A Chaotic World

"How did they find you?" Lu Tianzi conveyed his voice to Hu Shenwei in confusion.

All these human martial artists were supposed to have carefully hidden themselves, preparing to strike the demons from the back once they started to chase after Lu Tianzi.

However, one by one they were sent flying out from their hiding places, ending up in the current situation where they were all gathered together and surrounded by demons on all sides.

There were even a few demons who had managed to get behind them, cutting off their path of escape.

"No idea," Hu Shenwei could not afford to be distracted at this moment, only giving Lu Tianzi a cursory reply as he continued watching the demons before them.

There were twelve demons in total, as opposed to the six human martial artists on their side.

Out of these twelve demons, there were actually five of them at the Essence Condensation realm!

Five might not sound like a lot, but one had to be mindful that out of the human martial artists present, only Hu Shenwei was at the Essence Condensation realm!

At this stage, Hu Shenwei could no longer be bothered with plotting against Lu Tianzi. On the contrary, he knew it was likely that they would have to work together in order to get out of this mess.

"Are you the leader?" Nanhong Yechang smiled calmly as he regarded Hu Shenwei.

"What if I say I am not?" Hu Shenwei asked in response.

"Hah, very cheeky," Nanhong Yechang crossed his arms without losing his temper.

However, under Nanhong Yechang's watchful eyes, the four other Primary Essence Condensation realm demon martial artists stepped forward. Driving the Slaughter Essence in their inner worlds, they released an intimidating aura that bore down heavily on the group of human martial artists!

Lu Tianzi was not exempted from this aura as well.

He felt a sense of heavy pressure suddenly slam down upon him, causing his feet to dig into the ground. It was as though he was submerged deep within a viscous sea of sludge, pressed down by the suffocating weight.

In the face of such power, Lu Tianzi actually felt his legs shake unstably.

He hurriedly drove his Spiritual Essence to counteract against the demons' aura, and was finally able alleviate some of the pressure, allowing him to steady his footing once more.

But while Lu Tianzi was able to do so, his other comrades at the Essence Building realm were not as lucky.

Even though they did not utter a single word of complaint, some of them were obviously pushed to the limits as they fell to one knee. The others had to lean on their weapons as a form of additional support just so they could continue standing before the enemy.

It was truly a pathetic sight.

Hu Shenwei frowned as he saw this, but he could not blame them for it.

After all, there was a huge gulf between the Essence Condensation realm and the Essence Building realm!

From the moment they had been discovered by the enemy, things were only going to go downhill.

But what surprised Hu Shenwei was that on his side, there was actually one other person who seemed to be able to withstand this pressure from the enemy despite also being at the Essence Building realm.

Lu Tianzi!

From the brat who was only at the Intermediate Essence Building realm a few weeks ago, he had suddenly grown to become an individual who stood at the very top even among Peak Essence Building realm martial artists!

That was a truly horrifying rate of improvement!

It would be extremely dangerous if Lu Tianzi was given more time to grow.

Hu Shenwei decided that after they managed to get to safety, he would seriously think about how to get rid of him!

"I don't like that look in your eyes," Nanhong Yechang creased his eyebrows for the first time. "It is as though you think there is still a chance for you to escape."

"So what if I do?" Hu Shenwei grinned in response.

Upon completing his sentence, Hu Shenwei suddenly took out a paper talisman and threw it up into the air. Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately pierced out with his sword, aiming straight towards the airborne talisman!

But when the paper talisman was struck by the sword, instead of being pierced through, the talisman actually hardened as it remained suspended in mid-air, giving off an aura of imposingness!

Thump-!

A dull thud sounded out as Hu Shenwei's sword struck the talisman, as though he had struck a piece of wood instead.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the foreign talisman, Nanhong Yechang widened his eyes in shock. He could clearly sense the overwhelming strength being emanated from this small paper talisman.

In fact, this was not the end of it.

This overwhelming strength was still climbing rapidly as the talisman seemed to be gathering a large amount of energy!

Not good!

"Retreat!" Nanhong Yechang ordered in shock, and the demons immediately pulled back!

Even without knowing what it was, Nanhong Yechang felt an ominous feeling as he regarded the paper talisman, leading to him decisively ordering a retreat!

In fact, this was the life saving trump card that Hu Shenwei had received from his father Hu Yuanbo, an Origin Core realm martial artist!

It was only because he had this talisman in hand that Hu Shenwei had the confidence to plan an ambush on multiple Essence Condensation realm martial artists, despite the fact that he was the only Essence Condensation realm martial artist in the team!

"Die!" Hu Shenwei roared as he channelled all of his strength into activating the paper talisman.

A stream of flames suddenly burst out from the floating talisman, forming into a huge ball of fire that hovered in the air!

The dark forest was lit up in an instant and a wave of hot air spread out in a circle, as though a mini sun had just descended upon the battlefield!

The trees that were unfortunately in closer proximity immediately burst into flames upon contact with the ball of fire, sending black smoke into the air.

