Ye Qin pushed aside the massive boulder and emerged from the hidden cave. In an open area of the Spiritual Mist Grand Canyon, he cautiously searched for spirit herbs, occasionally finding small, one or two-year-old sprouts. Though not very valuable, Ye Qin collected every one.

For the next three to five days, every time he searched, he held his palm sword in one hand and five or six Judas tree seeds in the other, ready for a sudden fight or to flee instantly if the situation turned dire.

During these days, Ye Qin encountered many perilous situations. Since spirit herbs were hard to find in open spaces, he once risked venturing into the dense forest of towering ancient trees within the canyon. There, beneath a dead tree amidst decaying leaves, he discovered an unknown, brilliant green spirit herb enveloped in a thick aura of cyan spiritual energy. But before he could get close enough to pluck it, a demon snake—as thick as a water barrel, covered in mottled, twisted patterns, and possessing at least a Second or Third Rank—suddenly lunged out, its fierce, brass-gong eyes fixed menacingly on him.

Ye Qin was instantly terrified. He frantically unleashed the Earth Evasion Art, Wood Evasion Art, and Wind Control Art, leaping and flying, vanishing dozens of zhang in the blink of an eye, fleeing toward the edge of the dense woods. The demon snake surged like a gale, snapping trees in its path, pursuing him for several li until Ye Qin finally escaped the forest, whereupon it reluctantly slithered back.

Shaken by this fright, Ye Qin dared not venture into the treacherous depths of the forest again.

Over these past few days, he had encountered various demonic beasts several times and gradually pieced together the situation: places in the Spiritual Mist Grand Canyon where rare, high-grade spirit herbs could be found were almost always guarded by demonic beasts. The lower the grade of the herb, the weaker the beast, or often, there was no beast at all. The higher the grade of the herb, the stronger the beast guarding it—otherwise, it would have already been picked by other cultivators, leaving none for him.

This realization instantly cooled the hope Ye Qin had harbored—that he could rely on sheer luck to find rare spirit herbs all by himself. He now had only two choices: either hunt the demonic beasts himself and seize the herbs, or wait for other cultivator teams to kill the beasts, and then move in to steal the herbs.

Both options seemed impossibly difficult for him. He was only at the Fifth Level of the Qi Refining stage and possessed no particularly powerful spirit artifacts. What chance did he have of single-handedly hunting beasts of Second Rank or higher? And snatching herbs from another cultivator team was tantamount to seeking death.

This made his heart ache with bitterness.

Without a team, it was nearly impossible to move forward in the Spiritual Mist Grand Canyon. No wonder cultivators from Xian Yuan City almost always formed small teams before entering—surviving alone was too hard.

Encountering demonic beasts was merely one kind of peril.

Another, far more dangerous threat was the "lure trap" maliciously set by certain cultivators. They would place the corpse of a dead cultivator on the ground, scattering nearby some materials, spirit stones, or low-grade spirit artifacts that weren't excessively valuable. They would then set an ambush. If anyone curious, or hoping to snag a cheap prize, rashly approached and entered the kill zone, death was almost certain. The hidden cultivators waiting would suddenly spring out and attack, robbing the victim.

This trick was most effective against newcomers; it had little effect on veterans who were highly vigilant and experienced.

On his journey through the canyon, Ye Qin had seen no fewer than a dozen such lure traps. He had even personally witnessed several small teams composed of low-rank newcomers fall victim to an ambush, with not a single survivor.

The reason Ye Qin had avoided the traps wasn't because he was uninterested in the spirit stones or artifacts; it was due to his extreme caution. Upon seeing a cultivator's corpse, his first thought was: Are there other cultivators nearby? Since cultivators in the canyon usually operated in groups, finding someone alone was rare. If a teammate were present, he wouldn't dare approach.

Ye Qin scouted the area within a two or three li radius around the corpse for any sign of other cultivators. Before he could find anything, a team of novice cultivators appeared, running happily to collect the dead person’s belongings. Instantly, several high-level cultivators burrowed out from the earth and wiped them out in one fell swoop.

Ye Qin luckily escaped the ambush, which sent shivers down his spine, tightening his nerves to the extreme. He never again entertained the thought that the possessions of the dead could be easily claimed.

Of course, he occasionally did manage to pick up some real bargains. Two evenly matched cultivator teams engaged in a fierce battle over a demonic beast. After the bloody fight, both sides had lost more than half their members and were nearly depleted of their spiritual power. Ye Qin observed secretly for nearly half a day. Spotting his chance, he decisively struck, seizing an item from one of the fallen before sprinting away, leaving the two remaining teams glaring uselessly.

Such luck was exceedingly rare.

Ye Qin was currently following a small stream running through the valley when his ears suddenly twitched. He faintly heard the clamor and noise of many cultivators ahead. His heart stirred; in the Spiritual Mist Grand Canyon, a large gathering of cultivators was a very uncommon sight.

He paused to consider, then decided to investigate. He immediately flew along the stream bank. Moments later, rounding a bend in the stream, he came upon a turbulent waterfall plunging into a deep, icy pool hundreds of zhang wide below it, steaming coldly and seemingly bottomless.

The area surrounding the frigid pool was a flat expanse of sand and gravel.

A large group of cultivators stood near the sandy bank, arguing excitedly about something.

Ye was startled by the sight: there were two to three hundred cultivators gathered here, comprising forty or fifty teams. There were rogue cultivators from Xian Yuan City as well as family cultivators from various nations, a very mixed crowd of both veterans and novices.

With so many cultivators gathered by the cold pool...

