Crossing the river, traversing the mountains, and crossing the peaks.
He fled, they pursued, nowhere to fly even with wings.
After two days of desperate escape, Xu Mu and his party finally found a place to rest.
It was a dense forest.
Green mountains, clear waters, lush vegetation. Every tree here stood a hundred meters tall, straight and sturdy, with deep roots.
The bronze chiri of the fourth stage could not destroy the forest with their gales, nor could they easily dive down to engage in close combat.
So, they could only circle overhead, waiting for an opening.
This gave them a brief respite.
On the ground of the dense forest, an异人's palm was directed at a pile of firewood, spewing flames.
Clearly, he wanted to start a campfire because of the cold.
But in the end, even the pile of wood was scorched black, and the fire still wouldn't ignite.
Facing the strange stares of the crowd, the cultivator's face twitched slightly, showing embarrassment.
Fang Jia saw this, touched the damp ground, and then judged:
"The earth veins here are extremely rare cold veins, and of no low grade.
These large trees have grown for who knows how many years, absorbing how much of the cold vein's essence, which is why they are so tough and cannot be easily destroyed even by great demons. It's normal that you can't start a fire."
"Oh," only after hearing Fang Jia's explanation did the fire-attributed cultivator's expression improve considerably. He then dejectedly stepped aside.
The clearing fell silent.
Everyone looked at each other, then back at Xu Mu, who was seated at the very top of the rock.
All of them had some grievances with their newly appointed leader, and now that they had a moment to rest, it was time to settle scores.
"May I ask the Alliance Leader, how much farther is it to the safe zone?"
Changsun Wuji asked from below.
Xu Mu replied, "Soon. In another ten hours, we should arrive."
This statement immediately caused a stir.
"Ten more hours?"
Someone exclaimed in disbelief. They had been chased for two days and two nights without a moment's rest.
Even Nan Feng's stomach had visibly shrunk. Under the immense consumption, everyone was nearing their limit.
In such a situation, Xu Mu said it would take another ten hours. Who could endure that?
Changsun Wuji also fell silent upon hearing this. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing, only cupped his hands and took half a step back.
But if he didn't speak, others would.
Xi Du's voice was slightly cold as he spoke:
"Alliance Leader Xu, do you have nothing to say about our current predicament?"
"You didn't heed the advice of our third brother and acted rashly, causing us to be implicated. Don't you want to explain?"
Xu Mu heard this and replied, "There's nothing to explain."
"My judgment was indeed flawed, putting you all in danger, but I didn't abandon you. I fulfilled my duties as Alliance Leader."
Xi Du snorted upon hearing this:
"I admit, your command was excellent. If not for that, we would have lost many more people by now."
"But if you weren't the Alliance Leader, we would be following our third brother's orders in the Ninth Stone Cave, and there would be no danger at all!"
Xi Du's words exploded in the clearing like a thunderclap.
Boom!
Xu Mu looked up and saw the lightning. The heavy rain soaked half of his body.
"Alliance Leader, your command was good, but my brother is still dead."
With Xi Du leading the questioning, another异人 from the crowd couldn't help but speak. His brother was the one whose arm had been torn off by the bronze chiri earlier.
Due to excessive blood loss, he couldn't survive the subsequent pursuit and died.
Drip.
Water droplets fell from his forehead. Xu Mu squinted and met the man's gaze.
The man's eyes were filled with anger and resentment.
He then looked at the others, and most of them were the same.
The atmosphere in the clearing became stiff and somewhat dangerous.
Xu Mu frowned in the rain. He didn't know how to explain to these people.
Moreover, he didn't think he needed to explain anything.
Because from the beginning, he hadn't intended to let these robbers who had violated the laws of Xia live, but such words couldn't be spoken openly.
At this moment, Yan Yu, holding his sword, spoke calmly:
"Even if Xu Mu wasn't the Alliance Leader, your brother wouldn't have survived."
