"Could it be that the Da Yang Merchant Troupe really has a chance to contend for the third spot in the Heavenly Merchant Alliance?!"

For a time, discussions erupted among the crowd.

Before today, no one had imagined it.

That the mere Da Yang Merchant Troupe, a small, unheard-of merchant troupe ranked outside the top hundred, could rise to such heights, even possibly reaching a level that everyone else could only dream of.

All eyes were on Fang Yue.

At this moment, Tan Jingmi, who had fainted on the ground, groggily awoke.

"I...lost?"

Seeing the reactions around her and Fang Yue standing steadily on the arena, Tan Jingmi was stunned.

She didn't truly grasp that she had lost, but the Da Yang Merchant Troupe's ranking already occupied the tenth position, indicating that everything was set in stone!

"How could this be..."

Tan Jingmi clenched her fists, glared at Fang Yue for a while, pushed away those who wanted to help her up, and stormed off in anger.

"Even Tan Jingmi is no match..."

Mang Liu Zi stared blankly, his mouth wide open. Could it be that Night-daren's strength is actually stronger than my master's?

Everyone knew that Tan Jingmi was Luo Yijie's fangirl, but no one dared to point it out.

Now that Tan Jingmi had been defeated, this scene fell entirely into Luo Yijie's eyes. It was unknown what Luo Yijie, as her idol, would think.

Some people couldn't help but look towards Luo Yijie, only to see him nodding with satisfaction, as if a senior seeing the progress of a junior.

As expected of the opponent I've been watching! Your strength is indeed as powerful as I expected. This man is worth fighting!

Casually defeating his opponent on the arena, Luo Yijie's aura soared into the sky. He had already firmly secured the champion's position in the second group of the arena competition.

Beside him, on the first group's arena, Tai Yuema also resolved his opponent after a few exchanges.

He was even better at pretending than Fang Yue. When Fang Yue fought ordinary opponents, he would resolve the fight in at most a dozen or twenty moves. Tai Yuema insisted on going back and forth many times, putting on a show with advances and retreats, before sending his opponent out, as if barely passing the mark.

Fang Yue took in everyone's reactions and went down to rest.

But soon, Fang Yue felt that something was wrong.

There was a gaze staring intently at him.

After breaking through to the Ren-level realm, Fang Yue's perception ability had reached a new level.

For example, right now, he clearly felt that the little guy called Jun Shao was somewhat different and abnormal.

Moreover, Fang Yue felt that the strange and fiery gaze from just now was cast by Jun Shao.

Watching Jun Shao walk towards him, Fang Yue became vigilant and secretly circulated his internal energy.

A bizarre possession? Or does this guy have other tricks up his sleeve?

Before Fang Yue could personally verify it, Jun Shao, who was halfway there, was stopped by a suddenly appearing Qing Wei and led towards Dou Hongyi.

But Dou Hongyi seemed to have sensed Fang Yue's gaze, paused, and walked towards Fang Yue, lowering his voice to say.

"Senior, were you calling me?"

Like hell I was calling you!

Fang Yue's face darkened, but after thinking for a moment, he said, "That little boy called Jun Shao has a problem."

"Senior thinks so too?"

Dou Hongyi's eyes lit up. "I'll take him away for investigation right away!"

"...Be careful."

"Yes!"

Dou Hongyi blindly believed in Fang Yue's judgment.

After all, in his eyes, Fang Yue was a Yu-level big shot. Didn't he see the night rain above his head still falling intermittently?

To remain unfazed by the night rain above his head was enough to make people look at him with new eyes, not to mention that he was one of the people who knew Fang Yue's 'secret'.

Returning to his original position, Dou Hongyi left with Jun Shao.

At this time, Fang Yue was once again called onto the arena. At this point, he had gone from a challenger to being challenged.

Whoever came on stage to face Fang Yue would have a solemn expression, feeling an invisible pressure.

The shadow of the tree, the name of the person.

When Fang Yue replaced Tan Jingmi and stood in tenth place, he was essentially receiving Tan Jingmi's reputation and becoming the new arena master!

The battle continued, but no one was optimistic about Fang Yue's opponents.

In their opinion, the only ones who could defeat Tan Jingmi were the top ten experts of the Heavenly Merchant Alliance!

As for others, they were probably not qualified enough.

While the battles here were in full swing, Dou Hongyi led Jun Shao and a group of Qing Wei on the road back to the Qing Si.

The sky had gradually darkened.

The Ren Hun lanterns lit up on the streets, providing basic lighting, and the warmth of the earth's core dispelled the [Night Chill] for everyone.

This most basic guarantee was always the easiest to overlook.

Dou Hongyi walked on the night road, under the dim Ren Hun lanterns, his mind filled with thoughts of the arena. Compared to investigating Jun Shao and the bizarre, he wanted to return to the arena to watch the matches. Not to mention that Night-daren was still there, waiting for that [Nuo Mian Bizarre] to appear.

If he could help in some small way at that time, he might receive the favor of a Yu-level adult and rise to prominence from then on!

Thinking about these things, he turned a corner, and the Qing Si courtyard was already faintly visible.

But at this moment, Dou Hongyi suddenly stopped.

He could no longer hear footsteps.

Zheng!

Unhesitatingly drawing his sword, Dou Hongyi turned around and slowly retreated back to the corner.

He saw that on the street he had come from, the ground was covered with the corpses of Qing Wei, which also included...Jun Shao!

Dead?

Dou Hongyi was stunned and quickly went up to check for breath.

Just as his finger was placed on Jun Shao's nose, two fingers emerged from Jun Shao's nostrils, locking his finger tightly like a barb.

"[Nuo Mian Bizarre]?!"

Seeing the human hand's fingers, Dou Hongyi's expression changed drastically, and he slashed his sword at Jun Shao's neck.

Dang!

"Get away! Get away!!"

Dou Hongyi panicked and slashed several times, but like before, he couldn't sever the small hands, and instead, the slashes produced clanging sounds.

Watching Jun Shao grin as he walked towards him, Dou Hongyi finally panicked.

Roaring loudly, he poured all his internal energy into the long sword, causing the long sword to glow faintly, seemingly unable to withstand the immense power being infused into it.

At the moment when the power reached its peak, Dou Hongyi directly slashed at the group of small hands on his feet.

Ci——

With this slash, black blood splattered, and dozens of fingers flew into the air.

The small hands, which had just seemed invulnerable, had their fingers severed by this slash.

"Gugu gugu!"

The small hands retreated painfully into the ground, and while Jun Shao revealed a brief look of astonishment, Dou Hongyi took the opportunity to escape from Jun Shao's side and flee far away.

However, the direction he was fleeing in was not the Qing Si, not Lan Shan, and not the Heavenly Merchant Alliance headquarters, but...the arena!

"Senior...Night-senior, save me!!"

...