Chapter 480: Struggling Steps

“Who’s there?” The group was startled, quickly looking towards the sound, only to find a crowd of people surrounding them from all directions—tall and short, fat and thin. They were none other than the Eight Dispersed Immortals of the Demonic Cult from earlier.

Zu An: “...”

Is this a public restroom or what? People keep arriving, wave after wave, without a pause.

If they were going to come, they should have come earlier. He could have gotten involved in the chaotic fight between the Old Dragon and Monk Add-Money and reaped the benefits from their struggle. But now, he had already repelled those two, and this new group was swooping in to claim the spoils from *his* efforts, which made him quite dejected.

The expressions on the faces of the others were similar; they clearly had analogous thoughts.

“It seems the Night Elves have been dealt with by them. I slipped away during the chaos; the Night Elves were still holding on stubbornly,” Pei Mianman whispered, filled with regret. If she had known this, she would have told Zu An not to come back here earlier, and they wouldn't have run into these people.

A graceful and enchanting figure slowly emerged. Seeing Zu An safe and sound, a hint of joy appeared in her eyes. However, upon noticing the two beautiful women flanking him, her expression changed again. “Young Master Zu is truly enviable. No matter where you go, you always have beautiful women by your side.”

Pei Mianman giggled and said, “Is Miss Qiu jealous that we can be by Ah Zu’s side? If you’d like to join us, I can make room for you.”

“How dare you insult our Holy Maiden!” a woman beside her shouted angrily.

Zu An couldn’t help but glance at her again, not because she was beautiful, but quite the opposite. She looked fierce and formidable. Not only that, but her entire body lacked many feminine features; she was taller and more robust than an average man. Her arm muscles bulged, thicker than many men’s thighs, and she held a long-handled iron hammer.

He had seen her fight before and knew she was the Thunder Dispersed Immortal among the Eight.

Zu An inwardly grumbled, wondering why those who wield lightning always used hammers. In his previous life, the Thunder God in Eastern mythology used a hammer, and Thor in Marvel also used a hammer. He never expected that in this foreign world, this lightning wielder would also use a hammer.

However, the handle of her hammer was much longer than Thor’s, making it more like a long-handled weapon.

Unfazed by the rebuke, Pei Mianman said with a coquettish laugh, “Thunder Dispersed Immortal, you don’t understand a woman’s heart. Perhaps your Holy Maiden is secretly pleased by my words.”

“You’re looking for death!” The Thunder Dispersed Immortal was naturally hot-tempered, and due to various personal factors, she normally couldn't stand such alluring and charming women. Qiu Honglei was the cult’s Holy Maiden and the Cult Master’s disciple, so that was understandable. But what right did this woman have to flaunt herself in front of her?

Seeing her offensively prominent chest made her blood boil. And this woman kept giggling, her body swaying alluringly with every laugh, causing the eyes of many men to follow her alluring movements.

She had been extremely displeased from the start, and now, finding an excuse, she directly swung her hammer towards Pei Mianman.

“Watch out!” Zu An and the others quickly scattered. The massive hammer slammed into the ground, raising a cloud of dust and creating a huge crater, while numerous lightning bolts scattered outwards.

Zu An and the others retreated quite a distance before they could avoid the lightning attacks. The Thunder Dispersed Immortal didn't stop at all, ignoring Zu An, and continued to swing her giant hammer, chasing after Pei Mianman.

Pei Mianman was both annoyed and speechless. She ignited black flames and began to parry with her.

The Thunder Dispersed Immortal’s movement triggered the other Dispersed Immortals to move as well. They all lunged towards Zu An and the others.

The Wood Dispersed Immortal, whose attack power was relatively weaker, directly lunged towards Zheng Dan, also to prevent her water attribute from interfering with the Fire Dispersed Immortal on the other side.

The Wood Dispersed Immortal was a man, and even his hair was green. As he charged forward, plants along his path rapidly grew. Suddenly, huge thorn bushes emerged from the ground around Zheng Dan, with vines as thick as pythons, covered in sharp, long thorns.

Zheng Dan tapped her foot, expertly dodging in advance to avoid being trapped by the dense thorn cage.

The Wood Dispersed Immortal was momentarily stunned but continued his assault. The two were soon locked in combat. Although due to the difference in cultivation ranks, Zheng Dan couldn't break through the Wood Dispersed Immortal's elemental armor, he too would have a hard time defeating Zheng Dan anytime soon.

