The news about the Demon Clan getting their "home stolen" spread quickly throughout the continent, and it wasn't just a simple rumor. It came with a high-value bounty from the Demon Clan.

A Xie Xiu (heretical cultivator) who could disguise their true face, and could create countless insect-like Xie Sui (evil creatures).

In addition to the Demon Clan, several major Demon Cultivation sects also issued kill orders. Following them, righteous sects also gradually issued their own kill orders.

However, ordinary cultivators hesitated to accept these kill orders.

Passerby A: "The Demonic Path issued a kill order, and the Righteous Path also issued a kill order. This Xie Xiu has offended all the powerful sects. You can see how strong they are!"

Ordinary rogue cultivators and cultivators from small sects would be lying if they said they weren't tempted by the bounty.

But looking at the reason behind such a high reward, who would dare to take on this bounty?

Passerby B: "A Xie Xiu, offending so many sects at once and getting a kill order issued against them, they must be quite capable."

Passerby C: "Even the major sects can't deal with them, how can us rogue cultivators and family cultivators guarantee we can?"

Passerby D: "You think the major sects issued kill orders for nothing? I heard that many small and weak sects have already been slaughtered!"

Passerby E: "Damn! Don't scare me!"

In a teahouse in a small cultivation town, a group of cultivators with mostly Qi training were chatting about this gossip as if they had heard about the opening of some secret realm, excitedly talking all at once.

Sitting in the corner, dressed in coarse linen clothes and wearing a bamboo hat, Qi Hai Kui remained silent.

The place he transmigrated to was as a disciple of one of those small and weak sects that had been slaughtered.

He was the only one left in the entire sect.

If he hadn't happened to go down the mountain that day to meet a family player who had also transmigrated nearby and coincidentally avoided the disaster, he would probably be gone too.

Sitting across from him, Mei Ruita was also dressed inconspicuously. She and Qi Hai Kui had encountered the same situation; she was the family disciple who Qi Hai Kui was supposed to meet.

The coincidence was that after they met, Mei Ruita followed Qi Hai Kui back to his sect, only to witness the slaughter of the entire sect. Then, Qi Hai Kui became "homeless," and Mei Ruita suggested that Qi Hai Kui go back with her.

But when she returned, her own family was also gone.

Suddenly, there were two more lonely and unlucky people in the world.

Moreover, the Righteous Five Sects and the major Demon Sects that everyone was talking about were very far away from their area, and the players they encountered were also pitifully few. So, the two decided to head towards the center of the continent.

The two flew and cultivated along the way. When they encountered towns, they stopped to look for players who might have transmigrated, and to inquire about more information. As a result, they didn't find any players, but they did hear the truth about who might have destroyed their sects.

"You think it could be the Insect Clan?"

After leaving the teahouse and buying the cultivation items for the next leg of their journey, the two didn't leave immediately but decided to stay in this town for a while.

Qi Hai Kui rented a courtyard and installed a soundproof defensive formation before they started talking.

"Based on their descriptions, it should be. I also went to the town's notice board and saw the bounty order. It's true."

Qi Hai Kui nodded. In this cultivation world, who would create insect-like Xie Sui (evil creatures) for no reason?

"But what exactly are they doing? Is it really just to kill people all over the world? Is there any pattern to their actions?"

Mei Ruita frowned. Even though she had dealt with the Insect Clan covertly several times in reality, she knew how cunning they were. But she still couldn't understand this kind of killing behavior in the game.

"In our area... the only ones who had accidents were your family and our sect. Before hearing this news, I thought we had offended some enemies. But it seems like that insect made the move."

Qi Hai Kui listed the sects and families in the original places they transmigrated from and said, "Our sect isn't the most powerful, nor is it the strongest in the area. Your family is even above average. There are no rare and unique resources, and there's no possibility of treasure snatching and killing."

"But if it really was the Insect Clan who made the move, I think the reason might not be what you said above."

"Of course. What I said before was just what people would normally do. If it's the Insect Clan..." Qi Hai Kui shook his head. He didn't understand how they had offended them.

"What about those major sects? They issued kill orders against them. What's the purpose of all this?"

Mei Ruita felt that they couldn't deduce anything from the places they originally came from. After all, they hadn't even really become familiar with the sects and families they belonged to before they were gone, so they couldn't provide more information.

"That's why we need to go to the center. This edge... even players are scarce." Qi Hai Kui felt a little uneasy when he thought about how long it had been since they had seen another player.

"Do you think... there might be others like us, who just weren't as lucky as we were?" Mei Ruita's reminder made them feel even heavier.

"On the road ahead, let's pay more attention and collect information about the sects and families that have been destroyed."

...

"I'm so tired every day!"

Lou Jia, who was trying to make up for her mistakes in the Hehuan (Joyous Union) Palace, came out again. After working hard for several days without closing her eyes, she couldn't find anything. She didn't dare to return to the Hehuan Palace, so she went directly to Linjing City, found Lu Gui, and lay on the bed in the house where they gathered, wailing.

"Could that insect teleport? The flying treasure I snatched before my transmigration can't keep up with the speed at which they commit crimes. They kill one in the north today and another in the west tomorrow. Even with my flying treasure, I'd have to fly for half a day to cover that distance. Are they the ultimate workaholics or something?!"

It happened that Lu Gui also came over today. He and Julian heard Lou Jia's shouts as soon as they entered the courtyard. Fortunately, the formation here was soundproof, or they would have attracted law enforcement.

"Teleportation isn't certain, but they must have a hidden transfer formation. You just haven't found it yet."

These days, not only these major sects were investigating, but Julian and Lu Gui had also used their own channels to investigate a lot of information. Among them, someone had discovered a small transfer formation.

Moreover, this transfer formation was very delicate and only transferred specific personnel. Others who wanted to explore the formation would trigger its own trap attacks.

"Is there anyone here who is very good at this kind of formation?"

Speaking of this, Lou Jia was no longer sleepy and looked at Lu Gui and Julian with hopeful eyes, but both of them shook their heads.

"The disciples of the Butian (Mending the Sky) Sect are good at formations and divination, and the disciples of the Bibo Yaoshan (Azure Wave Jade Mountain) are good at refining weapons, pills, and special illusion formations."