"Master?"

Teng Xiaoyun, who was lying on the ground, was stunned, and he turned pale again.

'This spirit beast's a Venerable One! Given that it calls someone else a master, what kind of being is that master?'

Earlier, Teng Xiaoyun felt like he had fallen into a deep valley, but he felt like he had plummeted into a deep abyss at the moment. The man's body was no longer warm, and he looked somewhat absent-minded as though he foresaw the Teng family's tragic end in the future.

Wealth could move one's heart—since the Teng family could destroy the Xue family for the treasure, conversely, if an influential force eyed the Self-examination Mirror and wiped out the Teng family, they could not complain at all.

"This is easy—leave it to me." The goshawk nodded. It glanced at Teng Xiaoyun with its sharp eyes and added, "But we must get a clear answer from him." It poked the man with its hook-like claws and questioned fiercely, "Where's the Self-examination Mirror? Quickly tell us!"

Teng Xiaoyun sounded bitter as he answered, "If we knew where the Self-examination Mirror is, we wouldn't have sent everyone from our sect to search it…"

The goshawk's eyes were extremely vicious. "Nonsense! Since you're trying to snatch the treasure, how could you not have prepared anything? Hmph, if you don't tell us… I'll eat you!"

Teng Xiaoyun cried internally, 'Why are these spirit beasts so cruel? They keep saying that they'll eat me. It sounds like their master's an incredibly savage being.'

"Sir, I dare not lie to you. We've planned this for a long time, but we didn't find the Self-examination Mirror after we eliminated the Xue family, so we could only pursue the surviving members." Teng Xiaoyun then begged piteously, "Xue Yuan's a core disciple from the Xue family while Xue Haiya's a great elder from the inner sect, so they're likely the ones that are hiding the Self-examination Mirror."

The goshawk turned to look at King Kong.

Multi-armed King Kong uttered, "He's not lying, but that's all that he knows."

Ever since it became a Venerable One, it inherited a secret technique from its race and could naturally tell truth and false apart.

The goshawk then spread its wings and said, "I'll go and inform Master now. As for this person, he's useless already." Before its voice was completely gone, it had turned into a tiny black spot and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Teng Xiaoyun trembled and sensed a cold aura surrounding his body. Next, his view was covered by a giant palm, which crumbled his consciousness and made him soulless.

King Kong waved its hand casually and retrieved Teng Xiaoyun's interspatial bag before it left confidently with Big Yellow.

An Advanced Spiritualist was considered a notable figure, hence even one's corpse would have many usages. Nonetheless, due to Ou Yangming, the king kong and the big yellow dog did not do anything to the corpse even though they were reluctant to just leave it there.

※※※※

Ou Yangming, Xue Haiya, and the others were walking on the mountain path.

They naturally heard the fight that was taking place behind them, but the young fellow was not bothered at all, and he did not even want to turn to look.

This was because he knew as long as King Kong was there, they could take down even a Venerable One. Even so, given the cultivation bases of Xue Haiya and his companions, it would be impractical to think that a Venerable One would pursue them.

Nevertheless, Xue Haiya and the others were not as calm as Ou Yangming. After hearing the rumbles behind them, their faces changed, and they exchanged glances. The middle-aged man urged Ou Yangming, "Brother Tianrui, let's hurry on with our journey."

Ou Yangming grinned and replied to him, "Alright."

With that, they hastened and traveled as fast as they could. In particular, Xue Yuan almost looked like he was fleeing in a helter-skelter. After all, he could not care much about his appearance in a life-or-death situation. He would be content if they could survive this disaster.

On the other hand, Xue Haiya was an experienced powerhouse, thus he observed his surroundings carefully while he quickened his pace.

They slowed down only when they had gone far away.

Xue Xuanle listened closely and said, "I don't hear anything already, so I suppose nobody's after us now."

As for Xue Yuan, he exhaled and almost collapsed to the ground. His natural gift in martial arts was considered distinguished among his peers, but it was also the reason he could cultivate much faster, which caused him to be arrogant.

Now that he was no longer protected by his clan and was pursued by the Teng family, he became mentally exhausted and lost his fighting spirit.

Xue Haiya sighed. Back when their clan still flourished, Xue Yuan's flaw in his character was not apparent. Once their clan was struck by a disaster, the young man's real character was revealed. The middle-aged man never thought that Xue Yuan was so useless.

He was surprised when he looked at Ou Yangming.

Ou Yangming did not overtake them throughout the journey, but he never lagged too. At this point, he even looked unruffled and was not impatient at all.

Putting aside his martial prowess, his bearing and steadiness were enough to make him several times better than Xue Yuan.

After scanning the young men for a while, Xue Haiya had to admit that there was a huge disparity between them.

