Wu Tan and An De chased after Mu Chen and the cauldron.

Mu Chen was the one running away—the cauldron simply followed him, like a maggot.

With his speed, Mu Chen got rid of Wu Tan rather quickly. However, An De was much more persistent. Mu Chen threw him off his trail several times, but An De still managed to catch on. His speed was slower than Mu Chen's, but he could always find him.

After running for a couple of miles, An De stopped. He had once again lost track of Mu Chen.

"Hmph!" An De snorted. He took out a small bamboo cage covered with a piece of animal skin. He unfolded the skin.

Inside the cage was a tiny silver mouse. The mouse sniffed the air and scurried towards one side of the cage, trying to squeeze through the cage but was unsuccessful. An De flipped the cage and the mouse scurried around, still trying to run in the same direction.

After confirming the direction, An De was about to put the cage away, but a voice interrupted him.

"So that's how you were tracking me."

Mu Chen came out of hiding and looked at the mouse curiously. Behind him, a mound of leaves floated silently—it was the cauldron covered with a bird nest, with twigs sticking in. After running away for so long, the cauldron had also grown a bit weary and opted for a camouflage.

An De was taken aback on seeing Mu Chen. "You didn't run?"

"I'm confident I can handle one barbarian," Mu Chen shrugged.

"For an outsider, you are really—"

Shua!

A dagger came flying at his face at incredible speed. An De's reaction was faster. He dropped the cage, grabbed his cleaver, and slashed at the dagger, knocking it off course.

An De glanced at the broken cage by his feet and sighed. That little silver mouse was dead, killed by another dagger. "As expected, you outsiders are sneaky. But don't think you can escape now."

"Escape?" Mu Chen raised his brow. "I just want to know why you are following me so desperately. Are you after this cauldron as well?"

"I don't care about the cauldron." An De only glanced at the cauldron once before looking away. "But you have something that belongs to my tribe."

"Oh, you mean this scroll?" Mu Chen took out the black scroll from his robe and waved it.

An De's heart skipped a beat when he saw the scroll. "That scroll belongs to my tribe. Hand it over and I won't bother you anymore."

"But I bought it from An Zhi," Mu Chen said. "I don't do business of losing money. If you want it back, you will have to buy it."

"An Zhi's alive?" An De was surprised hearing the name but then shook his head. "Ridiculous! An Zhi doesn't have the right to sell the scroll."

"No matter what, it was a fair trade," Mu Chen snorted and put the scroll away. "If you want the scroll, you pay for it. It's that simple."

An De clenched his cleaver tightly, hesitating. The two of them stood just ten meters apart. Although the distance was close, An De wasn't confident he could take down Mu Chen in one move. Once Mu Chen escaped, he won't be able to track him again.

While An De was hesitating, the trees behind him rustled, and Wu Tan staggered through. "The An Tribe isn't willing to buy the scroll," Wu Tan panted, "but the Wu Tribe is." He was sweating heavily, but fortunately, he caught up.

"You?"

"I am from the Wu Tribe. Over the years, the Wu Tribe has collected a ton of medicinal herbs and treasures from hunting monster beasts," Wu Tan said. "I can give them all to you."

"Not bad," Mu Chen nodded. "Looks like we can trade."

"Don't you dare!" An De shouted.

"Hmph!" Wu Tan snorted. He looked at Mu Chen. "Give me the scroll and we have a deal."

"Show me the goods first," Mu Chen shook his head.

"I don't have them on me," Wu Tan said. "If you come with me to my tribe, I can hand them over to you."

Mu Chen thought about it and said, "Sounds good. Why don't you lead the way?"

"No! Wait! We can trade," An De shouted as put away his cleaver. "Come to my An Tribe. We also have a lot of herbs and treasures."

"I've been to your tribe, and you guys almost killed me," Mu Chen snorted. "I would rather go to the Wu Tribe than your An Tribe."

Hearing Mu Chen's words, Wu Tan became ecstatic and sneered at An De. "This way please," Wu Tan gestured.

"Let's go," Mu Chen nodded and took a step.

"Stop!" An De shouted and lunged at Mu Chen, clawing at his neck.

Mu Chen dodged An De's grab. An De's grab fell short, and instead of holding Mu Chen's neck, he ended up grabbing his robe, causing Mu Chen to stumble.

Rip!

With a loud rip, Mu Chen's robe tore open and the black scroll spilled out and landed on his foot. Mu Chen, who was trying to regain his balance, accidentally kicked it.

"Oops!" Mu Chen watched as the scroll flew in the direction where Wu Tan was standing.

Wu Tan saw the scroll flying toward him and knew it was a rare opportunity. With the dexterity that would even put a leopard to shame, he reached out and caught the scroll. Then, without sparing a second glance at either Mu Chen or An De, he turned and disappeared into the trees.

Mu Chen was stunned, An De even more so.

"Aargh! Bastard!" An De came to his senses and howled. "What have you done?" He glared at Mu Chen. Never had he hated a person so much as now. He wanted nothing more than to crush Mu Chen's skull to a pulp with his bare hands, but Mu Chen had already distanced himself and was on guard.

As much as he wanted to vent his anger at Mu Chen, An De didn't dare to waste any more time. He ignored Mu Chen and chased behind Wu Tan.

After the two barbarians left, Mu Chen stood in a daze for some time. Then he shook his head, with a smile curled up at the corner of his lips like a kid who had just pulled off a successful prank.

"Finally got rid of them," Mu Chen sighed. He looked at the cauldron with a somewhat annoyed expression, "If only it was so easy to get rid of you."

"... " The cauldron bobbed in response.

