In the pitch black forest.

It was dark and obscured from sight.

A murderous spider web appeared out of nowhere.

The riders sped toward the web, and they were caught unawares. Their leader’s horse was directly cut into two by the web, and it tumbled onto the ground, sending the leader flying.

“An ambush!”

The leader shouted as he drew his saber. The horses began neighing in fright.

“You people can leave, but your items have to remain behind.”

A hoarse warning was issued from the woods. At the same time, an extremely thin strand of web flew silently toward the last rider’s throat under cover of darkness and rain.

The man had wanted to shout for help after being attacked, but it was too late. Eight brown limbs appeared behind the entire group of riders and pierced cleanly through the man’s chest, before they flung his corpse out with great force, as if it were a scarecrow.

The riders immediately began to panic.

“We’ll rise again after defeat!’

One of the riders gave out a low growl before tossing out three flaming talismans. One illuminated the area around his companions, another flew up into the skies, while the last one shot out toward the back of their group.

With the aid of the flames, everyone could finally see what was exactly blocking their path. It was a huge spider with the head of a human.

The men in grey then lifted their heads upward and saw that there were many lines of spider threads laid around them, and they were like moths flying into a spider’s web. The trap had been laid long ago for them.

The demon had the face of a woman, and her hair was disheveled. Her skin was brownish-red, and she did not look like a normal person. She smacked the flaming talisman closest to her with one palm, before twisting her body like a poisonous scorpion and licking the fresh blood on her front limbs.

“This road has been blocked off. Leave your belongings behind,” the hoarse voice croaked again. Before the spider demon had even finished speaking, countless poisonous creatures the size of a palm began appearing on the webs above her head. Doubtless, they were summoned by the demon herself.

“Demon!”

“Let’s see if you have the capability to take our belongings from us!”

“Kill!”

There was no need for any instruction to be issued; the riders knew that only one side could survive this battle. After one month of preparation, the Demon Race’s infiltration into the human world was no longer a secret, and many people had already fought with them in fact.

Win or loss was unimportant.

This would not simply end when one side had won. There was only one conclusion when humans met demons- only one side could walk away from the fight alive! There was no other way out! Both races had grudges with each other for millions of years, and they were destined to kill each other on sight.

“Clack, clack.”

The spider demon twisted violently but did not directly engage the humans. In terms of strength, she was at Post-celestial Realm, but there were five riders at Pre-celestial Realm. Even though she was slightly more powerful, it was hard to determine if she could survive a battle to the death.

For a long while, the demon only defended. Light from the sabers of her opponents glinted around her and True Energy was being tossed around the air.

“Die, demonkind!” the leader of the riders roared as he infused his weapon with True Energy, before charging at the demon with the force of a gale.

“Die? What a joke!” the demon replied as the corner of her lips curled up mysteriously. She did not even attempt to dodge and unleashed one of her own attacks.

Suddenly.

There was a weird sound in the air, as if a mosquito had flapped its wings.

Just as the leader of the riders was about to slice through the head of the demon, his body ignited in flames when it was still in mid-air. It turned into a ball of dark green fluorescent flame in an instant, and it was soon burned to ashes.

In the blink of an eye, the humans, who had just been holding the upper hand, turned into balls of green fluorescent flames and three rectangular boxes made of mystical iron dropped onto the ground.

The entire scene was so strange that it looked shocking!

“You people are courting your own deaths!” “There will be no escape for a moth that falls into a spider’s web,” the spider demon said in its hoarse voice, before lowering its head to look toward the trees.

There was a brief movement amongst the shorter shrubs, before a three-foot-tall green beast, which was a cross between a mosquito and a fly, appeared. Countless green spots could be seen attached to its body, and they were continuously giving off a fluorescent glow.

As expected, it was most likely the cause of the flames.

The leader most likely had not expected to lose to such a half-breed demon.

The spider demon reached its front limbs out to pry open the three mystical iron boxes, and three faint green glows appeared.

“Spirit Stones!”

“Three entire boxes of Spirit Stones!”

“These people are really generous!”

The spider demon opened its eyes wide open when the boxes were opened, and it gave a strange, piercing cry before dashing forward. It was an unexpected reward for slaying a caravan that was passing by.

The earth beneath the box trembled slightly the instant its front limbs caught hold of the box. The cover obscured part of its vision, and its alertness grew a little slack from its over excitement.

A black dagger shot past its limbs and pierced directly into its head.

It was infused with ultra-compressed True Energy, and it was as powerful as a bomb.

It could kill in one blow!

The owner of the dagger revealed himself. He was dressed entirely in black, and his face was covered.

Ye Que had seen this person before.

He had been tailing the group of riders, and now he finally showed himself.

He struck only when he was sure of dealing a lethal blow.

“Beep!”

A piercing sound like that of teeth being ground came from the bushes, and a second after the spider demon was attacked, the fly-mosquito demon attacked the assailant in fury. In the blink of an eye, countless green flies were swarming toward the man in black.

They would ignite upon touch!

Anyone caught in these flames would definitely be killed!

“A Fluorescent Fire Mosquito Demon!”