The commotion did not erupt into fighting; instead, they were each unleashing peculiar techniques, trying to discover something within the waterfall pool. A large cultivator bellowed that he was going into the water, but upon touching it, he found the pool so painfully cold it made him shiver, and he dared not enter, drawing laughter and ridicule from the surrounding cultivators.

Ye Qin was puzzled. Such cold pools could be found in many places in the canyon; this one wasn't special. These people must be searching for something inside the cold pool. With his hands clasped behind his back, he pretended to be a member of some small team and blended into the crowd. Since everyone was focused on the cold pool, no one paid him any attention.

Ye Qin wandered through the crowd and noticed a richly dressed, somewhat naive-looking boy, about fifteen or sixteen, at the Third Level of Qi Refining. The boy seemed to be a young disciple brought out for training by a cultivation family. Perhaps he could coax some information out of this youth.

He deliberately walked up beside the naive boy, squatted down, stared intently at the pool, and muttered to himself with a puzzled expression, "Strange, what treasure is in this water that so many people are gathered here?"

The naive boy turned to him, pointed at the cold pool, and exclaimed excitedly, "You don't know what happened? Someone discovered a Black-Horned Demon Crocodile hiding in this cold pool! A Black-Horned Demon Crocodile, you know what that is, right? Looking at you, you seem clueless. I know this beast; it’s a mutation of the Demon Crocodile, only found in the valleys of the Spiritual Mist Grand Canyon!"

Ye Qin’s curiosity immediately waned upon hearing it was a demonic beast. He dismissed it with a wave of his hand, "Even if there is a demonic beast, is it worth drawing so many people?"

The naive boy grew agitated. "Why don't you believe me? The strange horn on the Black-Horned Demon Crocodile's head is part of one of the tasks posted by the Ancient Artifact Sect this year. If you can get that horn, you can directly enter the Ancient Artifact Sect with it! But hunting it down is absolutely not easy. Most mature Demon Crocodiles are Third Rank beasts. That Black-Horned Demon Crocodile is at least Fourth Rank, perhaps even higher, and it's incredibly cunning. Seeing that we have so many people, it dove into the cold pool and won't come out!"

A Fourth Rank demonic beast?

Ye Qin inwardly gasped. That level of power was equivalent to a Foundation Establishment cultivator. At this moment, not a single Qi Refining cultivator team in the Grand Canyon could likely defeat it, unless dozens of high-level Qi Refining cultivators joined forces.

The reward of entering the Ancient Artifact Sect by slaying the Black-Horned Demon Crocodile and taking the black horn—the temptation was immense. The Ancient Artifact Sect was the premier sect among the seven major cultivation gates of the Spiritual Mist Mountain Range; gaining entry this way was like securing a direct pass.

Even Ye Qin felt a stirring of desire.

But looking at the determined glints in the eyes of the surrounding cultivators, Ye Qin smiled bitterly to himself. At least half of the two to three hundred cultivators here were at Fourth or Fifth Level of Qi Refining or higher; there were even three to five at the Ninth Level. His chances of profiting were practically nonexistent.

The treasure was tempting, but it wasn't meant for him. He would be better off spending his time quietly searching for spirit herbs elsewhere.

Ye Qin turned, intending to leave the cold pool—a place where trouble easily brewed—and seek spirit herbs in other areas.

He suddenly froze, his face turning ashen white.

Not far ahead, three figures were approaching: a broad-backed man with a green face, a seductive, voluptuous woman, both wearing grim expressions and seemingly arguing in frustration; sandwiched between them was an old man with a white beard, whose face was drawn and furrowed, being firmly held by the pair, looking utterly hapless and resigned as he walked ahead.

"Green-Face Freak, Scorpion Sister, Old Man Bi..."

Three names flashed through Ye Qin's mind, and he shuddered. He had killed the Old Poison Bug, one of the Three Vipers of West Ridge. If there were anyone in the Grand Canyon who held a death grudge against him, it would be the Green-Face Freak and the Scorpion Sister.

He froze for a moment, then immediately smoothed his expression, turning around as if nothing was amiss. With his hands clasped behind his back, he headed in the opposite direction, deliberately melting into the crowd of cultivators. He needed to leave before those three noticed him.

Old Man Bi walked ahead, his face a picture of misery.

"I truly don't know who that brat is! He was brought by Xu Qing, and I only knew them for a day. How would I know where that kid usually lives? It’s useless to hold me! You should go to Xian Yuan City and find Xu Qing; he definitely knows where the kid stays!"

Scorpion Sister sneered, "Hmph! You came with them, so who else should we question but you? If that pair of wretches hadn't been quick enough, I would have grabbed them all too! That fellow surnamed Xu is on patrol for the Rogue Cultivator Alliance; do you expect us to go to Xian Yuan City to court death? If you don't spill everything about that brat, don't think I'll let you go!"

The Green-Face Freak seemed deep in thought, his face grim and silent. The Insect Scripture belonging to the Old Poison Bug was a treasured heirloom of the Three Vipers family. He could not rest easy until it was recovered.

Old Man Bi had no retort. He looked around blankly at the surrounding cultivators. Though many people were gathered, not a single one was a friend he trusted with his life. Naturally, no one would step forward to save him.

Just as Old Man Bi was despairing, his eyes suddenly lit up. He spotted a familiar figure in the crowd, filling him with unexpected joy. He shouted loudly, "That kid surnamed Ye is up ahead! Quickly, he’s in the crowd! The thing you want is on him!"

The Green-Face Freak snapped his head up, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes, and roared, "Where?" He scanned the crowd and quickly spotted a figure in a green robe accelerating away. He violently hauled up Old Man Bi and lunged toward that figure.

The Scorpion Sister was equally delighted and followed closely behind. (To be continued. For future events, please visit www***com for more chapters, to support the author, and for legitimate reading!)