The Market Entrance Was Blocked

He watched as a gigantic blade descended from the sky in the distance and slashed down toward them.

Even from far away, he could feel a powerful Spiritual Energy Fluctuation surging toward them.

The two men stopped in their tracks, utterly astonished that ants like them had dared to attack first.

Seeing the imposing attack, both men grew solemn, standing ready for what was to come.

They each raised their weapons to construct a defense, intending to block the attack first.

But before the Ghost Head Saber could reach them, a dazzling flash lit up the sky.

Both men's eyes flew open, then immediately squeezed shut. They had expected the Ghost Head Saber to come crashing down, so they had watched its path intently, afraid that missing any detail might lead to a mistake.

Who could have guessed that the explosion would be like a flash grenade, blinding them both in an instant and leaving them unable to see?

Realizing what had happened, they immediately understood: they had fallen for a trap!

Now blind, they had no choice but to pull back their divine sense from the enormous shock wave overhead. They didn't dare release it at all, afraid the shock wave would injure them.

At that moment, they were like blind men. Their eyes were useless, and they dared not release their divine sense; they knew nothing about what was happening around them.

All they could manage was to raise a Defensive Spirit Shield around themselves. But in such haste, they could not make it particularly strong.

This was exactly what Lu Wanyuan had planned for. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

The Ghost Head Saber hadn't really been meant to attack them. Its main purpose was to draw their attention, robbing them of their ability to sense their surroundings. Without that early warning, his follow-up attack could achieve its strategic purpose.

And that was exactly what had happened. The Ghost Head Saber struck first, drawing both men's attention at once.

The saber's attack had been especially imposing, raising their attention to its peak. They had completely failed to notice the two Sky Thunder Seeds following close behind.

Nor had they noticed the Sky Thunder Seeds behind them crackling and sputtering.

Once the Ghost Head Saber had exploded and both men's early-warning mechanisms had been disabled, the two Sky Thunder Seeds behind it soon reached their very feet.

Two mushroom clouds, each more than ten meters across, suddenly surged upward. A fierce, gale-like shock wave spread in every direction, followed by a rain of blood!

Everything turned red as blood pattered down.

Lu Wanyuan was covered in it. Seeing what had happened, he was overcome with joy.

He had succeeded. He had taken down two high-level cultivators.

But he noticed that the layer of light covering him had vanished. He immediately realized it must have been destroyed, ending the invisibility effect.

He hadn't expected the light screen to be breakable. It had probably been smashed long ago when the collapsing wall struck him.

Only then did he understand why those two men had spotted him so easily. He had revealed himself long before, without even realizing it.

Although he had killed the two men, whoever they were, he was still in the Shanty Town, and the danger hadn't passed.

On top of that, the massive explosion would probably attract other cultivators.

And he was badly injured, with several broken ribs.

For all these reasons, he decided he had to get away. If other cultivators came next time, he wouldn't be so lucky, and he had no other means of attack.

First, though, he had to turn invisible again. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he pushed aside the rubble covering him, then used the Concealment 2 Hours Entry to vanish. When the familiar light screen covered his entire body, he knew the effect was working.

Unfortunately, he had started with three Concealment 2 Hours Entries, and now they were all gone. If he couldn't reach the market in time this time, he would be in grave danger. He had no more Entries like it.

With that thought, he got up and cautiously headed toward the market.

He carefully checked his surroundings. He absolutely couldn't make a loud noise like he had earlier and let nearby cultivators discover him.

Before he had gone even a hundred meters, he spotted a bloodstained gray Storage Bag ahead.

He immediately realized that it must belong to one of the two men. He had thought the enormous explosion would surely have destroyed it.

Who would have guessed that one had fallen right in front of him? He immediately went over and picked it up.

Then it occurred to him that if this Storage Bag had survived, the other man's might have survived too. He decided to search for it.

But just as he was about to look, he sensed several powerful Spiritual Energy Fluctuations rushing toward him from nearby.

He was startled. If they spotted him this time, even the gods couldn't save him.

He didn't care about anything else now; his life came first. He quickly headed toward the market, putting as much distance between himself and the others as possible.

The cultivators who arrived afterward were immediately drawn to the two enormous Sky Pits before them. They were stunned by the sheer destruction: the pits were about five meters deep, and the pools of blood scattered nearby led them to conclude that the cultivators who had fought there had probably died together.

An hour later, he saw the market entrance in the distance.

But he noticed that a large crowd of cultivators had gathered near the Market Entrance.

His heart sank. The market entrance was usually bustling with people coming and going, but now it looked as if they were being held back, unable to get in.

He quietly made his way closer. Only then did he see that the entire market was covered by a light screen, like an upside-down funnel.

The cultivators at the entrance kept complaining. They had all been planning to slip outside and fish in troubled waters.

