Mu Chen stared at the gold cauldron, and the cauldron 'stared' back at him. It hovered at eye level, buoying up and down like a float on water.

Mu Chen and the cauldron faced each other in silence.

"Ha!" Mu Chen lunged at the cauldron. The movement was swift and without warning. But before he was able to grab the cauldron, it moved.

Mu Chen's hand grabbed at the empty air, the cauldron just out of reach. He snorted and grabbed at the cauldron once more, and the cauldron dodged again.

Mu Chen frowned and took a few steps forward. The cauldron also moved a few steps back. Mu Chen sped up, the cauldron also retreated speedily.

For a while, the two of them pranced around like a pair of skilled dancers.

No matter how hard he tried, Mu Chen couldn't close the distance between them.

The cauldron always maintained a safe distance from him, hovering just out of his reach as if 'mocking' him.

"It's indeed a spirit treasure," Mu Chen sighed. Only a spirit treasure could give him such a weird feeling. He had suspected it when the cauldron attacked on its own, but confirming it still came as a shock.

Although Mu Chen had some intentions to subdue it, he shook his head.

Spirit treasures were notoriously hard to control. They had their own will and could act independently of their masters. It was said some spirit treasures could cultivate by themselves, but Mu Chen didn't know if it was true or some myth.

Perhaps those cultivators from the Central Continent had the means to subdue such a treasure. Mu Chen himself didn't have much choice, especially when he couldn't even win the game of tag.

Mu Chen decided to leave the cauldron alone and dashed toward the mountain. But while he was sprinting ahead, he sensed movement behind him. He glanced back and almost lost his footing.

The cauldron was following him.

Mu Chen stopped. The cauldron also stopped a few feet away from him. He grabbed at the cauldron and it dodged him again.

"What the hell do you want?" Mu Chen couldn't take it anymore and roared at the cauldron.

"…" The cauldron didn't speak.

"Forget it, I have wasted enough time on you." Mu Chen shook his head and sprinted towards the mountain with the cauldron tagging behind him. He didn't know why the cauldron was following him, but as long as it didn't threaten him, he decided to ignore it.

Mu Chen was still a long way from the mountain, when he stopped with a frown.

To avoid the cultivators after him, Mu Chen had been scouting the path ahead using his sword sense. Just now, dozens of people entered the sphere of his perception. They were moving rapidly in his direction. None of them were flying in the air, but they moved in an organized manner that was atypical of cultivators. Upon careful investigation, Mu Chen realized the vitality of this group's members was way higher than the average cultivator.

"Barbarians," Mu Chen breathed and turned around. The goal was still the mountain, but because of the barbarians ahead, he had to take a detour.

Mu Chen ran for a while thinking he could avoid the barbarians, but to his shock, he sensed that the group of barbarians had also changed directions and were heading toward him.

"Could it be that An Tribe?" Mu Chen guessed the identity of the barbarian group as he headed for the mountain.

However, much to his surprise, Mu Chen discovered there was another group of barbarians straight ahead. He didn't know if these barbarians were from An Tribe or not, but he thought it was best to avoid them.

Mu Chen cursed his bad luck and changed his direction once again. He circulated his internal qi. His speed more than doubled, and he quickly left the two barbarian groups behind. However, this also meant that he had to take an even bigger detour to reach his destination. And since he was running fast, Mu Chen's movements were no longer as stealthy as before.

"Found you!" A figure dropped from the sky in front of Mu Chen. It was one of those cultivators who had surrounded him.

"Out of my way," Mu Chen shouted, not meaning to stop. Taking advantage of his current momentum, he simply tackled the person blocking his path.

The guy saw Mu Chen rushing toward him like a bull, and became hesitant. But then his eyes fell on the gold cauldron tagging behind Mu Chen. Greed overpowered his hesitation and he raised his hand with a talisman. But the next moment, his face changed.

Mu Chen stepped on a branch. Using it like a spring, he vaulted towards the guy and came next to him. He raised his hand and hit his chest with his palm.

A layer of light flickered on the guy's body, but Mu Chen's strike was already past it.

With a bang, the guy was thrown back. He crashed into the trees and then landed on the ground among broken branches and leaves.

"Cough!" the guy clutched his chest and gasped for breath. He looked at Mu Chen with disbelief.

The strike was thunderous and defied common sense. Mu Chen didn't mean to kill, but he wasn't light-handed.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The guy thought he could handle Mu Chen's palm strike. Only when it hit him, did he know how big of a mistake he made. His chest had caved in and a few of his ribs were broken stabbing into his internal organs.

Mu Chen didn't even look behind and continued to run ahead. The An Tribe was catching up to him and he didn't have the time to linger. But in the eyes of the fallen enemy, this behavior was tantamount to naked contempt.

"Bastard!" The guy saw Mu Chen's disappearing back and his eyes burned with hatred. "I will see how far you can run," he roared. Suppressing his pain, he took out a wooden talisman and threw it into the air. The talisman scurried into the sky and burst into a volley of colorful lights.

Mu Chen noticed the movement behind him. He glanced back and saw the lights sparkling in the sky like a beacon. The next moment, dozens of divine senses swept past his location. The number was much larger than before. What was worse was that the fireworks attracted the attention of both the barbarian groups.

"Crap," Mu Chen cursed. Two barbarian groups came from two sides, the cultivators came from the other. If he didn't act fast he would be surrounded, but no matter which direction he picked, it was likely he would run into enemies.

For a moment, Mu Chen wasn't sure what to do. The An Tribe was after the scroll, those cultivators were even more unreasonable and wanted to kill him for the cauldron. Confronting either one head-on was a death sentence. Countless thoughts swirled inside Mu Chen's head in a fraction of a second.

Mu Chen changed his direction once again. This time, he headed straight toward the second barbarian group.

