Chapter 62: Bamboo Demon Tribe

On the other side of the Lianyun Mountains, ancient trees towered, casting deep, dark shadows.

Among the intertwined ancient trees, a man and a woman stood on a large stone in the forest with four or five skilled individuals. The man had a face as fair as jade and eyes like stars, while the woman was tall and graceful with a pleasant appearance.

"Just now, someone reported that they saw that little fraudster around here!" The woman was Chai Biyue, who had apologized to Ding Hao on the platform earlier. She considered today's events the greatest humiliation of her life.

Thinking about how she was treated like a princess in the Chai family, being publicly scolded by her father and forced to apologize to that little fraudster, she felt a deep desire to kill Ding Hao, to chop him into pieces for satisfaction.

Standing beside her was Chai Shizi, who also harbored intense hatred for Ding Hao. Initially, he merely disliked Ding Hao, but when he noticed that the talented young beauty, Ye Wen, was quite grateful to Ding Hao, his hatred grew.

Moreover, after Ye Wen and Ding Hao had a conversation, he felt that the distance between him and Ye Wen had grown even wider. Therefore, killing Ding Hao had become his greatest wish.

As soon as the hunt began, all the Chai family disciples participating in the competition were ordered to report immediately if they spotted Ding Hao. This was not only the command of the Chai siblings but also of the Chai family head, Chai Jin!

Chai Jin was actually quite petty. Despite his vast wealth, he would even haggle over a single yuan stone. Today, giving away two thousand yuan stones to Ding Hao had filled him with intense hatred.

Furthermore, Ding Hao's actions today had brought great shame to the Chai family, and this grudge had to be avenged.

Upon hearing the report from their subordinates, the Chai siblings came to surround and kill Ding Hao.

However, when they arrived, they found no one.

"Damn, we didn't catch him," Chai Shizi said with a dark expression. "Old Hunter, did you find any traces of that scoundrel Ding Hao? Which direction did he escape to?"

At the foot of the rock, an old man carefully examined the ground marks. After a while, he said, "He came here, but he might have used some kind of movement spell or treasure, which made the trail disappear."

For this hunt, the Chai family had sent an astonishing number of disciples as insiders to ensure victory, including various talents. This old hunter was a renowned forest hunter.

"Movement spells and treasures, that makes it really hard to find him," Chai Shizi said irritably.

Chai Biyue remarked, "This little fraudster has quite a few tricks up his sleeve!" Her desire to kill Ding Hao was strong. She added, "At the Seventh Stage of the Innate Realm, even with spells and treasures, he can't have gone far. We should set up camp nearby and search carefully!"

Her judgment was correct; at the Innate Realm, there were no flying spirit weapons, so even with spells, Ding Hao couldn't have gone far.

However, Chai Shizi's expression was gloomy. "Forget it, Xiao Wen is still waiting for me."

"Alright," Chai Biyue knew that her brother was deeply infatuated with Ye Wen. Since their first meeting, Chai Shizi had wanted to win Ye Wen's heart. This was why Chai Biyue had been scheming to befriend Ye Wen, praising her brother to her every day. Despite being a year younger than Ye Wen, Chai Biyue was quite cunning.

Although Chai Shizi left, he arranged for two people to stay behind. "Leave a bit later. That little waste of space is quite cunning; he might be hiding nearby."

"Yes," the two Chai family subordinates, disguised as participating disciples, bowed in agreement.

After a while, Chai Shizi and the others left, leaving these two to patrol the area.

They held their Spring Embroidery Knives, moving back and forth, extremely vigilant. One subordinate stepped on a broken stone and then checked behind a tree.

What this disciple didn't know was that Ding Hao was hiding inside that broken stone.

Ding Hao had come down the mountain, intending to head to a location he had already scouted. However, he soon felt someone following him.

Thus, when he reached this dark and deep place, he turned the Star Absorption Stone into an ordinary stone and hid his body inside it.

Sure enough, as soon as he hid, the Chai siblings arrived.

Ding Hao's current strength was not enough to face a Great Perfection of the Innate Realm, let alone two. So he stayed hidden, watching the Chai siblings leave and the two remaining Chai disciples.

Both of these were at the Fourth Stage of the Innate Realm. If Ding Hao came out, he could easily take them down.

However, Ding Hao sensed that things weren't that simple, so he remained hidden inside the Star Absorption Stone.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and the Chai siblings reappeared from behind a giant tree. The old hunter said, "It seems he really did escape."

Ding Hao thought to himself, these people are indeed cunning! Chai Shizi, though a talentless fool, had many subordinates. The old hunter had guessed that Ding Hao hadn't gone far, so he had hinted for Chai Shizi to pretend to leave.

If Ding Hao had lost his patience and come out to deal with the two Fourth Stage disciples, he would have fallen into their trap.

