"Agh!" Just as Xuan Hao was about to catch up to the leader of the treasure hunters, a scream suddenly pierced through the formerly quiet cave as the roar of a demon beast could be heard up ahead.
Xuan Hao did not slow down in the slightest upon hearing what was most likely the leader of the treasure hunter screaming out in pain as his divine rapidly began spreading out as it headed towards the location in front of him where the sound of the scream echoed out from.
The thing that met him was the sight of a giant wolf gobbling up the last few remains of what he perceived to be the leader of the treasure hunters.
Inspecting a little further into the cave with his divine sense, while trying his best not to be spotted by the giant wolf, Xuan Hao managed to sense at least another dozen wolfs hiding away in the darkness of the caves.
All of them were in the Nascent Soul Realm! With most of them having reached the middle stages of the Nascent Soul Realm. The one currently in the process of devouring the remains of the leader of the treasure hunters had even reached the later stages of the Nascent Soul Realm and was at the seventh stage of the Nascent Soul Realm!
"Guess there is no reason for me to stay here any longer…" Looking at his targets already dead body disappear into the mouth of the giant wolf, Xuan Hao decisively turned around to leave the cave before they managed to spot him.
Fighting the group of Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts in front of him would be dangerous, even if he was stronger than the leader of the giant wolves, he still had to worry about the dozen or so wolves in the middle and early stages of the Nascent Soul Realm attacking him at the same time.
This was not something Xuan Hao really wanted to do just for the fun of it… After all, who knew if there were even more wolves hiding further into the cave and what would he do if they were stronger than the wolf currently in the process of devouring the treasure hunter's body…?
"Well… This is troublesome…" Coming back to the place where the entrance to the cave was located, Xuan Hao was met by a dead end as the former entrance was replaced by a cave wall.
Xuan Hao felt that the leader of the treasure hunters had done something when entering the cave back then… Perhaps he knew about the giant wolves and wanted to die together with him?
Even though Xuan Hao felt that this was unlikely given how the leader of the treasure hunters had abandoned his teammates so easily.
Would someone like that want to give his own life in an attempt to take his opponent down with him?
"No use thinking about it, I have to first find a way to get out of here before those wolves find me…" With this, Xuan Hao took out his sword and sent out a sword light towards the area that the entrance of the cave was located beforehand.
A dazzling sword light took shape in an instant and moved towards the cave wall where the entrance had been located.
As soon as the sword light formed, the giant wolves behind him felt the aura of the sword as they turned and saw the bright light from the sword intent lighting up the entire cave in front of them.
Xuan Hao also sensed the giant wolves moving over towards him and felt like he had forgotten how bright his sword became when using a sword attack or something similar.
Well… It was not really his fault as he normally fought outside and in daylight where you did not really tend to focus on whether your attack was bright and flashy, compared to the darkness of the cave where the only source of light was the sword attack used by Xuan Hao to smash the cave wall in front of him.
As the sword light of Xuan Hao hit the cave wall and immediately began collapsing as the outside world spread out before him, Xuan Hao used his sword to quickly fly out of the cave and over in the direction of the temple where Chi Hu should be waiting for him.
Behind him, the howl of a wolf sounded out from deep within the cave, causing Xuan Hao to use all his strength to fly in the direction of Chi Hu as quickly as possible.
The reason for this was simple… The power behind the wolf howl earlier was from a half-step Domain Lord demon beast!
Not something Xuan Hao wanted to fight with, especially not so when there were a few dozen Nascent Soul Realm wolves around it as well…
Back at the temple, Chi Hu had just finished sealing off the cultivation of the alchemist treasure hunter as he had managed to recover some of his strength.
Now he was just waiting for Xuan Hao to return or for the alchemist treasure hunter to wake up.
"Hm? What is that? Isn't that Elder Xuan!?" Looking up, Chi Hu got the shock of his life as he saw Xuan Hao descending down in front of him on top of his sword.
"We don't have time for this, we need to leave this place-"
Xuan Hao did not bother explaining to him why he could fly despite not being in the Domain Lord Realm and was about to hurry him to come over when a loud howl sounded out in the distance.
"Wh-what was that!?" Hearing the howl, Chi Hu felt the horrifying aura from that howl and began shivering at the thought of where it came from.
"A demon beast half a step into the Domain Lord Realm and its group of friends, we have to leave before they arrive here! Do you want the treasure hunter to join us as well?" Discovering the unconscious body of the treasure hunter for the first time, Xuan Hao finished his quick explanation before asking.
"Ah, if possible, he might know more about the secret realm that can help us in exploring it further…" Not really focusing much at the moment, Chi Hu starred frightenedly in the direction the howl came from as he explained.
"I see, then we will take him with us as well!" Not waiting around for any longer, Xuan Hao picked up both Chi Hu and the unconscious treasure hunter before soaring into the sky in the direction of the giant pillars.