Black Cloud Mountain, located east of Xunyang Prefecture.

With peaks overlapping, surrounded by misty clouds, birdsong and the fragrance of flowers filling the air, it brims with vitality.

Named "Black Cloud" due to the peaks at the horizon that appear perpetually charred, like ink.

At this moment, the winding mountain path is bustling with Jianghu figures, all heading towards the mountainside's direction.

Qin An, hand resting on the sheath, walks with composure.

The steep mountain road feels like flat ground to him.

Ahead, the contour of the mountainside gradually becomes clear, the destination is almost within reach.

The closer to the mountainside, the thicker the crowd of Jianghu figures becomes.

Everyone turns to gaze, scrutinizing this Mountain Patrol Copper General dressed in dark attire.

Along the way, Qin An encounters several colleagues from the Evil Extermination Bureau, yet they brush past him indifferently, none speaking a word.

As he steps into the mountainside, the scene before him opens up abruptly.

A large platform carved out by manpower, at its end, a pitch-black cave stands prominently.

On both sides of the cave entrance, two rows of Prefecture Generals stand solemnly, their gaze sharp.

All Jianghu figures and Mountain Patrol Generals heading towards the cave entrance must present their circular waist tags for identity verification to enter.

This place is the entrance to the ancient battlefield ruins, a matter of great importance, with strict guards both openly and covertly, defenses crisscrossing.

Without hesitation, Qin An moves forward with the crowd.

Upon reaching the entrance, he retrieves the waist tag gifted by Jin Fengyu from his chest.

This item, forged by the Evil Extermination Bureau using secret techniques, is unique and cannot be counterfeited.

After entering once, it must be handed over; to enter next time, one must obtain a new waist tag.

The Prefecture General inspecting the waist tags does not know Qin An, but seeing the waist tag is genuine, says nothing more, clasping his fist towards Qin An saying "Please enter," then stands solemnly to continue verifying the next identity.

Qin An nods slightly, his hand on the Cold Star Saber's handle, stepping into the cave.

Inside the cave should be pitch dark, yet the wall-mounted large Luminous Pearls shine brightly, illuminating the path ahead.

Footsteps occasionally sound out ahead, and from behind, others are gradually approaching.

Qin An strolls through the cave, after roughly the time it takes a stick of incense to burn, the scene ahead suddenly opens up.

A giant bronze gate looms before him, people walking in one after another.

The shadows merge into the bronze gate, their aura disappearing in this vast stone cavern.

"This is the entrance," Qin An thought to himself.

He is not in a hurry, patiently standing behind a Jianghu figure.

After roughly the time for a stick of incense, the giant bronze gate stands before him.

Qin An glances around, discovering the inside of the bronze gate is extremely dark, with waves of cold evil qi emanating from it.

"The ancient battlefield ruins are indeed a gigantic Pseudo-God, thus having evil qi is normal."

Qin An ponders for a moment, draws the Cold Star Saber from his waist, holding it reverse grip in his palm, then steps forward.

The darkness, like a beast ready to devour, swiftly envelops Qin An.

In just an instant, Qin An's figure vanishes without a trace.

As Qin An vanishes, not far away, Ye Rou and three other Mountain Patrol Silver Generals exchange glances, understanding each other's intentions.

Before coming, they had already contacted other Talent Association members.

After entering the ancient battlefield ruins, they would seek out Qin An's location.

If given the opportunity, they would eliminate Qin An within the ruins.

After exchanging glances, the four no longer think much, following the group, stepping into the entrance of the ancient battlefield ruins.

Jianghu figures and Evil Extermination Bureau Mountain Patrol Generals enter one after another.

Until the last Jianghu figure steps in, the bronze gate falls silent.

...

After Qin An steps through the bronze gate, he immediately feels a penetrating darkness engulfing him.

He quickly adapts to the environment, surveying his surroundings.

In the darkness, terrifying shadows seem to flicker within.

Wind sounds assault his ears.

Strangely, there is no pervasive sense of danger.

