Chapter 426

Ye Meier completely lost her earlier frivolity and cynicism, and sighed: "We're all done for."

Hu Bujiu remained silent; he too realized their future would likely be grim.

Ye Meier continued: "If I'm not mistaken, although Hu Xiangyang deceived us— he wasn't delivering anything to the Xian Sect— one thing is certain."

"What's that?" Hu Bujiu asked.

Ye Meier said: "That hooded cultivator—he's definitely a disciple or relative of some powerful figure in the Xian Sect."

"You saw it ourselves when we left. So many Flesh-Eating Golden Beasts, and that hooded bastard's cultivation was low—he's dead for sure. Think about it: if he dies, can we possibly survive?"

Ding Huan had no direct understanding of the Xian Sect's power and status, nor did he grasp how terrifying the Xian Sect's big shots could be.

But Hu Bujiu knew—he too fell silent. Offending a Xian Sect big shot was better off dead.

"Or maybe this isn't our fault—after we escape, can't we explain ourselves?" Ding Huan asked.

Ye Meier gave a self-deprecating laugh: "Explain? Let me tell you about something that happened over ten years ago."

Chang Chang Zihe, nephew of Wu Chengxing, lost face during an auction when the artifact he wanted was bid away by Wei Suojian, a disciple of the Luodaoxian Sect.

He immediately demanded Wei Suojian hand over the artifact and compensate him for the emotional damage caused by his anger.

Wei Suojian was a core disciple of the Luodaoxian Sect and naturally had pride—he laughed at Chang Chang Zihe's unreasonable demand and slapped him without hesitation.

This enraged Chang Chang Zihe, who immediately summoned a treasure to kill Wei Suojian, but he was outmatched and severely wounded instead. Had Wei Suojian not feared the Xian Sect, he would have killed him outright.

"Sigh, I know this story too—the Luodaoxian Sect suffered terribly." Hu Bujiu sighed.

Ding Huan asked: "What happened after?"

Ye Meier chuckled: "Later, Wei Suojian was killed, and the Luodaoxian Sect was wiped out. I heard his master had his soul extracted and his spirit refined. Wei Suojian's fate is unknown, but it must have been even worse."

Ding Huan fell silent. Such things were all too common. Those unreasonable demands sounded unbelievable, yet to many, they were perfectly normal.

Sometimes, he didn't know whether he was the one who was abnormal—or the world.

"So if that hooded cultivator is a relative of some important Xian Sect figure, no matter where we run, we're dead." After saying this, Ye Meier also fell silent.

Ding Huan suddenly said: "What if we escaped to the Chaos Zone?"

Ye Meier looked at Ding Huan, wondering if she'd misjudged him—he must be completely clueless, otherwise how could he ask such a question?

Hu Bujiu volunteered: "Brother Zhang, first, we don't even know how to get to the Chaos Zone. Even if we did, we'd probably be killed before we reached it."

Ding Huan pulled out a teleportation talisman: "This is a teleportation talisman to the Chaos Zone—it can transport two people at once."

Ye Meier and Hu Bujiu's eyes instantly lit up, but Hu Bujiu quickly realized he couldn't go.

This talisman only transported two people—how could he get there?

Zhang San would surely choose to go with Ye Meier.

Ding Huan pulled out two crystal balls and handed them to Ye Meier and Hu Bujiu: "These are the terrain and location arrays of the Chaos Zone in the Pangu Great World, plus survival guides..."

Ye Meier and Hu Bujiu paid no attention.

Not just Pangu Great World Chaos Zone terrain crystal balls—even market stalls sold "Pangu Great World location crystal balls," and they'd seen plenty.

Even Ye Meier's ring held several—each one was a fraud.

Those crystal balls claimed to map the Pangu Great World's terrain, but they didn't even fully cover the Ancient Immortal Realm.

Yet when the two took the crystal balls and scanned them with their spiritual sense, they both gaped open-mouthed.

After a long moment, Ye Meier's voice trembled: "Such a detailed Chaos Zone location crystal ball—this isn't something obtainable in the Ancient Immortal Realm. This is Xian Sect property. How could you possibly have it?"

Hu Bujiu stared at Ding Huan in shock—this Pangu Great World Chaos Zone location crystal ball was priceless.

And it was strictly forbidden to leak.

Ding Huan smiled: "Don't worry how I got it. With this Chaos Zone location crystal ball, do you have any chance of surviving?"

Ye Meier answered without hesitation: "With this, I have a seventy percent chance of surviving in the Chaos Zone. But your teleportation talisman..."

The main issue was that Ding Huan's talisman could only transport two people, and there were three of them.

"I won't go to the Chaos Zone for now—I still have unfinished business," Ding Huan said.

The two froze. Hu Bujiu immediately understood and bowed deeply to Ding Huan: "Hu Bujiu will never forget Brother Zhang San's great kindness."

Ye Meier also realized and hurried forward to thank him.

Even now, she couldn't understand why Ding Huan did this.

If it were because he was infatuated with her, she'd never believe it—she hadn't even used her charm technique yet.

Besides, Ding Huan had saved Hu Bujiu too.

But whether or not she understood, Ye Meier knew every moment delayed was another moment of danger.

