Several minutes later, a rowdy group began passing through on a nearby path.
The group was led by Yu Kuohai of the Spirit Heaven Sect, and trailing along behind him were Elder Yang of Blazing Light City and Valley Master Fu of the Azure Lock Valley, followed by all of the other cultivators of the three sects.
"That bastard better pray that I don't get my hands on him! Otherwise, I'm going to skin him and grind his bones down into powder! I've never met anyone so shameless in my entire life!" Elder Yang grumbled, clearly still feeling extremely bitter and enraged.
"Calm down, Elder Yang. Back when the secret area opened up, all of us entered it together, and we were sent out to our designated areas under the arrangements of the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect, so there shouldn't be anyone capable of getting here ahead of us," Yu Kuohai mused.
Elder Yang faltered slightly upon hearing this, then asked, "Are you saying that there's been some foul play from those two sects?"
"I wouldn't put it out of the question. Perhaps they had already sent out people in secret to loot all of the places ahead of time before assigning us our areas of exploration," Valley Master Gu speculated.
The three of them fell silent at this notion. Even if the two sects really had played a trick on them, did they have the power required to oppose them?
"If that's the case, then we're most likely going to continue to be at their mercy unless we do nothing. Do any of you have any counter strategies?" Yu Kuohai asked.
Elder Yang and Valley Master Fu exchanged a glance with each other, but neither of them said anything.
After a long silence, Elder Yang sighed, "All we can do is take things one step at a time and proceed with caution. If we can fight for some opportunities, then don't hesitate to do so, but if we can't, then at the very least, we should do our best to ensure that we won't be used by others."
"Indeed, that appears to be all that we can do for now," Valley Master Fu sighed.
As the three of them were conversing with one another, they suddenly heard a loud commotion coming from the forest up ahead, immediately following which a large cloud of dust rose up into the air from afar.
Everyone turned in that direction to discover a well-built middle-aged man with his clothes in tatters, fleeing for his life from a boar-like metal beast.
The beast was over a hundred feet tall, and its golden fur resembled masses of steel needles, while a pair of curved golden tusks were protruding out of its mouth, resembling a pair of halberds.
Upon catching sight of Yu Kuohai's group, the man immediately began frantically yelling for help.
"Save me, fellow daoists!"
Before anyone had a chance to figure out what was happening, the man was already upon them, and he sprang over everyone's heads in a blind panic, only stopping his tracks after crashing into a huge tree.
The metal beast immediately abandoned the man to attack Yu Kuohai's group, who hurriedly summoned their treasures to defend themselves.
They weren't taking on the metal beast because they wanted to help the man out of the kindness of their hearts. Instead, it was because metal beasts were formed by the purest metal-attribute spiritual qi, so their beast cores contained metal law powers, thereby making them quite desirable.
"Let's kill this thing and take its beast core!" Yu Kuohai yelled, and everyone immediately sprang into action, raining down attacks upon the metal beast.
“Thankfully, I'm somewhat proficient in a few illusion and restriction dispelling techniques, and I was able to make it out of the col, only to end up here. Almost as soon as I entered this place, I was attacked by that metal beast, and it chased me all the way here."
"Are we just supposed to take your word for it? Someone looted this entire area before us, and we suspect that you're that person. If you want to prove your own innocence, then hand over your storage tool for us to examine," Yu Kuohai ordered.
"That's too unreasonable a request! The contents of one's storage tool is a matter of privacy..." Han Li protested in a reluctant manner.
"I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice in the matter," Elder Yang said in a cold voice, and everyone began to close in around Han Li, further exacerbating the fear in his eyes.
Finally, he succumbed to the pressure, heaving a resigned sigh as he said, "Fine, you can examine my storage tool, but please let me go after that."
He slipped a storage finger that he had prepared earlier off his finger as he spoke, then handed it over.
Yu Kuohai took the storage ring from him, then inspected its contents briefly with his spiritual sense, upon which his brows furrowed slightly as he handed the ring to Elder Yang.
After examining its contents, Elder Yang's brows also furrowed slightly as he handed the ring to Valley Master Gu.
"How are you this impoverished as an early-Golden Immortal cultivator?" Valley Master Fu couldn't help but ask.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face as he sighed, "I'm just an itinerant cultivator, so I'm naturally not as blessed as yourselves. It's a struggle for me just to acquire enough cultivation resources to get by."
"Looks like you really are just some poor idiot who stumbled into this place by chance," Valley Master Fu mused as he tossed the storage ring back at Han Li, who eagerly grabbed it before putting it on with a bashful smile.
"I've already taken up far too much of your precious time, so I'll be taking my leave now"
"Hold on a second, Fellow Daoist Shi," Yu Kuohai suddenly called out.
"Can I help you with something else, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li asked.
"Earlier, you mentioned that you're well-versed in some restriction dispeling techniques, is that correct?" Yu Kuohai asked with a smile.
Han Li immediately feigned a smug expression as he replied, "I don't mean to brag, but despite my mediocre cultivation base, when it comes to restriction dispelling techniques, I..."
He then pretended to have realized that he had misspoken, and he hurriedly amended, "Of course, I still can't even begin to compare with all of you in this regard."
"Why are you asking him this, Fellow Daoist Yu?" Elder Yang asked through voice transmission.
"Seeing as the Heavenly Water Sect and the Almighty Sword Sect want to use us as cannon fodder, why don't we find some cannon fodder as well? This man has delivered himself right to our doorstep, and he claims to be proficient in restriction dispelling techniques, so he's the perfect candidate, is he not?" Yu Kuohai replied through voice transmission.