In the dense forest, a shadow of a cultivator could be seen flying at high speeds. It was only after it no longer sensed other cultivators’ presences behind it that it finally stopped.

　　What bad luck . Mo Tiange touched her chest. As she felt how violently unsteady her breath was, regret filled her heart. It was all her fault for being too overconfident. Just because she laid a formation in her hiding place, she assumed she would be very safe. In the end, the spiritual aura fluctuation from her formation was discovered by a group of Zixia Sect disciples who then planned to besiege her.

　　This time, she was able to escape because she still had some Evasion Talismans and because the formation bought her some time; otherwise, if she had to fight against those five or six people who came so menacingly towards her, she probably would’ve perished without leaving any ashes behind.

　　After being encircled by them and being forced to use some Evasion Talismans, her breathing became rather unsteady. She swallowed an Aura-Nourishing Pill then raised her head to look at the starry sky. She reckoned that right now, it should be the hour of the tiger ¹ already. There were still two hours before they activated the exit formation.

　　In the wake of the fierce melees, the living became fewer and fewer while battle scenes became more and more numerous. While she was escaping, instead of running into people, she came across only corpses.

　　At this moment, she realized that the aura inside her dantian was unstable. After hesitating for a while, she finally went looking for a leafy tree, leaped to the top and thoroughly erased her presence. She didn’t lay any formations, didn’t even use her divine sense to sweep over the area, and just sat there quietly to adjust her breathing.

　　Although she wasn’t seriously injured, if she didn’t adjust her breath and encountered another opponent, things would look very bad for her. After all, if she could help it, she wanted to avoid using another Evasion Talisman to prevent her minor injuries from turning into serious injuries.

　　Time gradually passed by, yet unexpectedly, no one else appeared. Apparently, there were indeed not many living cultivators left in the forest. Mo Tiange sighed inwardly. Having gone through several deathly fights, she felt that she became so indifferent that even death couldn’t easily arouse her emotions. Perhaps… she had already seen too many things and became desensitized. She would encounter many deaths on the road to cultivation and if she couldn’t quickly get used to it, how could she walk further down this path? Therefore, she was, in fact, glad she was able to adapt so quickly.

　　Once her breathing became stable, Mo Tiange finally heaved a sigh of relief. There seemed to be a demonic beast nearby – she vaguely heard its roars. However, there was no one thinking about capturing beasts now. After all, as the number of the dead increased, the probability of the living obtaining Foundation-Building Pills also became larger. Moreover, after killing others, they could directly seize those people’s belongings. It was far quicker than killing the beasts one by one.

　　She herself already obtained many demonic beasts that were killed by others. If she added together the demonic beasts’ remains she seized from the two cultivators she killed in the poisonous spring, remains from the husband and wife pair that besieged her, remains from that group of people that perished together, and the approximately thirty demonic monkeys’ remains she originally had, she could already obtain a Foundation-Building Pill without even having to exchange all those remains.

　　Thus, she really didn’t want to create trouble for herself. Just because she was already accustomed to death didn’t mean she wanted to kill others. As long as others didn’t start anything with her, she wouldn’t do anything.

　　She couldn’t help but show a wry smile as she thought about it. Sure enough, she had turned into a cold, heartless person.

　　All of a sudden, Mo Tiange opened her eyes as she heard the faint sound of footsteps. She hadn’t used her divine sense to observe her surroundings, so she only found out about their presence when they were already drawing near.

　　Between the branches and leaves, she vaguely saw several pairs of feet. It seemed… there were three people – two men and a woman. The woman’s footsteps were shaky.

　　Strange…

　　Mo Tiange tilted her head but stayed motionless as she kept herself hidden. Since she couldn’t even protect herself properly, she’d better not meddle in other people’s business.

　　Their voices came through from below the tree. “Elder Brother, why’s it taking so long to get there?” This voice sounded like a youngster’s voice. Furthermore, it sounded very impatient.

　　Another slightly deeper voice replied, “How do I know!? Hey, smelly girl! You’re not tricking us, right!?”

　　“Ke ke!” The woman coughed. Mo Tiange couldn’t help but frown. This voice…

　　“Senior Martial Brothers, what are the two of you being so nervous about? Haven’t you already sensed the demonic beast’s spiritual aura? That demonic beast is the one guarding the Vermillion’s Heart Fruit.”

