When Ding Fan revealed his name, the expression of the middle-aged man sitting next to him subtly changed.

The identity of the Young Master of the Ding Family, Ding Fan deliberately disclosed it because he wanted to find out if the middle-aged man recognized him. With a formidable enemy nearby, he felt it was necessary to probe.

Ding Fan noticed the change in the middle-aged man's expression and concluded that the man was indeed targeting him. Upon reflection, it seemed likely that his act of saving Old Master Qin and Xu Guanjie in Dancheng had alarmed his enemies.

Achieving his purpose, Ding Fan then fell silent.

The beautiful woman in the passenger seat merely snorted in response to Ding Fan's attempt to strike up a conversation, paying him no further attention. In her eyes, Ding Fan was nothing but a frivolous heir. She had no fondness for such people.

For a while, the car regained its tranquility as Ding Fan's mind raced, contemplating how to deal with the day's events.

This middle-aged man's fighting ability wasn't as strong as the person who had tailed him before, and Ding Fan was confident he could handle him. The best strategy now was to act quickly to eliminate him, preventing the arrival of more skilled opponents.

However, they were currently on a rural road, busy with pedestrians and vehicles, which made it difficult for Ding Fan to find an opportunity to strike.

"Recently, another team of explorers mysteriously disappeared in the Immortal Peak Primeval Forest. The forest police have already deployed a large number of helicopters for the search..." Seeking to alleviate the journey's monotony, the cab driver turned on the radio.

Upon hearing the news, the tension in the beautiful woman in the passenger seat intensified. "Master, could you turn the volume up a bit?" she asked.

"You really shouldn't go to the Immortal Peak Primeval Forest if you can avoid it. The elders always say there are Forest Monsters in there, and over the years, many people who've entered haven't come out," the driver said, increasing the volume of the radio as he spoke.

Sitting in the back, Ding Fan could feel the woman's nervousness. It seemed that she might be connected to those missing people.

Ring... At that moment, the beautiful woman's phone rang in the passenger seat.

"Man Er sister, where are you now? We're all rushing to the Immortal Peak Primeval Forest."

Although the woman referred to as Man Er held the phone to her ear, Ding Fan could still hear the voice on the other end of the line.

With the improvement of his senses after reaching the Second Level of Qi Cultivation, it was difficult for others to clearly hear the conversation through a phone held so closely, but for Ding Fan, positioned so near to Man Er, it wasn't much of a challenge.

"I'm in a taxi now, just passed Wang Village," Man Er confirmed her location.

"Ah? Sister Man Er, I'm in Wang Village right now, why don't you get off and I'll pick you up in my Hummer," the voice said.

"Alright, I'll wait for you by the roadside," Man Er immediately ended the call and then told the driver, "Please pull over."

"Little sister, is a friend of yours among that missing expedition team? I really advise you not to just go into that forest, it's truly a bizarre place," the driver said, pulling the car to the side of the road.

"Understood, thank you," Man Er said without looking back as she exited the taxi.

...

After Man Er got out, the taxi resumed its journey.

At this moment, Ding Fan wasn't concerned about why Man Er was heading to the Immortal Peak Primeval Forest. His previous conversation was merely meant to probe the middle-aged man.

Now, Ding Fan began to pay attention to his surroundings, looking for an opportunity to deal with the middle-aged man sooner.

"Master, I'll get off here," Ding Fan said to the cab driver, after another half hour of driving, at a road junction.

The map indicated that this junction wasn't far from the Immortal Peak Primeval Forest. Ding Fan chose to disembark here mainly because its proximity to the Primeval Forest meant it was sparsely populated, facilitating the disposal of the middle-aged man.

Furthermore, being at a junction could help Ding Fan confuse his pursuers if the middle-aged man alerted his accomplices.

Once out of the car, Ding Fan did not head toward the Immortal Peak Primeval Forest but chose a different path.

After Ding Fan got out, the middle-aged man stayed in the car, but Ding Fan pretended not to notice. Since the man was there for him, it wouldn't be long before he followed.

...

The taxi had hardly moved when the middle-aged man claimed he had diarrhea and got out of the car. The driver noticed nothing unusual; getting paid was all that mattered to him. He didn't concern himself with other matters.

After watching the taxi drive away, the middle-aged man finally bent down and hurried in the direction Ding Fan had taken.

The man was quite confident in his running ability, and since Ding Fan hadn't gone far, he believed a quick hundred-meter sprint would allow him to catch up. However, to his surprise, when he reached the road, it was completely empty, with no sign of Ding Fan anywhere.

"Looking for someone?" A cold voice came from behind the middle-aged man at that moment.

