"The young man who shot me with the crossbow arrow before? Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"

"I'm sure!"

Ren Ningyue's face showed a trace of displeasure. As one of the core members of the Celestial Punishment Team, Ren Ningyue's strength was not low, and her skill in judging people and discerning things was naturally well-honed. Being questioned repeatedly by Ye Tianfan, she was understandably quite annoyed.

At this moment, Ye Tianfan was full of doubt, looking at the cave in front of him. It was clearly formed naturally, with no signs of human excavation around, and no evidence of human habitation.

Why did that young man appear here?

Ye Tianfan couldn't help but frown. Unlike the ancient martial arts experts who had been chasing him, this young man didn't seem to be with them. Otherwise, he would have rushed back to report instead of hiding in this cave.

"You watch over Qin Hu here. I'll go inside and take a look." Ye Tianfan placed the demon blade next to Ren Ningyue, turned around, and walked toward the depths of the cave.

"Be careful," Ren Ningyue whispered, only to see Ye Tianfan's figure disappear into the darkness of the cave.

Deep inside the cave, it was pitch-black, not even able to see one's fingers. Ye Tianfan had to feel his way forward, relying solely on his sense of hearing, smell, and body awareness as his eyes were of no use here.

It was extremely quiet at this time in the cave, with the usual calls of unknown creatures having stopped. Time seemed to have frozen, and if not for the faint light from the entrance behind him, Ye Tianfan would have lost his sense of direction.

"Clang…"

The sound of rocks clashing was very faint, but it didn't escape Ye Tianfan's ears. Just as he was trying to locate the exact position of the sound, he suddenly felt three strong swishes coming toward him.

It was crossbow arrows!

Ye Tianfan's heart was shocked. He never expected that in such a dark environment, the young man could lock onto his position first and initiate the attack!

Fortunately, Ye Tianfan was not lacking in skill; the Ye Family willow blade instantly shot out from his sleeve, striking down the three crossbow arrows in a flash, then retracting back into Ye Tianfan's sleeve.

"Who are you?" Ye Tianfan asked coldly.

But the darkness gave no response; everything returned to stillness, as if the young man didn't even exist.

Ye Tianfan knew, however, that the young man must have hidden himself again. He didn't know how the young man managed to pinpoint his location in such darkness, but as things stood, it was clear he was at a disadvantage. Unable to accurately lock onto the young man's position and unable to launch an attack, he could only passively endure.

But fortunately, the young man's skills were not impressive. Besides using crossbow arrows, he wasn't adept at any ancient martial arts, which was at least good news.

Nonetheless, Ye Tianfan had already decided to leave. In such a dark environment, finding the young man's location was nearly impossible.

But just as Ye Tianfan was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly heard a rustling sound at the cave's entrance, followed by a fierce gust of wind full of killing intent.

It's Ren Ningyue!

The ancient martial arts experts who were tracking them must have found her hiding place and engaged her. Ren Ningyue's demon blade was already unsheathed.

"This is bad!"

Ye Tianfan muttered, ready to head back out, but at that moment, three more murderous crossbow arrows came from behind.

"Clink, clink, clink..."

The willow blade flashed again, blocking all three arrows. At this point, Ye Tianfan had lost all patience, his aura of killing intent erupting instantly as he coldly said, "Don't force me to kill you!"

Although Ye Tianfan had not discovered the young man's hideout, with his strength, as long as he unleashed his full Qi Force, the young man's weak skills would be overwhelmed by the Qi alone, knocking him unconscious, albeit at a significant cost to Ye Tianfan.

In such a mysterious place, it's best not to risk using such techniques.

Sure enough, after Ye Tianfan's cold warning, there were no further movements from the young man hiding in the dark, allowing Ye Tianfan to stride toward the cave entrance.

"Clink, clink, clink..."

Another rapid series of metallic clashes rang out as Ren Ningyue wielded her demon blade, slashing swiftly, forcing four men in black back several steps.

By now, the ground near the cave entrance was strewn with seven or eight corpses, all killed with a single blow. It seemed they underestimated Ren Ningyue's strength.

Even the four men in black fighting her had deep cuts on their chests revealing bone.

Seeing this, Ye Tianfan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, looking at the four men in black. He knew Ren Ningyue—when she acted, it was lethal. Though the four men had deep, bone-exposing cuts on their chests, they weren't fatal, showing they had managed to block Ren Ningyue's deadly blow.

Based on that alone, these four had commendable ancient martial arts skills.

"Who are you?" Ren Ningyue asked, holding her demon blade, her face icy, a thick aura of killing intent enveloping the four men in black.

At this moment, beads of cold sweat formed on the foreheads of the four, trapped in a dilemma.

Ye Tianfan, however, walked out with his hands in his pockets, whistling. "What? Still thinking of escaping, guys?"

Ye Tianfan glanced at the four, with a sinister smile. "We're all from the Ancient Martial Realm. As the saying goes, experts recognize each other with one move. With the current situation, even if your parents gave you a few more legs, you wouldn't escape."

As soon as Ye Tianfan finished speaking, his body flashed, appearing directly in front of one black-clad man, delivering a tiger palm strike with his right hand, gripping the man's throat, followed by a crunching sound as the man's jawbone was crushed.

"Tell me, who are you? Which organization?" Ye Tianfan's eyes flashed with killing intent, speaking coldly, "I have a thousand and one interrogation methods to make you confess. Want to try?"

The black-clad man's face showed fear as he gasped in pain from the chest wound, and now Ye Tianfan had crushed his jawbone, causing him even greater agony.

Yet, the black-clad man seemed unwilling to speak.

"Hmph."

Ren Ningyue snorted coldly, speaking softly, "I have ten thousand ways of interrogation, ensuring you're unable to live or die!"

Before her words had even settled, a cold light flashed from the demon blade in Ren Ningyue's hand.

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