　　Murong Yan’s voice!

　　Murong Yan’s answer seemed acceptable as the youngster said, “What you said seems quite reasonable…”

　　The sounds of their footsteps gradually became faint. Although for a moment Mo Tiange was hesitant, in the end, she still quietly came down from the tree and cautiously followed those people.

　　The cultivation levels of the two male cultivators couldn’t be considered high. One was in the eighth layer of the Aura Refining realm while the other was in the ninth layer. It was really a wonder how they actually managed to survive until now and even remain with Murong Yan. Furthermore, based on their conversation, Murong Yan seemed to be taking them to find something called Vermillion’s Heart Fruit. Mo Tiange had never heard about this fruit, so was it perhaps an unusual fruit?

　　Mo Tiange shook her head, dismissing the idea. If it really was some kind of unusual fruit, Murong Yan would’ve already picked it up long ago; there was no way she would wait until now. Murong Yan must’ve been caught by the two men so she said something like this to deceive them.

　　After stealthily moving closer, Mo Tiange cautiously observed the situation. As she expected, Murong Yan was injured and her hands were tied. Those two male cultivators were from Zixia Sect. One was about twenty years old while the other was about twenty-five to twenty-six years old.

　　It took them only a short while to find the location of the demonic beast. However, soon afterward, Mo Tiange saw the two men exploding with rage and taking out their spirit tools as they said, “Smelly girl! You actually dared to lie to us!”

　　Murong Yan was very smart. She did her best to dodge to the side, ingeniously disturbing the demonic beast in the process. She then ducked behind the two men to hide. The demonic beast threw itself straightaway towards the two men.

　　This demonic beast was only a first rank giant ape. Although its cultivation level was nothing special, it was extremely strong with thick fur and thick meat. For a moment, the two men were completely occupied with handling it.

　　Watching this scene, Murong Yan quietly retreated. Taking advantage of the two men paying no attention to her, she promptly turned around and broke into a mad dash.

　　“Elder Brother! That whore’s escaping!” The youngster glared furiously at Murong Yan’s back.

　　The older one used a spirit tool to block the giant ape’s attacks and yelled, “Chase her! Since she dared to deceive us, we can’t let her escape!”

　　“Okay!” The youngster withdrew his spirit tool and went to chase after Murong Yan.

　　After another struggle to block the giant ape’s attack, the man muttered to himself, “This won’t do, it’s too strong! It seems I have to use a treasure to fight it.”

　　The man then took out a purple sphere the size of a pigeon’s egg from his robe and threw it at the giant ape. With a loud “Boom!,” the giant ape was torn into pieces by the explosion. The trees and stones around were also completely damaged; basically, everything within a 100 feet radius was razed to the ground.

　　The man stared at the thoroughly destroyed scene in pain. It was unclear whether his heartache was because the explosion that blasted the ape meant he couldn’t take the demonic beast’s remains, or because he wasted a treasure in this fight. He dwelled in his heartache for a moment before he clenched his teeth and turned around to chase after his younger brother.

　　However, after running just a few steps, he heard his younger brother’s screams. The man was frightened and anxiously dashed forward. “Third Brother! Third Brother!”

　　Before long, he found his younger brother lying on the ground. No one else aside from them was present.

　　Mo Tiange pulled Murong Yan to the side and ran with all her might to leave that place. It was only when she could no longer sense anyone’s breaths behind her that she stopped.

　　Murong Yan gratefully stared at her. “Junior Martial Brother Ye, thank you. I’m so lucky that I ran into you, otherwise, I might…”

　　Mo Tiange shook her head and said with a smile, “It’s nothing. Senior Martial Sister Murong doesn’t need to be too courteous.” She paused for an instant before she continued to curiously ask, “Senior Martial Sister, what happened?”

　　Hearing this question made Murong Yan chuckle with bitterness. She then shook her head and said, “Because I never liked cultivating before, I had to endure a lot of suffering this time. I ran into Zixia Sect’s disciples several times, and every time I encountered much danger to escape. Later, I ran into those two… At first, they wanted to kill me, but I lied to them, telling them that there’s a unique plant here…”

　　Mo Tiange nodded her head; everything was just as she guessed. She said, “What was the thing that man used before? How could it be so powerful like that?”

