Ten minutes later, Qin Yuanhao and the tall and thin man left the brothel with blank expressions, devoid of the excitement they had before entering.

Lu Yang scratched his temple. “They came out so fast?”

At the entrance, the madam handed Qin Yuanhao and the tall and thin man a piece of paper each, which they promptly destroyed after reading.

“Qin-xiong, the leader of the sect has summoned me to the branch, so I’ll be leaving first.”

“Okay, the leader also asked me to do something, so let’s part ways here. Don’t forget to help me spread the word about my visit to the brothel.”

“No problem.”

The two parted ways in front of the brothel, and Lu Yang followed the tall and thin man.

The tall and thin man had the same level of cultivation as Qin Yuanhao and did not notice Lu Yang underground.

As they walked, the passersby and buildings gradually thinned out until they reached a deserted mountainous area with no one in sight.

The tall and thin man seemed familiar with the area and walked along the mountain path leisurely. After about fifteen minutes, he stopped in front of a stone wall.

This place was located at the border of Yanjiang County and another county. In theory, it belonged to Yanjiang County, but historically, both sides had jurisdiction over it.

Because both sides had reasons, neither side bothered to claim it.

After all, there was nothing valuable here, and there was no need to fight over it.

The tall and thin man knocked on the wall three long and one short, chanting a spell under his breath, and the wall turned into water.

Qin Yuanhao stepped into the wall and disappeared.

Lu Yang heard him chant, “Immortal who is eternal, revive from death, dispel the clouds to see the sun, and live forever.”

“Is this a hidden realm?” Lu Yang’s eyes widened in surprise.

A hidden realm was a space opened up by a powerful cultivator who was proficient in spatial magic. The higher their cultivation, the more complete the space they could open up.

Generally speaking, a cultivator in the Nascent Soul stage could open up their own space.

Some cultivators liked to use hidden realms as their place of residence to live a solitary life, while others used them as tombs, also living a solitary life.

There were so many cultivators in history who had reached the Nascent Soul stage, not to mention the three higher realms of Core Formation, Soul Transformation, and Tribulation Crossing.

When a cultivator died, their hidden realm would remain, resulting in countless relics and hidden realms left behind by their predecessors. Most of them did not reveal the location or method of opening the hidden realm before they died, so people could only rely on luck to find them.

No one knew how many hidden realms were still undiscovered.

The senior sister said that with the arrival of the great era, more and more hidden realms were being discovered, and many people were getting lucky and soaring to new heights.

This hidden realm in front of him should belong to a predecessor who left it behind, but the demonic cult discovered it and took it as their own.

Lu Yang did not follow rashly; he chose to wait quietly underground for the tall and thin man to come out.

He felt that it was not safe to stay here, after all, this was the Yanjiang Sect, the stronghold of the demonic cult, and he did not know how many experts were inside. However, hiding in the ground was not discreet enough.

With this in mind, Lu Yang hid in the distance where he could see the entrance of the stronghold, using the shrinking technique provided by Man Gu to conceal himself.

After about an hour, a masked man walked out of the stone wall, followed by the tall and thin man.

It seemed that the masked man had a higher status than the tall and thin man.

“Hmm?” The masked man sensed that something was wrong and released his divine sense to scan the surroundings, even the underground.”Come out, I’ve found you. Don’t think you’re hiding well. Come out now, and I might spare your life!” The masked man said calmly.

“Still not coming out? Don’t think I’m a soft-hearted person. I’ll count to three. If you still don’t come out, don’t blame me for not giving you a chance!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“Die!”

The leader of the gang exerted a force from his palm and struck in a direction, making a booming sound.

“What’s wrong, leader?” The tall and thin man asked respectfully.

The leader shook his head. “I feel like someone is watching me. I tried to trick them, but there was no reaction. Maybe it’s just my imagination.”

Lu Yang broke out in a cold sweat. He had just thought of jumping out of the soil and fighting the leader, in order to seize a chance. Fortunately, his willpower was strong enough to suppress this impulse. He believed that his Barbarian Tribe’s hiding technique would not expose himself.

Lu Yang felt the leader’s divine sense scanning him, but he thought that the leader regarded him as a stone and didn’t pay attention to him.

“If the leader really finds me, he should take action directly instead of counting down.” Lu Yang thought to himself, “Fortunately, the Barbarian Tribe’s hiding technique is excellent. As long as I don’t move, I won’t be discovered. This leader should have a cultivation base in the Golden Core stage.”

“How is the preparation for the selection in ten days?”

“Everything is ready. We are waiting for our fellow cultivators to come here in ten days, and then we will pass the selection to join us.”

“That’s great. I hope we can recruit more talented cultivators from the demonic path this time. In this way, the headquarters will pay more attention to the Yanjiang Gang.”

The two of them walked and talked, quickly disappearing from Lu Yang’s sight. Lu Yang didn’t move, afraid of exposing himself.

“Golden Core stage cultivators are really not simple.”

Lu Yang waited for another half an hour, worried that the leader was too suspicious and would suddenly come back.

Half an hour later, the leader did not appear.

“He’s gone.”

Lu Yang left through the ground.

This time, he had gained a lot. Not only did he know the location of the Yanjiang Gang, but he also confirmed that the selection location was here.

…

“Tell me, Guojianchou, what’s with your hair? I heard that you pull out a hair for every person you kill?” The head of the arresters asked with his legs crossed, while the thieves sat across from him trembling.

“No… no, that’s not true. It’s just that being a leader is not easy. The team is hard to manage, and my subordinates keep causing trouble. The pressure is too great, and my hair falls out.”

“What about you, Pingming Er, I heard that you fought with a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator and blinded his two eyes, and he blinded one of your eyes?”

“My… my eyes are fine. Wearing an eye patch is more imposing. When you’re out in the world, you have to have something to brag about.”

“And you, Caoshang Fei. I heard that you went to the palace to steal, and you’ll probably be imprisoned for life or executed by Lingchi.”

The third thief protested, “It’s a misunderstanding, sir. I owe money and didn’t pay it back. The creditor broke one of my legs, and I was able to avoid the debt.”

The head of the arresters yawned. He thought they were all carrying big cases, but it turned out to be nothing.

“Arresters, I confess, I confess. I’ve stolen from sixteen families…”

The head of the arresters waved his hand. “Don’t worry about that for now. Tell me, why did you all come to Yanjiang County together?”

“Well…” The leader of the thieves hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of telling the truth.Guard Wei pointed to the torture room behind him: “Have you seen the torture tools back there? If you don’t speak up, we’ll use these things to make you talk.”

The torture tools were covered in black blood, making them look particularly gruesome. The thieves swallowed their saliva and rushed to confess.

“I was going to say…”

The thieves had just uttered two words when they suddenly stopped.

If someone were to come up behind them, they would see that they had thin cow hair needles stuck in their necks, which were laced with deadly poison!

“There’s an assassin!”

Guard Wei, who had the most experience as a constable, immediately reacted and rushed outside to look for the assassin.

But there was no one outside?

Inside the torture room, the shadows seemed to be alive and moving, and there was a low laughter that disappeared without a trace.