Chapter 1154: Old AcquaintancesZu An was shocked. At first, he had only planned to secretly investigate them, but now it seemed as if he had fallen into their trap. Fortunately, he had already condensed his soul. He instantly recovered from the stinging pain, and his finger shot out to deflect the thin and narrow sword. He was just about to retaliate when the attacker disappeared into the shadows. Endless yellow and white paper strips descended from above. While initially soft, those paper strips soon became incredibly sharp, leaving deep gashes in the nearby walls. Yu Yanluo reacted swiftly to the attack. She took out her World Painting and covered her head, sucking in all the descending paper. Suddenly, a thin sword stabbed toward her neck from the shadows. Zu An’s soul had become incredibly perceptive. He quickly grabbed the sword, not giving the owner a chance to run away. He pulled the attacker toward him and unleashed a palm strike. “Please be lenient!” someone cried in alarm. At the same time, several figures flew over. Zu An frowned when he saw who those people were. He redirected his strike toward the attacker’s chest instead of their head. Spurt! The shadow vomited blood, then withdrew. Just then, several daoist figures appeared. They were all people Zu An knew. In the lead was the Fiend race’s master rank cultivator Kong Qing; next to him was a little child with a rattle-drum in hand. However, Zu An and Yu Yanluo both knew he wasn’t a child, but rather just a midget. It was the infamous Venom Child. The stinging pain that had appeared in their heads had been caused by the sound waves emanating from Venom Child’s rattle. On the other side stood a woman dressed in bridal clothes; it was Paper Bride. The flying strips that had descended from above were her work. She had trapped Zu An for some time in their previous encounter. That experience was still fresh in his memory. As for the unfortunate man who was vomiting blood in the corner, he was a dark elf. However, he seemed to be a bit different from the one Zu An had met previously. At that moment, he looked at Zu An resentfully. Zu An ignored him and remarked, “So it was Sir Kong. I really didn’t expect us to meet here.” “I didn’t expect to meet little friend here either,” Kong Qing replied with a smile. However, he gave the dark elf a look, then said with a frown, “It’s just that little friend isn’t too kind. You clearly recognized us, and yet you still acted so fiercely.” Zu An replied, “Your side attacked me first, okay? This fella kept striking at our vitals too. If it hadn’t been because I recognized you and went easy on him, he would already be in the afterworld right now.” He actually hadn’t had to hurt the dark elf, but he had been annoyed at how vicious the elf’s attacks were. Furthermore, it was hard to say whether Kong Qing was a friend or foe, so weakening one of his subordinates was definitely a good thing. “This is called being merciful?” the dark elf spat, coughing out another mouthful of blood. All of his blood and ki was surging, and his entire body felt as if it were about to collapse. He would need around half a month to recover from his injuries. Paper Bride said with a cute laugh, “You should be grateful. If that young master Zu hadn’t held back, he would’ve smashed your head open like a melon with a single palm. You wouldn’t even be able to say a thing right now.” Even though the dark elf knew that was the truth, he was still unhappy. He shot back, “Damn woman, whose side are you on?” “I’m just speaking the truth.” Paper Bride walked over to his side, her hips swaying from side to side seductively. Her red fingernails gently moved across his face as she continued, “Also, please be a bit more careful when you speak. It wouldn’t be very hard for me to end your life in your current state at all.” That dark elf didn’t have any thoughts of admiring Paper Bride’s seductive posture, instead, he was so scared he trembled. He quickly shrank back, not saying anything else. Venom Child remarked mockingly, “Paper Bride, don’t tell me you ended up liking that pretty boy?” He was obviously unhappy that he had suffered a loss to Zu An last time, and thus took the chance to throw out a snide remark. “Young master Zu is handsome, and his cultivation is high. His character isn’t bad either. He’s much better than you all. It shouldn’t be surprising that I admire him,” Paper Bride replied, deliberately giving Zu An a flirtatious look. Zu An said with a slight smile, “Paper Bride’s charm must’ve won over the hearts of countless young men; what can I do…” Yu Yanluo thought to herself that these people from