Chapter 173 - First Encounter With Treasure Hunter

Putting most of the things he was carrying on him into the interspatial ring, Xuan Hao made his way back into the core area of the temple.

"Elder Xuan! A group of treasure hunters are approaching the temple!" Just as Xuan Hao returned from the underground hall of the temple, Chi Hu came running over with an anxious look on his face, as a group of people arrived a few hundred meters away from the temples entrance. All of them were clad in the same style of clothing as they made their way over towards the entrance of the temple.

More importantly, all of them were in the Nascent Soul Realm!

"Anyone you are familiar with?" Seeing the panicked expression on Chi Hu's face as he informed him, Xuan Hao realized that Chi Hu seemed to be familiar with the people outside.

But how did he even get to know any Nascent Soul Realm Experts in the past when he was just in the Core Formation Realm?

Xuan Hao doubted that Chi Hu would have been able to escape if he had offended them in the past as a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator was way faster than someone in the Core Formation Realm… That is, unless there is a special circumstance allowing the Core Formation Expert to escape…

"Yes! They are a famous group of wandering cultivators, I once managed to see them in the past when I was exploring a ruin together with a few friends. Back then, they were fighting another Nascent Soul Realm expert over a treasure. Me and my friend ran away the moment we saw this as they don't really have the best reputation among wandering cultivators. Often ruthlessly killing anyone taking what they deem to be theirs… I didn't expect for them to show up here…" Shaking uneasily as he looked at the approaching group of three people, Chi Hu put away the Holy steel that he had managed to gather before preparing to run away from the approaching group of people the moment they showed any sign of aggression.

"So… A group of treasure hunters that will attack anyone that they deem to have the treasures that 'belong' to them…?"  Feeling his head hurt a bit as he watched the approaching trio, Xuan Hao made his way out of the temple with Chi Hu following closely behind him.

"Huh, it looks like there is already people that arrived before us! Brothers, they look like they are about to leave! They might have already cleaned the place for any artifacts or precious materials and are looking to make a getaway!" Spotting Xuan Hao and Chi Hu making their way outside the temple, a tough and burly looking man among the group of treasure hunters stepping forward.

"Huh, these two will make excellent test subjects." Another member of the trio followed as he was swaying a bit from side to side before taking out two alchemical potion bottles filled with a mysterious liquid from somewhere in his robe.

"Hah, there's no end to this… How many more will attempt to steal our treasures?" Sighing a bit to himself upon seeing Xuan Hao and Chi Hu, the last among the trio stepped forward as he took out a giant hammer preparing to attack Xuan Hao and Chi Hu at moment's notice.

The Trio released their killing intent as they began slowly approaching Xuan Hao and Chi Hu.

"Looks like they don't want to talk about it… Do you know anything about their way of attacking?" Glancing down at the trio approaching filled with killing intent, Xuan Hao looked back at Chi Hu.

"Ah, yes! The one with the potions will throw the different bottles that can cause different reactions that will result in an explosion most of the time, while I'm not sure the other two will do anything special…" Thinking over it for a moment, Chi Hu tried his best to explain what he had seen in the past.

"I see… I will try to take care of the tough looking one and the one with the hammer, you should be able to deal with the one throwing potions. From what I can tell, he should only be at the first stage of the Nascent Soul Realm." Sensing the opponent's cultivation realms through his divine sense, Xuan Hao grew confident in his ability to deal with the group of treasure hunters.

"Sure, but are you sure you can deal with two at once?" Chi Hu did not really know how strong Xuan Hao was and he only knew he was stronger than him… As for how much stronger he was, Chi Hu had no idea.

"Yes, you don't have to worry about me." Nodding in response, Xuan Hao drew his sword out from his newly acquired interspatial ring.

Xuan Hao's cultivation being at the seventh stage of the Nascent Soul Realm was something that not many people knew about in the first place. At the moment, the only people who knew about Xuan Hao having reached the seventh stage of the Nascent Soul Realm was the Sect Master Feng Chen and Shu Yao from the Spring Flower Sect.

So, Xuan Hao did not really worry much about the group of treasure hunter, as even the strongest among them was only barely at the third stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Even then, Xuan Hao did not dare to underestimate his opponent. From past experience, they seemed to have been able to retreat safely every single time, he fought with anyone at the Nascent Soul Realm so far…

This time around, Xuan Hao wanted to make sure that his opponents would not be able to just opt and run away when they wanted. Resulting in possible future problems for both him, his disciples and the Flying Sword Sect…

"Huh, looks like these two want to fight it out! Haha, and I was looking for a little bit of entertainment!" Laughing loudly, the tough looking man who seemed to be the leader of the group cracked his knuckles before madly dashing towards Xuan Hao and Chi Hu, closely followed by his two companions.