Mu Chen shook his head and took out another robe to cover himself. Before throwing away the tattered robe, he took out another black scroll from inside it, then slipped it inside his robe. Without further ado, he picked a direction and sprinted…

The mountain was looming in the distance, Mu Chen was now quite close. Mu Chen picked up his pace, wanting to reach his destination as soon as possible. Now that he wasn't being chased anymore, his mind was now filled with worry about the fate of the secret realm. The future was uncertain, the sooner he met with his companions the better.

"Huh?" Mu Chen slowed down. The next moment, he dodged to the side.

Whoosh!

A bright gold sword spanning a dozen meters penetrated through the location where Mu Chen would have been.

Boom!

The giant sword exploded into a whirlwind of golden sparks and the trees in the surrounding zone were reduced to splinters.

Fortunately, Mu Chen had already reached a safe distance. The golden sparks lost their ferocity by the time they reached him. Besides making his robes flutter, they did little to harm him.

"Who?" Mu Chen narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction where the sword had come from.

Whoosh!

What greeted him was another giant sword.

"Hmph!" Mu Chen snorted and slashed his sword. His sword was tiny compared to the golden sword, but when the two touched each other, the golden sword disintegrated.

"Eh?" A tone full of surprise echoed.

As the dust settled, a graceful figure came into Mu Chen's view.

"You are—" Mu Chen narrowed his eyes.

Short golden locks, tight-fitting armor that was thin like silk, and a long gold broadsword in her hand—it was the girl they had seen when entering the secret realm. Back then, he hadn't got a clear look and only saw her back, but there was no mistaking it. It was her, the rumored princess of the Long Clan.

"Long Xueyi," the girl said in a bland tone and raised her sword again. The golden broadsword flowed with light and a shadow of the giant sword formed in the air.

Long Xueyi lowered her sword. The sword apparition mimicked her movement and stabbed at Mu Chen.

"Hold it!" Mu Chen shouted, "Can't we talk?"

"No need."

"Shit!" Mu Chen cursed and slashed at the giant sword with his own.

Boom!

A terrifying force erupted and knocked Mu Chen away. Mu Chen tumbled in the air before landing on his feet. His entire arm was shaking. He looked at the giant sword in the air and couldn't help but frown.

The giant sword had cracked, and in the place where his sword had struck it, a large piece was missing. However, it didn't disintegrate like before. That wasn't all. The cracks were mending at a rapid speed and the tip was also regenerating.

"This girl," Mu Chen looked at Long Xueyi with a rare trace of seriousness. In just a move, she had figured out his weaknesses. He had to act fast.

Mu Chen stomped the ground with his foot and propelled himself. In the blink of an eye, he came in front of Long Xueyi and punched with his fist.

If Mu Chen thought his punch would make Long Xueyi reconsider, he was wrong.

Long Xueyi didn't bat even an eyelid when she saw Mu Chen's incoming punch. Instead, she grinned and punched back. In that split moment, her golden pupils changed and became vertical, like a cat's.

Their fists collided.

Clap!

A deafening sound resounded as if thunder had struck and a figure was sent flying.

Mu Chen crawled back on his feet with a grimace. He didn't expect Long Xueyi's brute strength to be so formidable.

That punch left him with a numb arm. If he hadn't used iron skin to protect it at the last moment, it may have broken. Admittedly, he didn't use internal qi when he punched—he was aiming to incapacitate, not kill. Even so, the strength behind his fist was not something the average cultivator could take head on.

With that exchange, Mu Chen knew he had seriously underestimated Long Xueyi. Her physique was on par with his, and that strange transformation technique let her explode with strength magnitudes higher, similar to his internal qi.

Mu Chen had barely stood up when the giant sword swooped at him—it had finished repairing.

"Damn!" Mu Chen cursed and slashed with his sword.

Clang!

Mu Chen hit the giant golden sword with his sword, but it was like hitting metal against metal. Unlike before, the giant sword didn't suffer any damage and continued to press on him with impunity.

The giant sword carried with it the weight of a mountain, making it difficult for Mu Chen to move, but this was the least of his problems.

Mu Chen noticed his sword intent was being rapidly consumed in fighting against the giant sword. It wasn't that the giant sword had become immune to his sword intent, just that it was being repaired at an unbelievable speed. To repair it at this speed, Long Xueyi's consumption of spiritual qi should also be enormous.

If his sword intent was consumed before Long Xueyi's reserve of spiritual qi was drained, it would be a disaster.

Mu Chen didn't want to stretch things to such a limit. It might be easy for Long Xueyi to recover spiritual qi, but for him to recover sword intent was easier said than done. He still hadn't recovered his sword intent to its fullest since the nightmare, and he didn't want to waste it if possible.

The giant sword kept pressing on. Mu Chen was still thinking of a countermeasure that didn't involve anyone dying.

Shua!

At this time, a red beam of light came from within the woods and hit the giant sword squarely on its flat side.

Crack! The giant sword cracked and dispersed.

"Eh?" Long Xueyi frowned and looked in the direction where the red light had originated. She was about to say something but then frowned. The next moment, she sidestepped and appeared several feet away from her original position leaving behind a trail of afterimages.

A pitch-black dagger sliced the air where Long Xueyi's neck had been a moment ago. It came silently, without any warning, and disappeared as fast as it had come.

A slender figure arrived next to Mu Chen. She waved her hand and the red stream of light that destroyed the giant sword fluttered onto the palm of her hand. It was a phoenix hairpin.

"Mu Chen, are you alright?"

Mu Chen looked at the girl. That face was unknown, but that voice and the hairpin were very familiar to him.

"Fengying?"