat and found the little guy was sleeping soundly on the table.

He decided to quietly leave the room by himself to see what was going on.

In the courtyard, a cold breeze rustled the black bamboo, its leaves making a SHUSHING sound.

’Did I mishear that?’ Han Yuan wondered, his expression puzzled.

He thought the sound he’d heard might have just been the wind rustling the bamboo leaves.

He stood in place and waited for a moment. After confirming no one was there, he turned to leave.

At that moment, a figure shot out from the shadows of the black bamboo like a phantom. A cold gleam of light appeared in its hand as it stabbed toward Han Yuan’s back.

The entire process was utterly silent.

Han Yuan, for his part, showed no reaction.

SHINK!

The moment the blade struck Han Yuan’s back, the ambusher discovered in horror that Han Yuan’s figure dissipated like a soap bubble.

His expression changed. Realizing he’d been trapped, he darted away, trying to escape.

"Are you looking for me?"

Han Yuan’s figure had already appeared silently in another corner, a smile on his face as he spoke.

He had deliberately revealed an opening to lure the man out, then used Star Shifting to dodge the sneak attack.

"Kill!"

The moment the attacker saw Han Yuan, he knew that to escape safely, he would have to kill him.

His entire body blurred into an afterimage as he lunged, his dagger stabbing straight for Han Yuan’s face.

"Too slow!" Han Yuan declared.

CRACK!

The next moment, he grabbed his opponent’s wrist and twisted hard!

The attacker’s entire arm was twisted like a pretzel.

Then, Han Yuan’s hand shot out and grabbed the attacker’s throat. "Who sent you?" he asked coldly.

The attacker looked at Han Yuan and let out a strange laugh. "You’ll never know."

As he spoke, the attacker began to tremble, his face rapidly turning a deathly black.

In less than a breath, he was dead.

Han Yuan narrowed his eyes and pulled off the man’s mask.

He found the man’s face was already starting to rot away, his features becoming unrecognizable.

A mere ten seconds later, the attacker’s corpse had completely rotted away, leaving nothing but a pile of bones.

’This poison is quite vicious,’ Han Yuan thought.

He circulated his Innate Great Demon Qi, coating his hands for protection as he carefully searched the remains.

But the attacker carried nothing besides the dagger.

Han Yuan picked up the dagger and found it had no obvious markings; it was just a sharp dagger.

’Interesting... I’ve only been here for a day, and someone already wants me dead?’

Han Yuan smiled and casually tossed the dagger.

FWIP!

The dagger shot toward the main gate, piercing straight through it.

He didn’t raise an alarm, but instead turned and went back inside to rest.

「The next day.」

When Song Chen arrived, he saw the dagger in the gate, and his eyelid twitched.

He pushed open the wooden door and walked in to find Han Yuan in the courtyard, practicing his Fist Technique.

"Perfect timing. Find someone to clean up that pile of bones for me."

Seeing Song Chen enter, Han Yuan stopped what he was doing and pointed to the pile of bones in the corner.

"You were attacked last night?" Song Chen couldn’t help but ask.

"That’s right... but the guy was pathetic. I took care of him easily."

"I didn’t manage to find out his identity, though," Han Yuan said softly.

"Did Ding Ling visit you yesterday?" Song Chen asked.

"Ding Ling? That woman?" Han Yuan recalled the incident.

"Yes... she’s one of Zheng Xi’s people. You refused to see her yesterday. This might be related," Song Chen said.

"It doesn’t matter who it was."

"I don’t want to know the answer."

"For every one that comes, I’ll kill one," Han Yuan said indifferently.

He knew that investigating further would likely yield no results.

Even if he found out who the culprit was, it would be useless.

"True... there’s no point in pursuing it."

Song Chen nodded, then asked, "So what do you plan to do next?"

"Simple... I’m going to find Situ Hui."

"The man took me as his disciple. It’s only natural he should teach me something," Han Yuan said with a smile.

"Then I’ll take you to him."

After last night’s events, Song Chen already knew.

He had to stand on Han Yuan’s side to have a sliver of a chance of survival.

Otherwise, he would likely die a miserable death.

Han Yuan was surprised by the change in Song Chen’s attitude.

’This old guy must have gone through something last night, too,’ he guessed.

But he didn’t ask, and just followed Song Chen out.

This time was clearly completely different from before.

Walking through the Great Demon Palace, Han Yuan could feel many gazes constantly falling upon him.

Curiosity, envy, coldness, disdain....

There were all kinds of stares.

In short, wherever Han Yuan appeared, he became the center of attention.

After all, the people of the Great Demon Palace were all curious about what the Palace Master’s secretly-trained disciple looked like.

But Han Yuan remained calm and went about his business, completely unconcerned by the stares.

Just as they arrived at a plaza, several figures suddenly appeared from the side, arrogantly blocking Song Chen and Han Yuan’s path.

Seeing them, Song Chen’s face darkened. "Du Kunshan, get out of my way."

The leader was a man with messy hair and a rough appearance. He grinned and said, "Elder Song, I can make way for you, but I can’t for this guy."

"Unless he calls me ’Senior Brother’."