Who knew what had happened? Yangmei Market had activated its Formation, and now it wouldn't let anyone in.

"Damn it, I never saw this happen before. Why have they activated the Formation now?"

A cultivator who had just arrived asked in confusion.

"Isn't it obvious? Look at the Shanty Towns around the market. So many places have been destroyed; hardly any of them are still intact. The people from Qingyun Sect must be furious this time!"

"Exactly. If so many people wanted to fish in troubled waters, then let them have a good try. We'll see who ends up fishing whom!"

"With so many people trapped outside the market, there's no doubt something big is going to happen!"

"Isn't that exactly what they want?"

"Don't worry. Activating this Formation costs a lot of Spirit Stones, especially a Tier 2 Grand Formation!"

"That may be true, but who knows when it'll be over and the market's Formation will shut down?"

"..."

For a while, everyone voiced their own opinions.

But the more Lu Wanyuan heard nearby, the more worried he became.

Now he understood. The people from Qingyun Sect must have seen how badly the Shanty Towns around the market had been damaged and realized their profits had been cut off. No wonder they were angry.

So they had activated the Formation and locked all these people who were looking to fish in troubled waters outside, leaving them to kill one another.

Another problem was that he had no idea when the Formation would be deactivated. This left him in a quandary: his invisibility had a time limit, and if he were exposed here, he would look even more suspicious.

After all, no one had noticed him hiding nearby despite his remarkable concealment. If they found out, he would never be able to explain himself.

What was more, the area outside the market looked like the Land of Chaos. A major disaster was bound to erupt sooner or later.

And he still hadn't treated his injuries. He was alone, with no one to help him. If other cultivators spotted him, he would surely be the first one they dealt with.

He had originally planned to wait here until the Formation was deactivated. But given the situation, he felt he should leave, and the farther away the better. He needed to do it soon, too.

Otherwise, the more people gathered here, the greater the danger he would be in.

Once he'd made up his mind, he headed in a direction where there were few people.

An hour and a half later, he had no idea how far he had walked when he found himself on a hillside. The surrounding slopes were dark red; the farther he went, the hotter the ground felt beneath his feet, and waves of heat seemed to wash over him.

It felt as though he had entered a Volcanic Zone, but when he checked the area, he couldn't find any obvious volcanic vents.

He noticed, however, that the light screen covering him seemed to be growing fainter.

He immediately understood that the invisibility effect was about to disappear.

He grew tense. Before it did, he had to get one thing done, or he would be in danger that night.

He immediately began checking his surroundings.

Then he quickly made his way to a hollow between the hills. Since the surrounding slopes were all about the same height, he decided to choose a hollow. Cultivators passing nearby wouldn't pay attention to it, especially since there were so many hollows in the area.

Once he entered one, he took out his Spirit Hoe and began digging into a gentle slope.

That's right: out here, he had to watch out not only for cultivators but also for Demonic Beasts.

A temporary cave would give him a better place to hide.

But before he had dug for long, he realized that the deeper he went, the hotter the cave became.

There was no time to find another place to dig now.

His invisibility was about to disappear, and there was no time to dig somewhere else. Besides, if he dug there only to find the same problem, it would all be for nothing. He was injured all over and didn't have the strength to dig somewhere else.

Now that he had entered the cave, he couldn't leave while he recovered from his injuries.

After a quick moment's thought, he continued digging inside.

Luckily, he was used to farm work; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to dig the cave so quickly.

The cave he made was half a person's height, over two zhang deep, and about two meters wide.

He had nearly sealed the entrance with rocks, disguising it so that passersby wouldn't immediately spot the cave.

Apart from the heat inside, everything else was fine.

He took out a fire striker and lit his Lighting Lamp, with no time to admire his work.

Instead, he checked his injuries. Digging had only made them worse.

He hadn't prepared any healing pills in his Storage Bag. Lu Wanyuan immediately regretted leaving the market without making preparations.

At the time, he had thought he'd just go outside for a bit and come right back. He hadn't imagined things would turn out like this. He had expected everything to go perfectly, thinking the invisibility Entry was an utterly flawless method.

But now he saw that even with an Entry, he still had to be cautious.

Otherwise, he might never know how he died. Still, this ordeal had been a good thing in its own way; at least he had learned a lot of lessons from it.

He sat cross-legged and prepared to circulate the Minor Five Elements Art, but before he could even get it going, pain surged through his entire body. It seemed he still needed to treat his injuries first.

So he stopped. Then he remembered and pulled a bloodstained Storage Bag from his robes.

This was the one he'd picked up on the road earlier. He hoped it contained healing pills; otherwise, he was in trouble.

With hopeful anticipation, he sent his divine sense into the Storage Bag!