the sinister faction really acted however they wanted, but she hadn’t expected Zu An to actually tease them right back. She secretly gave him a pinch on the waist. You have successfully trolled Yu Yanluo for +7 +7 +7… Zu An couldn't help but laugh. He hadn’t thought the remark would make the beauty by his side jealous. However, not only did he not get angry, he instead felt happy. He secretly reached for her hand. Yu Yanluo’s face turned red. She was a bit embarrassed in front of so many people and quickly pulled her hand back. Zu An tried to grab her hand again. The two went back and forth that way playfully. Fortunately, they were quite close and their bodies hid their movements. The cave was dark too, so no one else noticed such small movements. “Hahaha~” Paper Bride covered her mouth, her body rocking back and forth as she laughed. She continued, “Receiving the young master’s compliment really makes me happy~ “But I know my limits. In terms of charm and grace, how can I compare to Madam Yu, who’s already at your side?” Yu Yanluo actually felt a bit embarrassed when she heard Paper Bride’s praise, which almost made it seem as if she were being selfish. Huh? I’m not like this normally. Why am I acting like this? Kong Qing coughed. He couldn't take Paper Bride’s flirting anymore either. He looked at Zu An and said in shock, “Hm? It has only been a few days since we last met, but the young master’s cultivation seems to have advanced considerably again.” After all, upon reaching the later stages of cultivation, every single bit of improvement would become tens or even hundreds of times more difficult. Just how many days had it been since they last met? And yet, Zu An had improved again. “I’ll have to thank all of you for the combat experience from last time,” Zu An replied ambiguously. He noticed something and remarked, “Hm? Sir Kong seems to be wounded.” He hadn’t noticed anything at first, but after Kong Qing had spoken, he could tell the other man’s inner ki wasn’t as stable as before. Even though Kong Qing had been hiding it, Zu An’s soul had become extremely perceptive. Kong Qing was a bit surprised. He hadn’t expected Zu An to have noticed his condition. As such, there was no point in refuting it. He replied, “Indeed, I was injured a bit.” Zu An was surprised. He asked, “Just who could possibly have hurt Brother Kong?” Kong Qing was a peak late-stage master rank cultivator and one of the fiend races. He had a group of cultivators around him too. Could he have run into Yan Xuehen? “Just a minor mishap,” Kong Qing replied. He clearly didn’t want to talk about it in detail, and instead asked, “Why are the two of you here?” Zu An said with a smile, “This is the Yu clan’s mine; isn’t it natural for the two of us to be here? I should be the one asking why you’re all here.” Kong Qing said with an embarrassed expression, “We have been hearing about the reputation of the Yu clan’s mines for some time, so we decided to take a look in passing.” “I suspect you are here to steal ki stones, while also investigating the secret passage to the fiend race territories. Is that right?” Yu Yanluo sneered. As the Yu clan’s leader and the head of the Snake race, she had access to a lot of intelligence. Kong Qing’s expression changed. He asked, “There really was a secret passage to the fiend race territories here?” Yu Yanluo shook her head and replied, “Of course not. I do not know where those rumors came from.” She obviously couldn't tell him the truth. Kong Qing frowned, not trusting Yu Yanluo’s answer. The two of them stared at each other, making the atmosphere a bit awkward. Paper Bride stepped forward to mediate things, saying, “The two of you must’ve come here because you sensed something was strange with the mine and came here to investigate, right?” Zu An exchanged a look with Yu Yanluo and asked, “How long have you been here?” “A few days,” Paper Bride replied with a sigh. “I really want to see the outside world again… I feel as if I might turn into mining slag if I continue to stay here.” Zu An thought to himself, Could it be that they don’t know what happened to Yu Yanluo? “You’ve all already been here for so long. Have any of you noticed anything strange, or encountered any formidable creatures?” The others’ expressions changed. In the end, it was Kong Qing who spoke. “At this point, there is no point in hiding it. Has the young master noticed that someone among our party is missing?” Zu An looked around and said, “I felt that there was something off earlier. Where’s the Gray Wolf King?” Kong Qing said with a pained expression, “The Gray Wolf King was eaten by that monster.”