This darkness lasts only for a few breaths, then suddenly the scene brightens before him.

Qin An, with solid ground beneath his feet, scans the surroundings, his eyes slightly narrowing.

At this moment, he has arrived in a dense forest, with no one else nearby.

The forest is deep, with low visibility at first glance.

A presence of evil qi emerges around, stemming from the ground.

The ancient battlefield ruins fragment is essentially a gigantic Pseudo-God, thus Qin An stands on the Pseudo-God.

With a slight contemplation, Qin An understands.

When he learned he was entering the ruins, he had already gone through all the materials in the Evil Extermination Bureau's Confidential Library.

Thus he has a general understanding of the ruins.

Anyone entering is randomly sent to a location.

Perhaps meeting others, but more often wandering alone.

After all, the ruins are vast, even a fragment is as large as half of Xunyang Prefecture.

Without overthinking, confirming there's no immediate danger, Qin An retrieves a map from his chest.

The map outlines the general layout of the ruins, compiled by the Mountain Patrol Generals of the Evil Extermination Bureau at the cost of their lives.

At the top left corner of the map, there's a red dot marked.

This is Qin An's own marker, and his destination this time, the location of the Wood Elemental Consciousness, named Cangcui Forest.

Having identified the destination, he sets off toward that place.

After a brief contemplation, Qin An decides to memorize the route, then stores the map back in his chest.

The front forest is extremely dense, ordinary people would probably find it hard to take a step.

Qin An's eyes narrow, his steps shift, executing the Dragon Roar Shadow Step, transforming into a ghostly shadow.

Curiously, every step he takes is completely silent.

As he approached the forest, Qin An swung his blade horizontally, the terrifying Five-Colored True Essence densely enveloping the Cold Star Saber.

The violent sound of wind echoed through the dense forest, breaking the trees ahead.

He needed to make the most of his time, traveling the shortest route to his destination.

Therefore, any obstruction would be thoroughly torn apart by him.

The roaring sounds continuously reverberated through the dense forest.

If you looked carefully, you would see that at this moment, in the dense forest, giant trees were being severed in half and flying high.

An artificially carved path was spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At this time, not only Qin An, but also other Jianghu people and Mountain Patrol Generals were each using their own methods, searching within the ancient battlefield ruins.

The dangers here came from the demon pseudo-gods and the fellow men beside them.

While everyone searched for opportunities, they remained extremely vigilant.

...

At this moment, beside a surging river.

Ye Rou and three Mountain Patrol Silver Generals were swiftly traversing it.

Behind them followed three fox demons of the Outer Elixir Realm.

The leading fox girl had a delicate face, with a red ribbon hanging at her waist, her expression alluring like water, and she was scanning the three male Mountain Patrol Copper Generals back and forth with her alluring eyes, a hint of desire flowing through them.

After arriving here, they happened to encounter Ye Rou and the three Mountain Patrol Copper Generals.

Originally, they thought a life-and-death battle was inevitable between the two parties.

Unexpectedly, these four people inquired about Qin An.

Only then did the fox girl understand that these Mountain Patrol Copper Generals had a grudge against Qin An and also knew that Qin An had killed a fox girl from the Carefree Mountain.

Therefore, after a brief discussion, they planned to join forces to surround and kill Qin An.

The Mountain Patrol Generals had collaborated with demons before, but it was mostly to combat another group of demons.

In today's situation, to target colleagues from the Evil Extermination Bureau, it was the first time the fox girl had seen it.

But since they could cooperate and obtain Qin An's head, the fox girls were naturally willing.

Ye Rou paused her steps slightly, looked at the Mountain Patrol Copper General on the left, and asked, "How's the contact going?"

The Mountain Patrol Copper General on the left was using a waist tag to contact members of the Talent Association, looked up, and said, "Just ahead, about six more helpers have gathered together. Including us, there are a total of thirteen Outer Elixir Realm individuals, enough to surround and kill Qin An."

