Chapter 351: Trail of Heaven Deceiving Pendant - 05

For a brief moment, the entire compound fell silent...

The experts surrounding Chu Li stared at him, their eyes gleaming with greed. Just moments ago, they had been his trusted subordinates, the people he had relied on to survive this relentless hunt.

Now, however, after hearing such a tempting offer, all their trust, camaraderie, friendship, and gratitude crumbled under the weight of personal gain!

A position as an outer disciple of the Underworld Palace!

Even if they failed to become core disciples in the future, simply entering the Underworld Palace would give them access to resources and cultivation techniques that countless cultivators could only dream of obtaining. It was an opportunity that could change their entire lives.

A brighter future!

And all they had to do was hand over this snake, Chu Li, the man who had greatly offended Madam Mo. He was their ticket to that bright future!

"HAHAHA! Chu Li, you can only blame yourself for your bad luck!"

One of the experts suddenly burst into laughter. Before anyone could react, he shot toward Chu Li, his spiritual qi surging as he reached for him.

"YOU DARE?!"

Another expert roared and immediately moved to intercept him. His palm struck toward the attacker’s chest, forcing the man to twist his body to evade the blow.

BOOM! BANG! POW!

The two exchanged violent blows, sending shock waves through the compound.

For a brief moment, Chu Li’s heart stirred with relief. Someone was actually willing to stand up for him!

However, that relief lasted only an instant.

"GET LOST! This one is mine!"

"Yours? Ha! You wish!"

The two experts glared at each other, their killing intent rising before they resumed fighting. Neither showed the slightest concern for Chu Li’s safety. In their eyes, he was nothing more than a ticket to a brighter future.

At that moment, another group of experts arrived, led by one of Chu Li’s longtime comrades, a man who had sworn brotherhood with him and whom Chu Li had even appointed as the leader of the Dead Squad.

"Chu Liang!"

He was leading a group of Dead Squad warriors toward Chu Li, seemingly coming to his aid.

"Brother Chu! Please, come this way! A few of our brothers and I will help you escape!" Chu Liang shouted urgently.

"Oh! Chu Liang! Thank you!" Chu Li exclaimed gratefully as he quickly followed his sworn brother.

"Stall them!" Chu Liang shouted, ordering a large group of Dead Squad warriors to hold back the experts who had stopped fighting one another and were now rushing after Chu Li.

The Dead Squad immediately formed a defensive line, blocking the pursuing experts and buying Chu Li precious time to escape.

Although they were elite warriors who had followed Chu Li for years, they were still completely outmatched. Against more than a dozen experts, their resistance was little more than a desperate struggle.

The Dead Squad warriors fell one by one, but their sacrifices were not in vain.

Every death bought a few more seconds. Every attempt to hold the enemy back bought another precious moment! Even when their arms were severed or their bones broken, every attack they managed to deflect gave Chu Li a little more time to escape.

Then, the dozen or so remaining warriors made their final decision. They charged toward a group of experts and...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A dozen deafening explosions shook the compound as the warriors detonated their own bodies, unleashing every last ounce of their strength. When the smoke cleared, two of the fifteen pursuing experts had died in the explosions, while the survivors had suffered injuries ranging from minor wounds to the loss of entire limbs.

Of the fifteen experts, two had died, and two others had suffered severe injuries.

The surviving experts exchanged meaningful glances before turning their attention to the two most severely injured men.

"Crippled like you are, even if you survive, the Underworld Palace won’t accept you! Die and clear the way for our future! Consider it your final contribution toward earning some good karma!" one of the experts shouted as he struck with his palm.

The two severely injured experts were already weakened by their wounds. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, they could not muster enough strength or spiritual qi to defend themselves.

Under the combined assault of more than ten experts, their bones shattered and their hearts burst almost instantly. Both died on the spot, leaving behind no intact corpses.

....

Deep within the forest, Chu Liang led Chu Li are in a desperate escape.

The two flew on their swords, keeping close to the treetops and weaving between the dense foliage, hoping the thick canopy would conceal their movements from their pursuers.