The man in black was stunned for a while, but he did not seem to panic. He swept his black robes aside and tucked his dagger back into his waist band before raising his right arm and chanted.

A grey longsword appeared behind him and shot out into the skies. Grey flames surrounded the blade, and it transformed into a ferocious beast that enveloped the swarm of green flies.

A life and death struggle was taking place here, but 200 meters away, on the official road to Luoyang, another scene was unfolding.

Ye Que was standing there with his hands behind his back and the Qian siblings beside him. “Seems like the man in black is not using his entire repertoire of sword skills. He’s most likely a member of the Five Elements Divination Sect and at Post-celestial Realm.”

“This is a great opportunity for you to try out the archery technique I taught you this morning. Even though disciples of the Five Elements Divination Sect have good footwork, their defensive skills are mediocre,” Ye Que advised softly.

“How about me?” asked Qian Shuhua in a soft voice as well.

“Follow after me in a while,” Ye Que replied casually. “Remember the tenets of the spear technique- act decisively and forcefully!”

A red flash shot out into the skies just as he finished speaking, and only the Firebird’s Nest was left trembling in Qian Shuxiao’s hand.

The figure in black, who was standing 200 meters away, was already confident of victory. With a little adjustment, the flames and flies from the half-breed demon should not be able to harm a practitioner of his level. In his mind, the three boxes of Spirit Stones were already his. But unexpected things always happened in life, and it was a classic case of a predator being hunted down by another larger predator.

However, just as his sentient sword was about to destroy all of the green flies, he saw a red flash of light streaking toward him from the end of the road.

“Who’s that?”

“Despicable!”

He cursed while his hands kept moving as he redirected the grey sword from the demon to the red bolt of light.

“Pfft!”

There was no resounding ‘boom’ of two bolts of True Energies colliding, and the man in black mysteriously lowered his head to see an arrow made of True Energy stuck to his chest. The tip of the arrow did not pierce into his body, and he could clearly feel it still spiraling at great speed.

“This arrow!”

“How did it change direction on its own?”

“Unless, unless this is that technique?”

The man in black lifted his head to see three figures approaching from the dark road.

“I’m Huang Han of the Five Elements Divination Sect, and my master is the third elder of our sect,” said the man in black with great effort, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. He could already feel the True Energy in his body slowly dissipating, and he did not have much time left. As such, he could only hope that the name of his sect would scare away his attackers.

“If you kill me, our sect will be hell-bent on taking revenge. Think carefully, or there’ll be serious consequences!” Huang Han said as he tried to maintain calm. The three figures drew closer and closer to him.

“There are three boxes of Spirit Stones here. If you let me go, they’re yours,” he said, as he glanced meaningfully at his feet.

“I also have a Blood Dagger of Refined Energy- it’s a magical artifact of high quality. I can give it to you as well,” he added. There was no reaction from the other party, however.

“I…”

“Beep!”

A long spear pierced directly into Huang Han’s chest just as he was about to speak.

“So much nonsense!” Qian Shuhua said as she tossed her lance at Huang Han, causing him to collapse to the ground.

“Humans will also come out with all kinds of nice words when they’re about to die. You should have allowed him to struggle a little.”

Ye Que grinned and walked toward Huang Han’s corpse after having witnessed the good show. He shut his eyes and picked up the mystical iron box at the man’s feet with a look of satisfaction. He weighed the box on his palm before lifting a corner of its lid up. Having ascertained the contents of the box, he nodded in satisfaction.

“Spirit Stones?” Qian Shuxiao asked as he observed Ye Que’s expression.

“What else could it be, to have so many people fighting over it?” Ye Que said before tossing the box to Qian Shuxiao. “Take care of it.”

Qian Shuxiao received the box carefully and prodded Huang Han’s corpse with his feet. “He claimed to be from the Five Elements Divination Sect, and that its third elder was his master. Would that be a problem for us?”

“Five Elements Divination Sect?” Ye Que replied, a look of despise on his face. “They’re thieves. What is there to be afraid about?”

“Furthermore, who would know that we did it?” Ye Que continued, as he pointed at the half-breed demon lying not far from them. “Do you believe that there are deities watching over us?”

Qian Shuxiao looked at the demon and the ashes of the riders. “He was a true disciple of a reputable sect. Is this too brutal?” he could not help but ask.

“Tell me about it after you’ve fallen captive to one of those so-called ‘reputable’ sects,” Ye Que said somewhat dismissively. “Whichever party that is stronger and can last till the end will be known as a reputable sect.”

He gazed at the half breed demon who looked furious and still refused to leave, before lowering his voice to speak, “Do you think the demons will be willing to live in that barren wasteland? They’ll seize any chance to infiltrate the human world. Doesn’t that answer your question?”

“Let’s go.”

The three of them disappeared into the night.

The demon watched them leave before it leaped onto the corpse of Huang Han. There was a flash of green fluorescent fire on the road before everything turned dark again.

“Brother Ye, we’ve managed to get these stones far too easily.”

“This is a classic case of searching high and low for something, but it ends up right in front of your nose.”

“We won’t be so lucky every time. We have to start consolidating our own power in Luoyang City now. Right now, we know next to nothing and our efficiency is too low.”