Chapter 889: Chapter 889

Ding Fan was quite astonished; he had not expected to encounter Ruan Yuan here.

The last time Ding Fan saw Ruan Yuan was at the Martial Arts Tournament on Serpent Island, which ended abruptly, and Ruan Yuan left in haste.

At this moment, Ding Fan glanced at the two people besieging Ruan Yuan.

The cultivation of these two assailants was not lacking, seemingly around Heavenly Level third or fourth grade. Moreover, judging by the aura these two exuded, they appeared to be from the Ghost Sect.

Ruan Yuan's cultivation was merely at the early stage of the Heavenly Level, so he was struggling to cope with the onslaught from these two.

Without any delay, Ding Fan's figure flickered as he dashed straight into the fray.

Putting aside the previous acquaintance he had with Ruan Yuan, even if not for that, Ruan Yuan was still a member of the Immortal Sect, and Ding Fan was eager to find out what was happening in the Immortal Sect.

Whoosh! Ding Fan swiftly moved in, his Wind Blade slashing repeatedly towards the attackers.

The two Ghost Sect disciples besieging Ruan Yuan didn't even realize what happened before they were swiftly slain by Ding Fan's Wind Blade.

Ruan Yuan was already at his limit and could hardly hold on any longer. Just when he thought his fate was sealed today, he was unexpectedly rescued by Ding Fan, whom he coincidentally met here.

Looking at the two slain Ghost Sect disciples on the ground, Ruan Yuan stared at Ding Fan in disbelief.

It must be known, those two were Heavenly Level strong practitioners, certainly not mediocre. In Ruan Yuan's memory, although Ding Fan was powerful, he didn't seem capable of instantly killing two Heavenly Level martial artists at once.

"Are you alright?" Ding Fan asked casually, as if he hadn't just slain the two Ghost Sect disciples.

"If you had arrived just a bit later, I would have died here," Ruan Yuan said with a wry smile.

Indeed, Ruan Yuan was telling the truth as he had already reached his limit.

"You... you are from the Immortal Sect?" At that moment, Ye Tianshi approached excitedly, as if he had seen some treasure.

Although Ruan Yuan didn't recognize Ye Tianshi, seeing him with Ding Fan prompted Ruan Yuan to nod.

"Indeed, from the Immortal Sect, that's wonderful, wonderful…" Ye Tianshi was nearly jumping for joy.

After all, his daughter was gravely ill, and he had been dreaming of obtaining the Divine Power Herb, so seeing someone from the Immortal Sect was surely a delight.

Confused, Ruan Yuan glanced at Ding Fan.

Ding Fan shook his head with a smile and then glanced at Ye Tianshi.

Ye Tianshi, being a sensible man, saw Ding Fan gesturing to him and quickly held his peace, refraining from speaking further.

"We should leave this place now. Otherwise, the people from the Ghost Sect will soon catch up and pursue us," Ruan Yuan suggested, looking around.

Ding Fan nodded, understanding now was not the time for idle chat. "Alright, let's find a place to hide first."

Immediately, Ding Fan used a Fireball Technique to incinerate the corpses of the two Ghost Sect disciples, wasting no time as he, along with Ye Tianshi and Ruan Yuan, ran deeper into the forest.

As they dashed, they eventually found a cave where all three of them entered.

Ding Fan then took out materials for Array Refining and set up a simple Concealment Formation at the cave's entrance. With this formation, even someone like Gui Zhen from the Ghost Sect wouldn't be able to track their whereabouts. Chapters fırst released on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝓷𝓮𝓽

"What exactly happened?" Ding Fan asked Ruan Yuan.

The Martial Arts Tournament on Serpent Island was also hastily concluded because of the Ghost Sect's interference; it was said that the Ghost Sect even closed off the channels between the Immortal Sect and the Mortal Realm.

Now, with Ruan Yuan being pursued by the Ghost Sect, Ding Fan really wanted to understand the whole situation.

Ruan Yuan had no intention of concealing anything from Ding Fan.

"...The last Martial Arts Tournament on Serpent Island was disrupted midway by the Ghost Sect; actually, Serpent Island is a channel to the Immortal Sect. I don't know how the Ghost Sect did it, but they forcibly closed that channel. Due to the urgency, the tournament had to be prematurely concluded."

Ding Fan nodded, aware of these matters.

Ruan Yuan continued, "When I returned to the Immortal Sect, I found that all the channels from the Immortal Sect to the Mortal Realm were closed. The people of the Immortal Sect were clueless as to why the Ghost Sect wanted to close our channels with the Mortal Realm, so they sent me to investigate. Besides this, the Sect Leader of the Immortal Sect asked me to convey a letter to the Spirit Sect. I made my way here but hadn't found the entrance to the Spirit Sect yet, when I was ambushed by these people from the Ghost Sect."

Ding Fan nodded, understanding the situation. "If all channels from the Immortal Sect have been sealed, how did you manage to leave?"

"The Sect Leader of the Immortal Sect used an ancient Teleportation Array," Ruan Yuan revealed, then he stopped speaking further.

Ding Fan knew this was a secret of the Immortal Sect, and their sharing so much was already a lot; thus, he did not press on with more questions.

