Quick Retreat

As Raife spoke, he raised both hands high.

A massive golden curtain of light appeared behind him, covered in countless tiny crosses.

The golden curtain stretched for at least a thousand kilometers and stood nearly five hundred meters tall.

Its enormous radiance drew everyone else’s attention as well. Hathaway and Sharp, in particular, thought a battle had broken out over here and flew toward them.

“What do you mean, Senior? Do you want me to return the spirit stones to you?”

Xu Mu smiled and shrugged. “There are so many spirit stones around us. Aren’t there enough to make up for what you lost?”

“Spirit stones are certainly important, but there are treasures even more valuable.”

Raife’s expression remained impassive. “You’re a descendant of Yan Huang, so you probably don’t know the rules of the Inner Realm, do you?”

“What rules?”

Xu Mu asked.

His opponent was a sixth-stage cultivator, so Xu Mu naturally wasn’t afraid. As long as he could escape, Chen Xuan could use the Teleportation Token to catch up with him.

What worried him most were the two burdens he had to protect.

“Obviously, the strong take what they want. If you wish to leave, you’ll have to let us search you and make sure you’re not carrying any treasures that interest us.”

Raife gave a soft laugh. “You should understand. That’s simply how this world works.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuan glanced at Xu Mu. Fortunately, they had hidden their treasures in the spatial realm beforehand.

The only question was whether their opponent could detect them.

“Looks like we can only fight. I’ve been wanting to battle a sixth-stage expert anyway, just to see how wide the gap is.”

Xu Mu summoned his long sword again, then transmitted his voice to Chen Xuan. “I’ll fight him. You leave first.”

“All right.”

Chen Xuan also drew his woodcutter’s blade.

“Stop!”

At that moment, a beam of golden light descended from the sky, and Hathaway appeared before them.

She turned to Raife and said, “Xu Mu is mine to deal with!”

Xu Mu cursed inwardly. Another troublesome person had shown up.

“No need. It seems I didn’t frighten them enough just now.”

Raife smiled at Xu Mu. “For Hathaway’s sake, I’ll give you some leeway.”

“What does that have to do with me? I have nothing to do with him.”

Hathaway shot Raife a cold glance.

“Xu Mu, I have only one demand. If you have any divine artifacts or Heaven-grade cultivation techniques, leave them behind. As for natural treasures and Earth-grade cultivation techniques, I won’t touch them.”

Raife completely ignored Hathaway.

He didn’t have confidence that he could take Xu Mu down for good, especially with Sharp having just arrived. Sharp had already been injured by Hathaway, and his cultivation was only at the second stage.

If a real conflict broke out, Sharp might die.

Sharp’s elder was also an elder of the Light Clan’s Inner Council, and his position was even higher than Raife’s.

Raife didn’t want Sharp to die at his hands.

However, if Xu Mu truly possessed a Heaven-grade cultivation technique or a divine artifact, then even if Sharp died—or even Hathaway died—Raife would never give up the chance to seize it.

“Are you serious?”

Xu Mu looked at Raife.

“I can swear an oath to the God of Holy Light.”

Raife raised one finger.

“Fine! You should have said that from the beginning.”

Xu Mu smiled. “This time, we only obtained two Earth-grade cultivation techniques and a divine-grade material called Unbreakable Heavenly Silk.”

He took those three items out of his storage space first.

“You can search the rest as much as you like.”

With a smile, Xu Mu removed his ring.

Seeing this, Chen Xuan also took off his ring and handed it to Xu Mu.

“Unbreakable Heavenly Silk? That’s a fine treasure. No wonder you stopped searching for more treasures and chose to leave.”

Raife walked toward Xu Mu. “Still, I keep my word. I said I only wanted divine artifacts and Heaven-grade cultivation techniques.”

He took the two techniques from Xu Mu and gave them a cursory glance. They were indeed Earth-grade techniques.

Then he examined the two rings in Xu Mu’s possession. Aside from some everyday necessities, they were packed completely full of spirit stones.

Finally, Raife placed a hand on Xu Mu’s shoulder and used a searching formation to check whether he had hidden any other rings on his person.

Chen Xuan’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest as he prayed inwardly, Please don’t let him discover it.

In the end, Raife returned the two rings to Xu Mu.

Xu Mu truly had no spatial rings or anything else hidden on him.

A divine artifact couldn’t be stored inside a spatial ring. It had to be carried on one’s person, and Raife hadn’t found one.

Unless the divine artifact had already acknowledged Xu Mu as its master, like Hathaway’s, allowing it to merge into his body.

But in that case, Raife would have even less chance of taking it away.

When Chen Xuan saw that Raife hadn’t detected the formation on Xu Mu, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, Raife came over to Chen Xuan and placed a hand on his shoulder.

His eyes narrowed. “What do you have on you?”

Chen Xuan frowned slightly, then suddenly realized what he meant. “Is it this?”

He undid the buttons of his clothes and took out the woven urea bag hanging in front of him.

Raife glanced at the bag and opened it to inspect the inside. There was nothing in it.

When he held it in his hand, however, he could indeed sense fluctuations from a formation.

He searched Chen Xuan’s body again and found nothing unusual, confirming that the earlier reaction had been caused by the bag.

Raife returned the woven bag to Chen Xuan. “You may leave. I keep my word.”

“Thank you.”

Xu Mu nodded slightly and left with Chen Xuan.

Hathaway stared at Xu Mu and said coldly, “If finding treasures weren’t more important this time, I would have killed you! Consider yourself lucky to have a few more days to live.”

“Then thank you.”

Xu Mu smiled at Hathaway before hurrying away with Chen Xuan.

He then transmitted his voice to Ying Weiyang, telling her and the others not to search for treasures and to wait for him near the entrance instead.

With the Holy Light Clan’s attention still focused on him, they might be able to escape first.

When Xu Mu reached the area, he quickly leaped onto the hillside and reentered through the cave there.

At the entrance, he found Xianling Nan and Ying Weiyang waiting for him.

“Did you find any treasures?”

Xu Mu asked the two of them.

“No. After receiving your message, I filled my ring with spirit stones.”

Ying Weiyang answered honestly.

“I had pretty good luck and found something valuable.”

Xianling Nan smiled. “I guessed they might try to seize the treasures, so I didn’t venture too far inside.”

“You were smart. This place is no longer safe. Let’s go.”

Xu Mu nodded inwardly. “Move!”

Seeing Xu Mu’s expression, Xianling Nan asked, “Did you find some treasures?”

“Something like that. I’ll explain after we get out.”

Xu Mu followed the cave as they prepared to return, but he suddenly stopped.

He raised his head and looked toward the pitch-black ceiling of the cave.

“What’s wrong, Brother Mu?”

Chen Xuan asked from beside him.

Xu Mu used Cloud Step and leaped to the top of the cave, placing his hand against the ceiling. “There’s a formation here.”

He infused it with qi, and his figure vanished on the spot.

Seeing this, Chen Xuan and the others followed one after another, transferring through the formation.

In the blink of an eye, they returned to the place where they had first entered the Inner Realm.

The boundless Qingshan Continent was directly above their heads.

“We can’t fly. How are we supposed to get back?”

Xu Mu looked at the people beside him and asked.