Chapter 425: Chaos

"How could this possibly be the way to the Immortal Court?" Ye Meier was the first to voice her doubt.

"Master Hu, what's going on? Isn't this supposed to lead to the Immortal Court? I feel like we're being led to our deaths!" Ding Huan didn't hesitate to drive the nail home.

Hu Xiangyang's face darkened, but before he could answer, the surging Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts charged forward.

Ding Huan naturally retreated first—he had no intention of dying for these people.

Ye Meier hadn't expected Ding Huan to directly confront Hu Xiangyang; seeing him retreat without lifting a finger, she likewise retreated without hesitation.

Even Zhang San, who usually cowered in fear, dared to fall back—why shouldn't she, Ye Meier, do the same?

Hu Bujiu arrived at Ding Huan's side immediately from afar: "Brother Zhang San, we've been tricked."

Though he was hired first, aside from Ding Huan, who occasionally spoke to him, no one else paid him any mind.

So now that trouble arose, he immediately thought to ally with Ding Huan.

"Even a Bai Chi knows we've been tricked," Ye Meier snorted, her tone brimming with fury.

Hu Xiangyang had no time to care about Ding Huan and the others—he was already engulfed by the Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts, slashing desperately at the swarm.

Most of these Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts were Second and Third Rank Immortal Beasts, with a few Fourth Rank ones—killing them wasn't easy.

Several cultivators hired by Hu Xiangyang saw Ding Huan retreating and wanted to retreat too.

They clearly saw they'd been tricked.

But they reacted half a step too slow, lacking the quick wit of Ye Meier and Hu Bujiu.

"Who dares retreat, I'll kill him on the spot. Even if you escape, the Gu Dao Trading Society will put out a bounty on you," Hu Xiangyang roared as he slaughtered the Corpse-Eating Unihorns.

Four cultivators seemed afraid of the Gu Dao Trading Society's rules and reluctantly summoned their treasures to attack the Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts, but two still chose to retreat.

At this moment, Shi Nuozhou had already fixed his gaze on them. Hu Bujiu and Ye Meier retreated too fast—he couldn't act in time.

The two cultivators had barely taken a few steps back when Shi Nuozhou struck, Dahan Yi Dao cleaving one after the other.

At the same moment, a piercing scream rang out—Hu Xiangyang's leg was bitten clean off by a Corpse-Eating Golden Beast.

Seeing a horde of Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts charging at him, Hu Xiangyang panicked and unleashed his full strength, determined to break out first.

He did clear a circle around him at first, but his strength faltered—he couldn't escape, was surrounded again, and suffered severe injuries.

Had he kept his composure and held back some power in his strikes, he wouldn't have lost the initiative.

Losing a leg reduced Hu Xiangyang's mobility; before he could react, a Fourth Rank Corpse-Eating Golden Beast bit off half his skull.

Shi Nuozhou had just retreated to Ding Huan's side—he intended to force Ding Huan and the others forward to fight.

In his mind, as hired guards, who gave them the nerve to hide behind others?

Seeing Hu Xiangyang's gruesome state, he froze instinctively—Ding Huan didn't hesitate, kicking Shi Nuozhou hard in the lower back.

Shi Nuozhou's spiritual sense detected Ding Huan's attack—he was furious.

He hadn't even moved, and this mere Jin Xian dared strike first? He's asking for death.

But Shi Nuozhou's fury quickly turned to terror—Ding Huan's kick was unblockable.

When Ding Huan kicked, his domain had already locked Shi Nuozhou's space—he assumed his late-stage Xuan Xian power could easily break free.

Reality was devastating—he could only watch helplessly as his body fell into the midst of the Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts, swallowed whole by one without even a chew.

Ye Meier, due to her angle, didn't see Ding Huan's kick.

Hu Bujiu saw it clearly—sweat beaded on his forehead.

He'd always assumed Ding Huan was among the weakest. Who could have imagined Ding Huan kicked Shi Nuozhou to death with one kick?

"What's going on with him?" Ye Meier stared in shock at Ding Huan and Hu Bujiu.

When Shi Nuozhou charged, she'd still been hesitating whether to attack him—and now he was dead?

"These few won't hold out much longer," Ding Huan casually reminded Ye Meier.

Only then did Ye Meier look ahead—of their entire group, only the young man who'd followed Hu Xiangyang was still fighting.

The youth's domain was formidable; in his hand, a triple-bladed knife, each strike taking down several Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts.

Besides the youth, three others stood beside him—two women guarding the figure wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

Ding Huan, having retreated first, was shielded by the warship and the men ahead, leaving only a dozen low-level Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts charging at him.

"Go," Ding Huan summoned the Wheel of Reincarnation Spear, sweeping it forward—two Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts before him fell; he accelerated forward.

Hu Bujiu and Ye Meier knew this was their best chance—someone was holding back the beasts behind them, Ding Huan was clearing the path—when else would they flee?

Though retreating, Ding Huan's spiritual sense landed on the hat-wearer's ring, effortlessly breaking its seal.

Seeing what was inside, Ding Huan was stunned.

