At some point, the cave turned into a labyrinth. Mu Chen faced several dead ends before he figured out the way. The barbarians had been using the cave for a long time, and they had carved out the tunnels to make it comfortable for their large bodies to pass through. As long as he stuck to the bigger tunnels, Mu Chen knew he was on the correct path.

Just as Mu Chen was getting tired of the endless route, he saw a glimmer of red at the end of the tunnel. Even before he reached its end, Mu Chen heard the sound of people talking.

Knowing he was close to the destination, Mu Chen slowed his breath and covered himself with sword sense. With his back against the wall, Mu Chen stepped towards the end of the tunnel and peeked around the corner.

What welcomed Mu Chen was a wide open area, shaped like a bowl. But the ground was riddled with spider cracks and a red hot viscous substance oozed out of them.

It was lava.

Bubbling hot, the lava rolled, converging in streams as it flowed into the unknown depths of the mountain.

In the center of the area, a red-colored flame hung several feet high in the air. It blazed like the evening sun with an incandescent vigor.

The fire spirit.

In front of the fire spirit stood An Zhi and his team of barbarians, facing Young Master Long and his two companions. A vicious grin was plastered across An Zhi's face as he looked at the three cultivators in front of him. With a bloodied machete in his hand, he looked like a tiger eyeing its prey.

Young Master Long and his friends were huddled together. A layer of translucent blue covered each of them. Mu Chen recognized it as a barrier made of water qi. But although the barrier helped them combat the intense heat, their faces were pale. Because the barbarians stood not just between the fire spirit and them, but between them and the exit as well.

"When the mother pearl exploded, I had my doubts. Alas, I was too worried about losing the treasure," Young Master Long sighed. He looked at An Zhi with some surprise. "Did you set us up?"

"I should be the one asking you," An Zhi roared. "Look at what you did." He waved his blade around.

Dozens of bodies lay on the ground. Some had fallen into the lava and burnt to a crisp, testament to a war that had just happened. Seeing them, Mu Chen felt the biting cold outside was much more preferable.

"Several of our brothers died," An Zhi said with his eyes red. Not just him, but other barbarians also looked red-eyed. Among the many barbarians who had fallen, several bore the An Tribe's totem. "You outsiders are a scourge," An Zhi said, "You are nothing but trouble."

Young Master Long chuckled. "It's not my fault you bunch of idiots are so eager to fight," he said.

The barbarian heard the disdain in Young Master Long's voice and they became furious. An Zhi waved his hand and they calmed down.

"Laugh all you want, it's the last day of your life," An Zhi sneered. He raised his hand and the barbarians holding bows raised them and knocked arrows aiming them at Young Master Long and his companions.

Young Master Long frowned and looked at An Zhi with narrowed eyes. Besides him, Yang Meng and his friend fidgeted in nervousness.

After an intense fight, An Zhi and his brothers were wounded and exhausted, their numbers had dwindled. Even so, there were still a dozen barbarians. Young Master Long and his two companions were at quite the disadvantage.

For a moment, the only sound was that of the flowing lava.

"Retreat!" Young Master Long shouted.

Shoo! Shoo!

The twinge of strings sounded and several arrows shot towards the three cultivators.

Yang Meng and the other guy reacted at the same time. They raised their palms, each of them holding a golden talisman. The two talismans exploded in a golden shower which turned into arrows.

In the air, the golden arrows hit the barbarian's arrows and exploded with bright light. A dozen arrows were shot, but not one managed to reach its intended target. And at the same time, the golden shower not only blocked the arrows but also blinded everyone.

While the barbarians squinted their eyes, Yang Meng and his friend took the opportunity and dashed towards the exit. Both of them executed their movement techniques and their speed was like the wind.

"The exit!" An Zhi shouted and the barbarians near the exit grouped, blocking the two. Other barbarians rushed over to attack the two of them.

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Before Yang Meng and his friend had a chance to make another move, the barbarians unceremoniously tackled them to the ground and knocked them unconscious.

An Zhi approached Yang Meng and his friend, but the next moment he realized something was wrong. "Where's the third?"

There was no trace of Young Master Long. The ringleader had disappeared.

"Where is he?" An Zhi was furious. "Where's that bastard?"

The other barbarians also looked everywhere but didn't find Young Master Long. Taking advantage of the barbarians' temporary blindness, and the diversion created by Yang Meng and his friend, Young Master Long performed some secret technique and managed to escape right under their noses.

"This young master… he's ruthless enough," Mu Chen mused and continued to watch the events unfold.

The barbarians tied Yang Meng and his friend and then stripped them of their belongings. After making sure the two didn't carry any hidden weapons, An Zhi kicked the two of them awake.

"Ah!" Yang Meng and his friend groaned in pain as they regained consciousness. When they realized they had been captured by An Zhi and his gang, their faces turned pale.

An Zhi took out a strange-looking fruit from his storage pouch and fed them to Yang Meng and the other guy. The other guy tried to resist, but An Zhi knocked his teeth with just a slap. Seeing how his friend was forced to swallow the fruit along with his teeth, Yang Meng wisened up and ate the strange fruit without struggle.

