After spending a few hours calming the Xu siblings down, the four of them went to bed for the night. Yue Xing planned on sleeping on the sofa again, leaving the bed for the Xu siblings. However, they insisted that he sleep on the bed with them.

  Yue Xing, weak to their pleas, agreed. He had planned on consulting the Book to find out more about the Three Terrors, but that at another time. It wasn’t too urgent. Time with the Xu siblings was more precious.

  As Yue Xing laid on the bed, surrounded by the children’s tiny, warm bodies, he realized that his life had taken a direction he never expected. Still, he didn’t see this as a bad thing. If nothing else, he was happier now than he was back in the Celestial Sword Sect.

  The next morning, Yue Xing left the inn to get some information about the demonic cultivators. They seemed like a local group, so he hoped to find out more about them by asking around.

  Leaving the inn proved more difficult than expected. When Yue Xing told the Xu siblings that he planned on going out, they insisted on joining him. However, Yue Xing didn’t know where his inquiries would take him, so he told them to stay. It was safest in the inn.

  This didn’t go over well with the Xu siblings. Xu Shu and Xu Zhen clung to his legs with pitiable expressions on their faces, and even Xu Liang wanted to join him. However, Yue Xing remained adamant in his decision. In the end, the Xu siblings acquiesced, though it was clear they weren’t happy about it.

  By the time Yue Xing left the inn, it was already mid-morning. Rising Sun City was bustling and brimming with life. It was a beautiful day out, with clear skies, so there were even more people out and about.

  In addition to asking around for information, Yue Xing also planned on heading to the city lord’s manor. In most cultivator cities, though not all of them, there was a board with bounties on local criminals, including known demonic cultivators in the area. This could also be a source of information.

  His plan was simple. Figure out the identity of the group behind the attack on the Xu siblings’ village. If he could fight them with his current strength, he would. If not, he would take the children and leave for the Myriad Path Sect. When he grew strong enough, he would return.

  As much as Yue Xing wanted to avenge the Xu siblings’ village, he was a mere Qi Refining cultivator. While he had several advantages that put him above others in the same realm, that didn’t account for much in the cultivator realm as a whole.

  If the person behind the attack was in Foundation Establishment or higher, he could only grit his teeth for now. There was also the Blood Lotus Cult to take into consideration. If they were involved in this matter, then he needed to act with even greater care.

  Unfortunately, Rising Sun City didn’t have a branch office for the Dark Moon Pavilion. Otherwise, Yue Xing would’ve gone to them. With this gold-level VIP token, finding the information he needed would’ve been no trouble at all.

  Yue Xing’s first targets were the tea houses and taverns. While many cultivators liked to believe they were above mortals, they were all human in the end. When humans gathered together, they liked to drink and socialize. While gossip and rumors weren’t the most reliable sources of information, they were a good start.

  Yue Xing also spent this time testing out the limits of his soul sense. He discovered that while his soul was as strong as that of a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, his soul sense was much weaker. It was somewhere between peak Qi Refining and early Foundation Establishment.

  This was because of his low cultivation base. So, while soul cultivators relied mostly on the strength of their soul, cultivation still mattered. Something to keep in mind for later.

  Yue Xing spent most of the morning trawling through the tea houses and taverns of Rising Sun City. He spent a fair amount of spirit stones buying drinks, hoping this would loosen a few tongues. The results were disappointing at first. However, when he visited his third teahouse, he struck gold.

  There, he found a wandering storyteller willing to tell him what he needed in exchange for payment. The storyteller in question was a rogue cultivator at peak Qi Refining who called himself Immortal Xiang. A bit pretentious, but since Yue Xing needed this man for information, he kept his thoughts to himself.

  Immortal Xiang looked like a man in his early thirties, with handsome features, long black hair tied up in a simple knot, and a well-trimmed beard. He wore a colorful, ostentatious even, red and yellow outfit. It should’ve looked garish, but somehow it came together to create a bright and harmonious whole.

  The two of them headed up to one of the tea house’s private rooms, since Yue Xing didn’t want anyone to overhear their conversation. One of the tea house’s waiters took their order and brought them some spirit tea, before leaving them alone.

  “What can you tell me about the demonic cultivators in the area?” Yue Xing asked as soon as the waiter disappeared.

  “Easy now, youngster,” Immortal Xiang said with a relaxed smile on his face. “I haven’t even taken a sip of my tea. Let me wet my parched throat first.”

  Yue Xing narrowed his eyes at the other man, but kept his mouth shut. Immortal Xiang took a sip of his tea with a thoughtful expression on his face.

  “Not the best tea I’ve had,” he said. “But not the worst either. It’ll do.” He looked at Yue Xing. “Now, where was I?”

  Yue Xing took a deep breath to rein in his frustration.

  “You were telling me about the local demonic cultivators?”

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  “Right, right,” Immortal Xiang said. “There isn’t much to tell. The local demonic cultivators are a scattered, divided bunch. Most of them are fools who found an incomplete demonic cultivation technique. These ones tend to either get themselves killed, or suffer from qi deviation and then die. They aren’t much of a threat.”

  Immortal Xiang took another sip of his tea. Yue Xing opened his mouth to say something, but the storyteller spoke up first.

  “However, there is one group in the area that is a legitimate threat,” Immortal Xiang said. “The Blood Wolf Gang. They’re more a group of bandits than a demonic sect, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. They target traveling cultivators, robbing them of both their valuables and their lives.”

  Yue Xing thought back to the demonic cultivators he killed when he rescued the Xu siblings. From what he observed of them, they seemed to belong to this Blood Wolf Gang.

  “Is this Blood Wolf Gang tied to the Blood Lotus Cult?” Yue Xing asked.

