"A-a Q-qi refinement level four demonic beast!"
If everything they had experienced prior brought only fear to them, then seeing those marking gave them true despair.
Even Xue Chang, who was actually the strongest among the group, felt hopeless in this situation.
How could any of them hope to escape from the grasp of a Qi refinement level four beast?
"What the hell is this! Why is a demonic beast like that here?! What the fuck were those bastards at the guild inspecting for them to miss this shit!"
One of the cultivators immediately fell into a panic and began cursing out loudly, and just as he was about to continue the rant, Xue Chang stepped up and gave him a sound slap across the face.
"Calm down, if you lose your rationale right now then there will be no hope of escape. You need to remain calm and focus, how can we get out of this situation?"
Once he said this, Xue Chang turned to face Liu Yang calmly.
He was strong yes, but when it came to overall experience, even he had to admit that he held much less than the expedition leader in front of him.
Xue Chang was able to remain calm due to the fact that if anything were to happen to him, he was sure Wu Jie or his guards would be searching for him immediately. And with his insane regenerative abilities, as long as the serpent didn't kill him outright, he could survive anything.
But Liu Yang was different. He had no such backing or abilities, yet he too was just as calm as Xue Chang was.
Once again he couldn't help but admire this group leader of theirs.
"From what I can see, we really are in a sticky situation. Although we were saved from the serpent's initial attack, we were pulled back away from the entrance."
After strengthening his weapon, Xue Chang had actually moved to the back of the cave and lied down to rest. He already had everything he wanted to know from Yong Heng, so he didn't plan to assist them in their research.
But because of that when the snake had attacked, he could only drag the others toward him to save them. But this brought them even further away from the cave entrance, and led them to their current predicament.
"There is only one path to escape, if we were to go one at a time then we'd be pick off one by one. We need to all charge through together and hopefully assist each other in fending off as many attacks as we possibly can."
Once Liu Yang gave his own suggestions, a couple of complaints came in.
"But that means that whoever is at the front will take the brunt of the attacks, and whoever is at the back will lag the most behind. If we went with this plan then whoever you place first and last will be in the most danger!"
They were all loose cultivators who worked hard to obtain what they currently had. How could they allow themselves to be put in danger and lose everything?
None of them wanted to be at the front nor in the back. And because of this they would fight amongst themselves to decide who went where.
"I can be stationed at the end."
But before a proper fight could break out, Xue Chang raised his hands and offered to be placed last.
Immediately some of the voices of dissent quieted down as a surprised look flashed across Liu Yang's eyes.
He had noticed something. When that mysterious force had brought them away from the gaping maw of the snake, it had an eerily familiar feeling. It was the same oppressive force he felt at the entrance.
And although no one else could tell what was happening, he was able to connect the dots quickly.
'Yong Heng' had been hiding his strength. Although he wasn't sure exactly why, he didn't try to pry into it. Everyone had their own secrets after all.
But what he didn't expect was that such a powerful person would put himself at risk to help the others escape.
Especially people who clearly didn't like him, which could be seen from the happy and derisive expression some of the other hunters held when he spoke up.
They clearly didn't think he was trying to help them but instead they just thought he was a fool.
But Liu Yang knew now. He understood that all of them already held a debt of gratitude.
"You heard Yong Heng, he will take the rear end. And as for the vanguard, that'll be me so you don't have to worry. Now everyone prep yourselves, we will be moving out soon!"
____
The serpent had been casually floating in the lava silently when suddenly it noticed several dark shadows dart across the cave.
Its prey had finally made a move!
It gave off a monstrous roar as it brought its head up from the lava and swung it down with an immense force.
"Guard!"
Immediately Liu Yang took action as he rushed toward the head and swung his blade at it.
Although he used all of his strength, he wasn't even able to hold it back for a second as he was launched backward toward the ground.
However, as he fell, a shadow flicker passed him and took his position near the head of the snake, Xue Chang pulled back his saber and gave off a shout,
"CRESCENT SLASH!"
Although neither of them were strong enough to push back the head separately, together they were able to get it to pause just long enough for the others to rush forward a couple of meters!
This was something no one saw coming. None of them expected that the young hunter who supposedly joined the guild through a back door method could be so strong!
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL DAWDLING FOR, RUN!"
Liu Yang, seeing their chances of escaping rise, immediately commanded the others to rush forward.
Xue Chang landed to the ground soon after and charged after them as well.
At this point the serpent was enraged. It couldn't imagine how it failed, not once but twice, to kill a couple of ants?!
This was something inconceivable to it.
Opening its mouth and giving off a low hiss, it left the lake of lava and slithered after them.
The creature was much quicker than they expected as it gained ground on them in just a couple of seconds.
Looking back at the scene, Xue Chang took a deep breath and didn't even hesitate as he paused in his steps and rushed backward toward the serpent to try to stall it.
After all he was sure he could hold it back for quite a while with his regenerative abilities. And if he held out long enough the others could get help to assist him.
Seeing this happen, some of the hunters near the end of the line looked toward each other and nodded in unison.
They too stopped in their tracks and ran back to assist Xue Chang, which shocked almost everyone present!
Liu Yang looked back to see this and exclaimed at them, "What are you all doing!"
One of the hunters nodded toward the leader as he answered, "It's pathetic. We are clearly the seniors here yet that kid Yong Heng is willing to risk his life to help us escape. Looks, he didn't even hesitate! How could we as the seniors possibly be as spineless as him. Liu Yang, get out of here. Tell the guild master what happened quickly. No matter whether we survive this or not, what's important is that some real experts come over and stop this beast."
The old cultivator immediately turned and continued to charge toward the snake without a hint of fear, "We are hunters! Our job, our true job, is to make sure things like this never EVER harm the peace of Water Cloud City!"
As they all charged back toward the snake, Liu Yang couldn't help but think back to his earlier hunter days.
He joined the guild to help his family, who at the time had just lost his father and had no source of income.
He was a young fool who would charge recklessly into danger to earn more contributions without a second of hesitation all in order to get more money. Yet his recklessness had caused the death and injury of many of his former teammates.
It was in fact that very cultivator that just answered to him that taught him the proper way to go about things. With his help he rose in the ranks of the guild and eventually reached his current position.
Yet he was a fool who didn't even remember the unspoken responsibility all hunters had. Hunting wasn't just a source of money and fame for them. It was also the heavy responsibility to protect their city from the danger of beasts.
Money was just an object for them to use. They could earn as much of it as they wanted with time. Yet the lives of the people could never be earned.
With a newfound determination, he ran even faster toward the cave entrance.
"You bastards better survive! I promise you I'll bring help, just don't die!"
As half of the original group of ten ran toward what seemed to be their death, the others were determined to run toward safety.
Both for themselves and for the lives of those behind them.