Even the majority of the human martial artists behind Hu Shenwei felt as though their faces were burning as they turned their eyes away, unable to look directly at the blinding ball of fire!

In just an instant, the silent forest around them had been transformed into a scene of raging fire.

Without warning, five individual streams of flames suddenly shot out from the huge ball of fire, heading straight for the five demons at Essence Condensation realm!

This was a true life saving trump card prepared by an Origin Core realm martial artist. The power behind it was not anything to be scoffed at!

Nanhong Yechang's instantaneous decision making might have bought them some time, but in the face of such overwhelming power, how would it be so easy for them to escape unscathed?

As though they were living fire serpents, the five streams of flames weaved around trees and caught up almost immediately with the five demons, threatening to reduce them to ashes!

"Damn it! Defend!" Nanhong Yechang had completely lost his previous composure by now.

Knowing that there was no way to run, Nanhong Yechang drove his Slaughter Essence to the maximum as he struck out with all his might, attempting futilely to change the attack direction of the stream of flames.

Bang-!

Multiple explosions reveberated through the forest as each of the five demons struck forth with all their might, trying their best to defend themselves.

Hu Shenwei sneered coldly.

He had not wanted to resort to this initially. But considering the situation that they were in, there were hardly any chances of them getting out alive if he did not activate the talisman.

Now that he had been forced to do so, there was no turning back. He might as well finish the job!

Doing so would at least raise his level of prestige in the eyes of his team members!

Lu Tianzi's heart shook as he saw the power of the paper talisman.

When Hu Shenwei mentioned that he had a way to deal with the demons, Lu Tianzi definitely did not think that it would contain this much power. If they had managed to use it in a surprise attack, then Lu Tianzi was certain that this entire demon force would have been decimated!

Unfortunately, the situation had not allowed them to use this deadly weapon to its fullest effect.

Instead of surprising the demons with a strike from their blind spot, Hu Shenwei was forced to use it as a direct frontal attack, one that the demons had ample time to prepare for.

On top of that, in order to chase after the five demons at Essence Condensation realm, the flames summoned by the talisman had to be split into five, greatly reducing the pressure that each of the five demons faced individually.

This meant that it was likely for the demons to survive this attack.

As Lu Tianzi thought, as the smoke settled, one by one the five demons stood back up.

The previous attack was indeed unable to finish them off, but the key question now was how much damage did it manage to inflict upon them?

If they were no longer able to do battle, then this battle was as good as won!

But if they were till able to fight, then the human martial artists would be in an extremely dangerous position.

The remaining demons who were at the Essence Building realm quickly leapt in to rejoin the five as they slowly made their way back towards the human martial artists, albeit with much unsteadiness in their steps.

Other than the sound of footsteps as the demons drew nearer, there was only the quiet crackling of a few burning trees, a huge contrast as compared to the thunderous explosions just a moment before.

The floating paper talisman also burnt up into ashes that scattered with the wind, never to be used again.

Hu Shenwei narrowed his eyes as he swept out with his perception, trying to probe the current state of the demons.

"Not good! Run!" Hu Shenwei immediately called out.

Hearing that, none of the human martial artists stopped to question his order, each of them turning around to escape under his lead.

"Don't let them get away!" Nanhong Yechang bellowed in rage. "Kill them all!"

Nanhong Yechang was a sorry sight at the moment, with his clothes in tatters and much of his skin charred red with from the burns. Blood flowing out from multiple small wounds drenched his muscular body.

The commanding aura of his was no longer anywhere to be seen, replaced only by the crazed madness in his eyes.

Despite that, he was already considered to be in a better state as compared to the other four demons, who had incurred even heavier wounds!

However, as Essence Condensation realm martial artists, their bodies had been refined by the constant nourishment from their Slaughter Essence, and were all extremely durable. Even with such wounds that would have easily killed a non martial artist, they were still fully capable of combat!

As long as they still harboured the strength to fight, they were definitely not going to easily let off the human martial artists who dared do this to them!

All the demons drove their Slaughter Essence to the maximum as they immediately gave chase, determined to hunt down the escaping human martial artists!

"Shit! They are about to catch up to us!" one of the human martial artists exclaimed in worry.

Lu Tianzi shared the same perspective.

Mostly comprised of Essence Building realm martial artists, the team was simply unable to outrun these demons who were at the Essence Condensation realm.

But even as they were worrying about this, the demons had already caught up!

"Die!" Nanhong Yechang led the pack, slashing down with his sword as he closed the distance.

"As if!" his target had no choice but to turn around and block with his own weapon.

Boom-!

The human martial artist's weapon was instantly blown to bits, completely unable to withstand a single strike!

Completely unaffected by the martial artist's defence, Nanhong Yechang's sword continued on its path, piercing right through the human martial artist as the tip of the blade protruded from the other end.

With a single domineering strike from Nanhong Yechang, there were now just five human martial artists who remained alive!