You should die, you really should die!

"The Great River Gang is conducting business. All irrelevant people, get the hell out of the way!"

A furious shout exploded through the night sky.

Luo Chen froze, then was overjoyed.

Right, right, right!

I'm an irrelevant person!

Shouldering his snakeskin sack, he hurried toward the dark alley beside him.

He ran backward.

His gaze remained fixed on the four people, afraid that they might casually throw an attack at him.

Only under his watchful gaze did he realize that the four were not together.

It was clearly three cultivators vaguely surrounding the man closest to him.

Because of the darkness and the fact that the man had his back turned, Luo Chen had no idea what expression was on his face.

But once the man spoke, he could roughly guess.

Because he was very familiar with the person being surrounded.

Wang Yuan!

"Li Zixiong, you know what I do. Are you sure you want to stop me?"

"Stop you? Kill you! You, Wang Yuan, are nothing but a rotten bastard who handles dirty work for the Mountain Shattering Gang. Did you really think anyone was afraid of you?"

"Kill me? With you and these two pieces of trash at Qi Refining Fifth Layer?"

"Enough. Make your move!"

With an explosive roar, battle broke out in an instant.

Meanwhile, a certain irrelevant person had already retreated into the dark alley.

Luo Chen's heart hammered wildly, his face even flushing red. Anyone who did not know better would have thought he was the one fighting.

In truth, he was simply too nervous from witnessing a so-called cultivator brawl for the first time in a long while.

He knew of the Great River Gang and the Mountain Shattering Gang.

Great River Market had been established by the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect, and its main administrators were also Strong Experts from the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect.

Apart from the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect's own businesses, the various trades within the marketplace were controlled by the other Five Great Upper Sects of the Far Eastern Six Domains.

But a large marketplace with over ten thousand independent cultivators was bound to be extraordinarily complicated.

Especially since it lay close to the Eastern Wilderness Million Mountains, whose resources were rich enough to make the world green with envy. Just picking up scraps around the edges was enough to let independent cultivators live quite comfortably.

Thus, after many years of development, Great River Market had gained three more forces that could not be underestimated.

The foreign Connecting Cloud Commerce Alliance need not be mentioned.

As for the Mountain Shattering Gang, which lived off the mountain, most independent cultivators who entered the mountains to hunt would join it.

They huddled together for warmth, formed teams to kill demons, and if they encountered scattered independent cultivators, killing them for treasure was not out of the question.

Then there was the Great River Gang, which made its living from the Lancang River. In some respects, the profits brought by that great river were no weaker than those of the Mountain Shattering Gang.

On the surface, the two sides kept to their own wells and did not trespass into the other's river.

But wherever there were people, there would be conflict.

Ordinary frictions and bloody brawls were not uncommon.

This time, Luo Chen got to witness one with his own eyes.

Of course, from the conflict during the day and the exchange between Wang Yuan's group just now, Luo Chen had roughly pieced together part of the truth.

Although the long-standing hostility between the two gangs had sparked this battle, it had more to do with the magic artifacts Wang Yuan had been selling.

If nothing unexpected had happened, the original owners of those bloodstained magic artifacts had been members of the Great River Gang. There was a high chance they had been Li Zixiong's relatives or friends.

Crouching in the alley, Luo Chen held his breath and focused.

He wanted to take a look at the battle outside, but after giving it some thought, he decisively headed down another small path home.

That kind of battle was not something he could take part in.

Watching the excitement from the sidelines could easily cost him his life.

"I really am letting brother Wang down after he lent me that book during the day."

Luo Chen was not an ungrateful person, but with the strength of Qi Refining Third Layer, risking his life to help would probably only make things worse.

So running first was the wisest choice!

A few minutes later, Luo Chen slipped into another alley.

If he remembered correctly, after passing through this alley, there would be a small grove outside. Once he crossed that grove, he would be very close to home.

Just as he was about to pick up his pace, a fierce whistling sound came from behind him.

Luo Chen abruptly turned his head. By the moonlight, he saw the approaching figure, then quickly ducked around the alley corner and hid himself.