"In fact, you, you, all of you, would have died in the pursuit of the bronze chiri."
Yan Yu's eyes swept over everyone coldly.
The bronze chiri's flight speed was far faster than imagined. Even if these people escaped in advance, not all of them would be able to reach the safe zone. At least eighty percent would have died.
And now, under Xu Mu's command, only two had died. This was already an unimaginable miracle.
But his words were immediately met with refutation.
The cultivator whose brother had died stepped forward, enraged:
"Shut up!"
"You're only in the third stage, what right do you have to speak? If you hadn't stolen the bronze chiri's egg, why would we be chased!"
Yan Yu stared coldly at the man and said:
"A bronze chiri egg is worth two hundred points. If it was placed in front of you, wouldn't you take it?"
The man was speechless. Two hundred points for an egg, if it were him, he would have taken it too.
"But even if you stole it, why run towards us, causing everyone to die."
A heavily injured cultivator shouted loudly. If it weren't for Yan Yu, they wouldn't have been chased by the bronze chiri at all!
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the clearing turned their attention to Yan Yu.
Some even had their abilities surging, looking like they were about to attack.
Because he was only in the third stage, they couldn't defeat Xu Mu, so they naturally sought a scapegoat.
When Xu Mu noticed this movement, he immediately shouted, "All of you, shut up!"
With a roar, the clearing immediately fell silent.
The few异人 who had been shouting the loudest looked at the black sword and resentfully withdrew their heads.
Although they resented Xu Mu, they weren't foolish enough to provoke him directly.
This was not only because of Xu Mu's strength but also because they knew that at this point, without the leadership of the Alliance Leader, none of them would survive.
Xu Mu felt a headache:
"Now is not the time for infighting."
"Since we've already reached this point, and opportunities lie ahead, why can't we be a little more patient?"
Nan Feng and Xi Du exchanged a look, then spoke with complicated tones:
"Alliance Leader Xu, we understand the logic, but we really can't stand it anymore."
"Along the way, the brothers have all sustained serious injuries. Under such circumstances, asking us to travel for another ten hours is truly unbearable."
"Injured, then heal," Yan Yu said coldly, holding his sword.
Nan Feng turned his head, his tone displeased:
"You little brat, it's easy for you to say."
"Heal? How? We've seen how terrible the journey has been. Our medicinal pills are all gone!"
"And this forest is the only place where we can temporarily rest. With the flying arrows and gales from above, we can't rest with peace of mind."
Fang Jia also added:
"Yes, the biggest problem now is the lack of supplies."
"It would be great if we had an alchemist."
"I am an alchemist, but only a third-grade one," a cultivator from Yan Yu's party raised his hand.
He was a lord and also a third-grade alchemist.
Changsun Wuji glanced at him, then shook his head:
"Even if we had an alchemist, it would have to be at least a fourth-stage alchemist. Otherwise, ordinary pills would be useless to us."
"The toxins and injuries are deep within. Only pills of grade four or higher can expel them."
This statement caused a sigh to ripple through the crowd.
Yan Yu frowned. This was indeed true. At the lord stage,异人 either didn't get injured, or their injuries were extremely severe. Ordinary medicine was difficult to treat, and it basically required rest.
"That's not necessarily true."
Xu Mu, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, hearing everyone's words.
He remembered how Gray-White pupil treated Nangong Mao Guan, using silver needles to neutralize poison and expel blood stasis, even curing a domain lord.
Although he couldn't use acupuncture, he had a thorough understanding of pharmacology.
At least, he understood it more thoroughly than many alchemists in this world.
"Please lend me your alchemy furnace."
Xu Mu said to the third-stage alchemist.
Xi Du looked at Xu Mu and said with a hint of mockery:
"What, Alliance Leader Xu is also an alchemist?"
"No," Xu Mu walked down from the rock and brushed past Xi Du.
"But I can try."