As for why the Ghost Sect people were hunting down Ruan Yuan, Ding Fan could guess that they probably didn't want the Immortal Sect and the Spirit Sect to make any contact.

"Ding Fan, what brings you here?" Ruan Yuan then asked with some confusion.

"I'm also headed to the Spirit Sect," Ding Fan didn't conceal.

"You're also going to Spirit Sect? Were you invited by them?" Ruan Yuan asked unbelievingly.

Ding Fan nodded. "Somewhat like that."

Ruan Yuan looked at Ding Fan with a touch of astonishment. It was known that the Hidden Sects rarely invited outsiders into their premises, and if they did invite, it would generally be highly respected individuals.

Ruan Yuan couldn't quite understand why people from the Spirit Sect would invite Ding Fan. Although Ding Fan's cultivation in the Mortal Realm was astonishing, it didn't relate him to the esteemed reputation, so why the invitation from Spirit Sect?

At this moment, two figures suddenly darted past the cave entrance where they were located.

These two figures were the people from the Ghost Sect chasing after Ruan Yuan. However, their presence was concealed by a Formation, so those people did not discover Ding Fan and the others.

"It seems that the people from Ghost Sect won't leave anytime soon; we should rest here for now and continue our journey later." Ding Fan suggested.

Ye Tianshi and Ruan Yuan also had no objections; after all, the Ghost Sect was not to be trifled with. If the three of them really encountered people from Ghost Sect, it would indeed be troublesome to deal with.

Thereupon, the three of them sat down cross-legged and began meditating with their eyes closed...

Unconsciously, night fell, and the leftover glow of the moon spilled through the cave entrance, quieting the entire forest.

Whoosh whoosh... At this moment, a man carrying a woman stealthily approached from a distance.

The woman being carried by the man seemed somewhat unconscious, and the man directly took her behind a large rock.

From the man's expression, Ding Fan guessed that him bringing this woman to such a place certainly meant no good.

However, Ding Fan was no Lei Feng, and since they needed to avoid the people from Ghost Sect, he wasn't inclined to meddle in such matters.

Approximately after more than half an hour, the man, now putting on his clothes, walked out from behind the large rock. After ensuring that there was no one around, he drew out a longsword, chopped down several nearby trees, piled them up, and set them on fire; afterward, he threw the woman he had brought into the fire.

In front of the roaring flames, Ding Fan finally saw the man's face clearly.

After burning the woman's body, the man finally turned and left.

The man had taken advantage of the woman's body and ultimately killed her, proving himself to be ruthlessly decisive.

However, this was merely an episode; after all, people die every day in the world, and Ding Fan could not possibly attend to each one.

The night passed without words, and dawn eventually broke. At this time, Ding Fan used his Divine Sense to scout the surroundings. After exploring for a while, he could no longer find anyone from Ghost Sect.

It seemed those people probably left after failing to find anyone.

Thereupon, Ding Fan, Ruan Yuan, and Ye Tianshi left the cave.

The three of them continued on their journey.

According to the route marked on Ding Fan's Jade Slip, they were close to the Spirit Sect. It seemed they would not need more than half a day to reach the gateway to the Spirit Sect.

Not long after Ding Fan and his companions walked through the forest, they encountered a group of people.

Among this group, there were several martial artists. However, speaking of cultivation, it was rather low; the highest among them was perhaps around Human Level Fifth Grade.

The strongest among them, a man in his fifties, was at Human Level Fifth Grade. The four people following him were also from the Ancient Martial Sect, but their cultivations were likely only Human Level Third Grade.

Ding Fan and his companions couldn't believe these people intended to visit the Spirit Sect for a ceremony. Even if Spirit Sect was in decline, they wouldn't invite people of such low cultivation.

The five men were guarding two people.

One was a man in his thirties, and to Ding Fan's surprise, this man was precisely the one who burned the woman's corpse the previous night.

The other was a young woman just over twenty.

The woman seemed to have no cultivation at all, while the man's cultivation was at Human Level Peak.

At this moment, Ding Fan was unexpectedly surprised as he noticed something unusual about a pendant on the woman's chest; the pendant emanated a strong Spiritual Energy, clearly some kind of treasure.

Seeing Ding Fan and his companions, the group became very vigilant, after all, encountering strangers in the deep forest naturally made them extremely cautious.

"Who are you people?" The fifty-year-old man stepped forward, eyeing Ding Fan and the others with a guarded look.

"We are an exploration team and have gotten lost here," Ding Fan replied.

From their attire, Ding Fan could tell they looked like an adventure team, so he decided to pose as part of one.

"Exploration team?" The man in his fifties frowned, clearly skeptical.

"Xiang Mei, these people got lost while exploring too, so I think we should travel together," the man said to the young woman beside him.

Ding Fan was momentarily stunned, not expecting the man to actively incorporate them.

"Brother Feng, if you think it's fine then it's fine by me," said the woman called Xiang Mei.

"Lv Feng, these people have nothing to do with us; we shouldn't invite trouble," the fifty-year-old man frowned slightly, clearly concerned.

"When others are in trouble, we naturally should lend a hand. After all, being humane is part of life," Lv Feng said, then addressed Ding Fan and his companions.

"Let's walk together."