The middle-aged man, upon hearing the noise, violently turned around and was shocked to find that Ding Fan was standing less than two meters away from him.

The middle-aged man was a professional assassin, and very few people could stand behind him without making a sound. At this moment, his face became solemn. The information he had received indicated that Ding Fan was nothing more than a wasteful hedonist.

However, the Ding Fan in front of him didn't look like a profligate young master at all, especially considering the movement technique he had just displayed, which was quite impressive.

"Someone wants you dead," the middle-aged man said somewhat coldly.

Although Ding Fan had demonstrated an impressive movement technique, the middle-aged man was still very confident in his own abilities. As a professional assassin who had struck more than thirty times, he had never missed his target.

Therefore, he was confident that he could easily kill Ding Fan!

"Who wants me dead?" Ding Fan asked calmly, as though the two were merely having a conversation.

"Wang Luohao of the Yanjing Royal Family," the middle-aged man said.

As the middle-aged man spoke those words, he was also stunned. He didn't know why he had mentioned the name of his employer.

There were rules among assassins, and one of those was never to reveal the employer's name.

What the middle-aged man didn't realize was that, while he was astonished by Ding Fan's movement technique, his mind had fluctuated briefly, and Ding Fan took control of the pace and tone of his speech in that instant, hypnotizing the middle-aged man, which led him to blurt out the employer's name inadvertently.

However, Ding Fan knew that successfully hypnotizing him had been a stroke of luck. Currently, his cultivation was weak, and the opponent was a mentally composed assassin. If it hadn't been for his impressive movements that momentarily distracted the assassin, hypnotizing him wouldn't have been possible.

"You must die!"

Now that Ding Fan knew the name of his employer, the middle-aged man was even more determined to kill him!

Swish! The middle-aged man's right hand flicked, and he pulled a soft sword from his waistband.

The soft sword was as thin as a sheet of paper. Usually hidden within the waistband, it could be quickly drawn against an enemy. At that moment, Ding Fan thought the soft sword was quite a good choice.

Swish, swish, swish...

The middle-aged man lunged forward abruptly, his soft sword thrusting continuously. In the blink of an eye, he had struck three times.

From the middle-aged man's perspective, there was no way Ding Fan could dodge these three strikes. Once, a Thai Boxing champion from Taiha Country had been killed by a single stab from him.

Even if Ding Fan was impressive, the middle-aged man didn't believe he could be more formidable than a Thai Boxing king.

However, after he thrust the three times, his expression changed. The strikes that he thought would definitely hit Ding Fan all missed.

Not only did he miss with his three strikes, but Ding Fan, taking advantage of a moment to dodge, had seen an opening and kicked out. The middle-aged man had never imagined that Ding Fan could dodge his attack, let alone counterattack, so Ding Fan's kick sent him tumbling to the ground.

The middle-aged man's face turned red with anger. If others saw this, that a carefree debauchee had flipped him over, it would be a devastating blow to his pride.

The middle-aged man immediately tried to get up from the ground.

But just then, a strong gust of wind suddenly arrived. He didn't even have time to react before Ding Fan appeared before him, and then he felt a sharp pain in his throat.

The middle-aged man looked at Ding Fan in disbelief, unable to comprehend how Ding Fan could be so fast. Touching his throat, he felt a sharp pain and then his expression froze; a sharp branch had been thrust straight through his throat.

It was clear, Ding Fan had just used a simple tree branch to penetrate his throat...

Thud... The middle-aged man didn't utter another word; his body collapsed heavily onto the ground.

Though this fight might seem long in description, it all happened in less than ten seconds. Ding Fan wasn't sure if the opponent had a gun, nor was he sure when the opponent's companions might catch up, so he employed the quickest method to eliminate the middle-aged man.

Ding Fan picked up the middle-aged man's soft sword; he really needed a weapon for self-defense, and the soft sword was the best option.

Ding Fan searched the middle-aged man's body, finding only a phone but no other possessions, which left him speechless. Did this guy really go out without a wallet? He seriously doubted what the man had used to pay his fare earlier.

After dragging the middle-aged man's body into the forest, Ding Fan found a sharp piece of wood and dug a large hole in the ground, then buried the man there.

After handling these matters, Ding Fan headed once more toward the Immortal Peak Primeval Forest.

Approximately twenty minutes after Ding Fan had left, an SUV stopped near where he had buried the middle-aged man.

"Young Master Luohao, Black Dog's GPS signal was located here. I went to check just now, and Black Dog is dead…" At that moment, a man in black was holding a phone that was buried along with the middle-aged man.

The passenger side window of the SUV slowly rolled down, revealing a somewhat icy face. Looking toward the distant forest, he snorted softly.

"This Ding Fan really has grown capable..."