"..."
Night faded, and the first light of dawn appeared.
After dealing with the scene, Su Yueli checked her Storage Pouch. They had not collected much. All told...
It was only worth around five thousand Spirit Stones.
Still, something was better than nothing.
Soon, the group returned to the Outer City and headed straight for the bluestone gates of the Eternal Life Martial Sect.
A faint trace of the bloody smell they had brought back last night still lingered in the air, but all four had regained their usual composure.
Yet just as they approached the gates, Han Yu's steps faltered slightly.
Outside the Eternal Life Martial Sect's two heavy bluestone gates, five young figures knelt in a neat row.
All five wore tattered clothes and had sallow faces, their bodies wrapped in worn-out garments of coarse hemp.
The oldest was no more than eighteen or nineteen, while the smallest looked only fourteen or fifteen from his build.
The late-autumn morning was bitterly cold, yet the five remained firmly on their knees on the icy, unyielding bluestone slabs. Their bodies had turned purple from the cold, their lips were cracked, and faint traces of blood stained the stone beneath their knees.
Clearly, they had knelt here for at least an entire night.
Hearing footsteps, the youth at the front abruptly raised his head.
A vicious knife scar marked his face, and his eyes were bloodshot. When he saw Su Yueli and the others, a desperate, feverish light blazed in his eyes, as though he had found his only chance to survive.
Thud!
The youth slammed his forehead against the stone slab, drawing blood instantly.
"This junior is Li Meng. I've brought my brothers from among the Outer City's refugees to seek an audience with the sect master of the Eternal