Ten Evils and Great Defeat

"Junior brother, who was that? Does the outer sect have someone like him?"

The woman watched the spiritual light of Fang Hong's chariot disappear into the horizon and could not help asking.

That sea eagle had been a late first-tier demonic bird. She reckoned she could have taken it down in a few moves herself, but certainly not as effortlessly as that man had, killing it instantly with a single sword strike.

And he seemed to have mastered Ice-Soul Divine Light as well!

Such abilities were rare even in the inner sect.

"He isn't from the outer sect." The youth shook his head.

"Then the inner sect? No, that can't be. I know all the inner sect disciples, and I've never seen him before," the woman said, frowning.

A trace of wickedness flashed across the youth's brow as he smiled. "If I'm right, he should be Fang Hong, the disciple who joined the inner sect last year."

"Senior sister, you don't usually pay much attention to news within the sect, so you haven't heard of him. During last year's entrance trial, Fang Hong killed more than twenty cultivators of his own rank in succession and seized the Ice Soul Spirit Fruit... Among the disciples who can wield Ice-Soul Mystic Light, his is the only unfamiliar face, so that was most likely Fang Hong."

"He's that formidable when he's only just joined..."

The woman nodded, still somewhat unwilling to let it go. "But we shouldn't have just let him leave, should we? Azure-Snow Spirit Fish can only be found by chance. Who knows when we'll encounter another?"

The youth stood at the bow, letting the night wind brush over him, his voice calm. "It wasn't that I didn't want to. I couldn't."

"Fang Hong is the legitimate son of a Golden Core master of the Yunchuan Fang Household. He has numerous treasures on him. Even together, we couldn't do anything to him."

The woman withdrew her gaze in disappointment. "In a contest of spellcraft alone, you might not be weaker than him, junior brother. Why not exchange a few moves with him at this Fish-Dragon Assembly?"

Smack!

The youth slapped the woman's rounded bottom and smiled. "Don't try to goad me, senior sister. The Azure-Snow Spirit Fish may be precious, but it isn't worth provoking him over. Better to avoid him at the Fish-Dragon Assembly."

"Quite a few of the new inner sect disciples are mediocrities. I prefer the feeling of crushing the weak with strength. That's what makes it satisfying."

"As for him, we might as well leave him to She Yutang. That madwoman loves throwing her weight around and fighting savagely. Just tell her a little about his attainments in swordsmanship, and she'll certainly be excited."

Fang Hong arrived at the Five Dragon Island market and found it much livelier than on his previous visits.

In the darkness of night, the market blazed with lights. Stalls stretched endlessly along the streets, and the various shops lining them had their doors wide open, bustling with business.

He suddenly remembered that it must be time for the Five Dragon Island market's small auction, held once every three years!

No wonder the crowds in the market had grown so much.

He strolled leisurely through the streets and alleys to Yunchuan Studio.

As he entered, a tall, powerfully built man happened to be coming out, and they brushed past each other.

The man wore black robes and had a resolute face, with two thick, upright eyebrows and something of a bandit's air.

He casually used the Fate Mirror to examine the man's Fate-Chart Divine Baleful and discovered that his fate chart contained two ominous baleful influences-

Robbery Sha, Ten Evils and Great Defeat!

Robbery Sha was an ominous influence of plunder and seizure, signifying a greedy, ruthless nature, taking wealth by force, the dissipation of ancestral property, and wounds from weapons or punishment.

If the person was not strong, it instead signified being plotted against, plundered, and ambushed by others.

Ten Evils and Great Defeat was an ominous influence of no emolument, signifying hollow foundations, neither fortune nor wealth, and failure in every undertaking.

Compared with that youth earlier, this man's fate chart is terrible.

Fang Hong could not help glancing back at the burly man's retreating figure.

Business at Yunchuan Studio had improved somewhat, and the number of maids in the shop had increased to two.

Fang Hong greeted the two women and went straight to the rear courtyard.

Steward Mu was in the west wing, leafing through an ancient book while drinking tea. Seeing him enter, he hurriedly rose and bowed with his hands clasped.

Fang Hong smiled, waved a hand, and sat down. Seeing a large drawing on the table, he picked it up curiously and asked, "What's this?"

Steward Mu's expression grew solemn. "This is a wanted notice issued by the Inspection Office. Recently, a group of Bandit Cultivators has been committing attacks near Five Dragon Island, specifically targeting Yin-Yang Sect disciples. They've already killed three Foundation Establishment True Disciples and more than ten inner sect disciples."

"Something like that happened?" Fang Hong raised his brows in surprise.