　　“That… I’m not really sure either. It isn’t a spirit tool or a magic weapon. It seems to be a unique thing refined using the soul of a demonic beast and a thunder element magic; it explodes if it’s thrown using spiritual power. The power is enormous. According to my observations, no one can block it.”

　　This was the first time Mo Tiange saw something like this. Its power was indeed fearsome; perhaps no Aura Refining disciples could block it. It was also because of that reason that Mo Tiange chose to run. After all, she didn’t want to put her life at risk.

　　Seeing Murong Yan, Mo Tiange couldn’t help but think about Murong Zi. After being conflicted for a moment, she decided to tell Murong Yan about him after they got out. Right now, danger lurked everywhere. If Murong Yan was suddenly informed that her elder brother passed away, her state of mind would most likely become very unstable, thus influencing her performance during a fight. Mo Tiange then asked, “Senior Martial Sister Murong, what are you planning to do next?”

　　This question made Murong Yan show another bitter smile. “I’m not going to lie to Junior Martial Brother Ye. Before we came in, I was very ambitious – I was determined to strive to obtain a Foundation-Building Pill. I just realized how overconfident I was now. However, now isn’t the time to feel regret. I just hope I can get out of here safely then I’ll cultivate diligently before pursuing other things.”

　　Mo Tiange secretly nodded when she heard Murong Yan’s words. This was good – Murong Yan apparently came to her senses. Murong Zi’s painstaking efforts weren’t wasted.

　　“Junior Martial Brother Ye…”Murong Yan seemed hesitant. In the end, she shook her head. “Forget it. I’ll tell you if I can get out alive. I’ll see you again if I get the chance.”

　　Mo Tiange was startled. “Senior Martial Sister Murong, you’re not going to travel with me?”

　　Murong Yan suddenly turned her head around. “Junior Martial Brother Ye doesn’t mind traveling together with me?”

　　Mo Tiange was dumbfounded.  Does she maybe think I don’t want to go with her? After a moment, Mo Tiange directly smiled and said, “What do you think?”

　　After seeing Mo Tiange’s expression, Murong Yan laughed in embarrassment. “I’m overthinking things…”

　　The two of them smiled at each other. The alienating feeling, which appeared after the catastrophe befell the sect, suddenly disappeared. Murong Yan’s expression was no longer stiff as she too became a bit livelier. “Junior Martial Brother Ye, I really underestimated you. I never thought your spells would be this powerful… Alas, I was indeed too lazy.”

　　Mo Tiange jokingly said, “It’s good you realize you were lazy. I know my talent is mediocre, so I have no other choice but to be diligent…” she then stared at the starry sky again. Realizing that it was already the hour of the rabbit ² , she said, “There are still two hours left. Senior Martial Sister, we can start heading towards the center.”

　　Hesitation appeared on Murong Yan’s face. “We’re going now? There must be a lot of people that want to head to the center now – shouldn’t we try to avoid them?”

　　Mo Tiange answered, “Rest assured. The exit formation is about to be opened. Since everyone wants to leave, they definitely won’t cause any trouble. It’s actually going to be slightly safer than before.”

　　What Mo Tiange said was quite reasonable, so Murong Yan finally decided to believe her and bluntly said, “In that case, I’ll go with Junior Martial Brother Ye’s decision.”

　　Mo Tiange nodded before asking, “Senior Martial Sister, how’re your injuries? Will there be a problem if we continue on our way?”

　　Murong Yan said, “No problem. They’re just minor injuries.”

　　Since Murong Yan was certain, Mo Tiange no longer hesitated. “Alright, let’s go.”

　　Both of them employed Light Body Technique and rushed to the center.

　　The closer they got to the center, the more people they saw. Murong Yan was very anxious as she asked in a low voice, “Junior Martial Brother Ye, are we really going to be alright?”

　　Mo Tiange pulled Murong Yan’s hand then gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, trust me.”

　　Murong Yan’s face suddenly turned red as she nodded. “En.”

　　However, Mo Tiange didn’t see this and kept holding Murong Yan’s hand as they rushed to the exit location.