"The spirit herb should be just around here!" Excitedly entering a deeper region of the ravine, Chu Yang looked around trying to spot what he was searching for.
A few seconds passed by and his formerly excited look turned into one filled with despair.
"Why! Why is it not here!?" Looking at the spot where the spirt herb was supposed to be, all he saw was a small hole in the ground. Clear proof that someone had been here earlier to dig up the spirit herb.
"Who? Who was it that took my spirit herb!?" Feeling the aura of his pursuers slowly closing in on him, Chu Yang desperately looked around and found out that he was stuck. The only way out was through the black clothed people chasing after him and the chances of them giving him another chance to run away again was close to nothing.
The black clothed men appeared instantly and surrounded Chu Yang, this time, all of them had their weapons drawn as their cautiously monitored Chu Yang's each and every move.
"well, well, well… Look what we got here. Are you perhaps stuck?" The leader of the black clothed men smiled when he saw the despairing and hopeless look on Chu Yang's face, it looked like he did not have any secret escape route or trap!
Maybe he just mistakenly entered the ravine due to the stress of being chased for such a long time?
Thinking this, the leader let out a breath of relief, at least he would not have to spend any longer chasing Chu Yang!
"Get him!" Saying this, the leader along with the black clothed men surrounding Chu Yang jumped into action as all of them attacked him at once.
Chu Yang barely managed to react as he quickly blocked the first few attacks from the black clothed with his spear before being knocked unconscious by the leader.
Meanwhile, Xuan Hao was floating only a few meters above the fight happening below as he looked for a way to make an epic entrance and awe his to be disciple.
As he did not sense any intent to kill, he had decided to wait and see how his future disciple would fare under pressure.
Sadly, from the looks of it, the black clothed men had decided to knock the little guy out as the leader quickly flung the now unconscious Chu Yang over his shoulders and began walking out of the ravine with a smug smile on his lips.
"Haha, that was easier than expected! We didn't even have to kill the little guy! Looks like he was really exhausted from all that running earlier, hehe~" Smiling triumphantly, the leader and his men started talking among each other. Not seeing the slowly darkening face of Xuan Hao floating on top his sword just a few meters above them.
"Ahem..." Coughing into his hand to get the black clothed men's attention, Xuan Hao looked down and saw that he had been completely ignored as the bunch was happily talking about the rewards they would get when they brought Chu Yang back with them.
Watching as they were about to leave the ravine, Xuan Hao did not try to gain their attention by coughing again as a small rock floated over besides him.
Throwing the rock with all his might at one of the nearby black clothed men, the rock passed right through his head, killing him instantly.
"Hey old Hu, what are you going to buy with your share of spirit stones? Going to visit the sect's tavern for some fun, hehe. Last time you went there you were thrown out for harassing the inner elder's daughter. Think they will let you in now that you got some spirit stones?" Not knowing that his friend had just died, one of the black clothed men jokingly told the now dead old Hu as he nudged his shoulder.
"O-old Hu…?" Seeing the body of his friend suddenly fall to the ground with a small hole going through his head, the black clothed man shakingly called out to his now dead friend.
"Everyone! We have company!" The leader turned around the moment he heard the body hit the ground as all of them drew their weapons and cautiously inspected their surroundings.
"Come out and face us coward! Hiding will not help you when we find you!" The leader put down Chu Yang's unconscious body as he called out bravely.
"Ahem!" Coughing even louder than before, Xuan Hao stared annoyedly down at the black clothed men as they finally looked up at him with shocked and horrified expressions plastered on their faces, at least Xuan Hao liked to believe that, sadly all of the black clothed men were masked.
"W-who are you!?" Realizing that the opponent was quietly floating above them as he sat lazily on his sword, clearly annoyed, the leader knew that the opponent was not someone that they could deal with.
Floating down, Xuan Hao landed in front of the group as the sword he formerly sat on flew into a sheath strapped on his side the moment his feet touched the ground.
The group of black clothed men were sweating to the extreme as they all felt a chill go down their spine. The silence was killing them, as they tightly gripped their weapons, obediently waiting for Xuan Hao to talk.
Raising an eyebrow at how obedient the formerly aggressive and bloodthirsty black clothed men became, Xuan Hao thought about what to do with them.
Kill them or let them go?
Killing them would mean no trouble and he could easily make sure nobody even knew that they had died here.
On the other hand, keeping them alive would bring trouble, as whatever power behind them clearly wanted the Devil-Immortal whatever jade that his future disciple had taken from them and would send others to get it. Most likely someone stronger than the Foundation Establishment cultivators in front of him.
The only positive in leaving them alive would be that his future disciple could extract his revenge on them in the future when he grew strong enough…
Before the black clothed men could even react, Xuan Hao's sword intent spread out with him as the centre, instantly killing all the black clothed men, while leaving Chu Yang completely unharmed.
"Leaving them alive and let my future disciple take revenge? How long would that take and how much trouble would they be able to bring before that…?" Having thought it over, Xuan Hao shook his head slightly.
Leaving them alive would bring way too much future trouble, it could not compare to whatever benefit his future disciple Chu Yang would get from dealing with them himself…
Other than that, Xuan Hao had barely managed to sense that the leader of the black robed men had used a communication device before his death. Most likely trying to contact the people behind him.
Leaving the spirit valley as fast as possible was a top priority!
Thinking this, Xuan Hao smiled to himself as he picked up Chu Yang and flew back towards the river where Qing Yi was sorting her spoils of war.