Mu Chen jumped from one tree branch to another. The distance between him and the barbarians rapidly shrank. When the distance between the two was less than fifty meters, Mu Chen slowed down. Making utmost use of his agility, he climbed higher up a tree and hid.

In Mu Chen's vision, several burly shadows gradually appeared. One look and he knew these barbarians couldn't be from the An Tribe—the totems they wore were different. Knowing this, Mu Chen relaxed a bit.

Their bulky size made it inconvenient for the barbarians to climb the trees like ordinary people. The barbarians being restricted to the ground, Mu Chen hoped that they wouldn't notice him.

Unfortunately, this was too much to ask for. Mu Chen hid himself, but the cauldron wasn't so cooperative.

"Boss, look!" Several barbarians immediately noticed the bright gold shining object and pointed it out.

"Ah! It's the cauldron!" Wu Tan, who was leading the group saw the cauldron and was pleasantly surprised. "Quick! Grab it."

The barbarians spread out circling the cauldron. A few jumped on the trees and began to climb. Unfortunately, their weight made it difficult to find branches that could bear their weight. Especially at higher heights, the tree branches were thinner and weaker.

Unable to withstand the weight, the tree branches cracked and broke as the barbarians climbed higher. Several barbarians lost their balance and fell. But a few still managed to climb higher and began closing in on Mu Chen's position.

Mu Chen cursed under his breath but stayed still. The barbarians had only noticed the cauldron, not him. He was waiting, waiting for the An Tribe to catch on.

From what little he had seen, the barbarian tribes weren't harmonious. If the two tribes meet, what would happen?

And as expected, the An Tribe didn't let Mu Chen down.

The trees on one side rustled and several barbarians of the An Tribe came crashing in.

The leader was a stern-looking barbarian carrying a little silver mouse in a small cage. The mouse squeaked as it tried to scurry toward a particular direction. The leading barbarian looked in that direction only to see several barbarians from Wu Tribe trying desperately to climb the trees.

"Stop them!" he shouted.

The barbarians behind him immediately knocked arrows and aimed at the barbarians on the trees. Several arrows struck the barbarians from the Wu Tribe who were closest to Mu Chen, and they fell.

"An De!" A furious roar tore through the forest.

An De looked over and snorted, "Wu Tan, it's you!"

"An De," Wu Tan roared. "I was lenient and let you escape, but I didn't think you would come and ruin my good deed."

"Hmph! You think you can grab my An Tribe's treasure and we will sit back and watch?"

"An Tribe's treasure?" Wu Tan snorted. "It has been decided that the cauldron will be shared among the four tribes. Your An Tribe can go piss off."

"Cauldron?" An De was stunned and looked again in Mu Chen's direction. It was then he noticed the small gold cauldron floating amongst the trees. "I-uh… the An Tribe will decide who the cauldron will belong to."

An De quickly changed his stance, but it was already late.

Wu Tan saw An De's surprise and was puzzled. Then he saw the mouse in his hand and frowned. The mouse was a special monster beast that was incredibly sensitive to smell, and often used for tracking. But the cauldron couldn't be the object of its scrutiny—it belonged to outsiders. None of the barbarian tribes had the opportunity to get close to it and plant the smell. What could be An De tracking?

"The scroll," Wu Tan trembled, "it's nearby." He almost couldn't control his excitement. Both the scroll and the cauldron were here. If the Wu Tribe could get them both…

An De saw realization dawn on Wu Tan's face and almost wanted to bash his head against a rock. "Everyone, I don't care about that cauldron, but we must not let the scroll fall in the Wu Tribe's hand," An De growled in a low voice to his companions.

On the other side, Wu Tan also recovered from his shock. "Get rid of the barbarians from An Tribe at all costs… "

Arrows were knocked and the spears raised. Both the An Tribe and the Wu Tribe tribe were ready to clash.

"Hahaha, the cauldron is here!"

"It's the cauldron…"

Loud and excited cries interrupted the An and the Wu Tribe's battle.

Several figures zoomed overhead the barbarians and flew straight toward the cauldron.

On instinct, both the An Tribe and Wu Tribe turned their weapons at the newcomers. The Wu Tribe saw the cultivators targeting the cauldron while the An Tribe was worried for their scroll. So they attacked without hesitation on seeing the cultivators.

The cultivators closest to the cauldron were immediately struck by dozens of arrows.

"It's the barbarians."

"Careful! The barbarians are here too." The cultivators screamed. Several of them retreated at speeds even faster than they had arrived at—the previous war still fresh in everyone's mind.

The cultivators scattered, and the barbarians also got into position.

An De and Wu Tan, both glared at each other. Both of them wanted to tear apart each other's throats, but at this critical moment, the two of them tacitly decided to put aside their enmity and faced the outsiders.

Unlike before, the cultivators had grown some brains. They took to the sky on their flying swords and encircled the barbarians. From a safe distance, they fired their magic spells at the barbarians.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Under the cultivators' bombardment, a large patch of the forest was ruined. If it was some other terrain, the barbarians would have suffered massive losses. Fortunately, it was in the forest. The thick trees provided them enough cover to shoulder the initial onslaught.

Taking advantage of the trees, the barbarians scattered into the forest.

At this time the gold cauldron began moving at a rapid speed.

"No, the cauldron! It's running away," several cultivators' screamed and rushed towards it.

Taking advantage of the cultivators' distraction the barbarians launched their attacks.

"Damn these barbarians getting in the way." The cultivators cursed and had to give up the pursuit of the cauldron.

An De and Wu Tan naturally saw the cauldron moving. The two of them looked at each other and snorted.

"Block those outsiders."

"Don't let anyone pass."

Both of them gave orders to their men at the same time, while they chased the cauldron.