For a while.... their plan seemed to work.

However, one of the surviving experts was exceptionally skilled at tracking. Even with Chu Li and Chu Liang doing their best to hide their traces, he patiently followed their trail through the forest.

After several hours of pursuit, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"There they are!"

Through a gap in the foliage, he finally caught sight of Chu Li and Chu Liang flying ahead of them.

The surviving experts immediately rushed toward the two like a pack of hungry ghosts, their eyes filled with greed as they chased after Chu Li and Chu Liang.

However, after taking a quick look at the number of pursuers and the injuries they had sustained, Chu Liang suddenly smirked.

"Heh. You want to chase us? Let’s see if you can survive this!"

With a flick of his hand, he pulled a red talisman from his storage ring and hurled it toward the pursuing experts.

The moment they saw the talisman, several experts’ expressions changed drastically.

"The Demonic Fire Blood Talisman!?"

It was an infamous forbidden artifact created by a demonic sect through the sacrifice of more than one hundred thousand innocent lives. Its power was terrifying enough to obliterate even a Nascent Soul expert if they were not careful!

Before the pursuing experts could react, the talisman erupted in a blinding flash of crimson fire.

BOOOOOOM!

A terrifying explosion engulfed the forest, scorching the trees and shaking the surrounding air. Screams rang out as four more experts perished in the flames, while another three suffered severe injuries.

When the explosion finally subsided, the surviving pursuers stared at the devastation in horror.

Now, out of the thirteen surviving experts, only nine remained uninjured, while another three had suffered severe injuries.

Seeing the results of his handiwork, Chu Liang stopped fleeing and stood atop his flying sword with a smile.

"Brother Liang! Why aren’t we fleeing? This is a golden opportunity!" Chu Li urged hurriedly.

However, before he could say anything more, Chu Liang struck him with his palm, shattering Chu Li’s dantian.

"You! You too?" Chu Li stared at him in disbelief. Had even his sworn brother betrayed him?

Chu Li plummeted toward the ground, but Chu Liang immediately followed and caught him, sealing his acupoints to prevent him from speaking or escaping.

"Now that the numbers are right, shall we negotiate?" Chu Liang asked with a smug smile.

The nine remaining experts exchanged glances before turning their attention toward Chu Liang and the crippled Chu Li lying on the ground.

"Chu Liang! You bastard! Do you have any idea how many of our brothers you’ve killed and injured?!" one of the experts roared.

"Hmph! And you think we should just let you off the hook?" another sneered.

Despite their angry expressions, none of them seemed particularly heartbroken over the deaths of their competitors. After all, those men had been their rivals for the nine coveted positions. If anything, having fewer competitors was a good thing.

What truly infuriated them was that Chu Liang had injured them. This bastard had forced them to pay such a heavy price just to reach this point!

Chu Liang merely smiled and gestured toward Chu Li, who was lying helplessly on the ground.

"Everyone, let’s be reasonable. There are nine of you left, and there are ten positions available. As long as we reach an agreement, all of you, including me, can become outer disciples of the Underworld Palace. Isn’t that a happy ending?"

"Happy ending?!" one of the injured experts spat. "Look at what you bastard did to us! Do you think we’ll ever forgive you?!"

Chu Liang shrugged.

"Then why don’t you ask yourselves something? If we keep fighting, how many of you will still be alive to enjoy those positions?"

The experts fell silent.

Chu Liang continued, his smile growing wider.

"Don’t forget, I was once the leader of Chu Li’s Dead Squad. If I were to go all out, I believe I could take another three or perhaps four of you down with me, especially considering your injuries. And there’s no guarantee who those unlucky fellows would be."

His gaze slowly swept across the group, lingering briefly on the three severely injured experts.

"So, tell me, are you willing to risk your lives to protect these three? Or are you three really prepared to sacrifice yourselves for the sake of these... brothers in arms?"

Chu Liang add a hint of sarcasm into his voice as he said the word, ’brothers in arms’

The nine experts exchanged uneasy glances, including the three who had suffered severe injuries.

Of course, none of them wanted to!