Someone actually dared to run rampant in Yin-Yang Sect territory? Had they grown tired of living?

Steward Mu said, "Apparently, Ying Yang, one of the Yin-Yang Sect's ten great True Disciples, personally hunted them down. He killed five, but three escaped. Still, Ying Yang is no ordinary man. He identified these Bandit Cultivators, which was why he had the market's Inspection Office issue wanted notices and continue searching for their whereabouts."

Fang Hong unfolded the wanted notice. On it were three portraits, two men and one woman.

The man in the middle was named Hu Can. His features were ordinary, but his face was vicious, his eyes filled with savage killing intent. The portrait captured him vividly.

Below the portraits, it read:

Anyone who discovers traces or clues to the whereabouts of these three will be rewarded with ten thousand spirit stones!

Anyone who kills Hu Can may exchange his head for fifty thousand spirit stones!

The bounty for killing either of the other two is ten thousand spirit stones each.

Looking at the Bandit Cultivators' portraits, Fang Hong inexplicably thought of the burly man he had encountered at the entrance.

"What is Hu Can's background?" He looked at Steward Mu.

Steward Mu sighed and said, "He came from an Aristocratic Clan as well. The Hu Household was once renowned throughout the Donglai Sea Region, with Golden Core masters presiding over the clan in every generation."

"But the Hu Household happened to lie between the Yin-Yang Sect and the Li Fire Heavenly Palace, and friction between those two sects has always been constant. A few years ago, someone plotted against the Hu Household and dragged it into a war between the two sects. Its Golden Core ancestor died at the hands of a Yin-Yang Sect elder, and its ancestral grounds were breached, slaughtered and plundered by numerous Yin-Yang Sect True Disciples and inner sect disciples..."

"Hu Can was lucky enough to escape that calamity. It's said that he later entered the demonic path, and his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. He habitually plunders and kills Yin-Yang Sect cultivators. That clash between the Li Fire Heavenly Palace and the Yin-Yang Sect before you joined, Young Master Hong, was secretly instigated by him."

Fang Hong immediately recalled why the Yin-Yang Sect had recruited another batch of Qi Refining disciples back then. It was precisely because its low-ranking disciples had suffered heavy casualties in the clash with the Li Fire Heavenly Palace!

He feared quite a few of them had been killed by Hu Can.

Good grief, could that man just now have been Hu Can?

The thought stirred in Fang Hong's mind, but he felt it was unlikely.

A Golden Core elder from the sect would certainly be presiding over the Five Dragon Island market's auction. With his mere Foundation Establishment cultivation, how could the man dare to court death by sneaking onto the island?

However, what Steward Mu said next quickly drove the matter of the Bandit Cultivators from his mind.

"Young Master Hong, according to reliable intelligence, Zhao Feixue, a True Disciple of the Ghost King Sect, has now arrived in the market."

"Quite a few Foundation Establishment True Disciples of the Ghost King Sect are attending this auction as well. Zhao Feixue hosted a banquet in the market for her fellow disciples. During the banquet, a conflict broke out between a Ghost King Sect cultivator and a Black Flame Sect cultivator. It caused such a commotion that even the Golden Core elder stationed at the Inspection Office was alerted."

"Apparently, the two troublemakers that day were competing for Zhao Feixue's favor out of jealousy, which was why they disregarded the market's prohibitions and came to blows. The story has spread widely throughout the market. There can be no mistake."

After listening, Fang Hong said nothing. His eyes narrowed slightly, and there was no telling what he was thinking.

Steward Mu said quietly, "Young Master Hong, should we ask the grand elder to come in person?"

Fang Hong waved a hand. "Although this woman is somewhat suspicious, we can't be certain she was the one who secretly harmed me. Let's watch how things develop first. Don't alert my father."

Not long afterward, Fang Hong left the market and arrived over the vast sea outside Five Dragon Island.

He had told Steward Mu he was returning to the Yin-Yang Sect. The latter had thought nothing more of it and merely reminded him to take care along the way.

Before leaving the market, he had found a shop, sold a gigantic second-tier strange fish in his possession, and bought a second-tier invisibility talisman.

At that moment.

He was riding the Flying Chariot in circles around the outskirts of Five Dragon Island.

She'll have to leave the market sooner or later. In which direction can I wait for her?

He quietly observed the reactions of the Fate Mirror in his Sea of Consciousness.

When he reached the southeast of Five Dragon Island, the candlelight within the Fate Mirror suddenly blazed.

The auspicious direction lay to the southeast; all endeavors would go smoothly!