Upon hearing this, the fox girl hesitated and said, "But if we don't know Qin An's whereabouts, even if we have the strength to surround and kill him, it's useless if we can't find his location."

Ye Rou glanced coldly at the fox girl and sneered, "Since we've made this decision, we naturally have ways to locate him. Zhang Yun, you take action."

As her words fell, the Mountain Patrol Copper General named Zhang Yun nodded slightly and took out a copper compass from his bosom.

Ye Rou said flatly, "Before Zhang Yun joined the Evil Extermination Bureau, he apprenticed at the Tianxuan Temple and learned a Daoist tracking technique. Before entering the ancient battlefield ruins, I had Zhang Yun search for Qin An's aura, and this time we can use it for tracking."

The fox girl was delighted and said, "If that's the case, we can surely obtain Qin An's head."

After a brief pause, her expression became solemn again: "But if we obtain Qin An's head, what should we do afterwards?"

Those who could enter these ancient battlefield ruins were no ordinary people.

The fox girl knew well that if they joined forces to kill Qin An, only three fox demons and ten Mountain Patrol Copper Generals would remain.

If the other side heartlessly surrounded and killed them, they would not survive.

Ye Rou sneered, "Rest assured, we won't take your lives. In future missions, we will still need to cooperate with your Carefree Mountain, and we naturally won't do anything so extreme."

The fox girl still didn't believe it, but since it had come to this point, she could only nod in agreement.

She feared that if she didn't agree, Ye Rou and the others might take action immediately.

Zhang Yun was fiddling with the compass, looked up, and said, "I've found him, about a hundred miles away from us."

"Let's set off immediately," Ye Rou nodded, "First, rendezvous with the remaining six comrades, then set off immediately, and when the opportunity arises, take his head!"

No more words were exchanged, and they all headed towards one direction.

...

Lake.

At this moment, this lake was experiencing a terrifying battle.

Three oddly-shaped demons were besieging two Jianghu people.

The besieged were a man and a woman, who looked quite similar.

Although they were in the Outer Elixir Realm, facing a numerical advantage, the Jianghu people lacked the foundation of the Evil Extermination Bureau and were already retreating step by step with severe injuries.

The man turned back to look at the woman beside him and suddenly stepped forward to block the way: "Little sister, you first go!"

Zhao Xue froze and bit her lip tightly, "Brother, your strength is greater than mine. You should live longer. Take the treasure and go, then avenge me later!"

Zhao Quan separated the attacks from the three demons, spat out a mouthful of blood, and glared angrily: "I told you to go, so just go! Quickly take the things and leave, otherwise, even if I die, it would be in vain!"

Zhao Xue clenched her left hand, in whose palm there was a bead glowing slightly.

The three demons exchanged glances, and the leading tiger demon showed a hideous expression.

"If you don't hand over that bead today, no one leaves!"

As soon as the words fell, the other two demons had already surrounded them, blocking their escape route.

Zhao Quan and Zhao Xue looked on in desperation, gripping their swords even tighter.

The tiger demon's greedy eyes swept over Zhao Xue's face, "This girl isn't bad. Let's let the three brothers have some fun with her first, then we'll swallow her alive."

Hearing this, Zhao Xue gripped the glowing bead in her hand and pressed the sword blade against her neck.

This action made Zhao Quan jump in fright.

"Little sister, what are you doing?"

Zhao Xue gritted her teeth, "Brother, today we have no escape. I don't want to become the plaything of these demons; I'd rather end it myself than suffer anymore."

Zhao Quan heard her words and sighed softly.

This was the plight of them, these Jianghu wanderers.

Without the Evil Extermination Bureau as a backing, and without sect influence, everything rested on themselves.

Situations like today were not uncommon throughout Daqian.

The tiger demon stuck out a crimson tongue, licking its lips, "A corpse? I like that too. Even if you chop your head off, it's still good."

Hearing this, Zhao Xue's face stiffened.

The three demons drew even closer.

But just at that moment, a cold voice suddenly rang out.

"Three Demon Pills? I'll take them."

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