"Senior Brother Sun, you're back. How did the trip go?" Xu Yang strode over.
Sun Tao turned to Xu Yang, sorrow crossing his face. "Senior Brother Jiang Ping died."
Seeing the state of him and Zhang Yong, and no sign of Jiang Ping, Xu Yang had already suspected as much. "What happened?"
He could already sense their disordered auras. Both Sun Tao and Zhang Yong were badly injured.
With two martial artists at astral qi mastery badly injured, Jiang Ping, a half-crippled man at astral qi minor accomplishment, could hardly have escaped disaster.
Xu Yang felt little about it. His relationship with Jiang Ping had only improved because Sun Tao stood between them.
Before Jiang Ping and Sun Tao grew close, Xu Yang and Jiang Ping had barely spoken.
Zhang Yong said, "We ran into another group of treasure hunters in the mountains. They saw we'd found quite a haul and tried to rob us. A fight broke out, and Senior Brother Jiang Ping died. Senior Brother Sun and I joined forces to fight our way out with Zhang Hong, barely escaping with our lives."
Such was the cruelty of the Cloud Ridge Mountains. Danger came not only from exotic beasts, but from people.
That place was arguably even more chaotic than Azure Sun City. If someone encountered you, they would rob and kill you regardless of who you were.
Sun Tao's face brimmed with murderous intent. "I've memorized those beasts' faces. Once I complete marrow cleansing, I'll hunt them down and kill them to avenge Senior Brother Jiang."
Zhang Yong sighed. "Marrow cleansing is no easy feat."
He had once been full of ambition, convinced that sooner or later, he too would become a Marrow-Cleansing Martial Artist.
But now, even Lu Ren had been stuck at astral qi perfection