Guan Wen looked around and couldn't help but ask, "This place is incredibly eerie. Are there really low-level demonic beasts lurking here? What if there are high-level demonic beasts lurking here? That would be terrible!"

“No, not at all,” the burly man said with a smile as he walked up. “We’ve hunted in this forest many times. Don’t let its gloomy appearance fool you; it’s a place where small, low-level monsters roam, making it easy to hunt.”

Upon hearing him say such a thing, Guan Wen nodded with a silly look on his face, seemingly completely believing what he said.

Upon seeing his appearance, the scarred woman and the muscular man exchanged glances and revealed strange smiles.

But that smile quickly disappeared.

The four of them proceeded through the forest, with Guan Wen carefully marking a spot every few hundred meters. In this deep, dark forest, he couldn't see the sun, so he was very likely to lose his way.

Making a mark is a necessary thing.

After walking through the forest for about an hour or two without seeing any low-level monsters, Guan Wen said impatiently, "Why haven't we encountered any monsters after walking for so long? Could there really be some danger in this place?"

"Don't worry, would we lie to you?"

The big man patted him on the shoulder.

Soon it got dark, and the group found a clearing in the woods to camp.

Everyone was fully prepared, except for Guan Wen, who had nothing on him. However, the others very kindly took out their food, grilled it, and handed it to Guan Wen.

Guan Wen thanked them, took the food, and started eating.

After eating, Guan Wen felt a bit tired. After all, he had been trekking for almost half a day without finding anything, and he was listless. So he fell asleep by the campfire.

The three men were chatting, but after Guan Wen fell asleep, they all stopped talking at the same time and cast strange glances at him. After confirming that he was indeed asleep, the three left the campsite and slowly made their way to the dark woods nearby.

"This guy seems to have quite a few powerful magical artifacts. We can't act rashly. Let's take him around here for a few more days, exhaust him, and completely lower his guard before we make a move."

The burly man spoke to the crowd with an icy expression.

It turned out that the big man and the man and woman knew each other. They weren't a team at all, but rather they were fishing with cards set up in the market.

Every so often they would appear in the market and, just like Guan Wen had seen them earlier that day, would invite passersby to team up. Once a naive passerby like Guan Wen took the bait, they would lead him to this forest they knew very well, and then kill him and steal his valuables.

They've succeeded many times this month, earning a lot of spirit stones.

In fact, similar things happen frequently in this world of cultivation, after all, it is a cruel world of natural selection, unlike the world of superpowered individuals where there is a so-called superpower alliance.

Such things happen in every cultivation city. Cultivators with a little experience won't fall for such tricks. Only young people like Guan Wen would fall for it, and the big man and his group mostly target people like that.

"Understood." The man and woman nodded slowly; the burly man was clearly their leader.

After discussing their plan, the group prepared to return to the open space where they were camping and pretend nothing had happened.

But just then, a voice suddenly came from behind them: "I'm telling you, even if you want me to take the bait, you should bring some good meat. Do you think I'd eat this kind of fresh, rotten meat?"

"What!" Upon hearing this sound, the three men's faces immediately turned quite ugly, and they hurriedly retreated. Just then, a figure slowly emerged from the darkness behind them. It was Guan Wen. He moved his mouth and spat out a dark, gooey thing, which was the food that the three men had given him earlier.

"You didn't eat!"

The three of them were shocked to see him vomit the food.

"Nonsense, if I ate it, would I still be able to hear your discussions here?"

"You were prepared all along!" The burly man immediately realized what was happening, and a look of anger flashed across his face.

"Do you take me for a three-year-old? You guys are just standing at the market entrance with a sign, offering to take a complete stranger to hunt monsters in the forest. It's obviously suspicious. Any normal person would be wary, okay?"

Guan Wen rolled his eyes. When he first saw these guys at the market, he felt that they were very abnormal. Not to mention that the big man and the two men were holding up signs to recruit people, which was suspicious in itself.

The lean man and the scarred woman kept exchanging glances, clearly knowing each other. But the burly man claimed that the three of them didn't know each other at all. If he had told the truth, Guan Wen might have been less suspicious. But as soon as the man lied, Guan Wen immediately realized that he was up to no good.

Otherwise, why would he lie?

So, he was already quite wary, and now he was even more so. But at the same time, he knew that he had the skills to deal with these three people, so he decided to play along and follow them into the forest. However, after wandering around the forest for most of the day, he had not gained anything. This was not the behavior of a cultivator who often came here to hunt monsters.

Logically speaking, if these people want to go to the forest in a group, the most important thing is efficiency. They clearly said that they have been to this forest several times, but they have never asked for anything. You clearly want to hunt monsters, but you found a forest with no monsters at all. Isn't that a joke?

Therefore, Guan Wen immediately understood that those guys were not hunting any monsters, but the people who were in their team.

"Young man, you truly have exceptional insight. In truth, we were forced into this line of work, but we never intended to kill anyone. Now that you know what we're up to, let's part ways and go our separate ways. How about that?"

"You think you can just send me away like this after your plan has been exposed?" Guan Wen sneered when he heard the big man say this.

"So what if you don't have any magic weapons? Kid, you may have two decent magic weapons, but let me tell you, we are not weak either. If you insist on fighting us to the death, you probably won't be a match for us."