A Chaotic World

The eerie smile on the demon caused Lu Tianzi's hair to stand on ends. Judging from the demon's tone, his attitude towards the current situation was obvious. In his eyes, Lu Tianzi was probably nothing but a prey to be toyed with.

But no matter what, Lu Tianzi did not intend to simply surrender. If he really obediently followed the demon back, then his chances at survival would probably fall to just about zero!

As Lu Tianzi was still contemplating his next course of action, the sound of hooves rang out in the dark forest, announcing the arrival of a horse carriage that approached from behind the demon.

Somebody was coming!

Lu Tianzi was just about to call out for help when he sensed that something was not right. Even with the obvious approach of others, the demon facing him did not even bother looking back. This kind of reaction could only mean one thing – he was expecting the arrival of the other party.

Could it be… his companions?

Indeed, it was just as he feared. When the horse carriage came into view, Lu Tianzi could clearly make out the two figures riding atop with their distinct long tails.

More demons!

But on the bright side, he was at least able to tell the cultivation levels of the other two. From his understanding of demons, the two newcomers were at a realm equivalent to his Intermediate Essence Building. From how they respectfully stayed behind the first demon, it seemed like they were his subordinates.

So demons had a hierarchy as well?

But Lu Tianzi did not linger on that thought for long since that was not the crux of the issue. The most important thing right now was to get out of this mess!

Lu Tianzi had initially considered pitting himself against the demon. While the other party's cultivation realm was higher than his, Lu Tianzi was hoping that it was not by much. As long as the opponent did not have a significant advantage in terms of cultivation, with his talent that was hailed by everyone in Ivory Rock City, he might still be able to stall the opponent long enough to escape.

But now, with the appearance of two other demons, he had no choice but to completely abandon that idea. Even just battling against the first demon alone would have been a tall order for him, not to mention battling against all three of them!

If so, then there was only one option left – run!

"What are you waiting for? The cage is inviting you in," the demon leader continued to speak while his companions remained silently in the horse carriage.

"Who are you? How are you related to the people from the City Lord Manor?" Lu Tianzi calmed his nerves and asked in return.

Earlier, the two servants mentioned that they had an agreement with the demons. Even though Lu Tianzi was not expecting the demon to readily reveal everything, he still did not want to give up on a chance to at least obtain some clues on the matter.

"Oh?" the demon exchange a few glances with his companions before all of them burst out into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" Lu Tianzi was naturally not in the mood for jokes.

"Are you an idiot? Is it not obvious that your beloved City Lord is sending you to us as a sacrifice?" the demon shook his head as he tried to rein in his laughter. "But I guess it's all good. Don't you humans greatly value selfless acts that benefit the greater good? Rest assured, in exchange for your life, we will also keep our end of the promise and stay away from your beloved Ivory Rock City for a year!"

Hearing that, Lu Tianzi's eyes narrowed in contemplation. It was already obvious enough that he was betrayed, so he was not too concerned about that fact. But from what the demon said, he was likely not the only one!

Was the demon lying?

No, at this point, Lu Tianzi must already look like a dead person to him, so was there any point for him to lie?

But if what he said was true, then did that mean City Lord Hu had been sacrificing someone to the demons every year in order to keep the city safe?

Considering that the naming of a Holy Guardian was done on an annual basis, no wonder the Holy Guardians had never returned after leaving the city…

Spending their lives out in the wilderness giving hope to remnant groups of humanity?

What a splendid way to hide the truth from the people!

City Lord Hu, no, this Hu Yuanbo had really planned this out perfectly!

Holy City my ass! The only reason for Ivory Rock City's safety was because Hu Yuanbo had been colluding with the demons!

"I am slowly losing my patience, kid," the demon crossed his arms in irritation. "If you still refuse to return to the cage yourself in 5 seconds, then I will just have to help you with it!"

"I will, but I just have one more question. Where will you be bringing me?" Lu Tianzi asked.

"It's good that you have thought it through. Of course we will be bringing you back to the fortress, but don't worry, you will naturally understand when you get bac-" the demon's smile froze halfway through his reply as Lu Tianzi sped off into the forest.

"Get him back here."

"Yes, sir!" the two demons on the horse carriage immediately gave chase.

Vision was poor, and Lu Tianzi was half relying on luck as he sped through the dense forest. The thick canopy overhead never let up, and only bare amounts of moonlight pierced through to illuminate the path ahead. With his cultivation realm of Intermediate Essence Building, normal protruding roots were no longer able to trip him as his feet would just tear through them like paper.

However, there were still rare plants sure as Ironwood Trees that were considerably resilient. If he were unlucky, he might get tripped by or even tangled in such vegetation. Every second counted at this moment, and it would probably mean the end of him should he get slowed down by mere plants.

After all, his pursuers were definitely stronger than he was!

Drawing upon his Spiritual Essence, the speed at which he was running at was far beyond the ability of non martial artists. Even when disadvantaged by the reduced vision, he had managed to cover more than twenty kilometres within a short span of ten minutes! This was the advantage of a martial artist who was had started on the path of cultivation.

