75: A "surprise" awaited us on the way down the mountain.

Outside the Qingyun Sect mountain gate, morning light was dim, and mist hung heavy.

Nearly five hundred Inner Sect Disciples, all below the Spirit Body Realm, were divided into ten teams, standing in neat formation beneath the massive mountain gate archway. Their faces were etched with gravity and unease.

For most of them, this was the first time they would leave the warm and safe sanctuary of the Sect to venture into the unknown and dangerous… real world beyond the mountain gate.

Lin Ye stood quietly at the end of the seventh squad, minimizing his presence.

He lowered his head slightly, his handsome face displaying a perfectly natural “nervousness” and “unease,” making him seem no different from his fellow Disciples who were descending the mountain for the first time, their hearts filled with apprehension.

However, deep within his calm eyes was an unfathomable coldness, like ten-thousand-year-old profound ice.

His gaze, subtly, swept over the figure at the very front of the team—Han Meng—who was burly like an iron tower and was currently conversing animatedly with the other team leaders.

“A death list, huh…”

Lin Ye silently curved a cold smile in his heart.

He knew that from the moment he was assigned to this team, this so-called “bandit suppression mission” had already transformed into… a life-and-death hunt!

The night before their departure, Lin Ye did not, as usual, invest all his resources into the AFK Cultivation Technique. Breaking his routine, he opened the System Shop, which had been unlocked for a while but never thoroughly explored.

He was well aware that outside the mountain gate, human hearts were unpredictable, and dangers lurked everywhere. Relying solely on powerful martial arts was far from enough.

He needed… more eyes!

Ultimately, he reluctantly spent a hundred contribution points from his already meager total to exchange for an auxiliary secret technique that could be called a “Divine Skill”—

Basic Reconnaissance Technique!

【Secret Technique Name: Basic Reconnaissance Technique (High Grade Mortal Tier)】 【Secret Technique Effect: By consuming Mental Energy, it can lock onto the aura of a designated target, analyze its trajectory, and identify its Cultivation Technique path.】

This was his true confidence, allowing him to calmly step into this “certain death situation”!

“Brother Lin…” A trembling, fleshy voice sounded beside him.

It was Fatty Wang.

His already round, fat face was now squeezed into a ball due to extreme fear, looking like a wronged steamed bun. He clung tightly behind Lin Ye, his body shaking like a sieve, as if he would burst into tears any second.

“Will… will we really… die out there?”

“Don’t worry.” Lin Ye didn’t turn his head, merely uttered two calm words.

These two words seemed to contain some kind of calming magic, miraculously settling Fatty Wang’s violently trembling body by half.

Just then, on the high platform, Elder Liu, in charge of this mission, finally finished his last instructions.

“The time has come!” His voice boomed like a great bell, filled with unquestionable authority, “Activate the Mountain Protection Array!”

“I wish you all… prosperous martial endeavors and a triumphant return!”

Buzz—

As his words fell, the invisible Mountain Protection Array that enveloped the entire Qingyun Sect suddenly rippled with transparent waves. Then, in front of the mountain gate, a huge gap, wide enough for ten people to walk abreast, slowly opened!

A surge of turbid air, completely different from within the Sect and filled with the scent of the mortal world, instantly poured in!

“Depart!”

Han Meng roared, and with a burst of vigor, he was the first to step out of the mountain gate!

The others, bracing themselves, followed suit.

When Lin Ye’s feet finally passed through the invisible barrier and touched the solid ground outside the mountain gate, he clearly felt that the invisible, protective connection between himself and the Sect had been completely… severed.

From this moment on, life and death were left to fate!

…The team advanced through the endless, vast mountains.

This was the outer perimeter of the Qingyun Mountain Range. Although it was already outside the coverage of the Mountain Protection Array, it was still Qingyun Sect territory, and ordinary Yao Beasts and petty criminals dared not act presumptuously here.

However, the atmosphere was far from safe.

Han Meng, like a general eager to show off, pushed the team’s marching speed to its limit!

He led the charge, moving like lightning, leaving most of the Disciples far behind.

His few cronies, who had already received instructions, intentionally or unintentionally spread out around the team, scattering the entire formation.

“Faster! All of you, faster!”

“A bunch of trash! You can’t even walk this short distance, and you talk about exterminating bandits?!”

Various humiliating curses were incessant.

Fatty Wang was already out of breath. If Lin Ye hadn’t been by his side, guiding him with an invisible Qi mechanism, he would have probably fallen behind long ago.

Meanwhile, Su Qingyue always stayed at the very front of the team. She ignored all of Han Meng’s commands and didn’t interact with anyone, as if everything around her had nothing to do with her.

But Lin Ye keenly noticed that her slender hand, gripping the sword hilt, had not relaxed in the slightest from beginning to end.

Clearly, she too had sensed the unusual, eerie undercurrent within this team.

The team thus moved swiftly in an extremely oppressive atmosphere.

About an hour later, when everyone had completely passed through Qingyun Sect territory and entered a more treacherous and densely forested primeval mountain forest—

A sudden change occurred!

