As he listened to the enchanting female cultivator before him, Qin Fengming's calm expression abruptly darkened.
After thoroughly stabilizing her cultivation, Li Ning had left the Azure You Sect to temper herself in the outside world.
Shang Lingxi had not stopped Li Ning from leaving. She knew Li Ning carried many magic treasures Qin Fengming had given her, along with numerous precious life-saving talismans and formations. She also had the Black Nether Ants, which even late Nascent Soul stage cultivators regarded with some wariness.
With so many treasures and means of protection, Li Ning's safety should have been assured.
Although Li Ning appeared delicate, she was resolute at heart. She knew that cultivating under the sect's protection might be safe, but it offered little benefit to her growth.
Thus, she had decided to venture into the Cultivation World to temper herself. Along the way, she encountered quite a few cultivators with ill intentions, but with her own strength, even mid Nascent Soul stage cultivators could do little to her.
As she traveled farther and farther, she unwittingly strayed a great distance from Manzhou.
When she heard that several super sects had fallen out and were preparing to wage war, Li Ning knew the Cultivation World was about to descend into chaos, so she hurried back.
But upon reaching this area, she encountered a band of villains who made their living by plundering other cultivators.
There were twenty or thirty cultivators in the band, including more than ten Nascent Soul cultivators. Two of them were at the mid Nascent Soul stage, and every remaining member was in the Core Formation realm.
Such people, who lived by robbing others, were far from rare in the Cultivation World.
Whether Li Ning had been unlucky or this band of villains had been destined for