Chapter 374: Dilemma

After splitting the treasures, Xue Wei went to the unconscious Vermilion Bird Clan members.

When he saw them, he could not help but frown. It seemed that the trip in the Ascended's Realm had not been kind to them; they lacked a full three members of their group. They had died during their adventures.

Looking at the unconscious birds, he was unsure if he would be able to awaken them. He did not know if they had been drugged or just knocked out by force.

Looking at the awake Vermilion Birds, Xue Wei asked them if they had seen them consume any medicine.

"No," the awake experts said, "all of them got knocked out by force. If you look at them, you will see varying degrees of injuries."

"We have to take them away from here," Xue Wei suddenly said. His face turned ugly.

"Pick one each and start running south!"

The order was given, and no one dared delay when they saw the seriousness on Xue Wei's face.

When they had all picked one up each, they started feeling slight tremors on the ground, and no one hesitated to flee. It was clear that a stampede of beasts was on the way.

The thick stench of blood hung in the air; the mangled corpses were lying on the ground. Hopefully, this would be enough to stop them.

No one hesitated as they ran, but although the escape was fast, they were all clear-minded and kept an eye on the people around them to ensure that they did not get split up from the group.

They ran for a full two hours before coming to a standstill in a small clearing. This clearing had a pond and an ethereal feel to it. There was a thin mist hovering on top of the lake.

Looking around, Xue Wei frowned. This place was not simple.

As to whether or not it was a place of treasures, he did not know. He was not even sure if it was a dangerous place, but everywhere within the Ascended's Realm contained a bit of danger.

Xue Wei gestured for the others to place the unconscious experts on the ground. He then found blood coagulating herbs, medicinal pills, and other resources that could be used to help these people.

Although these things were precious to most people, Xue Wei had gotten a mountain of these resources before in the Thunder Twilight Zone, and a lot back on Yan Dalu as well. He was a rich man.

The herbs were crushed into a paste and smeared onto the wounds, the women were taking care of the women, while the men took care of the men.

The Vermilion Bird Clan only had three women left surviving in the team, and all three had been unconscious.

Wang Xiaoyun was behind a screen, taking care of them on her own. The screen was also one Xue Wei had found in one of the numerous storage treasures he had looted throughout the years.

After smearing the herbal paste onto the wounds, and placing pills in their mouths, Xue Wei bandaged them, and they all just sat down, waiting for them to awaken.

Wang Xiaoyun dressed the women after bandaging them, and then remove the screen again. It was best if they all could see each other.

The Vermilion Bird Clan members who were awake were feeling conflicted when they looked at Xue Wei.

Part of them regretted not staying with him at the beginning, if they had done so, they might all be alive now, but part of them was glad that they had left him. Even now, he was still just a Heavenly Knight. He could not have experienced many lucky chances.

Seeing their complex eyes looking at him, Xue Wei was quickly able to tell what they were thinking, but he had no intention of telling them anything of what he had encountered.

While he was not directly afraid of people, he had no intention of inviting trouble by showing off the many things he had gotten his hands on throughout the visit in the Ascended's Realm.

The items from the Underground World alone were enough to last them for years of cultivating. He was aware that if someone knew of the wealth, he was carrying, then he would be the target of everyone.

It was much better to be underestimated.

While the group was waiting, Xue Wei was contemplating. He had been cultivating similarly to how he did before, but even so, he had noticed that his advance was much slower now than before.

Although the advance was much slower, the density of the Qi was also much more than before.

It was clear that the benefits of the sealing technique were that his strength was simply undefeatable by others at the same level, but the downside was the immense time that was needed to advance.

Sitting still, he was wondering if there was a way to increase the speed that cultivation took.

He was not looking for short cuts, nor did he want to jeopardize the solid foundation he had just made, but he was aware that if he continued like this, it would take him a year to become an Ordinary Saint again, and that was a speed he could not accept.

He began looking through his storage treasures to see what resources he had available to him, and while he had many that could provide him with immense amounts of heaven and earth essence, he still needed time to refine it.

Sighing, he took out a few resources, a few essence stones, placed them in his hands, and began cultivating by sucking the essence out of the stones and into his body.