Chapter 44: Secluded Silence Town

"Thank you, Third Young Master."

Mu Yudie stood up, calmly and unhurriedly putting away the ancient zither. She looked at the Moon Shadow Envoy, whose eyes flickered, and said, "Chasing for so long, you didn't expect to end up sealing your own fate, did you?"

"Beimeng Ce, this is a matter between Dark Moon and the Mu family. Your Beimeng family had better not get involved!" The Moon Shadow Envoy didn't look at Mu Yudie but stared straight at Beimeng Ce, saying, "As long as you let me take Miss Mu away, our Dark Lord will certainly reward your Beimeng family. Anything can be negotiated."

"There's no need to negotiate." Beimeng Ce shook his head and said calmly, "Since you're here, you might as well not leave."

Two elderly men, one fat and one thin, suddenly flew out from behind him.

The two old men, resembling demons, pounced directly on the Dark Moon envoys. A few seconds later, all the Dark Moon envoys, including the Moon Shadow Envoy, were gutted and killed on the spot.

After doing all this, the two sinister old men silently stood behind Beimeng Ce again, like his two shadows.

Diyalan stood beside Mu Yudie, witnessing the brutal deaths of the Dark Moon envoys, her face filled with shock.

Although she knew the Beimeng family was powerful in the Merchant Alliance, she never expected them to be so overwhelmingly strong! The Beimeng family didn't even take Dark Moon seriously, showing no mercy and killing without hesitation, not giving any face.

"Sister Lan, do you still think our decision was wrong?" Mu Yudie asked with a smile.

Diyalan's expression was complex, and she sighed, "You were right, but I..."

"Don't think about it anymore. For our future, it's best to forget what needs to be forgotten." Mu Yudie gently advised.

"Okay." Diyalan nodded helplessly.

"Can we set off now?" Beimeng Ce's dark eyes roamed over Diyalan and Mu Yudie for a moment before he politely asked.

"Of course."

...

In another part of the stone forest.

Shi Yan had just stepped into a fork in the path when he suddenly felt a sense of alertness and quickly retreated.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow instantly whizzed past in front of him, and at the same time, a blue smoke ball from the Mo family flew into the sky.

"Hmph! It's you again! You really don't know when to die!" Shi Yan said with a cold snort, his face grim.

Mo Yan Yu, holding a crossbow, emerged from a stone cave, her face icy cold, and looked at him coldly, saying, "You finally showed up!"

The one-armed Qiangsen and Li Han also came out from behind the rocks, blocking Shi Yan on either side, their faces full of caution.

"Looking for death!"

Shi Yan roared and suddenly darted forward like a sharp sword, lunging at Mo Yan Yu.

His body was shrouded in white mist as he flew at high speed, his killing intent overwhelming, like a fierce demon.

"Whoosh!"

Shi Yan's heels ground into the ground, his body leaning back, leaving a long furrow in the soil. He suddenly stopped and then turned, rushing towards Qiangsen at an even faster speed.

"Bang!"

Before Qiangsen could react, a white figure suddenly rushed at him, and a force like a mountain collapse surged into his body.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

Qiangsen's bones shattered, blood streaming from his mouth and eyes, and he fell to the ground, groaning.

"Qiangsen, right? When you whipped me a while ago, did it feel good?" Shi Yan stood beside Qiangsen, kicking him in the chest repeatedly, saying with a cold laugh, "Does it feel even better now? Huh?"

Qiangsen's face was full of terror, his broken ribs piercing his heart, his eyes rolling back, and he died.

"The boy is ruthless!" Li Han's face changed, wanting to attack Shi Yan but worried that Mo Yan Yu would suffer the same fate as Qiangsen. He hesitated, shouting but not daring to intervene.

Mo Yan Yu's beautiful eyes were filled with shock, watching Shi Yan brutally kill Qiangsen, she was momentarily stunned.

Qiangsen's vital energy quickly dissipated into Shi Yan's acupoints, and in just a few seconds, it was completely gone.

Shi Yan turned his head, his eyes fixed on Mo Yan Yu, and said with a cold laugh, "Beauty, we will meet again. Believe me, you will regret provoking me."

With that, he lowered his head and slipped into a hollow stone, disappearing into the stone forest after a while.

"Why didn't you kill him, Elder Li!" Mo Yan Yu shouted angrily after Shi Yan disappeared.

"This guy is at least at the Second Heaven of the Innate Realm. His methods are ruthless, and his attacks are deadly. He's also too fast, and I had trouble keeping up. If I left you, you would become the target, and I was worried about your safety..." Li Han said helplessly.