It was one of the two cultivators at Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

He seemed to be tracking something. While flying two or three meters above the ground with the Wind Riding Art, he looked from side to side.

The night wind blowing in from outside the alley carried a faint scent of blood.

"This man is injured!"

"His breathing is heavy. His injuries aren't light."

"From the way he's searching, brother Wang must have escaped the encirclement."

"As expected of someone who licks blood from the blade's edge every day. He managed to heavily wound his enemies and flee calmly despite facing three alone."

Countless thoughts raced through Luo Chen's mind as he prayed that the man would leave quickly.

However, heaven often refused to grant people their wishes.

"You dog bastard, I told you to get lost, yet you still ran into my hands."

Before the words had even faded—

Under the moonlight, a black shadow flashed over like lightning.

"If I can't kill Wang Yuan, then you can help me vent this rage!"

The shadow came fast and fiercely. Luo Chen had no time to react.

In his haste, he activated the protective barrier of his battered magic robe, and only barely managed to draw his Low-Grade Magic Sword.

The sword broke, the barrier shattered, and the black shadow instantly entered his body!

Chen Xiao withdrew the Wind Riding Art and landed on the ground, staggering as he did so.

A massive gash split open his shoulder. His injuries were extremely severe, so much so that he could no longer conceal the smell of blood.

After flying here, he knew he was no longer fit to continue pursuing Wang Yuan.

There happened to be a Qi Refining Third Layer cultivator hiding nearby. In his badly injured state, that person could very likely threaten his safety.

Therefore, the ever-vicious Chen Xiao had erupted into action in an instant, giving the other party no time to react.

And the result was exactly as he had expected.

"Even Wang Yuan couldn't defend against my Soul Severing Nail. For a mere Qi Refining Third Layer cultivator like you to die by it, you can at least say it was worth it."

After saying that, he could not help but spit out a mouthful of bloody phlegm.

This was no place to stay long. He should search for spoils first, then leave quickly!

Just as that thought flashed through his mind, a burst of firelight entered his vision.

"Not dead?"

He reacted swiftly, instantly activating the defensive barrier on his magic robe.

But after the firelight exploded, another enormous fireball came smashing toward him.

It was not just one fireball. Almost at the same moment the fireball exploded, an unbroken stream of fireballs followed behind it, nearly driving him to despair.

"How is this possible?!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was too fast, leaving him no room to breathe.

With almost no pause at all, twenty fireballs blasted out in succession like a string of cannon shells.

Chen Xiao was at Qi Refining Fifth Layer, but the magic robe on his body was only Tier 1 mid-grade.

Its defensive power was decent enough, but when Wang Yuan had broken through the encirclement earlier, it had already been split open by a single slash.

Now, caught off guard by twenty consecutive fireballs, it failed before it could even withstand the third.

By the end, the fireballs were no longer striking a person, but a charred corpse.

Luo Chen leaned against the wall, his face deathly pale, his entire body trembling.

A man might have no intention of harming a tiger, but the tiger might still harbor the heart to devour him.

He had not wanted any conflict, yet the other party wanted his life!

If the other man had not been low on Mana and in terrible condition—

If Luo Chen had not remained cautious all along and used his Magic Sword and magic robe at the first possible moment to block the initial attack of that black shadow—

He would already be dead.

"You should die. You really should die!"

Gritting his teeth, Luo Chen forced himself to stand.

A finger-thick, deep hole had been gouged into his abdomen.

He could feel something like a nail lodged inside his body, causing pain so intense he wished he were dead.

Enduring the pain, Luo Chen walked over to the lump of charcoal.

The man had been burned through completely. His Mid-Grade Magic Robe was tattered beyond recognition, no longer carrying any of its splendor from the day.

Luo Chen poked at it with the broken sword in his hand, and his eyes immediately lit up.

"At least you left behind a little inheritance."

A pitch-black Storage Bag was hidden beneath the ruined magic robe.

Luo Chen had only just picked up the Storage Bag, not even having time to rejoice, when a series of crackling sounds tore through the air from the rooftops.

Looking up, he saw a burly man beneath the moonlight, holding a great saber and carrying two heads as he swooped down like an eagle.