The Demon King is back, leading adorable kids on an adventure around the world!

It was almost dark when we got back to the Fang family home.

Niannian walked through the courtyard gate, her clothes covered in dirt and gravel. The scratch on the back of her hand had completely healed, leaving only a very faint white line.

Luo Tian sat on a stone bench in the courtyard. The tea in front of him had gone cold, but he didn't drink it; he just sat there.

Someone will stop you on the road.

"Hmm." Niannian sat down opposite him. "Thirty or forty, more than last time, it took a little longer to fight."

Luo Tian asked, "Are you injured?"

Niannian looked down at her shoulder; there was a tear in her clothes, but the skin underneath was perfectly intact.

"Their clothes were only torn; they weren't injured."

Luo Tian nodded, without asking for further details.

He stood up and walked to the courtyard wall, standing for a while facing the outer edge of the valley.

The patterns on the shallows of the riverbank are being covered by the rising tide, and the wet marks at the edges are slowly widening.

The sandy areas are being compacted by the tide, which is refilling the surface with a smooth layer.

"Go to sleep. I'm going out tomorrow." He said, then turned and went back into the house.

The next morning, Luo Tian left without anyone. Nian Nian had just woken up when he left.

She stood by the window watching his back as he walked across the low slope at the edge of the valley, his pace neither fast nor slow, until he disappeared after he climbed over the top of the slope.

Like a shrub being flattened by the wind, its edges blend into the ground, leaving not a single extra trace.

Niannian withdrew her gaze and turned to wash up by the well.

Luo Tian walked along the low slope on the outside of the valley for a while, then changed direction and walked north along a dry stream.

He walked slowly, as if he were just stepping on the pebbles and grass in the shallow ditches, his feet not touching the mud and leaving no footprints.

After walking for a while, he stopped at a bend in the stream. There were some footprints on the ground, some new and some old, leading in different directions.

He squatted down and glanced at it a few times, then stood up and changed direction, continuing along one of the more recent tracks.

After walking for about half an hour, he stopped at the edge of a shallow valley.

At the bottom of the valley, there was a small, makeshift tent with a roof made of coarse cloth and secured with wooden stakes on all four sides.

Two people, both at the mid-stage of the Mahayana realm, were standing outside the tent, talking in hushed tones. One of them looked up and saw Luo Tian.

Luo Tian walked to a spot about ten steps away from the tent and stopped.

The tent flap was lifted from the inside, and a middle-aged man in a dark robe came out.

His face was ordinary, the kind of face that wouldn't easily blend into a crowd. He glanced at Luo Tian:

"Are you from your Fang family's side?"

I guess so.

The middle-aged man lowered the curtain and stood at the tent entrance:

"The Fang family has managed to hire someone? You've come to me alone; are you here to negotiate or to start a fight?"

Luo Tian said, "Let's talk first."

He stood in front of the tent, and the two mid-stage Mahayana cultivators outside the tent had already taken two steps closer to him.

However, they did not get within arm's reach; they simply stood in a position where they could reach the weapon.

The curtain was lifted a corner again, and the person inside glanced at Luo Tian again before lowering the curtain. As if confirming something, they neither came out nor spoke.

Luo Tian took two steps to the side and stopped at a position where he could see both the main entrance and the side exit of the tent at the same time.

He neither moved forward nor backward; he just stood there.

The middle-aged man in the dark robe came out of the tent again, followed by another person.

The man was rather thin, with most of his face covered by a hood, except for a thin jawline and a short beard about half a finger's length on his chin.

Luo Tian paused for a moment when he saw him.

"What is your relationship with the Tianyuan Sect?"

The man didn't answer, but he shifted his weight slightly, as if he were shifting his weight from his left foot to his right foot before speaking.

The movement was very light, so light that it was like unintentionally adjusting one's direction while walking, but Luo Tian saw it.

Luo Tian didn't ask a second question and took a step forward.

This step covered a greater distance than any of the previous ones. He appeared in front of the man, giving him no time to react, and reached out to press down on his shoulder.

The man tried to turn to the side, but the moment Luo Tian's hand touched his shoulder, his movement was not wide enough to complete the turn.

Luo Tian took another half step forward, slid his hand from the man's shoulder to the side of his neck, and gently pressed it. The man stopped in his tracks.

Throughout the entire process, Luo Tian did not use any spiritual power or any magical artifacts.

He simply moved to a position where the opponent's usual movements were impossible, pressed down on that spot, and prevented him from turning around.

The middle-aged man inside the tent had already taken half a step back, raising his hands, but he didn't move them forward any further, keeping them suspended about half a foot in front of him.

He glanced at his hooded companion who was being held down by the shoulder, then at Luo Tian: "Who exactly are you?"

Luo Tian didn't look at him; his gaze was fixed on the person being held down.

Answer my question from earlier.

The man didn't speak, but a fine layer of sweat seeped from his forehead, sliding down the edge of his brow bone, hovering above his jawline for a moment before being blown away by the wind.

The middle-aged man took a step forward.

Luo Tian tilted his head slightly to glance at him, a small movement, just enough to sweep his gaze from the side.

But in that brief moment of sweeping, the direction of the spiritual energy flow reversed midway, as if it had gone halfway, discovered something in front of it, and circled back.

The middle-aged man pulled his foot back half a step and stopped.

Luo Tian released his grip and took half a step back.

He didn't say anything, nor did he turn around; he simply walked back the way he came.

The two mid-stage Mahayana cultivators outside the tent did not move. The curtain was lifted and then fell back in the wind, revealing half of their faces watching Luo Tian's back before closing again.

When Luo Tian returned to the Fang family home, Niannian was squatting in the yard drawing something on the ground with a twig.

She looked up at him, but didn't ask about the result: "Are those people still there?"

Luo Tian said, "Yes, let's go together tomorrow and clear it out."

Niannian paused for a moment, then stood up and placed the branch on the edge of the well:

"Should we take all those people with us?"

Luo Tian said, "You don't need to bring them all. You, Xiao Xiao, Xiao Jin, and Luo Nannan are enough."

Niannian nodded, looked down at her palm, and then clenched her fist:

"Then I'll go to bed early tonight."

She turned and walked back into the house, stood by the threshold for a moment, then turned her head and said:

"Don't step on those lines I just drew on the ground."

Luo Tian looked down and saw several arcs drawn with tree branches on the ground next to the well platform, crisscrossing and extending outwards, their ends converging at the same point.

He stopped just outside the edge of those curves, went around them, and sat down under the eaves.