However, this advantage did not belong to him alone. The three demons were able to keep up with his speed perfectly. In fact, Lu Tianzi could even sense that the leader of the three demons was steadily closing on him!

"It seems like you are confident in your speed? Let's see you dodge this then!" it was unknown when the demon leader picked up a rock, but he threw it straight at Lu Tianzi.

Lu Tianzi did not have eyes on his back, but his senses had been enhanced along with the advancement of his cultivation. The sound of the wind gave more than enough warning about the incoming rock, and Lu Tianzi immediately moved to dodge.

However, this seemingly simple rock throw was imbued with the demon's Slaughter Essence, and was coming at a speed far too fast for Lu Tianzi to completely evade it.

Tsss-!

The rock pierced right through his fur coat and scraped past the side of his body, cutting a clean hole out of his shirt.

"Oh? You dodged it?" the demon leader was not disappointed, but instead grinned sadistically when he saw Lu Tianzi barely evade the attack.

Shit! I got careless!

Even though Lu Tianzi kept running, he could already feel a sharp pain at the right side of his torso. Unknown to the demon behind, that rock had not just cut through his shirt, but it had also torn open his skin and flesh to open a huge wound!

If he were to keep running like this, the exertion would only cause him to lose blood at a faster rate through that gaping wound, until he was eventually too weak to continue moving.

He needed to lose his pursuers, and fast!

Wha-!?

Just as he was still distracted by his wound, the path before him had come to an abrupt end. Digging his feet into the ground, Lu Tianzi could only curse his luck as he barely managed to stop in time before falling over the steep cliff.

One after another! Things just kept getting worse for him!

Of all directions, why did he have to run towards a dead end?

How unlucky!

But since things had come down to this, escape was no longer an option. The only way left was to try his luck with the demon behind!

The demon leader's cultivation was a boundary higher than Lu Tianzi, at the Advanced Essence Building realm. Thus he was able to move at a speed relatively faster than Lu Tianzi and the other two demons.

But even he was not immune to the poor vision of the night, and could only barely make out the figure of the escaping Lu Tianzi. Therefore, he had mainly been chasing after Lu Tianzi by roughly following his trail.

However, now he had finally gotten close enough to make out the distinct shape of Lu Tianzi's fur coat ahead of him.

"I think this is far enough!"

The demon leader grabbed forward and pulled the fur coat with all his might, ready to slam his knee into the escaping sacrifice's back.

Hmm? This is…?

He realised that something was wrong the moment he pulled on the fur coat.

It was light! Far too light!

A bad feeling immediately washed over him as he stopped in his tracks, barely in time to prevent himself from falling over the edge of the cliff. When he saw that he had stopped right at the edge, the demon leader was shocked. Just a little more and he would have completely fallen over!

Under the weak illumination of the moonlight, all he could see beyond the cliff was complete darkness.

Who knew how far down it went?

Damn it! How did that sacrifice hang up the fur coat without him noticing?

A mere sacrifice actually dared to mask his vision with a fur coat to trick him into falling over? He would definitely take his time torturing this bastard when he managed to catch him later!

But due to him boiling over in rage, the demon actually let his guard down for a moment, failing to notice a figure dashing out of the nearby bushes and heading straight towards him.

Lu Tianzi was hoping for his trick to succeed. However, if that was not enough, then he did not mind personally sending the demon on his way!

He gathered all his Spiritual Essence into his fist, punching forward with all his might!

Bang-!

The punch connected squarely on the demon leader's back!

Even though the demon leader had a higher cultivation, Lu Tianzi had summoned all of his strength and betted it all on this punch. It was simply impossible for the demon leader to simply shrug off an attack like that!

"Damn you!" the demon leader cursed in shock as he was sent tumbling over the edge, falling over the cliff.

"Keep cursing me in the other world!" Lu Tianzi sneered, adrenaline pumping in his veins.

He did it! One down, two more to go!

But at this crucial moment, he suddenly felt something similar to a rope wrapping itself around his ankle. When he looked down in alarm, his heart immediately sank. The demon had actually managed to wrap his long tail around Lu Tianzi's ankle while falling!

Fuck! This is cheating!

"You will die with me!" the demon leader shouted in a crazed manner as he gave a powerful tug, pulling Lu Tianzi off the cliff along with him.

"Shit!"

Lu Tianzi immediately tried to grasp onto anything that was protruding on the cliff, but the tug from the demon was far too strong. The demon leader possessed a higher cultivation than Lu Tianzi, and the strength he possessed was real.

In fact, the powerful tug caused Lu Tianzi to fall backwards uncontrollably, resulting in the back of his head slamming into the edge of the cliff. Having previously concentrated all his Spiritual Essence at his fist in order to deal the strongest blow, Lu Tianzi's head was completely unprotected at the moment!

With a loud thud, Lu Tianzi completely lost consciousness for the second time that night as both he and the demon fell helplessly into the darkness below.