Since he had already found his target, there was no reason for him to hesitate any longer.
Lin Fan once again summoned out Igneel since he had no idea how far up the stream he would need to go. At the same time, there was nothing to lose from being able to survey the situation from above.
So he flew over the stream and looked for anything that seemed suspicious.
After flying for a bit, it didn't seem like there was anything that was there.
Though he did have Igneel fly slower than usual so he could carefully watch over the area.
Even then, it didn't seem like there was anything special about this place...
That was until Lin Fan finally saw something strange.
It wasn't something that was coming from the stream, but rather something that came from beside the stream.
The stream actually ran down from a mountain, so the source of the stream was actually a spring deep underground. That provided a source of clean water, which was what allowed this town to exist in the first place.
But no one really thought about why there was a source of clear water under the ground in the first place.
Perhaps they should have thought about that...
The strange thing that Lin Fan noticed was a cave that was by the stream on the mountain.
There was a strange sensation coming from it.
This was something that only a cultivator could sense, but there seemed to be waves of spiritual energy coming from the cave. It seemed that whatever was in the cave contained a large amount of spiritual energy.
If Lin Fan had to guess, this was most likely related to the source of the stream.
Whatever was happening down there would eventually lead to something being ejected into the stream.
That was why the ghosts were forming a net there.
They were there to catch whatever came out of the source and down the stream.
But with the waves of spiritual energy coming from this cave, it didn't seem like he would be able to send in the rats.
Just by testing it, he found that the waves were just too much for the rats that were sensitive to spiritual energy. They were just too powerful for the rats to endure, so it would actually hurt the rats if he were to send them into this cave to explore it.
So the only thing that he could do was go in himself and see what was releasing all of this spiritual energy.
If it was before, then he wouldn't have been as confident.
However, he at least had the confidence that someone with his level of cultivation had now that he was a sect master. He was certain that even if he couldn't beat the person that was inside, he would at least be able to run away.
That was why Lin Fan headed into the cave himself to see what the thing releasing the spiritual energy was.
There was a part of him that was looking forward to seeing what this thing was.
So in the end, there was a sword that was placed at Lin Fan's throat as a voice said, "Who are you and why are you here?"
The moment that he felt the cold steel placed on his throat, Lin Fan snapped out of his daze and turned to look at the person that was holding the sword to his throat. Even though there was a sword at his throat, he didn't panic as he calmly turned to look at this person.
However, all he saw was a cloaked person standing there.
There was a moment of silence as both sides didn't do a thing...
Then all of a sudden, there was a notification...
[Ye Qing Huan is stunned by your presence. Affection has increased by 10.]
"Huh?" Lin Fan was confused when he saw this since he didn't understand why there would be a sudden increase in affection like this. However, when he reacted, he realized what this meant.
It meant that this person in front of him was the one giving him affection and the name Ye Qing Huan...
It was a familiar name!
It was a name that was very hard for him to forget since he had once dual cultivated with her.
But even before that, it was the name of someone from the Ye Family of the Heavenly Demon Sect.
She was the younger sister of Ye Tian Xie who was the sect master's disciple and the head disciple of the Heavenly Demon Sect...
There was no way that Lin Fan wouldn't remember her!
After a long silence, Ye Qing Huan finally said, "What are you doing here?"
The way that she said this made it clear that she recognized him.
She didn't even try to hide her identity, she just directly asked him what he was doing here.
Lin Fan revealed a bitter smile before asking, "I can ask you the same thing."
In a colder voice that seemed more strict, she said, "I asked first."
The bitter smile became more bitter on Lin Fan's face when he heard this, but he could tell that she didn't want any argument.
Instead of angering her, he just said, "I'm here because of the Divine Blood Fruit."
He couldn't see Ye Qing Huan's expression because of her hood, so he didn't really know what she was thinking. But at the very least, it didn't seem like she was planning on doing anything to him as she brought the sword down.
It seemed that she wasn't planning on hurting him anymore.
After a moment of silence, she said, "Oh, so it was for that. I was wondering who would come, but it turned out that it was you."
Then looking around she asked, "Who else came with you?"
There was another bitter feeling that filled me when I heard her say this, but I still said, "No one else. It's just me."