As Xuan Hao picked up both Chi Hu and the unconscious alchemist treasure hunter, a large wolf easily towering over the giant wolf Xuan Hao had seen earlier. Made its way out of the cave as it looked around at the surrounding ancient trees towering far into the sky above.
Howl!
Raising its head high into the sky before howling loudly, a large number of wolves started pouring out from the interior of the cave as they began rushing out in all directions from the cave entrance.
The amount of wolves present was also far larger than what Xuan Hao had expected with there being at least a few hundred wolves at the Core Formation Realm along with a few dozen at the Nascent Soul Realm.
Spreading out from the entrance, the leader among the wolves looked on as the wolves began reclaiming their territory.
This lasted only for a moment before the leader turned in the direction of the temple where Xuan Hao and Chi Hu had left only a few minutes prior.
The next moment, the leader of the wolves appeared in front of the temple as it narrowed its eyes upon seeing the signs of battle present on the ground in front of it. Along with the dead body of the treasure hunter with the hammer.
Howl!
Howling loudly, a pack of wolves at the Nascent Soul Realm soon appeared in front of the temple as they waited patiently for their leader to command them.
Growl!
After a few commanding growling noises from the leader of the wolves, the group of wolves set off in the direction that Xuan Hao and Chi Hu had escaped in, while the leader of the wolves turned around after seeing the group leave and entered the now empty temple.
…
"Hm… We have already made it back past the pillars, we should be safe from the wolves for now…" Descending down from the air, Xuan Hao landed in front of the pillar that they had been staying at earlier, as he cautiously observed the dense ancient forest beyond the giant pillar.
"I think we should be fine… I just hope we are right when it comes to the fact that Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts not being able to cross over to this side of the giant pillar." Standing down on the ground again, Chi Hu looked up at the giant pillar with a nervous look on his face.
Howl!
A few minutes passed before a howl was heard in the distance as both Xuan Hao and Chi Hu observed a group of Nascent Soul Realm wolves make their way into the clearing where the giant pillar was located.
Grrr!
The leader among the group of wolves growled threateningly upon seeing Xuan Hao and Chi Hu standing besides the pillar as it began moving closer.
"Looks like we will find out if the pillar really blocks Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts…" Looking at the leader of the wolf group slowly making its way over, Chi Hu tightly held onto his staff. Ready to act in case anything happened.𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
"?" The wolf was just about to cross the threshold of the giant pillar when it suddenly stopped with a confused expression plastered onto its face.
Raising one of its paws, the wolf swung down at the area that blocked it and a light blue, almost transparent screen of light appeared to stop it at the area that the wolf paw hit.
"Roar?" Letting out a confused sound, the wolf leader called for its companions and soon all of them came up to try hitting the barrier.
Like this, the wolves continued hitting the barrier for the next half hour before giving up and returning back into the ancient forest. The reason for them staying so long, was mostly because they seemed to find it fun whenever the barrier gave off a small bit of light wherever they hit it.
"They finally left…" Looking at the disappearing figures of the wolves, Chi Hu let out a relived sigh.
"It looks like your friend is also about to wake up." Pointing over in the direction of the unconscious treasure hunter, Chi Hu turned his attention over towards the treasure hunter upon hearing Xuan Hao's words, as he observed the treasure hunter slowly began opening his eyes.
"Ah! W-where am I!?" Looking around himself in a panicked state, the alchemist treasure hunter tried to mobilize his cultivation. Only to find that it had already been sealed away by Chi Hu earlier.
Not only that his potions and other weapons hidden away on his body also seemed to be missing!
"No need to continue searching, I already removed all your weird potions along with a few other weird objects!" Seeing the alchemist treasure hunter anxiously searching around his clothes, Chi Hu interrupted him.
"W-what do you want…?" Realizing his situation, the alchemist treasure hunter stopped looking for potions and other weapons hidden away in his clothes as he nervously looked over at Chi Hu and Xuan Hao.
By now he had already realized that he was kept alive by Chi Hu for something and if he could not provide it, he would have a high chance of ending up like brother hammer, who he had seen dying earlier at the hands of the person standing a small distance away from Chi Hu.
Thinking about this, the alchemist treasure hunter decided that he would do his best to answer any question asked. Hoping they would allow him to leave alive if he fully cooperated with them.
After all, for them to keep him alive without anything precious on him. The only thing desirable about him would be the information he had about the secret realm and other ancient ruins or possible locations of a future secret realm…
Like this, the alchemist treasure hunter began to feel a little more determined as he remembered a few stories from other treasure hunters telling him about how they had been captured in the past and gotten away alive.
The best way according to other treasure hunters when it came to staying alive after being captured alive, was to disclose any and all information you were asked about truthfully!
This way, the chances of survival would increase exponentially!