Not far away, Sang Qian watched with admiration. “Sister-in-law’s combat awareness is truly far superior to most people. She’s incredibly impressive.”

“Of course!” Sang Qian looked smug. One had to remember that Zheng Dan was once the leader of the Giant Whale Gang, a crime boss in Brightmoon City. How could she be measured by ordinary fifth-rank cultivation?

As he was feeling pleased, he suddenly remembered that his fiancée seemed to favor Zu An more, and his smile quickly froze on his face.

However, he soon had no time to indulge in petty jealousy, as several people were charging towards them as well.

The ones charging were the Water Dispersed Immortal, the Fire Dispersed Immortal, and the Earth Dispersed Immortal.

Originally, two Dispersed Immortals should have been enough to deal with these injured individuals, but they were wary of Sang Hong. After all, he was an eighth-rank expert, and they dared not take him lightly, no matter how injured he was.

The Water Dispersed Immortal was an old man, holding a staff. With a wave, a misty drizzle instantly began to fall, and the clothes of the group became damp.

The Sang father and daughter were all fire element cultivators. Dampened by the drizzle, the effectiveness of their techniques was naturally greatly diminished.

The Earth Dispersed Immortal, tall and formidable, slammed his hands directly onto the ground. The entire land immediately churned violently, like a violent earthquake.

The father and daughter lost their footing, stumbling and swaying.

At this moment, the Fire Dispersed Immortal took out a delicate crossbow and fired directly at the unsteady Sang father and daughter.

The arrows fired from his crossbow were different from ordinary arrows. They blazed with vivid firelight, clearly infused with powerful fire elemental damage.

Sang Hong roared, and a burst of firelight erupted, suppressing the ground within a radius of approximately ten feet, preventing it from churning further.

Then, with a punch, he struck the incoming fire arrow. He was, after all, an eighth-rank cultivator. Although heavily injured, his eyesight and other faculties remained sharp, so his timing was impeccable.

However, after knocking the fire arrow away, he still couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood. His previous injuries had clearly been aggravated again.

At this point, the enemies attacked again. Fortunately, Sang Qian reacted first, quickly running over to help.

Sang Qian, on the other side, came to his senses and also ran over.

Working together, the siblings, despite their father’s severe injuries, could barely manage to cope with the attacks of the three Dispersed Immortals.

Zu An faced the most pressure because the Demonic Cult's target was him.

The Gold, Ice, and Wind Dispersed Immortals converged directly on Zu An.

The Gold Dispersed Immortal was a stout man dressed in dull yellow clothes, embroidered with patterns of gold ingots. He looked like a newly rich bumpkin.

He wielded a golden abacus in his hand. With a flick, all the abacus beads flew off, turning into countless hidden weapons aimed at Zu An’s vital points.

Zu An quickly activated his Sunflower Phantoms to dodge. His miraculous footwork caused all the beads to hit empty air.

However, those abacus beads seemed like self-guided missiles; they didn’t fall to the ground but continued to attack him.

Zu An’s eyes narrowed. He used the Sunflower Phantoms to manifest three illusory figures, attracting the Gold Dispersed Immortal’s attention.

Then, his body slid along an unusual trajectory to the Gold Dispersed Immortal’s side, stabbing a sword towards him.

A metallic clang sounded, and Zu An immediately realized that he had struck the opponent’s gold elemental armor. No wonder cultivators of gold and earth elements were widely recognized as having the strongest defense; this armor was indeed incredibly sturdy.

He was glad that Yuan Wendong hadn't reached the sixth rank during the clan competition back then; otherwise, if he had developed elemental armor, Zu An would never have been able to defeat him.

Just then, three ice arrows struck. Evidently, the Ice Dispersed Immortal on the side had made her move.

Zu An dodged awkwardly to the side, but an ice arrow still grazed him.

Half of his body was instantly covered in a layer of frost, and his entire body became heavy. Clearly, the opponent’s ice arrows had a slowing effect.

“Hmph, I sleep with my wife’s cold body every day, so a little frost from you isn’t going to scare me,” Zu An retorted. As soon as he activated the Primordial Chaos Sutra, most of the frost on his body receded.

At that moment, the golden abacus beads struck again. Zu An was about to use Sunflower Phantoms to dodge once more when he suddenly noticed that the surrounding air had become much thicker, making it difficult for him to move fast.

He saw the Wind Dispersed Immortal on the other side. She had summoned five small tornadoes that surrounded him, forming a formation. The strong wind field within made his movements difficult.