172: traitor

"Cough cough..."

The sky gradually darkened. In a valley, a particularly hidden cave contained a bonfire, illuminating seven figures.

Su Yao coughed softly a couple of times, blood continuously flowing from the corners of her mouth.

Facing the pursuit of several Quasi-Emperors earlier, she had barely managed to kill one, then fled with her teammates.

When they set out, there were ten of them, but now only seven remained.

More than half of them were injured, with Su Yao suffering the most severe injuries.

They had encountered various battles outside this time; there were practically no allies, only enemies. Any small team they met could potentially lead to a fight.

The foreign races wouldn't consider which faction you belonged to, nor would they care if you were a Human Race Powerhouse or had a powerful background.

Once they encountered you, they would definitely fight to the death, either you die or I perish.

In this environment, it was survival of the fittest; only by being strong enough could one survive.

For example, the seven survivors were basically all very powerful and adapted their thinking very quickly.

Otherwise, they would have had no chance to survive; once they encountered a Powerhouse, they could be forced into battle at any moment.

After dozens of battles, the resources they had accumulated were quite substantial. Those foreign races might need to mine or hunt Yao Beasts to obtain crystal cores.

But they didn't need to do that at all; they just had to fight the foreign races, slaughter all of them, and then seize all the treasures on their bodies.

Each of them had basically accumulated a huge sum of tens of thousands of crystal cores, and it had only been a month since they left.

This speed of earning money was incredibly fast; as long as they could keep surviving, even staying for only two or three months, they could return with a full load.

Those soldiers guarding the city walls for a year probably didn't earn as much as they did in two or three months.

High risk comes with high opportunity. They were doing something extremely dangerous, so naturally, they should also receive high returns; otherwise, who would do it?

"Senior Sister."

A seemingly delicate girl, dressed in a pink Daoist Robe, took out her handkerchief and gently wiped the blood from Su Yao's lips.

"It's too dangerous out here. This is our first time out, and we don't have much experience. We've done very well to get this far. How about we go back, rest for a while, and then come out again?"

The few of them were feeling somewhat desperate because they could sense that ever since they faced a few battles, their location had been exposed, and the number of pursuers they encountered was steadily increasing.

Especially earlier, they had encountered a large number of pursuers, almost hundreds or thousands!

If not for their strong stealth methods and fast escape, they would have already become corpses.

"I think that's a good idea. Next, we'll be careful and slowly head back. We'll resupply on Medicinal Pills and various life-saving resources, and then we'll come out again later."

"This many resources are enough for us to make a fortune. We can exchange them for a lot of equipment, and then when we come back, it will be even easier."

A refined-looking young man clenched his right fist tightly; his left arm was conspicuously empty. He had lost his left arm in a battle.

Losing an arm didn't make him weaker; instead, he became even more formidable. This was combat power forged through life-and-death struggles, not something that could be cultivated in a greenhouse.

"I agree. This time, our reaction speed was too slow. Once our location is exposed, we should immediately kill the pursuers blocking us, then quickly escape far away to make them lose track of us. Otherwise, we'll just keep being chased like this."

Another person raised their hand in agreement, and Su Yao, naturally, had no objections, nodding her head.

Soon, everyone reached an agreement: they would leave early tomorrow morning.

"Thank you for the handkerchief, Junior Sister."

Su Yao forced a smile, her face still somewhat pale. The Junior Sister immediately shook her head and handed her some Medicinal Pills.

"Senior Sister, you're too kind. We've made it this far mostly thanks to Senior Sister's Cultivation. Without Senior Sister, we would probably be gone by now. Thank you, Senior Sister."

After the Junior Sister finished speaking, everyone else chimed in agreement.

The night passed quickly. After a night's rest, everyone had mostly recovered. They then concealed their Qi and continued their journey.

This time, their direction was not deeper into the foreign race's rear, but towards the Human Race territory.

Ghost Three, who was observing in the dark, revealed a barely perceptible smile. He had clearly noticed a furtive figure leaving the cave last night and delivering a message to the foreign race.

Sure enough, shortly after everyone left the cave and traveled for a while, they noticed something was amiss. The surroundings were unusually quiet, as if something was lurking in the dark. Just as everyone was extremely tense, figures darted out from the surrounding trees.

"I didn't expect you to discover us so quickly."

A lizard holding a golden trident slowly walked out from the woods, extended its scarlet tongue to lick its lips, then revealed a playful smile.

"Thank you for the information. Your Dao Companion is in the camp behind us."

The Lizardman pointed behind him as he spoke; a tent was indeed behind him.

The girl who had sworn to fight alongside her companions last night quickly stood up and walked towards the Lizardman, astonishing everyone else.

"Hehehe, I didn't expect there to be such a fool among you, actively exposing your whereabouts to us. Should I call you infatuated or foolish?"

The Lizardman laughed heartily, brandished the trident in his hand, then looked at the group, whose faces were already ashen, with a mocking smile.

Everyone present never expected that this person had actually betrayed them!

As early as when their first three companions were killed, someone among them had been turned.

One of the dead companions was precisely this Junior Sister's Dao Companion. Their relationship was very good. Everyone recalled the Junior Sister's reaction at the time; she had indeed cried terribly for the first two days, but after one night, she suddenly became resolute, as if full of hope for the future. Everyone thought she had come to terms with it, but they never expected she had conspired.

Soon, a head emerged from the tent. The canvas outside the tent tightly wrapped the rest of the head, revealing only this face.

It was indeed the face of their previously deceased companion.

The Junior Sister's face lit up with joy, and she quickly walked forward, preparing to retrieve her Dao Companion from inside. These foreign races had promised her that as long as she provided accurate movement locations and coordinates, they would let this ill-fated couple return to Human Race territory.

The Junior Sister was overjoyed, preparing to lift the curtain, when in the next instant, a long spear suddenly pierced her abdomen, followed by piercing laughter from all around.