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

A series of piercing, air-ripping whistles erupted without warning from the dense, dark forest on both sides of the path, a forest that seemed capable of swallowing people whole!

Dozens of poisoned arrows, gleaming with a faint blue cold light, like the scythes of death, transformed into an impenetrable rain of arrows, descending upon the Qingyun Sect Disciples, whose formation was already scattered!

“Enemy attack!!!”

A scream filled with panic and fear instantly tore through the tranquility of the mountain forest!

“Thud! Splat!”

Screams instantly broke out!

Several unlucky Disciples, caught off guard, were immediately struck by the poisoned arrows. Without even a groan, they fell to the ground, their bodies turning black, completely losing their vitality!

“Form a formation! Quickly form a formation!!”

Han Meng’s roar, filled with “anxiety” and “anger,” came belatedly!

However, the Disciples, already terrified by this sudden death, were no longer capable of organizing any effective defense! One by one, like headless flies, they scattered in panic, searching for cover!

Amidst this chaos!

“Kill!!!”

A cold, low roar, filled with killing intent, echoed from deep within the forest!

Immediately after, more than twenty agile figures, dressed in black night clothes and wearing ferocious ghost-face masks, silently converged from all directions, like leopards hunting in the dark night!

In their hands, without exception, they held sharp, standard long sabers!

Their footsteps were steady and powerful, and their movements, advancing and retreating, were filled with tacit understanding, subtly forming a… military formation capable of crushing everything!

How could these be a mere rabble of bandits?!

This was clearly a well-trained, well-equipped… squad of death warriors!

“Break through!!”

Han Meng roared, and he was the first to “fearlessly” confront a black-clad assailant! His longsword, wielded with broad, sweeping strokes, flashed with light, actually fighting the black-clad man to a standstill!

His cronies also “bravely” engaged several enemies.

Su Qingyue had already drawn her sword. Her cold figure, like a Fairy under the moonlight, exuded chilling Qi wherever her sword light passed, forcing two black-clad attackers besieging her to retreat repeatedly!

However, more black-clad figures bypassed them, like sharks smelling blood, charging towards the ordinary Disciples who were already in disarray!

Saber light flashed, and flesh and blood flew!

In just one encounter, seven or eight more Disciples tragically died under the sharp blades!

And the location of Lin Ye and Fatty Wang “coincidentally” became the hardest-hit area of the encirclement!

A full three black-clad figures, with fierce auras, formed a triangular formation, tightly surrounding the two of them!

“Brother… Brother Lin! Save… save me!” Fatty Wang was already so scared his legs were weak, his body shaking like a sieve, only able to desperately hide behind Lin Ye.

Lin Ye’s face also timely showed a perfectly natural “panic” and “fear.”

He clumsily drew the Low Grade Magical Artifact “Green Edge Sword” rewarded by the Sect, guarding himself and Fatty Wang in a very “clumsy” posture.

“Don’t… don’t come any closer!”

His scream, filled with a sense of “feigned courage,” even drew a silent… sneer from the three black-clad men.

The three of them exchanged glances, not even bothering to utter a single word of nonsense. Their long sabers, transforming into three deadly streaks of light, chopped down at Lin Ye from three different angles!

Their orders were simple.

In the fastest possible time, hack this arrogant young man… to pieces!

However, just as the three bright saber lights were about to strike!

Deep within Lin Ye’s seemingly “panicked” eyes, a cold, sharp glint suddenly flashed!

“System!”

“Basic Reconnaissance Technique, activate!”

【Command confirmed! Target locked… Analyzing aura… Analyzing trajectory… Identifying Cultivation Technique path…】

Buzz!

Before Lin Ye’s eyes, the entire world seemed to transform into a virtual space composed of countless data streams!

The angle of each saber swing of the three black-clad men, their habitual exertion of force, the trajectory of each Qi Circulation… everything was infinitely slowed down, decomposed, and quantified in his eyes!

Finally, three light-blue virtual panels, like high-tech interfaces in a movie, precisely floated above the heads of the three black-clad men!

【Target: Unknown Death Warrior A】 【Cultivation: Qi Refining Realm Fifth Layer】 【Cultivation Technique Analysis: 《Mountain Splitting Saber Art》 (Proficient), 《Fierce Tiger Fist》 (Beginner)…】 【Matching Cultivation Technique paths…】

【Ding!】

【Match successful! Its Cultivation Technique path has a similarity of… ninety-seven percent with the Cultivation Technique practiced by “Han Clan Guards”！】

As expected!!!

Looking at the identical analysis results on the three panels, Lin Ye’s heart instantly sank to rock bottom!

All his suspicions were, at this moment, confirmed in the coldest, cruelest way!

This was not some bandit attack at all!

This was a meticulously prepared… assassination trap by Han Meng!

An uncontrollable, bone-chilling surge of monstrous killing intent suddenly erupted from the deepest part of his heart!

“Han… Meng!”

He looked at the figure not far away, still “valiantly” fighting the “enemies” and enjoying the performance. In his dark eyes, undisguised… fierce killing intent was revealed!

“Since you want to play so badly…”

“Then I’ll… play a good game with you!”