The two immediately activated the teleportation talisman and left.

After the two departed, Ding Huan controlled the iron pot and swiftly departed.

He had found a directional jade slip leading to Fenbao Cliff on the hooded cultivator—but he couldn't go yet.

He needed to return and clean up the mess.

Mainly because he'd been careless—he'd planted a pile of Void Array patterns on that warship.

He hadn't cared much before, but after hearing about the Luodaoxian Sect, Ding Huan realized he couldn't afford to be careless.

Even though he'd added safeguards, what cultivation level did he even have? The Xian Sect surely had far stronger cultivators—if someone found even a trace from the warship wreckage, it would be over.

It wouldn't be him who was finished—it would be Wen Zhixi who was finished, and even the Chiyunu Sect might be wiped out.

The Chiyunu Sect was a top-tier immortal sect in the Ancient Immortal Realm, but to the Xian Sect, it was something they could crush at any moment.

Few cultivators could set Void Array patterns—and Wen Zhixi was one of them.

If they turned their gaze toward Wen Zhixi, he would slowly surface.

So Ding Huan wanted to return and deal with that warship. The battle was surely over by now.

The Flesh-Eating Golden Beasts had won. Ding Huan only hoped the few survivors hadn't had time to take the warship.

Ding Huan hadn't gone far. When he returned, all that remained were pools of blood—no corpses at all.

Whether it was the corpse of the Corpse-Eating Black Gold Beast or the corpse of a cultivator.

What delighted Ding Huan was that the warship was still here.

Ding Huan walked over and raised his hand, about to collect the warship into his ring.

Then he was dumbfounded—the warship could not be stored in the ring.

Ding Huan had a vague sense of unease. He quickly tossed out a dozen or so formation flags, and a simple teleportation immortal formation was set up by Ding Huan. Then with a sweep of his hand, the warship was tossed into the Iron Pot space.

After a moment's hesitation, Ding Huan set up another teleportation formation.

This teleportation formation was merely a second-tier teleportation formation, not laid out with formation patterns, and was set up rather crudely.

Not far from the teleportation formation, he also set up a surveillance formation.

He only wanted to make anyone who came here waste a little more time; he had no other thoughts.

Anyone who came looking for someone, upon seeing this teleportation formation, would waste time studying it—that's human psychology.

After finishing these, Ding Huan swiftly packed up the teleportation formation flags and steered the Iron Pot away.

Ding Huan's prediction was not far off. Less than one incense stick's time after he left, two tall-crowned men landed at this place.

"The Sword Young Master was killed right here, and the Iron Cloud Immortal Ship has vanished." One man's tone was low, killing intent surging around him.

The other man drew a deep breath: "Whoever could take the Iron Cloud Immortal Ship is absolutely no ordinary person from the Gu Gu Xian domain. If this matter isn't thoroughly investigated, we can't answer to the Star Lord."

"The Sword Young Master's shadow guard Ku Lu is missing, and no news has come back from him—he absolutely isn't dead."

"He knows he's doomed to die, but his soul tablet is right here. I don't believe he could have escaped anywhere."

"There's a teleportation formation here…"

One of the tall-crowned men finally discovered the teleportation formation Ding Huan had set up, and he walked over.

"It must have been set up by Ku Lu, right? Did he escape through this teleportation formation?" The other man immediately made his judgment.

The cultivator who had first discovered the teleportation formation frowned: "There's no need for that. If Ku Lu set up a teleportation formation to escape, isn't that like taking off your pants to fart?"

Ding Huan listened to the two men's chatter through the surveillance formation, amused inside. This decoy formation was still quite useful.

The longer these two fellows kept chattering, the farther he could get.

"Feng He, take out Ku Lu's soul tablet and compare the Dao resonance aura. Sigh, it's a pity we can't set up a soul-seeking formation, otherwise we could use this soul tablet right now to find where Ku Lu is."

"Then let's first confirm whether this formation was set up by Ku Lu." The tall-crowned man called Feng He pulled out a soul tablet, inserted it at the edge of the teleportation formation, and then tossed out formation flag after formation flag.

Ding Huan saw clearly through the surveillance formation—the fellow was setting up a Dao-Seeking Immortal Formation.

As long as this teleportation formation was set up by the soul tablet's owner, the Dao resonance aura of this immortal formation would resonate with the soul tablet, without the slightest discrepancy.

It seemed these two fellows would be delayed for another incense stick's time. Just as Ding Huan was about to push the Iron Pot's speed to the maximum, his heart suddenly stirred.

That soul tablet belonged to Ku Lu, and Ku Lu was definitely one of their group.

There was a great chance it was that youth he had suspected—the fellow who also had red goods on him.

Because this fellow no longer had the Sword Young Master who could protect him, this fellow should also be fleeing right now.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Ding Huan immediately activated the teleportation formation, and the next instant the soul tablet still inserted in the teleportation formation, searching for the formation-setter's Dao resonance, fell into Ding Huan's hand.

Ding Huan activated the formation-destroying flags at the first instant.

In terms of cultivation, he was far too inferior to these two tall-crowned cultivators. In terms of formation dao, these two fellows were far too inferior to him.