Two cultivators at the Qi Cultivation Fourth Level brought six other cultivators to trap and surround him. Chen Deng could be said to have been scared nearly out of his wits; after breaking through the encirclement, he sprinted all the way and ran a very long distance.
Until he repeatedly confirmed that no one was pursuing him from behind, he immediately turned back and sped away in another direction.
After going back and forth like this a few times, he finally completely relaxed his tension, half-crouching on the ground and gasping for heavy breaths. Sweat poured down as if the floodgates had been opened, and his entire body emitted steaming white vapor in the freezing cold weather.
"Hoo—hoo—hoo—"
Chen Dengming panted, even hearing his own heart beating violently, and patted the Golden Silkworm Gu that he had kept hidden in his bosom to save his life at a critical moment.
With a swish, the Golden Silkworm vibrated its wings and flew out, humming as it circled around him, seemingly comforting its little brother not to panic.
The Blood Centipede Gu also flew out at this moment and hovered at his side, occasionally landing on the ground while its pincer-like sharp teeth rubbed and wriggled, as if reminiscing about the bloody delicacy from just now.
"Damn it, they really think highly of me! They sent two Qi Cultivation Fourth Level cultivators and six others just to capture me? Tch, fortunately I kept my guard up."
Chen Dengming rarely let out a swear word, feeling both angry and terrified.
If he had reacted just a fraction of a second slower earlier, he probably would have been surrounded.
By then, even if he unleashed his ultimate weapon, the Golden Silkworm Gu, it might not have been possible to rapidly blast his way out of the encirclement.
After all, that Lin Jun looked very powerful and possessed an intermediate-grade magical artifact, so he might have been able to trade blows with the Golden Silkworm Gu.
Once the Golden Silkworm Gu failed to break the deadlock immediately, he would have had to pay a heavy price in order to fight his way out.
The enemy was numerous and launched spells against him en masse, which he simply could not withstand. Without being beaten into a sieve, he would have lost his combat capability entirely.
Gradually calming down at this moment, Chen Dengming felt that something was rather fishy and not quite right.
How was it that Wu Chen had just invited him out of seclusion, yet the people from Iron Forest Hall seemed to have known all along and set up an ambush in advance, just waiting for him to walk into the trap?
To say that this was a chance encounter along the way was also quite unlikely—when would anyone ever happen to run into such a massive lineup on the road?
Unless the opponents deliberately restrained their aura, he would have been able to sense their spiritual might and energy presence from far away.
And even if it were a coincidence, Lin Jun of Iron Forest Hall along with another unfamiliar Qi Cultivation Fourth Level cultivator and six other cultivators had been on their way to deal with Hutong Street when they spotted him along the road and immediately changed their minds to capture him. But the problem was—
How on earth did the enemy know their forward route and how did they immediately circle ahead to set an ambush?
There's a mole.
Chen Dengming's brows furrowed tightly, his expression as gloomy as water.
For the time being, he could not be certain who exactly had betrayed him—including Wu Chen and the others—in order to lure him to the Gu-refining grounds.
Anyone could have done it, and the person who betrayed him might not even expose themselves.
The adversary only needed to approach the Gu-refining grounds, quietly damage some Gu creatures, and when Wu Chen and the others discovered the damage during their patrols, they would naturally come to him for repairs. This was, after all, his responsibility.
Thus, the entire process of luring him out of the Gathering Place seemed logical and smooth, very natural and nearly foolproof.
"I didn't expect that before leaving, I would ultimately still encounter such a matter. Iron Forest Hall still couldn't help but make a move against me."
Chen Dengming stood up, looked toward the direction of the Gathering Place, and a trace of decisiveness flickered in his gaze.
He could no longer return to the Gathering Place.
At present, there was no guarantee whether Iron Forest Hall had stationed eyes and ears outside his residence, or whether the mole who betrayed him was still keeping watch on him.
Moreover, since Iron Forest Hall had already made a move against him now, he feared they had also set their sights on the Golden Character Workshop. It was impossible for Xu Ning to avoid this vortex.
A fierce battle among cultivators would soon erupt in the Gathering Place.
"It's just a pity for my luggage left behind in the residence; there are still twenty Low-grade Spirit Stones inside it.
That luggage is hidden on the roof, so hopefully no one will find it. I'll just treat it as savings.
