As Jiang Li listened to Lu Qianqian, he also recalled Yu Banxia's odd behavior.

On the flying boat back to the sect, Yu Banxia suddenly expressed his confidence in participating in the Outer Sect Competition.

At that time, Jiang Li had already felt that it was a little strange, but after hearing the explanation of the other party, he did not think too much about it.

However, now that he recalled it, the other party's confident appearance was clearly the same as his. He was completely confident.

It seemed that he had really encountered something special when he was in the Southern Seal Kingdom. Or rather, an "opportunity".

But, again, why had he defected?

No! It did not matter what Yu Banxia thought now.

In this matter, the one who took the lead was clearly Elder Duan.

That Elder Duan possessed a powerful variant ice spiritual root and was deeply trusted and valued by the sect.

Therefore, they had sent him to the Southern Seal Kingdom to bring back the two thousand unconscious children.

Not only that, but he had also brought the flying ship to the downstream of the Mother River in time to reinforce it and successfully dealt the Golden Core zombie demon a fatal blow.

Logically speaking, he should have no reason to defect.

Or rather… was defection not his own decision?

"It seems that this situation is much more terrifying than I imagined."

Before Lu Qianqian could calm down, Fatty Yan Hong ran over anxiously.

Ever since he entered the sect, he did not have much contact with Yu Banxia and the rest, so the checks he received were relatively light.

However, after hearing the news, he hurriedly ran over out of worry.

Of course, he was only worried about Jiang Li.

"Jiang Li! Have you heard?"

The nimble fatty rushed into the small house. When he saw the messy room and sobbing Lu Qianqian, he immediately understood that Jiang Li had heard about it.

"Jiang Li, go to the Outer Sect Affairs Hall immediately! Quickly cancel the registration for the Outer Sect Grand Competition!"

Yan Hong could not say anything else and pulled Jiang Li out.

"What happened again? What's wrong with the Outer Sect Grand Competition?"

Jiang Li felt a headache coming on. He only wanted to fight in an arena where he could crush his opponent. Why was it so difficult?

"There's no time to waste. Leave with me quickly, or else it'll be too late when the name list is confirmed!"

Yan Hong was very anxious, but his strength was worlds apart from Jiang Li's. He could not move at all.

"I think… it's already too late."

Jiang Li took the wooden tablet on the table and handed it to Yan Hong.

"The people from the Outer Sect Law Enforcement Hall came just now and asked me to gather tomorrow."

"What's the change in the outer sect competition? Tell me."

Yan Hong took the token and immediately became devastated, looking like he was beating his chest and stamping his feet.

"Jiang Li, you don't know this, but the Outer Court Competition this time is for you to assist in the pursuit of the defected disciples!"

Jiang Li learned from Yan Hong's knowledge in the trading area.

It turned out that last night, Elder Duan had led his disciples and several others to seize the sect's flying ship and defect.

However, because they forcefully used the flying ship without permission, their tracks were quickly exposed and they were pursued by the sect.

In the end, the flying ship was shot down by the sect elder while chasing after them. Elder Duan brought his disciples to hide in a mortal city and was still fleeing.

For some reason, the sect was unwilling to attack mortal cities on a large scale. Inner sect disciples were relatively precious and could not be casually sent into the city to risk their lives

It just so happened that it was time for the outer sect competition. The higher-ups of the sect directly changed the content of the competition and let the outer sect disciples enter the city to search.

As long as they could find the location of a defected disciple, they would be able to stand out among the outer sect disciples and enter the inner sect.

The sect made it sound easy, but even someone with a good brain could sense the danger within.

Jiang Li's fingers knocked on the table.

Yan Hong's news brought him quite a bit of pressure.

This action of the sect was no different from sending outer sect disciples to their deaths.

So what if they found the location of the defected disciple?

Among the group of defectors, there was a powerful Core Formation realm elder.

Even if he sent out a signal and won the competition, so what? That outer sect disciple would definitely die.

How could he have the fate to become a high and mighty inner sect disciple?

Forget about Core Formation elders, even against a Foundation Establishment inner sect senior brother, Jiang Li did not have much confidence.

However, the sect clearly did not give them any room to refuse. Once the name list was out, this order was absolute. Jiang Li and the others had to go no matter what.

Jiang Li was a little worried now, but he was also more puzzled.

Why was the sect so unwilling to harm mortals on a large scale?

Moreover, it was not only the Scripture Storage Valley, but the entire cultivation world.

Logically speaking, it was inevitable for the hearts of people to change after one grasped a formidable strength.

Even if most cultivators could abide by the Dao Heart and root out the strong while supporting the weak, what about the minority? What about the demonic cultivators?

Even in a game, there were many players who would slaughter a novice village. Jiang Li did not believe that such a demonic cultivator had never appeared in the cultivation world in all these years.

However, from what he knew, such a massacre was extremely rare. It was so rare that it had only happened three times in the past hundreds of years.

It was not that Jiang Li was cold-blooded and bloodthirsty, but even if he was kind-hearted, he could not be stupid enough to think that the entire world was pure and good.

In the cultivation world where individual power could easily wipe out a country, the probability of this was really so low that it was strange.

From what he knew, there were at least ten cultivation methods that could allow one to advance by leaps and bounds through large-scale slaughter. What kind of mentality made cultivators so "friendly" towards mortals?

Furthermore, once Elder Duan hid in the human city, the sect became timid.

It was the same as what he had seen and heard in the Southern Seal Kingdom when he was on a mission.

This did not make sense!

Jiang Li could not figure it out, which meant that there was definitely some key information hidden that he did not know.

It was not that the cultivators were unwilling to slaughter them, but they could not or did not dare to!

"Brother Jiang Li… if you met Banxia… could you…"

While Jiang Li's thoughts were in a mess, Lu Qianqian, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke again.

She did not finish, but her meaning was obvious.

She hoped that when Jiang Li went to search, he could let Yu Banxia live or help him out.

Jiang Li was speechless. Firstly, their relationship had not reached that stage. Secondly, Jiang Li admitted that he did not have the ability to do that.

Now, it was no longer a matter of letting Yu Banxia off.

It was because he, Jiang Li, was also facing a huge life and death crisis.

After sending Lu Qianqian off, Yan Hong stayed behind for a while. He took out a lot of things and placed them on the table, letting him take whatever he could use.

It made Jiang Li feel touched.

"It's not convenient for me to travel around now. I still have 400 spirit stones here. Can you help me buy something?" Jiang Li handed over four medium-grade spirit stones and spoke softly to Yan Hong.

"Leave it to me!" Yan Hong patted his chest and left, while Jiang Li continued to sit there.

He reached into his robe and gently rubbed the small coffin.