Are you here to crash the party

Elsewhere.

The shadow that had been darting around wildly with the “Shadow-Escape Kill” technique suddenly froze when he witnessed the scene.

He was just… gone?

Fear surged through him like a tidal wave.

How could he possibly dare to keep fighting?

“Run!”

The shadow let out a strange cry. Runes flashed wildly around his body, and his figure vanished from where he stood, preparing to flee into the distance.

“Trying to run?”

Su Jiu blinked, a sly smile curling at the corners of her lips.

She formed a strange hand seal before her chest.

The shadow, who had already fled several hundred yards away, suddenly felt his vision blur.

When he could see his surroundings clearly again, he was completely dumbfounded.

He had actually… returned to where he started!

And not just anywhere—he was standing right in front of Su Ji!

Looking at the shadow who had thrown himself into the net, Su Ji revealed a kindly smile.

He immediately understood what Su Jiu meant.

It seemed that Little Fox would have trouble taking this man down quickly, so she had simply handed him over to Su Ji.

“You’re pretty fast.”

Su Ji reached out and grabbed the shadow by the throat, lifting him into the air.

The shadow was a short, thin man. Now that Su Ji had him by the neck with his feet dangling off the ground, he struggled desperately, his eyes filled with despair.

“Cough, cough… Senior, please spare me… spare me…”

“I can spare your life.”

Su Ji’s fingers tightened slightly. The black flames in his hand flickered in and out of sight, scorching the man’s neck until it sizzled.

“I ask the questions, and you answer.”

“If you tell even one lie…”

Su Ji pointed at the ashes beside them that had yet to fully disperse.

“That will be your example.”

“If I happen to be in a good mood, I’ll let you live.”

The man trembled violently and nodded again and again. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”

Su Ji nodded in satisfaction.

“First, what’s going on with this fog?”

“It’s… it’s a formation!” the man said with difficulty. “Someone set up a Spirit-Sealing Mist Formation in the Star Sea Wonders. It cuts off spiritual sense and prevents spiritual energy from being detected…”

“Second, who sent you?”

The man hesitated.

The flame at Su Ji’s fingertip instantly flared up by another inch.

“Ah—! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!”

The man let out a shriek like a slaughtered pig. “It… it was the Azure Sea Sect! The Azure Sea Sect put out a bounty!”

“A bounty?”

Su Ji raised an eyebrow. “A bounty for what?”

“A bounty… for live captives.”

The man’s voice shook. “Any cultivator who enters the Star Sea Wonders, regardless of cultivation level—as long as we capture them alive and deliver them to the designated location, we get paid according to their cultivation. For example, a Golden Core cultivator is worth ten thousand high-grade spirit stones, while a Nascent Soul cultivator is worth fifty thousand. As for anyone above that… I didn’t dare ask. I couldn’t beat them anyway.”

“They accept corpses too… but the price is much lower.”

Wang Ping, who was standing nearby, felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head.

He had indeed participated in the Star Sea Wonders three times, so he knew that there was an unspoken rule forbidding the wanton slaughter of cultivators in the outermost area.

After all, low-level cultivators like them could at most scrape together a little of the leftovers.

There was little benefit in killing them, and it was easy to bring trouble upon oneself.

As cultivators, they might have committed all kinds of evil behind closed doors, but they could never openly wear the label of demonic cultivators. Otherwise, they would become targets of everyone’s wrath.

“So that’s how it is.”

Su Ji nodded thoughtfully.

It seemed that the “big shot” from the Azure Sea Sect had quite the appetite.

Was he planning to turn every cultivator who entered this place into nourishment?

“Where’s the designated location?” Su Ji continued asking.

“It’s…” The man shakily took out a jade slip. “This is the map…”

Su Ji accepted the jade slip, glanced at it, and casually tossed it to Su Jiu.

“Very good.”

Su Ji released his grip. The man collapsed onto the ground as if granted a new lease on life, gasping desperately for breath.

“Senior… may I leave now?”

“Leave?”

