Chapter 421: A Heavy Price

Just as Zhang Nuo's feet stepped onto the Dharma Array, Su Mubai shifted his Divine Sense, and the Dharma Array beneath their feet flashed with spiritual light. The four of them vanished from the spot, and the next moment, they appeared directly on another Dharma Array a hundred zhang away from the previous one!

Such movement speed could be called incredibly fast; even Zhang Nuo felt inferior! After all, his Butterfly Wings could not sustain this speed continuously!

At the same time, escape lights of various colors were fleeing in different directions. Zhang Nuo only took a glance before being teleported away by the Dharma Array again, landing in an even more distant place!

A ferocious and disdainful sneer appeared on Lu Yuhou's face; in his eyes, the escape speeds of these people were nothing at all!

"Since you refuse to acknowledge this Venerable One, then don't blame me for using force!"

After saying this in a low voice, Lu Yuhou suddenly raised one hand above his head. From his palm, ten thousand strands of Demonic Qi flew out. The purity of this Demonic Qi far exceeded the range of Demonic Qi existing in the Human Realm! Such pure Demonic Qi, even if a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator were to refine it continuously, would likely be impossible to obtain!

As soon as that Demonic Qi appeared, it drilled into the void one after another, but in the blink of an eye, it appeared above the heads of the fleeing crowd!

"Ah! ~"

Following a few screams, several cultivators who had no precautions at all were immediately struck by the Demonic Qi. Black flames ignited on their bodies, and in the blink of an eye, they turned into fly ash in mid-air, not even having time for their Nascent Souls to escape!

At this moment, Zhang Nuo, already led by Su Mubai's array, had escaped several hundred zhang away. Looking back and seeing several cultivators fall so easily, a chill ran through his heart!

The cultivators who died were at least at the Nascent Soul Early-stage, yet they were slaughtered just like that. It seemed the Demonic Qi released by Lu Yuhou was definitely another one of his trump cards!

Just as Zhang Nuo was pondering, a streak of black Demonic Qi appeared in the sky above the four of them as well! Su Mubai was terrified, and before he could even activate the Dharma Array to escape, that Demonic Qi struck toward them like a ghost! Its speed was like Instant Movement; no wonder those few cultivators just now couldn't dodge it!

Zhang Nuo grabbed Su Haizhen, who was beside him, into his arms and flapped his wings rapidly, escaping the Dharma Array like a light breeze! At the same time, Su Mubai and Zhou Huizheng also fled the Dharma Array!

Boom! With a muffled sound, the Dharma Array where the four had just been standing was instantly shattered by the Demonic Qi! It turned into faint spiritual light and vanished!

Su Mubai's continuous Dharma Array teleportation was like a chain of linked rings; if one link were broken, it was equivalent to the entire chain being broken. To continue teleporting, one had to fly to the Dharma Array beyond the break point!

The next Dharma Array was several hundred zhang away, and even at their escape speed, they could not reach it immediately! What was even more terrifying was that the Demonic Qi launched by Lu Yuhou did not stop after attacking the Dharma Array, but continued to attack the four of them!

Zhang Nuo held Su Haizhen in his arms and, seeing she was unharmed, felt much more relieved. The young girl hid in Zhang Nuo's arms, feeling an indescribable sensation in her heart! Just now, in the urgency, even Su Mubai hadn't thought to save her, yet Zhang Nuo had brought her out at the very first moment!

If not for this, that strike of black Demonic Qi would have caused her to perish!

"Thank you..."

Just as she wanted to say a few words of thanks, that black Demonic Qi suddenly circled in mid-air and attacked toward Zhang Nuo's side! Frowning, Zhang Nuo felt a sense of fear rise in his heart as he faced this Demonic Qi! The pressure emanating from the Demonic Qi was not at all inferior to a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator!

The Butterfly Wings behind him wrapped around him, and he vanished from the spot; the next moment, his figure appeared dozens of zhang away!

"Flee toward the direction of the Dharma Array!"

Su Mubai saw that the direction Zhang Nuo was dodging toward was actually Lu Yuhou's direction, and he grew anxious! Wouldn't doing this mean getting further and further away from the Dharma Array?

Realizing this, Zhang Nuo had fled just now purely out of instinct, without considering so much. Now that he saw it, he indeed discovered he had chosen the wrong direction!

Taking advantage of the moment the Demonic Qi attacked Zhang Nuo, Zhou Huizheng and Su Mubai rushed toward the direction of the Dharma Array! In the distance, a look of surprise suddenly appeared on Lu Yuhou's otherwise calm face, because he had discovered the black Butterfly Wings on Zhang Nuo's back. These wings were very strange, giving him an eerie feeling!

"A bit interesting! There is actually a Hell Butterfly in the Human Realm!"

With a slight shift of his thoughts, Lu Yuhou immediately recalled the Hell Butterfly!

"Zhang Nuo! You must stay for me!"

From the residual memories of Lu Yuhou, that person who called himself the Demon Venerable had searched for some matters regarding Zhang Nuo, and suddenly he developed a great interest in him!

