The moment the group began to move, the Goumang that had been dogging Wei Zhao without pause suddenly turned far more ferocious. It still took the utmost care to avoid a head-on clash, but its harrying was plainly more determined than ever, as though it meant to stop them from pressing on.

"Interesting!" Wei Zhao's eyes narrowed at the strange reaction.

"Leader, what have you noticed?" Wu Chengtian asked at once.

"If I'm not mistaken, that reaction of its confirms two things," Wei Zhao said thoughtfully.

"What two things?" Everyone looked baffled.

"First, there very likely are other creatures of its kind coming as reinforcements. Otherwise there would be no reason for it to keep trying so hard to tie us down. If these two Goumang were all that remained, they should know perfectly well they can do nothing to us. Persisting in this entanglement offers them no benefit whatsoever—it might well cost them their lives instead," Wei Zhao reasoned.

That reasoning rested on the premise that the Goumang possessed a sufficiently high intelligence; driven by mere animal instinct, it would not hold. And from what they had just witnessed, the latter possibility was exceedingly remote.

"Mm, very likely indeed." The others nodded in agreement.

"Second, we must be all the more careful from here on, because we are very likely to run into even greater danger ahead—beings more vicious than these Goumang," Wei Zhao said gravely.

"What makes you say that?" The others did not catch on at once.

"Think about it. If there were no other powerful beings ahead, could we possibly shake off the Goumang's pursuit at the pace we're going?" Wei Zhao countered.

"Not a chance," everyone said, shaking their heads in unison. After all, they were traveling on foot, and not quickly at that, while the Goumang flew through the air. Quite apart from anything else, simply keeping its eyes on them was an easy matter.

"In that case, why should it be so anxious? It could have one Goumang trail us at a leisurely pace and wait for its reinforcements to arrive before striking. There is only one explanation for it fighting so desperately to block our advance: once we travel a certain distance forward, we fall beyond their control," Wei Zhao said mildly.

"In other words, a bit further on it stops being their territory and becomes the territory of something else!" Wu Chengtian caught on at once.

"Yes, yes, and that something must be extraordinarily powerful—at least strong enough to hold its own against these Goumang, perhaps even stronger!" Yu Bing nodded.

"Uh…" Qiu Lingshan, having heard all this, gave a bitter smile. "So we've escaped the wolf's den only to walk into the tiger's lair?"

"Just so. Trials are always like this—danger at every turn. You'll get used to it in time," Wei Zhao said with a comforting smile.

"But Brother Wei Zhao, aren't you the least bit nervous? If it's something even more powerful than these Goumang, won't going forward be all the more dangerous?" Ying Ziyu could not help asking.

"In theory, yes." Wei Zhao nodded, then said at once: "But if we want to reach the River of Divine Consciousness, we must go forward. However perilous the road ahead, we must summon the courage to wade through it. We can hardly give up halfway now and turn tail like deserters, can we?"

"I don't want to be a deserter!" Ying Ziyu shook her head at once, and the others were of the same mind. Having resolved to enter this Primordial Trial, they had long since steeled themselves for a journey with nine chances of death and one of life. If they could not even withstand this much hardship, how could they ever stand on their own in the future, how could they ever become a true support to Wei Zhao?

"Good. Then let us go on." Wei Zhao nodded with deep satisfaction. He would never force anyone. If someone's heart failed them now, that was nothing to be ashamed of—it was only human nature—and he would without hesitation turn back with them to see that person safely to the transmission formation before setting out again.

The group pressed on. The Goumang's harrying grew ever more frequent and violent, yet it could not slow their advance in the least, for it never dared mount a frontal assault. Otherwise a single stroke of Wei Zhao's Five Elements Killing Qi would have sent it on its way.

So it went for a while, until Wei Zhao's eyelid suddenly twitched. "I've sensed the position of the third Goumang."

From the start, there had been only two Goumang within the range of his divine consciousness, and he had been unable to lock onto the third. He could not rule out that it had concealed itself by some special means, but now at last he was certain. It was coming up from behind—and behind it, there was something big!

"Where?" the others asked quickly.

"Just behind us—and it has brought something even more vicious along. This bodes ill." Wei Zhao frowned. Before he could respond further, the Goumang that had been harrying them all this while suddenly charged straight at them, fierce and furious. This time it meant business.

A blast of green venomous mist rushed at them. This time the angle it chose was devilishly cunning, and the distance far shorter than before. If Wei Zhao dodged to the side as he had done previously, the people behind him would surely suffer for it. Yet if he did not dodge, and someone were touched by that mist, no one could say what the outcome would be—though it would certainly be anything but pleasant.

"Brother Wei Zhao, look out!" Ying Ziyu and the others cried out in alarm.

But Wei Zhao was in no hurry. Instead a long-awaited smile appeared on his face. With his strength, nothing below the Golden Core stage could pose a true threat to him. Had the Goumang kept up this game of harrying and pinning them down, he truly would have had no good answer—but now it actually dared to come at him head-on. How many lives did it have to spare?

With a low, deep dragon's roar, the Five Elements Killing Qi shot forth, meeting the chilling green mist head-on in the blink of an eye. The mist collapsed at a touch, utterly unable to withstand it, and the Goumang was swept away with it. A great bloody hole was punched clean through its human-faced head, and it crashed to the ground.

Before the Five Elements Killing Qi, a trick of the green mist's level—nothing beyond the Foundation Establishment stage—was sheer child's play, utterly beneath notice. Dodge it with care and one might live to see another day; meet it head-on and one was courting death.

"Our leader is mighty!" Wu Chengtian and the others cheered jubilantly. It had taken them the strength of nine oxen and two tigers to finish off that Goumang with cold precision earlier—they had even been forced to bring out their last resort, the shattering of the Ice Prison Mirror—and even then they had been wounded and drained enormously. By contrast, Wei Zhao had made it look easy and pleasant. Both at the great consummation of the Foundation Establishment realm, and the gap in strength was so vast it was almost comical. (To be continued.)