Su Ji looked down at him from above, a cold smile appearing on his face.

“When did I ever say you could leave?”

The man’s face stiffened. “But you clearly just said…”

“I said I would spare your life.”

Su Ji cut him off.

The moment his voice fell, Su Ji kicked the man in the dantian.

Bang!

A muffled impact rang out.

“Ahhh!”

A shrill scream echoed through the depths of the sea.

To a cultivator, having one’s cultivation crippled was even more agonizing than death.

After finishing, Su Ji suddenly called out, “Fellow Daoist Wang.”

Wang Ping shuddered all over and hurriedly bowed. “S-Senior, what orders do you have?”

After witnessing what had just happened, if he still regarded Su Ji as some wealthy young master at the mid-Golden Core stage, then all his centuries of cultivation had been wasted.

Even when facing a genuine Transformation of the Divine Soul expert, Wang Ping felt that he had never been this nervous.

“No need to be so formal.” Su Ji smiled and pointed at the shadow, who was still clinging to life on the ground. “Have you ever killed an enemy above your cultivation level?”

Wang Ping froze for a moment, then gave a bitter smile and shook his head like a rattle drum.

“Senior, you’re making fun of me.” Wang Ping wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “With my meager abilities, I’m fine picking up scraps in the outer area. But if I encounter someone a full realm above me, I’d wish I had two extra legs to run away on. Killing someone above my level? That’s something only the prodigies of major sects can do. How could I ever dare dream of it?”

In this cultivation world of survival of the fittest, the gulf between realms was like an insurmountable chasm.

A Golden Core cultivator killing a Nascent Soul cultivator?

That was the kind of story found only in tales. In reality, it was simply suicide.

“Oh, is that so?” Su Ji nodded thoughtfully. “Then today is a good opportunity. You can have a taste of it.”

He tilted his chin toward the shadow on the ground.

Wang Ping jerked his head up, his eyes widening until they nearly bulged out.

“What? You don’t dare?”

Wang Ping looked at the shadow lying on the ground—a mighty expert who had always seemed far beyond his reach.

His hands trembled.

It wasn’t fear, but a kind of… indescribable excitement.

After spending so many years in the Chaotic Star Sea, Wang Ping had always been the sort of minor character who bowed and scraped, saying whatever was appropriate to whoever he met.

He knelt before the strong and ran whenever danger appeared.

But today…

“Haa…”

Wang Ping took a deep breath. His gaze gradually turned fierce.

He strode forward, gripped his sword with both hands, aimed at the shadow’s heart, and plunged it down with all his strength.

Pfft!

The blade pierced flesh, sending blood spraying into the air.

The shadow’s body convulsed violently several times. The resentment in his eyes quickly faded, and in the end, he fell completely silent.

Wang Ping gasped for breath as he pulled out his sword.

Warm blood splashed across his face, yet he felt… extraordinarily hot.

“All right, stop savoring the moment,” Su Ji said at just the right time, interrupting Wang Ping’s self-satisfaction.

Wang Ping immediately got to work. He frisked the corpse with practiced ease, so smoothly that it was almost heartbreaking to watch.

A moment later, he ran over to Su Ji, holding two heavy storage pouches in both hands. His face was covered in a fawning smile.

“Senior, this was all thanks to you. I wouldn’t dare keep it all for myself…”

Su Ji accepted the pouches without ceremony.

“Let’s go, Fellow Daoist Wang.”

“Go… where?” Wang Ping asked instinctively.

By now, the inside of the Star Sea Wonders had already descended into complete chaos.

There was killing and counter-killing everywhere. By all logic, this was the time to find a hidden place and lie low until it was all over.

Su Ji turned around and gazed toward the depths of the sea, in the direction concealed by the thick fog.

“Bring the bodies up and collect the spirit stones.”

“The Azure Sea Sect is being so generous. If we don’t go show our support and thank them in person, wouldn’t that be rather rude?”

Wang Ping: “……”

He stared at Su Ji’s back, his throat suddenly going dry.

Show your support?

You’re going there to wreck the place!

……