Even if someone finds it, the spirit stones also have Spirit Stone Gu mixed in. Uh, hopefully it won't hurt any innocents; as long as whoever picks it up is honest, nothing will happen."
Chen Dengming felt a twinge of pain in his heart. After comforting himself somewhat, he turned around and set off to leave once more.
Fortunately, he had not put all his eggs in one basket.
He had buried assets in several other locations outside the Gathering Place and could go dig them up at any time.
And the most important Spirit Seizing Array Disk containing the Little Array Spirit was still carried on his person at all times.
Only the Spirit Seizing Array Disk hidden in his place of quiet meditation had not been retrieved, but that place was no longer safe now, so Chen Dengming did not plan to go retrieve it for a short while.
Events proved that Chen Dengming's choice not to return to the Gathering Place was correct.
That very day, a fierce battle among cultivators broke out in the Gathering Place.
As many as six factions were drawn into it, and the Golden Character Workshop was unable to stay out of it either.
Nearly a hundred cultivators engaged in a massive chaotic brawl that very night. Hiding in a mountain crevice on the opposite side far away from the Gathering Place, Chen Dengming watched with a shivering feeling and rejoiced that he had not gone back to try and be a hero.
Although this winter had arrived, the New Year had not yet passed, yet the fireball techniques exploding inside the Gathering Place looked just like the launching of New Year fireworks.
One could imagine the tragic degree of the battle. Behind the fireworks of every exploding Fireball Technique, there must have been flying flesh and blood along with corpses charred to carbon.
That night, a vast, swarming crowd of people fled out from within the Gathering Place; not only mortals were fleeing, but cultivators were fleeing as well.
Hiding in the mountain crevice where he had once taken shelter, Chen Dengming could occasionally hear the sounds of people running past outside.
There were even people slaughtering each other outside, and not far away came the miserable screams and begging of a woman.
Later, those sounds transformed into a special rhythm of the weak submitting to the strong.
By the end, that rhythm also vanished completely.
In the late hours of the night, a depressing spiritual might containing killing intent suddenly appeared.
Closely following it was a series of extremely rapid, strange sounds akin to blades and swords hacking into the ground, and after that, the terrified shrieks of quite a few people rang out from near and far.
"Demon beast!"
Chen Dengming was startled right out of his meditative state, instantly grabbing the Ice Spirit Blade and summoning his two Gu while his expression turned extremely solemn.
He discerned from those bizarre sounds that the demon beast appearing outside was very likely that same spider demon beast that had appeared in the past, and his complexion turned very ugly.
A fierce battle had broken out inside the Gathering Place, and both rogue cultivators and mortals had fled outward.
As a result, they became a lavish feast for the demon beasts in the night.
The demon beasts in the winter were naturally lacking in food and had rumbling stomachs; it was already quite something that they hadn't attacked the Gathering Place proactively.
Now, things were even better: all the "food" inside the Gathering Place had run out all by themselves.
The cruelty at the bottom of the Cultivation World was vividly and thoroughly manifested overnight.
The Gathering Place was originally a zone where rogue cultivators and mortals huddled together for warmth, but simply because the marriage matters of the Luo and Luo households fell through, the balance that had been maintained for a long time was shattered once more.
In a single night, all illusions of peace were torn to shreds.
Many people who did not die in the massive battle inside the Gathering Place ended up perishing in the mouths of the demon beasts outside it.
And this was merely a minor clash between a few Cultivation Families; the resulting consequence was something that over three thousand people were utterly unable to withstand.
What if it were a war between far more massive cultivation sects? He feared the flames of war would engulf the entire Southern Territory, plunging ordinary people into deep waters and scorching fire.
"If a high and mighty cultivation sect were to let a single petal fly off, and it fell upon many people, it would still become a mountain crushing countless lives to death, wouldn't it?"
On this night, Chen Dengming did not sleep a wink. He cautiously shrunk back inside the mountain crevice, his two Gu guarding his sides while the Little Array Spirit curled up inside the array disk without making a sound.
Such a strange combination stood guard until dawn.
The sounds of demon beasts gnawing away, accompanied by a strange dragging noise, finally departed completely...
(There will still be updates tomorrow morning; it's the end of the month, remember that monthly votes will be cleared)
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