Yang An slowly stepped into the jungle, heading directly toward the source of the Demon Fiends.

The jungle was dense with lush, verdant vegetation.

After he had gone only a short distance, the others could no longer see him.

But Yang An just smiled. He immediately activated his Illusion Technique, completely masking his aura before changing direction and hiding in a tree.

"That guy's aura is gone!"

As Yang An activated the Illusion Technique to conceal his presence, the few people with the caravan looked at each other in confusion, not understanding what had happened.

"Was he killed by a Demon Fiend?"

Just as they were wondering, their senses picked up more than ten Demon Fiends charging out from the jungle in a rapid assault.

They no longer had time to worry about whether Yang An was dead or alive. Their expressions changed as they turned to face the attacking Demon Fiends.

The number of Demon Fiends far exceeded their expectations. There were over a dozen of them, including a fair number of Elemental Feeding Demon Fiends.

The ordinary members of the caravan were the first to bear the brunt of the attack. While most traveling merchants knew some martial arts, they were nothing compared to Cultivators and Demon Fiends. They panicked instantly, scrambling to hide behind the carriages.

The Demon Fiends were ferocious, and battle quickly erupted between them and the caravan's few escorting Cultivators.

In the nearby woods, Yang An hid quietly in a tree. His senses told him that those men were already fighting the Demon Fiends. He remained completely unmoved. 'In fact, I almost want to laugh.'

'I was originally going to help them, to take out these Demon Fiends from the shadows. That way, I wouldn't have to reveal my true strength, and I could still fulfill my promise to protect the caravan.'

'But since they thought I was an easy target and tried to use me as cannon fodder, there's nothing I can do about it.'

'Sending someone who's only at the Middle Stage of Fake Food to scout ahead? That's a death sentence.'

While he could understand their reasoning, Yang An had no intention of wasting his kindness on such people.

'If it weren't for the ordinary people here, and the fact that I'd already promised to help, I could have just left.'

'A promise is a promise, but whether these Cultivators live or die is none of my business.'

The battle between the Cultivators and the Demon Fiends was swift, both in its beginning and its end.

They were all at the Fake Food or Elemental Feeding stages. None had reached the Visceral Stone stage or mastered Immortality, so they could be easily injured or killed. As such, the fight didn't last long. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

But according to Yang An's senses, the Demon Fiends were not yet defeated. Instead, two of the Fake Food Cultivators were dead, leaving only four of their group.

Seeing things were going south, the two Monks at the Elemental Feeding stage abandoned everyone without a second thought and fled, quickly vanishing from sight.

In the end, only one Fake Food and one Elemental Feeding Cultivator remained. The Fake Food Cultivator's Cultivation Level was too low, and he had been injured in the fight, making it impossible for him to escape. The Elemental Feeding Cultivator had been hired by the caravan and, similarly, had not fled.

But with just the two of them, they still had to face ten Demon Fiends, six of which were Elemental Feeding Demon Fiends.

Killing the remaining Demon Fiends was an impossible task.

However, the two were not about to lie down and die. Seeing they were overwhelmed by the number of Demon Fiends, they decisively turned on the caravan members. The Demon Fiends had come for the mortals anyway. In the creatures' eyes, these humans were a rare feast.

The caravan members never imagined that the Cultivators they had hired would turn on them. In the blink of an eye, the two Cultivators had seized three ordinary people and thrown them to the Demon Fiends.

Before the thrown mortals even hit the ground, the Demon Fiends descended upon them like a pack of starving wolves. In a flash, they tore the men to pieces and devoured them, even fighting one another for the scraps.

But three weren't enough. The two Cultivators grabbed several more people, who were powerless to resist, and tossed them out as well.

The scene turned horrifically bloody, filled with a continuous stream of agonizing screams.

Terrified by the gory spectacle, the rest of the caravan members abandoned everything and fled in all directions.

They might have been hired by the caravan, but at a time like this, who cared about the cargo? Nothing was more important than their own lives.

With the Demon Fiends' attention diverted, the two Cultivators prepared to escape.

But just then, a figure strode out from the woods, blocking their path of retreat.

"It's you? You're not dead!"

The person who had emerged was Yang An. He looked at the two Cultivators with a bewildered expression, then glanced at the rampaging Demon Fiends and the chaotic mass of fleeing caravan members.

"What happened?"

The two Cultivators exchanged a glance, a silent, mutual understanding passing between them. They sneered and immediately prepared to attack Yang An.

With a Cultivation Level of only the Middle Stage of Fake Food, Yang An would likely be an even more attractive target for the Demon Fiends, perfect for buying them more time to escape.

But just as the pair closed in on Yang An at high speed, intending to catch him by surprise...

...a faint smile touched Yang An's lips.

'What is he smiling about?'

Seeing the smile on Yang An's face, both Cultivators felt a jolt of confusion, suddenly overcome by a terrible premonition.

The next second.

SHIIING!