With a shift of his Divine Sense, the Demonic Qi that had previously attacked Zhang Nuo rolled within itself and actually transformed into a small black sword. This sword was only an inch in size, but the small sword condensed from pure Demonic Qi possessed a captivating power that absolutely could not be underestimated!

The small black sword flashed with a 'swish' and, as if it had vanished into thin air, disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye! Zhang Nuo, holding Su Haizhen in his arms, felt his pupils suddenly constrict!

"Not good!"

The moment the small black sword vanished, he felt a strong sense of unease; it was an innate instinct! Subconsciously turning his body, Zhang Nuo wanted to flee in another direction!

But the moment he turned, the small black sword flashed out from the void beside him and struck straight at him! Being so close and so fast, it was impossible for Zhang Nuo to dodge! With a quick shift of his mind, a layer of gray light glowed on his body surface—it was the protective technique of the 'Immovable Underworld King'!

At the same time, Zhang Nuo's figure rushed downward with all his might, firmly shielding Su Haizhen in his arms!

Swish!

The small black sword slashed rapidly past Zhang Nuo's left lower leg! Fortunately, Zhang Nuo's reaction was fast enough! The small sword just grazed past his skin! Even so, he still felt a burst of intense pain! If not for the 'Immovable Underworld King' protecting his body, this strike would likely have severed his lower leg!

Zhou Huizheng, who was fleeing, saw this and was horrified. He was not only amazed by the speed of the small black sword, but even more surprised by Zhang Nuo's physical body!

He saw that at the slashed area, not a single drop of blood flowed out. Through the torn clothes, one could see a crystalline, shimmering light within Zhang Nuo's flesh!

As Zhang Nuo descended, he also saw his own wound. The second layer of the Immovable Underworld King had already tempered his physical body to this extent; if he were to cultivate to a higher realm, it would be simply unimaginable! However, at this moment, he had no time to think about these things!

Because that small black sword, having missed its mark, had once again vanished into the void! The eerie speed of this sword could compare to his Instant Sword, only Zhang Nuo's Instant Sword could not have such attack speed after appearing!

The Butterfly Wings behind him flapped violently, and his downward speed increased by a few points. Ever since Zhang Nuo entered the Nascent Soul Stage, he had never fled so miserably, or even been wounded by an opponent!

Although held in Zhang Nuo's arms, Su Haizhen still felt her cheeks stinging from the gale-force winds brought by the high-speed flight! Her eyes were tightly shut; now she couldn't exert any strength at all. Facing Lu Yuhou's terrifying Flying Sword, even if she had advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage, it would be of no use!

Zhang Nuo's speed increased, barely able to maintain the same speed as the Flying Sword, but this method of downward flight was not a solution, because no matter how fast, there would always be a time to land. However, below Zhang Nuo was not land at all, but the Cold Pool he had seen earlier!

This Cold Pool, at the time he was hundreds of zhang away, he could already feel its chill. Now that Zhang Nuo was getting closer and closer, the waves of cold penetrating his body were even harder to resist. Zhang Nuo was already like this, let alone Su Haizhen, whose cultivation was only at the Golden Core Stage!

He took a quick glance at the young girl in his arms and saw her lips were blue, her teeth were making a 'clattering' sound, and her entire jade-like body was ice-cold, as if what Zhang Nuo was holding was not a person, but a block of ice!

Looking downward, he saw that the corpses of those cultivators who had fallen earlier had already been frozen into ice blocks by the cold air in the pool water when they were still dozens of zhang away from the Cold Pool!

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the surface of the pool water, Zhang Nuo felt anxious. Even if he could dodge the Flying Sword's attack, once they fell into the pool water, they would still be frozen to death by the cold air!

"Use the Four Spirits Square Cauldron!"

In his urgency, Chunyangzi shouted in his body. Hearing this, a flash of inspiration struck Zhang Nuo. Although this method might not be feasible, it was still better than waiting for death with no options!

His high-speed descending body opened its mouth wide, head-down, and a pale blue light glowed out, expanding rapidly the moment it appeared. In the blink of an eye, the Four Spirits Square Cauldron turned into a giant tripod over ten zhang in size!

For the sake of safety, Zhang Nuo opened his mouth again and spat out a sheet of Silver Flame, wrapping the entire tripod from the outside. The next moment, without the slightest hesitation, Zhang Nuo took Su Haizhen and dived into the tripod!

Just as he finished all this, the Four Spirits Square Cauldron fell into the Cold Pool!

Plop!

After the giant tripod fell into the water, it splashed up a layer of water and simultaneously sank slowly toward the bottom of the pool! Although the sinking speed was not very fast, thick ice still condensed around the Four Spirits Square Cauldron! In the blink of an eye, the Small Tripod was frozen inside!

All of this sounded slow, but in reality, it was just a flash of lightning! In that instant, Zhang Nuo and Su Haizhen had both fallen into the Cold Pool!

In the distance, Zhou Huizheng let out a loud cry! Zhang Nuo was of great significance to the Giant Spirit Pavilion, and that Cold Pool was no ordinary water pool. Although he hadn't been killed by the black Flying Sword, falling into the pool water was equivalent to perishing!