Night fell, and Jiang Wang found lodging in an ordinary inn.

His morning and evening cultivation could not be neglected. Although with his current strength, he could stay in the wilderness without much danger, he was, after all, more accustomed to staying in places like inns, having lived in towns for so long.

Having finished the “cleansing” of his Inner Mansion, an aura rose just outside the door, timed perfectly.

“Who’s there?”

Jiang Wang stood up abruptly, gripping his sword.

“It’s me.” Yin Guan, who had deliberately revealed his aura, pushed the door open and entered leisurely.

“I thought you would have left long ago,” Jiang Wang said, relaxing his grip on the sword.

Qi was not far from here. If a powerful cultivator passed through, would the Xu dare say anything?

Yin Guan had just committed a great act in Qi, yet he dared to linger near Qi, in the Xu Kingdom, in such a blatant manner. It truly made Jiang Wang admire him.

He casually closed the door, took out the Cloak of Concealment, and placed it on the table in front of Jiang Wang, “Besides, I don’t make a habit of borrowing without returning.”

After Jiang Wang grasped the cloak, he added, “I’ve imbued this cloak with a secret art that can allow you to evade the detection of Divine Illumination cultivators. But the effect only lasts three times. Consider it your reward.”

He looked at Jiang Wang, his tone casual, “Want to try it?”

Jiang Wang was taken aback, “Wouldn’t that leave only two uses? Will you re-imbue it after I test it?”

“No,” Yin Guan replied bluntly.

He had already given what he considered a reasonable reward, and naturally wouldn’t bother putting in any more effort.

Jiang Wang had obviously expected this answer. Hearing this, he simply shrugged and neatly put the cloak back into his storage box.

If it were Yin Guan himself, he would definitely try it once, even if there were only two uses, to confirm its specific effect. For an assassin walking on the edge of life and death, maintaining doubt was the key to survival.

Yin Guan poured himself some tea, “Trusting an assassin isn’t a wise choice.”

He spoke to Jiang Wang with much more ease and naturalness than before. They were now more familiar with each other.

“I’m not trusting you. I’m just trusting my own judgment,” Jiang Wang smiled, “You don’t need to trick me with this. And I’ll decide when to use the cloak. There’s no point in you tampering with it.”

“I admire you more and more,” Yin Guan had to admit that Jiang Wang was indeed intelligent. He took a sip of tea and said, “How about it? Interested in joining the Gates of Hell? I can make you a Yama, wearing a mask, no one will know your true identity, and you’ll have a high position of power. King Biancheng, King Taishan, King Dushi, you can choose any of these positions. The resources and channels of the Gates of Hell will be open to you… How about King Equality?”

It seemed that this was his true purpose.

The Gates of Hell had suffered heavy losses in Qi and urgently needed to replenish their ranks. As the leader, Yin Guan naturally had to personally recruit Yamas. Although Jiang Wang was only a cultivator of the Inner Mansion, he possessed supernatural powers and had a promising future. In times of manpower shortage, he was not a bad choice.

Jiang Wang shook his head, “No thanks, they’re all too ominous.”

Yin Guan was speechless. On closer reflection, he really couldn’t refute that.

Of course, he also understood that it was unlikely that a cultivator with such a promising future like Jiang Wang would be willing to join the Gates of Hell. He didn’t have any intention of forcing him to join.

Jiang Wang proactively changed the subject, “Actually, Yue Leng has already given me a reward. You don’t have to bother.”

“That was given by Qi, not by the Gates of Hell,” Yin Guan said.

In his words, he was unconsciously comparing the Gates of Hell with Qi, which showed his high ambition.

Jiang Wang had accepted everything and wasn’t embarrassed. He was just changing the subject casually.

He thought for a moment, “Actually, I have a question I want to ask you.”

“I don’t guarantee I’ll answer,” Yin Guan said.

“It doesn’t involve you, nor does it involve your Gates of Hell,” Jiang Wang organized his words and asked, “I want to ask you, do you know… how are fierce beasts born?”

Yin Guan used to be the city lord of the twenty-seven cities of Lower Yu, although he didn’t have any real power. But later, he was the leader of the Gates of Hell, killing this and that every day. He should have a good understanding of the secrets of the cultivation world.

“Never paid attention to it,” Yin Guan shook his head, and then said, “If you want to know, why don’t you go see for yourself?”

Go see for myself… Jiang Wang hesitated.

Yin Guan looked out the window, “I have some time.”

“Then let’s set off now,” Jiang Wang immediately walked out.

Yin Guan: …

Jiang Wang would not forget that when the beast nest on Jade Balance Peak was in danger of being destroyed, Zhuang’s Prime Minister, Du Ruhui, arrived to take charge at the first moment.

The Xu Kingdom should also attach great importance to such important resource lands as fierce beast nests.

He, an Inner Mansion cultivator who had only opened his first mansion, was not arrogant enough to sweep across the Xu Kingdom.

With a thick thigh like Yin Guan extending over, when else should he cling to it?

The city where Jiang Wang temporarily stopped was called Songtao.

It was named because, from the highest point of the city, one could see a vast pine forest. When the wind blew, the branches and leaves rose and fell like waves.

Although the pine forest was lush and beautiful, it could only be viewed from afar, because many fierce beasts lived in this vast pine forest.

The gate of Songtao City that faced the pine forest was closed all year round. The city garrison was stationed directly outside the forest, protecting the safety of the city’s people.

But the pine forest was too vast to be completely enclosed. So fierce beasts often ran out and ravaged the people in other directions.

Many moving stories may have happened locally, but Jiang Wang knew that the deaths and injuries of the people in those directions were actually tacitly allowed by the Xu Dynasty.

Jiang Wang and Yin Guan bypassed the military camp and sneaked into the pine forest from an unattended direction.

Both of them flew close to the ground, without making any noise.

With a newly advanced Divine Illumination expert like Yin Guan by his side, there was no need to worry about safety. Even if they were spotted by the experts of the Xu Kingdom, there should be no problem in escaping. They were not breaking into the Xu Palace after all.

“This pine forest is much larger than the entire Songtao City,” Yin Guan sighed softly.

His voice rang out nearby, but it did not spread. There was some surprise in his tone.

For Jiang Wang, although this pine forest was vast, it was far from comparable to the Forest of Origin, and it could not move him at all.

Yin Guan was strong, but those secret realms were probably out of his reach, because all powerful secret realms already had owners and belonged to order. He did not have a proper identity to sneak into.

This was also one of the shortcomings of not relying on a powerful force.

“Yeah, it’s pretty big,” Jiang Wang casually perfunctorily.

Yin Guan glanced at him and suddenly disappeared.

Something was happening.

“If you’re not happy with my perfunctory attitude, you can say so! A dignified King Guangqin, so childish!”

Jiang Wang shouted in his heart, not panicking despite his surprise. He silently scurried up the treetop, hiding himself among the branches and leaves.

Then he heard the sound of a dry branch being broken. Two people, wrapped in black robes, walked from afar, talking as they walked.