  Immortal Xiang frowned.

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “If they are, I haven’t heard anything about it. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me. From what I have heard, the Blood Wolf Gang does practice blood sacrifice.”

  Yue Xing’s expression turned grim. The Blood Lotus Cult specialized in blood sacrifice. This vile practice allowed a demonic cultivator to gain power and increase their cultivation at a rapid rate, in exchange for the lives of others.

  “Tell me, young man,” Immortal Xiang said. “Why are you so curious about demonic cultivators? Did you get into trouble with some?”

  Yue Xing considered whether or not to tell the truth, before deciding to share some of it.

  “Yes,” he said. “On my way here, I ran into a group of demonic cultivators and killed them.”

  Immortal Xiang’s expression turned serious.

  “In that case, I’d be careful if I were you,” he said. “If those demonic cultivators belonged to the Blood Wolf Gang, you’re in for a bad time. Their leader is Li Zhanhao, a cultivator in Foundation Establishment. He’s a cruel and bloodthirsty man.”

  Immortal Xiang gestured in the direction of the city lord’s manor.

  “Li Zhanhao fought the city lord to a draw several times in the past. If you killed some of his people, he’ll come after you, if only to save face. I recommend either getting out of the area before he finds you, or staying in Rising Sun City until Li Zhanhao’s anger has abated. He wouldn’t dare step foot in here, not with the city lord in residence.”

  Yue Xing let out a resigned sigh. This was bad. While he was powerful for a Qi Refining cultivator, he was an ant in front of those in Foundation Establishment and above. It was like the difference between the heavens and the earth. It looked like he would have to wait until he grew stronger before avenging the Xu siblings’ village.

  Hiding in Rising Sun City wasn’t an option either. If the Blood Lotus Cult was involved with the Blood Wolf Gang, and Yue Xing feared that it was, then he needed to leave the area with the Xu Siblings.

  While Li Zhanhao wouldn’t dare step foot in Rising Sun City, the Blood Lotus would. To them, the city lord was nothing more than a slightly bigger ant than the rest.

  After that, Yue Xing talked some more with Immortal Xiang to learn more about the locals, before heading out.

  The first place Yue Xing went to after leaving the tea house was the city lord’s manor. In front of the manor stood a board that displayed several bounties. Most of them belonged to petty criminals and minor demonic cultivators. As Immortal Xiang said, they were fools who weren’t much of a threat.

  However, there was also a hefty bounty for the Blood Wolf Gang and its leader, Li Zhanhao. These gave Yue Xing some more information. It turned out that the Blood Wolf Gang had a base located not too far from Rising Sun City, a ruined estate that once belonged to a mortal noble.

  Despite this, no one dared attack them. That was because all the local cultivators were too weak. They were all in Qi Refining, while Li Zhanhao was in Foundation Establishment. Not only that, but the other members of the Blood Wolf Gang were also blood thirsty and vicious.

  In fact, as Yue Xing studied the bounty board, he realized that he was the only one. Everyone else pretended it didn’t exist.

  This boded ill for Yue Xing. He was confident in his ability to deal with the other members of the Blood Wolf Gang, or at least escape from them, but not their leader. If he ended up facing Li Zhanhao, he couldn’t expect help from any outside sources.

  If the local cultivators could’ve done something about the Blood Wolf Gang and Li Zhanhao, they would’ve done so already. Even the city lord, who was also in Foundation Establishment, could only fight Li Zhanhao to a draw, not defeat him.

  In that case, the best course of action for Yue Xing and the Xu siblings would be to escape without attracting the Blood Wolf Gang’s notice. Once they left the area, they’d be safe. After that, they just needed to find a city with transportation services and book a flight to the Myriad Path Sect.

  Perhaps that could join a caravan heading to another cultivator city. There was safety in numbers after all, however scant. Not only that, but traveling in a group would make it more difficult for the Blood Wolf Gang to figure out their identities. A caravan was less conspicuous than an adult man traveling with three children, at least in this situation.

  Yue Xing decided that this was the best course of action. While slower than traveling with just himself and the Xu siblings, it was safer. By this point, he imagined the Blood Wolf Gang had followed his tracks to Rising Sun City.

  Once more, Yue Xing cursed his shortsightedness. If he had just covered his tracks, perhaps none of this would be a problem. However, at the time, speed took priority over stealth.

  With a plan in mind, Yue Xing set about looking for a caravan heading to one of the larger cultivator cities nearby. However, after he left the bounty board in front of the city lord’s manor, he became aware of someone following him.

  Without turning around, Yue Xing searched for his tail using his soul sense. It took him a few moments, since it was almost noon and the streets of Rising Sun City were crowded.

  His tail turned out to be a man in late Qi Refining. Nothing about him stood out, but Yue Xing sensed something wrong about the man. He didn’t know what, but there was something.

  Yue Xing debated with himself for a moment, before he decided to probe deeper with his soul sense. While this risked alerting his tail, he decided it was worth it. Despite his low cultivation base, his soul sense was much more powerful than that of a late Qi Refining cultivator. This gave him a significant advantage.

  At first, this proved a little more difficult than Yue Xing anticipated. He never used his soul sense with such finesse before, since he never had to. It took some getting used to. However, with some practice, he grew more proficient. By some miracle, he avoided alerting his tail despite his clumsy fumbling.

  Yue Xing discovered that the man following him was using some kind of concealment. It was weaker than his soul sense, so he probed even deeper and pierced through the concealment.

  That’s when he made a blood-chilling discovery. The man reeked of demonic energy. It felt similar to the demonic energy of the demonic cultivators he killed when he rescued the Xu siblings.

  The Blood Wolf Gang had found them.

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