Ou Yangming stopped as well and expressed with a smile, "I believe that it was a false alarm, so you don't need to worry anymore."

An unusual luster was seen in his eyes when he spoke.

Xue Haiya and the others did their best to run away, but they could not be faster than the goshawk. While they were running with all their might, the goshawk had flown past them in the sky above and informed Ou Yangming about what happened through a peculiar spiritual connection.

It was one of the unique abilities from their soul contract, but there was a limit to the applicable range. If they were further apart, they would not be able to communicate with each other even if they could sense one another.

Ou Yangming found out about many things from the goshawk. Indeed, the Xue family obtained a treasure from the Big Ruins, and it was the Self-examination Mirror that was related to one's inner demon.

Not to mention a Spiritualist, even a Venerable One would be attracted to the treasure.

Despite that, to say that the treasure was with Xue Haiya and his people… Ou Yangming scanned them half-intentionally. Judging from their cultivation bases, unless the Xue family's person-in-charge was blind or was left with no choice, the treasure would not be in their possession.

Xue Haiya did not notice Ou Yangming looking at them like that. He carefully looked back at where they came from.

Having said that, he could not spot anything from his angle.

He looked away and sighed. "The Teng family's a good-for-nothing! I can't believe that they sent so many people just to pursue us. Ah, if we hadn't met Brother Tianrui, we couldn't have escaped this time."

Although the most powerful man among the 4 men that were previously trapped in the formation map was only an Intermediate Spiritualist, he had 3 helpers with him. Moreover, Xue Haiya was injured. The middle-aged man might be able to get away if he fought regardless of the consequences, but his juniors would not be able to survive.

Ou Yangming chuckled and replied to him, "Senior Xue, I told you not to be so polite, so you don't need to bring it up anymore."

"Alright, there's indeed no need to constantly talk about one's saving grace," Xue Haiya said after a moment of hesitation. "The Teng family lost 2 Intermediate Spiritualists, so they definitely won't let this be. I suspect that the next powerhouse that they send might be an Advanced Spiritualist." He looked worried.

They could still fight if their opponent was an Intermediate Spiritualist, but they might not be able to flee at all if their enemy was an Advanced Spiritualist.

Ou Yangming smiled and thought, 'There's no need to wait for a next time; an Advanced Spiritualist has shown up already.'

However, once the Advanced Spiritualist went missing, the young fellow figured that there would not be other pursuers.

It would be unlikely for the Teng family to send a Venerable One or a top-grade Spiritualist to pursue Xue Haiya and his juniors as it would be overkill. Unless they were certain that the Self-examination Mirror was with them, that would not happen at all.

Furthermore, after listening to Xue Haiya's description throughout their journey, Ou Yangming found out that the 3 of them were merely survivors from the Xue family, where some of their stronger powerhouses had also escaped elsewhere. Even if the Teng family sent powerhouses to track these survivors, Xue Haiya and his juniors would not be their main target.

"Big Brother Yu, if the Teng family really sends Advanced Spiritualists to catch us, can your formation trap them?" Xue Xuanle suddenly asked while she looked at the young fellow with her beautiful eyes.

Xue Haiya and Xue Yuan became energetic as well. It was true that the latter was not fond of Ou Yangming, but he was concerned about their safety.

Ou Yangming could not help but laugh when he saw how nervous they were. "Do you not trust me?"

Xue Haiya responded embarrassedly, "Brother Tianrui, those are Advanced Spiritualists. They make up the pillar of a sect and are formidable cultivators that are only second to top-grade Spiritualists." He could not hide his worry as he continued, "They have superb cultivation bases, so they can't be trapped by ordinary formation boards."

Ou Yangming nodded as he agreed with the statement, but his formation board was not ordinary at all.

The formation board was refined after he gained Qiu Chengwang's memories. Even King Kong would be powerless if it was trapped inside.

While Ou Yangming was not Qiu Chengwei, by which he was inferior in terms of his cultivation base and understanding of formations, he no longer needed to go on adventures anymore if he could not trap even an Advanced Spiritualist. If that was really the case, the young fellow could simply settle down in a remote area and build a family to live a steady life.

Ou Yangming raised his eyebrow and spoke proudly, "Senior Xue, don't worry. I might not be able to trap a top-grade Spiritualist, but I can definitely hold an Advanced Spiritualist captive."

Xue Xuanle and Xue Yuan looked at each other. The former was in high spirits, whereas the latter did not believe the young fellow.

As for Xue Haiya, his eyes flickered in an unusual luster. He looked meaningfully at Ou Yangming as if something crossed his mind, then he expressed with a smile, "Alright, if that's the case, we'll count on you for our safety."

The young man and lady from the Xue family were puzzled when they noticed how cheerful Xue Haiya became all of a sudden.