29: We're targeting you.

Within the canyon, the atmosphere was extremely bizarre.

The arrogance and triumph on Ye Ming's face had not yet fully faded when the endless mockery and pity in the cold sneers of the group of Loose Cultivators froze him into a comical ice sculpture.

"Y-you… what are you laughing at?"

A sense of foreboding, like a poisonous snake, suddenly slithered into his heart.

He shouted, trying to sound fierce while being inwardly weak: "A bunch of lowly commoners, did you not hear what this young master said? Why aren't you moving yet!"

"Moving?"

The Leader of the Rogue Cultivators slowly tucked the portrait he had used to confirm the identity back into his robes. He raised his head, and the look he gave Ye Ming no longer held any of the previous probing, only a coldness like he was looking at a dead man.

"Of course we are going to move."

The moment his voice fell, his entire body shot forward like an arrow from a bowstring!

A terrifying pressure belonging to the Ninth Level of Qi Refining, filled with blood and Evil Qi, erupted, crashing down on Ye Ming's head like an invisible mountain!

"What?!"

The color drained from Ye Ming's face instantly!

"Ninth Level of Qi Refining?!"

This Loose Cultivator, whom he usually viewed as an ant, was actually… actually a top-tier expert who was only half a step away from Foundation Establishment?!

Without a second thought, he immediately pushed all his spiritual power to the limit, setting up a layer of spiritual shield in front of him while retreating rapidly to create distance.

However, in the face of such an absolute gap in strength, all his struggles appeared so pale and powerless.

"Rending Wind Palm!"

The Leader of the Rogue Cultivators roared and struck out with his palm! Massive spiritual power gathered on it, transforming into a huge green palm print that tore through the air with a whistling sound, striking first despite acting later, landing precisely on Ye Ming's fragile shield!

"Crack—"

With a crisp sound, the shield, which was strong enough to withstand a full-force blow from an ordinary Sixth Level Qi Refining Cultivator, shattered like fragile glass!

"Pfft—!"

Ye Ming was struck hard, spitting out a large mouthful of blood, and flew backward like a kite with a broken string.

His body slammed heavily against the distant mountain wall before rolling to the ground, his bones feeling as if they had fallen apart.

A single move, and he was heavily injured!

"W-why?!"

Ye Ming struggled to lift his head, his face filled with endless pain, shock, and disbelief!

He couldn't understand it!

What the hell was going on?!

The script wasn't supposed to go like this!

Wasn't it said that the Loose Cultivators in the Secret Realm wouldn't lay a hand on Ye Family Disciples?!

He pointed at the approaching Leader of the Rogue Cultivators and roared with a trembling voice: "Y-you are crazy?! Do you know who I am?! I am from the Ye Family! If you dare to touch me, aren't you afraid of my Ye Family's retaliation?!"

"The Ye Family?" The Leader of the Rogue Cultivators walked up to him, looking down from above with an increasingly mocking expression. "Of course we know you are from the Ye Family."

"Then why do you still…"

"We are targeting," the Leader of the Rogue Cultivators said slowly, enunciating every word, "you!"

Boom!!!

These words, like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, crashed down on Ye Ming's head!

He was completely stunned.

Targeting… me?

What does that mean?

However, the Leader of the Rogue Cultivators clearly had no interest in wasting any more words on him.

He simply waved his hand casually at his companions behind him.

"Strip everything off him! And harvest that bone-nourishing grass for me too!"

"Yes, boss!"

A group of Loose Cultivators rushed up like wolves and tigers, and amidst Ye Ming's eyes filled with anger, humiliation, and endless confusion, they looted everything in his Storage Pouch.

The bone-nourishing grass he had fought so hard for was also uprooted and taken.

After finishing all this, the team strode away under Ye Ming's resentful gaze.

From beginning to end, they didn't spare him another glance, as if they had merely crushed an annoying ant.

Half an hour later, deep in the dense forest.