Reflecting on it, Chai Shizi had deliberately left two Fourth Stage disciples behind. Why not leave two with higher cultivation? This bait was too obvious.

When Chai Shizi and his group confirmed that Ding Hao had truly left, they moved on, and the forest returned to silence.

However, Ding Hao still didn't come out, remaining hidden in the Star Absorption Stone.

He waited for another hour. Suddenly, a fiery red shadow flashed above the rock, and a spirit fox leaped down from a giant tree. As the spirit fox appeared, another black shadow silently jumped down from the tree.

Ding Hao, hidden in the Star Absorption Stone, saw clearly that this black shadow had cold eyes and only one ear. It was the Little Prince's guard, Duhu!

Duhu and Dulong were brothers, and their family had a secret technique for taming beasts. Dulong had tamed an eagle, using his eye to sacrifice to the eagle, creating a human-eyed eagle. Duhu had tamed a spirit fox, using his ear to sacrifice to the fox, making it his beast pet, the human-eared fox.

"How is this possible? The human-eared fox was always following him, how could it suddenly disappear?"

Duhu had been following Ding Hao all along. At the Second Layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm, his tracking was even more covert. He had observed the Chai siblings' every move but had not acted, always feeling that Ding Hao wouldn't just disappear and should be hiding nearby.

However, after an entire hour, Duhu believed that Ding Hao wouldn't have such patience, so he finally appeared!

"Little brat, I'll let you off this time, but wait until tonight..." Duhu gave a sinister smile and quickly disappeared with the fiery red human-eared fox.

Inside the Star Absorption Stone, Ding Hao's eyes were cold.

He always believed in the principle, "If you're going to do something, do it thoroughly!" Since the Little Prince and the Chai siblings had decided to kill him, he wouldn't be lenient with them. However, currently, Ding Hao lacked both strength and opportunity, so he had to endure for now.

Ding Hao thought, since so many people want to kill me, I'll stay hidden here until night and see who else comes.

He was indeed patient. For the entire day, he didn't kill a single spirit beast, staying hidden in the Star Absorption Stone and watching several groups pass by without showing himself.

Finally, as the sun set and the sky grew dark, it started raining in the mountains. The rain fell on the dense leaves of the forest, then flowed down the broad leaves, forming streams that dripped onto the rocks, eroding them over time.

Ding Hao remained hidden in the Star Absorption Stone, thinking that no one would pass by now.

However, to his surprise, a white lotus the size of a four-foot table floated a meter above the ground from a distance. On the lotus stood four figures in black cloaks, only their eyes visible.

The white lotus floated above the rock, and the raindrops above them seemed to be deflected by an invisible barrier, preventing any rain from touching them.

"This is..." Ding Hao was inwardly shocked.

The rain didn't touch them; these four were all Immortal Masters!

The lotus under their feet, though unfamiliar to Ding Hao, was likely a flying spirit weapon like the Spirit Sword. However, the lotus moved slowly and didn't fly high, so it was probably a lower-grade flying spirit weapon.

Previously, in the Spirit Plant Area, he had seen Master Wan from the Spirit Rice Hall of the Nine Provinces Academy use a Spirit Sword. Master Wan was at the Seventh Layer of Qi Cultivation. These people using a lower-grade lotus, Ding Hao guessed, one of them must be at the Fifth or even Sixth Layer of Qi Cultivation, an Immortal Master!

For Ding Hao, at the Seventh Stage of the Innate Realm, a Sixth Layer Qi Cultivator was a terrifying height. They could wipe him out with a single wave of their hand!

This was no exaggeration!

"Could these people also be here to kill me?" Ding Hao was shocked and found it hard to believe.

The four arrived and didn't speak. One of them waved his hand, and a black arrow bamboo sprouted from the ground. The black arrow bamboo was quite strange, coiling like a snake and extending to the black-cloaked figure.

The black-cloaked figure said, "Little Black Demon, hide in the ground. If anyone passes by, kill them directly."

The black arrow bamboo obediently retreated, and the area returned to calm.

Ding Hao, hidden in the Star Absorption Stone, dared not breathe, shocked by the presence of a mid-Qi Cultivation demon Immortal Master. Why were these people here? Could it be to kill him?

At that moment, a fiery red shadow flashed nearby, and Duhu, with his beast pet, approached, bowing. "Greetings, seniors."

One of the black-cloaked figures said, "I've already planted an arrow bamboo here. If he passes by, he will die!"

Duhu replied, "Thank you, senior. With the help of all the seniors, that little brat is doomed this time!"

The black-cloaked figure added, "We'll continue to other places where the little brat might appear and plant more arrow bamboos."

Duhu worriedly said, "Senior, if the arrow bamboo kills other disciples, it might cause problems..."

The black-cloaked figure laughed, "If they die, they die. It's best to use their blood and flesh to nourish my bamboo."

Duhu, feeling a chill, said, "Senior, please follow me."