Temporarily Leaving

"Damn it, that guy only entered the secret realm a little before us, yet he moved so quickly. He definitely hasn't gone far yet. Should we chase him?"

Blood Cloud, dressed in blood-red robes, swept his vicious gaze over the group as he asked. A thick bloody smell permeated the air; he was clearly furious.

The others' expressions were equally grim.

Hearing Blood Cloud's question, many of them were tempted.

"No. This forest is enormous, with lush trees everywhere. He only needs to hide in any random tree—where would you even look for him? Besides, we don't know whether he has accomplices or what his actual strength is. But judging from how quickly he acted, his true strength is probably no weaker than anyone here. If he intends to ambush us, then if any one of us encounters him alone, it's not necessarily certain who will live and who will die. We shouldn't take the risk."

Unexpectedly, Niu San, the strong man who had spoken to Blood Cloud at the beginning, said something remarkably rational for someone built entirely of muscle.

After hearing him out, the others felt that he had a point. Though they were a little unwilling, they all nodded and admitted that Niu San was right.

"Indeed, forget it. This place is so huge that finding someone would be difficult enough. If we get ambushed, wouldn't we suffer a huge loss?"

"That's true. Instead of wasting time finding someone, we might as well look for other pavilions."

"Blood Cloud, you really didn't think things through as well as Niu San did. You nearly got us all screwed over."

"Hehe, I didn't expect you to be so clever, Niu San. You actually thought of that. Good thing you did, or we really would've wasted time for nothing."

Niu San secretly rolled his eyes upon hearing that. He had not done it out of consideration for these people.

He had done it for himself. There was a Dou Ling-level expert among them. If they rashly split up, that person could easily kill them one by one.

One must know that in the Black Corner Region, murder and robbery were common occurrences.

He himself had done such things quite often.

He did not dare guarantee that the green-clothed man would not set his sights on them.

So it was better for everyone to stay together for now.

Otherwise, he would have loved for these fellows to die—die cleanly, every last one of them.

Of course, he truly did not want to look for that person either. As he had said, instead of spending that time searching for someone, they might as well search for other pavilions.

Blood Cloud also felt that Niu San's analysis made sense, but being contradicted in public made his expression turn somewhat ugly.

After giving a cold snort, he stopped speaking.

Seeing that these people had not been blinded by rage, the green-clothed man was a little disappointed.

Just as Niu San had thought, the wealth possessed by these high-star Da Dou Shi was no small sum to him.

A few days ago, he had spent all his savings in order to break through to the Dou Ling realm.

He had been worrying about money when the secret realm opened.

If he could not seize the treasures within the secret realm, robbing these people would not be bad either.

The wealth of these Da Dou Shi would not be much less than what he himself had possessed a few days ago.

Therefore, when they had discussed chasing the mysterious person ahead, he had remained silent. Unfortunately, there were still clever people among them who had not been blinded by anger and greed.

Seeing that they were no longer discussing going after him, the green-clothed man could only put away his little plan and say flatly,

"Since none of you intends to pursue him, this place has already been searched. There's no need to search it again. Let's go up to the third floor."

After saying that, he took the lead toward the stairs leading to the third floor.

After exchanging glances, the others quickly followed, afraid of being left behind.

Very soon, the second floor was empty. Only the occasional sounds of conversation drifted down from upstairs.

One minute later, Xiao Ming appeared in the same spot once more.

Listening to the rustling noises from upstairs, he frowned and said,

"The Black Corner Region truly deserves to be a place where countless powerful fugitives from various nations gather. All sorts of talents emerge without end. Someone could actually rely on blood qi to determine another person's location. If I hadn't deliberately suppressed my entire aura just now, he probably would have discovered that I was hiding outside the window."

Judging by those people's attitude earlier, if he had been discovered, Xiao Ming felt that he might have had to pay some price to leave.

The others among them were manageable, but that Dou Ling-level expert was troublesome. The higher one climbed, the greater the gap between each major stage. That Dou Ling was nearly an entire major stage above him.

On top of that, there were several Da Dou Shi who were several stars above him.

No matter how capable he was of fighting above his level, dealing with all of them would be difficult.

Although he could still leave if he wanted to, the price might be rather steep.

Xiao Ming did not want to pay any price. Fortunately, his luck was not bad. After they went upstairs, that person did not detect him again.

Apparently, that person had not cultivated his cultivation method well enough. As long as others concealed themselves slightly, he found it difficult to detect their aura again.

"Now they're in the open while I'm in the dark. Should I hide and ambush them?"

Listening to the sounds of them rummaging upstairs, Xiao Ming pondered.

He had no intention of showing martial ethics to those people who had just wanted to chase him.

As long as he could launch a sneak attack and obtain treasures, he naturally would not feel embarrassed about it.

There had been items left behind on both the first and second floors. The second floor had even contained a precious flying Dou technique, so the third floor should have more or less something as well.

Xiao Ming was truly a little unwilling to give it up just like that.

After all, he had arrived here first.

But now that they've discovered the upper floor hasn't been searched, they should be able to guess that I'm nearby. Would doing this be a little too risky?

Before Xiao Ming could decide whether to ambush them, footsteps and voices came from downstairs again.

Xiao Ming raised his brows and suddenly leaped out the window, hanging from the eaves.

The moment he did so, several people with auras even stronger than his rushed onto the second floor. Upon seeing that every room door on the second floor was wide open, they cursed loudly and immediately rushed up to the third floor without hesitation.

Clang! Clang!

Just as expected, the sounds of combat erupted from upstairs, along with intense energy fluctuations.

"They're fighting?" Xiao Ming appeared in his previous spot again. He had not expected the third group to arrive so quickly.

And they had even started fighting with the second group.

"More and more people will definitely come next. Wasting time here is clearly unwise. I should leave first. Let them fight over the things on the third floor if they want. I'll go search for other pavilions. They're all fighting here and no one will compete with me. Isn't that much more comfortable than miserably lying in wait for others?"

Having figured that out, Xiao Ming quietly slipped down to the second floor before the fourth group arrived.

Before leaving the pavilion and entering the dense forest, Xiao Ming deliberately looked back once.

Watching the increasingly violent battle fluctuations, which seemed ready to tear the pavilion apart,

Xiao Ming smiled.

Fight. The harder you fight, the better.

It would be best if everyone in that spatial channel were drawn here. Then he would have more time to search elsewhere.

With that thought in mind, Xiao Ming entered the woods in a good mood and disappeared.

Thanks to reader 191029185353789 for the monthly pass, and thanks everyone for the recommendation tickets.