Chapter 527: In the Desperate Situation (13)

"Here, here, and here, the color is very red, like blood."

"Over here the color is slightly lighter, hmm, here is the lightest, but only this section is light; if you go further forward, it becomes deep red."

Zhang Mang's small hand gestured in front for a while, and after rejecting almost all the paths, he pointed to a narrow gap between two blood-red paths and said obediently, "There isn't any other color here at all, only white."

After finishing, he finally turned his head to point to the right fork where the flowers and grass were lush, but quickly turned his head back uneasily and whispered, "This side is pure black, covered in dense black lines; Senior Uncle, let's not go that way, we really will die."

"……Hmm, I understand."

Chu Hairen still had his own ambitions that had yet to be realized, so naturally, he would not rush to throw his life away for nothing, "I'll listen to you, you lead the way."

Watching the little boy nodding obediently, a flash of complex emotion crossed Chu Hairen's eyes.

Chu Hairen had originally found it strange why Ren Yidao would choose this little blind boy as a disciple, thinking he had acted on a momentary impulse of compassion, truly just to preserve a bit of bloodline for the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect.

But looking at it now... Heh!

The facts were not at all like what he had said!

He had simply taken a fancy to this pair of special pupils of Zhang Mang's!

Ren Yidao taking on a disciple was just him coveting Zhang Mang's body; he is despicable!

If it weren't for the fact that they had arrived here by a twist of fate, Chu Hairen would still be kept in the dark.

In fact, the two of them did not break through the Heaven Gate on purpose, but were forced by circumstances to throw themselves into Zhongzhou.

Chu Hairen's original plan was to use the emergence of the Butian Alliance to stir up the winds and clouds of the Eastern Wasteland and muddy the waters of the Eastern Wasteland.

At the beginning, the progress was quite good; relying on the connections he had accumulated in the past, he successfully provoked several conflicts among the Kings, and there was a trend of it gradually intensifying.

But unfortunately, good times did not last; when he was once again provoking a dispute between the Liang King and the Song King, an unexpected variable rushed in, completely disrupting his plan.

They had encountered the maddened Hu Family ancestor, Hu Yiyi.

Ever since the East Sea Dragon King Ao Zhun appeared on the coast and named the Hu Family, demanding they hand over the murderer "Hu Wanwan," the Hu Family's situation in the Eastern Wasteland had become precarious.

The Kings did not need to know what the truth of the matter was; they only knew this was an excuse they could use to attack the Hu Family.

Thus, they rose up to attack, the Kings hunting them like a pack of wolves.

One rumor after another appeared, and one piece of gossip after another began to spread in the East.

They began to pin labels on the Hu Family, saying the Hu Family were actually spies sent by the Demon Race to Shenzhou, saying the Hu Family had the bloodline of the Demon Race, saying the Hu Family were traitors who betrayed the East, and so on; as for whether it was true or false, no one cared.

And not long ago, just the second day after the Butian Alliance appeared, this powder keg that had been brewing for a long time finally exploded completely.

The Hu Family disappeared from the Eastern Wasteland.

To be precise, they were burned to nothing by Heavenly Fire descending from the sky.

The hundreds of thousands of mortals in the capital of the Hu Kingdom all died, and even the Hu maids, who were sought after in daily life, were turned into scorched earth together.

No one knew what happened at that time, or who exactly attacked the Hu Family; they only saw the ruins and scorched earth everywhere.

Fewer than a hundred people from the Hu Family remained, surviving under the protection of the Hu Family ancestor, and the entire family was considered completely wiped from the Eastern Wasteland.

Afterward, the Hu Family ancestor took the remaining clansmen and vanished into thin air, not knowing where they had gone, and no one could find a trace of them.

On the seventh day after they disappeared, the Hu Family ancestor appeared before the world once again.

And this time, he had completely fallen into madness, beginning his revenge in his delirium.

The Hu Family ancestor began to hunt and kill those greedy hyenas who had once attacked the Hu Family and tried to bite a piece of meat off their bodies.

Because he was only one person and possessed high-level strength, the Hu Family ancestor's movements were extremely eerie and could not be predicted; in just a few days, he had already succeeded several times, successfully killing two National Monarchs.

It was not until he missed his mark while hunting the Jiang King and was heavily wounded by the well-prepared Jiang King that he disappeared for a few days.

When the Hu Family ancestor appeared again, it was on the battlefield where the Liang King and the Song King were fighting; after finishing his sneak attack, he was not done, and while fleeing, he also treated Chu Hairen and the others, who were hiding in the shadows, as targets for his attack.

The Protector Chu Yitai sacrificed himself in an attempt to block the Hu Family ancestor, but died on the spot after buying them thirty breaths of time.

At the critical moment of life and death, Chu Hairen did not abandon Zhang Mang and chose to use a precious Divine Travel Talisman to flee, yet he still did not manage to escape!

At the critical moment, the usually silent and quiet Zhang Mang took the initiative to speak, guiding Chu Hairen as he fled.

Chu Hairen had originally hesitated, but with no other choice, he could only treat a dead horse as a living one and braced himself to follow Zhang Mang's instructions; the result, however, shocked him, as he successfully widened the distance between them and the Hu Family ancestor.

They were chased by the Hu Family ancestor for thirty thousand miles, consuming who knows how many life-saving measures along the way; when the last Talisman was used, they arrived outside the Central Divine Continent and finally blundered into the Eastern Heavenly Gate, coincidentally becoming the first pioneers to enter the Central Divine Continent.

