On this day, you were halfway through your journey, still within the Northern Frontier, when the vision around you suddenly turned crimson.

This was "Traffic Light" activating autonomously upon encountering danger.

"All red?"

You looked in all directions, and it was uniformly deep red!

This meant...

You were surrounded!

Strike first to gain the upper hand!

"Hundred Demons Night Parade!"

With a wave of the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, countless Demon Souls surged forth, sweeping out in all directions from you as the center!

"Demon Pot Flames!"

The Demon Refining Pot spewed eerie, low-temperature green flames, controlling the area first!

You held the Violet-Gold Iron Staff, using the iron staff like a sword, sweeping out a wave of fierce energy into the dense thicket.

"Vermin! Show yourselves!"

You stepped on the "Seven Divine Starry Steps," "whoosh-whoosh-whoosh" directly arriving mid-air.

After fully releasing your spiritual sense at maximum power, you discovered some nearly imperceptible shadows.

These shadows were slowly rising upright from the wild grass taller than a person.

There was nothing beneath their feet as they gradually floated into the air.

Ten people, all at the Martial King Realm!

These ten Martial Kings wore identical dark-red light armor and black masks of the same design, with a blood-red crescent moon pattern on the forehead of each mask.

Seeing the pattern on the masks, you had a sudden association with an organization.

"Are you people from the Blood Moon organization?"

One of the Martial Kings scoffed mockingly.

"To think that in this backwater of the Five Regions, a mere Spirit Condensation cultivator would know of our Blood Moon."

Another Martial King said flatly.

"He's no mere Spirit Condensation cultivator. He's the great hero who saved the Five Regions, a big shot who can claim some connection with all the powerful figures in the Five Regions who have a say."

The other Martial Kings chuckled.

"Right, right, a big shot, a big shot..."

"Can this big shot still put on airs without his protectors around?"

"Hahaha!"

At this moment, you understood.

The trouble at the Southern Borderlands Female Emperor Temple was Blood Moon's doing.

The North Sea Sea Monsters luring away Elder Brother was likely also Blood Moon's handiwork.

They were after you, so they first diverted the powerful experts around you.

You silently crushed a piece of jade.

This stone could send a distress signal to Elder Brother thousands of miles away.

So, Blood Moon's people are hunting you because they discovered you're a survivor of Luoding Village, here to wipe out the last traces?

If that's the case, wouldn't Shen Qingshan's family be in danger now as well?

You knew with your current state, you were no match for ten Martial Kings.

They weren't from the Demon Tribe, nor were they in a soul state; the two bug-level golden combat traits couldn't take effect.

The only option now was to hide inside the Nine Provinces Cauldron and wait for Elder Brother to rescue you!

Without the slightest hesitation, you had the Ten Thousand Souls Banner emit a cool black smoke to cover your retreat, retrieved the Nine Provinces Cauldron at the fastest speed, and prepared to enter the small world within the cauldron.

"Crack!"

A strange sound rang out beneath your feet.

You looked down and saw the ground beneath you had, at some unknown time, sprouted some strange written symbols.

These symbols glowed with an eerie green light, flickering on and off.

"What is this?"

The next instant, you realized something was wrong.

"Da Chun?"

The Nine Provinces Cauldron was out, but you couldn't enter the small world within.

Your connection with Da Chun had been severed!

No matter how you called, Da Chun gave no response.

One of the opponents waved a hand lightly, and the black smoke created by the Ten Thousand Souls Banner was dispersed.

The Ten Thousand Souls Banner was hiding in the black smoke, and the Shen Family Founding Ancestor Soul Slave preparing to ambush them was thus exposed.

Several Martial Kings worked together, sealing it with a bunch of strange runes.

The Shen Family Founding Ancestor's soul, due to the backlash from the failed possession attempt, could only exert Martial King-level combat power, and being just a soul entity, was naturally at a disadvantage against normal Martial Kings.

Thus, it failed again.

These people spoke with contempt, conversing as if no one else was present.

"Exactly as Brother Mengyi predicted, this guy would definitely try to take out the Nine Provinces Cauldron and hide inside upon seeing us."

"Fortunately, we were prepared. Otherwise, letting him hide inside and fly around would be quite troublesome."

"Brother Longjiu, after killing this guy surnamed Chen, we should take the cauldron and leave."

"Hahaha! Thank you, elder brothers, for letting me have this share of the credit!"

Blood Moon wasn't after you.

They wanted to obtain the Nine Provinces Cauldron!

It must have been exposed during the battle with the Demon Tribe, attracting them.

Within the Five Regions, you weren't afraid of the Nine Provinces Cauldron being coveted because all the major powers were connected to you in some way.

Who would have thought, hands from outside the Five Regions would reach in!

Although you were renowned and respected within the Five Regions, these Martial Kings from the Blood Moon organization didn't take you seriously at all.

Some of them were casting spells at the Nine Provinces Cauldron; you saw more bizarre runes fall upon it, wrapping it up tightly.

Under the suppression of these runes, the massive Nine Provinces Cauldron began to shrink forcibly.

At the same time, the Martial King called Longjiu had already raised his hand towards you.

"What Hero Chen? Just a guy with connections, fishing for fame and undeserved reputation! Come, let me see how you, this great hero, block this palm strike of mine!"

The opponent's carelessness gave you the chance to use the Trait Slingshot.

This Longjiu could have stopped you in time, but he underestimated you, not thinking you could threaten him.

The enemy was too strong, it was a matter of life and death, so you didn't hold back either, directly pulling out an Epic trait!

You launched the Epic trait "Sudden Inspiration" using the "Trait Slingshot"!

Seeing a clump of characters flying towards him, Longjiu frowned slightly and disdainfully swatted it away with a slap.

"What kind of messy thing is this? Utterly useless!"

If he had dodged, you really would have had no way to deal with him, but he chose to swat it with his hand.

That meant it hit.

Longjiu raised his hand, still aimed at you.

"This trait didn't work..."

You were just about to launch a second trait.

Longjiu suddenly pointed a little finger towards the sky, and a yellow light bulb appeared above his head.

"Huh? If I kill all nine of you, and bring back the Nine Provinces Cauldron alone, wouldn't all the credit be mine alone?"

The other nine Martial Kings didn't even react for a moment, wondering what this guy was saying.

Until Longjiu threw a punch at the Martial King nearest to him, punching a hole clean through the other's shoulder!

"Longjiu! What are you doing?!"

Longjiu acted as if he had lost his mind, starting to frantically attack his teammates.

"Hahaha! All the credit is mine! Mine!!"

The assassin called Mengyi reacted the fastest.

"It's that guy surnamed Chen's doing! Be careful of his slingshot!"

At that moment, you had just launched your second trait.

But with Mengyi's warning, they all started dodging your attacks.

"No use..."

With the gap in cultivation realms, it was hard for you to hit these Martial Kings flying around in the sky with the slingshot.

Three of the nine Martial Kings broke off to deal with the crazed Longjiu together, while Mengyi and the other five temporarily halted the retrieval work on the Nine Provinces Cauldron, turning their focus towards you.

The six Martial Kings surrounded you completely.

"Kid, you have quite a few treasures. A Spirit Condensation cultivator controlling a Martial King? Even in the Great Wastes, we've never seen such a move. What a pity, these treasures are about to change hands!"

Just as Mengyi was about to make a move, you took out another item.

A Female Emperor Golden Body statue!

"Have anything to say? Talk to my wife!"