"Second Heaven of the Innate Realm!"

Mo Yan Yu drew a sharp breath, her shock deepening, and she muttered, "How is that possible? Two months ago, he only had a thread of essence in his body, and he was at the First Heaven of the Postnatal Realm!"

"What?" Li Han's body trembled, looking at her in disbelief, and after a long pause, he said, "If that's true, Miss, you've brought a big trouble to the Mo family!"

...

Shi Yan remained calm and composed, swiftly flying through the stone forest, not lingering in any area.

He had seen that Li Han was at the Human Realm, and with the Mo family's blue smoke ball already in the air, experts would soon gather. He needed to leave early to avoid being surrounded.

It was precisely because of his vigilance that he managed to escape from the dangerous area before Mo Chaoge and his group arrived.

The stone forest didn't seem to have many ruthless people lurking. He ran quickly and wasn't ambushed by a single stranger, which made Shi Yan somewhat surprised. He vaguely guessed that the abnormality in the stone forest might be related to the important person Mu Yudie was waiting for.

By evening.

Shi Yan finally crossed the stone forest and headed towards the nearby Secluded Silence Town.

At this point, he slowed his pace, slowly sorting through the memories of the body's original owner, thoroughly understanding the situation of the Shi family.

He needed the identity of the body's original owner.

As one of the five major families in the Merchant Alliance, the Shi family had a unique advantage in various cultivation resources, such as martial techniques, gravity training halls, various rare herbs, and guidance from experts.

He needed to use these advantages to maximize his own strength.

He had already decided to go to the Shi family by the blood pool, which was why he declined Mu Yudie's invitation.

The identity of the body's original owner was special, and joining a new force would create too many unnecessary troubles.

Moreover, a new force wouldn't use their best resources on him.

Going to the Shi family was different...

The original owner of this body was a young master of the Shi family. As long as he showed enough talent, the Shi family would spare no expense to cultivate him, not stinting on any cultivation resources.

With such unique advantages, not using them would be a waste.

...

Stepping into Secluded Silence Town, Shi Yan walked straight to a shop that bought various strange minerals without hesitation. As soon as he entered, he called out loudly, "Someone!"

A servant-like clerk smiled and approached, fawning, "Young Master Yan, you're back. The family head was worried when you didn't return from the Dark Forest and sent Elder Han to fetch you. Young Master Yan, Elder Han is in the back yard. He's been waiting for you for a while, but now Elder Han is a bit... inconvenient. Should we wait a bit longer...?"

The servant's expression was ambiguous, his eyes looking at the back yard with deep meaning.

"No problem, I know what he's doing." Shi Yan ignored him and walked straight to the back yard of the shop.

In the back yard of the shop, several martial artists of the Shi family were gambling. When they saw Shi Yan come, they were all flustered, awkwardly putting away the dice and saying in unison, "Young Master Yan!"

"Continue playing." Shi Yan waved his hand and strode through the martial artists, heading towards a room at the back.

The gambling martial artists, seeing that Shi Yan didn't blame them and just left, were all surprised.

"Hey, this time Young Master Yan didn't blame us, that's strange."

"Yeah, in the past, every time he saw us gambling, he would scold us, saying we were neglecting our duties and losing ourselves in trivial matters. This time, he didn't say anything, that's odd."

"Young Master Yan seems different from before. It's like he has some presence, some authority. Don't you feel it?"

"Now that you mention it, it does seem so."

"..."

Shi Yan came to the door of the room, pushed it open, and walked in, saying, "Uncle Han, when did you arrive?"

Han Zhong was taken aback, hurriedly putting on his clothes, and laughed dryly, "Young Master Yan, when did you come in?"

"Quite a while ago." Shi Yan smiled, took a sip of tea, and waved his hand, "No problem. If you're not done, you can continue with the nine shallow and one deep. I'm bored anyway, and I can observe and learn from you, Uncle Han."

"..." Han Zhong coughed violently, embarrassed, "We're done, we're done. ... Little Fairy Xiaofeng, shouldn't you go back to your business?"

"Okay, I'll leave now." The woman hastily put on her clothes, blushing as she got out of bed. As she walked to the door, she suddenly turned and glared at Shi Yan, saying, "They say the Shi family's Young Master Yan is the most proper, but I think those people are blind. I've never seen such a bad 'proper' young master! Humph!"

With that, Xiaofeng laughed and gave Shi Yan a flirtatious look before walking out gracefully.