After entering Zhongzhou, although they successfully shook off the Hu Family ancestor, they faced another problem—they had no way to leave.

This Eastern Heavenly Gate is a damn one-way door; it allows entry but forbids exit!

Helpless, they could only trudge forward step by step on this continent filled with crises, trying to find a way to leave.

Fortunately, they had Zhang Mang's vision, and the journey was relatively smooth; although they encountered a few dangerous situations, they did not run into any desperate straits where there was no hope of survival.

But compared to the crisis-ridden environment of Zhongzhou, what was even more dangerous were actually the others who had also entered this place!

Just after Zhang Mang finished speaking, a rough, hoarse voice rang out.

"Hmph, kid, I'm telling you, you'd better not think about playing any tricks on me!"

A bald giant, twice the height of an ordinary person and wearing rough animal skins, brandished the animal bone club in his hand at Zhang Mang and threatened him with bared teeth: "Otherwise, I'll eat that little cat you're sitting on right now!"

Roar!

The Sand Tiger understood the giant's words and turned its head to let out an angry roar.

"Hmph, just a little cat, what are you being proud of here? You even dare to bare your teeth at me?"

Roar!

It lowered its body, assuming an attacking stance, and bared its fangs at the giant.

Roar!!!

"Hahaha! What's the use of shouting so loud? If you have the ability, come over here! Let's see if I don't strip one of your legs off for a snack!" The giant laughed heartily without a care, revealing his yellow, sharp teeth, and hooked his fingers at the Sand Tiger.

The Sand Tiger was furious, but it only dared to make such threatening gestures and did not dare to take another half-step toward the giant.

Because it could feel the gap between the two, and could feel the greedy killing intent on the other party even more; the other party was not joking, but truly intended to eat it.

This bald guy was even more detestable and cruel than that savage guy in its memories!

"Lord Mangu, I did not lie to you."

Zhang Mang shrank his neck in fear, lowered his head to hug the neck of the Yellow Sand Tiger tightly, patted its neck to soothe it, and said to the giant, "But if you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do."

He pouted with some grievance and muttered in a low voice, "You can go if you want to; I didn't stop you. It was you who insisted on traveling with us."

"What did you say?" Mangu's eyes widened, his fierce aura erupting, and he was about to stride over, "Say that again for me?"

Chu Hairen frowned and blocked the way in front of Zhang Mang and the Yellow Sand Tiger, his left hand behind his back, gripping a Sky Thunder Talisman.

They had exhausted their life-saving Talismans on the road while fleeing for their lives, but they still had quite a few offensive ones left.

One more step, one more step and they would be in range of the attack.

Just one more step!

Chu Hairen calculated the distance between the two and waited in silence.

Three.

Two.

... One!

"Alright, Mangu, stop scaring the children." Just as the giant was one step away from the attack range of the Talisman, another person present spoke up.

Behind the giant, the old man wearing a deer skull mask and dressed in sacrificial attire stopped his reckless actions.

The old man leaned on his cane and moved forward; every step caused the various bones on the cane to collide, emitting a strange sound.

"Hmph, if it weren't for the sake of the Priest, I would definitely teach you a lesson today!"

Mangu seemed to be very wary of this old man; after he spoke, Mangu stopped in his tracks and stood where he was without saying a word.

After the old man approached, Mangu even knelt on one knee and lowered his head, letting the old man step on his knee and climb up to sit on his shoulder.

The thin and withered old Priest looked exceptionally tiny compared to the giant, yet he was able to sit steadily on his shoulder.

"Two little friends, that we can meet here is a fate bestowed upon us by the Great Shaman." The old Priest smiled kindly and persuaded the two, "We are helping each other; you find a way out, and we provide you with protection."

"Ha!"

The old Priest spoke nicely, but Chu Hairen would not be fooled by that kind expression; he would not forget how they looked when they first met these two—it was this old man who had heartlessly ordered the giant to kill them both!

If it hadn't been for Zhang Mang's guidance to quickly duck into a small path, they would have already died on the road.

But it was precisely because of that overly decisive turn and escape at the time that the old Priest saw the clues, directing the giant to follow their footsteps without the slightest deviation, thereby discovering Zhang Mang's unique traits.

Although their strength far exceeded that of Chu Hairen and his companion, they acted very cautiously, always maintaining a distance of thirty steps from them, offering verbal threats at most, but never getting any closer.

Thirty steps was the safe distance between the two sides, and neither would take the initiative to approach the other.

"Hmph! Stop pestering us!" Seeing that this rare opportunity had failed once again, Chu Hairen put away the Talisman and turned to say to Zhang Mang, "Let's go."

"Mm."

And after Chu Hairen and his companion started moving, the old Priest tapped Mangu with his cane, "Go, follow them, slowly, keep a good distance."

"Yes, Priest."

It was impossible for Mangu and the others to abandon Zhang Mang; in such a desperate and dangerous place, having such a gifted ability could greatly increase the chances of survival.

And as they left, Zhang Mang unconsciously turned his head to look at the lush, flower-filled path on the right.

Amidst the endless black lines representing death, there was a wisp of exceptionally dazzling golden light.

"..."

Zhang Mang did not make a sound, quickly turned his head back, and carefully pointed out the direction for the Yellow Sand Tiger.

He deeply memorized this place, recording it in his mind.

Right now he was still too weak and could only be at the mercy of others.

It was not yet the time.

But... one day.