"Help! Is anyone there!"

A shrill cry for help came from ahead.

The team of Loose Cultivators that had just "looted" Ye Ming looked toward the sound and saw a Disciple, also wearing Ye Family attire, being besieged by three First-Rank Mid-stage "Shadow Wolves," struggling and in constant danger.

"Boss, it's someone from the Ye Family!"

"Hmm." The Leader of the Rogue Cultivators nodded, his gaze sweeping over the face of the Ye Family Disciple.

—Not the person Lord Xuan Mo ordered them to deal with.

Without any hesitation, he waved his hand sharply.

"Go! Help them!"

"Yes!"

More than a dozen Loose Cultivators once again descended like fierce tigers down a mountain, roaring as they charged into the fray!

The Ye Family Disciple, who had already fallen into despair, was stunned at first when he saw these "heaven-sent soldiers," and then, his face filled with the ecstasy of surviving a disaster!

With the help of the Loose Cultivators, the three Shadow Wolves were quickly slaughtered.

"Th-thank you, Fellow Daoists, for your help!" The Ye Family Disciple bowed to the Leader of the Rogue Cultivators, thanking him with tears of gratitude.

The Leader of the Rogue Cultivators waved his hand, flashing a simple, honest smile, and said in a very "enthusiastic" tone: "Brother, you're too kind! In this Secret Realm, we should help each other! Those bastards from the Liu and Wang Families are not good people; you need to be careful on your own!"

After saying this, he took his people and turned to leave stylishly, hiding his merit and fame.

Leaving only that Ye Family Disciple standing there blankly, watching their departing backs, his heart filled with endless gratitude and admiration.

"Noble and virtuous! These are the true heroes!"

He was deeply moved, becoming increasingly convinced that the rumors about a "Loose Cultivator riot" were definitely a conspiracy by the Liu and Wang Families!

Another hour passed.

This team of Loose Cultivators encountered their third target beneath a waterfall.

It was another Ye Family collateral branch Disciple who had been "named" by Mysterious Ink, Ye Qiong.

At this moment, Ye Qiong's situation was even more miserable than Ye Ming's had been. He was tightly entangled by a Late First Tier "Water Python" and was on the verge of being dragged into the deep pool to be drowned alive.

When he saw the team of Loose Cultivators appear, he felt as if he had seen a lifeline, and using all his strength, he let out a roar for help!

"Fellow Daoists ahead! Save me! I am from the Ye Family! Come help me!"

He had already heard that the Loose Cultivators in the Secret Realm were all "righteous" people who loved to help others, specifically helping Ye Family Disciples!

However, this time, what greeted him was not the "Heavenly God descending" he had imagined.

The team of Loose Cultivators just stood quietly on the bank, watching his pathetic struggle in the water with great interest, as if looking at a clown.

"Y-you…" Ye Qiong's heart instantly turned cold.

Only after the Water Python was heavily injured by his desperate use of a trump card secret technique and fled into the deep pool did the team of Loose Cultivators slowly walk over.

"F-Fellow Daoists…" Ye Qiong was soaked to the bone, crawling ashore in a wretched state, just about to say something.

What greeted him was a huge fist carrying a whistling, vicious wind!

"Bang!"

Ye Qiong couldn't even react before he was sent flying by a punch, spitting out another mouthful of blood.

"W-why are you hitting me?!" He clutched his chest, his face filled with the same shock and confusion as Ye Ming before him.

The Leader of the Rogue Cultivators couldn't even be bothered to waste words on him.

He just coldly harvested the "Blue Water Grass" that Ye Qiong had been guarding, then took his people and strode away without looking back.

Leaving Ye Qiong alone, slumped on the cold ground, staring at the departing backs of the Loose Cultivators, his eyes filled with endless humiliation, anger, and… deep confusion.

Why?

What on earth is going on?!

Why could other Ye Family Disciples get help from the Loose Cultivators, but he and Ye Ming had to be treated like this?!