A flash of white light. A circular Light Wheel vibrated as it returned to Yang An's hand. The two men who had been charging him were now headless corpses, their skulls pulverized into a bloody paste. Their bodies collapsed heavily to the ground.

'How ugly.'

He looked at the two corpses on the ground. They were completely dead, but their bodies still twitched, blood jetting from their necks. Yang An averted his gaze.

'If those two hadn't attacked me and had just tried to flee, I wouldn't have bothered with them.'

'But since they dared to make a move on me, there was no reason to let them live.'

Calmly, he stepped over the two bodies and surveyed the scene. Most of the terrified caravan members had already scattered and fled.

Only a handful of people remained. They were trying to pull the caravan's owner, who had just climbed down from his carriage, to flee with them. But now, having had a taste of blood, the Demon Fiends were all charging toward this small group.

These mortals stood no chance against the Demon Fiends. Even escape was a foolish hope.

What drove them deeper into despair was that all the Cultivators had fled, abandoning them to be devoured by the Demon Fiends. No one was coming to save them.

If even the Cultivators couldn't defeat these Demon Fiends, what could mere mortals possibly do?

The caravan owner's face was ashen.

He knew that if he couldn't deliver the goods safely to Celestial Buddha City, he was dead. To die at the hands of Demon Fiends was also death. Either way, there was no escape.

But then his eyes fell upon Yang An walking toward them, and a flicker of hope ignited within him. It was immediately extinguished, however, by the memory of what the other Cultivators had done—even the ones they'd hired had used them as bait to delay the Demon Fiends.

The spark of hope died as quickly as it had appeared. For one, he couldn't trust Yang An. For another, even if this one Cultivator was willing to help, what could a single person do?

He recalled how the other Cultivators had ordered Yang An to scout ahead, a clear sign that Yang An's strength and status were beneath theirs. The owner had seen it all from his carriage but hadn't dared to speak up.

Now all the other Cultivators had fled, leaving only Yang An. He couldn't possibly save them.

Still...

"Immortal Master, I have but one request. Please, take these silver notes to my wife and daughter..."

THUD. Despite others trying to hold him up, the caravan owner suddenly dropped to his knees.

But before he could finish, the Demon Fiends were upon them, their charge so overwhelming that it seemed to drown out the sound of his voice.

The people beside him collapsed to the ground, paralyzed with fear, their bodies rigid and unable to move.

They watched as the sharp claws, fanged maws, and all manner of grotesque, malformed limbs were about to descend upon them.

Everyone's face was ashen, their hearts filled with despair.

But just then, a streak of white light flashed over their heads, slicing through the Demon Fiends at an incredible speed.

SHIIIIING—

The air tore with a piercing sound as a massive, ring-shaped white light vibrated and returned to hover before Yang An.

Yang An's expression remained as calm as still water, utterly undisturbed.

SPLAASSHH—

A torrent of foul-smelling blood erupted in midair, drenching the ground. The people who had collapsed in fear were soaked in it, turning them into figures of crimson.

But now, they could only stare in stunned silence at the scene before them.

Every single one of the savage, hideous, and ferocious Demon Fiends had fallen to the ground, all of them now headless corpses.

Yang An gave the kneeling caravan owner a strange look.

"What were you saying?"

He hadn't been paying attention to what the man was saying and asked out of genuine confusion.

"Huh?"

The caravan owner, still kneeling on the ground, was completely dumbfounded. When he heard Yang An's question, he snapped back to his senses with a start.

"Thank you, Immortal Master! Thank you, Immortal Master!"

The remaining caravan members all came to their senses as well, kowtowing to Yang An so rapidly their heads were like pestles pounding garlic.

"Get up. If you're all right, let's keep moving. Don't waste time."

Yang An waved his hand, dismissing the Buddha's Radiant Wheel.

At Yang An's words, though their legs were still weak, the people on the ground got up one by one and hurried to get the carriages ready to leave.

Demon Fiends often appeared near Yinfeng Mountain, and there was no guarantee that more wouldn't show up.

The caravan had started with over thirty people, but now only a handful remained. The survivors couldn't be bothered to worry about those who had fled, and neither could Yang An. They ran, and if they encountered more Demon Fiends, it would be their own fault.

Looking at the ground littered with gore and the corpses of Demon Fiends, Yang An took advantage of the time the caravan was regrouping. He immediately took out the remnants of the Seal from his Meat Burial Talisman and had it devour all the flesh and blood.

'Unfortunately, it was all just the flesh of low-level Demon Fiends and mortals. It wasn't very useful, but it was better than nothing.'

The caravan continued on its way. With one person per carriage, they had just enough people to manage.

The caravan owner respectfully invited Yang An into his carriage. He had never expected to encounter such a powerful Immortal Master, and he knew he had to latch onto this powerful figure.

Yang An didn't refuse. They were all headed to Celestial Buddha City anyway, so it was on his way, and he wasn't in any particular hurry.

'Besides, I'm just an ordinary Fake Food Cultivator now. Traveling with these people is perfectly reasonable, and no one will see through my disguise.'