"Listen," An Zhi said to the two of them. "The two of you have been poisoned. If you use your spiritual qi, it will spread faster. You will die before you manage to even finish your technique. So don't try any tricks, understand?"

Yang Meng and his friend nodded like a chicken.

"Where's your leader?" An Zhi asked.

Yang Meng and his friend looked at each other with blank expressions.

"We don't know," Yang Meng said since his friend had trouble speaking.

An Zhi raised his machete and Yang Meng and his friend almost wet their pants.

"It's the truth, the truth," Yang Meng cried at the top of his lungs. "We are speaking the truth." Next to him, his friend nodded vigorously. Both had tears in their eyes.

An Zhi frowned, dissatisfied.

Yang Meng saw An Zhi was dissatisfied with his answer and explained, "We-we were supposed to escape together. While we defended, Young Master Long was going to attack and create an opening… b-but…" Yang Meng pleaded. Fortunately, his snot and tears were not wasted and An Zhi seemed to have believed them for the time being.

"Brother, what should we do now?" One of the barbarians asked.

"The Xiao Tribe broke the agreement—they won't be allowed to use the fire cave anymore," An Zhi said. He looked at the fallen barbarians and sighed, "Salvage all the medicine, and weapons you can find… then help me carry our brothers back home."

The barbarians set to work. Using spears and some animal skin, they made stretchers and carried the dead out of the cave. Unfortunately, many were burnt beyond recognition due to the lava. As for the Xiao Tribe's warriors, An Zhi had them unceremoniously thrown off the mountain.

Mu Chen had to backtrack and hide in some dark corner while the barbarians were at work, but he was patient.

In less than an hour, the barbarians had cleared the fire cave. An Zhi left a couple of barbarians to guard the entrance and left with the remaining ones towards the village.

Several minutes after An Zhi left, Mu Chen came out of hiding and walked toward the fire cave.

"You?" The two barbarians blocking the fire cave saw Mu Chen and were stunned. These two were among the trusted ones of An Zhi and were present when he was captured. Mu Chen even recognized the one on the left as the one who had spoiled his wine. Worse, that pouch was still hanging by his waist.

"Hi!" Mu Chen smiled, but his eyes were cold and he drew his sword.

Swish!

Before the two barbarians had even recovered from their shock at seeing Mu Chen alive, his sword sliced the throat of one of them. That barbarian fell clutching his throat, trying to block the blood gushing like a geyser.

Mu Chen's actions didn't stop there. Using the momentum from the drawn sword, Mu Chen twisted his body. Then using one of his legs as a pivot, he back kicked the other barbarian who had barely raised his blade and come over and sent him flying into the fire cave.

The other barbarian was truly unlucky as fell directly into one of the lava streams.

"Aaah!" the barbarian howled, trying to swim back to the ground. But his wails died soon enough as he was burnt to a crisp.

Mu Chen gulped while watching the scene. Unfortunately, his throat was completely dry and the little bit of saliva did nothing to moisten it. He shook his head and looked at the fallen barbarian next to him.

"That's mine." Mu Chen removed his wine pouch from the dead barbarian's waist and checked inside. There was still some wine left. At least he wouldn't have to worry for the next few days, Mu Chen thought as he took a sip to alleviate his parched throat.

Mu Chen was about to step inside the cave, but the next moment he paused. He looked behind into the tunnel and then glanced at the fire spirit. Mu Chen's lips curled into a crafty smile.

Mu Chen sheathed his sword, then bent down and picked up a stone. He took a careful aim and threw the stone with all his might at a spot an arm's distance from the fire spirit. Then he turned around and left before the stone even hit the target.

Mu Chen's aim was true and the stone hit its mark without fail.

"Which bastard—aiyo!" Somebody screamed. The space near the fire spirit rippled and a figure fell from the ceiling along with a flying sword.

It was none other than Young Master Long who had 'escaped'.

Young Master Long stood up rubbing his buttocks and glared in the direction of the entrance. "Damn it! Who is it? How dare you disturb Father's good deed!"

Young Master Long searched around but didn't find anyone. Instead, he found the dead barbarian with his throat slit, at the cave entrance.

Young Master Long flew over to the body on his flying sword and examined it. "Blood is still flowing," he snorted and looked around.

Someone killed the barbarians, but Young Master Long was too engrossed in subduing the fire spirit to notice it. Once he confirmed the barbarians couldn't find him, he had begun subduing the fire spirit. And after all this time, he was close to success, if not for the interruption. Now he had to start all over again.

Young Master Long was angry and frustrated. He wanted to find the perpetrator, but time was of the essence. The effect of the sacrifice would disappear soon, and it would become impossible to tame the spirit. But would the troublemaker let him subdue the spirit in peace?

Just as Young Master Long was torn between finding the troublemaker or subduing the spirit, a bulky figure appeared at the end of the tunnel.

An Zhi had returned.