It was, in fact, a foolish question.
After all, the person was already dead.
If any trouble were to arise later, there would be no escaping it.
It wasn't that Ye Fan had acted recklessly or impulsively.
The crucial point was that the other party had intended to kill him, so he naturally had to retaliate.
As for any future trouble, they would deal with it when it came.
After all, that Nascent Soul realm demon core wasn't just for show!
While Ye Fan and Liang Rujing were sorting through their spoils, a pair of eyes watched them silently from not too far away.
It turned out that after Ye Fan and Liang Rujing had left, Wu De felt uneasy and had secretly dispatched someone to follow and protect them.
Although he believed that the forces behind Ye Fan would have already made arrangements, he still did it.
It was a gesture of goodwill, after all.
Even if they discovered it, it wouldn't matter.
When Zhao Hao had made his move just now, the bodyguard hidden in the shadows had almost intervened.
However, when Ye Fan's bullet flew out, he decisively stopped.
Even though the bullet wasn't aimed at him, it still made him feel a sense of danger!
While this danger wasn't enough to kill him, it was more than enough to deal with Zhao Hao!
Therefore, he chose to remain silent, continuing to act as a bodyguard from the shadows.
To be honest, he was quite surprised.
Firstly, he hadn't detected the presence of anyone else nearby, which meant that Ye Fan truly had no one protecting him.
Secondly, it was the power of that bullet!
He had originally thought Ye Fan was just a zero-combatant.
He never expected him to have such a formidable hidden trump card!
Perhaps that strange weapon was given to him by the forces behind him...
As the bodyguard was pondering nonsensically, he suddenly noticed Ye Fan glance in his direction.
The bodyguard's heart suddenly skipped a beat!
His stealth abilities were truly not weak.
This stealth wasn't just visual invisibility, but also maximized the shielding of his own aura.
Even someone a minor realm higher than him couldn't detect him.
Did he discover me?
No...
How was that possible?
But his gaze just now clearly had a pointed meaning...
"What's wrong?" Seeing Ye Fan suddenly look into the distance, Liang Rujing instinctively asked.
"Nothing," Ye Fan turned his head and led Liang Rujing back into the room.
He had indeed sensed something just now.
To be precise, ever since they left the Imperial City, he had sensed that someone was following them!
It's just that the other party seemed to have no ill intentions, so Ye Fan hadn't exposed them earlier.
When Zhao Hao had made his move, Ye Fan clearly sensed another, stronger energy fluctuation coming from not far away!
That energy fluctuation wasn't directed at him, so it could only be Zhao Hao and his group.
Furthermore, this was Ye Fan's first time in the Imperial City, and he had no dealings with any forces there.
After much thought, it could only be Wu De, the only person he had any connection with.
Ye Fan didn't comment on Wu De's gesture of goodwill.
It wasn't a bad thing, so he let it be.
The flying boat set off again.
Two days later, a figure blocked the flying boat's path.
The person wore a loose cloak.
Their face was hidden in the shadow of the hood, making their appearance unclear.
Ye Fan raised an eyebrow.
Someone dressed like this was most likely a demonic cultivator or a ghost cultivator...
But he couldn't understand why someone would suddenly appear to trouble him when he had just arrived in the Imperial City and hadn't offended anyone.
As for why Ye Fan assumed this person was here to trouble him?
Wasn't that obvious?
Did they expect him to come out for tea and a chat?
Sensing that the opponent's cultivation was around the Nascent Soul realm, Ye Fan placed his hand behind his back and secretly connected his mental power to the ring.
Fortunately, he had managed to get a Nascent Soul realm demon core from Wu De this time, otherwise, he would have been finished today!
"The wind is quite strong outside," Ye Fan said casually, "Why don't we talk inside?"
"Here are eighteen million high-grade spirit stones," the person said, taking out a ring and tossing it towards Ye Fan. "Hand over the item."
Ye Fan immediately understood.
So it was the guy who had bid against him earlier!
This was good news!
Since the other party was after that stone, they probably wouldn't attack him right away!
With that thought, Ye Fan decisively took out his sniper rifle.
"Clink."
The ring landed on the deck.
After rolling a few times, it stopped at Ye Fan's feet.
"Are you talking about this?" Ye Fan asked, as if he hadn't seen it, raising his sniper rifle and aiming it at the cloaked man. "Honestly, I'm quite fond of this thing. Could you let me play with it for a bit before I hand it over to you?"
The reason Ye Fan dared to be so brazen was by exploiting the mindset of these cultivators.
In the eyes of cultivators, magical treasures and weapons were all refined from various materials.
Since they were made of cultivation materials, the weapons themselves must possess some kind of energy fluctuation.
If a weapon had no energy fluctuation at all, it meant it was useless and had no power!
It was a small exploit, so to speak.
No matter how powerful the sniper rifle was, he was still a complete zero-combatant.
If the other party had attacked him immediately, he would have been utterly annihilated.
Fortunately, Ye Fan's gamble paid off.
The other party didn't even glance at the sniper rifle, and continued to speak in a low voice, "Hand over the item, or die!"
The response he received was Ye Fan pulling the trigger!
"Whoosh!"
A sharp sound of air being torn apart echoed out!
The face beneath the cloaked man's hood immediately changed!
An alarm bell rang in his heart!
That was...
The aura of impending death!
It was too late to dodge now!
The cloaked man immediately conjured a mass of purplish-black energy to protect himself!
And then...
"Bang!"
The protective energy instantly dissipated!
The cloaked man fell straight down!
"Is... is he dead?" Liang Rujing finally asked, mustering her courage.
Although the cloaked man hadn't used any pressure-based techniques, she still felt a terrifying sense of oppression!
She couldn't explain it clearly, but she almost couldn't breathe just now!
"Probably not yet," Ye Fan frowned.
The opponent's aura was around the mid to late Nascent Soul realm, while that demon core was only early Nascent Soul.
Coupled with the energy wasted during the conversion of the demon core, that one strike couldn't possibly have killed him.
However, the opponent's condition was likely not much better.
At least he wouldn't pose any threat to him for a while.
Ye Fan then instructed Kurota to lower the flying boat.
Soon, the flying boat landed on the ground.
The cloaked man lay motionless not far in front of the flying boat, his condition unknown.
"Kurota," Ye Fan ordered, "Go and take a look."
"Understood."
Kurota responded and took out its alchemy mecha.
Although that thing was almost scrap now, that was in terms of its offensive systems.
It was still perfectly fine for transportation.
As for Kurota's safety...
With the defensive capabilities of that Red Crow Ice Iron, withstanding an attack from a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator was like playing a game!
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The mecha took heavy, slow steps, walking towards the cloaked man.
Upon reaching him, the mecha extended a large hand and gently poked the cloaked man.
"Holy shit!"
Kurota's voice, amplified by the mecha's speaker, boomed out.