At least ten million Superior Immortal Crystals, plus a high-grade Immortal Spirit Vein.

The Immortal Pills and Immortal Spirit Herbs inside were all of top-tier quality.

No—he couldn't just leave.

Hu Bujiu and Ye Meier had already surged far ahead; Ding Huan, who was leading the way, now lagged behind, surrounded by three Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts.

Ding Huan had slowed down deliberately—he wanted the hat-wearer's ring.

He hadn't expected Hu Bujiu to be so loyal—seeing Ding Huan trapped, he turned back and attacked the beasts again.

Seeing Hu Bujiu return to fight, Ye Meier hesitated, then followed suit to help Ding Huan break free.

Ding Huan was helpless—he couldn't say, "You go ahead, I can escape."

He truly could escape—the few Fourth Rank Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts were occupied by the three Da Yi Xian cultivators.

Ding Huan hesitated, fighting the beasts while using his spiritual sense to coat the hat-wearer's arm with a drop of a billion-year Sea Marrow.

The moment Ding Huan withdrew his spiritual seal, the Corpse-Eating Golden Beasts went mad—swarming en masse toward the hat-wearer.

The hat-wearer was only a Jin Xian, protected by the three Da Yi Xian—without them, he'd be dead many times over.

Now, with so many beasts charging him, he was utterly bewildered.

The three Da Yi Xian cultivators had been guarding the hat-wearer; seeing the horde surge toward him, they fought desperately to intercept them.

It was just that there were too many Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beasts here. Before they could even reach the hat-wearing cultivator, one of the beasts bit off his arm.

Ding Huan timed it perfectly. Almost at the very moment the Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beast bit through the hat-wearing cultivator's arm, Ding Huan had already swept away the ring on the severed arm's finger.

With the ring in hand, Ding Huan quickly tossed it into the iron wok.

He was certain there were still divine sense imprints inside the ring.

Carrying it on his person, he feared it would bring trouble.

If the contents of this ring weren't something he urgently needed, he truly wouldn't want to do this.

With the ring in hand, the killing momentum of the Reincarnation Spear in Ding Huan's grip abruptly surged several times over, even though another dozen or so Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beasts had surrounded them.

But under the full-force assault of Ding Huan, Hu Bujiu, and Ye Mei'er together, they quickly tore open a gap.

The three of them rushed out at once. If they attracted a fourth-grade Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beast, they would find it far harder to escape.

As Ding Huan broke out of the Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beast encirclement and fled far away, his divine sense swept over and saw the hat-wearing cultivator's skull torn open by one of the beasts.

Ding Huan knew that whether or not this matter had anything to do with them, the trouble that followed would likely not be small.

"Board my flying magic treasure." Ding Huan went all out, directly summoning the iron wok.

Hu Bujiu and Ye Mei'er rushed onto Ding Huan's iron wok. Ding Huan activated the wok, and in an instant they were far away from that pack of Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beasts.

Sensing the speed of Ding Huan's iron wok, both Ye Mei'er and Hu Bujiu were utterly shaken. This was probably even faster than a top-grade flying immortal artifact.

Ye Mei'er also knew that Ding Huan was absolutely not as simple as he appeared on the surface. She even suspected whether those Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beasts charging over had something to do with Ding Huan.

After all, the whole thing was too much of a coincidence.

Ding Huan had been in closed-door cultivation for several months without a single sound.

Yet precisely when Ding Huan opened the restriction and came out, those Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beasts had followed right over.

"Brother Zhang San, where are we headed now?" Hu Bujiu was naturally no fool either—otherwise he couldn't have stood out among so many people and been chosen by Hu Xiangyang.

The reason he had turned back to help Ding Huan, apart from the fact that Ding Huan gave him a good feeling, was also that Ding Huan's strength was formidable enough.

If Ding Huan's strength weren't formidable, could he have kicked Shi Nuozhou flying with one strike?

If he hadn't saved Ding Huan, he figured he himself wouldn't have gotten far either.

Dying either way, he might as well risk it all and save Ding Huan, then everyone could leave together. That way, there'd be one more chance of making it.

Ding Huan said, "Wait a moment, I need to think about where we can go."

Signaling Hu Bujiu and Ye Mei'er to wait, Ding Huan's divine sense landed on a directional crystal ball inside the hat-wearing cultivator's ring.

On this crystal ball were several large characters: Pangu Grand World.

His divine sense seeped in, and Ding Huan was shaken beyond words.

He had never seen such a clear directional crystal ball. Not only were the Five Great Heavenly Courts marked with perfect clarity, but even which forces were distributed where in the Chaos Realm, and which areas were relatively safe—all were given in exhaustive detail.

Ding Huan wanted to copy the crystal ball into two copies. Then he realized he was overthinking it—this crystal ball simply couldn't be copied.

The restrictions inside were far too intricate.

Ding Huan could only rely on memory to copy the general information of the Chaos Zone into the crystal ball.

"Fellow Daoist Hu, Fellow Daoist Ye, do you know our current predicament?" Ding Huan asked the two, his tone grave.